F O U R (78 page)

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

"Right, then," he said to the wizards. "I assume  you can tell where  you're

meant to stand, so do it and we'll begin.  I'

passes if you'For a properly schooled wizard, mre up to it."         ll say a line, you repeat it. Copy my

agic was generally easy.  He relied on an

armamentarium  of spells, ma

i             ny devised  by his predecessors, a few,  perhaps, nvented  by  himself.  In  either  case,  they  were  perfected  spells  that  he  thoroughly

understood. He knew he could cast them  properly,  and what would  happen

when he did.

An extemporaneous ritual was a different matter. Relying on their arcane

knowledge and natural ability, a circle of mages tried to generate a new  effect  on the fly

.

who had raised it or dischar Often, nothing happened. When it did, the power often turned on those ged itself in some  other manner contrary to their

intent. Yet occasionally such a ceremony worked, and with his station, his  wealth

and his homeland at stake, Gromph was r                  ,esolved to make this one of those times.

After the mages chanted for fifteen minutes, power began to whisper and sting

through the air.  The archmage tapped the beater to the gong, sounding a

boomclashing, shivering tone. At once a vastering, grinding, deafening roar. Gr  note answered and obscured the first, a om

B                   ph's subordinates flinched, but the aenre smiled in satisfaction,  because the noise was  thunder.

Perched high in the side cavern, the residents of Sorcere had an excellent view of what transpired next. The air at the top of the great vault, already  thi

ck  with

smoke, grew denser still as masses of vapor materialized. The shapeless shadows

flickered like great translucent dragonsFollowing each flash, they bellowed that godlike ham with fire leaping in their bellies.

mering blast,  as if  the

flames pained them.

Gromph knew that many of the folk in the city below had no idea what was

occurring—it was possible that even some  of his erudite colleagues didn't know—but whether they understood or not, clouds, lightning, and w

eather were

paying a call on the hitherto changeless depths of the Under-dark.As one, the clouds dropped torrents of water to fall in frigid veils. The Baenr

e

could hear the sizzling sound as it pounded the cavern wall."That's impressive," said Guldor, "but are you sure it will put out the fl

ames?

The fire's  ma

Grom   gical, after all."

"Yes, instructorph's bruise gave him  a twinge.," he growled, "because I'm  not an incompetent from  a House

of no account. I'm  a Baenre and the Archmage of Menzoberranzan . . . and I'm

sure."

Before it was over,  Pharaun lost track of how many battles he and his

comrades had fought. He only knew they                rior

tactics m                kept winning them, through supeo

growing, swelled by garrisons that had fought their way out ore than anything else, and that  despite their losses, their numfth    bers kept eir castles.Occasionally the ragtag arm

y  cambeen pacified, and though he never caughte upon a section of the city that had already

so mu

Pharaun knew Bregan D'aerthe was fighting in concert with his own comch of a glimpse of them, pany.  It

was as much a comfort as anything could be on this fierce and desperate night.

Finally the army  from  Tier Breche encountered an equally imunder Matron Baenre'                    pressive force

s  command. The two companies united and marched on

Narbondellyn, where several bugbears with some  degree of martial experiencehad striven to organize thousands of their fellow under-c

reatures  into a  force

capable of withstanding their masters'  wrath.

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War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

chaotic. MiraculouslyThe great stone pillar of Narbondel shone above fighting that was wild and storm

,  allaying Pharaun'

, partway through, the upper reaches of the cavern  began  tos greatest fear

.  An hour later,  the drow  swept in and

annihilated the opposing force, and tIn the aftermath, the wizard walkedhus they took their  homeland back. through the downpour, looking this w

ay

and that. Strands of wet hair clung to his forehead, and his boots squelched. As a

mage, he had to concede the storm  was a  glorious  achievement, to say nothing of

the salvation of Menzoberranzan, but it was a pity his colleagues couldn't have

accomplished the same  thing without wreaking havoc on everyone's

and chilling them  to the bone.                   appearance The Mizzrym  grinned. Neither Quenthel nor T

riel was anywhere around. He'd

taken direction from  them  all night, willingly enough, but he wanted to

command the finale of this extraordinary  affair himself, and their absence gave

him  an excuse to proceed without consulting them.

He cast about once more and spied Welverin Freth. The capable weapons

master of the Nineteenth House, Welverin  excelled at combat despite  the  seemin

impedim                               gent of a prosthetic silver leg,  and had fought in tandem  with Pharaun

several tim

conferring with two of his lieutenants.es during the night. Currently he was huddled in a doorway "W

W eapons Master!" Pharaun called.elverin looked up and gave him a

Mizzrym?"           nod. "How can I help you, Master "How would you like to help  me kill the creature responsible for this insurrection?"

The warrior's  eyes narrowed and he sa

"By no means. But if we'     id, "Is this another of your jokes?"rour quarry slinks away into the Underdare going to do  this, we'd better do it quickly, before

ride aerial mounts?"          k. I trust that you and your troops can

Pharaun gestured to the giant bats, created by some enchanter,  penned in anearby latticework dome. It seemed a petty  miracle they'd

survived the rebellion

unsuffocated and unburned.

"Where do they keep the tack?" Welverin asked, peering at the cage.

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Dissolution

C  h a p t  e r

T   W   E   N   T   Y

F   0   U   R

Wathe renegades' fortress wasn't quiteter dripping from the hem  of his cloak, Pharaun  found that the layout of so perplexing when he wasn'thunters and suffering the brain-jangling aftereffects of a      dodging

psionic  assault.  Theempty

,  echoing rooms and corridors still  seemed just as  ominous,  howeverjust as fitting an abode for wraiths and maledictions.            ,

The Mizzrym watched Welverin and the other warriors of House Freth to see if the place was unsettling them. It didn't look like it. Perhaps they were  too brave. Or perhaps the frethoughts from shadowy terrors to the sh, butchered corpses littericommonplace violence tng the floor turned their hat  was  theirprofession.They found the bodies, often cut in two  or more pieces, lying here and thereabout the castle. Pharaun was astonished at the quantitywounded R                      . Apparently  poor yld had had a nice long homicidal  run of it before the conspiratorsslew him. Perhaps it had even required Syrzan to do the job.In retrospect, Pharaun wondered why the alhoon hadn't joined the search for the escaped prisoners right from  the start. Maybe giving the Call hadtemporarily depleted its strength.

The Master of Sorcere led the soldiers  into a long, spacious  hall with a large dais at the far end. there, no doubt, a  matron mother had held court and also dined, judging by the benches and trestle tables stacked in an alcove. Carved and painted spiders crawled everywhere, a sort of mask, Pharaun supposed, given thatthe former tenants of the keep had petitigenuine spiderweb veiled the artwork.  oned other deities in private. Sheets of We

Pharaun turned his head, then caught hilverin said, "Look."         s breath in surprise. Ryld Arjust stepped from the mouth of a servants'  passage midway up th     gith had e  left-hand wall.

The weapons master's  strides were evenwas noticeably thinner          and sure despite his wounded leg. He

,  as if his body was burning fuel at a prodigious  rate, and somehow he'd recovered Splitter

.

The soldiers aimed their crossbows.

"No!" Pharaun said. Not yet, anyway.

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