The wizard stood encased in a globe of magical energy, some kind of de-fensive spell that protected him while he dueled spell-for-spell with the monster. Jeggred stood immobile, his face locked into a needle-fanged grimace as he struggled to throw off the influence of some baneful spell or another.
"Persistent insects," the beholder snarled as it caught sight of Ryld andthe others. "Leave me be!"
The creature floated back through an open archway, retreating to an-other portion of its lair.
Pharaun turned wearily to face the others. One side of his clothing was spattered with smoking holes, where some kind of acid had burned him, and he trembled with fatigue.
"Ah, I see my worthy companions have at last elected to join me," he observed. "Excellent! I was afraid you might miss the pleasure of hazard-ing life and limb against a murderous foe."
"What's wrong with Jeggred?" Quenthel managed.
"He's ensnared by a holding spell of some kind, and I expended all of my dispelling magic in my duel. If you can free him, please do so. I wouldn't want to be selfish, and keep the beholder all to myself."
"Shut up, Pharaun," Danifae rasped. "We have to finish the beholder, quick. There's a pit fiend and a dozen more devils just behind us, and we're about to be caught between the two."
The wizard grimaced. A dangerous light flickered in his eyes as he looked at Danifae, then at Jezz the Lame.
"If your magical tome is this much trouble, perhaps we should keep it for ourselves," the Master of Sorcere observed.
"Tzirik will not share the results of his divinations with you if you betray us," the Jaelre said simply. "Decide what is more important to you, spider-kisser, and do it quickly."
"Stop it, Pharaun," Ryld said.
He moved overto where Jeggred stood frozen, and laid Splitter along-side the draegloth to break the enchantment that held him. The half-demon blinked his eyes and scowled, slowly straightening.
"One problem at a time," Ryld continued. "Do you have any magic that can keep the devils off our backs long enough for us to defeat the beholder?"
The wizard answered, "No, they'd be among us in just a moment, and that would be a scene, wouldn't it? The - wait a moment, I have an idea. We won't keep out the devils. In fact, we'll let them in."
Infernal power crackled and snapped in the room behind them.
"That's the pit fiend destroying my wall," Jezz said. "Explain quickly, Menzoberranyr."
Pharaun began chanting a spell, and weaving his hands in the arcane gestures necessary to shape and control his magic.
"Do not resist," he told the others. "Ah, there we go. I've covered us all with a veil of illusion. We're all devils now."
Ryld glanced down at himself and noted nothing different, but when he looked back up, he saw that he was standing in the middle of a company of barbed devils. He recoiled momentarily, and noticed the other devils flinch-ing too. Faintly, as though draped in a diaphanous gauze, he could see the natural forms of the other dark elves beneath their scaly exteriors.
"I can see through this," he warned.
"Yes, but you're expecting it," said the devil who stood where Pharaun had. "This should create no small amount of confusion for our foes, but we must move quickly. We want the devils to come upon us while we're dealing with the beholder."
The wizard glided across the chamber, following the beholder, and the rest of the company fell in behind him, hurrying after Pharaun as the howls of the pursuing devils rose in the corridor behind them. They climbed a spiraling stair and found the beholder waiting for them in what seemed to be a large throne room. The monster hesitated as the company burst in, cloaked in their devilish guises.
"The dark elves are not here," the beholder rasped. "Search the rest of the tower. They must be found!"
"I'm afraid you are mistaken," Pharaun laughed, and he hurled a blast of lightning at the creature that charred a dinner plate sized patch of its chitinous hide.
At the same time, Valas fired a pair of arrows that sank into its armored body, while Ryld, Jeggred, and Danifae broke into a charge.
The creature recovered from its surprise with incredible alacrity, whirling to flay the attacking drow with its deadly rays and spells. Jeggred was flung across the room with a telekinetic ray, while Danifae had to throw herself flat to avoid the incandescent green sweep of a disintegrat-ing ray. Ryld got three steps farther before no less than three of