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umped

against the butt of the staff."What a sensible girl you are. You must  also bear in mind that we aren't

hunting Pharaun simply for my own personal gratification. It's  for the benefitof all, including yourself. Therefore, this isn't an ideal time to seek to discredit

and supplant one of your betters. It's  a time for us to swallow our mutualdistaste and work together until the threat is gone. Do you thi

nk

remember that?"                         you can

Aunrae kept nodding. She was shaking, too, and her eyes were wide with

terror.

had the sense not to try to grab the staf Small wonder; she must have been running short of breath. Still, she f and jerk it away from her neck. Sheknew what would happen if she tried.

Greyanna was tempted to make it happen anyway. Aunrae's submission was  a small pleasure beside the fierce satisfaction that would come from ramming the

staff into the helpless female's windpipe. The ur

hands and a throbbing in the scar across her face. ge was a hot tightness in her

she was, Aunrae was game, and wielded magic with a certain facilityBut she needed minions to catch the relative she truly hated, and, an. It would be noying as more practical to murder her another day

.  Greyanna was sure she could manage

it whenever she chose. Despite her ambitions, Aunrae was no threat. Shelacked the intelligence.

worth destroying, Greyanna lifted the stafFeeling a strange pang of nostalgia for Sabal, who had at least been a rival f away from her cousin's  throat."You will whisper no poison words in Mother'

s

House Mizzrym said. "For the time being, you will leave of ears," the First Daughter of f plotting against meor anyone else. You will devote your every  thought to finding our truant brothe

r.

Otherwise, I'll put an end to you."

Richard Lee Byers

71

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

Ryld had never experienced instantaneous travel before. To  his surprise, he wasconscious of the split second of teleportation, and he found it ratherunpleasant. It didn't feel as if he were world were hurtling at and through him, albeit painlesslyspeeding through the world but as if the .Then it was over

.  He'd  unconsciously braced himself to compensate for the joltof a sudden stop, and the absence of any such sensation rocked him on hisfeet.whifBy the time he recovered his balance, he knew more or less where he was. A

Pharaun had dropped the two of them in a disused sentry post on a natural f of dung told him. He looked around and confirmed the suspicion.mushrooms, and fungus farms fertilized with night soil from the citybalcony. The ledge overlooked Donigarten with its moss fields, grove of  giant . Hordes of ore and goblin slaves either tended the malodorous croplands or speared  fishfrom  rafts  on  the  lake,  while  rothe  lowed  from  the  island  in  the  center  of  the waterline. Additional guards looked down from other high perches about the cavern . Overseers and an armed patrol wandered the fields to keep the thralls in wall.

R

Realms that See the Sun, teleportation could yld knew Pharaun had transported them  about as far as was possible. In the carry folk around the world, but in limited the range to about half a mile—the Underdark, the disruptive radiance of  certain elements present in the rock pack off the scent.           far enough to throw Greyanna and her

Pharaun held the pilfered golden ornament up, inspecting it."It only holds one teleportation at a time," he  said after a moment. Even after all his exertions, he wasn't  panting as hard as he might have been; not bad forsuch a sybarite, thought Ryld as he set down his bloody great-sword "I.  t'suseless now, and I lost my dancing rapier, curse it, but I'm not too disconsol—"

Ryld grabbed Pharaun by the arm and flipped him, laying him down hard.

The wizard blinked, sat up, and brushed  a strand of his sculpted hair backinto place.d told me  you craved more fighting," Pharaun said, "I could have leftyou behind with m"If you'    y  kin.""The hunters, you mean," Ryld growled, "who found us quickly.""Well, we asked a fair number of questions in a fair number of places. Weeven wanted someone to find us, just brushed at his garments, adding, "Nownot that lot." Pharaun stood back up and ,  I have someyou."                      thing extraordinary to tell

"Save it," Ryld replied. "Back there in  the net, when you and Greyanna were chatting,  I  got  the  strong impression that  the  priestesses  weren't  just  hunting some  faceless agent. They knew  from  the start their target was knew they knew "                      you, and you .Pharaun sighed. "I didn ’ t know the madiscourage our efforts. That was a som   trons would choose Greyanna to ewhat disconcerting surprise. But the restof it? Yes."

"How?"

"Gromph has invisible glyphs scribed on the walls of his office. Invisible tomost people, anyway. They protect himshaped a little like a bat, is supposed to in various ways. One, a black sigil keep servers and spell casters from

Richard Lee Byers

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War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

eavesdropping on his private conversations, but when he and I spoke, it wasdrawn im

with  th

perfectly. It still would have balked ma

e  resources  and  expertise  of oh.  say,  his  sist

ny a spy

ers  ...  or  th

,  but not someone

e  Council."

Ryld frowned. "Gromph botched it?"

"Do you think the ArchmaMenzoberranzan incom"Of course not," Pharaun snorted.               ge of

petent? He drew it precisely as he wanted it. He knewthe high priestesses were trying to spy  on him

—

doubtless always will—and he intended them  to overhearthey surely always have and .""He was setting you up."

"Now you're getting it. While the clerics stay busy seeking me, the decoy,

my  illustrious chief will undertake another,  mo

by performing divinations and interrogating demre discreet inquiry undisturbed, ons, probably "."You knew

,  and you undertook the mission anyway.""Because knowing doesn'

t  change my  fundamental circumstances. If I want to

retain my rank and quite possibly my life, I still have to complete the task the archwizard set me, even though he was playing me for a fool, even with

Greyanna striving to hinder the process." Pharaun grinned and added,  "Besides,where did all those runaways go, and why do the greatest f

olk in

Menzoberranzan care? It's  a fascinating puzzle, even more so now that I've

inferred a portion of the answerforevermore."        . Did I leave it unsolved, it would haunt me

"Y

priestesses might interfere with us, but you greatly understated the dangerou played me for a fool," said Ryld. "Granted, you warned me the .  You didn't tell me you were marked before we even descended from Tier Breche.

Why not? Did you think I'Most uncharacteristicallyd refuse to accompany you?", the glib wizard  hesitated. Far below the shelf, a wh

snapped and a goblin screamed.                     ip , "not really. I suppose it's just that dark el

ves

are jealous of their secrets. So are the "No," said Pharaun eventually   nobly born. So are wizards. And I'm allthree! Will you pardon me? It isn't as if you've never kept a secret f

rom me ".

"When?"

you kept a dagger specially charmed for the "During the first three years of our  acquaintance, whenever we fraternized, hand. Y                 killing of mages ever close to your

ou suspected I was  only seeki

rivals in Melee-Magthere had engaged mng your company  because one of your e  to murder you as soon  as the opportunity arose."

"How did you discover that? Never mind,  I suppose it was your silver ring. Ididn't know what it was back then. Anyway, that's not the same ki

nd of

secret."

"You're right, it isn't, and I regret my reticence but I do propose to make up for

it by sharing the most astonishing confidence you've ever heard."R

yld stared into Pharaun's eyes. "I'll pardon you. With the understanding thatif you withhold any other pertinent information, I'll knock you o

ver the head

and deliver you to your bitch sister myself."

limestone wall at the back of the ledge"Point taken. Shall we sit?" Pharaun pointed to a bench hewn from the imeand I daresay we could use a rest after our exertions.". "My discourse may take a little t  ,

As he turned away from the molded rock rampart, Ryld noticed that the cracking of the whip had stopped. When he glanced down, two goblins

were

carrying the corpse of a third, hauling it somewhere to be chopped apart and

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73