第 43 页

Another foe was squared off with Halisstra, who warded off a pair of stout blows with her mithral shield. On the third stroke from the dark elf across from her, she used the shield to deflect the strike and throw her opponent off-balance, then swung the heavy mace in her other hand upward in a vicious stroke, right into his chin. There was a loud, drumlike boom, a magical concussion that was obviously much louder than the simple impact of metal on bone, and the drow sank to the ground, his jaw shattered.

Breathing heavily, Ryld surveyed the battlefield. In addition to his six companions and Halisstra's brother, the only ones still standing were a small circle of perhaps a dozen exhausted drow and duergar who had ceased fighting for the moment and were watching as the duergar commander squared off with Ssipriina Zauvirr. The gray dwarf and the matron mother circled one another warily, as smoke wafted about, obscuring everything beyond the circle of Menzober-ranyr and the three remaining members of House Melarn.

"Now is our chance," Pharaun said from next to the weapons master. "Let's go."

"No," Quenthel and Halisstra said together.

"Not until she goes down," the daughter of Drisinil Mclarn added.

The Mistress of Arach-Tinilith nodded in agreement and said, "If she kills him, we're finishing her."

Pharaun groaned. "This is hardly the time for revenge, Mistresses."

Ssipriina feinted with her mace, and as the gray dwarf twisted out of the way of the attack, the drow palmed a wand and aimed it at her enemy. A thin ray of grayish light shot forth from the tip of the magical device, striking the duergar squarely in the chest. The gray dwarf clutched at his chest and cried out. He dropped to one knee with a groan, and Ssipriina loomed over him.

The duergar disappeared.

Snarling in rage at this trickery, the matron mother slammed her mace down where her foe had been, but she struck nothing but the pavement. Spinning, she swung back and forth wildly, trying to gain a lucky hit, but she found nothing.

The gray dwarf commander appeared again, leaping forward from one side as Ssipriina had turned her back to him. His axe was high, but his war cry gave the drow time to roll away from the worst of the attack. Instead of taking the blade of his weapon full on her skull, it raked across the back of her shoulder with a spurt of crimson.

The matron mother cried out, tumbling prone. She rolled to one side as Khorrl lifted his axe for another stroke. As she came around to face him, she fired off another beam with the wand.

"With a grunt, Khorrl Xornbane dropped his axe and clutched his stomach, then crumpled to the ground, letting out a gurgling death sigh.

Quenthel and Halisstra both came at Ssipriina, who was trying to get to her feet, clutching her wounded shoulder with her good hand. Quenthel stepped to one side of the matron mother and struck down with her whip. The fangs of the snakes bit into the drow's flesh and she screeched in pain, then tried to spin around and aim the wand at the high priestess. Halisstra was ready for that, though, and she swung her mace down hard on Ssipriina's hand. The crunch of bone was unmistakable.

Around them all, the duergar and the drow began to fight again, and Ryld had to duck to avoid a sword swung at him by one of the dark elves. He sank to one knee and reversed Splitter, driving the point of the blade into his opponent's midsection. The drow threw up blood and sank to his knees, staring down at the sword in his gut. Impassively, Ryld planted his boot on the other drow's chest and yanked his greatsword free, turning back to see what was happening between the females as the body of his foe collapsed.

Quenthel had a hold of Ssipriina's hair, holding her head up. Both of the matron mother's arms were injured, and she could barely lift them to protect herself—and the poison was starting to take effect.

"Stop it!" Quenthel cried, yelling at the combatants around her. "Stop fighting, now!"

Slowly, the duergar and the drow began to back away, turning to look at Quenthel.

"Enough!" the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith said, her voice echoing through the haze. "This is pointless. The city is burning, and we must get out. If you stay here now and try to kill your enemies, you simply bring about your own death. That is not the drow way, and I cannot imagine it is the duergar way, either."

There were murmurs all around as the dark elves and the gray dwarves eyed each other hatefully, but Ryld saw more than a few shake their heads, agreeing with what Quenthel was saying.

"If you want any chance of living, then go your separate ways and get out of here, before the whole—"

The web street shook violently, tossing everyone about. Ryld, already on one knee, managed to maintain his balance. He peered around uncertainly. The whole length of the calcified webbing was unstable, listing sharply to one side. Ryld knew their time was up, and he began to levitate. Then he spotted what had created the upheaval as a second shock wave made the crumbling pavement shift again.

A giant spider had descended from overhead and was scurrying toward them. Behind it, a second spider was also drifting downward, playing out a length of web as it glided down.

Damnation, Ryld thought. There's just no end to this.

He peered around, looking for a direction to go to get clear of the approaching beasts.

Pharaun appeared beside the weapons master, hovering in the air and eyeing the advancing spiders.

"I think I've had quite enough of this," the wizard commented dryly, allowing his dancing rapier to disappear into his ring.

Ryld saw Quenthel and Halisstra, still standing over the slowly dying Ssipriina. He pointed them out to Pharaun.

"They don't know, yet," he said, dropping back down. "We've got to warn them!"

Once on his feet, the weapons master carefully managed to hold his balance as he rushed across the intervening space.

"Spiders!" he shouted as he neared them, pointing.

Quenthel looked up and her eyes grew wide. Jeggred appeared out of the haze of smoke next to her, his fur matted with blackening blood.

"We still don't know where to go," Pharaun said, a tinge of despair in his voice as he joined Ryld. "The best choice for now is simply over the side."

"Use your magic," Quenthel commanded. "Get us out of here!"

Pharaun spread his hands helplessly.

"Believe me, Mistress," he said, "if I had the means I would be using it. I've got nothing left. I can't conjure a gate just by willing it."

The first spider loomed closer, and Jeggred advanced toward it, determined to keep himself between the giant arachnid and his mistress. Valas slunk into the group, pulling Danifae along by the hand. The battle captive had a large cut across her forehead, and blood was dripping down into her eyes, making it difficult for her to see.

"Wait!" Ssipriina said, gasping for air as the poison closed her throat. "I know . . . of a way out. Save me ... from . . . poison . . ."

"What?" Pharaun demanded. "Where? Get us there!"

"Say it, wretch," Quenthel commanded.

"Dangling . . . Tower," the dying matron mother replied, "Old, unused . . . dormant portal. Poison . . . please . . ."

Ignoring Ssipriina's pleas, Quenthel turned to Pharaun and asked, "Could you activate it?"

"I'll damn well try," Pharaun said. "Which way?"

"There . . ." Ssipriina whispered, looking up.

Ryld followed her gaze to a see a large, stalactite-shaped building hanging above them, an inverted tower like many of the estates back in Menzoberranzan. He groaned.

"We don't have enough time to get there!" Pharaun cried.

"Why not?" Q'arlynd Melarn said, floating up into the air to demonstrate. "We just levitate!"

"We can't all do that," Pharaun replied desperately, "As I've pointed out a time or two today already, I am fresh out of transportive spells."

"The battle captive gets left behind," Quenthel said bluntly. "I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be."

Danifae sank to her knees, her head bowed. She seemed to accept her fate, but Ryld actually felt sorry for the drow. As if to punctuate the lack of time, the stone beneath them shifted again. Ryld left his feet to keep from losing his balance, and everyone else did, too, all except Valas and Danifae.

Q'arlynd shook his head.

"I didn't know," he said, shrugging. "Let's go."

"Wait!" Halisstra said. "I can get us all there," the priestess volunteered.

Pharaun and Quenthel both turned and looked at her. "You can?" the wizard asked.

"Yes," Halisstra said, nodding. "I dabble a bit in magic, myself. Different from your style, but some things are the same. Ryld says you're fond of using those dimensional doorways. I can do that."

Pharaun motioned for her to hurry.

"Open it into the main gallery," Q'arlynd shouted to Halisstra, pointing upward. "Where I took you that time?"

Another shock wave reverberated through the web street, causing it to buck wildly. Danifae and Valas both went sprawling, nearly being tossed over the side. The first spider was upon them, and Jeggred engaged it in a fight, levitating up to strike at its head. Ryld peered around wildly as the spider reared up and snapped at the draegloth, causing the web street to buck again.

The biggest rumble yet whipped through the thoroughfare, and the stone began to shift and crack.

"It's going to collapse!" Ryld shouted.

"Priestess, open your doorway!" Pharaun yelled as another roiling tremor dislodged the side of the street only a few feet away from them. "We're going through now!"

"No!" screamed Ssipriina, holding the wand she'd used to defeat Khorrl in both of her hands, her feet splayed out beside her, trying to maintain her balance.

She mumbled something and aimed the beam at Halisstra. The gray sliver of light struck the priestess in the leg and she buckled over in agony.

"You're . . . going to ... die with me," the crazed matron mother said, turning the wand toward Quenthel. "No one . . . gets out . . . alive!"

Quenthel couldn't flee, as she was hovering in the air. She eyed the enraged drow across from her, licking her lips in desperation.

"I think not!" Halisstra shouted, standing straight again.

Before Ssipriina could trigger the wand again, the priestess spun around, swinging her mace with both hands. She struck the matron mother squarely in the face. There was a loud thunderclap, and Ssipriina Zauvirr was driven back a dozen feet, her face a ruined mess of pulpy flesh and bone.

"To the Abyss with you!" Halisstra screamed at Ssipriina Zauvirr's lifeless body.

Groaning and clutching at her leg, Halisstra wove a spell as the web street tilted again. She was singing, her voice quavering over the roar of battle. Ryld had never heard such a sound. She held a single, perfect note, and a bluish-white doorway opened in the air before her.

"Jeggred! Let's go!" Quenthel called, moving toward the doorway.

The draegloth dropped his attacks on the spider and scampered backward. When he reached the rest of them, he caught hold of Valas, while Halisstra helped Q'arlynd get a hold of Danifae. Pha-raun launched himself through the opening. Ryld followed the wizard to protect him from whatever might be on the other side, stepping through the magical frame just as the street gave way and tumbled into the darkness below him. He hoped the others were right behind him.

TWENTY

The moment the doorway opened, Pharaun dived through it, hoping he was doing the right thing by trusting the children of House Melarn with his life. For all the wizard knew, she could have picked that moment to exact her revenge upon the Menzoberranyr for all the injustices they'd inflicted upon her family, her home, and herself. She certainly had a right to.

But the pathway didn't deposit the wizard into some scorching furnace or pit of doom. It was a poshly decorated hall, but unfortunately the mage found himself facing a huge, slavering lizard with incredibly sharp teeth. The being spotted him and advanced eagerly, eyeing the wizard as if he were its next meal.

Reacting quickly, the mage flung himself backward, out of the way of the thing, and willed a spell into being that created a series of floating balls of lightning. As the lizard darted toward him, Pharaun directed the balls to engage the creature, sparking as they did so. The beast jerked and backed away, but Pharaun was relentless, slamming all of the spheres of lightning into it. After the fourth one, the creature sprawled to the ground. It twitched a couple of times and lay still.

"What in the Abyss is that?" Ryld asked, popping through the portal with Splitter up and ready. "Are we in the right place?"

"Fortunately, yes," Pharaun replied, jumping up. A shiver through the building caused him to stumble forward. "Unfortunately, Halisstra, having never been here before, must not have known about the guard animals inside. Or else Q'arlynd forgot to warn us."

"By the Dark Mother!" Danifae said, spying the beast as she leaped through into the cell. She had her morning star up in an instant. "Is it dead?"

"I certainly hope so," Valas said, following close behind.

The scout had his kukris in his hands, and he was looking at the dead lizard. The hall shook again, and part of a wall collapsed, exposing the room to the city outside. Everyone splayed their legs out to try and maintain their balance.

One by one, the rest of the team passed through the portal to join them. Jeggred was the last one to clear the gate.

"The whole city's falling," the draegloth announced. Halisstra let the doorway wink out once he was safely through. "The falling stonework must be making the entire cavern quake with its force."

The fiend sounded too matter-of-fact for the wizard's taste.

Halisstra's brother was casting a spell, one Pharaun didn't recognize. He began to radiate an aura of divination magic—Pharaun's ring told him that much—as he looked around, almost as if he was sniffing something out.

"The dormant portal is this way," Q'arlynd said, leading the group out into a hallway. "Follow me."