Extinction

Triel longed to cry out to Lolth, to plead for the goddess to tell her what to do, but she knew what the answer would be: silence. The Matron Mother of the First House was on her own?and if the jade spider wasn't stopped, Menzoberranzan's weakness would be plain for all to see. The males of House Baenre, fighting so valiantly to force the enemy back into the tunnels, might falter. If they became convinced that Triel and the other ranking females had lost Lolth's favor for some fault of their own or that the goddess had turned away from all drow forever, they might even turn against their matron mothers.

That could not be.

"The enemy knows our weakness," Triel said in a tense voice. "They must believe that Lolth has fallen silent forever and hope to make it plain for all to see."

Beside her, Wilara stiffened. Then amazingly, she contradicted her matron mother.

"No," the priestess said, shaking her head and causing the long braid that hung down her back to ripple like a snake. "The goddess will answer. She must."

The vipers in Triel's whip hissed their annoyance, but Triel ignored them. Under the circumstances, she could allow Wilara's outspokenness.

"Lolth may awaken yet," she said, speaking as much to steady herself as for the lesser priestess's benefit. "My sister Quenthel has not yet given up, so neither should we. But in the meantime, we have to rely upon ourselves. And upon other forms of magic."

She turned to Nauzhror and asked, "Do you know the spell that will transform stone to flesh?"

"I do, Matron Mother," he answered, "but if we transform it to flesh, the statue will become a living spider. The problem remains. We just can't. . kill it."

"Quite so," Triel said. As she spoke, she unfastened one of the wand cases hanging from her belt. "But by the time we're finished, it won't be a spider." She drew out a slender iron wand, tipped with a chunk of amber whose depths held the remains of a desiccated moth. "As soon as you cast your spell, I'll polymorph it into something else?something large and dangerous enough to have torn a hole through our ranks. Something our troops won't have any problem attacking."

Nauzhror smiled and said, "A deceitful plan, Matron Mother. One worthy of Lolth herself."

Glancing down, Triel saw that the spider had nearly reached the temple.

"Quit fawning," she ordered. "Teleport us down there at once."

Nauzhror spoke the words of his spell, and an instant later the balcony seemed to lurch sideways as he and Triel squeezed between the dimensions. In the blink of an eye they were standing in front of the doors to the great temple. Two dozen House guards who had been milling about uncertainly a moment before gasped as their matron mother suddenly appeared before them. Some bowed, and others glanced between Triel and the jade spider that was rapidly approaching, its stone legs click-clicking as it scurried across the Nauzhror, his face paling to gray as the enormous stone spider rapidly closed the gap, began chanting a spell. He pointed a finger, from which an intense, narrow beam or red light sprang, but the trembling or his hand made the beam waver, causing it to miss the spider by several paces.

Triel grabbed Nauzhror's hand, steadying it. The beam connected?and jade became flesh. Triel activated her wand.

The spider shifted into the form she held in her mind; a two-legged creature with powerful muscles, enormous claws and mandibles, and a rounded, insectoid head. Its body was covered in chitinous plates, and feelers sprouted from cracks near its head where the sections met. Startled by its sudden transformation, the creature stumbled to a halt, feelers waving frantically as its mandibles clacked shut.

"Matron Mother," Nauzhror gasped. "An umber hulk?"

"Convincing, isn't it?" Triel said with a wry smile. She turned to the dozen or so soldiers who stood gaping nearby and ordered, "Soldiers of House Baenre, you have been fooled by an illusion. Defend me!"

To a man, the soldiers leaped forward, swords in hand. The transformed statue fought back, its mandibles tearing one soldier in half and neatly scissoring the head off another. Then a lieutenant of the House guard?a small male with white hair plaited in two braids that were tucked behind his pointed ears?leaped directly into the path of the umber hulk. He wore no armor, and his only weapon was a small crossbow strapped to his left wrist. He aimed deliberately as the umber hulk staggered toward him?still uncertain of its footing with only two legs, instead of eight?and he fired.

The bolt struck the umber hulk in the throat, in a spot where two of its armor plates met. It buried itself to the fletching in soft flesh?then exploded with magical energy. Sparks raced in brilliant streaks across the umber hulk's body, then shot up its feelers, sizzling them like burned hair. The umber hulk faltered, then fell.

The lieutenant?whom Triel belatedly recognized as one of her nephews, a male named Vrellin?dropped to one knee in front of her.