Black wizards - Douglas Niles [125]
"L-look!" whispered the wood sprite.
"It fell over here," cried one, pointing toward the place where Robyn lay. "It was a big one. Maybe it's not dead."
"Don't count on it," said another, trudging wearily behind.
Newt and Yazilliclick remained invisible on the branch while they waited to see what these humans would do.
"Well, I'll be damned!" exclaimed the leader as he pushed through the grass to Robyn's side. "A woman!"
"She alive?" asked the second, staring in amazement as he reached his companion's side.
"Yeah," said the first. "But I don't know for how long."
"Best get her to Doncastle. Maybe the cleric can fix her up. And Lord Roarke will probably want to know about this, too. A woman falling from the sky!"
"Coulda sworn it was an eagle," said the first as he hoisted Robyn over his shoulders and started back toward the woods. Buzzing silently above them, the faerie creatures followed the men and the druid.
* * * * *
"Good luck to you," said the prince, clasping Finellen's gauntleted hand. They stood at the junction of several underground passages. From here, the dwarf would coordinate her attack on the duergar, and the humans would start on the underground trek to Doncastle. They were able to take the subterranean route because Finnellen had given them a detailed map and had told them of a cave near the center of Dernall Forest.
The dwarf shrugged. "Won't need too much – there can't be more'n a couple hundred of them. Isn't a duergar born who can stand toe to toe with a true dwarf!" Her voice grew serious. "But your task sounds a little more difficult than duergar-bashing."
"What – you mean deposing a king?" Tristan tried to make light of his goal, but his mind had grown more clear after several long talks with Alexei. There was no other solution to his woes and the woes of his land. The king and his council of black sorcery had to be removed.
"We should have this problem tidied up in a few days," said the dwarf awkwardly. "Maybe we'll stop in and see how things are going."
"Your help is always welcome," replied Tristan. "We are going to Doncastle now, though I cannot promise for how long. But I will hope to see you again soon, my friend!"
"Now I've got a battle to win," said the dwarf bluntly. "So be on with ye!" The dwarf turned away and resolutely marched toward her troops, who were arrayed in battle formation farther down the cavern.
Daryth, Tristan, and Alexei started up the cavern on foot. The wizard already seemed healthier. Two days of freedom, even spent entirely underground, had done wonders for him. Alexei's vitality had increased immeasurably as they had made plans to strike back at the king.
Tristan was certain that the mage, that all of them, would need every bit of their strength in the coming days.
* * * * *
Ysalla, high priestess of the sahuagin, did not remain in her city as the king mustered his forces. She was a cleric of Bhaal – in her own way, as devout and remorseless as Hobarth – and she was determined to carry out the commands of her god.
Bhaal had commanded her to do something, and so she did it without question. Unlike Hobarth, she had no potent artifact of evil to aid her efforts. But also unlike Hobarth, she had many willing disciples to help her. The lesser priestesses of the sahuagin numbered in the hundreds, and these would do her bidding as she did the bidding of Bhaal.
And so the priestesses swam from Kressilacc, yellow shapes swimming smoothly away from the city, against the crush of green bodies so steadily arriving. The Deepsong drove the priestesses to their tasks as surely as it summoned the sahuagin warriors to theirs.
The yellow sahuagin, brilliantly ornamented with gold and silver trappings, kicked their way along the sea bottoms of the Sea of Moonshae, the straits of the isles, and even the Trackless Sea. There they sought the wrecks of ships. Far out to sea, they discovered lonely hulks; around especially treacherous points and headlands, they found vast nautical graveyards.
Ysalla herself, accompanied by a dozen of her most