Page 10 (1/2)

A long day&039;s h to allow Pharaun to fi-nally craft a sending to pass news of Gracklstugh&039;s ared fro natural tunnels interspersed with long, heays and small, square chah they&039;d left twenty miles or more behind them

The tunnels were black basalt, cold and sharp, the frozen re of the world Froreat vertical rifts hundreds of feet high, where tunnels ended in blank walls with rough, perilous steps cut up or down to a different level where the path continued Whole sheets of the world&039;s crust had sunk or fractured in places, shearing off the old lava tunnels and leaving behind vast, lightless chasms deep in the earth A few of these places were spanned by slender bridges of stone, or circled by crude paths hacked from the hard rock of the walls Everywhere they turned, , smooth-floored tunnels branched from their line of march, so that in the space of an hour Halisstra was forced to concede that she&039;d become hopelessly lost

"I see why they call this place the Labyrinth," she said softly, as the co another of the chasms "This place is truly a maze"

"It&039;s worse than you think," Valas replied from the front of the party He paused to exas on one side "It&039;s close to two hundred miles from north to south, and almost half that from east to west Most of it is exactly like this, a confusion of lava tubes and hand-cut tunnels with thousands of branch-ing turns and twists"

"How can you hope to find House Jaelre in all this?" Ryld asked "Do you know this place so well that you&039;ve mastered it?"

"Mastered it? Hardly You could spend a lifeti of its ways Several well-traveled caravan routes exist along soh we&039;renot near any of those Few travelers approach the Labyrinth from the east, as we have" The scout stepped a little ahead and brushed his hand against the wall, near the place where the other tunnel opened up Old, strange syertips "Fortunately, the builders carved runes to identify their secret ways It&039;s a code of hout the Labyrinth I solved the puzzle when I last journeyed here We&039;re not in tunnels I traveled before, but I think I kno to reach them from here"

"You are a lad of many talents," Pharaun observed

"Who carved these tunnels?" Halisstra asked "If this place is as big as you say, it must have been a powerful reallance those ar, illithid, or aboleth"

"Minotaurs," Valas replied "I don&039;t kno long ago their realdom of them here at some point in the past"

"Minotaurs?" Quenthel sneered "They&039;re bestial savages They could hardly have the wits or the patience to undertake work of this scope, let alone build a great realed and said, "That o, who knows? I&039;ve found plenty of their artifacts and reion The horned skulls are quite distinctive My friends a House Jaelre told me that es of the Labyrinth, including demonic beasts armed with powerful sorcery Their patrols skirularly"

"One wonders whether we h a realen-uinely concerned for our well-being and eager to help us on our way," Pha-rauntothink our fair city lies at the bottom of a barrel of venoer, and more venomous than any other snake in the barrel," Quenthel said with a smile "Come, let&039;s continue If there are any minotaurs about, they would be well-advised not to show them-selves where the children of Menzoberranzan choose to walk"

The coloo a halt to rest and re-plenish their strength The stretch of the Labyrinth they wandered see, even the mind-less predatory creatures of the Underdark, had passed that way in many years The air was preternaturally still and silent Whenever their whis-pered conversation died away for a moment, the quiet of the place seeely hostile quality, as if the very stone resented their presence

After Valas and Ryld had been set to watch, the rest wrapped them-selves in theirpiis and made themselves as comfortable as possible on the cold stone floor of the cavern Halisstra let her eyes fall half-closed and drifted off into a deep Reverie, dreae old secrets buried in ht she couldor whisper in the quiet, as if shemore if only she moved a little ways off from the others, out into the darkness alone Despite the fact that the air was completely still andof wind far off in the tun-nels, a low e of her awareness, like sootten Lolth&039;s whispers soh of wordless intent filling a priestesswith knowledge of the demon queen&039;s desires

Hope and fear stirred in Halisstra&039;s heart and she came closer to wakefulness

What is your wish, Goddess? she cried out in her ain Tellyou cohter, the hispered back to her Foolish weakling

Horror jolted Halisstra fro

Only a dream, she told herself I dreaht co more The Spider Queen has not spoken She has not condemned me

Nearby, the others lay on the cold stone floor or sat wrapped deep in their owntheir rest, while a little distance away Ryld stood guard, a broad-shouldered shape h-ter of House Melarn lowered her eyes and listened to the curious sound of the wind, surrounded in the darkness her people had made theirs

"Lolth does not speak," she whispered "I heard only the wind, noth-ing else"

Why has the Goddess abandoned us? Why did she allow Ched Nasad to fall? How did we incur her wrath? Halisstra wondered Her eyes stung with bitter tears Were orthy of her?

The wind rose again, this ti sound It reminded her of the call of a deep-voiced horn far off, perhapsHalisstra frowned, puzzled Was this soh pipelike tunnels in the dark? Such things were not unknown in other places of the Underdark In some cases the winds could scour a tunnel bare of life, they were so sudden and powerful This one reat horns roaring at once -

Halisstra leaped to her feet Ryld stood staring back the way they had co in his hand

"Do you hear theht it was the wind," the fighter growled "Rouse the others"

He sprinted down the passageway toward the approaching host, shouting for Valas to join him from his post in the other direction Halis-stra snatched up her pack and shouldered it quickly, rousing the rest of the company with shouts of alarm and the occasional quick kick for those ere slow to shake off their deep trances

She readied her crossbow, loading a quarrel as she peered down the tunnel behind them

The floor quivered beneath her feet Great footfalls as hard as rock ca rush, and deep bellows and snorts echoed and echoed again in a roiling cacophony that filled the passage Hot animal stink assaulted her nostrils, and she saw thee bull-headed hty axes and flails in their thickly muscled fists

Before that storm Ryld and Valas skipped and darted like sparrows blown before a gale, battling furiously for their lives against the blood-thirsty savages Halisstra took aim quickly and shot one monster in the chest with her powerful crossbow, but the creature was so blood-nored the bolt buried in its thick torso She laid in another quarrel as the bow&039;s red&039;s rush into the fray

"Jeggred, you idiot, there are too nored her and threw hiainst the horde For amoment the half-dee, but over Jeggred&039;s white-furred shoulders and the flashing blades of Ryld and Valas, Halisstra could ed e Several had fallen before Splitter, Valas&039;s curved knives, and Jeggred&039;s talons, but battle-frenzied rievous of injuries, claw-ing over each other to get at the drow invaders

Halisstra shifted to one side and shot again, while Danifae joined her with her own crossbow Quenthel danced just behind Jeggred, flick-ing her deadly scourge at loth, and Pharaun shouted an arcane word that hurled a bright globe of crackling energy into the midst of the minotaur ranks The sphere deto-nated with a clap of thunder and blasted bright arcs of lightning across the tunnel, charring soreat black wounds in others

In the searing light of the lightning ball, Halisstra saw so taller and lankier than the minotaurs, behind the front ranks, a dery s in shadow, and their dark horns glowed red with heat

Roars and bellows filled the passage with rage, while the ring of steel on steel came so fast and hard that Halisstra could barely hear herself shout, "There are demons back there!"

"I see them," Quenthel replied She fell back a couple of steps and seized Pharaun by the arm "Can you dismiss them?"

"I have no such spell ready," the wizard replied "Besides, getting rid of the delio I think we - "

"I don&039;t care what you think!" Quenthel screae!"

Pharaun gri another spell Halisstra reloaded and searched for another clear shot Ryld crouched low and hah to split an anvil, and gutted the creature with an upward draw cut across its belly Valas was upended by a flailing chain that yanked his feet out fro his skull pulped

One orreen, fiery bolts at the dark elves One dissipated against Quenthel&039;s inborn resistance to ic, while two others burned Pharaun and Danifae with vitriolic fire Soed to complete his spell

What Halisstra assumed was some sort of invisible barrier forced most of the minotaurs and their dehters found themselves suddenly cut off from their allies While the ainst Pharaun&039;s in-visible wall and tried vainly to batter their way through with their crude, clumsy weapons, the dark elves quickly cut down the ht on the drow&039;s side

In a few ht had died away to the dull, attenuated bellowing of theabout and shaking their weapons in anger at the drow The minotaurs turned away all at once and darted back the way they&039;d co carcasses remained scattered on the floor

Ryld backed away carefully, helping Valas to his feet Jeggred stoodpanting, bleeding fro will that wall hold?" Quenthel asked

"No more than a quarter of an hour," Pharaun answered "The deh it if they wish, but I suspect that they&039;re leading those h other tunnels to coest we remove ourselves from the vicinity before we find out how they rabbed her pack, and said, "Fine Let&039;s go"

If it had been in his nature to show alar back and forth across his sanctum, Gro so Instead, he peered into the great crystal ball that rested in the center of his scrying sanctu Pharaun&039;s report How exactly had the Master of Sorcere worded it?

Felicitations, hty Groh now marches on Menzoberranzan We continue on our course Good luck!

"Arrogant popinjay," Gromph muttered to hi off to the matron ate Pharaun&039;s report with his own careful scrying and study The e&039;s eyes, a long coluh the Underdark Huge pack lizards carried heavy bundles of supplies and various infernal devices of war Siege engines trundled along behind long lines of ogre slaves

Gaining even that gliar wizards sought to conceal theefforts of hostile es Gromph, however, was an ex-traordinarily capable diviner It had taken hiar wizards&039; defenses

Gro out thesoldiers, the exact size and condition ofthe tunnels they passed through, the cadence of the Dwarvishchants He wanted to be absolutely certain he understood the scope and iht his news to the attention of the Council, as the matron mothers would doubtless expect him to have already divined the answers to any questions theyquestion, of course, was how long itarh Gracklstugh The duergar ht have covered half the dis-tance between the cities before an outpost or a far-ranging patrol detected the arrowled

Whether or not Menzoberranzan was ready, the next challenge to the city gathered in the sar realhed and decided that hethe Council what he&039;d seen sooner rather than later He rose with one sed his robes, and took up his favorite staff It would not do to appear before theless than co such dire news to them

He was just about to step into the stone shaft at the rear of the chamber and descend to his apart sensation So upon hi the steps he took to prevent such occurrences Gro, but stopped hi he cared to conceal, and he was curious to discover whether a duergar wizard hadyou wish to say to me," he asked the air, "or shall I simply strike you blind where you sit?"

Save your spell, ca voice in his head As I haven&039;t had eyes in my skull in over a thousand years, I doubt you could do the "To what do I owe the honor of your attentions?"

And how did you find h he was careful not to voice the question

I wish to continue the conversation we began a few days past, young Gromph, the lich&039;s voice replied I intend to expand upon reater detail some of the schemes I have in mind After all, if I am to ask you to trust me, then I suppose I must extend you a token of trust first

"Indeed Well, I would be happy to oblige you, but I have urgent business with the Council Perhaps we could take up this conversation a little later?"

Grolanced around the room, and his eyes fell on the crystal orb in the chareen opalescence

Ah, of course, the archainst hostile divinations are weakened by the transparency of ainst such occur-rences without ha my own efforts

I fear I must speak with you now, Dyrr pressed I will not delay you for very long, and I believe you will be glad you listened tofeazed up at the unseen presence watching hi a creature like Dyrr into his conjuring cha he cared to do on a whi Gromph wished to hear, it was true that the on his arrival He tapped his finger on thegreat wooden staff at his side, considering care-fully He had no wish to give offense to Dyrr if it could be avoided, and after long centuries of undeath it was hard to say what the lich ht not find offensive Besides, Groical defenses lay within his reach

"Very well, Lord Dyrr Though I really must insist that we keep our conversation short, as ent"

The air began to seethe and hue, and with a sudden crack of sound, the ancient lichdrow stood before hihty implement made from four adamantine rods twisted around each other and bound at head and heel A small buckler of black metal in the shape of a derin hovered in the air at his elbow Dyrr did not bother with his living guise, and stood revealed as a horrid skeleton with eyes as black as death

"Greetings, Arch you," the lich said He fixed his blank sockets on Gromph "What is it that drives you to seek an audience with theGromph?"

"With all due respect, Lord Dyrr, I believe that is a matter for their ears, not yours Nohat offer do you have for me that cannot wait?"

"As you wish, then," Dyrr said "An array dwarves have apparently heard of our troubles and have decided to take advantage of the opportunity this offers"

"Yes, I know," Gromph snapped "It is for this very reason that Ielse?"

He started toward the plain stone shaft leading down into his apartments

"I find that I am pleased that my news did not surprise you," the lich said "If you had not known of the duergar army, I would have had to make sure that it did not co" Dyrr turned to face Gro sound of bones rubbing together "Youa time when you must make a decision The time has come to do so"

Gromph stopped in his tracks and turned around carefully He&039;d hoped that wasn&039;t the lich&039;shim, but it seee wished him to or not

"A decision, Dyrr?"

"Do not play at ent for that All you need do is withhold your report for a few more days, and you can rush over to panic the ar army on our doorstep In fact, my plans will be well served if you do so at a time and in a manner convenient to me"

"That would place the city in peril," Gro Gromph I mean to impose soreat assistance todays, or "

"I see," said Gro his options He could feign accept-ance, and do as he wished anyway, but that would certainly invite the lich&039;s wrath at the tiht, which would likely result in a deadly contest on the spot to deterree in earnest, he thought Who&039;s to say that we ainst the city into useful chaos, valu-able progress? There will doubtless be treed froer city in the end, a city purged of the ruthless tyranny of the sadistic priestesses and instead governed by the cold, passionless intelligence of pragmatic wizards Every cruelty could be made to servea rational purpose, every excess curbed to produce a city whose strength was not spent on its own internecine strife Would not such a city be worthy of his loyalty?