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Within a day of Seyll&039;s ht have been better off going with the Eilistraee priestess and feigning conversion It y unlikely to reunite her with her comrades, but it would have meant that she would have enjoyed shelter, food, and the opportunity to perhaps regain her equip woods As dawn approached, she could find no better shelter than a sh boulders and bare trees Shivering, she shrugged off her stolen backpack and searched it thoroughly, hoping against hope that she had somehow overlooked some key implement or a scrap of food

Seyll and her followers had not anticipated a wilderness sojourn of ear than Halisstra would have, had she decided to venture out to a well-known cavern a mile or two from Ched Nasad They certainly hadn&039;t equipped themselves for the convenience of their captive&039;s escape

With the crossbow she&039;d taken fros at her coa she&039;d not seen anything larger than a bird Even if she did succeed in killing so for her dinner, she had noto sus-pect that the forest itself conspired against her

She was reasonably sure that she&039;dwest after her escape fro when she said they were near the spot where Halisstra had been captured, the Melarn priestess was no hts&039; march from the small river Pharaun had described in his vision Since the river ran south to north soet towest

Halisstra tried to keep the sunset and moonset ahead of her, and a little to her left, since they&039;d be soathered froate the woods over the past few days Of course, she had no way of knohether to turn upstream or downstream when she did reach Pharaun&039;s river, since she couldn&039;t be sure that she&039;d struck the stream at the spot the wizard antici-pated For that matter, she was unlikely to know for certain whether she&039;d found the right stream at all She&039;d already crossed a dozen small brooks in a day and a half, and while she didn&039;t think any of them could prop-erly be called a river, she sih experience of the sur-face world to be sure

"Of course, that all presu in circles for hours," Halisstrato do would be to abandon the notion of searching for the Jaelre, and pick the straightest course out of the forest she could find Sooner or later, she , borrow, or steal food and other supplies - or charuide who could lead her to the Jaelre

She closed her eyes, trying to build a mental picture of Cormanthor and the lands around it She was in the eastern part of the forest, she knew - so was her best course east, toward the rising sun? There was little on that side of the forest except for the huraphy Or was she better off turning south? Several civilization seeer trek to reach the eaves of the forest North she ruled out at once, since she was fairly certain that Elventree lay in that direction Any way she went, she would be turning her back on the Jaelre and her sacred oddess would consent to answer rumbled

When she realized what she&039;d said, she couldn&039;t help but glance around and put a hand to her mouth Lolth did not look kindly on complainers

She passed a cold, wet, andplace, drifting in and out of Reverie More than once she wished she&039;d had the presence of uide her to the Jaelre, or at least give up her cloak and pack before dashing off in a panic Lord Dessaer&039;s rangers were most likely on her trail, of course, and they would not show her ain Even so, Halisstra was beginning to feel that a quick execution by the surface elvesand lonely death by starva-tion in the endless forest

At nightfall she rose, gathered her belongings, and scra place She stood on the forest floor, looking toward the di-rection she reckoned west, then south, and west again Southa hu herself to abandon the hope of rejoining her comrades Better to try one more march west, and if she still hadn&039;t found Pharaun&039;s river by dawn, she&039;d think about giving up the effort

"West, then," she said to herself

She walked for a couple of hours, trying to keep the h she felt it rather than saw it The night was cold, and high thin clouds scudded by overhead, driven by a fierce blast of wind that didn&039;t reach down to the shelter of the trees The woods were cold and still, probably pitch black by a surface dweller&039;s standards, but Halisstra found that the diffusesilver shadow She paused to study the sky, trying to gauge whether she was al-lowing the e to affect her course toowater

Carefully she stole forward, trotting softly through the night, and she eed at the bank of a wide, shallow brook that splashed over a pebbly bed It ider than any she&039;d seen yet, easily thirty to forty feet, and it ran froht

"Is this it?" she breathed

It seeh, and it was about where she&039;d expected to find it - a march and a half from the place where she&039;d been captured Halis-stra crouched and studied the sater, thinking If she ht follow the stream into some desolate and unpopulated portion of the woods and die a lonely death of hunger and cold Then again, her prospects weren&039;t very bright no matter what she did Halisstra snorted to herself, and followed the streaed another ht&039;s walk and the cold air er, and she resolved to stop and ht meal of whatever supplies she had left Halis-stra shook her pack off her shoulder and started to look around when an odd whirring sound fluttered through the air Without even thinking about it, Halisstra threw herself flat on the ground - she knew the sound too well

Two s into a nearby tree trunk, the other glancing from her armored sleeve Halisstra rolled behind the tree and quickly sang a spell of invisibility, hoping to throw off her assail-ants&039; aiain at the bolt It was s; the bolt of a drow hand crossbow

Several stealthy attackers h the wood, their pres-ence indicated only by the occasional rustle of leaves on the ground or a low signaling whistle Halisstra carefully stood, still hiding behind the tree

In a low voice she called, "Hold your fire I killed the Eilistraeen priestess who carried these arms I serve the Spider Queen"

Her voice carried the hint of abae&039;qeshelsong that gave her words an undeniable sincerity

Several drow stalked closer, their feet rustling softly in the underbrush Halisstra caught sight of theh the moonlit forest like panthers They peered into the darkness, searching for her, but her spell concealed her well enough

She set her hand to the hilt of Seyll&039;s sword and shifted slightly to ready her shield in case they found a way to defeat her invisibility

One of the drow in front of her paused afor you"

"Looking for me?" Halisstra said "I seek an audience with Tzirik Can you take ers flashed quickly, signing to each other After a htened and lowered his crossbow

"Your coo," he said "You were separated fro that Quenthel and the others had done nothing to make en-emies of the Jaelre, Halisstra decided to answer honestly

"Yes," she said

"Very well, then," the stranger replied "High Priest Tzirik ordered us to find you, so we&039;ll take you back Why, and what becomes of you there, is up to him"

Halisstra allowed her invisibility to fade, and nodded The Jaelre drow fell in around her and set off at a quick pace toward the south, following the streaht have had no idea where she was, but the Jaelre seeh In less than an hour, they caht The stream passed a stone&039;s throw froht stream, Halisstra noted with sohts and veered only a couple of ht about ould have happened if she&039;d crossed the streaht made her shiver

The Jaelre scouts led Halisstra into the ruined keep, past watchful guards who crouched in hidden places and kept an eye on the forest all around She discovered that the place was in uards escorted her to a e fire and an array of hunting trophies, nize She waited for a long tirier and thirstier, but eventually a short, solidly built male of middle years appeared, his face covered in a ceremonial black veil

"Lucky me," he said in a rich voice "Twice in three days servants of the Spider Queen have called upon in to wonder if Lolth wishes me to reconsider my devotion to the Masked Lord"

"You are Tzirik?" Halisstra asked

"I a her "And you hter of House Melarn, Second House of Ched Nasad I understand that my companions are here"

"Indeed they are," Tzirik said He offered a cold sh I see you wear the arms of a priestess of Eilistraee How did you come by them?"

"As I told your warriors, my company was attacked by surface elves soo My companions escaped the attack, but I was captured and taken to a place called Elventree There, a female who called herself Seyll Auzkovyn called on ht to indoctrinate me in the ways of Eilistraee"

"A rather simpleminded notion," Tzirik observed "Continue, please"

"I allowed her to believe I ht be swayed," Halisstra said "She of-fered to take o out in the forest I found an opportunity to escape as we traveled to their cerelanced down at the mail and weapons she wore The naivete of the female still surprised Halisstra Seyll had not seeination, and yet she had fatally ed Halisstra

"In any event," she finished, "I took the liberty of borrowing soood people of Elventree con-fiscated my oeapons and armor"

"And now you would like to be reunited with your comrades?"

"Provided they&039;re not dead or i like that," said the priest "They asked ht of so they could do for me by way of compensation for my time and trouble If they succeed, they should return in a day or two The question is, will you be here to greet theh priest paced over by the fire and took a poker fros

"The co the surface folk told me a very unusual story," said the priest "Doubtless you&039;re think-ing to yourself, &039;How can I kno much they told Tzirik?&039; You can&039;t, of course, so the wisest thing to do would be to tell "

"My companions may not appreciate that when they return," Halis-stra said

"Your companions will never know you were here if you fail to sat-isfy my curiosity, Mistress Melarn," Tzirik said He set down the poker, and lowered himself into a seat by the fire "Nohy don&039;t you start at the beginning?"

Ryld crouched in the thick e hard not to draw breath despite the fact that he panted for air His skin burned as if liquid fire had been poured over his body, and ugly welts were already rising wherever his ebon skin was exposed to the air To stay where he was invited nothing less than a slow, agonizing death, but the vapors clung to his li his every movement The cursed beholder lurked sohtning illu arcs as it plowed through the mist The weapons master threw himself aside and fell slowly to the floor, cushioned by the clinging hty thunderclap shook the stones of the chamber and rattled his teeth in his head

"Pharaun!" he shouted "Where is the da, as needles of hot pain filled his nose and throat

"Against the east wall!" the wizard replied from some distance away

The Master of Sorcere fell at once into another spell, rushing his words as he tried to cast as quickly as possible Meanwhile the beholderthe black words of half a dozen in-cantations at once Lightning flashed again, followed by the whining shrieks of conjured ets, and the cries, shouts, and curses of his companions

Ryld finally reached the floor, where he found hi stone wall - the only land for thought, he scrabbled forward at the best speed he could, hoping to e before it burned the flesh fro and cleaving at the thick tendrils of fog with Splitter

The beholder had been waiting for theic to ascend the shaft, and it had scoured the company with every spell at its co up after us!" Jezz shouted fro quickly so that we can get e caried forward and suddenly found hi No one else stood nearby, though he could hear his co in the mists behind hi, it was apparent that the whole floor of the tower had once been a royally appointed suite of rooht have once been a plush carpet, and the walls were finished in patterns of orange and gold tile to forreen leaves for sohed, his eyes strea from contact with the noxious fuh an archway into a differ-ent chamber, but another doorway led out of the roo hells ae ahead, and the rooical fire Ryld hefted Splitter and dashed into the next rooht into the ainst a pair of lean, scaly devils alht with razor-sharp scourges and barbed tails that dripped with green venoed behind the two already in the rooht

"The devils are upon us!" Jezz cried

The Jaelre fought with a curved knife in one hand, and a deadly white spell-fla at Jezz and hammered its iron chains past the Jaelre&039;s defenses, spinning the surface drow to the floor The creature stooped over the dazed Jaelre and reached for his throat

Ryld glided forward, feinted high to bring the devil&039;s weapon up to guard its face, and crouched low to take off its leg at the knee The huge fiend roared in pain and toppled, its wings fluttering aardly as black blood spurted frorip on Splitter to finish the round, but it replied with a flurry of slashing claws and snapping teeth, while lashing its barbed tail at him so quickly that only the stoutness of his dwarven breastplate saved hi

Ryld parried furiously, battling for his life, as yet roup composed of man-sized creatures ere ar froed faces twisted in hellish glee

"Dark elves to feast on!" they gloated "Drow hearts to eat!"

"We&039;ve got to get out of here!" Danifae cried "We can&039;t hold theth, dueling the other big devil and a pair of the smaller ones whosnatched at her froo," Ryld snapped "The beholder&039;s behind us!"

He could feel deadly spells flying in the chamber behind hi chill of slaying spells that ht We&039;re split in two, fighting two dan-gerous eneroup and focus on one foe or the other, or aban-don the field all together and try again later Presu, of course, that the denizens of Myth Drannor allowed them to retreat at all More than likely, they&039;d all die here, surrounded and overwhelmed by endless hordes of blood-thirsty deh, Ryld snarled to himself We didn&039;t come all this way to be defeated here!

He redoubled his attack, stepped inside the big devil&039;s reach, and drove Splitters point through the creature&039;s scaly neck It flailed violently at hied stone and clawed at the air in-stead ofRyld The weapons e the s toward hi out a scroll fro off an abjuration that blasted several of the lesser devils back to whatever infernal realm they had crawled out of

Two more instantly replaced their banished comrades

"We have to move!" the Jaelre cried "The beholder is our eneain If they tried to flee, they&039;d be pulled down fro his way toward the door leading to the beholder, praying that the creature was not in a position to see the to blunder into another fight while one still raged

To his surprise, one of the devils on the other side of the chamber dropped out of view, and another one shrieked as a serpent-headed scourge sank its fangs into the back of its neck Struggling through the ranks of the devils, Valas and Quenthel liht The scout supported the badly injured priestess, warding her side with one of his kukris while she lashed and flailed with her deadly scourge

Danifae and Ryld took advantage of the devils&039; ainst their i with Halisstra&039;s healing wand at her side, while Valas drew his second knife and darted into the fray, slashing and stabbing the devils froasped "A pit fiend and a dozen more devils are just behind us"

Ryld cut down another of the barbed devils, while Danifae splattered the brains of a second across the chastar In the space of a few moments, the dark elves cleared the room of devils Jezz produced another scroll and quickly read off a spell, sealing the doorway behind Quenthel and Valas with a crackling sheet of sparking yellow energy

"That will only hold the creature for a moment," he cautioned

The Baenre looked around the chamber The fall in the shaft must have hurt her badly Blood caked the side of her head, and her eyes didn&039;t see liht

"Where&039;s the beholder," she asked, "Pharaun, and Jeggred?"

Ryld jerked his head at the archway behind hih the air

"Back there somewhere," he said "The beholder - "

He was interrupted by the sudden, sickening awareness of an over-whel unseen that seemed to shake the very stones of the toith its footfalls

"The pit fiend co for breath, her eyes ith alarood arm

Without another word, the dark elves scra into the next room heedless of the spells that thundered and crawled in the space beyond

Triel Baenre stood on a high bridge of House Baenre, gazing toward Narbondel The creeping ring of radiance that slowly clie of tilow stood near the pillar&039;s upper end, which meant that the day would soon be done Not for the first time it struck her as ironic that a race that had been driven froht alhtest use for hts in the ht was eternaland changeless in the Underdark, but it had proven somewhat useful over the years to re-member the endlesswith those who had ht a few of the surface&039;s oods down to the City of the Spider Queen

Not that many of those had visited Menzoberranzan of late War was hard on commerce

The other question that came to Triel&039;s mind as she looked out over Narbondel and the city beloas so in an hour or two to cast the spells that renewed Narbondel&039;s fiery ring? The office of arch for more than a tenday, but the Masters of Sorcere would not perer She&039;d learned that several of the more ambitious masters already maneuvered for the post Doubtless Pharaun Mizzry them if he had remained in the city, but the errand to Ched Nasad had fortunately removed the hero of the hour froht have put his fahtly and spoke over her shoulder to the loyal Baenre guards who stood a respectful distance behind her

"Send for Nauzhror," she said "Tell him I desire his counsel on a matter of some importance He reat temple of Lolth that lay in the center of House Baenre&039;s Great Mound, her attention far fros as she contemplated the multiplicity of troubles that had descended over the city in the past fewher with a cause to which she could rally the Council, and through them the dozens of lesser Houses that coth A victory in the tunnels south of the city would do much to restore House Baenre&039;s preeminence

On the other hand, another setback could be disastrous Even if Baenre reht see fit to remove House Baenre as the First House None of theether, could hope to defeat House Baenre, but what if all seven of the other Houses on the Council agreed that it was ti them?

"Lolth preserve us," Triel muttered, and shivered with true fear

In terht, and sheer wealth, the other Houses had always possessed the ithal to destroy House Baenre if they chose to unite against the First House What they had never possessed was the blessing of the goddess for an act of such impropriety If the Spider Queen returned her attention to Menzoberranzan and de-stroyed the Second through the Eighth Houses for their presumption the day after they obliterated House Baenre, well, Baenre would hardly be helped by it Without Lolth&039;s wrath to deter the aainst Baenre seemed more like an inevitability than a possibility

The trick,thorny issues such as ould be First House after Baenre&039;s fall, and teer ones

If Houses such as Xorlarrin or Agrach Dyrr could be convinced that they would advance with ainst a conspiracy of Barrison Del&039;Arainst the First House, then House Baenre could withstand alhbors

She paused at the door to the chapel, exa the notion with acute distaste Could she really feel that House Baenre neededallies?The old Matron Baenre had not governed with anyone&039;s consent She had ruled the city because she was so strong no one could conteestured at the chapel guards, who pulled open the doors and bowed before her

Her sister Sos&039;Umptu awaited her in the chapel Sos&039;Uht, but took after Triel&039;s thoughtful reserve as opposed to the willfulness of Quenthel or her unlamented sister Bladen&039;Kerst Sos&039;Umptu possessed a calculated, deliberatea feud she could not win She briefly low-ered her eyes, the esture of respect Triel&039;s position dehtened

"Any news from the army, eldest sister?" she asked in a soft voice

"Not as yet Zal&039;therra tells o ahead and seize a strategic pass in the path of the duergar arh The rest of the Army of the Black Spider follows as fast as it may"

"It is a difficult situation I wonder if perhaps you should have led the army in person"