she spoke entirely in movement, in the subtle nuance of gesture and rhythm, and it all seemed like a glorious dream.

halisstra felt her body moving. the air swirled around her, cool and invigorating. in the movement she sensed the presence of danifae. the subtle curve of her former servant's hip turned in a way that suggested duplicity and with a grace that bespoke ambition. danifae breathed discontentment and stepped into the demonweb pits.

halisstra didn't watch, she danced. she was there, though she had no idea where "there" was. there was no space, only the movement within it-the movement that was the voice of eilistraee.

danifae and halisstra both stepped in time to a different song. they moved toward the same endpoint but for different reasons and were surrounded by the same chilling stillness. in the sway of a shoulder, eilistraee warned halisstra not to trust danifae but pushed her servant along the former battle-captive's path. halisstra would lead some of the way, and danifae would lead some too. both goddesses would push and pull them from the edges, sending them toward a place and a time that no sane draw could possibly imagine except in a goddess-birthed nightmare.

halisstra felt herself move through a still, empty space, and she knew that space was the demonweb pits-the home plane of lolth, bereft of souls, an empty afterlife with no hope and no future. halisstra felt danifae whirl through that same dead space with her and look at halisstra with the same dull fear. there would be no service, no reward but oblivion, and danifae would arrive at the same conclusions, be dragged to the same realization.

danifae can be turned, halisstra danced.

eilistraee hesitated.

it was with that wordless sense of uncertainty that the movement ceased. there was a solid, unmoving floor of sanded stone beneath her and dead gates all around. halisstra rolled onto her back, wiped her face with her hands, and tried to steady her breathing. sweat poured off her, and her body ached. she felt as if she'd been dancing for hours though she wasn't sure she'd actually been dancing at all halisstra looked around at the interior of the gatehouse, searching for danifae. the former servant was nowhere to be found. even halisstra's shouts went unanswered, so she wandered outside.

the cave's dull light revealed a large and complex structure. halisstra knew she was in sschindylryn but knew little else about the city. not sure if she was coloring the world through her own filtered perceptions, she felt that the air in the city of portals was heavy with dissent and nascent violence. she'd sensed the same thing before-in ched nasad.

an image of ryld came to her mind-not so much an image but the memory of the way he moved with her and the touch of hisnight-black skin. she'd led him to danifae, who had led jeggred to them on quenthel's behalf. quenthel knew that they-or at least halisstra-had turned their backs on lolth in favor of eilistraee.

however, ryld hadn't actually done that. a male, and not particularly religious, the weapons master served lolth because everyone around him did. ryld, like all drow in menzoberranzan was raised with the words of lolth never far from his ears. halisstra had been raised the same way, but she had the sheer force of will to step back and examine the reality of the situation as it continued to unfold.

danifae had a choice too, and the realization of it hit halisstra the moment danifae stepped out of the suddenly blazing-purple archway. the gate had burst into life, revealing danifae and momentarily blurring halisstra's vision.

blinking, halisstra stood and said, "ryld?"

danifae shrugged. it was a rude, dismissive gesture that set halisstra's teeth on edge. the melarn priestess's face flushed, her teeth clenched, but she did her best to swallow the anger at the same time pushing away memories of punishing her battle-captive, beating her, humiliating her, and breaking her.

"where have you been?" halisstra asked.

"with mistress quenthel," danifae replied. "they're proceeding. i was sent back to retrieve jeggred."

"you know where the draegloth is?" asked halisstra. "if you do, then you must know where ryld is."

"jeggred was sent to kill him," replied danifae. "i told you that."

"you did," halisstra said, "but. . ."

"you want to know if the weapons master has prevailed," danifae replied, "or if the draegloth is feeding even now."

halisstra swallowed in a parched throat and said, "does he live? has ryld won?" danifae shrugged again.

"you can get me back to him," halisstra said. "using these gates of yours, you can send me to his side."

"where jeggred would shred you as well and eat you both in alternating bites," said the former servant, "or, you can move forward as opposed to backward." "forward? backward? what is that supposed to mean?"

"the way i see it, mistress halisstra," danifae said, "you have two choices: go to your lover's side and die there, or go back to the surface temple and your new sisters in eilistraee."

halisstra let out a breath and looked the ravishing dark elf up and down.

danifae smiled back, though the expression looked more like a sneer.

"they're leaving," danifae pressed, "and they're leaving soon. if you go back to the temple where i first contacted you, if you tell them that quenthel and her crew are on their way to the demonweb pits in search of lolth herself, the eilistraeeans might have enough time to help."

"to help? to help whom?" whispered halisstra, then more loudly: "i should go back to the eilistraeeans and tell them that we can follow quenthel and the others to the demonweb pits. would you stand by and watch that and not warn them . . . and not warn lolth?"

"i'm still a servant," said danifae, "i can't make the decision for you or ask you to trust me. i can give you no promises, no assurances, no guarantees about anything. for that, you'll have to look to your goddess. either way, i can send you wherever you want to go."

she saw it. only a flash, but there was the unmistakable look that had wrapped within it uncertainty, fear, embarrassment, and more. danifae was jealous in a very immature way that halisstra was once again serving a deity who would answer the prayers of her faithful while danifae still clung to the memory of a dead goddess.

"i have a choice?" halisstra asked, slowly shaking her head.

"i can send you where you want to go," danifae repeated. "tell me if you want to go back to your temple to organize the priestesses there, or-"

"organize?" halisstra interrupted.

danifae was irritated, and halisstra was momentarily taken aback by the reaction.

"surely eilistraee grants them spells still," danifae said. "they will be able to travel the planes without a ship of chaos. eilistraee should be able to take you right to them."

halisstra watched her former servant's face change again-saw that fear return. "or," danifae said, her voice deep and even, "you can go try to help your weapons master against the draegloth and die."

halisstra closed her eyes and thought, occasionally stopping to wonder at the fact that she was thinking about it at all.

"my heart," halisstra confided in danifae, "wants me to go to ryld, but my head tells me that my new sisters will want to know what you've told me and that they'll want to go to the demonweb pits."

"the time you have to gather them," warned danifae, "is drawing increasingly short."

halisstra clamped her mouth shut while her throat tightened.

"choose," danifae pressed.

"the velarswood," halisstra blurted out. a tear glimmered in the faerie light and traced a path down her deep black cheek. "take me to the priestesses."

danifae smiled, nodded, and pointed toward a purple-glowing gate.

the two of them stared at each other while a few heartbeats went by. danifae's eyes darted back and forth between halisstra's as if they were reading something written across her pupils. halisstra saw the hope in danifae's eyes.

"how bad is it?" halisstra asked, her voice almost a whisper. "what has she sunk to?"

"she?" danifae asked. "quenthel?"

halisstra nodded.

"she can go lower," the former battle-captive said.

"come with me," halisstra said.

danifae stood silently for a long time before she said, "you know i can't. they won't leave without jeggred, and i have to bring him back."

halisstra nodded and said, "after he's murdered ryld."

danifae nodded and looked at the floor.

"we'll see each other again, danifae," halisstra said. "of that i'm certain." "as am i, mistress," danifae replied. "we will meet again in the shadow of the spider queen."

"eilistraee will be watching us both all the way," halisstra said as she crossed to the waking portal. "she will be watching us both."

danifae nodded, and halisstra stepped into the gate, abandoning ryld to the draegloth, danifae to the mistress of arach-tinilith, and herself to the priestesses of the velarswood.

"you seem as surprised as i am," gromph said to the lichdrow, "that your friend nimor has sprouted wings."

dyrr didn't answer, but his ember-red eyes drifted slowly to the winged assassin.

"duergar," gromph went on, "a cambion and his tanarukks, and a drow assassin. oh, but the drow assassin isn't even a drow. you've allied yourself with everything but another dark elf. well, you haven't been a dark elf yourself for a very long time either, have you, dyrr?"

if the lich was offended or affected in any way, he didn't show it.

"he could be allied with a drow, though," nimor said. "we both could."

"you actually think i'm going to join you?" gromph asked.

"no," nimor answered, "of course not, but i have to ask."

"if i do," gromph persisted, "will you kill the lich?"

dyrr raised an eyebrow, obviously interested to hear nimor's answer.

"to have the archmage of menzoberranzan himself turn on his own city," nimor said, "betray his own house, and overthrow the matriarchy with a wave of his hand? would i kill the lichdrow? certainly. i would kill him without the slightest moment's hesitation."

that brought a smile to dyrr's face, and gromph couldn't help but share it. nimor looked at the lichdrow, bowed, and said, "i would try, at least." the lich returned the bow.

"you're not going to do any of those things, are you?" nimor asked gromph. "you won't turn your back on menzoberranzan, house baenre, the matriarchy, or even lolth, who has turned her back on you."

"that's all?" gromph asked. "that's all you plan to say to try to turnme? ask a question then answer it yourself? why are you here?"

"don't answer that, nimor," the lichdrow commanded, his tone as imperious as ever. "he's drawing tales out of you. he wants time to try to get away or to plan his attack."

"or," gromph cut in, "he may simply be curious. i know why my old friend dyrr wants to kill me, and i can guess at the motivations of the duergar, the tanarukks, the illithids, and whatever else crawls out of the crevices and slime pools of the dark dominion, drawn to the stench of weakness. you, though, nimor, are half drow and half dragon, aren't you? why you? why here? why me?"

"why you?" dyrr said, his voice dripping with scorn. "you have power, you simpleton. you have position. that makes you a target on a good day-and this isn't a good day for menzoberranzan."

gromph ignored the lich and said to nimor, "my sister said the assassin she captured named you as an agent of the jaezred chaulssin."

nimor nodded and said, "i am the anointed blade."

gromph didn't know what that meant but gave no indication of that to nimor or dyrr.

"ghost stories come true," gromph said.

"our reputation precedes us," replied nimor.

"chaulssin has been in ruin for a long time," said gromph.

"her assassins survive," dyrr said.

his dragon half, nauzhror said into gromph's mind, has been identified, archmage. he is half-drow, half-shadow dragon. more than one generation, perhaps. an incipient species.

"we have placed ourselves in city after city," nimor said, "all across the underdark. we've been waiting."

"and breeding," gromph said, "with shadow dragons?"

nimor's smile told gromph how right nauzhror had been.

"it's over," dyrr said, and gromph found it difficult to deny the finality in his voice. "all of it."

"not yet," gromph replied, and he started to cast a spell.

nimor beat his batlike wings and shot up into the darkness. dyrr followed, more slowly, wrapping himself in additional protective spells.

gromph finished his spell and held his hands together. a line of blackness appeared between his palms and stretched to the length of a long sword blade. the line was perfectly two-dimensional, a rift in the structure of the planes. lifting into the air, the archmage of menzoberranzan threwhis hands apart, and the blade followed him up. using the force of his will, gromph set the planar blade flying in front of him. choosing a target was simple.

nimor has to die first, prath suggested, though it was unnecessary. the extent of his true abilities is the only unknown.

gromph set the blade hurtling at the half-dragon assassin. nimor flew as fast as anything gromph had ever seen fly, but the blade moved faster. it cut into the assassin, and nimor convulsed in pain. what makes a blade sharp is the thinness of its edge. the blade that gromph conjured didn't actually have any thickness at all. being perfectly thin, it was perfectly sharp. anything that nimor might have had on him to protect him from weapons would be of no consequence.

blood pattered down over the floor of the bazaar, and nimor roared. the sound rattled gromph's eardrums, though he didn't hesitate to send the black blade at the assassin again-but it disappeared.

gromph whirled in midair to face the lichdrow. dyrr held his staff in both hands. gromph assumed he'd used some aspect of the weapon's magic to dispel the blade

disappointing, nauzhror commented. that was an impressive spell. and effective. nimor wasn't flying quite as fast, and he was still bleeding. gromph had to keep his attention shifting back and forth between the assassin, the lich, and his own next spell, so he didn't actually see nimor heal himself, but he did-enough to keep himself alive.

gromph was nearly finished with his next incantation when nimor blew darkness at him-it was the only way the wizard could think to describe it. the assassin drew in a breath and exhaled a cone-shaped wave of roiling blackness. gromph tried to drop away from the darkness, but he couldn't. the twisting void washed over the archmage. it was as if all the warmth were drawn out of him. he shivered, and his breath stopped in his throat. his spell was ruined, cut off in mid-word, the weave energy unraveling.

part of the layers of defensive magic that he and the masters of sorcere had cloaked him in protected gromph from the full extent of the freezing darkness's power. if not, gromph would have shriveled to a dead husk.

"i was right," gromph said to nimor, trying not to gasp. "it was a shadow dragon, wasn't it?"

"more than one shadow dragon, archmage," nimor replied-and gromph thought the assassin was trying not to gasp himself, "and more than one drow."

the half-dragon assassin drew a needle-thin rapier that glowed blue-white in the gloom of the abandoned bazaar.

caution, archmage, prath warned.

gromph winced at the idiocy of his inexperienced nephew. the archmage was always ready for anything-though he wasn't fast enough to dodge out of the way of the rapier as it slashed across his chest.

nimor had disappeared from where he'd been hovering, several paces away and appeared right next to gromph and a little above-perfectly in a blind spot. all of that had happened in the precise same instant.

the assassin was gone again just as fast.

the slash in gromph's chest burned, the wound crisp and jagged. he looked down at the cut. frost lined the wound, and the blood that oozed from it was cold when it touched his skin. gromph shivered.

something hit gromph from behind, and he grunted and doubled over when the air was smashed out of his lungs. it was a painful second or two before he was able to draw in another breath. dyrr had hit him with something-a spell or a weapon-from behind.

the spell didn't pass through all of your defenses, archmage, nauzhror told him. if it had, you would have been disintegrated.

"good for me," gromph muttered under his breath, then he spoke the command word that brought the defensive globe from the staff.

circled again in protective magic, gromph turned in the air, trying to catch sight of at least one of his foes. he saw nimor flying at him with that freezing rapier poised for another slash. behind the assassin and off to one side, the lichdrow was moving his free hand through the air, his fingers leaving streaks of crackling white light behind them.

pain blazing in his chest and back, gromph twisted in the air when a cone of twinkling white light shot forth from the lichdrow's extended hands, threatening to engulf him in a blast of freezing air and cutting ice.

the archmage managed to twist out of the way of the spell, but he lost sight of the assassin in the process. gromph braced himself for another icy slash from the rapier, but it didn't come.

the assassin had to dodge the cone of cold as well, master, prath said.

gromph took advantage of the respite and drew two slim, platinum-bladed throwing daggers from a sheath in his right boot. even as he drew the knives up along the length of his body, he spoke the words of a spell that would enchant the weapons to a greater keenness. the spell would make them fly truer as well, and farther, and he was sure they would pierce at least some of his target's magical defenses.

gromph got his arm up to throw and finished the spell. when he turned to find his target, the pain was gone. the ring was working still, healing him almost as fast as the assassin and the lich could wound him.

a fraction of a heartbeat before gromph could throw his ensorcelled daggers, nimor appeared next to him again. the rapier made a shrill whistling sound as it whipped through the air, drawing a frosted white line across gromph's right side. the pain was extraordinary, and gromph's fingers twitched along with most of the other muscles of his body. he almost dropped the two daggers but didn't. he's gone, said prath.

gromph had expected that.

i think it might be the ring, nauzhror said.

the ring? gromph sent back.

that allows him to slip from one place to another in an instant, nauzhror explained.

gromph had expected to fight dyrr alone and had expected to fight him spell to spell. the archmage had to admit, at least to himself, that he was unprepared for hand-to-hand combat and that in that regard at least, nimor was likely superior.

he put those thoughts out of his mind when he heard dyrr casting another spell. he turned to look at the lich.

dyrr had a strange look in his eyes, as if something was going to happen, but he wasn't sure exactly what. gromph didn't like that look at all.

he's summoning something, nauzhror said.

by the time the last syllable of nauzhror's warning sounded in gromph's head, the lich's spell had done its work. lurching out of thin air, a set of insectoid legs slammed down onto the rock floor of the bazaar-then another set, and another and another and another. the insect's head was wider than gromph was tall, maybe even twice as wide. on either side of its grotesque mouth was a curved, jagged-edged pincer. two bulbous, multifaceted eyes scanned the abandoned expanse of the marketplace as the rest of the huge beast drew itself out of the weave.

it was a centipede the size of a whole caravan of pack lizards, and behind it, dyrr was laughing, and nimor was flying at gromph again.

one at a time, the archmage told himself.

he worked another spell on the pair of enchanted throwing daggers. the centipede lurched at gromph, but it was moving slowly, still unsure of its surroundings and the extent of the lich's control over it. that gave gromph time to finish the spell and throw the daggers. he didn't bother to aim. he tossed them in nimor's general direction and let the spell do the rest. the daggers whirled through the air, their paths twisting around each other in a perfect beeline for the winged assassin.

with impressive agility, nimor slipped sideways in the air in an attempt to avoid the daggers, but once set on their course, nothing so simple would deter them. the assassin had to twist in the air again, swatting at the blades with his rapier. the flash of steel-nimor's thin blade and both daggers-became a whirling blur around the assassin.

well played, master, prath commented. that should keep him occupied.

again ignoring his nephew, gromph called on the levitating power of his staff to launch himself straight up in the air. the centipede's hideous sideways jaws crashed together an inch below the soles of his boots, and it immediately drew back for a second lunging attack. gromph, hoping he was well above the monstrous insect, twisted and rolled in the air, his eyes taking in every detail of the bazaar and the surrounding stalagmites as he went.

the archmage stopped, hanging in the air between the confused centipede and the hovering lich.

"you don't like my new pet?" the lichdrow taunted. "all he wants is to give you a little kiss."

"i don't-" gromph started, but the air was pushed from his chest once again when dyrr, his staff held in front of him, used its power to thrust gromph away. the archmage could feel the giant insect behind him, looming like a stalactite fortress. dyrr drew himself up higher in the air and the repulsion pushed gromph down and away-directly into the centipede's greedy jaws.

the right spell came to gromph's mind in an instant, and he wasted some extra energy to cast it quickly. the effect was one he'd felt hundreds of times, but he'd always hated it. his body felt as if it were drawing itself thin. he shivered despite himself and had to force himself to keep his eyes open when his vision blurred a little and the world around him became both distorted and somehow brighter, sharper.

he was surrounded by the inside of the gigantic insect. muscles and rivers of green semiliquid that served it for blood, the odd line of sheets the thing seemed to be using as lungs, the husks of other too-big insects that it had recently eaten-then another thick layer of armorlike chitin, and he was through it. he had passed through the centipede, his body more a part of the ethereal than the prime material plane.

the centipede had no idea what was going on-how could it? gromph knew the insect wouldn't have been able to feel him pass through it, but the tasty morsel of drow flesh it thought it was going to bite and swallow was somehow behind it. gromph caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye and turned fast to see nimor coming at him again. the daggers were gone, and the assassin had a few new cuts, but he was no less deadly for the experience.

the centipede turned, moving its massive body-one that must have weighed several hundred tons-in a shockingly quick and agile twist. gromph's ethereal body was still visible, though he appeared ghostly, oddly translucent. the centipede didn't seem to see him. instead, its bulging eyes locked on nimor.

nimor slipped sideways in the air again and, fast as the insect was, the assassin slipped past its jaws in time to save his own life. the centipede would have bitten him cleanly in two.

gromph levitated up past the reach of the centipede as his body faded back into its solid form.

"dyrr," nimor raged, "mind your pet, damn you."

gromph smiled at that, but dyrr's response was to begin another incantation. nimor might have been angry at his undead ally, but they were far from turning on each other. the archmage knew that dyrr's spell would be directed at him. despite having spent a little time in ethereal form, the globe was still around him, so gromph knew that dyrr was going to be using powerful magic. the archmage turned in the air to face the lich, but all he could do in the seconds it took for dyrr to cast the spell was hope the defenses he already had in place would be enough to save his life.

there was no visible effect when the lich finished his spell, no trail of light or clap of thunder, but gromph could feel the magic wrap itself around him. the protective globe did nothing to keep the spell out, but other defenses came into play, and gromph concentrated on those. still, his body began to stiffen. the archmage could feel the moisture being drawn from his skin. he found it difficult to bend his elbows. it was as if he were being turned to stone.

he started to drop, and before he could take control of his levitation again, the centipede turned and bit at him. one of the insect's pincers caught the archmage on the thigh as he dropped past. it might have bitten his leg off, but it had the wrong angle, so instead it ripped his skin open and dragged its serrated edge deep into the muscle until it vibrated against gromph's thighbone.

the archmage ground his teeth against the pain. even with his muscles stiff and his breath coming in slow, shallow gulps, he used the staff to pull up into the air away from the centipede, which came at him again.

blood oozed like thick mud out of the deep gash in his leg, and gromph found it ironic that itwas dyrr's spell that seemed to be saving his life. the ring gromph had been depending on didn't seem to be functioning.

nimor hit him again, and the cold of the magic rapier made gromph stiffen even more. a breath caught in his throat, and his stomach convulsed until he was wrapped in a ball in the air. he tried to blink, but he had to close his eyes, pause, then slowly open them again.

he tried to turn you to stone, nauzhror said, his voice clear in gromph's groggy mind. you've resisted it thus far, archmage. don't let it in.

gromph turned his head slowly to the right-all he managed from an attempt to shake his head. the globe of protective magic that enveloped him disappeared, its energy spent. gromph saw dyrr draw himself up, only a few yards away. the lich cast a quick spell, and a flurry of green and red sparks, each as long as an arrow, streaked at him. gromph managed to move his leg and extend his arm but couldn't get his jaw to open fast enough to utter the command word. the bolts of weave energy smashed into him, burning him, shocking him, making him twitch, making his muscles extend then contract. the archmage's skin rippled, and his joints popped.

it was painful, and he was bleeding in wide, hot sheets across his thigh, which was open to the bone. he could move again but not fast enough to avoid the centipede.

the insect reared up, its massive pincers wide open, and closed on him in a lunge. gromph hung in the air barely within its reach. the pincers came down and came together over his already wounded thigh.

gromph felt himself tugged down by the centipede, then something gave and he bobbed back up. before taking stock of his new wound, he levitated farther up, dimly aware that he was trailing something. he cast a spell even as nauzhror and prath shouted into his head. something was wrong, but he needed to finish the spell before he could do anything else. he had to get rid of the centipede or it would eat him piece by piece while the damned lich stood by safely watching. gromph looked down and saw a spray of blood play across the centipede's wide, flat head, then fall through it as it faded. the spell took full effect, and the centipede was gone, but the blood still fell in a grisly rain onto the floor of the bazaar far below.

gromph reached down to his leg and felt something hard and jagged. he cut his finger on a sharp edge-the sharp edge of his own thigh bone. his leg was gone. the centipede had bitten it off. gromph clenched his fists in anger and looked down. he could see his severed leg lying amid a shower of blood that still rained from his open wound.

sparkles of light off to one side caught gromph's attention. nimor threw something, and gromph instinctively blocked his face, fearing a spell. instead, he saw the hilt of the winged assassin's enchanted rapier spinning to the ground far below. the trail of sparkling light was what was left of the freezing blade. gromph's spell had done more than banish the centipede.

nimor, to say the least, was not happy.

as the assassin launched a string of invectives his way, gromph flexed his muscles and found that the stiffening effect was gone. he was in pain but not as much as he would have imagined. his ring was already starting to fight against the grievous wounds the archmage had suffered. gromph knew that he'd survive, but there was still the matte-->>

next page