The insect guard looked most surprised. Chen couldn't blame her. He'd have looked a little startled, too, if, one minute, he'd been holding a spear to a captive's throat and, the next, had been seized round the head and dragged off into the shadows.
"What the hell?" Zhu Irzh asked, wild-eyed. Chen was already running forward, sweeping Zhu Irzh and Underling No with him.
"Never mind what it was! Do you really want to meet it?" Given the characteristics of the Ministry of Lust thus far, he was having visions of some crevice-dwelling arachnid, a great louse lurking in the moist, rotting walls. Zhu Irzh appeared to agree; after a moment's reflection, he sprinted after Chen, with Underling No creaking along behind.
Another passageway, this time one that opened into a domed atrium. There were cells on the far side of it but Chen did not have time to study them properly: as they entered the room, one of the insect-eyed guards dropped from the ceiling in a flurry of red silk robes. Her eyes were the color of rubies. She carried a long scimitar that whistled around her head with a sound like the north wind.
Underling No gave a tiger-growl. She kicked out and upward at the guard, sending her flying. Another guard dropped from the ceiling and when Chen looked up he saw that there were three more, clinging to the meaty surface of the roof and bouncing gently like mosquitoes. Chen ducked as Zhu Irzh's sword hissed over his head. The sword caught the guard neatly across the abdomen, black guts spilled out and the guard shrieked and shriveled as if sprayed with insecticide. As she blackened and withered, her soul snatched down to the lower levels of Hell, a third guard dropped silently down to take her place. Chen threw a hasty spell: it snapped the guard backward and spun her, twisting her in whirlwind formation until she bored down through the floor in a bloody splash and disappeared. The entire Ministry shuddered and quivered, throwing Chen to one side.
"Must've hurt," Zhu Irzh said, wincing.
Regaining his balance, Chen jumped across the hole and sent another spell glancing upward. It knocked one of the guards from the ceiling, but failed to accomplish any lasting damage. Zhu Irzh stabbed at the guard but she brought her own scimitar round; Zhu Irzh leaped out of the way and the guard wielded the scimitar back and caught Underling No across the chest. No gave a gasping cough and staggered backward.
"No! Are you all right?" Chen shouted, but Underling No was coming forward again, snarling, with a ragged tear across the front of her leather armor. She reminded Chen suddenly of a small, fierce dog. Seizing the guard, No crushed her. The guard gave a startled squeak and was dropped limply through the hole in the floor.
The fourth guard laughed. She undulated toward Zhu Irzh and No, lazily spinning her scimitar. Then, without warning, she struck. Zhu Irzh blocked the blow but the guard was fast; with her second strike, she drove him backward against the wall. Chen sent a spell but it sputtered and fizzled into a small drizzle of ash. No was engaged with the final guard, fighting desperately. They had, Chen thought, saved the best for last. He aimed another spell but he could feel the magic running out of him now, draining away as the Ministry itself began to marshal its decaying resources and issue protection. There was a slapping sound as Zhu Irzh's sword flew from his hand and hit the floor. Flesh oozed over it as the Ministry tried to digest an alien object.
"Hey! Get back here!" Zhu Irzh yelled. The sword pulled and tugged but could not break free. Underling No's swing took the head off the guard she was fighting: it bounced across the floor, lamenting and coughing obscene spells. Sparks flowed out of its mouth and spiraled up into the air, forming a glowing character: the word for death. Chen kicked the head like a football across the annex and it dropped through the hole in the floor, which was now starting to close.
Movement caught Chen's gaze and he saw something sharp and bright sing through the air toward Zhu Irzh and bury itself in the remaining guard's left eye. The guard dropped like a stone, starting to wither and rot before she hit the floor. Someone stepped forward, out of shadow.
Zhu Irzh was staring, open-mouthed.
"What the fuck," he managed to say, "are you doing here?"