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Alustriel watched froh perch as the southern face of Fourthpeak flickered with light that seee of enchanted pellets froic froht her chariot around the southwestern cliffs, the Lady of Silveryrew terribly afraid, for the defenders had been pushed into a U foroblins, kobolds, and fierce droarriors

Still, the forces of the four arht well, practically back to back, and their line was strong No great nuap at the top of the U, the logical weak spot, because of the alh along the entire line to hold against any concentrated assaults

Even as Alustriel fostered that thought, her hopes were put to the test A group of goblins, led by huge bugbears, seven-foot, hairy versions of goblins, forht diamond and spearheaded into the defenders’ eastern flank

The line wavered; Alustriel alic

But amidst the chaos and the press rose one sword above all others, one song above all others

Berkthgar the Bold, his wild hair flying, sang to Tempus with all his heart, and Bankenfuere hunored the lesser goblins and charged straight for the bugbears, and each hty swipe cut one of them down The loader of Settlestone took a vicious hit, and another, but no hint of pain crossed his stern visage or slowed his deterbears who escaped the first furious e man’s assault fled frooblins quickly lost heart for the press and the dia ar, Alustriel knew, but only if the defenders won If the dark elves succeeded in their conquest, then all such heroics would be lost to the ages, all the songs would be buried beneath a black veil of oppression That could not happen, the Lady of Silveryht, or the next, the ould not be lost All of Silveryo to Sundabar, in the east, to Citadel Adbar, stronghold of King Harbromme and his dwarves, and all the way to Waterdeep, on the Sword Coast, to muster the necessary forces to push the drow back to Menzoberranzan!

This as not lost, she reminded herself, and she looked down at the deter

Then caical barrage, bursts of fireballs and lightning, lines of consu bolts of destruction

The assault focused on the southwestern corner of the U, blew apart the ranks of the Riders of Nes horse and man alike Many humanoid slaves fell as well, mere fodder and of no concern to the wicked droizards

Tears streamed down Alustriel’s face as she watched that catastrophe, as she heard the agonized cries of man and beast and saw that corner of the e She berated herself for not foreseeing this war, for underesti her army fully entrenched, warriors, wizards and priests alike, in the defense of Mithril Hall

Thelike hours to the horrified defenders It went on and on, the explosions and the cries

Alustriel found her heart again and looked for the source, and when she saw it, she canorance of the surface world, had erred

They were concentrated within a copse of thick trees, under cover and hurling out their deadly volley of spells

Alustriel’s features brightened into a wicked seance, and she cut her chariot across at a sharp angle, swooping down thelike an arrow for the heart of her enemies

The drow had erred; they were in the trees

As she crossed the northern edge of the battlefield, Alustriel cried out a command, and her chariot, and the teaht flames

Below her she heard the cries of fear, from friend and enehts in Silver, who recognized the chariot and understood that their leader had come

Down she streaked, a tre in the heart of the copse Alustriel sped right to the trees’ edge, then banked sharply and rushed along the thick line, the fla branches wherever she passed

The droizards had erred!

She knew the dark elves had likely set up wards against countering ic-perhaps even over themselves-that would defeat even the most intense fires, but they did not understand the flammable nature of trees Even if the fire did not consume them, the flahting

And the smoke! The thick copse was da black clouds thickened the air Even worse for the drow, the wizards countered as they had always countered fire, with spells creating water So great was their response, that the flames would have been quenched, except that Alustriel did not relent, continued to rush about the copse, even cut into the copse wherever she found a break No water, not the ocean itself, could extinguish the fires of her enchanted chariot As she continued to fuel the fla spells by the wizards added steam to the smoke, thickened the air so that the dark elves could not see at all and could not breathe

Alustriel trusted in her horses, extensions of her will, to understand her intent and keep the chariot on course, and she watched, her spells ready, for she knew the enemy could not remain within the copse As she expected, a drow floated up through the trees, rising above the inferno, levitating into the air and trying to orient himself to the scene beyond the copse

Alustriel’s lightning bolt hit hi over and over, and he hung, upside down and dead, until his own spell expired, dropping him back into the trees

Even as she killed that wizard, though, a ball of flaht before the chariot, and the speeding thing, and Alustriel with it, plunged right through The Lady of Silverymoon was protected from the flames of her own spell, but not so froh pained, her face bright froher up the ainst Alustriel The elf steeled his golden eyes; his e If their earlier exploits had been furious, they were purely savage now, and Berkthgar’s

Goblins and kobolds, bugbears and orcs, even huge minotaurs and skilled drow, died by the score in the next moments of battle

It hardly seemed to h the knights and the barbarians could have cut through the eneo

Farther to the west, his own Longriders si-weld understood their only hope He leaped Puddlejumper to a place where there were no enee to Besnell

To the west! the wizard iweld took up the new lead and turned his men and the barbarians closest to theinal plan had demanded The droizards had been silenced, -ould have

A lightning bolt split the darkening air A fireball followed, and Regweld followed that, leaping Puddlejue of ical missiles below him as he flew

Confusion hit the eneht beside the Harpells for all their lives and understood Regweld’s tactics, were able to slice through, opening a gap

Beside the horsemen from Nesme Behind thehts in Silver, le-handedly keeping the pursuing h quickly, but found their momentum halted as another force,thick ranks

Regweld continued histo die

And so he would have, except that Alustriel, forced away froly effective counters of the droizards, rushed back up the h so that the droho did not flee were tra

Besnell and hisforce, cried out to Alustriel and for the good of all goodly folk, and plunged into the confusion of the drow ranks, right into the fla chariot’s charred wake

Many , many men and many drow, but the defenders broke free to the west, ran and rode on, and found the path into Keeper’s Dale before the enemy could block it

Above the battle once more, Alustriel slumped with exhaustion She had not launched so concentrated a barrage of ed so closely in any conflict since the days before she had come to rule Silveryed, and she had taken several hits by sword and by quarrel as she had rushed along the drow ranks She knew the disapproval she would find when she returned to Silverymoon, knew that her advisors, and the city’s council, and colleagues from other cities, would think her rash, even stupid Mithril Hall was a dom not worth her life, her detractors would say To take such risks against so deadly an enemy was foolish

So they would say, but Alustriel knew better, knew that the freedohts that applied to Silverymoon were not there sith They applied to all, to Silverydoms that so desired theless and selfish

Now she ounded, had nearly been killed, and she called off her chariot’s flah into the sky To show herself so openly would invite a continuing ical attack that would likely destroy her She was sorely wounded, she knew, but Alustriel was sht, the Lady of Silvery her heart She was fighting for soer than her life, for values that were eternal and ultiht

She watched with satisfaction as the force, led by Besnell and her own knights, broke free and sped for Keeper’s Dale, then she cli for the west

The ene fast around the north, and the battle had only just begun

The Undercity, where two thousand dwarves often labored hard at their most beloved profession, had never seen such bustle and tulooray dwarves had invaded, when Bruenor’s grandfather had been king, had the Undercity been engulfed in such a battle

Goblins and minotaurs, kobolds and wicked monsters that the dwarves could not nah the floor itself, areas that had been breached by the ic of the illithids And the drow, scores of dark elves, struggled and battled along every step and across the wide floor, their dance a low of thefurnaces

Still, the main tunnels to the lower levels had not been breached, and the greatest concentration of enemies, particularly the drow force, remained outside Mithril Hall proper Now the dark elves who had gained the Undercity ental and Matron Baenre

And the dwarvescahtning flashed, green and red and sizzling black bolts from below, from the drow, and it was answered from above by Harkle and Bella don DelRoy

The lowest levels began to grow darker as the droorked their ain a favorable battlefield

The fall of light pellets upon the floor sounded like a gentle rain as Stuclaw and her host of dwarven priests countered thespell after spell, stealing every shadow froht in the dark, but they could fight in the light as well, and the drow and other creatures frohtness

One group of twenty dwarves forht foroblins Their boots sounded like a heavy, rolling wheel, a general din,over whatever monster dared to stay in their path