F O U R (69 page)

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

blood slipping between his friend'It seemed likely that one of the ens fingers, and head wounds bled cemy had scored, but he didn't see any opiously."A throbbing headache," said the swordsman. "Left over from Houndaer

and Syrzan, I suppose, made worse when my  heart started beating harder. I'm  all right now."

"I rejoice to hear it." Pharaun turned, right into a second volley of quarrels.

second band of renegaHe had no time to raise his cloak, dodgedes who'd crept up from the other direction. M, or do anything else but gawk at the iraculously,every shaft missed.

One of the newcomers shouted, "They're here!"

focus he'The guards chard  had no difged, and Pharficulty replacing. A aun brandished a bit of spiderweb, the one spell

around the onrushing renegades.    mesh of taut, luminous cables appeared as rope and as sticky as glue.     Anchored to the wall, the cables were as strong

All but the two in front. Either they'They snared and  held the rogues.d  been nimble  enough to jump clear  before

the effect fully materialized, or their  innate dark elf resistance to  magic had

protected them.Undeterred by the loss of their comrades,  the warriors drove onward i

nto  sword

range. The one who focused on Pharaun had  a birthmark staining Pharaun shot. The shaft hit the male s          his left profile.f his

mail. The ugly male swung his sword in a quare in the chest but glanced offlank cut. Pharaun twisted aside and commenced an incantation.

He had to dodge two more attacks before  he finished. Shafts of light sprafrom his fingertips.                          ng

trap of webbing, too.Only one such spell left,  he thought, and only one more chance to conjure a The missiles passed through the renegade'

s  mail and se

backward. W                       nt him reeling

yanked his new dirk out of his belt aounded but still alive, the rogue gave his head a shake. Pharaun rammed his point up under the ugly male'nd flung himself at the guard. The wizard

s  chin before the latter  had quite

recovered his wits.

Pharaun turned. Feinting low and striking high, Ryld whithrough his opponent'                 pped his broadsword

s  neck. The renegade  fell, his severed head tumbling away.

For a moment,  Pharaun  felt a touch  of  relief,  then  he  noticed his friend's grimace

and the blood on his thigh, and heard the  calls of other pursuers drawing near."It sounds as if
 
all
 
the rogues are hunting us,"  the wizard said. "What a

gracious compliment.""They heard the fight," R

yld replied.  "They have some  idea where we areand thanks to you, this passage has b                  ,

ecome  a cul-de-sac. We  have to move—

now."

"Perhaps you would have preferred me  to let the rest of our attackers swarmall over us."

"Just move."

They did, with the prisoners in the web shouting imprecations after them.Pharaun soon discerned that R

yld was making an effort not to limp nor  showany sort of distress but couldn't m

ask his pain completely.

but had he done so, he would have been The wizard considered leaving patches  of darkness behind to hinder pursuit, marking his trail. He could only think

of  one  trick  he  could  use  to  evade  the  renegades,  and  hoped  it  wouldn't  be

necessary.

Richard Lee Byers

189

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

Twthice, the maey  passed.  Fisters sensed a band of rogues was near and hid in a room  until nally  they  found a  staircase  leading downward.  Pharth                              aun hoped eir  descent  to  the  lower  level  would  throw  off  the  pursuit  but  soon  realized  it hadn't. Perhaps it was because the fugitives were leaving a trail of blood.

Pharaun's little cut had stopped bleeding, but Ryld's  gashed leg had not.

Despite himself, the burly swordsman began taking uneven strides, one shorterthan the other

.  Pharaun heard a murmur of voices coming from  behind and outof a side passage as well.He said, "Stay where you are. I have an idea."

R

The wizard advanced a few paces down the corridoryld shrugged.                  . He lifted his wisp ofcobweb and chanted. Power groaned through the air

,  and crisscrossing cables sealed the corridor. The rogues he'd  heard were on the other side. So was Ryld.

The swordsman looked at his friend through the interstices and said, "I don't understand."

"And you a master tactician. Truly,  I regret this, but I could either stick withyou and let your injuries retard my  progress or else leave you behind as a rearguard to slow my  pursuers. Considering how vulnerable I currently am, thechoice was reasonably obvious."

"Damn you! How ma

"I'         ny times have I saved your life?"ve lost count. At any rate, this will make one more, in the course of
 
which you'll finally be rid of your melancholy.  Good-bye, old friend." Pharaun turned and strode away

.

He heard a crossbow clack, and flung himshim. R                 elf to the side. The quarrel flew past yld had needed commeadhesive m        ndable accuracy to avoid snagging the missile in the esh.

Pharaun glanced back and said, "Nice shot, but you miquarrels for the renegades."               ght want to save your

He skulked on, and quickened his pace  when someone shouted behind him,  and metal clashed on metal.

Ryld quickly learned that one of the rogues was a wizard, and a deft one at that.

He had no diffacross  the  halliculty lobbing spells through the line his comrades had formed

,  leaving  them  unscathed  but  battering  the  weapons  master  with one attack after another

.

Magthere but done no serious harmSo far the flares of power had seared and chilled the Master of Melee-. He doubted that would last. He needed to put a stop to the magic before the maresistance, and that meant breaking through the lge slipped an attack through his natural ineand a soreness, the residue of Syrzan'He faked a sidestep to the left, then dodged right. His wounded leg throbbed, s  attack, twisted through his mind. Thepain slowed himlong-arm     just enough to render  the deception ineffective. Urlryn, the ed, gap-toothed renegade on the right, another of Ryld's  former students and a good one, met him  with a wicked thrust to the belly.

As every warrior knows, you can't  retreat at the same  instant you're advancing.Ryld had no choice but to defend with the blade. He swept his broadsword

Richard Lee Byers

190

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

but macross his body in a lateral parryoved just a hair too slowly. Urlryn tried to dip his point be

neath the bloc

. Ryld  smashed his adversary's blade aside,

k,

loosening his grip in the bargain.The weapons m

aster started to riposte  with a chest cut, then sensed

movement on his flank. He pivoted. Hoping to take him

next to Urlryn was swinging an axe at his knee. It was how unawares, the rogue a line. You killed the m                 warriors fought in

ale who was focused on your neighbor.

R

threatened to buckle beneath himyld leaped over the attack. When he landed, his leg screamed with pain and .  Shouting, he made it hold and cut at the

axeman's  belly. The broadsword crunched through ma

R                      il, and the rogue toppled.yld's  blade was still buried in the axeman's  guts when Urlryn and the other

surviving warrior rushed him.  The master floundered backward, dragging thebroadsword free. Swords flashed at him

,  and somehow, even off-balance,  hedodged them, but in so doing, fell on his rum

p.The rogues scrambled forward to finish  him

.

with a bone-shattering kick to the ankle, knocking him He surprised the other stranger reared up on one knee, his sword raised in a high guard f reeling backward, then

or what he knew was

coming.

s blade crashed down on his own, and he felt the j olt all the way to hisshoulderUrlryn'

.  With both feet planted beneath him,  the renegade could bring all his

strength to bear. Ryld couldn't.But he was bigger and m

o

positioned to ham      re powerful  than his adversary and was nicely string other drow. Teeth gritted, he maintained his defense until his enemy faltered, then whipped the broadsword behind the rogue'

s

for a drawing cut.                            leg Urlryn let out a shrill cry and staggered  sideways. R

yld heaved himself up and turned toward the wizard, only to discover he could no longer see hi

m.  Deprived

of his wall of warriors, the spellcaster had conjured another defender, a vaguelbearish thing with folded bat wings and lumi              y

nous crimson eyes, so

nearly filled the corridor                      huge it .R

yld had watched Pharaun exercise the famous Mizzrym  talent for illusion on

numerous occasions, and his experiences stood him  in good stead. He sensed

though he couldn't say how, that the demon bear was just a ph     ,antasm. Heli

mped forward,  flicked the  broadsword  at  it,  and it popped like

dischar                            a fungus ging a cloud of spores. It was strange  to think that, had he  believed in  it

it could have torn him  to shreds.                     ,

The rogue mage turned tail. Ryld didn't want the bastard to reappear and trto kill him  again later                         y

,  so he gave chase. His head and wounded leg seemed toscream in unison, and he  had to stop. The sorcerer  scuttled

round a  corner  and

disappeared.As R ld waited for the pain to subside,  he realized he couldn't survive ma

more fights in his present condition. He ey                               ny shed his disabilities.          ither had to escape his foes posthaste or

Sadly,  he had just about come to the  conclusion that he was fated to wander through the castle, ducking his enemies the

exit. That could take hours.        while, until pure luck led him to an

He had reason to hope he wouldn't need nearly as long to revitalize himself, buthe'd  leave himself vulnerable during the process. He wouldn't be able to sneak in

the opposite direction whenever  he detected a party of hunters. He'din one place. Still, it seemed the better option.            have to stay

Richard Lee Byers