warriors marching by, staring past them to the dark visions that enthralled him.
"We'll be approaching from above and to the east," Kaanyr said, "per-fectly positioned to flank a force trying to hold the Pillars against the approach of Gracklstugh's army. On the surface, that is why Horgar Steelshadow and his drow assassin want us there. It might suit their purposes to sit in the gorge a few days and let the drow decimate my soldiers before they attempt to force the pass. Being on the same side of an obstacle as our enemies carries a liability, as well as an opportunity. I wouldn't put it past Horgar to manufacture some excuse for a delay in order to let my tanarukks handle the brunt of the fighting."
Aliisza cozied up beside him and purred, "Until the battle is joined, love, you haven't chosen sides. The dark elves might pay, and pay well, for your assistance at a critical juncture of the campaign. Even if that assis-tance takes the form of simply not doing anything to aid the gray dwarves in their attack."
Kaanyr Vhok bared his pointed teeth in a wry smile.
"There is that," he admitted. "All right, then. We'll see what happens when the Pillars of Woe stand before us."
Halisstra was marched for several miles through the forest, gagged, hooded, her hands manacled behind her. The surface elves had healed the wound in her calf in order to keep her from slowing them down, but the rest of her injuries they didn't bother to tend. While they'd removed her mail and shield, they did permit her to keep her arming jacket against the cold night air - after searching carefully to make sure they didn't miss any hidden weapons or magical devices.
Eventually they reached a place where the forest floor underfoot gave way to stone, and she could hear the whispers and rustles of a number of people around her. The air grew warmer, and sullen firelight penetrated the hood over her eyes.
"Lord Dessaer," a voice close by said, "the captive Hurmaendyr spoke of!"
"So I see. Remove her hood. I would look on her face," said a deep, thoughtful voice from somewhere ahead of her.
Her captors removed the hood, leaving Halisstra squinting in the bright light of an elegant hall made of gleaming silver-hued wood. Flow-ering vines wound along posts and beams, and a fire glowed to one side in a large hearth. Several pale elves watched her carefully - apparently guardsof some kind, dressed in silver-hued scale mail with polearms and swords at their hips.
Lord Dessaer was a tall half-elf with golden hair and pale skin with a faint bronze hue to it. He was well-muscled for a male, nearly as big as Ryld, and he wore a breastplate of gleaming gold with noble accoutrements.
"Remove her gag, too," the elf lord said. "She'll have little to say otherwise."
"Careful, my lord," spoke the captor beside her, whom Halisstra saw was the black-bearded human she'd fought in the forest. "She knows something of the bard's arts, and may be able to speak a spell with her hands bound."
"I will exercise all due caution, Curnil." The lord of the hall moved closer, gazing thoughtfully into Halisstra's blood-red eyes, and said, "So, what shall we call you?"
Halisstra stood mute.
"Are you Auzkovyn or Jaelre?" Dessaer asked.
"I am not of House Jaelre," she said. "I do not know of the other House you name."
Lord Dessaer exchanged a worried glance with his advisors.
"You belong to a third faction, then?"
"I was traveling with a small company, on a trade mission," she replied. "We sought no trouble with surface dwellers."
"A drow's word is regarded with some skepticism in these lands," Dessaer replied. "If you're not Auzkovyn or Jaelre, then what was your business in Cormanthor?"
"As I said, it was a trade mission," Halisstra lied.
"Indeed," drawled Dessaer. "Cormanthor was not entirely abandoned during the Retreat, and my people object strongly to the drow effort to seize our old homeland. Now, I would like to know who exactly you and your companions are, and what you were doing in our forest."
"Our business is our own," Halisstra answered. "We intend no harm for any surfacefolk, and mean to be gone from this place as soon as our business is done."
"So I should simply allow you to go free, is that it?"
"You would do yourself no harm if you did so."
"My warriors engage in deadly battles every day against your kind," Dessaer said. "Even if you say you have nothing to do with the