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And they wereher fully, encasing her

Closing like a coffin

Effron called his uround in its path As it neared, the ic pulled it, instructed it, and shrunk it

As he scooped that caged pet up, Effron produced the other The powerful dweomer, the Tartarean Toht, holding her fast, despite her ferocious struggling Even this great spell wouldn’t cage this fine warrior for long, Effron understood, and had understood during his careful planning, and now his final piece, the death worm, slithered into position

The tos showing beneath the bottoe of the metal plates, and the necrophidius coiled around one of those legs and climbed up into the tomb with Dahlia

How she screamed!

In horror at first, and then in pain as the death wor

"Just succued her in a whisper, for to his surprise, these cries of pain and terror no longer rang sweetly in his ears

"Just fall, daainst the stopped

Effron froze, barely able to catch his breath The paralyzing bite of the necrophidius had finally taken hold, he realized

The coffin swayed and fell over

Effron whispered a coain if the woman stirred

"Now?" Effron heard behind him

"Fetch her," he instructed his two dockhand henchard them They ran past him, blankets in hand "And take care!" he called after them "Else I will surely obliterate you!"

He walked to the street to the waiting cart his henchht up to the entrance to the alleyway So, but none approached, for in a place like Baldur’s Gate, a person who stuck his nose in where it didn’t belong affer and his coed the reat effort, even dropping it once to the street

They rushed up onto the driver’s bench and urged the

Effron went off the other way, not wanting to call attention to the cargo He was several blocks away, circling around toward the docks and the empty boat, in whose hold he would claiht of what he had done truly struck him

He had her

He had the woman who had thrown him from the cliff

He had her

He had the mother who had rejected him, and left him to a life of broken misery

He had her!

Chapter 13: The Patience of a Monk

WELL THEN FIND HER," CAPTAIN CANNAVARA SAID TO ENTRERI

"Aye, or we’ll be leavin’ ye here, and won’t that be better for us?" added Mister Sikkal He stood at Cannavara’s side, bobbing up and down on his bowed legs so that his head bounced stupidly How Arteood use at that moment!

"I only came to tell you that we cannot find her," Entreri re one warning glance at Sikkal as he did to keep the fool’s mouth shut "Not to be lectured by either of you"

"Then you four will be aboard e sail?" the captain asked

"No," Entreri replied without the slightest hesitation--and he was surprised at his own certainty, though as he considered it, he couldn’t deny the truth He would not leave Dahlia behind, would not leave Baldur’s Gate until he learned what had happened to her

"Minnow Skipper sails on thetide," Cannavara declared

"Then you will explain to Beniago and High Captain Kurth why my friends and I returned to Luskan before you You are on to Memnon, are you not?"

The expression on Cannavara’s face, and on Sikkal’s as well, spoke volumes to Entreri before either had uttered a word--if either had been able to speak at that moment As far as Cannavara knew, clearly, they had told no one of their course change, and fro that et him thrown to the sharks