"I see," Nimor replied. "Well, ride on back and tell her I'll be along presently."
"With respect, sir, I am to - "
Three great horn blasts, two short followed by one long, bellowed up from the space between the Pillars of Woe, echoing so loudly it seemed the rock itself had given voice to the cry. The messenger broke off and twisted his mount around, padding past Nimor to peer back toward the Pillars.
"Lolth's wrath, what was that?" he said.
"That," said Nimor, "would be the signal for the duergar attack."
From the depths of the gorge beneath the Pillars of Woe came the ground-shaking rumble of an army on the move. Below Nimor's line of scouts, hundreds of duergar lizard riders suddenly rose from beneath care-fully arranged blankets of camouflage and pelted up and into the gap Nimor's scouts were supposed to hold. Behind the duergar cavalry, rank upon rank of duergar infantry ran forward, shouting their uncouth war cries, hammers and axes raised high. The Agrach Dyrr riders scrambled to their saddles, taking position to bottle up the charge between the mammoth columns of rock - and, as arranged, they wheeled in unison and dashed to one side, leaving the line unguarded.
"The Agrach Dyrr! They betray us!" the messenger shouted, horror and shock on his face.
He wrenched his mount around, but Nimor leaned out from his saddle and ran the boy through. The young Baenre clutched at his wound, swaying, and toppled from the saddle. Nimor slapped his sword against the lizard's rump and sent the beast bolting off back into the main cavern, the dead messenger dragging behind it with his feet tangled in the stirrups.
Nimor spurred his mount up onto an uneven shelf of rock about fif-teen feet above the cavern floor, overlooking the Pillars. From that vantagehe could see most of the cavern.
"A good view of the fray, my prince!" he called. "What a magnificent day for your triumph, eh?"
"I'll tell you in a quarter-hour if we have a victory or not."
From the shadows at the back of the ledge, Horgar Steelshadow emerged. He and his personal guards were warded by a well-crafted illusion, invisible to anyone below, unless one knew precisely where to find them.
"Do not come closer, Nimor," the crown prince said. "I do not wish someone below to notice you disappearing into a wall, and become overly curious about what might be up here."
"Surely you mean to join the battle, Prince Horgar? I know you are a dwarf of no small valor."
"I will venture into the fray when I'm certain I will not need to issue any more orders, Nimor. In another few moments you won't be able to hear a fellow shouting in your ear."
Nimor turned his attention back to the battle. The Agrach Dyrr riders, well clear of the Pillars, charged madly in a circle, skirting the perimeter of the cave and avoiding the main mass of the Menzoberranyr army. Their task was to get to the rear and aid the Agrach Dyrr infantry in sealing the tunnel through which the Army of the Black Spider had just come.
Duergar cavalry streamed up and through the gap, overrunning the positions that had been supposedly held against them and spilling out onto the cavern floor. Several of the House contingents in the van of the march milled about in evident disorder, surprised to find themselves sud-denly faced with a thundering charge in an open field instead ofsiege-work and camp-building behind a stout line.
Other Houses responded to the sudden assault with adroitness and valor. The huge Baenre contingent raised a fierce war cry of their own, and dashed forward to seize the pass before any more duergar could floodthroughit.
"A bold move, Andzrel," Nimor said, not without admiration. "Un-fortunately, I think it's too late to put the cork back in that bottle."
Nimor flicked his war-lizard's reins and positioned himself for a better view of the cavern center. He'd expected the mad rush of motion, the sight of armored ranks surging forward to crash and retreat like the bloody surf of an iron sea, but the sound of the battle was intolerable. Caught by rock above, below, and to all sides, the roars, screams, and clang of weapons on shields became completely indistinguishable, growing into a single great thundering sound that continued to build and build as more and more warriors became embroiled in the fighting.
"The noise will stand to our advantage," he cried over his shoulder to Horgar, though he could not