for the raised grotto that opened off the main cavern of Menzoberranzan. Its tentacles lifted slightly, and its mouth began to move.
A bright sparkle of magical energy enveloped the illithid, and the view of the lake and shore disappeared. With a sinking heart, Gromph realized that things were even worse than he'd thought. His captor was no ordinary illithid but one capable of sorcery.
Gromph immediately recognized the spot that the illithid's spell had carried them to. They were in the wide cavern that led from the Dark Dominions into Tier Breche. Exhausted duergar sprawled on the cavern floor, many of them wounded. Others, carrying enor-mous axes and battle-chewed shields, hurried through the tunnel, their officers urging them toward Tier Breche, which was filled with the flashes of exploding spells.
Still other gray dwarves busied themselves just inside the mouth of the tunnel, hurriedly assembling siege engines and shelters. The duergar labored without ceasing, even though an occasional ball of fire or ice or crackling electricity arced over and smashed into the ground near the siege walls they had set up just inside Tier Breche. Glowing pits of molten rock or ice-shattered stone attested to the force of those blasts.
Gromph could see everything but could not hear the shouts of the duergar - who nodded to the newly arrived illithid - nor could he smell the sulfurous explosions. The sphere enclosed him in a world filled only with his own breathing - which became rapid as he realized that Gracklstugh's army had not only reached Menzoberranzan but had established a foothold inside Tier Brecheitself. The duergar were attacking the three buildings that were the most heavily fortified in the city, aside from the noble Hous-es themselves.
Hands pressed to the curved wall of his prison, Gromph strained his eyes, looking for the jade spiders that should have been guarding the tunnel. They were nowhere to be seen.
They serve a different master, now,the illithid said with a smirk.As will the drow, soon enough. The army is already inside Menzoberranzan.
Whose army? Gromph wondered. Not an army of illithids, sure-ly, or the one who carried him would have said"our army." Had the duergar of Gracklstugh reached Menzoberranzan on their own?
The answer came swiftly.
Yes. And tanarukks march with them. The drow cannot stand against their combined might.
Gromph had no way of knowing whether or not that was true. If only he could get free of the sphere he could use his magic to drive the enemy back. But in order to free himself he needed to find a wizard who knew the precise spell required, And he needed to get inside Sorcere - specifically, to his quarters, where the lichdrow had cast his imprisonment spell. Unfortunately, both those things were on the other side of the duergar siege wall.
Gromph glanced up at the illithid and thought, Or . . . are they?
Deliberately, Gromph let his mind dwell upon that thought.
The reply was tinged with arrogance.
Of course I know that spell, but why should I use it to set you free? All of your secrets will be mine, in time. I will flay your mind, layer by layer, like the skin of a -
The illithid broke off in mid-sentence, suddenly glancing at someone who was approaching. Long, purple fingers closed tightly around the sphere. The illithid held it in both hands, hiding what it contained. It rubbed its fingers deliberately against the glass, smear-ing its surface with the slime that coated its palms. Gromph tumbled to his hands and knees as the illithid dropped the hand holding the sphere to its side. He scrambled forward to look out through the only clear spot that remained on the surface of the glass.
One of the duergar stood in front of the illithid, his face level with the sphere. Like the others of his race, the dwarf had pale gray skin, a snub nose that looked as if it had been flattened by a mace, and a bald head. He was dressed in mottled gray-and-black clothing the color of stone but wore a bronze breastplate so un-tarnished and free of dents that Gromph was willing to bet it was magical. He carried a greataxe whose double-bladed head swirled with ghostly patterns - likely the trapped souls of those it had slain, or so Gromph guessed.
The gray dwarf didn'thave his head tilted up to speak to the il-lithid but kept his eyes level with the mind flayer's waist. The gray dwarf's gaze occasionally creeped down to the sphere, and he