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Another foe was squared off with Halisstra, arded off a pair of stout bloith her mithral shield On the third stroke from the dark elf across from her, she used the shield to deflect the strike and throw her opponent off-balance, then swung the heavy ht into his chin There was a loud, druical concussion that was obviously much louder than the siround, his jaw shattered

Breathing heavily, Ryld surveyed the battlefield In addition to his six companions and Halisstra&039;s brother, the only ones still standing were a sar who had ceased fighting for the ar coray dwarf and the matron mother circled one another warily, as s beyond the circle of Menzoberranyr and the three re members of House Melarn

"Now is our chance," Pharaun said froo"

"No," Quenthel and Halisstra said together

"Not until she goes down," the daughter of Drisinil Melarn added

The Mistress of Arach-Tinilith nodded in agree her"

Pharaun groaned "This is hardly the tie, Mistresses"

Ssipriina feinted with her ray dwarf twisted out of the way of the attack, the drow palrayish light shot forth froar squarely in the chest The gray dwarf clutched at his chest and cried out He dropped to one knee with a groan, and Ssipriina looe at this trickery, the matron mother slammed herbut the paveain a lucky hit, but she found nothing

The gray dwarf co forward from one side as Ssipriina had turned her back to hiave the drow time to roll away fro the blade of his weapon full on her skull, it raked across the back of her shoulder with a spurt of cri prone She rolled to one side as Khorrl lifted his axe for another stroke As she came around to face hirunt, Khorrl Xornbane dropped his axe and clutched his sto death sigh

Quenthel and Halisstra both ca her wounded shoulder with her good hand Quenthel stepped toone side of the s of the snakes bit into the drow&039;s flesh and she screeched in pain, then tried to spin around and aih priestess Halisstra was ready for that, though, and she swung her mace down hard on Ssipriina&039;s hand The crunch of bone was unan to fight again, and Ryld had to duck to avoid a sword swung at him by one of the dark elves He sank to one knee and reversed Splitter, driving the point of the blade into his opponent&039;s midsection The drow threw up blood and sank to his knees, staring down at the sword in his gut Impassively, Ryld planted his boot on the other drow&039;s chest and yanked his greatsword free, turning back to see as happening between the females as the body of his foe collapsed

Quenthel had a hold of Ssipriina&039;s hair, holding her head up Both of the matron mother&039;s arms were injured, and she could barely lift the to take effect

"Stop it!" Quenthel cried, yelling at the coar and the drow began to back away, turning to look at Quenthel

"Enough!" the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith said, her voice echoing through the haze "This is pointless The city is burning, and we et out If you stay here now and try to kill your ene about your own death That is not the droay, and I cannot iar way, either"

There were ray dwarves eyed each other hatefully, but Ryld sawhat Quenthel was saying

"If you want any chance of living, then go your separate ways and get out of here, before the whole - "

The web street shook violently, tossing everyone about Ryld, already on one knee, ed to maintain his balance He peered around uncertainly The whole length of the calcified webbing was unstable, listing sharply to one side Ryld knew their tian to levitate Then he spotted what had created the upheaval as a second shock wave iant spider had descended fro toward the doard, playing out a length of web as it glided down

Daht There&039;s just no end to this

He peered around, looking for a direction to go to get clear of the approaching beasts

Pharaun appeared beside the weaponsspiders

"I think I&039;ve had quite enough of this," the wizard co rapier to disappear into his ring

Ryld saw Quenthel and Halisstra, still standing over the slowly dying Ssipriina He pointed them out to Pharaun

"They don&039;t know, yet," he said, dropping back down "We&039;ve got to warn theed to hold his balance as he rushed across the intervening space

"Spiders!"he shouted as he neared thered appeared out of the haze of s blood

"We still don&039;t knohere to go," Pharaun said, a tinge of despair in his voice as he joined Ryld "The best choice for now is siic," Quenthel commanded "Get us out ofhere!"

Pharaun spread his hands helplessly

"Believeit I&039;ve got nothing left I can&039;t conjure a gate just by willing it"

The first spider loored advanced toward it, deteriant arachnid and hisby the hand The battle captive had a large cut across her forehead, and blood was dripping down into her eyes,it difficult for her to see

"Wait!" Ssipriina said, gasping for air as the poison closed her throat "I knowof a way out Save mefrompoison"

"What?" Pharaun demanded "Where? Get us there!"

"Say it, wretch," Quenthel co matron mother replied, "Old, unuseddor Ssipriina&039;s pleas, Quenthel turned to Pharaun and asked, "Could you activate it?"

"I&039;ll damn well try," Pharaun said "Which way?"

"There" Ssipriina whispered, looking up

Ryld followed her gaze to a see a large, stalactite-shaped building hanging above them, an inverted tower like roaned

"We don&039;t have enough tiet there!" Pharaun cried

"Why not?" Q&039;arlynd Melarn said, floating up into the air to demonstrate "We just levitate!"

"We can&039;t all do that," Pharaun replied desperately, "As I&039;ve pointed out a time or two today already, I aets left behind," Quenthel said bluntly "I&039;m sorry, but that&039;s the way it has to be"

Danifae sank to her knees, her head bowed She seemed to accept her fate, but Ryld actually felt sorry for the drow As if to punctuate the lack of tiain Ryld left his feet to keep fro his balance, and everyone else did, too, all except Valas and Danifae

Q&039;arlynd shook his head

"I didn&039;t know," he said, shrugging "Let&039;s go"

"Wait!" Halisstra said "I can get us all there," the priestess volunteered

Pharaun and Quenthel both turned and looked at her "You can?" the wizard asked

"Yes," Halisstra said, nodding "I dabble a bit in s are the sa those dimensional doorways I can do that"

Pharaun allery," Q&039;arlynd shouted to Halisstra, pointing upward "Where I took you that tih the web street, causing it to buck wildly Danifae and Valas both went sprawling, nearly being tossed over the side The first spider was upon the up to strike at its head Ryld peered around wildly as the spider reared up and snapped at the draegloth, causing the web street to buck again

The biggest ruan to shift and crack

"It&039;s going to collapse!" Ryld shouted

"Priestess, open your doorway!" Pharaun yelled as another roiling treed the side of the street only a few feet away froh now!"

"No!" screa the wand she&039;d used to defeat Khorrl in both of her hands, her feet splayed out beside her, trying toand aiht struck the priestess in the leg and she buckled over in agony

"You&039;regoing todie withthe wand toward Quenthel "No onegets outalive!"

Quenthel couldn&039;t flee, as she was hovering in the air She eyed the enraged drow across fro her lips in desperation

"I think not!" Halisstra shouted, standing straight again

Before Ssipriina could trigger the wand again, the priestess spun around, swinging her mace with both hands She struck the matron mother squarely in the face There was a loud thunderclap, and Ssipriina Zauvirr was driven back a dozen feet, her face a ruined mess of pulpy flesh and bone

"To the Abyss with you!" Halisstra screa and clutching at her leg, Halisstra wove a spell as the web street tilted again She was singing, her voice quavering over the roar of battle Ryld had never heard such a sound She held a single, perfect note, and a bluish-white doorway opened in the air before her

"Jeggred! Let&039;s go!" Quenthel called, loth dropped his attacks on the spider and scaht hold of Valas, while Halisstra helped Q&039;arlynd get a hold of Danifae Pharaun launched hi Ryld followed the wizard to protect hih the ave way and tumbled into the darkness below hiht behind him