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that blinded the young drow and sent him flying into the cham-ber s back wall. Drizzt watched the twitch
of his hands, the wild dance of his stark white hair before his unmoving eyes. He felt nothing-no pain, no
reviving draw of air into his lungs-and heard nothing, as if his life force had been some-how suspended.
 The attack dispelled Masoj s dweomer of invisibility, and he came back in view, laughing wickedly. The
elemental, down in a broken, crumbled mass, slowly slipped back into the security of the stone floor.
 Are you dead? the wizard asked Drizzt, the voice break-ing the hush of Drizzt s deafness in dramatic
booms. Drizzt could not answer, didn t really know the answer anyway.
 Tho easy he heard Masoj say, and he suspected that the wizard was referring to him and not the
elemental.
Then Drizzt felt a tingling in his fingers and bones and his lungs heaved suddenly, grabbing a volume of
air. He gasped in rapid succession, then found control of his body and real-ized that he would survive.
Masoj glanced around for returning witnesses and saw none.  Good he muttered as he watched Drizzt
regain his senses. The wizard was truly glad that Drizzt s death had not been so very painless. He thought
of another spell that would make the moment more fun.
A hand-a gigantic stone hand-reached out of the floor just then and grasped Masoj s leg, pulling his feet
right into the stone.
The wizard s face twisted in a silent scream.
Drizzt s enemy saved his life. Drizzt snatched up one of the scimitars from the ground and hacked at the
elemental s arm. The weapon sliced in, and the monster, its head reap-pearing between Drizzt and
Masoj, howled in rage and pain and pulled the trapped wizard deeper into the stone.
With both hands on the scimitar s hilt, Drizzt struck as hard as he could, splitting the elemental s head
right in half. This time the rubble did not sink back into its earthen plane; this time the elemental was
destroyed.
 Get me out of here! Masoj demanded. Drizzt looked at him, hardly believing that Masoi was still alive,
for he was waist deep in solid stone.
 How? Drizzt gasped.  You. .  He couldn t even find the words to express his amazement.
 Just get me out! the wizard cried.
Drizzt fumbled about, not knowing where to begin.
 Elementals travel between planes Masoj explained, knowing that he had to calm Drizzt down if he ever
wanted to get out of the floor. Masoj knew, too, that the conversa-tion could go a long way in deflecting
Drizzt s obvious suspi-cions that the lightning bolt had been aimed at him.  The ground an earth elemental
traverses becomes a gate be-tween the Plane of Earth and our plane, the Material Plane.
The stone parted around me as the monster pulled me in, but it is quite uncomfortable He twitched in
pain as the stone tightened around one foot.  The gate is closing fast!
 Then Guenhwyvar might be . .  Drizzt started to reason.
He plucked the statuette right out of Masoj s front pocket and carefully inspected it for any flaws in its
perfect design.
  Give me that! Masoj demanded, embarrassed and angry.
Reluctantly, Drizzt handed the figurine over. Masoj
glanced at it quickly and dropped it back into the pocket. f
 Is Guenhwyvar unharmed? Drizzt had to ask. !
 It is not your concern Masoj snapped back. The wizard,
too, was worried about the cat, but at this moment,
Guenhwyvar was the least of his troubles.  The gate is clos. ing he said again.  Go get the clerics!
Before Drizzt could start off, a slab of stone in the wall be. hind him slid away, and the rock-hard fist of
Belwar Dis-sengulp slammed into the back of his head.
Chapter 23
A Single Clean Blow
 The gnomes took him Masoj said to Dinin when the pa-trol leader returned to the cavern. The wizard
lifted his arms over his head to give the high priestess and her assist-ants a better view of his predicament.
 Where? Dinin demanded.  Why did they let you live?
Masoj shrugged.  A secret door he explained,  some-
where on the wall behind you. I suspect that they would
have taken me as well, except. .  Masoj looked down at the
floor, still holding him tightly up to the waist.  The gnomes
would have killed me, but for your arrival
 You are fortunate, wizard the high priestess said to Ma-soj.  I have memorized a spell this day that
will release the stone s hold on you She whispered some instructions to her assistants and they took out
water skins and pouches of clay and began tracing a ten foot square on the floor around the trapped
wizard. The high priestess moved over to the wall of the chamber and prepared for her prayers.
 Some have escaped Dinin said to her.
The high priestess understood. She whispered a quick de-tection spell and studied the wall.  Right
there she said. Dinin and another male rushed over to the spot and soon found the almost imperceptible
outline to the secret door.
As the high priestess began her incantation, one of her cleric assistants threw the end of a rope to Masoj. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]