The Mistress of Tier Breche looked over at the draegloth and saw him lick his feral lips in anticipation.

«Nonsense,» she said crisply. «There's no need to get messy when they seem willing to oblige us by standing over there and letting Pha-raun dispatch them with a well-placed spell or two. Right, wizard?»

When there was no answer, Quenthel spun to face him—only to discover that he was not behind her. Only Ryld kept pace with the two females and the draegloth.

«Where in the Abyss is that damnable mage?» Quenthel growled at Ryld, who raised an eyebrow in surprise and turned to look back.

«He was right behind me,» the warrior replied, letting his gaze sweep back and upward, toward the tunnel through which they had originally entered. «I don't know—there!»

The weapons master pointed high up the wall, and Quenthel had to stop in order to turn around sufficiently to see where Ryld was pointing. When she spotted Pharaun, she muttered an invective under her breath. He wasn't alone. There was someone, a woman, in conversation with him.

«Who is that with him? What is he doing?» the high priestess asked no one in particular.

Ryld shrugged and said, «I have no idea, Mistress. I never heard him stop.»

«Well, get him down here, now! I need him,» Quenthel ordered.

Ryld made as if to protest, then shrugged, turned back, and broke into a rapid jog back along the thoroughfare. When she turned back, Valas had reached their position.

«So?» she asked the scout.

Valas took one deep, calming breath and explained, «They've cut off our route again, and they've made sure this time that we won't go around their flank.»

The scout pointed to several other exits from the large chamber.

Quenthel could see already that more of the tanarukks were there, each group similar in size to the one directly in front of them. They were gathering on the ledges and ramps, just on their side of the tunnel openings. It wasn't hard to see that they were intentionally halting the drow's progress, trying to force them to turn back.

«Obviously, they aren't here merely to attack us,» she said, thinking aloud, «so they must want something else.»

«Perhaps I can explain,» Pharaun said, materializing out of a shimmering blue doorway that hung in the open air only a few feet away. The portal snapped out of existence as the wizard primped himself a bit, straightening his piwafwi and adjusting his pack. «We've been invited to join Kaanyr Vhok, the master of those fellows, for a discussion.»

«What are you talking about? Who was that woman you were speaking with back there?» Quenthel demanded, seething at how Pharaun seemed so full of himself all the time.

The fact that he could still freely use his magic, while she could not, continually galled her. Though he might never say anything, she knew he loved flaunting the fact of it in front of her every chance he could. To add insult to injury, he seemed taken with showing unbridled politeness toward her. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. He wanted something, she was sure.

«We thought you were in trouble. I sent Ryld back to look into it,» Quenthel said. She jabbed a single finger outward, pointing at the distant figure of the weapons master. «Now I'll have to send Jeggred to catch up with him while you stay here and explain to me what this is all about.»

Before the high priestess could direct the draegloth to do her bidding, though, Pharaun cut in. «Oh, that's not necessary. Allow me but a moment.» The wizard turned and faced Ryld, pointed his finger, and began to whisper. «Ryld, my dear friend, I appreciate your concern for me, but I am quite fine and standing here among our esteemed companions. You can return from your quest to rescue me.»

In the distance, Quenthel saw the warrior start and straighten. He turned around as Pharaun spoke. Ryld seemed to shake his head in consternation, and Quenthel thought she heard him sigh, though of course it was only a whisper. By the time the mage was finished, Ryld was already trudging back in their direction.

Very clever, mage,» Quenthel said, clenching her teeth. «Now why don't you be as useful in other ways and tell me what you were doing up there.»

Of course. That was Aliisza, a charming and somewhat gregarious representative of Master Vhok's. She was lurking in the shadows back when we ran into them—«he gestured into the distance at the tanarukks—«in the previous tunnel. They answer to her, and she answers to Vhok.»

«Well, how interesting,» Quenthel said, folding her arms. «And just what did you two have to talk about for so long? You weren't, pet-haps, coming to some sort of an agreement with her, were you?»

Pharaun looked genuinely pained and said, «High Priestess, I only listened politely while she extended her offer. I could not, of course, give her any sort of proper answer without first conversing with you. I suspected what your answer would be before I even mentioned the invitation, but I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't at least deliver the message.»

«Indeed.,» Quenthel said. She knew good and well that the flamboyant wizard before her wouldn't have given a second thought to betraying her and the rest of them if it presented him with some worthwhile benefit. «Interesting that she chose you to be her messenger boy.»

Pharaun grimaced, but only slightly.

«We share a common, uh … appreciation for the arcane arts,» he said at last. «We spent a few moments in idle conversation about the difficulties of traveling with those who don't share that appreciation.»

Quenthel snorted. «I'm sure you were interested in more than her wizardly skills.»

The mage's grin didn't change, but his eyes hardened the slightest bit. Good, she thought. Remind him that you see right through him.

«Very well,» she said. «We're certainly not going to go back with the brutes to see Vhok, so the question is, how do we get through them and on our way?»

«There's no way to get around them,» Valas said, «unless the ambassador knows this area and has a notion of another route we can take,» he finished, looking at Faeryl.

The Zauvirr priestess shook her head.

«We're still too far away from the proper outskirts of Ched Nasad for me to recognize any features with certainty,» she said.

«Then we must slay them,» Jeggred announced. «Let me engage them and cut a path for you, Mistress.»

«No, Jeggred, there's no need, however much fun you might think it would be. Pharaun, here, is going to get us through this. Aren't you?»

The mage grinned bemusedly and said, «I might have an incantation or two that will allow us to make our way through to the tunnel. Aliisza has assured me that, in good sporting fashion, she will stay out of it. Slaying these creatures should be minimal trouble.»

«I'm not concerned with that. Just clear a path for us,» Quenthel commanded.

«Very well,» he said as he began to move forward, weaving the beginnings of a spell as he did so.