Corran paused at that declaration. "What do you know of the cult?"

"More than you do, human! The Freth betrayed my kinfolk to the archmage and her minions. She uses a foul pool to trap my people's souls, then feeds their blood to a dracolich and enslaves their bodies. We despise Kya Mordrayn and her wicked cult even more than we loathe the traitorous Freth!" The drow's voice, which had risen to a fever pitch, suddenly turned cold as ice. "Hate is the song in our blood. It is all that lives in us now. We have sworn to release the souls of our kin into true death, even at the cost of own lives."

Corran studied the dark elf as she spoke, remaining calm in the wake of her passion. "What do you propose?"

"This chasm blocks your path. A cult sorcerer nearby blocks ours. He wields a magical device called the Staff of Sunlight-fatal to us but harmless to surface-dwellers. Agree to kill him, and I will lower the drawbridge. Claim the staff to use against the Freth-I care not. Just stay away from us."

Kestrel listened to the dark elf's proposal with growing wariness. Seven drow couldn't take on one sorcerer? When Corran looked to the group for opinions, she shook her head. "Either they're lying about how many cultists wait ahead or this sorcerer is more powerful than any we've faced so far. They're looking for spell fodder. After we take him on, they'll step over our dead bodies and continue on their way."

"I disagree," Corran declared. "His staff puts them at a disadvantage we won't suffer."

"So they say! Even if that's true, how do we know they won't betray us after we defeat him?"

Durwyn cleared his throat. "Kestrel's got a point The woman said herself that dark elves aren't even loyal to each other."

"It does them no good to betray us," said Ghleanna. "We fight a common foe."

Irritated that Ghleanna sided with Corran, Kestrel listened to Jarial and Faeril's opinions and grew still more agitated. Except for Durwyn, they all favored the paladin. After their treatment at Razherrt's hands, how could they even consider allying with a group of dark elves?

"These drow are more concerned about their zombie kin than stopping the cult," she said, her voice rising louder than she intended. "Didn't you hear her? They want to release the Kilsek's souls, not battle Mordrayn. How does that help us?"

"Once my people enter true death, they will no longer pose a threat to you," the drow leader responded. "Know this: Before we're done I fully intend for the archmage to know the sensation of her blood draining from her body."

Kestrel studied the dark elf as intensely as she could across the gap. The drow leader stood proud and confident, apparently unperturbed by the rogue's scrutiny. "How do we know we can trust you?" Kestrel called. "You haven't even given us your name."

"Nathlilik, first daughter of the House of Kilsek. And you don't." She shrugged. "Accept our proposal or not, humans. You're the ones who need to cross this chasm."

The way Nathlilik used the word "human" as if it were a racial slur made Kestrel grind her teeth. She turned to Corran and the others. "To hell with them. We'll find another way across. I can use my grappling hooks to-"

"We accept," Corran called to Nathlilik. "Lower the bridge."

Kestrel gasped involuntarily. "But-"

"You're outvoted, Kestrel. And we can't afford for Nathlilik to change her mind while we waste time arguing."

So now her opinions were merely a waste of time? She fairly shook with anger at this latest example of the paladin's high-handedness. How dare he just shut her up? She glared at Corran, ready to unleash a stream of epithets when, entirely unbidden, Caalenfaire's final words entered her head. Do not let conflict between you threaten your mission.

With one final, very uncharitable thought toward Corran D'Arcey, she swallowed her ire. Nathlilik had begun lowering the drawbridge, and they needed to present a united front to the drow band. If anyone's egoism crippled their quest, it would be Corran's, not hers.

As they waited for the bridge to settle into place, Kestrel found herself standing off to one side with Ghleanna. Corran and the others were engrossed in watching the bridge mechanism. She studied the paladin as he bantered easily with Jarial and Faeril-even Durwyn. "Why do you all follow him so faithfully?" she muttered, half to Ghleanna and half to herself.

Ghleanna followed her gaze. "He inspires confidence."

Kestrel looked at the sorceress, puzzled. All Corran had ever inspired in her was frustration. "What do you mean?"

"When we go into battle. Just being near him-I am not afraid. Whatever odds we face, his presence makes me believe we can overcome them. I think it is because his faith is so strong." She met Kestrel's eyes. "Surely you feel it, too?"

Kestrel shook her head.

"Mayhap you have not let yourself."

Kestrel returned her gaze to Corran. To hear Ghleanna talk, the paladin had some aura about him that everyone could sense but her. As a rogue, she prided herself on her perception, on her ability to read people accurately. Had she allowed herself to become blinded? Even so, Corran had his own failings to work on, whether the others could see them or not.

The party crossed the bridge and came eye to eye with the dark elves. The Kilseks' faces held all the fierceness and arrogance of the Freths', but they also bore a weariness and desperation that hadn't been present among Razherrt's men. Perhaps Nathlilik told the truth after all.

As Kestrel passed the drow leader, their gazes locked. Nathlilik's red eyes burned with determination Kestrel knew she herself had never felt. "You really do hate the cult," she murmured.

"My lifemate, Kedar, is among those enslaved," Nathlilik said. "I will avenge him."

They found the cult sorcerer exactly where Nathlilik had said to expect him.

They did not expect to find him dead.

"Ugh." Kestrel grimaced at the sight of the corpse. The cultist lay wrapped in a cocoon of sticky white strands with only his head and neck exposed. Bite marks covered his face and throat, leaving the flesh in shreds. The expression in his frozen eyes suggested he'd died a slow, painful death. "What got him? Spiders?"

"Some kind of wild creature." Jarial knelt beside the body to lift a long gold staff from where it had fallen near the sorcerer's body. "Whatever it was, it left this behind."

She crept closer for a better look. A G-shaped hook crowned the staff, within which a glowing yellow orb floated freely. "The Staff of Sunlight"

"That's my guess."

Kestrel glanced around the rest of the room. A closed door stood opposite the one they had entered, and a table and chair sat in the corner. Several papers lay scattered on the table and floor. Ghleanna picked them up, scanning their content. "Most of these are useless notes, but this page is an order from Mordrayn. It says to eliminate the arraccat from the eastern section of the catacombs' third level."

"That's where we are, isn't it?" Durwyn asked.

Ghleanna nodded absently as she quoted from the order. "The creatures lair above the baelnorn and thus too close to our operations there."

Corran took the paper from Ghleanna's hand and studied it himself. "What's an arraccat?"

"I think it's a creature with eight eyes," said Durwyn, his voice a bit higher-pitched than normal, "and eight legs with really sharp claws… and a wide mouth with wicked fangs…"

Kestrel glanced at him in surprise, but his back was turned to her. "How do you know that, Durwyn?"

"Because I'm looking at one."

The arraccat hissed and sprang toward Durwyn. The fighter jumped out of the way, allowing the rest of the companions their first look at the creature. A cross between a spider and a cat, it stood nearly as tall as Kestrel and twice as wide. Brown fur covered its feline head, long tail, and oval arachnid body.