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When the duergar sahere the two droere going, they began yelling in rage Fro to target the two dark elves, but Ryld pulled Halisstra inside the protection of the covering that hung partially out over the enclosed area There was a door in the wall to his back, but it appeared stout He tried it, and as he suspected, it was locked Several of the firepots had landed inside the little courtyard, but the warrior and the priestess were far enough back away froer
"Won&039;t they ever run out of those things?" Halisstra corasp the top of the wall
Pulling out his crossbow, he waited until a head appeared then fired, catching the gray dwarf directly in the face The humanoid shrieked and toppled backward
"Eventually," he replied, reloading, "but let&039;s not stick around to see how long"
"Where should we go? We want to be able to find the others again, right?"
"Yes We need to get to - "
Ryld cut his words off short as several screams erupted from the other side of the wall It was only then that he realized that firepots were raining down on that side rather than on theirs
"What the - ?" he said, and scooted forward to the edge of the overhang
Cautiously, he peered up to the roofline It appeared that the duergar who had been there were gone Then, in an instant, he spotted a drow for another firepot down before ducking out of sight again Ryld began to laugh
"What is it?" Halisstra asked, there "What do you see?"
"It&039;s Valas," Ryld replied, pointing "He&039;s taken care of our snipers for us"
Ryld placed his fingers ave a shrill whistle A similar whistle emanated from above a moment later
"He knoe know he&039;s up there," Ryld said "Let&039;s save your spell for later and go join hio," the weaponsbeside the priestess, "let me see your arm"
He exah in her shoulder that he would have to force it out the other side
"This will have to wait until Quenthel can heal it However"
Before she could protest, Ryld snapped the protruding end off
"Goddess!" Halisstra grunted as she jerked fro her eyes shut
She reached her other hand up, but Ryld grabbed her arm and held it away
"Don&039;t," the warrior said "You&039;ll only , Halisstra shook her head
"No," she said "I can heal it Just let me - "
She pulled her ar a wand
"Push it out," she said, taking the broken end of the bolt and biting down on it
Ryld co to shove the head of the boltthrough with the other In one clean, quick motion, the shaft was out Before she could jerk away from him, Ryld pulled it completely free
Halisstra sobbed once, then she spat out the splintered shaft, waved the wand, and uttered a trigger phrase The bleeding stopped instantly and the wound closed The priestess sagged back and closed her eyes in relief
"Let&039;s go," Ryld said, reaching out to help her to her feet, "before those fires burn out and the grays are over this wall"
"Wait," Halisstra said, and produced a second wand from inside herpii "Let&039;s make it a little harder for them to shoot at us"
Ryld arched his brow at her, puzzled Quickly, she invoked the power of the wand twice, and the two dark elves were completely invisible
Ryld reached out and found the priestess He took her hand
"So we don&039;t get separated," he explained
Together, the two drow rose upward, watching as duergar alternated between scattering fro down on the ineffectually at the scout with their crossbows As they neared the top, Ryld pulled out Splitter and sliced through the netting, parting the reatsword He and Halisstra passed through the hole and settled to the rooftop near where Valas knelt, peering over the edge
"We owe you one," Ryld said to the scout as he e to avoid any stray crossbow bolts
The roof was covered with the bodies of a good half dozen gray dwarves
Valas glanced over to where the warrior&039;s voice had come from but didn&039;t react otherwise
"I saw you co the long way around," he said, rising up to throw the last of his firepots "When I saw these cretins here, laughing and throwing these things down, I knew you were in trouble"
"Let&039;s get out of here," Ryld suggested "Do you knohere the others are?"
"I think they got up on the roofs on the other side of the square," the scout replied, dusting off his hands and backing away froe "We&039;ll find thelory when they run into so, so we can track them that way"
Ryld turned to follow the scout
"Too true," he said
The three dark elves made theirway across the rooftops until they came to another side street a little farther ahead of where they&039;d originally been separated Valas cliaudily decorated shop that had plenty of hand- and footholds, while Ryld and Halisstra descended by their custoround, the invisibility , and the scout took the fore as the three of the their way back toward the an to vibrate
"What in the Underdark?" Ryldhimself as the street bounced beneath hisfeet "What is that?"
"I don&039;t know, but it&039;s big," Valas replied He looked over at Halisstra "Do you have any clue?" he asked her
Halisstra shook her head, but she had a worried look on her face
"Let&039;s not stay and find out," she said
Valas nodded and proceeded out into thein both directions, he had to reach a hand out to stabilize hier
"Oh, no," Halisstra said, her voice stricken
Ryld looked over at her and asked, "What? What is it?"
"Oh, by the Dark Mother," the priestess said, putting a hand to her mouth in terror "They summoned one"
"Summonedwhat? " Ryld demanded
"One of those," Valas said from the warrior&039;s other side, and when Ryld turned to look, he saw the scout pointing
The weapons master turned to peer in the direction his companion indicated and saw a spider the size of the entire square cla his knees go weak
"Oh, no"
Pharaun knew that with his ically enhanced boots he could easily outrun the other drow, and that&039;s precisely what he did The wizard sprinted ahead, careful toweb street as the colossal spider pursued them He had but a handful of spells left, and there was little if anything left in his repertoire that e arachnid A far better bet, he decided, was tomist that would allow him and the others to hide and sneak ahile the spider was distracted - buthe didn&039;t dare stop to weave the spell
"Pharaun!" solanced over in ti in theslack-jawed at the massive spider behind him
He veered in their direction and darted into the shadow of the alley Only then did he stop to catch his breath
"I&039;ve neverseen anythinglike it," the wizard panted "Danifae called it aguardian spider"
"Yes," Halisstra said softly, still staring at it "The matron mothers must have called it - Oh, by the Dark Motherit&039;s su another one!"
Pharaun turned to see what Halisstra was talking about, looking past Jeggred and Quenthel as they ca for all they orth, with Danifae li the about with its front liate opened up in front of the spider, as large as the creature itself Through the hazy hast, as a second h and onto the street The portal shut quickly behind it
"Oh, no," Quenthel murmured "How many times can they do that?"
"I don&039;t know," Halisstra said from somewhere behind the wizard
"Once is too et out of here"
He spun away from the massive arachnids, ready to sprint in the opposite direction
"Wait!" Halisstra cried, pointing
Thebadly and had not been able to keep up As the second spider passed through the portal, it appeared on the opposite side of the battle captive She was trapped between the two creatures, and was sprawled in the middle of the street as well
"She&039;s hurt!" Halisstra cried
She took a tentative step forward to go to the aid of her attendant
"Don&039;t be a fool," Ryld said, grabbing the priestess by the aret yourself killed, too"
Halisstra jerked herself free and took another step out into the open
"I don&039;t care," she said "I&039;hter of House Melarn dashed across the open area to where her servant was struggling to regain her feet
The spiders sensed the an to close in