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.The creature bucked and thrashed—incidentally knocking Grayth twenty feet across the cavern, as the cleric began to grope his way to his feet.It opened its jaws wide and blasted Araevin at point-blank range with a blue-white spear of lightning.The monster's lightning breath hurled Araevin head-over-heels through the air, and he landed in the icy streambed and struck his head on stone.Brightwhite lights flared in his vision, and a great roaring sound filled his ears.I have to get up, he told himself.He seized on that simple thought with all the desperation of a drowning man and slowly rolled over onto his belly, pushing himself upright with arms that felt as weak and empty as burned-out cinders.He wiped away the blood streaming down his face and looked up, even though the cavern tilted crazily from side to side.Grayth, sword in hand, fended off Grimlight's snapping jaws, slashing its snout and face with quick thrusts and cuts.Ilsevele danced back away from the monster, sinking arrow after arrow into its thrashing body while Maresa riddled its other flank with her own magic.Araevin groped about in the icy water for his holster of wands, and finally found it.He fumbled with a simple wand for conjuring magic bolts, and took aim at the long, deep wound his disintegration spell had carved from the monster's side."Take that," he gasped, and fired four glowing darts into the gaping hole already scored in Grimlight's body.Grimlight shuddered and groaned, coiling up its great serpentine body into a squirming ball.It threw up its head to the ceiling, hissing and bubbling deep in its throat, and Grayth staggered forward.One hand cupped on the pommel, the human drove his sword up through the soft white underside of the neck, the jaw, and into the monster's brain.The creature shuddered once and lay still.Grayth collapsed across the monster he'd just killed, leaning on his sword."Thank Lathander that's done," he groaned."I think I'm getting too old for this."Ilsevele straightened, lowering her bow.She looked around and caught sight of Araevin."Araevin! You're hurt!" she cried, and ran over to take his arm.Araevin tried to shrug off her help, but his legs felt rubbery and weak."I'll survive," he managed."Let's find the telkiira before we do anything else.And keep an eye open for the daemon-fey.The last time we were near a telkiira, they appeared."Ilsevele looked closely into his face and frowned."Are you trying to break my heart?" she asked."First that insane flight of yours against the whole fey'ri army, and now this.Are you trying to make a widow of me before we even marry?""You're taking every chance I am," he replied."I'll stop when you do."He moved over to Grimlight's hoard.Several of the rotten old chests had been smashed into splinters by the creature's thrashings, and coins and jewels lay scattered all over the cavern floor."So what was that, anyway?" Maresa asked."Some kind of legless dragon?"behir," Grayth replied."A little like a dragon." He straightened up and sheathed his sword, turning to join the search."So, will this stone look like—"From the shadows by the steep cleft of the cavern stream, a bright blue ray shot out and struck Araevin in the middle of his torso.Araevin staggered back in surprise, but he was no more wounded than he had been a moment before.Instead, a shimmering blue field of dancing light clung to his body, sparkling in the darkness of the cave.A dimension lock! he realized."Watch out! The daemonfey!" he cried.Six demons appeared in the behir's cavern, wreathed in foul-smelling smoke.From the cleft more of the fey'ri poured into the room, their eyes glowing red with hate.Behind the demonic warriors came Araevin's enemy, the fierce sorcerer with the armor of golden scales and the jeweled eye patch.He gestured at Araevin and his comrades and shouted, "Take them alive! The mage is anchored to this plane and cannot escape us this time!"Araevin heard Ilsevele's bow thrum, while Maresa swore a vile oath and Grayth drew his sword with a shrillring of steel.Araevin snapped out the words of terrible ice blast he'd learned from the second telkiira, directing a great white fountain of unendurable frigidity at the fey'ri clambering up into the chamber.The first fey'ri paled into translucent scarlet ice and shattered, and two more staggered under the weight of the magical rime that covered them, stumbling to the cavern floor with the creaking of frost and cracking of ice.The fey'ri countered with spells of their own
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