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"We will build a strong, well-anchored line across the e A few hundred troops should suffice for this, but ill commit a thousand The remainder of our soldiers will be held in reserve and secure various s caverns in the vicinity" Andzrel set down hisbaton and faced the assembled priestesses, his face expressionless except for the keen glitter of deterar to come to us, and break them between the Pillars of Woe When they have hurled their strength on us in vain, ill pursue thehter thear choose not to force the Pillars?" Mez&039;Barris asked, addressing Andzrel directly
"The duergar are invading our lands, Matron Mother, so the burden of action is on them If they decide not to try the Pillars, ait them out - our supply lines are much shorter than theirs In aforward and going back"
Mez&039;Barris gazed at theAndzrel&039;s answer
"Very well," she said "I want to see just how quickly we can reach the spot you have in mind Extend the march by two hours a day If we reach the Pillars of Woe in three days, we should have time to rest before battle is joined I want our fastest forces to make a dash for the Pillars, just in case There is no reason we couldn&039;t have a couple of hundred scouts at the top of that gorge in a day and a half Now, if you will excuse us, I wish to discuss with my sister priestesses the best use of our talents in the upco conflict"
Andzrel offered a shallo, and withdrew from the room Nimor fell in beside the Baenre weapons master as they left the black pavilion, flanked by a handful of other officers The tent stood in a large, round tunnel croith soldiers and pack lizards, banner after banner of var-ious Houses stretching out of sight up and down the passage
"Zhayeuard, as Matron Mother Del&039;Arrach Dyrr cavalry and make speed tomorrow and the next day Our lack of inforar army makes me nervous I&039;ll have some of the other riders join you, so that you&039;ll have a strong company to hold the pass if worse coh priestess," Ni The weaponsenchantment, would trust hih"
"Good," Andzrel said as they reached the Baenre caar somewhere they&039;re not supposed to be, report back at once I want no foolishness out of youYou are the eyes of our army"
Nimor smiled and said, "Do not worry, Master Andzrel I intend to leave nothing to chance"
Jezz the La across a se, round tower a stone&039;s throay
"There," he said "Thebeholder&039;s tower There&039;s a flight of stairs lead-ing up to the door, which we have previously found to be unlocked but guarded by deadly ical traps You&039;ll see several sh for a sh"
Ryld, who crouched just behind the Jaelre, leaned out to take a look for himself The toasruins of Myth Drannor After using Pharaun&039;s ic to speed their travel to the old elven capital and resting a few hours to pre-pare, the coh the ruins
Myth Drannor was little roith trees and vines, but once it had been soht not have been as large as Menzoberranzan or as infernally grand as Ched Nasad, but it possessed an elegance and beauty that equaled, if not exceeded, the best exalance to the rooftops
"No sign of devils," he said "Perhaps we&039;ve slain enough that they&039;ve decided not to troubleus anymore"
"Unlikely," Jezz said with a snort "They&039;ve drawn back to organize another attack, and await the arrival of ain"
"In that event, we should take advantage of the respite to do e came to do," Quenthel said She too es e our plan Pharaun, cast your spell"
"As you wish, dear Quenthel," the wizard began, "though I elares from every other member of the cohed and fluttered his hand
"Oh, very well"
The wizard straightened and carefully spoke the words of his spell, the potent syllables ringing with ible wave seemed to roll over Ryld and the others In its wake, Ryld felt strength and quickness drain frorow heavier in his hand, its glea blade suddenly dulled Ryld was no wizard, but like any accom-plished drow he had over the years arical devices and enchanthness of his armor, the deadliness of his weapons Pharaun&039;s spell te Ryld without the benefit of a single enchantest effect of all was the sudden inertness of Quenthel&039;s fearsome whip One moment the snakes hissedand writhed of their own accord, alert and vicious, and in the next they dangled like dead things from the weapons haft
"Stay close to me, if you wish to stay within the spell&039;s effect," Pha-raun said
He licked his lips nervously Within the zone of antiic he&039;d just created, he could cast no spells, and his own formidable array of enchanted devices and protections were inert, too The wizard readied his hand cross-bow, and loosened his dagger in its sheath
"I feel like I&039;on with a dinner knife," he muttered
Ryld clapped him on the shoulder and stood He sheathed Splitter and drew his own crossbow
"Yes, but your spell pulls the dragon&039;s fangs," he said
"Get ," Quenthel said
She looked more than a little uncomfortable herself Evidently she didn&039;t care for theun, she loped across the courtyard and bounded up the steps leading to the tower&039;s door The others followed, blinking in the light of the approaching dawn Ryldwatch on the ruined streets and walls behind the party, watching for the return of any of Myth Drannor&039;sthey needed was a band of blood-maddened devils to de-scend on theic
At the door of the tower, Quenthel stepped aside for Jeggred The hulk-ing draeglothinside Masonry cracked and clattered to the stone steps Quenthel followed hard on his heels, then Danifae and Valas Ryld looked around one last ti?" he asked the Jaelre
"I intend to observe only," Jezz replied "Defeating the beholder is your task, not mine If you survive, I&039;ll join you in a few minutes"
Ryld scowled, but ducked inside They were in a foyer of soht from holes in the ancient ma-sonry At the far end of the roorand and impressive hall, but the tiles of the floor were cracked and split by deep greenon the walls were littlean intricate symbol clearly etched on one block of the floor The whole ereat co lines and characters
"A symbol of discord," the wizard observed "If ere not protected by the antiic field, it would have caused us to fall on each other with murderous furybut we hardly need a syred was already by the door The draegloth opened it and quickly bounded through, followed by the others, into a round chamber not unlike the botto since collapsed, burying the ground floor in rubble and wreckage, with great wooden bea from the mess Heaps of masonry taller than a drow impededfor any sign of the monster that was supposed to lurk there The others did as well, but all was still
"I see no beholder," Jeggred said
Ryld was about to reply when so voice, "Of course not, fools I do not wish to be seen!"
An instant later the creature lashed out at theh overhead, near the top of the ruined tower, several brilliant rays of y - the deadly beams each of the monster&039;s eyes could fire in order to wound, paralyze, charrate its foes - lanced doard at the drow, followed by a great blue bolt of lightning conjured by the unseen ic&039;s source
The rays and crackling bolt of electricity abruptly winked out just over the drow&039;s heads, negated by Pharaun&039;s zone of nulldifferent rays to bear and incanting so voice, but those were no uessed at the spot fro his bolt with practiced skill A squeal of pain overhead told hiet well Valas, Danifae, and Pharaun fired too, while Jeggred snatched up a good-sized brick in one fighting claw and hurled it up into the darkness with surprising swiftness Not all of their barrage struck home, of course Even if it had been visible, a beholder&039;s thick chitinous hide could deflecta square hit on the creature when it was garbed in invisibility was more than a little difficult Still, a couple of quarrels struck hoe obviously comprehended the nature of the com-pany&039;s defense very quickly on its own Instead of striking directly at the dark elves, it turned its deadly gaze on the wreckage of the upper floors With one eye ray it burned through the base of a heavy wooden bea from the tower&039;s stone wall, and with another it seized the ti it down at Valas, as plying his short-bow to great effect The scout threw hi crushed beneath the massive timber, but lost his balance and fell a of stone filled the air The beholder instantly went to work on another wooden bea incantation and began another spell
"We need to cliher," Quenthel said "The creature is above Pharaun&039;s spell"
"Do you propose that I should jump?" Pharaun asked He ducked a head-sized chunk ofdown froic that protects us also prevents us froet at - "
"For Lolth&039;s sake," Ryld exclain!
Valas slipped and scrae The scout drew his shortbow carefully, and loosed another arrow The beholder above let out a horrible screech The eye rays winked out, and debris stopped falling from overhead
The beholder retreated back above the next intact floor, Valas signed We&039;ll have to go up and get it
Ryld studied the interior walls of the ruined towers carefully Perhaps four of the lower floors wereat least two or three intact above the ceiling of the highest floor they could see At a guess, it was at least a sixty-foot clied A skilled clie of the beams that for he cared to try
I don&039;t like the climb, he replied
Nor do I, Danifae added The creature knoe&039;re protected by anti-et to it?
"Possibly," said Pharaun At a sharp look froned, One wonders if perhaps we should have studied this situation at greater length before agreeing to the task the Jaelre set us
Pharaun, like the others,upward
The wizard craned back his head and called, "Ho! Beholder! As we are at so of an impasse, will you consent to parlay?"
Quenthel furowled
Fro voice caain
"Parlay? On what account? You have invaded my home, impudent fools"
"Pharaun - " Quenthel started
"You have a book ant," the wizard replied, ignoringthe high priestess "I guess it&039;s called the Geildirion of Cimbar Give it to us, and We&039;ll trouble you nothe offer Quenthel stared daggers at the wizard, but like the others, she listened for the be-holder&039;s reply
"The book is extremely valuable," the creature replied finally "I will not yield it up because some whelp of a dark elf demands it of me Retreat, and I will consent to spare your lives"
Quenthel snorted and said, "As if we expected anything different" She made a small wave of her hand to call the others&039; attention to her, and signed,On the count of three, Pharaun will dismiss his spell Danifae and Ryld - you will follow me up the shaft Pharaun, e reach the halfway point, you will then teleport yourself and Jeggred to the floor above and take thethe shaft Valas, you remain here and cover our ascent with your bow Come up as quickly as you can once we reach the topThe Baenre did not wait to entertain any refine her countdown at once
One, twothree!
Pharaun ic Ryld felt the arcane power of his belt, his gauntlets, and his sword flood back into his li the levitation charnia was imbued With luck, the sword&039;s ability to disrupt enchante could send their way
Quenthel and Danifae rose alongside hi sred and watched their progress, one hand on the draegloth&039;s white-furred shoulder
The ceiling of the shaft featured a circular opening at one side, clut-tered somewhat by the remnants of the old stairwell that once cli incandescent death at any e did not disappoint hi toward Ryld He parried it with Splitter, and felt a tingle in the hilt as the greatsword de-stroyed the insidious ray Beside him, Danifae yelped and swerved aside fro that arced out to sear all three dark elves, leaving the odor of charred wood and ozone in the air
Arrows hissed up fro past the weapons master as Valas fired at the unseen foe Ryld snarled in defiance and willed him-self upith more haste Another spell struck Quenthel - soic that snuffed out her levitation She flailed her arms and plummeted to the floor below Ryld reached out to catch her, but the Baenre was sih She struck the floor at the bottom of the shaft after a fall of close to forty feet Quenthel crashed into the rubble like a falling !" shouted Danifae "We&039;re ale must have reached the same conclusion Aoff the top of the shaft and trap-ping the drow beneath it
"Dalowered at the barrier and said, "Maybe we can - "
At that moment, Jezz the Lame appeared on the floor of the chah the doorway, then sla, finish it," the Jaelre called "The devils have returned in force!"
Ryld looked up at the sheet of ice covering the top of the shaft, then down again at the rubble-strewn floor Quenthel lay half-buried in the shattered ns that Pharaun and Jeggred had found their foe, but the creature&039;s barrier had ef-fectively cut the coet at the be-holder ive the monster the chance to destroy the company in detail, but Quenthel was dead or injuredbelow
"Up," Ryld decided "Going back is no good Valas, Jezz, aid Quenthel!"
He ca and struck at the icy ith Splitter, using the sword&039;s ability to rend enchantments Razor-sharp shards of ice flew from the spot he struck, but the sword failed to undo the beholder&039;s ain, with no more success
Below them, the door to the tower boomed with a heavy blow Valas quickly shouldered his bow and scuttled over the heaps oftoward the spot where Quenthel had fallen
Jezz the La the tower&039;s foyer with aHe mouthed the words of an-other spell and arrowed up into the air, leaving Valas and Quenthel on the floor of the shaft
"Forget the priestess," he called to Valas "Corimaced in frustration
"I can&039;t climb and carry her!" he snapped as a second blow at the door splintered wood and bent iron
The ancient door would not withstand another blow Valas glanced up the shaft and down at Quenthel, and reached down and unfastened her House Baenre brooch froitation, and Yngoth actually struck at the scout, but Valas scrambled back and fixed the brooch to his tunic
"I&039; to save your mistress," he barked at the whip
The scoutthe power of her own brooch to levitate away from the floor
Meanwhile, Ryld ht, then," he ainst the shaft&039;s wall, and drew Splitter back for the e, he struck the wall a treical ice even as waves of excruciating cold washed over hiain - and the sheet of ice cracked into a dozen pieces and fell away to the floor below Without waiting for the others, Ryld hurled himself up into the beholder&039;s lair