Extinction - Lisa Smedman [107]
"I can't see very well." Andzrel's voice came from right next to Gromph. "But my darkvision's starting to come back. Nimor's gone. What about you?"
Gromph's eyes were streaming with tears. He seemed to be having trouble seeing Andzrel-seeing anything.
"I'm… still blind. That flash of light seems to have had a greater effect on me than it did you-perhaps because the magic protecting Nimor recognized the spell inside the prism as mine and turned it back on me directly. No matter. It should be a simple matter to restore my sight,"
Gromph touched a finger to each eye and cast a spell that should have dispelled his blindness-but though he felt the tingle of magic under his eyelids, his darkvision did not return. He was as unable to see in the dark cavern as any creature from the Surface Realms.
And that worried him. With Lolth's priestesses unable to contact their goddess, finding a restorative spell would be difficult.
"So where is Nimor now?" Andzrel asked.
"In the Plane of Shadow," Gromph answered. "And you know what that means."
"Actually, no, I don't," Andzrel answered. "My apologies, Archmage."
Gromph chuckled and said, "It means he's stuck there. In order to complete his shadow walk, Nimor needs either a patch of shadow-if you're in the World Above-or darkness to step into. A deep patch of darkness. That's something he isn't going to find any time soon, with a prism stuck to his hand that glows with the light of the sun."
"Well that's one piece gone from the sava game," Andzrel said in a satisfied voice. "What's next?"
"Back to Menzoberranzan," Gromph said. "You lead, and I'll follow."
Gromph stood at the base of Narbondel, one hand on the natural pillar's cold stone. It loomed large in Kyorli's eyes. The rat peered up at the darkened pillar from her perch on Gromph's shoulder, whiskers tickling his ear. Behind him, Gromph could hear Nauzhror muttering to himself. The younger wizard had relinquished the archmage's robes to Gromph with great reluctance and had insisted on being present at the lighting ritual. Like a spider, he sensed that Gromph had a weakness-even though he hadn't discovered what it was yet.
Turning to face the pillar, Gromph lifted both hands above his head. As he chanted the words to his spell he felt a familiar, tingling rush of power flow into his hands. When the magic reached its zenith, he slapped both of them against Narbondel, directing the magic into it. The cold stone warmed under his palms and a faint crackling filled the air. Like flames climbing a burning curtain, the magical heat and light slowly began to rise through Narbondel. Gromph couldn't see it with his own eyes, but through Kyorli's he saw a muted version of it, a circle of light emitting sparks of every color from deepest red to brightest purple, rising slowly against black stone. A beautiful sight-and one that would inspire hope in those who yet held the enemy at bay in the Dark Dominion, when they returned from the tunnels.
By memory, Gromph turned in the direction of House Agrach Dyrr.
"Can you see that, lichdrow?" he whispered. "I've escaped your imprisonment. Soon, I'll be coming for you."
Later, Gromph sat in his private office in Sorcere, drumming his fingers on the desk in front of him. Kyorli sat on his shoulder; Gromph still needed the rat's eyes in order to see. He had consumed a potion that should have restored his eyesight fully, but all he could see was a series of shadows and blurs. Had it been a combination of his own permanency spell and the magic that protected Nimor that had wreaked such destruction? With time and research, he would know the answers-but with two armies still hovering on the outskirts of Menzoberranzan, time was a luxury he didn't have.
A tickling at the back of his neck alerted him to the fact that someone was watching him-something that should have been impossible within the magically warded walls of his office. It seemed to be coming from the axe he'd hung on the wall-the one his forgotten illithid visitor had left. For a moment, Gromph wondered it the observer was one