F O U R (66 page)

rapped its dr

flaking mouth tentacles over the m                  y,age's  skull. Pharaun knew this was how

mind flayers fed. They wormed their members into whatever orifices were

most convenient and yanked out their victim's  brain.

He wondered what would happen when Syrzan subjected his dream  self to such treatm

ent. Would his physical body perish, or would it survive as a living

but mindless shell?

"Didn't you like my  story?" Pharaun gasped. The lich's grip was squeezing the

breath out of him.  "You seem

I could catch you by surprise."ed quite engrossed. That was why I dared to hope "You put your hands on m

e ! I do not permit that!"

The mellifluous voice of the Prophet was  roughening into an ugly combination

of hisses and buzzes. The tentacles squeezed tighter"Technically, these aren't

my  hands," Pharaun said. Goddess, it felt as if his

skull was going to shatter! "Since this is all imaginary "."You will tell m

e  how you knew which charm  to grab."

"My ring. It allows me  to see and interpret patterns of magical force. No wizard

Richard Lee Byers

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War Of The Spider Queen

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Dissolution

should be without one."

"You  were  a  fool  to  try  to  thwart  me  here  in  my  private  world

.  Don

't

understand that inside this construct, I'                  you m
 
a. god."

"I'm

forfeit, he bends his thoughts to revenge." dead regardless," replied Pharaun, "and when a drow knows his life is "But you'

re mistaken." Syrzan loosened  the grip of the tentacles and said,

"I'm

objective is to enslave all Menzoberranzan not going to kill you. That would be wasteful. As you observed, m. Certainly you, with all your t   yalents,will m

ake a useful thrall. Had you  not manhandled me,  your bondage  might

have been relatively light, for I enjoy  the society of other mages    '.  Now I mafraid you aren'

t  going to enjoy it in the slightest."

Pain ripped through Pharaun's head. He screamed.

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C  h a p t  e r

T   W   E   N   T   Y

"Let me  do it," Houndaer growled.

His scimitar at the ready,  he stalked toward Ryld.

AcademThe Master of Melee-Magthere tried and

failed to rise. As a student at the

y and in all the years since, he'dpain, but he'd  never felt anything com    studied techniques for transcending

parable to the invisible blow the undead illithid had struck him

.  It had been like a spear driving through his mind.

Syrzan  emerged  from  its  momentary  trance  and  said  "N,  o "  Houndaer .      turned.

"No?" he asked. "You were right about them. Obviously." "And I trust ", said the

lich, its mouth tentacles wriggling,  "that you'll remember whose judgment is superior. Now that they'

re here, however, they might as well serve our cause as

you hoped they would. It's  just a  matter of  reshaping their  minds."

"but not instantaneouslyThe bard lifted an eyebrow and asked, "Can you do that?" "Y, and not now. I need m      es," said Syrzan, It pulled Pharaun's silver ring off the unconscious drow'y  strength to give the Call."

s  finger.

"Lock them  up for the tim

"All right," saidT    e being," the alhoon ordered.sabrak. "I hope you're  going to fix it so we can all controlthem."

He too advanced on Ryld.

The weapons master struggled once again to rise. Someone lashed him  overthe head with the flat of a blade, and all the strength spilled out of hi

m like

wine from  an overturned cup.

The next few minutes were a blur. Houndaer, Tsabrak, the bard, and another

renegade carried their captives to a cell. It had the same  grime and air ofdesolation as m

uch of the rest of the castle, but someone, exhibiting a proper

dark elf's sense of priorities, had gone  to the trouble to refurbish the  locks and

restraints.

The rogues divested Ryld of his cloak and armor,  then chained him  to the wall. As he'd  expected, the conspirators took m

ore elaborate precautions with

the wizard, even though Pharaun had suffered a violent seizure shortly  afterSyrzan stunned him

,  had apparently passed from  that into completeunconsciousness, and showed no sign of rousing any time soon. I

n addition to

shackling him,  the rogues locked a steel  bridle around his head,  forcing the  bitinto his mouth to keep him  from  enunciating words of

power  or  anything else.

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They inserted his forearms  into the two  ends of a hinged metal tube, a sort of muff  or double glove that would make it imhis fingers into a cabalistic sign.      possible for him  to gesture or crook ld's  stleast, to permBy the time they finished, Rit him  to speak.  y   rength had begun to return, enough, at "It'll get you, too," he croaked.

"The lich. It doesn'Houndaer turned, scowling. "What?"t  want to share power. It's

Menzoberranyr, including you, into its mind-slave. That' planning to turn every s  what illithids do "."Do you think we trust the beast?" the  Tuin'Tarl sneered. "We're not idiots.

It'll serve its purpose, and we'll dispose of it."

"So you intend, but what if Syrzan's already working on  subjugating  you,  so subtly you don't even know it? What if, when the time comes—"

Houndaer punched his former teacher in  the mouth, dashing his head againstthe calcite wall.

"Shut up," the noble said. "You fooled me  once and made me  look like animbecile. It's  not going to happen again."

The rogues made their departure. With  his spidery lower body, Tsabrak had tosqueeze through the door. The last one out, the bard gave Ryld a wry smile  anda shrug. The door slammed shut.

R

"Pharaun," he said in a low tone. "Are you truly unconscious, or is it a tyld licked the salty taste of blood from  his gashed lower lip.     rick?"Slum

Sorcere didn'ped with the steel harness clamt respond. If not for the rise and fall of his chest, Rped around his head, the Master of yld would have feared him  dead.

The swordsman tried to go to Pharaun, but his chains were too short. Heundertook an examination of the shackles. The cuffs fit tightly, and the lockswere strong. The links were heavy,  well forged, and anchored securely in thewall. Ryld had broken free of bonds a time or two in his turbulent early years,but without tools or a miracle, he wouldn't be sundering these.

Nor,  denied the use of his voice and  hands, was Pharaun likely to fare anbetter                                y.  Still, Ryld suspected the mage was his only hope. Pharaun was clever.

Perhaps he could think of a workable ploy"
 
W
                
, if only he was conscious.
ake upr
 
Ryld roared. "Wake up, curse it. You've got to get us out of here !"

To

T  add to the din, he beat a length of chain against the wall.o  no avail. He shouted until his throat was raw,  but Pharaun didn't stir.

"Bleed it!" the weapons master swore.He hunkered down on the floor and tried  to work up some  saliva to washaway the dryness in his mouth. As the water jug, spit was the best he could do. renegades hadn't bothered to provide a

"You have to wake up," he said in a softer voice. "Otherwise, they've beatenus,  and we've never let anyone do that. Do you remember when  we hunted  thatcloaker lord? We  found out too late that it had
 
sixty-seven
 
other chasm  rays in its raiding party,  many more than ourprepared to confront. But you said, 'It'   little band of third-year students was s all right, it just takes the proper spells to even the odds.'  First you conjured a wall of fire  ". . .