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Ryld crouched in the shadows of a great tree with a trunk so thick and tall it ht have been the forest&039;s Narbondel Splitter rode between his shoul-ders, virtually unused in the company&039;s most recent battle He leaned out a little and carefully peered into the dappled et With Pharaun he&039;d waited quietly to guard the party&039;s backtrail, hoping to turn the tables on the elves and hu After several valiant atte the drow to close combat, the surface elves and their human allies had learned to respect the dark elf party&039;s skill and ferocity They soon fought a slow and stealthy battle of arrows in the dark, punctuated with quick ambuscades and quicker retreats
An arrow hissed in the dark Ryld jerked back just in tilimpse a white-feathered shaft fly past, so close to the tree trunk that its fletching kissed the bark Had he relied on the tree for cover, the expertly aih the eye
"No point waiting any longer, now," Pharaun whispered
The wizard had greeted Quenthel&039;s order to lay an ambush with a dis-tinct lack of enthusiasm, and he wasn&039;t at all unhappy to call the effort a failure and rejoin the rest of the band He estured in a peculiar fashion, concentrating
In a htened and e that will uard here, but you and I are invisible to our antagonists Follow me quietly, and stay close
Ryld nodded and moved off stealthily just behind the wizard He took one last glance at the desolate forestbehind the if the wizard&039;s trick would work
Halisstra is back there soht Most likely dead
The surface dwellers had shown no interest in taking prisoners, and in the logical part of his mind Ryld simply wrote off her loss as another casualty of battle, just as he ht account for the untih battles over the years to under-stand that warriors die, but despite that, he found Halisstra&039;s loss strangely unsettling
Pharaun paused, turning in a slow circle as he searched for son of the rest of the company or any foes still on their trail Ryld held still and listened A gentle wind hed in the branches overhead Leaves rustled, and branches creaked A s that er - or Halis-stra&039;s return
Stupid to hope for such a thing, he told hi troubles you? motioned Pharaun
No,the weapons master replied
The wizard studied hi on his handsome face
Tell me you&039;re not worried about the female!
Of course not, Ryld replied I&039;m concerned only because she&039;s been a valuable co without her skill at healing But I am not concerned on any other account I aned It does not matter, I suppose
He started to say more, but at that moment a soft rustle behind theether, Ryld&039;s hand stealing to Splitter&039;s hilt as he aiht shadows Valas Hune suddenly appeared Of all the coan D&039;aerthe seemed almost as skilled asthe surface dwellers in the patient cat-and-ht of any of our foes? the scout asked
No, but soh of Ryld to shoot an arrow,Pharaun replied Since they seeuess where ere, we left an illusion and can of Halisstra? Ryld asked
No Nor you, then? Valas replied
Perhaps half an hour ago we heard sounds of fighting from back down the trail It went on for a couple of ned
"There it is,then," Valas muttered under his breath "Well, co, and if we can&039;t aer they keep us here, the more likely it is that ht"
The scout led the way as he hurried through the trees and brush,swiftly and silently Pharaun and Ryld could not ic seemed an adequate ruse, since they encountered no more hidden archers or spearmen In a few hundred yards they came to a se boulders There they found Quenthel,Danifae, and Jeggred lying loatching vigilantly for any sign of a renewed attack
"Did you surprise the archers?" Quenthel asked
"No They located us quickly, and avoided a fight," Ryld replied He ran a hand over his stubbled scalp and sighed "This is not a good battle-field for us We can&039;t bring the surface elves to grips, not with the advan-tage they have in this terrain, but if we don&039;t do anything, they&039;ll eventually surround us and cut us to pieces with arrows"
Valas nodded in agree to find and flank us now We&039;ve got a few ht soon Ten red "We killed a dozen of theo when they stole up on us from behind Now that we know the day-walkers are out there, we&039;ll slaughter them in heaps"
"The next assault will most likely consist of a rain of arrows from archers on&039;t even be able to see," Valas said "I doubt that the surface dwellers will oblige us by lining up for us to kill Worse yet, what if the rangers sent for help? The next attack ht come at daybreak with two or three times the nuht of being showered with arrows and spells after the sun coin to see red snarled "So ould you do, then?"
"Withdraw," Ryld answered for the scout "Make the best speed we can and keepWith luck we&039;ll outdistance our pursuers before the sun coood place to hide"
"Or maybe we&039;ll reach territory controlled by the Jaelre," Valas added
"Whichcat-and-mouse with our friends the surface dwellers," Pharaun said "If the Jaelre aren&039;t fond of visitors"
"It doesn&039;t matter if they are or not," Quenthel said "We came to speak to their priest, and ill do so, even if we have to cut our way through half their House to do it"
"Your suggestion is not very encouraging, Master Hune," Danifae said She bled freely froht arh her mail and transfixed her upper arm As she spoke she worked aardly with one hand to bind the wound "What happens if we fail to outpace our enemies? They seem well able to keep up with us in these damnable woods"
"One moment," Ryld said "What about Mistress Melarn? She&039;s back there somewhere"
"Most likely dead already," Valas said with a shrug "Or a prisoner"
"Shouldn&039;t we make sure of that before we leave her?" the weapons ic of that sort we have left to us Common sense dictates - "
"Common sense dictates that we don&039;t waste time and blood on a corpse," Quenthel interrupted "No one came after me when - "
She stopped herself, then stood and walked over to help Danifae cinch her bandage
"Our mission lies ahead of us, not behind," the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith said "The quest is more important than any one drow"
Ryld rubbed his hand over his face and glanced around the co hi of his armor Pharaun stared at Quenthel with an expression that made it clear the wizard noted the priestess&039;s hypocrisy, if nothing else She had, after all, spentto e the renewed attention of Lolth
Danifae stared off into the woods behind the to argue the point on behalf of her mistress
Finally Quenthel turned to Pharaun and said, "Perhaps our skilled wizard has soe these cursed day-walkers fro too closely?"
Pharaun stroked his chin, and thought
"Our chief difficulty in these circuth, "lies in the fact that our antagonists are able to use this ter-rain to their advantage, and ourdis advantage Should a forest fire suddenly arise, the shed and interrupted, "I&039;m afraid you know little of sur-face forests, Master Mizzrye you with a forest fire now Try again in a few months, after summer has dried them out"
"Oh," the wizard replied, "I can see that&039;s true formundane fire"
"You won&039;t be able to prevent fire fro him some anxiety
"Well, I can&039;t be certain they won&039;t, but my fires will burn in the manner I choose," Pharaun said "As Master Hune observed, the forest is dah that the trees won&039;t catch unless directly affected byhow and when the fires begin"
Quenthel thought for a moment, then said, "Very well, you hten and he stepped away fro control of himself
The Master of Sorcere stood and reached into a pouch at his belt to withdraw a tiny silk purse He eht Pharaun studied the forest, turned to sense the wind, and spoke his spell quickly, casting the powder into the air Bright crihter and esture, Pharaun scattered the burning reat, wide arc of the forest before hiround, it flared into life, growing into a spiderlike shape fully as large as a man&039;s head Wreathed in criround,deeper into the trees Whatever they touched smoldered at first, then burst into flame The as indeed wet, and the flames were smoky and slow to spread - but Pharaun had conjured hundreds of the spider creatures The living rown trunks with a peculiarly savage ferocity, almost as if the presence of so much timber had provoked theood," Pharaun murmured "They like treesthey truly do"
"The fire&039;s too slow to burn our pursuers," Quenthel observed
"I&039;ve never heard of a surface elf who&039;d allow a fire such as this to burn unchecked in his precious forest," Pharaun said with a suishing the flaer, and smiled
"It may serve, then," she said "Master Hune, take the lead I mean to reach House Jaelre before we&039;re troubled by the surface dwellers again"
Kaanyr Vhok folded his well-muscled arms and frowned
"How many this time?" he asked
Kaanyr surveyed the afteruard and a titanic purple worth The as dead, hacked to death by dozens of the half-demons soldiers, but a handful of the Sceptered One&039;s troops lay torn and crushed by the monster they had killed
"Seven, my lord, but we slew the beast, as you can see"
The tanarukk captain called Ruinfist leaned on his huge greataxe, spattered with the foul juices of the creature The orc-de before, and was encased in a locked battle-gauntlet that served as a better weapon than the da in the rock," Ruinfist continued, "but it ca and dropped on the you here to slaywarriors to this spot to feed whatever monster happens by This was a battle best avoided, Ruinfist These seven warriors won&039;t be with us e meet the dark elves, will they?"
"No, rowled He lowered his head "I will tell the patrol leaders to do what they can to avoid needless battles"
"Good," said Kaanyr He offered the tanarukk a hard grin and clapped the creature on the shoulder "Save your axes for the drow, Ruinfist We&039;ll be on theht flared in the tanarukk&039;s eyes, and the derowled in assent and trotted off to go find his fellow captains
"You did not discipline hi out of the shad-ows "Mercy is not a quality I am accustomed to in you, love"
The cambion lord turned at her approach
"Sometimes," he replied, "one soft word serves the purpose of two hard ones Knohich to choose and when is the art of leadership" Kaanyr nudged one of his dead warriors with his toe, and smiled "Besides, how can I take offense at a show of the very fighting spirit I&039;ve worked so hard to instill in ion? It&039;s the nature of a tanarukk to throw hi"