Insurrection

TWENTY

The moment the doorway opened, Pharaun dived through it, hoping he was doing the right thing by trusting the children of House Melarn with his life. For all the wizard knew, she could have picked that moment to exact her revenge upon the Menzoberranyr for all the injustices they'd inflicted upon her family, her home, and herself. She certainly had a right to.

But the pathway didn't deposit the wizard into some scorching furnace or pit of doom. It was a poshly decorated hall, but unfortunately the mage found himself facing a huge, slavering lizard with incredibly sharp teeth. The being spotted him and advanced eagerly, eyeing the wizard as if he were its next meal.

Reacting quickly, the mage flung himself backward, out of the way of the thing, and willed a spell into being that created a series of floating balls of lightning. As the lizard darted toward him, Pharaun directed the balls to engage the creature, sparking as they did so. The beast jerked and backed away, but Pharaun was relentless, slamming all of the spheres of lightning into it. After the fourth one, the creature sprawled to the ground. It twitched a couple of times and lay still.

«What in the Abyss is that?» Ryld asked, popping through the portal with Splitter up and ready. «Are we in the right place?»

«Fortunately, yes,» Pharaun replied, jumping up. A shiver through the building caused him to stumble forward. «Unfortunately, Halisstra, having never been here before, must not have known about the guard animals inside. Or else Q'arlynd forgot to warn us.»

«By the Dark Mother!» Danifae said, spying the beast as she leaped through into the cell. She had her morning star up in an instant. «Is it dead?»

«I certainly hope so,» Valas said, following close behind.

The scout had his kukris in his hands, and he was looking at the dead lizard. The hall shook again, and part of a wall collapsed, exposing the room to the city outside. Everyone splayed their legs out to try and maintain their balance.

One by one, the rest of the team passed through the portal to join them. Jeggred was the last one to clear the gate.

«The whole city's falling,» the draegloth a

The fiend sounded too matter-of-fact for the wizard's taste.

Halisstra's brother was casting a spell, one Pharaun didn't recognize. He began to radiate an aura of divination magic—Pharaun's ring told him that much—as he looked around, almost as if he was sniffing something out.

«The dormant portal is this way,» Q'arlynd said, leading the group out into a hallway. «Follow me.»

The entourage followed the Melarn wizard through several passages, up a couple of staircases, and into a hallway that obviously hadn't been used in a long time. Several times during the journey, the structure shook, but they were deeper rumbles, vibrating through the whole of the Underdark.

«If this doesn't work. .» Quenthel began.

«It'll work,» Pharaun cut her off. «I'll need a couple of moments to study it, but it will work.»

«You'd better hope so, wizard,» the high priestess muttered.

Q'arlynd led them all to the end of the passage and stopped before an open doorway at the end of it.

«Its in there,» he said, «but it's magically sealed and warded with protective glyphs. I have no way of getting through.»

Pharaun knelt to study the opening. The barrier between the hallway and the larger room beyond was invisible but solid. Pharaun could see that it radiated some sort of magic and reported such.

«If I had the proper type of magic at my disposal,» the Master of Sorcere said, «I'd be able to bring it down in mere seconds, but as it is, I can't do so until I've had a chance to rest and regroup.»

«Do you have another magical doorway at your disposal?» Quenthel asked Halisstra.

The priestess shook her head miserably, reaching out to steady herself against a wall as another rumble rocked the room and everyone in it.

«Well, then, wizard, what are we going to do?» the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith asked. «We can't sit in here while you recharge your magical energies.»

«Quite true,» the mage replied. «Give me a moment.»

«Mizzrym, we don't have a moment!»

As Pharaun studied their predicament, the building shook again, even more roughly. Everyone was pitched to the floor, and behind them a large portion of the ceiling collapsed, with shards of stone showering down.

«Thar is getting tiresome,» Quenthel complained, regaining her feet with a horrid scowl on her face. «I will not die trapped in a cage like some animal. Not after all I've been through.»

Growling deeply, Jeggred bounded across to the door and began to attack the invisible opening, raking his claws ineffectually against the barrier. A crackle of electrical energy raked over his body, but it didn't stop him from throwing himself at it again and again. His efforts were fruitless.

«Jeggred, stop it!» Quenthel said at last. «You're not helping.»

With another deep-throated growl, the draegloth backed off.

«If we don't get through there,» Danifae said to Pharaun, measuring each word for emphasis, «we're all going to be pulverized. Do something!»

«All right, all right,» the mage replied, holding up a hand, «The problem is, we have no way to open the door from the inside. The magic that seals us out here keeps me from using even a simple spell. If I was over there, I could simply remove the barrier manually, but that's easier said than done. That's all. Such a simple trick, and yet impossible. .»

He looked at them all miserably.

«Wait,» Ryld said, stepping over near the wizard. «Move back.»

Raising Splitter high over his head, the weapons master swung the blade down hard against the barrier. The enchanted weapon sliced into it with a flash of light, and Pharaun saw the magical emanations from the seal fade from view. The blade had dissipated the magic.

«Thank the Dark Mother,» someone said as the entire group rushed into the chamber beyond.

«All right, wizard, lead us out of here,» Quenthel said, sounding desperate, «and hurry!»

«We'll be departed in a moment,» Pharaun said, gesturing for Q'arlynd to show him the way.

The Melarn wizard led the group into the large chamber, which looked like a library, though all the shelves were empty. Several statues lined the walls. Q'arlynd headed toward a spot on one wall, near the back of the room. It was an archway, but it led nowhere at the moment, filled instead with worked stone blocks. It did, however, glow with faint dweomers of transference.

«Here,» he said.

«Excellent!» Pharaun replied, gri

The mage's words were cut off by yet another tremor in the floor. This was followed by another, and another, again definitely different than the previous rumbling. Turning to look over his shoulder, Pharaun groaned. A massive statue of iron was striding slowly but inexorably toward them, and with each step the floor trembled under its weight.

«Lolth preserve us,» Ryld said, dropping into a defensive crouch. «What is that?»

«Its a magical construct,» Pharaun answered. «A golem. I can't do anything about it.»

Ryld leaped forward to slice at the huge thing. His blade struck against the side of the construct and skittered off.

Pharaun shouted, «If it exhales, don't breathe the vapors!»

Jeggred snarled and leaped at the golem, slashing at it. In response, the huge construct swung one massive fist around and caught the draegloth squarely in the ribs, sending him flying across the room with a painful grunt. Jeggred was down on his hands and knees, shaking his head.

Ryld moved in again, wary of the huge sword in the golem's other hand. When the weapons master found an opening, he lunged forward, swiping at the metallic hide of the construct. Sparks flew as Splitter cut a deep furrow across the golems flank. Ryld spun and ducked down, trying to stay behind the thing.

Another tremor rocked the chamber, and part of the ceiling collapsed behind the golem, sending bookshelves flying as shards of wood. Pharaun went down on one knee from the shaking, then looked up to see that part of the room on the far side had not just collapsed but had completely broken away and disappeared. The Dangling Tower was coming apart around them, just as House Melarn had done. Beyond the jagged edge of the room, Pharaun could see the smoky glow of the burning city. They were indeed ru

«Forget the fight,» Quenthel said, grabbing the wizard by the collar of his piwafwi and spi

Pharaun nodded and turned away as Jeggred leaped back in beside Ryld. Valas, Halisstra, and Q'arlynd also circled the construct, each of them waiting until the thing turned its attention to another before sliding in to gain an attack. Ignoring the fight behind him, Pharaun concentrated on studying the magical glows from the portal. He needed a few moments to determine the key that would activate the thing.

«Hurry!» Quenthel said, watching him over his shoulder.

Pharaun gave the high priestess a very deliberate look.

«Don't rush me,» he said flatly, and continued studying.

Behind the mage came a deep grunt, and Ryld slid up against the wall in a heap. The weapons master shook his head, apparently trying to clear the cobwebs, and regained his feet.

«Hurry,» the weapons master hissed, «I don't know how long we can keep this thing off you.»

Pharaun rolled his eyes and bent to his task once more. He tumbled onto his side as the floor bucked with another foundation-crumbling shudder.

«I've just about got it,» the Master of Sorcere said, when half the wall next to the portal exploded in a shower of rock and dust.

Fragments of debris smacked into the wizard, knocking the breath from him as he went sprawling. He felt the floor shift, not just from buckling but because the whole building was tipping. He knew it was going to break away soon, and their chances for escaping the city would disappear with it.

The mage struggled up into a sitting position and looked around. What was left of the room was considerably smaller than before. The iron golem teetered near the edge of the floor, then took a step toward its nearest foe, causing the stone beneath its feet to groan. Everyone in the group lay sprawled, half buried in rubble and dust, and just beyond Valas, the floor was gone, replaced by the void of the city. The rock groaned and shifted again as the golem took a step toward the scout, and Valas rolled toward the opening.