Annihilation by Philip Athans Read Free Book Online Page A

Jeggred growled again, low and rumbling. Pharaun prepared himself for Reverie as well but couldn’t help feeling uneasy at the way the draegloth was looking at his mistress.
    Danifae slipped on her pack as Valas gathered his own gear. The battle-captive walked to Jeggred and put a hand lightly on the draegloth’s bristling white mane.
    “All is well, Jeggred,” she whispered. “We are all tired.”
    Jeggred leaned in to her touch ever so slightly, and Pharaun looked away. The draegloth stopped his growling, but Pharaun could feel the half-demon watch Danifae’s every move until she finally followed Valas through a dimensional portal of the scout’s making and was gone.
    Why Sschindylryn? Pharaun asked himself.
    It was the battle-captive’s calming touch with the draegloth that accounted for the wizard’s uneasy Reverie.

A little more than half a mile under the ruins of the surface city of Tilverton, two dark elves ran.
    Danifae breathed hard trying to keep up with Valas, but she stayed only a few strides behind him. The scout moved in something between a walk and run, his feet sometimes appearing not even to touch the slick flowstone of the tunnel floor. As they’d emerged from the last in a rapid, head-spinning series of gates, Valas had told her they were more than halfway to Sschindylryn, and it had been only a single day. Danifae admired the mercenary’s skill in navigating the Underdark, even as she dismissed his obvious lack of ambition and drive. He seemed content in his position as a hired hand—scout and errand boy for Quenthel Baenre—and the idea of that sort of contentment was utterly alien to Danifae.
    After all, she thought in time, Valas is only a male.
    The scout came to an abrupt halt, so abrupt in fact that Danifae had to stumble to an undignified stop to avoid running into him. Happy for the chance to pause and rest, though, she didn’t bother to complain.
    “Where—?” she started, but Valas held up a hand to silence her.
    Even after all her years as a battle-captive, a servant to the foolish and slow-witted Halisstra Melarn, Danifae hadn’t grown accustomed to shutting up when told to. She bristled at the scout’s dismissive gesture but calmed herself quickly. Valas was in his element, and if he wanted silence, both their lives might well depend on it.
    He turned to her, and Danifae was surprised to see no hint of annoyance or irritation on his face, even as her one word still echoed faintly in the cool, still air of the cavern.
    Another portal up ahead
, he told her with his fingers.
It will take us to Sschindylryn, but it’s not one I’ve used in a very long time
.
    But you’ve used it before
, she replied silently.
    Portals, especially portals like this one
, Valas explained,
are like waterholes. They attract attention
.
    You sense something?
she asked.
    Danifae’s own sensitive hearing detected no noise, her equally sensitive nose no smell but her own and the scout’s. That didn’t mean they were alone.
    As if he’d read her mind, Valas replied,
You’re never alone in the Underdark
.
    So what is it?
she asked.
Can we avoid it? Kill it?
    Maybe nothing
, he answered in turn,
probably not, and I hope so
.
    Danifae smiled at him. Valas tipped his head to one side, surprised and confused by the smile.
    Stay here
, he signed,
and keep still. I’ll go on ahead
.
    Danifae looked back along the way they’d come then forward in the direction they were going. The tunnel—twenty-five or thirty feet wide and about as tall—stretched into darkness in both directions.
    If you leave me behind…
. Danifae threatened with her fingers and with her cold, hard eyes.
    Valas didn’t react at all. He seemed to be waiting for her to finish.
    Danifae again glanced to the seemingly endless tunnel ahead, only for half a heartbeat. When she turned back, Valas was gone.

    Ryld drew the whetstone slowly along Splitter’s razor edge. The enchanted sword hardly needed sharpening, but Ryld found he