“Leradien has tasted Lolth’s blood," Graybeard stated with a steady voice, his eyes filled with the certainty of grave conviction, “It means she’ll want more. When she goes insane, she’ll hunt Lolth. Lolth knows this. So she must kill Leradien first. If she believes Leradien is here, she will attack—no matter what the cost.”
The dark eyed Arnen Fang angrily accused him. “A fine lot of trouble you’ve got us into!”
“I could not possibly foresee this!” Graybeard defended himself.
“Then I shall leave,” the drider offered. “I have no love for this place, anyway.”
“Yes! Let her go!” agreed Arnen Fang. “Let Lolth follow her and leave us alone!”
“I agree,” said Graybeard. “But I shall have to withdraw the Black Dragons from Thera Pass to do so.”
“There is no connection between the drider and the Black Dragons,” countered the dwarf. “They stay.”
“They withdraw.”
“Withdraw the Black Dragons?” gasped Arnen Fang. “Never! The two hundred of them could kill two thousand of the enemy before falling! They are our best defense!”
“Then you have guaranteed they will fall,” retorted Graybeard, “for the enemy will not know Leradien has left, and cannot know, without first getting through Thera Pass. They must attack the Pass to find out if she’s still here and they will! The Black Dragons will be uselessly sacrificed, other than to kill a few of the enemy.”
“And what do you propose instead?”
“I suggest we send Leradien to Thera Pass for the enemy to see and then let her and the Black Dragons withdraw past Mills Breath and make for the surface via the Three Candles. The enemy’s scouts will track her through the Pass and report she is not in Mills Breath. Lolth should send her entire Army after Leradien, thereby bypassing you.”
“Magician!” accused Arnen Fang. “I lose two hundred Black Dragon defenders that way as well as give up Thera Pass without a fight!”
“You have no regard for the Black Dragons by your own admission,” replied Graybeard. “Only their deaths can serve you any useful purpose. That is reason enough for them not to follow you! Besides! That is not the bargain I made with them. My agreement was to get them to the surface and I shall keep it!”
“My son died so that you could keep your word to them!”
“Your son was going to die anyway, as well as all the other dwarves with you. These walls will not save you! They did not save you from Vhaeraun and they shall not save you from Lolth!”
“These walls can do one thing for certain,” Arnen Fang snarled. “They can keep you inside them in chains!”
“That will still not keep the Black Dragons from leaving. Sar has agreed to escort them to the surface with his satyrs.”
“What?!” exclaimed the dwarf in outrage. “First you deprive me of the Black Dragons and now the satyrs? That’s half of all my defenders!”
“You earlier said the satyrs were useless to you without night eyes and horses,” retorted Graybeard. “What happened? Do they have night vision and horses now?”
“You are a trickster and a deceiver, magician!” cried the dwarf standing up.
“The satyrs must escort the Black Dragons to the surface,” insisted Graybeard, “Otherwise, anyone who meets them will slaughter them as drow. Likewise, the satyrs must also reach the surface, as they are the last of their kind. Their survival cannot be risked on certain extinction by staying here!”
“You told me none of this, when you had me charge Thera Pass!”
“You never asked,” answered Graybeard. “And, besides, the satyrs will now sing songs to your glory whom, by your bravery, courage, and self-sacrifice, you saved. And unlike your kings before you, you are still alive.”
“Deceiver!” accused Arnen Fang. “Guards!” he ordered. “Arrest this magician and put him in chains!”
The eight dwarves came forward to obey, but Graybeard stopped them by standing up and facing them with his staff.
“Who dares arrest a keeper?” he demanded.
“Not arrest,” said Arnen Fang, “detain. We’ll let you out as soon as the city is surrounded.”
“To even threaten me with detainment is to place your life in danger!” warned Graybeard. “Touch me and all nine of you will die! A number that includes you, Arnen Fang!”
Arnen Fang looked at him, smiled, chuckled and then openly laughed. “And how do you propose to kill us? With what? Will it be with your light staff? Your cheap parlor tricks won’t blind us, magician!”
“It is not my staff that will kill you, but the drider,” said Graybeard with certainty.
“The drider?” asked the dwarf and scoffed. “The drider is a drow! Lolth is her keeper and not you! She will not obey your commands!”
“Leradien!” called Graybeard. “Who is your keeper?”
“You are,” she replied.
“And, if I command you to kill these dwarves, will you do so?”
“Just say the word.”
The dwarves all suddenly had a change of heart at that. The drider was no longer guarded and so big that even Lolth feared her. What were nine dwarves to her?
“Drop your axes,” ordered Graybeard.
Eight axes hit the floor.
Graybeard turned to face Arnen Fang, who also had sudden fear on his face. “Now what shall I do with you?”
Then, the hall doors opened in answer. It was Amien.
“A contingent of dwarves enters the city!” he declared.
Through the gates of Mills Breath, nearly a thousand dwarves marched, singing and bearing their axes. Their leader told Amron, captain of the guard, that they were a relief column from Minas Morgul and that they had come to fight for the city. They were a welcome addition, not only for their numbers, but for their cheery song. For, until recently, only funeral songs had been sung here.
Graybeard had Leradien bring Arnen Fang outside to witness it.
“I believe you have an announcement to make,” he whispered in the dwarf’s ear.
Arnen Fang gave a reluctant nod and called Captain Amron forward.
“Take five hundred of our best dwarves and relieve the Black Dragons of defending Thera Pass,” he said. “All the satyrs who wish to leave the city are free to go. The same goes for the women and children.”
Graybeard waited for Amron to leave and then said, “Five hundred is not enough. None of them will come back. When their lines break under Lolth’s attack, their short legs will not let them outrun orc arrows.”
“And how many would you have me send?” snapped the dwarf. “I empty the city as it is! At least with five hundred Lolth shall pay dearly to enter Ritter Mark Cavern and they shall buy you time to reach the surface. Though we are not friends, if I were you, I would hurry. I fear you have little time. The only way to reach the surface from here is by the Three Candles.”
Graybeard nodded in understanding before placing a hand firmly on Leradien’s shoulder, his grip strong. “Leradien,” he said, his voice unwavering. “Join the dwarves at Thera Pass and leave with the Black Dragons when they fall back. Do not return to this city. Head for the Three Candles instead, and leave obvious tracks for the orcs and drow to follow. Whatever else happens, your tracks must not lead here.”
“What of the rest of the company?” she asked.
“We shall join you at the Three Candles.”
Surprisingly, Leradien obeyed.
Arnen Fang watched Sar assemble the satyrs to get ready to march out even as the dwarves were still marching in. He eyed them for a while and then hopefully asked Graybeard. “Will they really sing songs to me?”
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