"It's a wizard's construct," Leliana answered. "Deadly when active, but this one looks frozen with rust."

The human and the drow male both took a nervous step back. Jub merely grunted. He clambered down into the trough in the magic-parted river and yanked on the net, trying to free it. Blindfish scattered from it and landed gasping on the slick rock. Jub put a foot on one of the construct's legs and boosted himself higher, trying to unhook the net from the barbed tail. Rust flaked away under his boots.

"Don't get so close to it, Jub!" the human called, stepping forward. "Be careful!"

Jub laughed. "It's not gonna come alive. Even if it does, there's a Protector here."

Leliana smiled. Three and a half years ago, at the time of the Selvetargtlin attack, Jub had been reduced to a few scattered body parts by a dracolich. The priestesses had recovered what remained, and resurrected him. He didn't fear anything any more. Not after he'd danced, briefly, with the goddess.

Jub climbed higher. Balanced with one foot on the scorpion's back and the other on the base of its tail, he wrenched at the net. The barbed tip bent with a loud creak. Then it snapped off, sending Jub tumbling backward in a tangle of net and wriggling blindfish. He scrambled to his feet and held up the net triumphantly. "There! All it took was a little muscle and-"

"Quiet!" Leliana barked.

Jub looked puzzled. "What-?"

"Listen! That crackling sound."

Jub cocked his head. He dropped the net and used his hands. I don't hear anything.

Leliana hesitated. Had she actually heard something, or was that just the rush of the river? Then a white-hot spark streaked out of the hollow stump where the tail barb had been. She smelled the sharp tang of lightning-burned air.

"Jub!" she shouted. "Get away from the construct! It's animating!"