a woman sing-ing. His heartbeat quickened as he recognized the voice as Halisstra's. She was casting one of her bardic spells - but why? Was it merely in preparation for what was to come, or was she already under attack? Grimly, he hurried forward, not caring that his feet were skidding on the ever-steepening slope.
Ahead, the bottom of the tunnel opened into a larger space, a cavern that looked as though it had been formed by the tunnel coil-ing back upon itself several times in succession as the creature created a nest for itself. The patch of floor that Ryld could see was dotted with puddles, and the acid smell was strong.
Moments later, he neared the bottom of the slope and saw that his guess had been correct. At the far end of the cavern was an enor-mous purple worm, larger even than Ryld had expected - perhaps thirty paces long. It was coiled like a snake, its head lifted and mouth gaping wide, acid dripping between teeth the size of daggers. Halis-stra stood just in front of it with her back to Ryld, songsword in hand, staring the monster down. The charm spell she was singing seemed to be working. The worm swayed in time with the tune, its tiny eyes fixed and staring. Ryld felt a fierce admiration. Halisstra was the epitome of a drow female: strong and fearless, capable of handling any threat.
Wary of disturbing her magic, Ryld halted at the bottom of the slope. He managed to do so without makingany noise, but when he stepped forward into the room his ankle twisted as an acid-weakened stone crumbled underfoot. His foot slipped into a puddle of fresh acid - fortunately, his boot leather protected him - but the slight splash alerted Halisstra to the fact that she was no longer alone in the cavern. Her head jerked quickly around - just long enough to see who it was - and a startled look passed across her face. All the while she continued to sing without pause, but the momentary loss of eye contact with the purple worm broke the spell. Whipping its head from side to side, sending acidic spittle flying in all directions, it shook off the effects of the charm spell. Then it struck.
Lunging downward, mouth gaping wide, the worm descended on Halisstra. She barely had time to lift her sword and thrust upward with it as her head and shoulders disappeared into the worm's mouth.
Ryld leaped forward, shouting to draw the creature's attention. He saw the broken point of the songsword thrust jaggedly out at an angle through the worms cheek, just below one eye, but the creature seemed unaffected by the wound. Even though Ryld ran forward with all the speed his magical boots were capable of, the worm was quicker. Like a curtain falling the mouth continued to descend upon Halisstra, engulfing her to the chest, waist, and knees. Then the ter-rible purple-black jaws struck the ground on either side of Halisstra's boots - and clamped shut.
Ryld closed with the creature a heartbeat later. He swung Split-ter with all of the strength his sinewy arms could muster, intending to cut off the monsters head, but in that instant he heard Halisstra's muffled scream from inside the worm's gullet and saw a bulge mov-ing down its throat. Worried that he would slice Halisstra in two as well, he twisted the sword aside in mid-swing. The blade struck a coil of the worm, cutting deeply into its purple hide and exposing the pinker flesh beneath.
The worm writhed in agony, uncoiling with such swiftness that it crashed into Ryld, hurling him backward. Anyone other than a master of Melee-Magthere would have been knocked flat, but Ryld had been trained to keep his footing. One of the first things he'd learned as a novice was how to roll his body with a blow and use feet, knees, and elbows to spring upright again.
As the worm continued to thrash he rolled nimbly back, then leaped forward again to strike a second blow in another portion of the worm's body. As the monster's head whipped around in an at-tempt to bite him, Ryld did the unexpected. He leaped backward, and levitated.
The worm's mouth crashed down into the spot where Ryld had been standing, teeth splintering on the stone floor. An instant later the head reared up again, mouth gaping as it lunged upward. In-stantly negating his levitation magic, Ryld plummeted to the ground, landing lightly on bent