be overmatched by the dangerous assassin and is perfunctorily killed. In a rare moment of compassion, Entreri drags the dying body of Arrayan's lover, who is also sharing the burden of the castles dark magic, over to Canthan, and, as the wizard breathes his last breath, places the half-orc's hand upon his dagger to suck Canthan's remaining life force and heal her. An isolated Mariabronne stumbles upon a chamber with demon eggs hanging from the ceiling. The eggs hatch and Mariabronne manages to defeat them, but is stung in the process and injected with deadly venom. Commander Ellery is left alone with Jarlaxle and attempts to assassinate him. A fight promptly ensues, although Jarlaxle seems reluctant to kill her, as they have been lovers for some time and the opportunistic mercenary would always prefer to bed women than slay them, but Entreri shows up and mortally wounds her with his jeweled dagger. When the remnants of the band reunite, Athrogate takes it upon himself to do what Canthan could not and proceeds to duel against Entreri. Despite all his considerable skill, Entreri's parry and thrust style of fighting is no match for Athrogate's deadly morningstars. He would have promptly been killed but for Jarlaxle, who tosses a dimensional hole concealed in his hat at the dwarf. Athrogate becomes imprisoned in a void and agrees to obey Jarlaxle in return for his freedom. The five remaining companions venture into the heart of the castle, where they are met by a powerful dracolich who served as a minion for Zhengyi. Seemingly unstoppable, the dracolich gives the heroes a hellacious fight, but is finally defeated when Entreri's enchanted dragon statue spews dragon flame upon it. Jarlaxle, never one to pass up powerful magic, quickly salvages the soul of the dracolich, contained in a skull pendant, as well as a magical figurine for summoning a nightmare steed off Mariabronne's corpse. Reception A reviewer from Publishers Weekly comments: "Salvatore keeps the action hopping as the duo use every trick in their repertoire to achieve their goal—finding magical treasure hidden by the long-dead Witch-King. Lovers of all things elvish, especially those who like butt-kicking swordplay, dastardly intrigues and ingenious hocus-pocus, will relish this fantasy." Kirkus Reviews states "A formulaic, trite and derivative swords-and-sorcery fantasy that reads like a novelized Dungeons & Dragons adventure." Pat Ferrara of mania.com comments: "The second book of arguably the coolest Forgotten