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We&039;re not going to ure out a way to distract the gole the unconscious pair

Out of the corner of his eye, Pharaunsaw Ryld regain his feet

"Help the to Danifae and Q&039;arlynd

The weapons ash across his forehead, but his red eyes seemed clear, and when he spotted the forole toward them, he nodded

The room tilted over some more, and Pharaun slid across the floor a few feet The blackness of the vast cavern of the city yawned before hinored it and looked to Ryld

The weapons otten close enough to Danifae that it raised its sword high, preparing to deliver a killing blow Ryld sprang forward, charging as fast as he could, aided by the downhill slope of the floor When he ithin a few feet of the construct, he leaped into the air, extended both feet, and hit the gole kick to its midsection The force of the blow drove Ryld back up the slope of the floor, and the golem barely see The construct took a step back to steady itself, and had the floor been level, it probably would have worked, but the weight of the golem, coupled with the slope of the floor, caused it to overbalance Another step backward brought the toppling construct near the edge of the floor, and the roo the slope Then, with one final off-balance step, the gole up the slope rather than down It dropped to one knee and reached out for Q&039;arlynd, as shaking his head as he returned to consciousness

The fractured stone could no longer hold the constructs weight, and it gave out beneath the gole hiony Ryld took two steps forward to save the wizard, but both Q&039;arlynd and the goleht

Halisstra cried out,"No!" froe, but the weaponshis head

Disheartened, Pharaun turned back to the portal He thought he&039;d it figured out and reached forward, ready to activate theThe rooin levitating to maintain his position Behind hiive a startled screaical e illusory He hadn&039;t noticed it before, but understandingwhat to look for, it was athered around hioing down!"

Shaking his head at what he&039;d been about to do, the an to cast a spell, one that he&039;d not expected to need that day but was thankful for He fished an ointment from one of his many pockets and dabbed a bit on each eyelid Suddenly, everything about the archway became plain to his vision He could see the runes that had been hidden from his view before, scribed into the stone around it He cast a second spell, one to decipher the script, and found what he was looking for The writing contained the trigger word

"I&039;ve got it!" he shouted "Get ready!"

Pharaun stepped back, uttered the triggering word aloud, and the portal shi with a deep purple hue The whole thing took on a sense of depth, of distance The stone in the center of the arch faded and was replaced by a shiht

Pharaun turned back to his coh!"

Quenthel was the closest, but she hesitated

"Where does it go?" she asked

"I don&039;t know," Pharaun admitted "The script inscribed on the perinize the name We&039;ll find out on the other side"

Quenthel shook her head

"No Soh first"

Ryld, Halisstra, and Danifae were gathered around, with the weaponsdown the floor to her death The rest of the and said, "I&039;ed the battle captive into the arch Danifae cast one last, aggravated look over her shoulder, nodded, and leaned forward into thearchway In a flash, she was gone Ryld lunged forward a heartbeat later, followed by Halisstra

Pharaun looked at Quenthel

"Well?" he said

"You first," she replied, still gazing at the gate in trepidation

"I can&039;t," the Master of Sorcere explained "I o last Because I opened it, the portal will shut behindas I can," Pharaun said as another groan emanated fro tilted some more, and Quenthels eyes widened

"There is no h!" Pharaun said, and he pushed Quenthel toward the opening

In a fury, the high priestess spun around, her hand reaching for the whip at her side The five snakes rithing , but the building lurched and tipped and Quenthel couldn&039;t hold on She stuainst the wizard, and the snakes snapped ineffectually against hispii

Pharaun caught her and set her on her feet again

"Please," he said to her "We don&039;t have tihtly, and she looked at the wizard with a slight smirk

"If I didn&039;t know better, I would think you&039;re getting soft, wizard"

With that, she backed into the archway and was gone

Pharaun shook his head in wonder and turned to see if there was any sign of Jeggred and Valas The floor was slanted at a fairly steep pitch, and the e to peer over the side Below, he could see the two of thered&039;s levitation would allow Chunks of stone and other debris was falling into the void beyond thee of the crued as he watched it tu theloth and his charge reached as left of the structure Together, the three of theloith an intense light

"The others are waiting on the other side," Pharaun explained, o last Hurry!"

Without hesitating, Jeggred leaped through the archway and vanished Valas scrao after hi treave the scout a good shove and dived in after hiht faded A heartbeat later, as left of the Dangling Tower, including the here the portal had been anchored, shattered into a ed when she saw the fury in Kaanyr Vhok&039;s eyes He was displeased that she had neglected to keep him apprised of the situation in the drow city, and even her explanation of her troubles, the difficulties she had encountered with the drow, did little to soften his rowled, pacing "Brought down by a horde of , but the drow the themselves so much that they lost control It destroyed theret at the fall of the overly proud dark elves, but they do not seem to be the type ould allow such a travesty to occur to their great city The forces of the Underdark are clearly out of balance"

"I know," the alu-fiend said,close to her mate, "but there is a reason"

"You knohat it is?"

"Yes, love, but your pacing is putting hed, but turned and plopped hi his lap "Tell me"

Aliisza sashayed over to Vhok and settled herself into his lap She had ht she would She leaned around and began to nuzzle his ear

"Mhts "But before we get to the &039;welcoled as his fingers stroked her aroddess," she whispered, blowing the words softly into his ear

"What?" the ca the demon on the floor "Are you serious?"

The alu-fiend folded her arms beneath her breasts in a huff

"Of course I&039;ht, and they&039;re trying to figure out why, but of course, the - what did you call the overly proudand set in their ways, they warred with one another to the point of bringing about their own extinction"

"I see Well, with Lolth out of the picture, I suppose if you wanted to gain a little retribution for sos inflicted upon you in the past, noould be the ti absently into the distance

"So, are you thinking of exacting a little revenge?" Aliisza said, nuzzling against her lover&039;s neck again

"Maybe," Vhok replied "We&039;ll have to see I guess it won&039;t be against Ched Nasad, h, as Kaanyr Vhok&039;s fingers began toroahts of the ruined City of Shih above the ruined City of Shile dark elf sat upon a perch of stone near the roof of the great cavern and watched The smoke was heavy there, thick and acrid, but it didn&039;t bother him He stared down at the destruction and smiled

He was not attractive, not by drow standards, certainly, and few of any other species would look on him and think him handsome in the least, but he didn&039;t ht was much more substantial than beauty

They will be pleased, Za as fires slowly burned away, as whole sections of the city cru into the ood first step There is stillhimself out of his reverie, the drow stood and stretched

I retfully

He was proud of what he&039;d wrought, and he wished to stay and observe it a bit longer, but the others would be waiting

Sighing, he turned his sweeping gaze over the ruins of Ched Nasad one last time, then stepped into the darkest recesses of the shadows and vanished