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Streams of dust and sand hissed over old red stone Halisstra Melarn drew herpiiclose around her, and shivered in the bitter wind The night was cold, colder than the deeps and caverns far below the world&039;s surface, and the winddead and silent in arid hills Once a great city stood there, but nocolonnades whispered of a proud and skillful race, long gone Vast raainst the desert wind, and the broken stumps of towers reached for the heavens

In different circu the silent ways of the -lost tale, but at themystery held her rapt with awe and horror Above the black silhouettes of crulittered like cold hard ice in a black and lis all her life, of course Intellectually she understood the concept of an open sky in place of a cavern roof, and the ludicrously distant pinpricks of light overhead, but to sit out in the open beneath such a sight and gaze on it with her own eyesthat was so else indeed In her two hundred years she had never ventured more than a few dozen miles from Ched Nasad, and she had certainly never come within miles of the surface Very few dark elves froely ignored the world outside the endless intrigues, sche, and remorseless self-interest of life in Ched Nasad

She stared at the glittering lights above and bitterly savored the irony The pinprick diaht sky were real They had existed for so before she had happened to look up in that forlorn, freezing desert and notice theone But Ched Nasad, the city of her birth, the city whose rivalries and loyalties and fortunes had completely absorbed all of her intellectual abilities and attention for her entire life, was no h balconies of House Nasadra and stared down in horror at burning stone and falling castles, witness to her city&039;s catastrophic destruction Ched Nasad, with its wondrous webs of stone and darkly beautiful fairy-castles clinging to the chasance and hubris, its darkly beautiful noble houses and its ceaseless veneration of the Spider Queen herself - Ched Nasad, the center of Halisstra&039;s existence, was no aze away from the sky overhead and stood She was tall for a drow, alht, and slen-der as a rapier While her features lacked the alluring, alhborn droomen possessed, she was beautiful in an austere andand desperate struggle to escape fire, foe, and calaracefulness, the calm self-possession of a woainst the jet-black steel of her ar it away from her Halisstra kneell the damp, chill motions of air in vast spaces under the earth, but the desert city was scoured by a relentless, stinging blast that buffeted her from a different direction moment to moment She put the wind, the stars, and the ruins out of her mind, and silently drifted back to the others They huddled in the lee of a great wall in a small court studded with broken pil-lars At one end of the plaza the es had survived the centuries of sand and weathering that had scoured the city, but the colonnades and courts, high cha had once been the residence of a family of some power in the city, perhaps even the rulers or lords of the place Not far aithin the sand-blasted walls stood a blank stone portal, an arch-way of strange black stone, that housed a h that portal Halisstra and the others had made their escape from the sack of the drow city

She paused and studied her six coracefully at one side, her perfect face cohtly, or si the next turn of events with equanimity Fifteen years before, Danifae, a captive priestess froifted to Halisstra as a ned her-self to bondage with surprising grace She had no choice, really - a silver locket over Danifae&039;s heart enslaved the girl with a powerful enchantment What passed behind those lustrous eyes and perfect features not even Halisstra could guess, but Danifae had served her as faithfully and as co demanded, and perhaps even more than that Halisstra found herself coree by the si five companions did not comfort her in the least The events of Ched Nasad&039;s last days had thrown Halisstra in with a party of travelers from distant Menzoberranzan, a city that had in the course of ti partner, and hts, her cloak pulled close against the chill A sister priestess of the Spider Queen, Quenthel was a scion of House Baenre, the leading clan of Menzoberranzan Of course, Quenthel was no friend of Halisstra&039;s simply because they both served as priestesses of Lolth; most drow noblewo for station and prees for the drow, the pattern dictated by Lolth If it pleased the Spider Queen to reward those who proved most ruthless, most ambitious in her service, then what else could a dark elf do?

Quenthel was in many ways the epito who combined piety in Lolth&039;s service with physical beauty, strength of character, and absolute ruthlessness Of the five travelers froerous to Halisstra Halisstra, too, was the daughter of a matron mother and a priestess of Lolth, so she kneell that she would have to watch Quenthel closely For the moment, they were allies, but it would not take much for Quenthel to decide that Halisstra was more useful as a follower, as a captive, or simply dead

Quenthel coloth of her own House Baenre The draegloth was half-demon, half-drow, the son of Quenthel&039;s elder sister and sored towered over the other drow, a four-armed creature of bestial aspect who held a murderous violence in check at all tilea silver pelt covered his dark skin at chest, shoulders, and loins, and his claere as long and as sharp as daggers Halisstra didn&039;t fear Jeggred, as the draegloth was Quenthel&039;s creature and would not lay a finger on her without his ht be the instrument of Halisstra&039;s death, if Quenthel chose to order it, but there was no point in regarding hi other than Quenthel&039;s weapon

The wizard Pharaun intrigued Halisstra greatly The study of arcane lore was so that, like swordplay, was traditionally left to males A powerful wizard merited a certain amount of respect despite the fact that he was male In fact, Halisstra knew of more than one instance in which the matron mother of an important house ruled only with the consent of the powerful male wizards of the family, a situation that had always struck her as perverse and dangerous Pharaun acted as if he commanded that kind of power and influence Oh, he deferred to Quenthel quickly enough, but never without a sardonic smile or an insincere reht rebellion That meant that he was either a complete fool - hardly likely, since he&039;d been hand-picked in Menzoberranzan for the dangerous journey to Ched Nasad - or he was powerful enough to hold his own against the natural tyranny of a noble female like Quenthel Pharaun struck Halisstra as a potentially critical ally against Quenthel, if it turned out that she and Quenthel could not reach an understanding

It seered was to Quenthel A powerfully built weapons master whose stature hter of tremendous skill Halisstra had seen that for herself in the escape from Ched Nasad Like most males, he maintained a properly deferential den to Halisstra Ryld h birth in a pinch She couldn&039;t count on Ryld turn-ing against either Pharaun or Quenthel, but pure droere less steadfast in their loyalties than the average draegloth

The last and the least of the party from Menzoberranzan was the scout, Valas Hune A small, furtive male, he said little and observed h in the sort of tasks they excelled at, they wanted nothing to do with the machinations of priest-esses and matriarchs and did all they could to stay well clear of the politics of the great Houses At the moment, Valas was crouched over a s to start a fire

"Is there any chance ill be pursued?" Ryld said into the icy wind

"I doubt it," Quenthel muttered "The whole House fell after we used the portal How could we be followed?"

"It is not impossible, dear Quenthel," Pharaun replied "A coht be able to discern where the portal led to, even though it was destroyed He ht even be able to repair the portal sufficiently to make use of it I suppose it depends on how badly we are lanced up at Halisstra and asked, "What about it, my lady? Don&039;t you think it likely that your kinfolk will hold us to blame for the unfortunate events of the last few hours? Won&039;t they go to great lengths to exact vengeance upon us?"

Halisstra looked at him The question made no sense to her Who could possibly be left to fix blaar attack on the party of Menzoberranyr? House Melarn had fallen, and House Nasadra as well She beca in her heart and a fog in her mind, and she allowed herself to sink to the sand across fros to concern herself with thanyour whereabouts," she ed

"I think the lady has put you in your place, Pharaun," Ryld said, laugh-ing "The world and all within it do not revolve around you, you know"

Pharaun accepted the jibe with a sardonic grin and a gesture of self-deprecation

"Just as well," he said lightly He turned to Valas, who patiently struck sparks at his pile of brush "Are you sure that&039;s wise? That fire will be visible froht, unless 1up from his task "If you think it&039;s cold noait until the hours before dawn We need fire, regardless of the risk"

"How do you kno late it is," Quenthel asked, "or how cold it&039;ll get?"

Valas struck a spark and quickly crouched to shelter it from the wind In a few htly The scout fed it carefully with more brush

"You see the pattern of stars to the south?" he said "Six of themthat look a little like a crown? I hose are winter stars They rise early and set late this time of year You&039;ll note that they&039;re near the zenith"

"You&039;ve traveled on the surface before," Quenthel observed

"Yes, Mistress," Valas said, but did not elaborate

"If it&039;s the low in the sky?" she asked "Surely that must be the dawn"

"A lateup? It&039;s so bright!"

Valas looked up, smiled coldly, and said, "If that was the sun, Mistress, the stars would be fading from half the sky Trust me, it&039;s the moon If we stay here, you&039;ll coh"

Quenthel fell silent, perhaps chagrined by her ainst her - she had made the same mistake herself

"That raises an excellent question," said Pharaun "Presu So, then, what shall we do?"

He looked deliberately at Quenthel Baenre, challenging her with his question

Quenthel didn&039;t rise to the bait She gazed off at the silver glow in the east, as if she hadn&039;t heard the question Moon shadows faint as ghosts began to grow fro coluloom of the Underdark could perceive them Quenthel reached down to the sand beside her and let a handful run between her fingers, watching the way the wind swept away the silver stream For the first time, it occurred to Halisstra that Quenthel and the other Menzoberranyrof the same weariness, the same desolation, that lay over her own heart, not because they felt her loss, but because they understood that they had witnesseda loss, a great and terrible one

The silence stretched out for a long time, until Pharaun shifted and opened his ain Quenthel spoke before he could, her voice cold and scornful

"What shall we do, Pharaun? We shall do whatever Idecide we should do We are exhausted and wounded, and I have no riers "For now, rest I will determine our course of action tomorrow"

Hundreds of miles from the desert ruins, another dark elf stood in another ruined city

This was a drow city, a jutting bulwark of black stone that thrust out froehty fortress built upon a great rocky hilltop, only turned on its side to glower out over an empty space where foul winds from the unpluh its turrets and spires leaned boldly out over a horrifying precipice, the place did not seem frail or precarious in any sense Its massive pier of rock was one of the bones of the world, a thick spar rooted so securely in the chas of Toril would tear it loose

Those few scholars who remembered the place knew it as Chaulssin, the City of Wyrot why the city was called that In the lightless fortress on the edge of an abyss, the shad-ows theht blacker than a drow&039;s heart curled and flowed froantic, hungering dragon in and about the needle-like spires and the open-sided galleries of the dead city Fro shadoed portions of the city for centuries, drawing a palace or a temple deep into a cold place beyond the circles of the world

Nih Chaulssin&039;s deserted galleries, see black curtains that danced and writhed in the city&039;s dark places Theup past the city walls ripped at his cloak and sent his long silver hair strea from his head, but he paid it no e, and its perils andof his attention Nimor wore the shape of a slim, almost boyish dark elf, which was to say that he was short of stature and slen-der as a reed The top of his head would barely reach the nose of a typical feht to her would tower over hiraceful build, Nimor virtually radiated power His sth and lethal quickness far out of proportion to his body His face was narrow but handsome, alance of a noble-born droho feared nothing in his path It was a part he played well, being a drow of a high House, a prince of his ruined city If he was so more, wellthose few dark elves who lived there with hiallery and turned inward, clih the heart of theThe cacophony of the winds outside faded quickly to a distant but deep whispering, sibilant and penetrating There was no place one could go within Chaulssin to escape the sound He set his hand on the hilt of his rapier and followed the spiraling black steps up into a great dark chamber, a vaulted cathedral of shadows in the heart of the city Flickering torches of everburning fire in bronze sconces cast faint, ruddy pools of light along the ribbed walls, streaks of red that faded into the blackness of the vault overhead Up there the shadoere close indeed, a roiling well of blackness that even Nimor&039;s eyes could not penetrate

"Ni in a circle in the center of the room, the seven Patron Fathers of the Jaezred Chaulssin turned as one to watch Nimor approach On the far side of the circle stood Patron Grandfather Mauzzkyl, a hale old dark elf with broad shoulders and a deep chest, his hair thinning to a sharp &039;s peak

"The Patron Fathers do not wait on the pleasure of the Anointed Blade of the Jaezred Chaulssin," Mauzzkyl said

"Revered Grandfather, my delay was unavoidable," Nimor replied

He joined the circle in the place that had been left for hi none from the others As the Anointed Blade he answered only to the Patron Grandfather, and in fact stood higher a the Jaezred Chaulssin than any of the Patron Fathers except Mauzzkyl

"I am lately co as I could to observe events before departing"

"How stand matters there?" asked Patron Father Tomphael He was slender and rakish, much like Nimor in appearance, but he preferred the robes of a wizard to the hter, and he possessed a streak of cau-tion that soed on cowardice "How does our revolt fare?"

"Not as well as I ht like, but about as well as I expected," admitted Nimor Tomphael&039;s divinations had no doubt revealed that much Did the Patron Father hope to catch the Anointed Blade concealing a failure? Nimor almost smiled at the sih Groents seem to have destroyed or driven off our illithilich friend On the positive side, we did expose so of the spider-kissers&039; weakness to the co, and the priestesses obliged us by using a significant aic to destroy their own rebellious slaves The city is weakened thereby"

"You ht have taken a more direct hand in the affair," said Patron Xorthaul, ore the black e&039;s lackeys - "

"The revolt we sponsored still would have been crushed, and I would have put theuard too soon," Nimor interrupted "Reme other than a siht assay the real strength of the matron mothers of Menzoberranzan The next bloill be the one that beats down their guard and slices deep into flesh" He decided to turn the topic and set someone else on the defensive "As I am the last to arrive, I have no news of how affairs proceed in the other cities What of Erynd-lyn? Or Ched Nasad?"

Cold smiles twisted cruel faces Nimor blinked It wasn&039;t often that the patron fathers encountered an event in which they could collectively take pleasure Grandfather Mauzzkyl himself broke the news

"Eryndlyn proceeds s not dissimilar to your own - but Ched NasadFrom Ched Nasad, Patron Father Zammzt returns in triumph"

"Really?" drawled Nimor, impressed despite himself

He restrained a hot flash of jealousy and turned to face Zaht have been a lowly armorer or swordsmith, a common artisan barely a step above a slave Zammzt merely folded his arnition of Grandfather Mauzzkyl&039;s remark

"What happened?" asked Nimor "Ched Nasad should not have fallen so easily"

"As it happened, Anointed Blade, the stonefire bo effect on the calcified webs upon which Ched Nasad was built," Za his hu-mility "Just as flame consumes a cobweb, the stonefire devoured the very structure of the city With their castles and their palaces plu sparks of paper, the Ched Nasadans could organize no real defense at all No strong point of any significance survived the fires, and few of the House arrations to contest the cavern"

"What is left of the city?"

"Very little, I&039; struc-tures relegated to side caverns survived the fire Of the city&039;s people, I would guess that half perished in the fall and roughly one-third fled into the outer tunnels, where they will doubtless co to those minor Houses allied with us, or minor Houses ere quick to appreciate the new order of things in the city"

Nimor stroked his chin and said, "So, from a city of twenty thousand, only three thousand remain?"

"A little less, after the slaves fled the city," Zarin "Of the spider-kissing fe remains"

"Likely some number of Lolth priestesses escaped with those who fled into the Underdark," Nimor mused "They won&039;t all die in the tunnels Still, that is great news, Patron Father We have freed our first city from Lolth&039;s dominion Others are sure to follow"

Patron Father Xorthaul, the mail-clad priest, snorted in dissent

"What&039;s the point of re the Lolth-worshipers from a city if you must level the city to do it?" he asked "Wechasm and a few dispossessed wretches"

Mauzzkyl shifted his weight and said sharply, "That does not matter, Xorthaul We have spoken before of the costs of our efforts Decades, even centuries ofif we achieve our ends Our randfather offered a hard, cruel grin "We have in two shortthe Jaezred Chaulssin have worked toward for centuries I would gladly repeat a dozen Ched Nasads all across the Underdark if it succeeded in breaking the Spider Queen&039;s stranglehold over our race Ched Nasad ain it will rise in our iuided by our secret hand We are not mere assassins or anarchists, Xorthaul, we are the cold and deliberate hand that culls the weak, the blade that sculpts history"