"Citizens and allies of Eldicor, we face a daunting task!" Teleperien shouts. She is on a pallet so all could see and hear her. "To rid this forest of infestation of the darkest kind. We must push forward until all is finished. We cannot stop, if we do, it will be to our doom!

Tele then jumps down from the pallet and took her place in front as they start their march to the forest. Just outside the range of the barbs a volley of arrows fill the air at the command of Gwindor. The white feathered arrows fill the air and falls like drops of rain. The spiders now line the front of the forest, just outside the tree line, they didn't stand long, and Tele raises her blade shouting:

"Calesilme!"

A bolt of lightning strikes her blade, then the lightening scatters above the forest floor to show that the forest floor was teeming with spiders. Quite a number is felled by the first volley, but Gwindor calls for another volley and they started to surge into the forest, letting arrows loose to mow down as many as possible. The queen and Erwyn now shielded by both Elven guard and rangers prepare to move to into the forest.

"Teleperien." A familiar voice comes from behind her. She swings around and to her astonishment Alatar stands there holding two staffs.

"Alatar! Why are you here?"

"I was sent here by Nomrah. He obviously knows of your attack on the Chalkotu, so he sends this to you."

He holds out a staff with an emerald crystal atop the oak handle. "His staff?" Tele looks at Alatar with astonishment. The wizard nods. After a pause Tele takes the staff.

She asks; "You know what that evil creature is?"

"The Chalkotu is a demon, I am not certain of its origin. Long before your time, it had been encased in a small cave within the forest, he cannot leave, but his reach still create evil as you know. The staff will protect both you and Erwyn. I will stay with you until the battle is finished."

Tele hoped Lady Murelle could make haste and reach the demon to end this. She turns to a hobbit, Mungo Hillfast who was asked to stay with the queen.

"Take a message to Xenograg, you can see his standard." Tele points to the standard almost directly across from her. "Tell him Alatar has arrived. And be careful."

"I will M'lady.? Mungo gives a bow and disappears into the brush. His agility made him the perfect messenger. He manages to dodge several spiders and was able to move almost silently toward his intended task. He didn't hear the spider behind him...a barb hit him square in the back. The hobbit fell to his knees groaning, falling on his face.

Xenograg would not get his message.

The royal host assembled into ranks at dawn. Teleperien and her bodyguard were at the center of the line. Xenograg's contingent came just behind. That contingent now numbered twenty-four. Xenograg had accepted six Eldicoreans into temporary service, including—scandalously—a young Eldar male. The elf was given the highest position of honor possible, that of Xenograg's personal bannerman.

These two dozen may have been the smallest troop unit, but they were also the most colorful. Amaltea stood out prominantly in the gold-trimmed redcoat of the Royal Army of Barsi. Everyone else wears tabards in the distinctive black-sigil-upon-light-blue of Xenodar. The Rellugai have lamellar armor under their tabards; the rest (including Amaltea) have elfin mail.

Owing to the forest terrain, the three battle standards have been mounted on short poles. It is with their heraldry that individuality is indicated. The first standard is the same red as Amaltea's uniform, bordered in gold. Its device is two golden unicorns facing one another, rampant. Indeed, it is the Royal Standard of Barsi; there are two queens going into battle here this day.

The second standard had not been seen before in Eldicor but was renown all over Rhydin: yellow field, bordered in gold, bearing Xenograg's sigil in black. The third standard matched the tabards: Xenograg's sigil in black upon a light blue field bordered in gold. This is Amanda's, and thus Xenodar's.

After the destruction of the first nest, Xenograg left the hobbit scouts out in front of the vanguard. After scrying for the psychically darkest part of the forest, he gives the hobbits that vector. He returns to the center of the army and deploys the remaining scouts to the left and right of the columns. He kept Amaltea and Amanda in the center with him.

"Remember," he says to both, "I need you to evaluate the situation and communicate when it changes. Watch the active fighting for dangers, but also—more importantly—watch for approaching enemies. These creatures have animal cunning if not intelligence. They will come at us from both flanks and the rear."

"Amal, you watch the right side; Amanda, the left. Make sure you can be seen and found by the scouts. Keep them, and yourselves, out of the fighting. Move forward when taking reinforcements to a threatened point, but return to the center as soon as possible."

Amanda felt guilty for allowing a group of spiders to get past her unit of reinforcements and into the center. That Erwyn was wounded by them only made it worse. Xenograg acted quick to mitigate its effect on his daughter.

"They surprised you," he says. "That happens in war, remember?" Amanda nods but the knowledge brings no comfort.

"You will be ready for it next time. Get ready because I will have to send you out again very soon." Amanda nods twice.

Amaltea returns from her sector. One of her Rellugai is dead, another wounded. Xenograg sends the wounded man off to the healers, and gives his wife two of his own bodyguard to replace her losses. She begins to question that but he has anticipated it.

"As if I need a bodyguard?" he says with only a hint of humor. Amanda gives a single chuckle—more stress relief than amusement. She and Amaltea begin preparing for another deployment.

"I am down almost half strength," Amaltea says to Xenograg.

"I know. I have to get more troops from Gwindor."

"Hurry,", she advises. "I think we are going to need them sooner than we think."

"I am going now. I will not be long."

Floating in and out of darkness, Erwyn could hear both the battle and commotion around her. Pain was slamming into her head like a hammer, she groaned softly as they jostled her.

"It's Erwyn! The queen's daughter!" A distraught healer cried.

"Careful!" Came another voice. "She still has that barb in her side."

Erwyn felt hands on her as they laid her on a pallet, one healer murmuring in her ear. "Relax my dear, you are in good hands."

"Here, let me use this." It had to have been one of the marines that accompanied Miles, for she knew all of the healers, mainly they were consulted for her many scrapes on her knees, elbows and other injuries the devil-may-care princess inflicted upon herself. She did not know this voice.

A soft "hss" was felt on her neck. Almost at once Erwyn knew nothing.

************ Both a healer and a marine stood next to the prone figure, the marine handed the healer a pair of plastic gloves and pulled a pair on his own hands. "We have to work quickly. Once that thing is out of her she'll lose a lot of blood if we aren't fast."

The healer nodded and between the two of them, one holding Erwyn's body down so not to move, the other quickly pulling out the barb. The marine at once laid bandages on the bleeding side, pressing them hard against the wound.

"Quickly, the pressure bandage." Like those tended before Erwyn, a pressure bandage was applied and gauze was wrapped around her waist to hold the bandage in place. The marine stood back with a sigh and wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. "She'll be ok. Elves seem to heal quickly." The marine said looking over at the elves who had already taken a barb was already up and about. Though there were some that took a deadly blow. Nothing could heal them. Not even from the queen herself.

"That is true, but this is the queen's daughter." The healer replies, looking with a worried face on the prone body of Erwyn. "I've known her since childhood. She was always a favorite."

"Erwyn is her name?"

"Aye." The healer replies with more of a worried than weary tone. "We will watch her with especial care. I thank you."

"That is why I am here." The marine smiles and pats the healer on the shoulder.

"What is your name?" The healer asks.

"Corporal Hennis." He sticks his hand out. "Marine."

The healer not quite understanding the gesture hesitates for a moment then remembers, takes the marine's hand. "I am Brandise, healer in the service of the queen."

He gives a salute and walks away. Brandise watches him stride off. She turns her attention to Erwyn. No one, not a soul would harm the princess as long as she took breath.

Xenograg and Borin find Amanda with only her bodyguard (minus one). She is visibly relieved.

"We had a penetration," she reports. "Mother took everything left to the breach. It is contained, but there is another assault coming there," she points towards the right flank. Xenograg nods.

"I see it, too. Borin?"

"Just in time, yes," he says. He smiles at Amanda. "Lead the way, girl." Amanda cannot help but smile back. They move off towards the threatened sector. Xenograg turns to his bodyguard. With just eye contact and a gesture, one of his two remaining Rellugai runs off to replace Amanda's lost one. The young Eldar serving as Xenograg's bannerman obviously wanted to be the one chosen. Xenograg gives a terse shake of his head in reply. His attention is out beyond the lines, seeking the next approaching threat.

The situation at the rear had stablized. Borin was still on the line, but Amaltea and Amanda were both back in reserve. Xenograg's attention was focused upon the larger battlefield all around them. The enchantments upon the battle standards were helping against the psychic dangers of the enemy, so his personal wards were not continuously at maximum. Had they been, he likely would never have "heard" the telepathic transmission. Xenograg puts his fingers on both of his temples, concentrating on the sending without dropping his psychic shields entirely. He misses the entire message itself, but knows Toby was its sender. Reaching into the aether for an echo of the message, he retrieves "Murelle" and a location.

"Xeno, what is it?" Amaltea asks.

"A distress signal, I think. It is from Toby, but it mentions Murelle by name." Amaltea's face shows surprise and concern. After a few moments, she voices what they are both thinking.

"You are the only one who can get to her."

"You are right. I am sorry, love."

"Be careful, Xeno!"

"I will. You be careful, too." Xenograg and Amaltea embrace for a long moment. Amanda notices and comes over.

"Father, what is wrong?"

"Distress call from Toby. I have to go. You are in command of the scouts." Amanda starts at that, and swallows hard.

"Yes, Sir." Xenograg turns back to Amaltea.

"I have to inform Teleperien and Gwindor. I will leave from there immediately after. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Alatar listens and watches the exchange between the queen and Xenograg. He blinks a couple times when he vanishes on the spot but recovers his wits. "Murelle. Lady GrayMantle is in this battle?" Alatar asks Teleperien with some astonishment. Teleperien nods.

"She is part of the prophecy Alatar. I do not have time to explain all of this now, I must tell Gwindor."

He watches as the queen rushes over to the Captain of the guard talking rapidly, gesturing with an arm toward the lair of the Chalkotu. The Captain looks grave as he turns his gaze where Teleperien points then nods in understanding, then continues with his battle by slicing a spider with extra force, splitting it in half, its innards spilling onto the ground. Teleperien returns.

"You will see Alatar. Lady GreyMantle has something that will kill it."

Alatar only nods, but remains skeptical. What force could kill it' He could only wait and see. In the mean time he swings his staff, taking out two spiders headed their way.

Meanwhile...

The black miasma swirling from the creature was incredible. Even from a distance, Toby could perceive it like a smoke cloud rising from the forest floor. It was receding from him now, as he pounded through the trees towards the sound of battle. Max was moving as well, having received the silent order to meet him - Toby knew the crimson droid would intercept him before too long.

As he stumbled across the uneven ground, over fallen trees and through thick brush, his mind drifted back just a short while earlier. He had been waiting, irresolute, when Xenograg had appeared, looking grim. They had both stood there for a seemingly endless moment in the small clearing, eyes locked. No words were spoken....there was nothing left to say. In his mind, Toby felt a flicker of something read long ago pass through his thoughts.

If we do meet again, why, we shall smile. If not, why then this parting was well made.*

In that moment, he nodded mutely to the older man, his friend. As one, they raised their hands to one another, a mutual salute. Toby's face cracked into his old wry smile, for the first time in a long time. And then they were gone, each sweeping off to their respective destinies.

~~~

The sounds of chaos and carnage drew closer. He could hear battle cries, screams, horrible squelching sounds, gunfire and steel ringing out. There was a small rise nearby, on which Toby paused and squinted into the grim melee.

Behind him, he knew, Max was drifting closer, his crimson armored skin dyed the colour of old blood in the intermittent light. Toby knelt, unslinging a long shape from his back. Quietly, he spoke to the hovering droid.

"No energy weapons, Max. Too many people, too much risk. Stay right with me, watch my flank. Melee only."

Max's triple arms rotated, and the third arm on either side rose up. A trio of long, serrated knifeblades snapped out into a 'Y' shape, and began to spin up to dizzying speed. No longer a ranged attacker...Max was in close-range defense mode, fully ready to Cuisinart any creature that drew close to his master.

Toby snapped out the stock and overhanging guard of his weapon. Little more than a magnetic rail with a rifle-body, it had a large round magazine underneath. The flick of a switch, and a razor sharp metal disc snapped up into place at the back of the rail, and began to spin at a fantastic rate of speed.

He rose, bringing the contraption up to his shoulder, and aimed carefully - down at the edge of his line of sight, one of the accursed spiders was stalking a warrior already engaged with another one. His finger convulsed on the trigger, and the rail launched the disc out like a bullet from a gun.

Whizzing across the gap between them, the spinning serrated disc arrived just as the spider sensed something approaching. It turned, to present its fangs to the oncoming threat.

That only meant it lost those fangs first.

The disc sliced through the spider's body with such velocity that at first it almost seemed like Toby had missed. And then, slowly, the creature simply fell apart where it stood, sliced cleanly in twain along the long axis.

The disc itself continued on and finally made contact with a tree ahead. The price that one paid for such a vicious projectile was that they were not very sturdy after their initial impact, and inevitably shattered. Of course, in this case that was also a bonus - several razor sharp shards lodged into the bodies of other nearby spiders, leaving them thrashing about in agony. Elvan swords would finish them off quickly enough.

Toby did not wait to see this; jamming his finger down on the reload button, he turned to find another target. This one was a trickier proposition, as it was very close to one of the dwarven warriors. And Toby, who had hated guns since childhood, was no sniper.

Then again, he did not have to be.

Another trigger squeeze, and a second razordisc flashed across the clearing. Toby's eyes went unfocused, seeing not the sight ahead of him...but sinking into the truth that was the disc's flight trajectory. Altering it...controlling it. And it skimmed inches over the dwarf's shoulder pauldron and clean through four of the creature's legs (as well as a significant chunk of its abdomen.)

Once, seemingly a lifetime ago, Toby had practiced endlessly with making harmless silver spheres fly around the Inn or Star's End Bar, on increasingly complicated flight paths. Those same skills were now serving him well, as the combination of the Razorjack's deadly discs and his own telekinetic 'targeting' began to leave spiders in pieces on the battlefield.

But the question remained...was it going to be enough?

~~~ * 'Julius Caesar', by Wm. Shakespeare - Act 5, Scene 1.

Behind him, Toby was aware that Max was moving. A spider had caught sight of him up on the rise, and was scuttling at him with remorseless speed, pincers clicking hungrily. The crimson droid pivoted on his anti-grav repulsors and faced off with the horror, which reared up in a display of aggression.

But its opponent could not be intimidated, felt no fear. Max's blade arms whirred menacingly, blurring the air in front of him. There was no other reaction, except perhaps the malevolent glow of his sensor 'eye' pulsing a little deeper. For a moment, creature and creation sized each other up.

The spider moved first, charging at the armored droid. Wicked claws at the end of its forelegs slashed out, scoring the red armor but unable to penetrate it. The spider immediately began to back off, but Max never gave it the chance. With a subharmonic hum, Max angled forward, and the rotating blade arms began to chew mercilessly into the spider. Chunks of blood and whatever foul flesh it was made of flew everywhere as the spider thrashed in agony.

It did not have to suffer overlong. Max was a most efficient killer, driving the blades in to eviscerate the creature's simple nervous system, and then retracting to do even more damage on the way out.

The spider twitched a few times, and then lay still. Technology had won this round, but already a group of others was on its way up the hill towards the armored killer and his master. If Max could feel emotions, he might be steeling himself for the next confrontation - as it was, he simply turned that pulsing red eye and those whirring razorblades towards the next closest spider and waited.

He was, after all, nothing if not patient.

Suddenly, a ripple seemed to go through the mass of spiders. What exactly it was, Toby could not tell - but they had somehow lost their cohesion. If he'd had more time to think, he would have realize that their master was now all too aware of the trap laid for him, that he had finally been engaged by Murelle, Miles and Xenograg.

That lack of cohesion had made the battlefield a little less dire for the majority of the forces, but the resultant chaos now posed a different sort of threat of its own. The spiders were rampaging madly, spitting and throwing barbs in all directions. As for the bulk of them, they had been closing in on the hillock and the man atop it. Max could no longer be seen, his armored crimson shape disappeared under a mass of swarming arachnids.

There was no longer any room to aim and fire the Razorjack. Toby reacted purely instinctively, throwing his hand out as if seeking to ward the spiders off with that alone. The air around him turned violently turbulent, and those creatures closest to him were hurled away in all directions, crashing into their fellows like pins under a bowling ball.

The surge of psionic power was a long-missed rush - only now could he fully appreciate how much. A part of him watched as the spiders began to untangle themselves from each other, shaken up by the wave of force but hardly injured. And now they redoubled their efforts, wild and enraged.

Another part of Toby, this one dispassionate and clinical, calculated that there were just too many of them to keep throwing them aside. Eventually, they were going to reach him. And then, Toby would surely die. Whatever gifts, whatever weapons he had....he was just a frail human being in the end. No armor, no spells.

I didn't think it was going to end this way.

It began, then, as now..as a breath of wind. Stirring feebly...and building up. The first signs without....of the gathering storm within.

The spiders paused, now...unwilling to advance. They could only dimly perceive what was building around them, but they knew something was wrong. And soon, everyone could feel it - whether telepathically sensitive or not, there was no escaping the rising tide of psionic energy spiralling and condensing around the hillock. As Toby let that cloak he'd worn for all these years drop, those who *were* sufficiently sensitive would be fully aware of what was now rising. Power, pure and violent.

This time, though, the control was absolute. Toby let it build up around him, but he held it with an iron will. As he spread his thought further and further around him, he became part of everything he perceived - a fallen sword here, a fallen spear there. An axe, a broken blade shaft. An arrow. All of these, he gathered to his thoughts.

Further and further he sank into the world around him....and then he felt it. That moment of absolute and utter clarity. He felt *everything*....every molecule of the air, every atom of the weapons that lifted from the ground in response to his call. He felt each of the creatures, each of his friends and allies. And he knew them all.

The power grew now, the wind growing wilder as it roared and rocketed around the clearing. The allies hunkered down, shielding themselves from it as they wondered what the hell was going on now.

~~~

In a distant corner of his memory, Toby relived that moment seven years ago, when those gifts had finally erupted uncontrolled from him in the Inn. He remembered the hurricane of destruction....the shouts and screams....and Kairee's intervention to stop him from destroying himself along with everything else. But most of all, he remembered the rage that had preceded it, the fury.

But this time, he was astonished to realize, there was no anger, no fury. In that moment of pure clarity and perception, Toby realized that he felt something entirely different.

Joy.

Absolute and utter joy. For that one moment, he was a part of everything, and everything was a part of him. How could anyone not feel utter ecstasy and joy at such a sensation' Distantly he knew he was laughing aloud, though no one could hear it over the buffeting winds.

His thought turned to the spiders, both the horde around him, and those still intermixed with the allied forces. He knew each and every one of them, too. And without malice, without hate....he knew it was time they died.

The first impact was from someone's fallen sword; it arced around in the stormwinds, and pierced a spider through the head. Then a swarm of arrows came flying back from where they'd landed earlier, turning a second spider into a pincushion. More and more weapons joined the airborne wave of death, spinning around the clearing and slashing into spider flesh anywhere they could find it.

But even that was not enough. Toby's thought touched on an old and dead tree, laying on its side just beyond the clearing. With a single moment of will, it rose up again, and fragmented into hundreds of razor-sharp pointed wooden shards; these two flew out into the stormwind, adding to the carnage and destruction.

And in all of this chaos and butchery...not a single member of the alliance was so much as brushed by a splinter. The blades, the axes, the arrows and the spears....the wooden shards and the bodies of dead creatures...all of these flew around on courses carefully chosen, guided by one mind. Fewer grew the spiders, shredded by the wave of debris.

Nothing could be seen of Toby, lost in the center of the storm. But those with the gifts of the mind, might imagine that for a moment, they saw a giant black wolf leaping across the gaps, tearing into the creatures as they flailed and tumbled in the slipstream. And maybe a faint echo of an elated laugh.

Search for beauty, find your shore.. Try to save them all, bleed no more.. You have such oceans within.. In the end, I will always love you..

-from The Poet and the Pendulum Lyrics by Tuomas Holopainen

It was complete and total bedlam. The attack of the spiders were at least somewhat predictable though dangerous, were running into each other, shooting off barbs in every direction taking out more on minor wounds than real loss of life. More than once Teleperien was left exposed to the deadly barbs, to have them bounce off her mithril armor. More than once she was grateful to the anvils the elves for saving her very skin.

"Lady, this is dangerous." Gwindor yells over the din. "I think you should fall back!"

Tele turns toward him as yet another barb bounces off her chest. She will have numerous bruises, but thankfully not too harmful ones.

"Not until Lady Murelle kills that creature! I promised her our protection and I will see this though!"

"Look Teleperien!" Alatar calls over pointing toward the lair of the Chalkotu. "She is there! Lady Murelle has made it into the den!"

Turning and seeing a blast or two from Murelle plasma gun, whatever she called it; the creature seemed to be riled by this new weapon. She was distracted with yet another onslaught of spiders when she saw two Xenograg's dash behind boulders. The Chalkotu was too quick and dissolved one of the Xenograg's. Thankfully not the original. Tele only hoped this would take less time, but she knew the longer they played dodge and hunt with the Chalkotu, things with them would go nastier. Suddenly she realized someone, or something was introduced to the fray. She turned to see Toby and mechanical companion taking on a number of spiders. He was inundated. Horrified and unable to reach him, she could only watch with wide grey eyes his strength and determination to remain alive. She pointed to Alatar and he turned his gaze followed her finger and looked as alarmed she felt.

"Nothing can be done." Alatar shouts over the tumult. "We will sort it out once the Chalkotu is dead."

She only nods in acknowledgement, though her gaze did go back to Toby. Then all of a sudden as she was turning back toward the front of the lair, it happened. The fatal blast was effective and quick. Everything seemed to move in slow-motion however. Spiders crawling over each other now squealing, they were not shooting off barbs, they had no direction from their hideous creator.

It burst. The monster's head had been blown clean off by Murelle's plasma rifle. Horrified she saw her two friends as they hurtled though the air. Murelle slammed against the wall of the den and slid down, leaving a bloody streak like paint on the wall. Xenograg catapulted through the air to slam angst another wall, only to bounce then land hard on an outcrop of boulders. Without thinking, she drops the staff and re-sheaths her blade as she runs.

"Gwindor please follow!" She yells over her shoulder. "I will need you."

"Where is Toby?" Teleperien asks herself than to anyone in particular, looking toward the area where she saw the whirlwind of Toby and the spiders. There were plenty of witnesses so she had little trouble finding him. Borin points to the area of destruction. "Up yonder, Lady. Ye canne" miss it."

"By the Eldar, I'd never seen the like." Tele remarks while looking up on the knoll. Hiking up the small hill to find him amidst strewn bodies. She calls back to Borin. "Be certain to get the dead from here. I will give them a proper burial."

"Aye Lady." Borin answers, then barks orders to those who were helping clean away the dead, carrying them out of the forest. This was no small task. Also, around lay the debris that had killed them; fallen weapons, arrows, spears, swords, and what looked to be an old and dead tree that had been shattered into a million sharp fragments the very air still resonated with gradually fading echoes of pure psionic energy. To anyone more sensitive...it was like hearing the echoes of thunder gradually fading away after a strike of lightning. In short, something extremely powerful happened here, and the echoes would linger for some time.

She spots Toby, prone on the ground. She curses and runs to him. Her acute elvish hearing could detect the echoes clearly. He laid face down were he'd fallen, by the way he was laying, he'd simply gone down like a puppet with the strings cut. Tele carefully turns him on his back and could see no sign of physical injury - well, there were some cuts and lacerations, and he seemed to have had a wicked nosebleed, but that did not worry her. Much to her relief Tele could see he was alive, still breathing.

Touching his forehead she calls quietly; "Toby...come back to us. Can you hear me?"

Hearing a strange grinding noise to the side of me she looks over to the crimson droid, Max levering its way upright, the red eye flickering. The droid had taken horrific damage in defense of his master, but he too seemed to have survived. The droid was a pitiful sight, but he made his way upright at last, pushing several spider corpses off of him. He could barely float at this point.

By this time Gwindor rejoined her. Tele looks at him.

"Tell me of Erwyn and Murelle if you will."

"Both are resting. Erwyn may need further healing."

Tele only nodded in response then returns back to Toby. Pulling of her glove she lay her hand on his forehead, the hand glowing. "Toby. Wake up. Come back Toby. " Tele continues to rub his face gently. "Your family awaits you Toby."

She gently rubs his cheeks, her fingers glowing, the healing power of the Eldar flowing through her. She sees a faint twitch, followed by another, eyelids fluttering slightly in response to the Queen's healing gift. A hand moves, fingers curling into a fist' a boot drags slightly as a knee is bent. Much to her relief she hears a faint mutter.

"Someone turn off the lights and the waterfall."

A soft musical laugh comes from her lips, more from relief than anything else. "Toby, Hold still."

Reflexively licking his lips, tasting blood, he mutters; "Whopunchedme?"

She continues to rub his face, the glow now has dissipated and an almost transparent flow emits from the Queen's fingers. Teleperien answers quietly.

"Spiders." Looking up at Gwindor she asks; "Do you have water in your flask?"

"Aye Lady, I do." He responds, taking his flask off his belt, hands it to the queen.

Perhaps just enough of that word got through the roaring in his ears, because his eyes flew open as if to find the spider in question. Around his hands, for the briefest moment, there was a flicker of what could best be described as black lightning. There for a moment, and then just as quickly gone and it did not return.

"What was that?"" A startled Teleperien sits back on her heels. Shaking her head her hand resumes its healing process. "Hear my voice Toby. The Spiders are gone."

Toby squints now glancing at the queen. "Huh." He mutters softly as if speaking hurt. "Didn't think they'd have angels where I was gonna end up."

Laughing softly Tele says, "I'm hardly an angel, would a warrior queen suffice?"

"That might be more my idiom." His voice had moved up from a shaky whisper to more like his usual self.

Looking up at the tall Gwindor. "Please help sit him up just a little." Tele then speaks to Toby;

"Take a little water Toby, just a sip."

It seemed that coherency was slow to return, but it was getting there. He takes a sip, coughs...takes another. For the moment he opts to keep his eyes shut, as it seems that it hurt a little bit to look around at things.

He mutters; "Stop glowing."

Tele had to smile. "I'll try not to. You will be well my brave friend. I am amazed you still live."

Gwindor lowers Toby slowly back down, but not before placing a folded cloak under Toby's head. After another cough he says; "I'm like a bad penny....I always turn up. What happened?" A pause, he seems be more aware of his surroundings. "Murelle" Xenograg" The thing?"

"The thing was killed, Lady Murelle did it." Teleperien smiles widely. Both took harm but they will recover."

Toby takes a deep breath. "Awesome. I hope she wasn't nice about it."

"No indeed, As she would put it..."Blew the head off that bastard."

His next question almost seemed reflex..."Max?"

The queen looks at his faithful mechanical bodyguard. "Well, I think he'll need some repair work. Of course, Eldicor will pay for the repairs. It's the least we can do."

His gaze flitted over the site he was laying in. "I made a mess, didn't I?"

"It will heal, grow back my friend. You are alive. Come, let the dwarves carry you back to the healers where you can at least rest. I imagine Max will follow."

"I feel awful." As if he was just noting the weather.

Tele only smiles then gives a shake of her head, blond strands that had shaken loose during the battle weaves about with the movements. Pushing a few locks from her face she looks up to see four dwarves carefully picking their way up the knoll around the fallen bodies and other debris left by Toby's work. They lay the litter on the ground next to Toby and scoot him onto the litter, obviously provided by the Marines.

Four dwarves had arrived by then, with a litter provided by the Marines. They scooted Toby's body onto the litter. Borin quips; "Upsy Daisy!" "Oh hey, my ride's here! Wheee!"

Tele straightens and watches as he is carried off, Max following, not hovering very well. She was not quite finished. Not yet.