Chapter 12.
I hate spiders! the assassin thought as he drew his sword and dirk and threw off his mask.
Aramys, drawing her weapons as well, silently congratulated the mage on her cleverness. The young elf knew her choice of spiders as guardians acted as a psychological weapon as well. Drow were taught fanatical reverence for the creatures, and to kill one was unthinkable. Unfortunately for her, we aren't drow! the girl thought as she aimed a strike at the nearest creature's eye.
Entreri rolled to the side as his spider turned and shot a thick strand of web at him. Deciding an attack from above was his best choice; the human leapt to the banister of the staircase. Balancing easily, he slashed at the creature's ugly head. Aramys, on the other hand, chose the opposite rout. Rolling down between her spider's legs, she aimed a multitude of stabs at the creature's belly. With incredible speed and coordination, the girl slipped through the hairy legs, positioning herself at its rear. Leaping to her feet, she chopped repeatedly at the spider's abdomen, disabling the spinnerets.
Entreri noted his companion's technique. Avoiding another strand of web, he jumped down from his perch and launched a similar attack. The creature was huge, and he had to fight his own disgust as he chopped furiously at it. Spinning round to face him, the spider regarded the human with its eight eyes, its huge fangs dripping venom. Charging at it, Entreri stabbed at the head with his dirk while at the same time slashing at the frontmost legs with his sword. With a bizarre shriek, the spider plowed into the human, knocking him down, but then collapsing on him and lying still.
Aramys turned from where her spider lay dead as well now, several legs being severed and its body slashed open. Noticing the man's predicament, she went to him and helped him to stand. "You've got its poison on you! " she commented. " Wonderful!"
The man looked noticeably shaky. "Is it deadly?" he asked.
"What do you think?" Aramys asked him sarcastically. "But first it will just paralyze you. Fortunately, I came prepared." She rummaged through her small belt pouch, produced a vial and offered it to Entreri, who had slipped to his knees beside her.
A healing potion, Entreri thought with relief as he took the vial into his violently trembling hands. The spiders poison must be terribly potent, to affect him so without actually being bitten. Aramys had to help the man unstop the bottle and raise it to his lips.
"So much for subtlety. I'm sure Taella knows we're here by now." she said, looking around the room suspiciously. Whispering under her breath, she enacted another minor spell, one that would detect things invisible. As if in reply, a sudden blast of energy knocked both of them to the floor. Above, the drow merchant was levitating.
Entreri, a human already in a weakened state, had to fight to remain conscious from the blast. Aramys, however, an elf with a higher resistance to magic, was back on her feet in an instant. Spinning away from where Entreri had fallen, the girl enabled one her masks functions, allowing her to blend in with the tapestries covering the walls. Silently, she began to position herself at a good strategic angle to the mage.
"Who are you?" Taella demanded, trying to get a fix on Aramys' whereabouts. " Who has sent you?" Still levitating, the drow floated lightly towards the ground where Entreri lay. " A rivvil assassin?" Taella commented, moving to where the helpless human lay and standing beside him." I suppose you won't mind if I dispose of this?" she said aloud to the room. Waving her hands, she prepared to cast another spell. Her movements stopped abruptly as she felt blade come to rest across her throat.
"A simple sword thrust would be as effective, and less distracting." Aramys said into Taella's ear.
The drow laughed nervously, her mind racing for a way out of her predicament. The hand holding the blade at her neck was amazingly steady, and she knew that to move would result in instant death. Understanding whom the assassin was, Taella knew she was in trouble.
"Please!" the drow cried before Aramys could finish her. "I will pay double whatever you were offered for this job!"
Aramys laughed. Ordinarily she would have just finished the task, but Taella's attempt at bargaining amused her. " Surely you know who I am. You must realize that money will not influence me."
"Ah yes, " the drow replied," I've heard it rumored that the famous Kalida Sha'lal is a half breed."
" No amount of money will buy me acceptance in this place, " Aramys supplied. Wistfully, she continued, "Alas, it seems that only killing does." She tightened her hold on the sword.
The drow's mind worked frantically. " I can change that!" she cried. " I can give you a potion that will make you appear to be fully drow!"
Entreri, watching from the ground, saw Aramys pause. He wondered what her expression was behind her mask.
Taella, taking the assassin's hesitation for interest, continued enthusiastically," No drow will ever guess what you really are! No one will ever call you Iblith ag- " The sentence was left unfinished as, with simple and efficient brutality, Aramys drew her sword across Taella's throat.
" I would rather die." she said calmly into the dead drow's ear.
Note from Author: I don't play D&D, and don't know a thing about fighting, magic, or spiders for that matter. If I've written anything blatantly stupid, I apologize- I was pretty much faking my way through this chapter! Oh, I'm also terrible at action sequences!