Corsair

Valdarsel. I eavesdropped on them in the Three Crowns.” Mirya shivered. “The wizard came for me later with his horrible servant at his side-a huge, pallid, man-shaped thing with dead eyes and cold flesh. The servant broke down my door, and Lastannor struck me senseless with his spells. He kept me that way until I woke up on Kamoth’s ship.”

“What in the world led you to play at spying on wizards and Cinderfists?” Geran asked. “You were gambling with your life!”

“Selsha stumbled across Valdarsel’s shrine. He found her out. I feared that he might do something to make sure she didn’t tell anyone else what she’d found. The Shieldworn couldn’t help me because they had no idea who he was or where he was hiding. I … I heard something of his whereabouts, but I had to go have a look to make sure of it before I could turn the matter over to the Shieldsworn.”

Geran frowned. He was about to say, “you should have told me,” but of course he’d been away from Hulburg for tendays now, boring his way into the Black Moon by playing pirate. Still, Mirya had just given him a great deal to think about. If she was right, then House Marstel-or its chief mage, anyway-was in league with both the Black Moon Brotherhood and the Cinderfist gangs. And he’d sailed off after Kraken Queen, completely ignoring the enemies he’d left at his back. Was that what Aesperus had been hinting at with the cryptic warning dead Murkelmor, delivered in the ruins of Sulasspryn? He still had no idea what the lich-king’s interest in the whole business was, but suddenly he was much less sure that venturing into the Sea of Night to chase after Kamoth was as right as it had seemed at the time.

It’s done, he told himself. And if I hadn’t come, what would have become of Mirya and Selsha? Whatever happens at home while I’m away, at least I’ve spared Mirya the fate Kamoth and Sergen had in mind for her. “As soon as we get back to Hulburg, we’ll deal with Lastannor and this Valdarsel,” he told her. “They conspired with the Black Moon and kidnapped you and Selsha. That’s enough for the harmach to exile both of them, at the very least. You shouldn’t have to worry-”

A distant scream interrupted him-the scream of a child in terror, echoing from somewhere ahead of them in the ruins.

“Oh, dear Lady,” Mirya breathed. “Selsha!” She dashed off down the street, leaping down the steps.

Geran and Hamil exchanged a worried glance. Mirya was off without a moment’s hesitation, reacting with a mother’s instincts regardless of what else might be waiting in the shadows of Neshuldaar’s forests and ruins. “After her, quick!” Geran snapped. He sprinted after Mirya, determined not to lose her again. Hamil followed a step after him as they rushed headlong into the sinister black ruins at Mirya’s heels.

Selsha’s scream echoed in the air as Geran and Hamil ran down the steep steps in the mazelike alleyways. Mirya appeared and disappeared in the gloom ahead of them, a glimpse of white limbs and sheer red silk fluttering amid the black stone. She took several quick twists and turns, and Geran almost lost sight of her completely. Hoping that she was navigating her way toward Selsha with more confidence than he was, he simply followed her as she went. A few steps behind him Hamil pelted along, doing his best to keep up. Halflings were quick despite their short strides, but few could keep up with long-legged humans for long.

Keep Mirya in sight! Hamil told him. I’ll catch up soon enough.

Geran redoubled his pace. He saw Mirya turn a corner just ahead, and he sprinted around the turn behind her-only to skid to a stop just on the other side, nearly knocking her down. They were looking out into another plaza, but this one was larger and had no towers. Instead, it seemed to be a square just inside the ruin’s encircling wall, with a crumbling gatehouse of several stories guarding an ancient archway leading to the jungle beyond.

Selsha Erstenwold clung precariously to the topmost part of the old gatehouse, which was little more than a leaning heap of stone about fifteen feet tall. On the plaza below her feet, several small arachnid monsters, with long eel-like necks and furred carapaces dyed in strange whorls and marks, hissed and chittered to each other, eyeing the girl hungrily. A spearcast behind the spider-monsters plodded enormous, insectile apelike creatures that Geran recognized as umber hulks. He’d encountered them before in a long-ago venture into the Underdark as a member of the Company of the Dragon Shield. The hulks were burdened with heavy chests.

Mirya swore a startled oath. “The monsters from the keep!” she cried. The spider-monsters at the foot of the ruined gatehouse hissed in surprise at the three adults’ sudden appearance, and then began shouting orders in their own strange tongue. The hulks coming up behind them set down their chests and began to lumber forward.

Geran glanced at the umber hulks and back to the small arachnids. If he was swift, he could reach Selsha before the hulks … but he’d have to chase off the arachnid monsters quickly. Best not to think this through, he decided. “Get away from her!” he shouted at the spider-things and charged recklessly straight at them. Hamil shouted and followed on his heels.

“Geran! Hamil!” Selsha shouted. She scrambled back another foot from the spider-creatures, rubble sliding out from under her feet. “Watch out for the monsters!”

The arachnids recoiled with hisses of agitation, apparently none too eager to let Geran come within sword’s reach, but the umber hulks were hurrying to the aid of their small masters. Geran’s feet flew over the mossy old stones of the plaza, and he raised his sword for the first strike-but suddenly a black, hopeless malaise descended over him, a hopelessness so powerful and complete that he stumbled to a halt, his knees buckling and his sword point drooping to the ground. He knew that he had to drive off the spider-monsters before their towering servants caught up, but the effort simply seemed impossible. Try as he might, he couldn’t muster the volition to even take another step toward the little eel-spiders. Three of the creatures stood before the gatehouse, weaving their forelimbs in strange passes as their small black eyes, fixed on him, glittered with malice. They’re spellcasters of some sort, he realized. Yet the knowledge that they had somehow conjured the torpor that held him motionless while their monstrous servants rushed to their aid still was not enough to break their grip on him.

“Geran, what’s wrong?” Selsha called. She slipped a few feet down, dislodging more rubble, but she caught herself and looked at her mother. “Mama! There’s something wrong with Geran!”

Hamil did not hesitate. He darted past Geran, daggers in hand, and struck with serpentlike swiftness against the nearest of the spider-monsters. The creature shrieked in anger and fear and scuttled back from the halfling’s attack. Geran! he shouted mind-to-mind. They’re using magic against you. Fight back!

The swordmage tried to muster his willpower against the insidious assault, to summon up anger or denial, any emotion that might give him the beginnings of resistance. He struggled, searching for something as the spider- things circled closer and their umber hulks rushed into the old plaza. He wondered if they’d have the hulks tear him to pieces, kill him with their own sharp teeth, or simply disarm him and leave him helpless where he stood, unable to move or act to protect himself against the first jungle monster that came along.

“Take them alive!” one of the small creatures hissed. “They may be valuable slaves!”

A bowstring sang behind Geran. He felt the arrow speed past him, its passage a faint breath of wind on his cheek, before it sank deep into the body of one of the three spider-creatures holding him with their enchantment. The creature leaped into the air with an agonized hiss and fell on its back with its legs kicking … and the malaise holding him in its grip vanished, as if it had never existed.

With a sudden shout Geran lunged at the nearest of the spider-monsters drawing close and half-severed its neck with his thrust. “Don’t look the hulks in the eyes!” Geran cried. That much he remembered about the creatures; umber hulks could drive a human mad with their magical gaze. The rest of the spider-monsters retreated at once, spitting and snarling in anger. An umber hulk reached for the swordmage with one enormous claw, its sharp mandibles clacking together, but now Geran was free to move. He turned his back on the monster, refusing to look at its face, and rushed over to the spot where Selsha clung to the wreckage of the gatehouse’s upper walls.

“Jump, Selsha!” he cried. “I’ve got you!”

Selsha took one glance at the monsters surging close and leaped down into Geran’s arms. He staggered under her-it was a good drop, and he only had one hand free-but he caught her and lowered the girl to the ground. Hamil chased off another of the spider-monsters, but then he gave ground himself as he saw Geran falling back from the terrible umber hulks. Mirya loosed one more arrow that bounced from the thick chitin protecting an umber hulk’s torso; the creature bellowed and turned toward her.

As matters stood, discretion was clearly the better part of valor. “Through the gate, quickly!” Geran shouted. “We’ll outrun them!”

Mirya drew another arrow and took aim, but Hamil seized her by the arm. “No more of that!” the halfling said.