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.Half spider and half drow, it clutched an armory of swords and maces in its six thickly muscled arms, and each of its chitinous legs ended in a vicious pincerlike claw.Its face, perversely enough, was that of a handsome drow male."Depart, Masked One," the spider-god commanded in a tortured, burbling voice."It is forbidden for you to intrude here.""Do not presume to stand between me and my destiny, Selvetarm," Vhaeraun snarled.The monstrous spider-god Selvetarm waited no longer, but darted forward with blinding speed, weaving his sextuple blades in an irresistible assault that might have dismembered a dozen giants in the space of two heartbeats.Vhaeraun whirled aside, dancing through the storm of steel as if he chased Selvetarm's weapons instead of the other way around, parrying blows he found too inconvenient to elude and riposting with supernal grace.When the gods' weapons met, thunderclaps shook the ground.Halisstra pushed herself upright, gaping in amazement.She might have stood transfixed at the scene indefinitely, but Ryld appeared at her elbow."We need your healing songs," he hissed."Quenthel is badly burned."What does it matter? Halisstra wondered.Still, she climbed to her feet and made her way over to the fallen priestess.Quenthel writhed on the ground, hissing between her teeth as she strove unsuccessfully to master her pain.Ignoring the impossible duel that raged back and forth between the two deities, Halisstra focused on the Baenre's injuries and managed to begin the discordant threnody of a bae'qeshel song.She laid her hands on Quenthel's burns and wove as best she could, finding a momentary calm in the exercise of her talents for a tangible and immediate end.Quenthel's thrashings eased, and in a moment she opened her eyes.Her spells cast, Halisstra merely slumped down again and stared at the battling gods."What do we do?" she whispered."What can we possibly do?""Endure," Ryld replied.He gripped her arm with one iron hand and met her eyes."Wait and watch.Something will happen."He looked back toward Vhaeraun and Selvetarm, too.Valas rose from Quenthel's side and made his way over to Tzirik, crouching to keep his balance."Tzirik! What happens to this place, to us, if Vhaeraun defeats Selvetarm and destroys the face? Can you get us out of here?""What happens to us does not matter," answered the priest."Maybe not to you, but it matters greatly to me," Valas muttered."Did you bring us here only to die, Tzirik?""I did not bring you here, mercenary, you brought me," the priest replied, giving Valas only a fraction of his attention."None but the Spider Queen's priestesses could get this close to her temple, not even the Masked Lord.As to what happens when Vhaeraun defeats Selvetarm, well, we shall see."He turned his full attention back to the dueling gods.The Masked Lord and the Champion of Lolth fought on furiously.Ichor oozed from several black wounds in the half-spider's chitinous body, and dripping black shadow flowed from a handful of sword cuts that had kissed the graceful Vhaeraun.While the gods strove together in the realm of the physical, exchanging blows at a dizzying rate, they also confronted each other magically and psychically at the same time.Spells of terrible power blasted back and forth between them, deadlier even than Selvetarm's six weaving weapons.Their eyes locked on each other with a tangible contest whose potency tugged at what was left of Halisstra's reason, even from a hundred yards away.Missed blows and deflected spells caused terrible damage all around the two deities, gouging great craters in the walls of the temple and the flagstones of the plaza, and more than once coming perilously close to annihilating the mortal onlookers through sheer mischance."Treacherous jackal!" snarled Selvetarm."Your perfidy will not be rewarded!""Simpleminded fool.Of course it shall," Vhaeraun retorted.He leaped in among Selvetarm's flurrying blades and punched his shadow sword deep into the spider-god's bulbous abdomen.The Champion of Lolth shrieked and recoiled, but a moment later he seized Vhaeraun's ankle with one pincer and jerked the god to the ground.As quick as a cat he rained a torrent of deadly blows down on the Masked Lord.Vhaeraun responded by invoking a colossal blast of burning shadow-stuff that plunged straight down from some impossible height overhead and bathed both gods in black fire.Selvetarm roared in divine anguish, even as he hammered again and again at Vhaeraun
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