might not choose to take advantage of an opportunity arising later.She had not held her rank as First Daughter of House Melarn without developing a certain ruthless instinct for such things. If ruin had not come to Ched Nasad, Halisstra didn't doubt that at some point in the fullness of time she would have se-riously plotted against her own mother to claim leadership of the house. Matron Melarn had unseated Halisstra's grandmother in the same manner and for the same reasons many hundreds of years past. It was no more or less than the Spider Queen's way.
"Well," Pharaun said as he pushed himself to his feet, still shivering. The wizard accepted his pack from Ryld, moving gingerly. "It seems I have provided a destination. So which way is west, Master Hune?"
Valas nodded toward the near side of the clearing and said, "There are a couple of game trails leading more or less toward the setting sun."
"Come," said Quenthel. "The sooner we set out, the sooner we arrive. I have no wish to spend one hour more than we must in this light-seared land. Master Hune, you will take your customary place as our guide. Master Argith, you will accompany him. Halisstra, you will bring up the rear and keep an eye behind us."
Halisstra frowned and shifted uncomfortably. That struck her as a job suitable for a male. In their travels over the past few days Jeggred had customarily brought up the rear. It didn't escape Halisstra that changing the order of the march kept Jeggred close by Quenthel, where the drae-gloth could protect the Baenre priestess from any attack. She likewise noted that Quenthel had referred to both Valas and Ryld as "master," while calling her only Halisstra.
There was no point in protesting, of course, so she only waited as the rest of the company filed off into the woods, following Valas's path. She unslung her crossbow and made sure the weapon was ready for quick use. After allowing the rest of the company a lead of about fifty yards, Halis-stra set off after them.
Chapter ELEVEN
The surface woodland proved to be a strange and disquieting place. As the party moved away from the clearing's edge, the tangled underbrush van-ished, leaving only an endless green hall of round trunks rising to the forest roof above, like the pillars of some dark elven hall somewhere in the Lands Below. Old, fallen logs lay scattered here and there, covered in bright green moss. Some were so large that the company had to detour hundreds of feet around them, or scramble awkwardly over or under. A dusting of snow had filtered to the ground, and cold water dripped steadily from the branches above. Unlike the lifeless desolation of Anauroch, the forest was filled not only with mighty trees and twining brambles, but all manner of small birds and animals. After a dozen heart-stopping starts, Halisstra soon learned to identify a number of discrete birdcalls and animal sounds and relegate them to the realm of the insignificant.
She had at first feared that she would easily lose sight of the company ahead, but away from the crowded foliage by the infrequent clearings, the underbrush consisted of ferns and other green plants rarely more than waist high. As darkness fell over the forest floor, her vision improved, and Halisstra felt more and more comfortable.
The drow marched on through the night, halting a little before day-break to set up camp in an old ruined tower whose broken white stones were covered by moss. Smooth and delicately veined, the place showed re-markable elegance of form, and the lintel of its long-vanished door was carved in a flowering vine design - clearly the work of surface elves. After Pharaun checked the place for lingering spells that could be dangerous to drow, the company made camp to pass the painful bright hours of the day. Quenthel ordered Jeggred and Pharaun to keep watch, and the others en-joyed the shade and safety provided by the partial floors and graceful walls of the ruined tower.
At sundown they ate, broke camp, and set off again, in the same order as before, marching again through the night. They passed the next two days and nights in much the same way, resting while the sun was out and traveling by night. Valas even managed to shoot a small, hoofed animal a little before dawn at the end of their third night of travel, and Halisstra was surprised to find that its meat was light and succulent,