Page 19 (1/2)
Four hours later, the coain beneath the bronze mask of Vhaeraun in the chapel of Minauthkeep Battered, filthycoats laundered Those who had lost their packs, bedrolls, or other gear carried replacements pur-chased fro Gracklstugh Halisstra felt clean, rested, and reasonably well prepared for the next step in her journey She sorely hter of House Melarn, and the thundering iven her a cen-tury past, but she still had her lyre, and Seyll Auzkovyn&039;s mail and sere not entirely useless substitutes
The sword in particular seemed a fine piece of work It carried a potent virtue of holiness that rip, but Halisstra suspected its blade would be unbearable to any fell creature who felt its bite Considering the fact that she intended to descend into the Abyss itself, where such creatures would likely set upon the co to endure the sword&039;s distasteful enchantment for a time
Tzirik had donned a suit of black ures and chased with gold filigree A wickedly spiked reat masked helm in the shape of a dey, as if he&039;d waited a long tiod hile stakes at hand
"As you know," said the priest, "there is more than one way to leave this plane of existence and venture into the dith, and I have decided that we shall travel in astral form Now, if - "
"That would require us to leave our bodies comatose while our spirits journeyed to the Abyss," Quenthel interrupted "Why would you even hope I red rumbled "He intends to have his comrades slit our throats while our bodies lie uninhabited"
The draegloth took a step forward, baring his fangs at the Vhaerau-nite priest
"I choose to travel in astral for Jeggred "First, it isspirit happened to be killed while visiting the Demonweb Pits, that person would not truly be dead - he would awaken here, unhar to destroy, after all Second, as far as I can tell, we have no real alternative I have already attempted to plane shift bodily to the Deht I believe the barrier or seal of which the Masked Lord spoke prevented the direct transference of a physical body into Lolth&039;s demesnes"
"Yet you believe you&039;ll be able to carry our astral forms there, when the realm is still sealed?" Halisstra asked
"I know of only tays to take you to the Demonweb Pits, and if one doesn&039;t work, the other"The Masked Lord himself has instructed me to take you there, so there ates or portals connecting our world with the Abyss, or the Demonweb Pits itself, I suppose you could make use of such a device"
"Show me that physical travel will not work," Quenthel said
"Step close," Tzirik said fro a certain dry amusement, "and join hands with me"
The drow shuffled close and joined hands in a circle with Tzirik, who took a place between Quenthel and Danifae, laying his left hand over their joined hands and leaving his right free to estures necessary for the spell He collected hi, powerful prayer whose unholy words filled the air with a nearly tangible darkness
Halisstra watched carefully to make certain that the priest cast the spell correctly, and as far as she could tell, he did For a rew misty and faint around them, and her body see an inch - but then she sensed through some preternatural perception an impedi again in a new place and seemed to almost jolt them back to Minauthkeep She reeled drunkenly as her senses whirled
"That happened the last tiathered in Quenthel&039;s brow, but she ed to keep her calm as she detached her hand frored
"Pharaun," the high priestess said, "what did you observe?"
The wizard raised an eyebrow, perhaps surprised to be consulted by the Baenre, and said, "It see our spirits into the Astral Plane, on&039;t be going directly from this plane of existence to the Abyss We&039;d actually traverse the astral sea and approach Lolth&039;s domain as spirits It may be that the mysterious barrier we encountered does not bar such an approach" The wizard sht explain why our conjured dee the trick either They do not travel between planes by astral projection, as they have no souls"
Quenthelto herself, folded her arms, and turned back to Tzirik
"Fine," she said "You have convinced me Where do you intend to leave our bodies?"
Tzirik walked over to one wall of the chapel and depressed a hidden stud, revealing a secret chae, but eight elegant old divans - furnishings that ht have dated back to the castle&039;s days as a hoht circlein the rooether, feet outward
"Only a handful of my people know of this room&039;s existence," said the priest, "and I have instructed the as may prove necessary You need not fear any harred, turned away froestured subtly to Pharaun and Halisstra, So if our spirits are defeated while we are astral, we return to our bodies What happens to our spirits if someone sticks a knife in our bodies?
Death, the wizard replied A cautious felloould uarded by trustworthy sorts before sending his spirit off to sorimaced, but made no other reply
The company followed Tzirik into the small room Halisstra stared with so that she was doing so but unable to look away She wasn&039;t the onlythe divans like a collection of coffins; Quenthel hts
She looked up frouard Someone I trust will be here to watch over our bodies until I return, just as so over you"
"Ah," Tzirik said "You are a dark elf indeed Do as you will"
"He ht mean to have this whole castle descend upon whored snarled "Best leave two, maybe three"
"Our sentry&039;s only duty will be to cut Tzirik&039;s throat before he&039;s over-whellanced at Ryld, then her eyes slid toward Halisstra For a moment Halisstra feared that Quenthel meant to leave her behind in order to deny her the audience she sought with Lolth, but even as her heart thud-ded in apprehension she realized that the last thing the Baenre would want - if she truly viewed Halisstra as a threat, anyway - would be a Melarn conscious and alone with her own helpless body Quenthel&039;s eyes narrowed as she weighed the sared
"You red contorted hi to sit here staring at your living corpses while you face the perils of the goddess&039;s realuard you How can I do that when you leaveme," Quenthel said "No harm can come to me in astral form It is here that I will be vulnerable, and I trust no one else with the task It loth waved all four arms in protest and said, "You of all people knohat awaits youin the Deth there"
"Cease this at once," the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith commanded Her eyes flashed, and her whip rippled and spat "It is not for you to question ation in thesilence In disgust he turned away and threw hi his pack and bandoleer Quenthel glanced at the others, and nodded at the couches
"Cooddess awaits"
Tzirik waited while the Menzoberranyr chose divans and stretched out He red
"If you will be staying here, half-demon, you should know that soil Do not cause them any trouble, and I think you will find that they will be happy to leave you alone"
Jeggred sneered in answer, and Tzirik laid hi his mace so that it lay at his side
Halisstra found that she was lying between Ryld and Danifae She glanced over at the weapons master Ryld&039;s expression was taut and nerv-ous Clearly, astral travel was so the traveling, why do we need all our weapons? he motioned to her
They&039;re part of you, she replied Your consciousness includes your belong-ings in your definition of yourself Therefore, when your soul roaine for you an astral copy of anything you have close at hand
"Reach out and take each other&039;s hands," Tzirik said "Make sure you have a good grasp I do not want to leave anyone behind"
The priest started to chant again in hisand reached out to grasp Danifae with her right hand, and Ryld with her left
Perhaps I should i drink, Ryld observed
He reached out and caught Halisstra&039;s hand in his strong grip before she could reply
Behind her, unseen on the other side of the circle, Tzirik continued his spell, speaking the harsh words of the ic with confidence and ease Halisstra felt an electric jolt race through her body fro her to Ryld and Danifae with a strange, tingling sensation A sense of detachh her, as if she&039;d all at once beco up and out of herself, drawn by so on her in a direction she could not relate to up or down, left or right The stone ceiling wavered and grew dione
Triel Baenre stalked gracefully past the ranks of her battered soldiers, her face held rigidly expressionless by nothing more than sheer iron deter-mination The exhausted troops stood at attention for her as best they could in the narrow tunnel She&039;d had Nauzhror transport her immediately to the scene of the retreat to vieith her own eyes the scope of Menzoberranzan&039;s defeat, and she found that she did not like what she had seen She did not like it all
The passage was the better part of tenfro at the Pillars of Woe to the shell of twisting passages and wild caverns known as Menzoberranzan&039;s Dominion It seemed that every second or third soldier she passed carried so there, a fellow using a broken spear shaft as a crutch against the other wall The wounded did not bother her, though What Triel found truly disconcert-ing was the fatigue and moroseness of the soldiers She&039;d expected to find them tired, of course - Andzrel had e so from the disaster of the Pillars of Woe - but she hadn&039;t expected to find her soldiers so defeated They&039;d been beaten, and they knew it
Andzrel trailed a respectful step behind theto speak until addressed
"How bad were the losses?" she finally asked, not looking at her weapons master
"For the whole arth, Matron Mother So on the fortunes of battle"
"And House Baenre&039;s contingent?"
"Ninety dead, forty-four seriously wounded," Andzrel replied "About a quarter of our strength"
"We were fortunate to save that much, Matron Mother," Zal&039;therra added "Sohtered to a male in - "
"I did not address you," Triel said
She folded her arms and tried not to let the sick horror in her stom-ach show