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Triel frowned She was not accusto her actions openly scrutinized by anyone, but if she couldn&039;t survive the criticism of her family, how could she hope to cow the other matrons?

"Given the unusual situation," Triel replied, "I felt it wisest to remain close to the city"

"Perhaps The problem is simple, of course - if the army is defeated, the blame will naturally attach to you If the army triuo"

"As well as Zal&039;therra and Andzrel," Triel pointed out "I aduess reatthe Queen of Spiders While Sos&039;Umptu watched, Triel perforoddess&039;s rites as closely as you oddess has not observed us for far longer, Triel found herself thinking

She hurriedly thrust the blasphe so irreverent could ferment in her head Shepractice, returning her attention to her sister

"We are confronted by yet another challenge," Triel said "The Masters of Sorcere clamor for Groes on Sorcere&039;s throne as we liked forthe value of supporting the candidate of another House for the position It ht beexpedient"

Sos&039;Umptu&039;s eyes widened by the thickness of a blade, and she said, "You seek my counsel?"

"As Gromph has absented himself, and Quenthel is far away, I find that the children of my formidable mother are in short supply Very few females - and even fewer ht us" Triel snorted in irritation "Not even all our siblings, for that th and cruelty, and Vendes was simply murderous I have need of a sharp mind, a subtle mind, trained by my mother, and it occurs to " Triel moved a half-step closer and hardened her ex-pression "Understand that you advise me at my pleasure, and do not mis-take consideration for indecision I will brook no questioning of ht to rule"

Sos&039;Umptu nodded and said, "Very well I think we should presuhtly abandoned his duties, and there are at least two reasons soht have killed hie hi wizard of House Baenre If the fore next will either be the culprit, or the next target Why should we hurry to place a Baenre wizard weaker than Gromph into that position, when there is at least soht lose whomever we pro such an important post to an-other fa another skilled wizard even less," Triel er tie with another House by allowing theet of whatever poas strong enough to destroy Gromph"

"I don&039;t understand," Sos&039;Umptu replied "You seekallies? "

"It occurs to reat House of middle rank, perhaps two," said Triel "It seeainst any effort by the Second or Third Houses to rally the rest in coainst us"

Sos&039;Umptu stroked her chin and said, "You believe erous as that? Mother would never have agreed to such a thing"

"Mother lived in a different tiain"

Triel fixed her eyes on her sister until the priestess dropped her gaze Sos&039;U If she joined forces with Quen-thel, or maybe a cabal of the more capable cousins such as Zal&039;therra, she would be a threat to Triel, but until then she could be trusted - within reason

"What if Gromph&039;s assassination was an attack on House Baenre," Triel asked, "and not sie?"

"In that case, ould be well advised to raise another Baenre wizard over Sorcere Failing to do so would make us seem weak, and if the other Houses perceive us as vulnerable, theyyou fear"

"Your advice does not provide rated "And I am concerned, not afraid"

"There is another possibility," Sos&039;Ue of Menzoberranzan for as long as possible For that matter, spread the story that you have sent him off on a special er we delay, the more likely it is that events will make the circumstances of his disappearance clearer If the Army of the Black Spider finds victory in the tunnels to the south, then your position h that you can do as you ith the arche&039;s post"

Triel nodded It was a sound piece of advice Though she hated to adht face a chal-lenge for the leadership of the House, it didn&039;t hurt her to begin strengthening her own ties to Sos&039;Uet

The door to the chapel creaked open, and a pluant black robes entered He rese so much as a housecat that had been fed too much, satisfied with his own superiority Nauzhror Baenre was Triel&039;s first cousin once removed, the son of one of her mother&039;s nieces His familiar, a hairy spider as well fed as the wizard himself, perched on Nauzhror&039;s shoulder He was accounted a Master of Sorcere, the only Baenre so recognized other than old Gromph hier than Gro an insouciant s Try as shethe robes of the Arche of Menzoberranzan

"You sent forto ed in a reat importance and secrecy, and will return to resue of Menzoberranzan in due ti to allow the Masters of Sorcere to designate a sub-stitute to attend to the responsibilities of the position You will support the best candidate frorach Dyrr"

Nauzhror&039;s smirk failed hiht that per-haps I should assume the - "

"Are you Groht have been soft in appearance, but his eyes betrayed a hard and calculating e&039;s equal, Matron Mother, I would have chal-lenged hi up to stroke the spider that sat on his shoulder "In time I expect to equal and perhaps surpass his skill, but I must study the Art for ht Consider this, then," Triel said "Whoineered Gromph&039;s disappearance will most likely make short work of you if you presue of Menzoberranzan The day may come when you realize your ambition, cousin, but that day is not today"

Nauzhror did not hesitate to incline his head and reply, "Yes, Matron Mother I will do as you co House Wizard of House Baenre, Nauzhror If it turns out that my brother is no more, you will hold the position in earnest, but for now I have need of your spells and counsel Settle your affairs in Sorcere for the tiht here"

Nauzhror genuflected and said, "I thank you for your confidence in my abilities, Matron Mother"

"My confidence in your abilities extends exactly this far, cousin: Do not get killed," said Triel "As of this moment, any male with the least ap-titude for wizardry in House Baenre is yours to train We need a cadre of skilled arcanists to equal those fielded by Del&039;Aro or Xorlarrin"

"Such a collection of talent cannot be produced overnight, Matron Mother It will be the work of years to th in wizardry"

"Then it is a work best begun immediately"

Triel studied the corpulent wizard and found herself hoping against hope that her House&039;s future did not rest in his oily hands

"There is one thing more, Nauzhror," she said as the wizard stepped away "Consider it your first duty as House Wizard" Trielhim to smile into her face "You will find out what has happened tocorridor, Jezz and Valas at his heels Danifae helped Quenthel to stagger along behind theht, and ee hall or ballroo monstrosity in the form of a chitin-covered orb six feet across, its ten eyestalks writhing as it hurled spell after spell at Pharaun and Jeggred The wizard stood encased in a globe of y, some kind of de-fensive spell that protected hired stood iriled to throw off the influence of some baneful spell or another

"Persistent insects," the beholder snarled as it caught sight of Ryld andthe others "Leave h an open archway, retreating to an-other portion of its lair

Pharaun turned wearily to face the others One side of his clothing was spattered with s holes, where soue

"Ah, I see my worthy companions have at last elected to join ht ainst a red?" Quenthelspell of soic in my duel If you can free him, please do so I wouldn&039;t want to be selfish, and keep the beholder all to myself"

"Shut up, Pharaun," Danifae rasped "We have to finish the beholder, quick There&039;s a pit fiend and a dozen ht between the two"

The wizard griht flickered in his eyes as he looked at Danifae, then at Jezz the Laical tome is this much trouble, perhaps we should keep it for ourselves," the Master of Sorcere observed

"Tzirik will not share the results of his divinations with you if you betray us," the Jaelre said simply "Decide what is more important to you, spider-kisser, and do it quickly"

"Stop it, Pharaun," Ryld said

He red stood frozen, and laid Splitter along-side the draegloth to break the enchantment that held hihtening

"One probleic that can keep the devils off our backs long enough for us to defeat the beholder?"

The wizard answered, "No, they&039;d be a us in just a moment, and that would be a scene, wouldn&039;t it? The - wait a moment, I have an idea We won&039;t keep out the devils In fact, we&039;ll let them in"

Infernal power crackled and snapped in the roo my wall," Jezz said "Explain quickly, Menzoberranyr"

Pharaun began chanting a spell, and weaving his hands in the arcane gestures necessary to shape and control his o I&039;ve covered us all with a veil of illusion We&039;re all devils now"

Ryld glanced down at hi different, but when he looked back up, he saw that he was standing in the middle of a company of barbed devils He recoiledtoo Faintly, as though draped in a diaphanous gauze, he could see the natural forms of the other dark elves beneath their scaly exteriors

"I can see through this," he warned

"Yes, but you&039;re expecting it," said the devil who stood where Pharaun had "This should create no small amount of confusion for our foes, but we must move quickly We want the devils to co with the beholder"

The wizard glided across the cha the beholder, and the rest of the co after Pharaun as the howls of the pursuing devils rose in the corridor behind the stair and found the beholder waiting for thee throne room The monster hesitated as the couises

"The dark elves are not here," the beholder rasped "Search the rest of the tower They must be found!"

"I&039;hed, and he hurled a blast of lightning at the creature that charred a dinner plate sized patch of its chitinous hide

At the same time, Valas fired a pair of arrows that sank into its arred, and Danifae broke into a charge

The creature recovered fro to flay the attacking droith its deadly rays and spells Jeggred was flung across the room with a telekinetic ray, while Danifae had to throw herself flat to avoid the incandescent green sweep of a disintegrat-ing ray Ryld got three steps farther before no less than three of thehi out with y streaked out tointo his torso like the blows of a dwarven war-harunted in pain, and stumbled to the hard floor

At that moment, a flood of devils cli into the room In the space of half a dozen heart-beats, the scene descended into co angry glares on the beholder, others si in confusion, surprised to find so many of their fellows already in the room

From the floor Danifae pointed up at the beholder and screeched, "The beholder is in league with the dark elves! Slay it! Eat its eyes!"

The devils paused just long enough for the beholder to scour their front ranks with deadly spells, and they set upon it, flinging theed at the beholder, while devils exploded under bolts of white fire or crumbled into lifeless stone beneath the beholder&039;s eye rays

Ryld had been about to leap up and engage the esture, and feigned injury The wizard&039;s strategy was brilliant - let the beholder and the devils battle, and their foes ht destroy each other

"Weak-minded fools!" the beholder hissed "The dark elves have de-ceived you!"

Still it wreaked terrible devastation with its spells and eye rays, trying to repel the devils&039; attack The stink of charred flesh and the eldritch sen-sation of deadlyflitted across Ryld&039;s heart, and a hulking pit fiend clihty devil stood twice as tall as a drow, its torso rippling withit like a cloak of ebon glory It took in the scene with a aze, and Ryld&039;s heart sank as he realized that the powerful fiend was not in the least deceived by Pharaun&039;s illusion

With one absent gesture the huge devil conjured up a great, seething orb of black fire in its claw, and hurled the sinister blast at Pharaun The dark blot exploded in a tremendous explosion of evil fla Pharaun a dozen feet through the air and scorching hi like ninepins

"They are right here!" the creature bellowed in a voice like a roaring forge "Destroy the dark elves!"

The pit fiend started to call up another infernal blast, but Jeggred - still veiled in hisdevilish guise - hurled into thewith abandon The great devil roared in rage, staggering under the draegloth&039;s assault

"Lolth&039;s sweet chaos," Ryld e or the pit fiend? The beholder still blasted any devil it saw, veiled drow or not, and most of the pit fiend&039;s minions had fallen already The pit fiend hared, who stood toe-to-toe with the infernal lord, giving as good as he got

The weapons lanced between the two enemies, hesitated only a h the dark, Ryld scra a tremendous cut at the beholder&039;s round body The beholderin his direction, but he tu Another eye fixed on him, and the beholder&039;s drone took on a peculiarly horrid and deadly sound Rather than wait to find out what spell the monster could cast with that eye, Ryld altered his path and bounded into the air, reaching out to sever the tentacle cleanly with Splitter&039;s glea shriek of pain The , but the weaponseye before ducking down and scra creature&039;s body None of the beholder&039;s eyes could see directly beneath its own bulk

Dropping to one knee, Ryld shortened his grip on Splitter, and thrust the greatsword up into the chitinous underside of the e ain

"Well done!" Jezz cried

The Jaelre renegade co inmissile of mystic acid that burned another eyestalk from the beholder&039;s body as the ony

Ryld yanked out his sword and rolled aside even as the beholder tried to crush hi at hi directly at the front of its body, where its great central eye had once gazed out fro but an empty socket An old lesson came to the weapons ic had to blind itself in order to do so

The lesser eyes flailed and twisted on their tentacles, trying to focus on Ryld The weapons et at the same moment With one swift bound he drove Splitter like a lance straight through the empty central socket and deep into the creature&039;s alien brain With grireatsword in and out, side to side, while dark gore spurted and streareat shudder, its jaws snapped shut, and its waving eyestalks - those that relanced up and saw another devil closing on hih the illusion, and he snatched out his short sword to gut the fiend as it threw itself on hi out all over hi corpse aside, wrenching his sword out of the creature&039;s ed Split-ter clear of the beholder e&039;s eye with the left He shook his head to clear his eyes of the blood of his foes

By the charound beneath another terrible spell fro coluht have incinerated hiht if not for the half-dered screeched and rolled across the floor, trying to s eain, Dan-ifae appeared in front of it and dealt the gered and flared its wings for balance - and Valas buried three arrows in its back, sinking each shaft feather-deep between the fiend&039;s shoulder blades

Ryld started forward cautiously, preparing to engage the devil lord in his own turn, but Pharaun, blistered and s, rose from the spot where the devil&039;s fireball had blasted him, and lashed out with a brilliant spray of iridescent colors that caught the pit fiend as it turned to confront the archer A green ray carved a deep, black, boiling wound in the center of the pit fiend&039;s torso, while a virulent yellow ray exploded with crackling arcs of electricity as it grazed the devil&039;s hip Thecorpse The chamber fell silent as the echoes of its thunderous fall died away

Pharaun picked hi one arm close to his body One hand and part of his face weretouch of the beholder&039;s disintegration ray, while his robes s effects of the dark fireball the pit fiend had conjured The other dark elves slowly relaxed their guard, glancing around in some surprise to find notheir number Quenthel fu wand, which she began to use to repair her own injuries,quiet prayers as she wielded the device

"That," said Pharaun, "was not easy We should have de more from the Jaelre for our services"

"You came to us, spider-kisser," Jezz said

He limped up to study the beholder&039;s corpse where it sprawled on the steps of the ancient dais Valas and Danifae followed, both keeping an eye on the stairwell behind them

"Spread out and search for the book," said the Jaelre "We must locate the Geildirion and withdraw before all the devils in Myth Drannor de-scend upon us"

Jezz followed his own advice at once, ransacking a set of dusty workbenches and cluttered scroll racks along the far side of the be-holder&039;s room

Ryld sat down on a step and started to scrape the blood frored, on the other hand, threw hi heavy pieces of disused furniture aside and pulling down bookshelves It occurred to Ryld that the draegloth was unlikely to find that the beholder had stashed a valuable book underneath the wreck-age of a dusty old couch, but it see out of the draegloth&039;s way

"Hold still, all of you!" Pharaun said sharply

The wizard spokea spell and co the whole roo Jezz, halted their hurried ransacking and watched hired, past Valas, and halted as he faced a blank wall He smiled in a predatory fashion, evidently pleased with himself

"I have defeated the defenses of our deceased adversary," he said "That wall is an illusion covering an antechaain, and part of the wall not far froe alcove or niche filled with ramshackle book-shelves cluttered with various old tomes and scrolls Jezz hopped aardly to the bookshelf and started rifling through the titles, shoving each into a satchel at his hip

"Ryld, Jeggred, keep watch," said Quenthel She stood straighter, and the dazed look in her eyes was gone, but she frowned as she replaced the healing wand in her pack "Valas, tidy up the beholder&039;s gold and jewels There&039;s no point in leaving the loot here, and one never knohen it ht be helpful" She looked over at the Jaelre sorcerer, who stood hold-ing a great toreen scales "Well, Master Jezz, is that the book you wished to recover?"

Jezz blew dust froh leather He slee

"The Geildirion," he breathed "Yes, this is the tome I have e caet out of here while we can I think I&039;ve had all I can stand of this place"