Extinction

Had she been attacked from above? Ryld imagined a black dragon swooping down on Halisstra, blasting her with its acid breath, and shuddered. But, no, that didn't seem to be the answer. Aside from Halisstra's footprints, the snow was undisturbed. Flapping wings would have stirred it up with their downdraft, and a black dragon's breath would have left spray marks in the snow.

It must have been a ghost?perhaps one similar to the officer Ryld had encountered?or some other noncorporeal creature that had startled Halisstra. Whatever it was, it seemed to have done no more than destroy her brooch. Halisstra had moved away at a walking stride in a straight line to the south. The trail she'd left was as before, normal and unremarkable.

No … not quite. About a pace to the right of Halisstra's footprints was an irregular line of dimples in the snow, as if something had dripped onto it?but not blood, Ryld saw with relief as he stooped to examine them. There was no trace of red, and the droplets were very small. Bending closer, he sniffed and caught the same faint, acrid odor. Cautiously, he touched a callused fingertip to one of the holes, held it there a moment, then jerked it back when he felt a slight sting.

Acid.

Wiping his finger, he considered. If Halisstra had run into a malevolent spirit, it certainly had a strange way of manifesting itself. Ryld had once encountered a ghost that left smears of blood on the ground wherever it walked?the ghost of a man whose throat had been slit. Had the spirit that confronted Halisstra?assuming that's what it was?been killed by acid?

Whatever had made the droplet trail in the snow, Halisstra had followed it. Her footprints overlaid the holes in several places. Grimly, Ryld followed the trail.

It didn't lead far. After about five hundred paces, Ryld spotted a black, gaping hole in the snowy ground. About three paces across, it looked as though it had been punched open from below. A scatter of rock and loose earth encircled it. Halisstra's footprints led to the edge of the hole, paused?then continued, as if she had descended into its depths. The trail of droplets also led to the hole's edge.

Drawing Splitter, Ryld crept forward, studying the ground. The hole sloped down into the earth at a gentle angle. Scuffs in the snow showed where Halisstra had placed her feet on the slope, but the droplets ended at the hole's edge. Whatever had led her to the hole hadn't gone inside.

Squatting at the edge of the hole, the weapons master used the point of his sword to prod the debris that had been thrown up around it. The soil was frozen solid. The pit had been created some time ago.

Cocking an ear to the hole, Ryld listened, but if Halisstra was moving around down in the black depths it was impossible to near her above the moan of the wind. Snow had started to fall again. The flakes landed feather-light upon his head, then melted, sending trickles of icy water down his neck. His breastplate was cold even through the padded tunic he wore and his vambraces creaked each time he moved his arms. At least the tu

Clambering over the lip of the hole, Ryld cautiously descended the slope. Frost on the floor of the tu

Knowing that Halisstra's only means of levitating had been her brooch, Ryld chose the left fork. He was relieved to see, after a pace or two, six pebbles that had been set on the ground to form a triangle, pointing out of the tu

Ryld walked briskly for some time, following a more or less horizontal course for some distance but not in a straight line. Instead the tube snaked back and forth in a series of wide, gentle turns, often doubling back over itself again. At each of those junctions Ryld paused and searched carefully and found a triangle of pebbles. Thanks to Halisstra's marks he was able to make good time.

Eventually the cave veered off in a fairly straight line for nearly a thousand paces, only to abruptly bend downward at a steep angle. There, Ryld paused. He'd been trying to decide what would have created such a sinuously curved tu

Ryld stood again and tightened his grip on Splitter. The cave hadn't been created by magic; it had been bored through the rock by a living creature.

He'd been praying that it was an ancient pathway, and not freshly made, but the lingering smell of acid in the air told him otherwise. The fact that the odor was getting stronger the farther along he went didn't bode well. And if he was right in his guess about what kind of creature had made the tu

Cautiously, Ryld picked his way down the slope ahead. He moved slowly at first, aware that any tiny avalanche of stone caused by a misstep could alert the creature below to his presence, but halfway down his ears caught a faint noise: the sound of a woman singing. His heartbeat quickened as he recognized the voice as Halisstra's. She was casting one of her bardic spells?but why? Was it merely in preparation for what was to come, or was she already under attack? Grimly, he hurried forward, not caring that his feet were skidding on the ever-steepening slope.

Ahead, the bottom of the tu

Moments later, he neared the bottom of the slope and saw that his guess had been correct. At the far end of the cavern was an enormous purple worm, larger even than Ryld had expected?perhaps thirty paces long. It was coiled like a snake, its head lifted and mouth gaping wide, acid dripping between teeth the size of daggers. Halisstra stood just in front of it with her back to Ryld, songsword in hand, staring the monster down. The charm spell she was singing seemed to be working. The worm swayed in time with the tune, its tiny eyes fixed and staring. Ryld felt a fierce admiration. Halisstra was the epitome of a drow female: strong and fearless, capable of handling any threat.

Wary of disturbing her magic, Ryld halted at the bottom of the slope. He managed to do so without making any noise, but when he stepped forward into the room his ankle twisted as an acid-weakened stone crumbled underfoot. His foot slipped into a puddle of fresh acid?fortunately, his boot leather protected him?but the slight splash alerted Halisstra to the fact that she was no longer alone in the cavern. Her head jerked quickly around?just long enough to see who it was?and a startled look passed across her face. All the while she continued to sing without pause, but the momentary loss of eye contact with the purple worm broke the spell. Whipping its head from side to side, sending acidic spittle flying in all directions, it shook off the effects of the charm spell. Then it struck.