Extinction - Lisa Smedman [95]
"Is this all?" he asked Julani. "Is there no one else from our House?"
The Master of Evocation shook his head.
"Only Nauzhror," he said, "who sends his regrets. He was… too busy to attend. The rest are dead-or badly injured and removed to Arach-Tinilith for healing."
A slight tightening of Julani's eyes told Gromph that he too knew how little "healing" there was left to go around.
Gromph sighed. So few House Baenre mages left-and only one of them a master. Gromph cast a lock spell upon the doors, motioned Prath to also take a seat, then seated himself in the thronelike chair that controlled the crystal ball.
"I invite you to join me in looking upon the enemy," he told the other wizards. "Observe."
With a flick of his fingers, he nudged the crystal ball with an unseen hand, causing the eye to turn to face the south wall. The bird in the cage below fell silent and still, wings folded and talons gripping its perch. Concentrating, Gromph peered through the eagle's eye.
The walls of Sorcere seemed to melt away, and in an instant he was looking at Arach-Tinilith. His penetrating gaze swept past its spider-shaped bulk and on through the walls of the cavern, through stone and tunnel and stone… until at last it came to rest in a cavern in which four individuals stood. One was a drow male, dressed in immaculate gray clothing. The fellow next to him was a cambion known, at least by reputation, to them all. The other two were both duergar, squat and gray-one with a scar that ran the length of his cheek, the other cradling a stone scepter.
Leaving the eye focused on that scene, Gromph pulled his awareness back into this own body. Inside the crystal ball, the figures gestured and talked-in angry tones, judging by the way the duergar tapped the scepter against one palm as the half-demon loomed over him, his pointed, sharklike teeth exposed in a snarl. The drow, meanwhile, kept turning back and forth between the half-demon and the two duergars, speaking rapidly and with placating gestures.
The other wizards stared into the scrying device, their expressions thoughtful.
"These are the leaders of the army that has besieged us?" Julani asked.
He had rested his elbows on the arms of his chair, and his steepled fingers were laced with angry sparks.
"I recognize Crown Prince Horgar of Gracklstugh and his bodyguard, and is that Kaanyr Vhok?" Grendan asked.
"The same," Noori said. "The tanarukks that harry our southern approaches are his Scoured Legion."
"That leaves but one," Gromph said.
"The one in the middle-the drow," Prath said, clenching his fists. "That's Zhayemd-the bastard from House Agrach Dyrr who betrayed us at the Pillars of Woe."
"His real name is Nimor," Gromph said. "Nimor Imphraezl."
"Is he a wizard?" Julani asked.
"I don't think so," Gromph answered. "Though there is a strong aura of magic about him; I think he's more than he appears to be. And he certainly has enough magical devices. I can detect an aura of magic on his weapons, several items of his clothing, his rings…"
He paused for a moment, contemplating the two rings the man wore. One Gromph recognized as a protective device, but the other-the slim black ring that seemed no more substantial than a band of shadow-was quite unusual. Gromph had never seen anything quite like it.
Suddenly Gromph realized what it must be. Ever since Triel had told him that Nimor had somehow spirited an assassin into the inner most corridors of House Baenre's great mound, Gromph had been puzzling over how that might have been accomplished.
That black ring on Nimor's finger must be a magical device that conveyed the ability to shadow walk. That would make him a difficult character to corner, indeed. It was a good thing the wizards were striking from a distance, unseen-otherwise Nimor might have just shadow walked away.
Shaking his head, Gromph continued, "Our matron mother has learned that Nimor