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She would have to fight by herself. One of the bedposts groaned and broke free
from its joint, torn apart by the creatures. The bedframe cracked and dropped
to the floor with a _thump_.
More rat-creatures scurried to the storage chests and peeled the locks
and hinges from the base wood, splintered the sides, and spilled the treasure
from Delrael's past adventurings onto the floor. They searched through the
plunder, using four hands to paw and toss away diamonds and gold and silver
links as if they were worthless.
"Stop!" Tareah shouted. They hesitated, glaring at her with pupilless
red sparks for eyes -- empty, as if something had erased the minds behind
them. She felt very afraid to look at the hundreds and hundreds of tiny,
pointed teeth and sharp claws. Then the creatures fell to ransacking again.
The shelves on the wall crumbled, and Tareah's possessions crashed to
the ground, breaking and clinking on the floor. Every splinter of wood spawned
another of the small creatures as they pushed out and added to the army. Above
the chittering, rustling din, she heard noises from the other rooms.
Tareah jumped out of bed, stepping on squirming furry bodies and trying
to kick them away from her. "What do you want?" she shouted. She drew herself
up to look menacing.
The rat-creatures fixed their blank gazes on her. Many of them cleared
an empty spot on the floor, and others moved into formation with some kind of
intent. Dozens of them aligned themselves to form letters with their own
bodies.
On the floor, they spelled out "FIRE STONE."
Scartaris knew the Deathspirits had stripped the ruby Stone from Enrod
and delivered it to the Stronghold. He had sent the rat-creatures to tear
everything apart until they found it.
Scartaris knew nothing about Delrael's quest to bring the Earthspirits
across the map -- because of Tarne's ruse, Scartaris thought the Slave of the
Serpent had killed Delrael. Perhaps Scartaris knew nothing of her Water Stone
either. She clutched the six-sided sapphire in her hand.
"No!" Tareah stamped her foot on the ground, squashing one of the
rat-creatures and making the others scurry out of the way. "You can't have
it." She waited to feel sharp claws and teeth on her bare legs.
One section of the wall slumped down in a shower of broken wood. Flames
from the fireplace caught on the kindling. The creatures ran around,
dismantling the room.
A few of the rat-creatures on the floor of the room spelled out "WE
WILL FIND IT," forming and dissolving one word after another.
From her own room, Siya screamed -- but it was a scream of anger and
disgust, not pain. The ceiling groaned above Tareah, and she looked up to see
the planks buckling.
In her bare feet, trying not to look where she stepped, Tareah ran to
the door and struck it with her shoulder to push it open. She ran down the
main hall.
Everywhere she looked, the scrambling creatures emerged from the
splintered wall and set about ransacking everything in sight. The structure of
the main building groaned and creaked above the insane chittering.
Tareah ran out the broken doorway into the cold night. Two of the
courtyard torches had burned out, but the other three flickered in the sharp
wind. Small, furious sounds came from all buildings within the Stronghold
walls.
"Siya!" she called.
Tareah saw the creatures piled on top of each other in the roof
structure, throwing pieces of wood in the air and over the edge in glee,
digging and searching. Others tunnelled in the courtyard, uprooting sword
posts. The weapons storehouse crashed and toppled to the ground. Other walls
in the outbuildings split and collapsed.
Tareah felt outraged, but didn't know how she could fight against the
infestation.
Siya burst out the front door, frantic. She had a broom in her hands,
and she flicked it right and left to knock away the creatures in front of her.
"Get away!" She whacked them off the walls. "Leave that alone! Stop!"
Her gray hair hung down below her shoulders in broad tresses. Several
of the creatures grabbed on and yanked, climbing the strands like ropes. Siya
tossed her head and flung them off, then chased after them with a vengeance.
"Get away from the door, Siya!"
Siya ran into the courtyard. Chittering, some of the rat-creatures
followed her, but most swarmed over the door jamb, peeling away the wood. Two
of the shutters cracked and fell off their hinges. New rat-creatures burst up
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