F O U R (73 page)

R           red rhythmically from his wound.yld continued to back away. The rogues spread out again, though not so

widely as before. Tsabrak began to make  a soft whining sound in  the back of his throat.

Then, seemingly without any windup, just a sudden extension of his arm, Ryld threw his sword. Though the weapon wasn'

t

streaked through the air as straight and su    intended for such an action, it re as an arrow.         into T                          The point  plunged

sabrak's chest.

The drider's  eyes widened. He coughed blood, then flopped forward at the

waist, dropping his sword. His spider half, slower to die than the upper portion,continued to lim

It was all right, though, because Rp forward.     yld  had no melee weapon save for a daggerwhich would surely be of little use against a blade as long  as the greats   ,

word.

Houndaer rushed in to deliver the finishing stroke.
"Tuin'T

arir
 
he screamed.

His face still as blank as a zombie's, the weapons master dodged to the side.

Houndaer turned, following the target, and saw that Ryld had ducked behind one of a row of wooden mannequins. Up  close, the crudely carved dum

mies

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stigmata of dents and gashes.were oddly disquieting figures, smirking identical smiles despite their countless R

yld stood poised, waiting, and Houndaer discerned the spy's intent. When his adversary lunged around one side of the dummy, the master w

ould circle

in the opposite direction, thus maintaining a barrier between them.

as it was supposed to be. He brought the blade around in a low arc. It Houndaer saw no reason to play that game, not if his new sword was as keen tore the mannequin with scarcely a jolt, depriving R             away

yld of his pitiful protection.Unfortunately, the weapons master sprang forward at the very same ins

tant,

before Houndaer could pull the greatsword back for another cut. Ryld slashedat the noble's throat.

between himself and the spyHoundaer frantically wrenched himself back, interposing his weapon ,  before recognizing that the cut had been more of

a  feint  than  anything  else.  Ryld  had  tricked  him  into  assuming  a

defensive attitude, then seized the opportunity to dash past hi    completely m. Houndaer cut at the master'

s  back but only managed to tear his billowing cloak.

The Tuin'Tarl gave chase, and Tsabra

ambulatory              k, dying or dead but still mindlessly the drider down., staggered into his path. Houndaer shouted in frustration and cut

When the hybrid fell, the noble could see what was happening behind him.R

yld had reached Tsabrak's fallen sword. Heedless of the venom drying onthe blade, the teacher slipped his toe under the weapon, flipped it into  the air

and caught it neatly by the hilt. His expression              ,as  unfathomable  as  ever,  hecame on guard and advanced.

Aloud, he shouted, "Here! I'I can still kill him, Houndaer thought, I still have the reach on him.

R            ve got one of the masters here!"yld stepped to the verge of the distance, then hovered there. Confident in his

ability to defend, he wanted Houndaer to  strike at him. A fencer couldn'tattack without opening himself up.

At first, the noble declined to oblige.  He intended to wait his opponent out.R

yld beat his blade.

composed attack. Feint to The clanging impact startled a response  out of him, but at least it was a opponent'        the chest, feint to the flank, cut low and hack the

s  legs out from underneath him.

Even as he flowed into the final count, he remembered Ryld teaching him

the sequence, and sure enough, the instructor wasn't  fooled. He parried the genuine low-line attack, then riposted to Houndaer'

s  wrist. The broadsword

bit through his gauntlet and into the flesh beneath.R

at Houndaer'yld pulled his weapon free in a spatter of gore. He drove deeper, cutting s  torso. The Tuin'Tarl floundered backward out of the distance,

meanwhile heaving the greatsword His bloody wrist throbbed, and the huge blade trembled. It was brutally hback into a threatening position.

ard

to hold it up, its enchantments notwithstanding. He choked up on it,  hisweakened hand clutching the ricasso, but  that only helped a little. He li

stened

for the sound of another party of rogues  rushing to his aid.  He didn't hear it."Well done, Master Argith!" Houndaer declared. "I declare myself b

eaten. I

yield."R ld stalked forward, broadsword at the ready

.

"Please!" said the Ty        uin'Tarl. "We always got along, didn't  we? I was one of

your most dutiful students, and  I can help you get out of here."

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expressionless after all. It might be The teacher kept coming,  and Houndaer saw that his face wasn't empty or preternatural, almost demonic concentration, focused entirely on slaughterdevoid of emotion, but it revealed a

.

Houndaer saw his own inescapable death there, and, suffcalm                         used with a strange

,  he lowered the greatsword. Ryid's blade sheared into his chest an instant later

.

lifetime learning self control, for otherwisThe echoing metallic crash startled Quenthee, she might have cried outl. It was well that she'd spent a in  dismay.She and her squad were patrolling the temple. After the events

night                           of the past four s  it  would have  been  mad to  relax their  vigilance,  but  as  the

uneventfully by, her troops began to speculate  that the siege was over hours had crept .was supposed to be. The bone wand had suppos           After all, it

edly turned the malignancy  of the

past night's  sending back  on she who cast  the  curse.Y

et Quenthel had found she wasn't  quite r

Y                  eady to share in the general optimism. es, she'd turned an attack  back on its source, but that didn't necessarily mean her

faceless enemy had succumbed to the demon's attentions.  The spellcaster couldhave survived, and if so, she could k

assassins.              eep  right on dispatching her unearthly

From the sound of it, another such had  just broken in, and  Quenthel didn't have another little bone wand.

For a moment, the Baenre felt a surge of  fear, perhaps even despair,  and she swallowed it down.

Perhaps her subordinates would pr"Follow me," she snapped.Their tread silent in their enchanted ove of some use for a change.

direction of the noise. Greenish torchlight splashed their shadows on the walls. boots, the priestesses trotted in the

Parchment rattled as one novice fumbled open a scroll. Female voices began to shout. Power reddened the air for an instant and brushed a

gracross the priestesses' skin.                itty, pricking feeling

"It's not a demon," said Yngoth, twis

eyes on a level with Quenthel's own. Her stting up from the whip handle to place his bob up and down.            ride made his scaly wedge of a head

She hoped so. W"No?" she asked. "Has my enemy come  to continue our duel in person?"ith her minions at hechance of crushing the arrogant fool.  r back, Quenthel would have a good

But alas, it wasn't  so. Her course led her to the entry hall with the spider statues.The poor battered valves hung breached and crooked once again. This time the

culprit was a huge, disembodied, luminousas if signaling som             hand, floating open with fingers up

eone to halt. A lanky  ma

behind the translucent m        le in a baggy cloak had taken shelter anifestation from  the spears and arrows that several

priestesses were sending his way.Quenthel sighed, because she knew the lunatic, and he couldn't possibly b

e her

unknown foe. By all accounts, he'd  been too busy down in the city the past fewdays.

She gestured with the whip, terminating the barrage of missiles.

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where no m"Master Mizzrymale m  ," she called. "Y

ou  com

ay come  unbidden."

pound your crimes by breaking in

Pharaun bent low in obeisance. He looked winded, and, most peculiarly forsuch a notorious dandy

"Mistress, I beg your pardon, but I m, disheveled.    ust  confer with you. Time  is of the essence."

"I have little to say to you except to  condemn  you as the Archmahave done."                          ge should

"Kill me  if you must." The giant hand winked out of existence and he

continued, "Given my  recent peccadilloes, I half expected it. But hear my

message first. The undercreatures are rebelling."

he Archmage sent you here with this

news?"Quenthel narrowed her eyes and asked, "T

"Alas," the mage replied, "I was unable to locate him  but knew this was

something that must be brought to the attention of the most senior members of

the Academy.  I realize no one ever dreamed  it could happen, but it has. Walk to

the verge of the plateau with me, and you'll see."

The Baenre frowned. Pharaun's manner was too presumptuous by half, yet

something in it commanded attention.

"Very well," she said, "but if this is some  sort of demented jest, you'll suffer for