F O U R (71 page)

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

Pharaun ran even faster. A javelin flew past him,  but the thralls didn't chasehim.  Evidently they were more interested in other prey.

When the wizard reached the mathere ahead of him        rketplace,  he cursed, for the riot had arrived .  Undercreatures were looting and burning the stalls, creatinpatches of dazzling glare. Som                     ge  of the merchants had fled. Others attempted todefend  their  wares,  unsuccessfully  if  they  relied  on  goblin  underlings  for assistance.

Pharaun skirted the edge of the Bazaar,  witnessing scenes of carnage as heskulked along. Laughing, a goblin flogged his master's  corpse with a scourge.

A bugbear used her manacles to strangle a merchant. Trpen, riding lizards hissed and scuttled back and forth in fearapped in a blazing stone

.

The first stall Pharaun had hoped to find intact was burning merrily, and thesecond was crawling with gnolls, growling,  whining, and barking as  they  pawed through the vendor's  goods. The Master  of Sorcere knew of only one more possibility on the perimeter of the Bazaar. Should that one be lost  to  him aswell,  he  would  either  have  to  venture  deeper  into  the  burning,  ore-infested  maze of stalls or conceive another plan.Warty,  bearded ogres overturned a twelve-wheeled wagon, dumping out thedark elves who'd been making a stand inside. A walking mushroom, taller than any  of  the  brutes,  and,  with  its  slender,  fluted  stem,  far  morewide to avoid the little m                   graceful,  swung assacre.

Pharaun slipped around the slaughter as  well. A few more strides brought himto a scene that, after the carnage he'd  just witnessed, seemed almost unreal. The westernmost portion of the marketplace was quiet. Some of the  merchants  hadarmed themselves and taken up positions outside their tents and kiosks, but they seemed calm  and unafraid.

Over the course of an adventurous life, Pharaun had witnessed the samephenomenon before. Under the proper circumstances, it was possible for folk to remain essentially oblivious to a pitched battle raging just a few yards away.

The wizard ran on. Ahead, a luminous surrounded a com            green circle scribed on the ground modious stall built of hardened fungus. A heavyset male stood in the doorway with an arbalest in his  hand  and  a  toad, his familiarhis shoulder                        ,  squatting on

.  He wore a nightshirt, and his feet were bare. The merchant scowled when he spotted Pharaun."Stay back," he said, his throaty voice even deeper than Ryld's.Pharaun halted, took a breath, and wound up coughing, thanks to the smokefouling the air."My dear master Blundyth, is that any way to greet a faithful customer?"

"It's the way to greet the madman who attacked a patrol only yesterday ".

That was right, Pharaun thought, it had  been only yesterday.  So much had happened since, it felt like a year

.

"My past indiscretions no longer matternotion what'             ," the Mizzrym  said. "Do you have any s  going on?"

"You mean the smoke and commoeast. "I guess a m        tion over yonder?" Blundyth nodded to theerchant's  eliminating the competition. It's  nothing to do with me, though I'm  ready if trouble spills this way ".

"Would that were true," said Pharaun.tonight. Have you glanced up over the roof of your shop?" "Alas, none of us is truly ready for He pointed to the orange light presently flickering in the east.

"The nobles are up to something," Blundyth said. "Maybe some  of the Houses

Richard Lee Byers

195

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

have joined forces to wipe out a common rival. Again, it's nothing to do with

me ".

"You're mi

Blundyth snorted, "Ystaken. All across the city, the undercreatures are rebelling."ou
 
are
 
mad "."Don'

"Of course. They't you or your neighbors own thralls?"re off somewhere.""Indeed. Off preparing to cut your throats."

h shifted his grip on the staff and added, "W"Just go awaye always got along. Don', Master Mizzrym." Blundyt

t make me  hurt you."

"The  ores  pose  a  considerable  threat.  I know how to oppose  it,  but I need  your

help. I still have credit here, don't I?""I don't sell to outlaws. I don'

Pharaun looked into the m t want any trouble with the priestesses."erchant's  eyes and saw that he'd  never convince

him.

"Too bad. You'll regret this decision. In  just a  few  minutes,  most  likely,  but  by

then it will be too late."

The master turned and strode away,  but once he was out of Blundyth's sight,

booths, he approached the burly draw'he circled back around. Creeping through the cram stall from   ped spaces between the she listened to hear if the undercreatures were com the side. As he skulked along, i

ng closer, but he couldn't tell.He suspected that one of the cursed  sound baffles

was  muffling the noise.

At any rate, he reached the dimpleattacking him            d fungal structure without any ores

.

incantation. The protective circle ot light winked out of existence. He swept his hands through a mystic pass and whispered an Pharaun ran to the stall, floated upward, and swung him

self onto the roof. The

petrified fungus supported him like stone. Blundyth cursed and came staround the side of the stand, his crossbow at the ready        alking

.  Pharaun t     d

better m                           hought he'ake sure the merchant didn't get a chance to  use it.

The wizard jumped off the roof onto Blundyth's back. He knew he hadn't executed the move as nimbly as poor  R

slam                 yld would have, but it worked. It med the merchant to his knees. The toad hopped away.

Clinging to his victim, the master drove his dirk repeatedly into the big male'sside. Som

etimes the blade plunged deep, and sometimes it caught on  a  rib.

Blundyth flailed and bucked for a while, couldn't break free, then tried to aim  thearbalest back over his shoulder

.  Pharaun ducked away from it. Finally the

merchant fell sideways, pinning his attacker's  knife and hand beneath  him.

Pharaun dragged his  hand free,  but didn't  bother with the dirk.  He was  about to

procure a set of vastly superior Blundyth's clothing, then rose and headed for the entrance to tweapons. He wiped his bloody fingers on h

e stall.

Blundyth's neighbors watched him,  but didn't interfere. As the dead male

might have observed, his murder was nothing to do with them.

The wizard's supply shop was as well-stocked as usual. Jars, bottles, and  boxes

stood on limestone shelves, and a greenish mirror glowed on a wooden stand in

the corner. The air smelled of spices, herbs, bitter incense, and decay.

Blundyth's item  Pharaun appropriated. The cloak
piwafwi
 
lay carelessly draped across a chest, and it was the first fit him  like a tent, but it had the

customary row upon row of hidden pockets. Next he examined the vials and

drawers, finding the magical components that corresponded to the spells he hadprepared. With every one he filched, he  felt a little better

, almost like  a  crregaining the use of his legs.                     ipple

Richard Lee Byers

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War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

little cupboard. They were plainly speciaAs he worked his way across the room,  he spotted a pair of boots sitting a

top a

l in some  way,  for the maker had

tooled runes into the leather.  W

to instantly discern what virtues thithout his silver ring, Pharaun lacked the ability decided to take the time to try them  ey possessed, but playing a hunch, he

on.

The boots squirmed, molding themflesh like an animal eager to run. He tselves to his feet, then quivered against his ook an experim

ental step, and the magical

footwear kicked of

propelling him  all the way acrf on its own, augmenting the strength of his legs and Not bad, he thought. Not as good as a flying carpet, but helpful oss the shop in a single bound.   nonetheless.

He took a few more strides, getting the feel of the boots, then headed out. Just

as he exited the shop, a howling, shrieking cacophony exploded out of the air.An instant later

,  a horde of undercreatures—ores, mostly, with a sprinkling oflong-arm

ed goblins—came charging out of the  stands of stalls and kiosks to the

east.

Blundyth's neighbors gaped in utter astonishment. For some, the instant ofconsternation was fatal. The undercreatures swarm

ed over them  like ants

harvesting the carcass of a mouse.Some of the remaining merchants bolted.  Others shot their hand crossbows

,  orconjured flashes of magic. One optimist

invective, and commands until a scrofuloussought to cow the rebels with threats, bucket, threw some of Syrzan'        ore, slopping the liquid out of a tin

s  liquid fire  on  him.  The incendiary  ignited  flesh  as

easily as stone.His great blanket of
 
zpiwafivi
 
flapping around him, Pharaun ran. Each

amplified stride bounced him off the ground,  but thanks to the virtues of themagic boots, he always landed softly

.

cantation, and a ragged blackness, the esseA pair of ores glared at him and hefted their spears. He whispered an in-undercreatures. They collapsed, already rotting.nce of death itself, danced among the

in the clear

around him, his city wentFor the moment at least, Pharaun was down in blood and fire.   . He raced on, while all

"You must know some

"If  I did, I'd be singing it," Om song, som

e  magic,  to track an  enem

raeth said  curtly. "Now be quiet. If the my,

" Houndaer  said.

asters

hear us coming, they'll do their best to evade us."

"He's right," said Tsabrak, scuttling

up, or we'll never get this done."   along on his eight segmented legs. "Shut ld Argith'

s

and for an instant he fairly quivereHoundaer was wearing Ry     d with the ur greatsword strapped across his back, ge to try it out on his

companions. He wasn't  used to such  insolence, not from  other ma

certainly not from  a degraded creature like a drider          les, and .Y

et he restrained himself, because he needed them. He prayed he'd  be the one to

catch up with the fugitives, who'd made himrenegades, but he knew he couldn't kill both of them look a fool in the eyes of the other by him