Chapter 6

The hundreds of undead, comprised of ghouls, skeletons, and zombies, marched through the dark and mysterious terrain of the underdark. Standing side by side with the dracolich, Malice looked back at her undead army, then stared forward. Before the day is over, her army would be at the gates of Menzoberranzen. Then she would attack.

Malice looked up at the dracolich, who appeared to be staring at something. "What do you see Beryl?" she asked.

"I see four humans, a black skinned gnome, a white tiger, and a blue dragon," the dracolich answered in a low voice.

"It can not be," Malice muttered under breath. The drow then looked into the distance, her elven eyes spotting Shadimir, Alustriel, Stephanie, and a man she had never seen before. The blue dragon Beryl had spoke of, was letting Stephanie climb onto her back.

"What are you up to Shadimir?" Malice whispered under her breath.

Shadimir quickly handed Stephanie one of the dragonlances, then he turned to Giogi. "You can transform now."

Giogi nodded and closed his eyes. He clutched the Wyvern's Spur in his right hand and concentrated. A soft red glow radiated from the spur, and suddenly, Giogi's appearance changed from a human, to that of a red-scaled wyvern.

Shadimir climbed on Giogi's back, and then heard the sound of marching. He looked in the direction where the sound was coming from and saw the dracolich. Malice was walking next to the creature, and her undead army was marching behind them.

The undead hunter took a deep breath and slowly reached for the silver horn. He stared at the dracolich for a moment, estimating that it was at least twice the size of Elisondar.

"That's a big dracolich," Jepetto remarked, pulling out a wand and his steel club.

"Yes, and it appears they've brought some friends," Shadimir remarked with a nod. "Elros, I want you to stay close to Jepetto and Alustriel." Elros gave the hunter a reassuring nod.

Alustriel drew her unicorn headed staff, then looked at Shadimir. "We'll be fine."

The silver haired hunter looked at his wife. "I'll go and meet her. When I blow the horn and the elves appear, I'll need you to fly as quick as you can."

The doomguide gave her husband a smile, then watched as the red wyvern leaped off of the ground, carrying Shadimir on his back.

From where she stood, Malice watched as Shadimir flew over to her. She noticed the lance in his arms and smirked. Beryl's eyes noticed the heavy lance as well. The dracolich's eyes flared in anger. Flashes of her defeat by the elves of Qualinesti entered the dracolich's memory. The Golden General had slain her with the dragonlance, and now it appeared that Shadimir had one.

Beryl wondered how Shadimir could have acquired the weapon. Even so, the dracolich thought to herself, he is only one man.

"Malice," Shadimir said in a somewhat cold voice once he landed in front of her "I offer you one chance to turn your forces back. Otherwise, you and your army will be destroyed."

The drow cleric kept her eyes on Shadimir. "I knew you'd come Shadimir. Although I'm not sure how you would know that I would choose this time to attack Menzoberranzen. I only hope that your death will be slow and painful, just like Dalla's."

Anger and rage boiled inside Shadimir's chest. He tightly gripped the shaft of the dragonlance and glared at Malice. "Actually, Dalla is doing just fine. Now turn your army away."

Malice shook her head and sighed. "I was hoping to destroy you after I was done with Menzoberranzen, but I guess I'll just finish you now. By what means were you going to destroy me anyways?"

"By means of this," Shadimir whispered. He put the mouthpiece of the silver horn up to his mouth and blew hard.

At the sound of the horn's harmonious tune, Stephanie and Tara took off. Alustriel, Jepetto, and Elros watched as hundreds of ghosts appeared next to Shadimir. They were all dressed in elven armor, and carrying long swords. Laurana Kanan, the Golden General, appeared in front of Shadimir. She let out a fierce elven war cry and charged the undead behind Malice and the dracolich. Her soldiers quickly followed.

Malice quickly vanished, while Beryl jumped in the air. The dracolich let out a loud roar that caused Shadimir and Giogi to become shaken.

The hunter shook off any feeling of fear that was building in his stomach, then patted Giogi's head. Above them, the dracolich was ready to unleash her green fire on them, but the doomguide arrived just in time to help her husband.

Stephanie began to flow with the grace of her god Kelemvor. The doomguide channeled her energy and cast a Searing Light spell. A ray of bright light shot from Stephanie's open palm and hit the dracolich.

Shaking off the damage the cleric's spell had done to her, Beryllinthranox snapped her head up, looking at the doomguide and the blue dragon as they flew closer to her. She released a blast of green fire, but the blue dragon rolled away fast enough to avoid the dracolich's flame..

Giogi flew closer to Beryl. Once the wyvern was close enough, the hunter leapt off of Giogi's back and onto Beryl's. Shadimir raised the dragonlance high and struck it hard into the dracolich's back twice.

The dracolich let out a loud roar, feeling the jolts of pain that shooting through her body. She began to rock and move her body in an attempt to throw Shadimir off. The hunter proved stubborn as he grabbed one of Beryl's red tinted backbones and held tightly. Once she stopped rocking, Shadimir held the dragonlance high once more. He was about to strike, but the dracolich's bony tail snapped back and hit him hard across the back, dropping him to a knee.

Giogi charged the dracolich, but Beryl's tail moved swiftly, slapping the wyvern hard across the face. The red-scaled wyvern reeled back from the dracolich's tail swipe, but Beryl's left claw raked him hard across the chest.

Taralona flew head on at Beryl, while Stephanie sat on her back, her dragonlance pointed forward. Using one of her abilities granted to her by Kelemvor, Stephanie "bonded" the dragonlance with the abilities of Kelemvor's weapon, Fatal Touch. The dragonlance now possessed the same abilities that the bastard sword of Kelemvor possessed.

When Taralona was close enough toe the dracolich, Stephanie struck Beryl hard in the side, not once, but twice.

The dracolich let out a terrible scream that sent shivers through the skins not only those who were fighting her, but also Alustriel, Jepetto, and Elros; who were now fighting the undead alongside the ghosts of Qualinesti.

Shadimir could feel the soreness in his back as he stood up on the dracolich. He raised the dragonlance once more, then stabbed it into Beryl's back. He then jumped off the dracolich's back.

In a movement of swiftness, Giogi managed to catch Shadimir on his back.

But neither he, nor the hunter saw Beryl's enormous mouth open. Green fire shot from the dracolich's mouth and burned both Shadimir and Giogi.

Stephanie and Tara both watched as the wyvern and his rider fall to the ground. Then Beryl's right claw came up and struck Tara in her right leg.

The doomguide closed her eyes and held onto the Tara's back as she let out a shriek of pain. The blue dragon slowly fell from the air, crushing a few skeletons when she hit the ground.

Still on the dragon's back, Stephanie quickly channeled some of her god's energy to heal Tara. She then stepped off of the blue dragon watching as Tara rolled to her side and shifted to her human form.

Above the fallen blue dragon and the cleric, Beyrllinthranox let out a mighty laugh.

Despite the wounds she had sustained so far. The dracolich knew that victory was not too far away.