Distantly, he saw Ilsevele immobilized by a pair of webs that glued her in place with thick, ropy strands of white. Another fey'ri sorcerer captured Maresa with a will-sapping enchantment that bereft her of the volition to move and fight. Her chin sank down to her chest, the point of her rapier drooped to the ground, and the fey'ri warriors hurled her to the ground and began binding her with strong cords.
Stinking of blood and filth, the vulture-demons pinning him wrenched Araevin around and jerked up his head by his hair, laying their talons at his throat. Grayth, fighting with his back to the cave wall, reluctantly stopped and threw down his sword. He, too, was seized and bound with cords.
The spell that had struck Araevin senseless began to fade, and he could hear and comprehend again. The vrocks gripping his arms croaked and chuckled with evil glee, clacking their beaks.
"Let us kill just-t one," they begged. "We'll make it slow and delicious-s. Elf tastes so good-d."
"They are not to be killed until I tell you to kill them," said the fey'ri captain.
He approached Araevin, his one eye gleaming with malice. He held up his hand the third telkiira pinched between his thumb and forefinger.
"I suppose I should thank you, paleblood," the demon-elf sneered. "Not only did you lead us to this stone, you dispatched quite a formidable guardian for us. After all the trouble you've caused me, it is only fitting."
Araevin rallied enough to raise his head and meet the sinister demonspawn's gaze.
"You've… got your prize," he gasped. "What do you need us for, hellspawn?"
"I need you to find me one more gemstone, paleblood," the fey'ri said, grinning. "As for your companions, well, I have no use for them at all-unless you prove uncooperative, in which case you'll get to watch them beg for death before we're done. I suppose it's up to you."
CHAPTER 15
7 Tarsakh, the Year of Lightning Storms
The ruined city of Myth Glaurach seemed empty indeed, without the fey'ri legion encamped among its broken walls and shattered domes. Sarya Dlardrageth prowled the palace she had claimed as her own, restlessly stalking the halls where less than a month before she had held her council of war with the leaders of the fey'ri Houses.
For the past five days her army had retreated north through the desolate vales leading away from Evereska. The vengeance she intended for Evereska would have to wait until she replaced her losses from the failed assault on the Sunset Gate. Of course, she had no shortage of demons and yugoloths. Given a tenday or two to summon more, she might even be able to field an army stronger than that with which she had initially attacked, whereas the Evereskans had no such source of replacements available.
Time, she thought. After five thousand years of imprisonment, now I have so little of it.
She looked up at her son Xhalph, who stood watching her, and said, "I don't like the idea of leaving my army without supervision, and I must return soon. So, quickly, how are you faring in the High Forest? Be honest."
Xhalph bared his fangs and folded his four arms in a double row.
"I have driven the wood elves to the foot of the Lost Peaks," he said. "I destroyed a dozen of their villages and slaughtered hundreds in each place, but they have finally assembled in strength in the mountains. Now that they have been driven together, I am gathering my wolves into one pack. We will fall on them soon."
"Have you seen any soldiers from Evermeet?"
"No, but there is an expedition from Silverymoon on its way to reinforce the wood elves: humans, dwarves, and paleblooded race traitors, a little more than a thousand strong."
"Breden Yesve's warband was supposed to keep Silverymoon out of the High Forest," Sarya said. "Did he just allow the palebloods to march right by him?"
"The Silvaeren marched south from Everlund and passed west of Yesve," Xhalph replied. "He had to march far and fast to meet the humans when they left the Yartar road, and all he has been able to do is harry their advance. Since he could not stop them, I recalled his warband to add it to my own forces."
"That is sound. I approve," Sarya said. She thought over the suggestion, her slender tail slithering anxiously from side to side. "Evereska has proven harder than I had thought. A strong expedition from Evermeet has reinforced the LastHome. We were checked in our first attempt to enter the Vine Vale."
"Abandon the orcs and giants," Xhalph rumbled. "Evereska can be taken with an aerial assault while the palebloods* army sits in the mountains. You can sack the city without even engaging them."
Sarya looked over her shoulder at her towering son, and cocked an eyebrow. Xhalph had little use for stratagems of maneuver, but from time to time he surprised her-which did not mean that he was right.
"We lack the numbers to take the city with fey'ri alone," she said.
"Each of our fey'ri is a formidable opponent, Mother. Elf for elf, our warriors are better fighters than the palebloods."
"I have studied Evereska's defenses exhaustively through the telthukiilir, Xhalph. The forces that guard the city outnumber our fey'ri legion, and include many mages and clerics. And you discount the mythal," Sarya said as she paced back and forth. "It may be that we could take the city, but we would suffer dreadful losses. More demons can be summoned, more orcs and giants bribed or threatened to march in our forces, but my fey'ri are irreplaceable, and they would be the ones who die in an aerial attack. Your suggestion would also leave our enemy's true strength, the army at the Sentinel pass, untouched. We would not keep the city for long."
"Do we need to?" Xhalph growled.
Sarya glared at him.
"Yes", she hissed. "It means nothing to win a battle if ultimately it will cost us the war. When I take Evereska, I mean to keep it. Our enemies destroyed our homeland, leaving us an army without a realm. We will not long survive in this new age if we remain such."
"Should I abandon my attack on the wood elves and bring my warriors to join you at Evereska?"
"No. I need to draw out their army and expose it. You must press your attack on the wood elves with all your strength and ferocity. Meanwhile, I will retreat from Evereska's gates, and feign a disordered withdrawal while I rebuild our numbers. The palebloods will be tempted to pursue. After all, they will want to make sure that my army is truly defeated, and does not make its way to the High Forest to finish the destruction of the wood elves. But I will lay a trap for them"
Xhalph grinned and said, "Turning an enemy's hopes to disaster is the essence of strategy. But what if the Evereskans do not give chase?"
"Then I will in fact bring the entire fey'ri legion to the High Forest, and we will make a smoking hell of the mongrel elves' homeland. After which, we will add your soldiers to mine, and return to Evereska to finish what we started. Now go, and redouble your efforts against the wood elves. I have some special preparations to make."
Xhalph bowed and said, "I will make you a throne of Eaerlanni skulls, Mother."
He stepped back and teleported away, vanishing in an orange cloud of brimstone.
"You'll have to catch them first," Sarya said after him.
She took one more look from the portico and stepped inside the hall. The city was not completely empty. A hundred or so fey'ri remained behind to garrison the place and guard the treasures Sarya had brought to the city, and bands of orcs and trolls encircled the hilltop with their squalid camps, making ready to march on the High Forest and join the fighting there.
She abandoned the ruined splendor of the grand mage's hall, and descended into the secret delvings beneath the hill, passing through the steep tunnels and great caverns, taking wing when it suited her. She disliked so much stone over her head-how could she not, after so many centuries of living entombment? — but she was not so weak-willed that she allowed herself to avoid going where she must.