"It's as fine as a smallfish fisherman's net," Prath observed.
"True," said Nauzhror. "There are alarms, but I see no killing spell traps set amongst the scrying wards."
"Nor do I," said Gromph and was pleased.
The spell traps set in the anti-scrying wards that surrounded his own offices, if triggered,
would trap the soul of the would-be scryer or drive him mad. House Agrach Dyrr had not been as thorough.
Gromph took a long moment to study the structure of the wards, searching for a backdoor.
Unfortunately, he saw none. He settled in for a long assault.
He took a calming breath and said, "Let us begin."
The Scourged Legion was in full retreat, Nimor saw. Already it had entirely withdrawn from the fungus fields of the Donigarten, and only a token force held the tunnels to the east of the city.
Within those tunnels, Shobalar spider cavalry prowled and infantry from House Barrison
Del'Armgo and House Hunzrin massed.
Invisible once more, and also using the shadows and darkness as cover, Nimor avoided detection by the drow forces as he moved through their lines. He could see they were preparing for a counterattack against the tanarukks. He was tempted to kill a few as he passed, just out of spite, but decided against it. His business with the Menzoberranyr was finished.
The counterattack that the drow were so carefully planning likely would find no enemies.
Before Narbondel climbed another hour, the Scourged Legion would have vanished into the
Underdark and be scuttling its way back to the warrens under Hellgate Keep. The war-weary drow were unlikely to pursue, Nimor thought, especially with the duergar still battling at Tier
Breche. Nimor found it ironic and amusing that Vhok had shown more effectiveness in retreat than he had in attack.
After flying over and through the drow lines, Nimor moved through a long series of mostly empty tunnels, encountering only an occasional stealthy drow scout. To judge from the marks in the stone, much of the combat between the Scourged Legion and the Menzoberranyr had occurred within those tunnels. The passage of many hobnailed boots had scored the floor; blood stained the stone here and there; severed body parts and spider carcasses dotted a few of the rooms; broken weapons, shields, and links of armor littered the floors; and burn marks from magical energies blackened walls.
Nimor saw no actual bodies until. .
A winding, narrow, tertiary tunnel opened onto a large cavern in which lay the bloody corpses of forty or so duergar footmen. They looked as though they had formed against the far, dead-end wall and fought to the last. Broken weapons, dented armor, and cloven shields littered the cavern's floor. Blood slicked the floor, still tacky to the touch. The duergar had been hacked to bits-the work of tanarukk axes and swords, not elegant drow blades.
"Well done, Kaanyr," Nimor said.
It seemed that Vhok, like Nimor, had decided to clean up his duergar association before retreating. It seemed that Vhok no more left ends untied than did Nimor.
Vhok had planned his escape well. He would flee the siege of Menzoberranzan with hardly a scratch, and if it mattered, scavengers would strip the cavern clean of duergar bodies within a tenday. Meat, dead or alive, never went unconsumed in the Underdark. No evidence of Kaanyr's betrayal of the duergar would be found by anyone but Nimor.
Nimor left the dead duergar behind and continued his invisible flight through the caverns.
After a time, he began to encounter pockets of the withdrawing tanarukk forces. Squads of scaled and horned tanarukks-creatures with the savagery of orcs and the cunning of demons-trooped through the winding tunnels, weapons bare, bloodshot eyes intermittently checking behind them for pursuit. The ring of their boots, weapons, and armor resounded off the stone. Nimor moved over and through them like a specter, and only the breeze from his beating wings betrayed his passage.
For perhaps half an hour, Nimor trailed the retreating tanarukk forces through the tunnels.
The demon-orcs moved with a purpose, probably toward a pre-determined mustering point, and
Nimor hopped from one group to the next. He knew he would eventually happen upon Vhok.
Nimor heard the cambion before he saw him-coarse voices, the thump of dozens of boots, and the ring of heavy armor sounded from ahead, as did the occasional barked order by Kaanyr Vhok.
Nimor beat his wings, sped forward, and spotted the cambion at the front of a large column of torch-bearing tanarukks. Vhok's close aid Rorgak, a tusked tanarukk broad-shouldered by even the standards of his own kind, stood at his side as they marched. Vhok had apparently retreated ahead of even the token force that he had left behind in Menzoberranzan.
Nimor smiled at the light that shined into Vhok's character-the cambion was a loud bully but ever a quiet coward.
Still, he commanded an army and had his uses and might yet again. And cowards were easy to manipulate, if not to rely upon.
Nimor swooped in front of the column, alit on the tunnel floor, and allowed himself to become visible.
Snarls and shouts of surprise ran through the tanarukk ranks, a low, dangerous rumble. The column surged to a halt. Vhok and Rorgak had their blades in their hands within a heartbeat.
Rorgak, greatsword in hand, lunged toward Nimor. Several of the tanarukks behind Vhok moved forward, blood in their eyes.
Vhok halted all of them with an upraised hand and a barked order.
"Hold," the cambion commanded, and they did. Even Rorgak.
Dozens of red eyes fixed on Nimor, hungry eyes.
Nimor held up his hands to show that he bore only a smile, though he knew his wings and fangs must have appeared disconcerting. Vhok and his tanarukks had never before seen him in his half-dragon form. If it proved necessary, Nimor could quickly flee into the Shadow Fringe.
"Nimor," Vhok said and raised his pointed eyebrows. "I hardly recognized you. You look different than last we met." He sheathed his rune inscribed blade and offered Nimor a hard look.
"You take a chance showing a lone drow face to my men and me."
The tanarukks near Vhok growled agreement. Rorgak continued to stare at Nimor, his blade still bare.
Nimor flapped his wings and let shadowstuff leak from his nostrils. "As you can see, Kaanyr,
I'm no more drow than you are human or they orcs."
At that, Vhok smiled and tipped his head to acknowledge the point. A few of the tanarukks chuckled.
"What then?" the cambion asked. "Do you have yet another wondrous scheme to offer me?"
He gestured at his battle scarred, retreating column. "You see the result of your last."
Vhok's men laughed at that, but it was forced laughter. No doubt their retreat shamed them.
Nimor kept his smile, though it was difficult.
"Perhaps," he said. "But I would speak of it privately. Your tent?"
Nimor knew that Vhok's command tent was a magical structure that formed and collapsed into a fist-sized ball of cloth upon command, so it was always a convenient bit of private space.
Vhok studied Nimor's face for a moment before he said, "Very well." To Rorgak, Vhok said,
"Have the legion take a meal. I will not be long."
Vhok added something else in a low tone, speaking to his lieutenant in Infernal. Though
Nimor could not understand the language, he understood the meaning. Vhok was instructing
Rorgak to stand ready in case Nimor attacked Vhok in the tent.
Nimor merely stared at Rorgak as the big, red-scaled lieutenant nodded to Vhok then headed back into the ranks, barking out orders. The tanarukk column broke ranks for a meal, but many bloodshot gazes stayed on Nimor.