Page 4 (2/2)

There was no need not toRyld offered a slight smile, and shifted to a soft whisper "Besides, it seems that it was in o you saved my life in turn We are indebted to each other"

Halisstra laughed at that, so quietly that no one more than ten feet aould have noticed

We are not a race given to honoring our debts, she signed

That has been made clear to me more than once,the weapons master replied A brief flicker of pain crossed his face, and Halisstra wondered exactly whothere had trusted, and why he&039;d done so so foolish Before she could ask, he continued,So tell me of the bae&039;qeshelI do not know of them

"By tradition," she whispered, "our wizards, swordsmen, and clerics are trained in academies This is true in most drow cities The reason you do not know of thebae&039;qeshel is that the bardic training is not a public matter We pass our secrets, one ht the noble Houses had little use for common minstrels

"Thebae&039;qeshel are not common minstrels, weapons master," Halis-stra said in a low voice "We are a proud and ancient sect, thebae&039;qeshel telphraezzar, the Whisperers of the Dark Queen I am a priestess of Lolth, as are the other fe years as a girl studying thebae&039;qeshellore I revere the goddess not only withthe an-cient songs of our race, which are pleasing to her ears House Melarn has always been proud to raise onebae&039;qeshelinto the sisterhood of Lolth&039;s service in each generation"

"If your songs are sacred to Lolth, why do they hile other spells fail?" Ryld asked

"Because the songs possess a power in and of themselves, like a wizard&039;s spells We do not channel the divine power of the Queen of Spiders to wield our songs Regrettably,coht I could wield in Lolth&039;s na talent, nonetheless," he eway toward the chah We may have some tiain his strength Tell antic stalactite, one ofof Menzoberranzan&039;s vast cavern Old passages and precarious paths crisscrossed the city&039;s roof, and many of the stalactites were in fact carved into darkly beautiful castles and aeries all the ance Only droould ile stone spears a thousand feet above the cavern floor Highborn dark elves frequently possessed innate ic or enchanted trinkets that freed the overlooks that would terrify bats Their slaves and servants were not so fortunate, andpeculiarly nerve-racking

The ically rein-forced against the inevitable fall, and would not fail unless ave out - but more than one proud old palace stood dusty and aban-doned at the top of the city, the House that claimed it too weak in the Art to maintain the spells that made the place tenable It was in just such an e out over a dark abyss to study his target below

House Faen Tlabbar, Third House of Menzoberranzan, lay below him and a short distance to his left The castle sprawled over several towering sta-lag buttresses belying the underlying strength of the rahty bulwarks of dark stone Faen Tlabbar&039;s coest and proudest of any in Menzoberranzan that did not sit on the high plateau of Qu&039;ellarz&039;orl, the round city&039;s noble districts Instead House Tlabbar&039;s palace clareat cavern, until its highest spires surmounted the plateau in whose shadow it sat, as if the matrons of the Third House wished to be able to peer over the plateau&039;s edge and gaze enviously upon the side the exalted House Baenre

It was an apt analogy for Faen Tlabbar&039;s political s Only two Houses stood ahead of them in Menzoberranzan&039;s dark hierarchy: Baenre, the First, and BarrisonDel&039;Arht it likely that Matron Mother Tlabbar harbored great aspirations for her House Del&039;Ar but with few allies Baenre, the strongest, was as weak as it had been in centuries Houses such as Faen Tlabbar gazed on the Baenre and re condescension, and they wondered whether the tiether and end Baenre&039;s doame to watch," Niht prove stronger than their resentful rivals guessed, but the bloodletting would be spec-tacular Several great Houses would fall, for Baenre would not go alone into the gentle night Of course, that would go a long way toward ad-vancing the schemes of the Anointed Blade of the Jaezred Chaulssin

That would be a play for another day, though Nirievous blow at Faen Tlabbar, not incite theainst House Baenre Ghenni Tlabbar, Matron of the Third House, would die beneath his blade Her blood would purchase treason on a grand scale, and place into the assassin&039;s hand the stiletto Nimor meant to drive into Menzoberranzan&039;s heart

A scrabbling sound and the clink of ht Nimor&039;s notice He withdrew softly into the shadows and waited patiently as a squad of Tlabbar warriorsa small, unworked stalactite nearby The pallid reptiles possessed large, sticky pads on their clawed feet that allowed the to the sheerest of sur-faces, and many of Menzoberranzan&039;s noble Houses used the creatures for patrolling the high places of the city&039;s vast cavern Faen Tlabbar was renowned for its squadrons of lizard cavalry The assassin had studied the Tlabbar patrols from his precarious perch for ht on time, Nimor observed You&039;ve allowed yourselves to become predictable, lads

The riders carried crossbows and lances at the ready, scurrying along in single file as they looped around the s As Nimor expected, the leader turned to the left and fol-lowed the curve of the stone pinnacle down and out of sight

"You would do well to vary your routine, Captain," Ni squad "An intrepid fellow such as ht be de-terred by the possibility of your unexpected return"

With a single silent spring, Ni through the eternal night

By an accident of cavern formation, House Tlabbar held little of the city&039;s roof and overcaverns One large column and a pair of s, whichof a blind spot directly over its palace roof This was the weakness Nimor in-tended to exploit His black cloak streamed behind him, and cold air rushed past his face Ni seconds of his great leap His body burned with the dark fires of his her-itage, and he longed to shed his rakish guise, but this was not the time

While he fell, he mouthed the words to a spell that made him in-visible, and as the spearlike pinnacle of Faen Tlabbar&039;s central palace rushed up at hi his power of lev-itation Less than six heartbeats from the moment he&039;d leaped frohted on the knifelike ridge of a steep hall, invisible and undetected He listened for any sign that he had been detected, then he glided toward the hall&039;s juncture with the castle proper, his steps as silent as death

The dark elves of Faen Tlabbar were not unaware of their vulnerabil-ity to assault froilant sentriesfor intruders Nimor avoided them care-fully Those ere able to see invisible foes - and there werefor an invisible foe who also glided from shadow to shadoith the stealth of a ical barriers shielding the house He habitually protected hined to counter and con-fuse various forical detection, but they were not foolproof

Green and gold radiance gli the steep,tiled roof of a square tower The Faen Tlabbar, like ic to illuminate and decorate the baroque spires and balconies of their hoed down even farther, headfirst, listening carefully Below hi into the manor itself Over the decades the Jaezred Chaulssin had used ic to scry what they could of the layout and defenses of reat Houses in more than one drow city, and the slender assassin had carefully studied his brotherhood&039;s notes and drawings on House Tlabbar The information was, of course, incomplete and out of date, as parts of the castle were blocked fro, and the Jaezred Chaulssin had not studied the Houses of Menzoberran-zan in a very long time Nih the bribery or capture of a Tlabbar guard, but he si and keep the rest of his timetable intact

He heard the soft sounds of movement on the balcony below the eave of the roof he lay on Two, he guessed, at least one wearing chain le outcry could spell the end of his single-handed assault on the castle With calculating patience, Ni down on a curving gallery beneath the overhanging eave To his left, the ay beca down to the lower battleht it simply ended at a black doorway The door itself stood open Directly beneath hi out over a lower courtyard

Ni his strike as he quietly slipped his dagger froreen-black enchanted steel that glistened wetly in the gliht Then, still invisible, he rolled hiuard

The assassin&039;s feet thudded softly to the flagstones The guard started to turn and opened his mouth to cry out, but with one remorseless move-ment, Nimor clapped a hand over the fellow&039;s face and punched his dagger deep into the base of the skull The blade grated on bone, and the Tlab-bar guard sied into Nimor&039;s arms, dead on his feet

Nimor let the nerveless body sluuard post, a fellow in the black robes of a wizard The Tlabbar lanced over at the rustle of sound, just in time to see his watch mate fold up and collapse for no apparent cause - for Nimor was still invisible

"Zilzmaer?" he said sharply "What is it?"

Nimor bounded forward and ra his jaws closed and transfixing the Tlabbar&039;s brain The e jerked two or three times, violently, then shuddered and died

"Shh," the assassin hissed "It&039;s nothing Go to sleep"

He laid the wizard alongside his co into the castle proper

Knife in hand, he stalked through - only to be halted by an invisible, intangible barrier that blocked the archway as surely as a wall of masonry Nimor frowned, suain, only to find his passage barred in "

The Tlabbar castle, or its interior anyarded by a great fixed spell that utterly prevented an ene foot within Ni was simply beyond his ability to penetrate

That explains the open door, he thought The Tlabbars are confident in their ical defenses Nohat?

Nimor sheathed his knife and studied the archway A spell of forbid-ding could be crafted to defend a building or area in one of several ways, but if the Tlabbars wanted to move about their own castle, they would have had to h which one could pass without too much difficulty - perhaps with a token ofsomekind, or maybe with a password Niuards he&039;d slain, but found nothing that see

It ht A cloak clasp, an enchanted coin in a purse, an earring or a necklace

He decided he didn&039;t have time to experiment With one hand he picked up the dead wizard and tucked the fellow under his arm, then he strode back to the archway and steeled hih without resistance, as if the as siuards wear, then, Ni the dead wizard and carrying the fellow along in case he needed to pass another warding inside the castle, but decided against it Stealth and speed were his best defenses, and lug-ging a corpse through the castle was not particularly subtle Besides, the Tlabbars were not likely to have two forbiddings in their palace, or to use the same key for both if they did He unceremoniously dumped the wizard on the other side of the doorway, and headed inside

The archway opened into a long, high-ceilinged corridor that ran above one of the Tlabbar halls Doorsinto studies, parlors, trophy rooms, and other such chanored the a small staircase at the end that descendedto the level below Here he encountered a e on the stair, but he sensed the trap before stepping close enough to trig-ger it He sihtly to the stairs below The stairs swept around in a grand curve and led hi black corridor near the center of the Tlabbar castle, leading to the House shrine The floor was polished black leaht to see by Not far ahead, a pair of House guards stood watch over a great double door leading into Lolth&039;s sanctuary

Ni The hter or tould be within, per-foroddess

Carefully staying out of sight, Nimor took oneHe studied the two guards out-side the door They see officers, proudly attired for their exalted duty as guards to the matron mother, but Nimor did not trust his eyes The tere more than they seemed,he was certain of it He decided to bypass the hi as black as jet The ring of shadoas perhaps his most useful weapon, a device that conferred a nuical powers He called upon one of those powers, and melted into the shadows of the black corridor only to step out on the far side of the shrine&039;s door, into House Tlabbar&039;s most sacred sanctureat palace, its grace-ful do overhead, chased in silver and jet with Lolth&039;s spider in-signia The shrine was lit with a sinister silvery radiance, the better to display the lavish wealth House Faen Tlabbar had expended in decorat-ing the Spider Queen&039;s chapel Nieh

Matron Mother Ghenni and two of her daughters abased theoddess, groveling before Lolth, no doubt beseeching the Spider Queen to restore her favor to the House No one else waited within Apparently the uards and servants did not need to see her and her daughters prostrate themselves in their private adorations Niain been proven accurate

The assassin silently drew his rapier and advanced, eyeing his prey Ghenni was a striking dark elf, a ferace that allowed her to carry her years better than lint of mail beneath her emerald robes, and s House didn&039;t feel entirely safe in her own home without the Spider Queen&039;s protection

The- a small sound, theflicker of a shadow, possibly just intuition She raised herself up to her knees and looked around, wariness plain on her face

"Sil&039;zet, Vadalirls halted at once, still stretched out on the cold stone floor They glanced about warily Ghenni stood carefully, reaching for a wand at her belt

"Who are you?" she demanded "Who dares intrude on our devotions?"

Nilided closer The matron mother didn&039;t see him, he was certain of that, but just as he dreithin sword reach, he felt apresence coalesce in the room An unseen demonic force took shape in the air near the top of the dome

"Beware, Matron," a cold voice hissed "An assassin approaches you unseen"

To her credit, the Matron Mother of House Faen Tlabbar did not quail As her daughters scraestured with her wand, snapping out a word of co blackness hurled forth froid shadows that lashed out like living things hungry for prey The assassin ignored the spell, as he was already leaping forward With a precise thrust, he ran the Faen Tlabbar through with his rapier The blade was as black as night, a long stiletto of intangible shadowstuff that sih the matron mother&039;s mail shirt as if the armor wasn&039;t even there Its effect on the priestess was as lethal as one rinned, though she still could not see his, Matron Mother," he hissed aloud "Perhaps you will find the answers you were seeking when you reach Lolth&039;s black hells"

Ghenni gasped once and coughed blood She staggered back, clutch-ing at the blade in her heart, and her eyes rolled up in her head and she toppled to the floor Nih-ter on the left, Sil&039;zet, while the demon took shape over Ghenni&039;s body It was a skeletal creature wrapped in green fla scimitar of pale bone

The demon evidently could see him perfectly, for it set on Nimor at once It aimed a ferocious cut at his head, which he simply ducked, but the creature reversed its blade with surprising speed and back-handed a second cut waist high Nimor scowled and skipped back, mo-mentarily thwarted Behind the de a scroll to read, while Vadal to retrieve her er

"You will not escape this room with your life, assassin," Vadaluards outside fu away frouardian demon was pointless, after all He had only a few mo-ments more, and he wanted to make the most of them The assassin took one quick step and rolled beneath the de up beside Sil&039;zet as she declaier into the s the bone demon&039;s sciony and wrenchedaway, but Niround and writhed Nimor followed her and sank the point of his rapier into the notch of her collarbone

This tie, it flailed at hiash across his shoulder blade as he tried to spin out of the way Niainst the pain and rolled away before the creature could cut him in two

Vadalma barked out the command word for her mother&039;s wand and blasted blindly with the shadow sphere in Ni the assassin&039;s flesh with ebon tendrils as cold and as sharp as razors

The door guards burst in with blades bared, their faces cold and ex-pressionless They closed with uncanny swiftness, sword points weaving as they groped closerto Ni him with quick jerks of their heads as if the scuffle of his boots and panting of hisbreath betrayed him

I&039;ve done what I came for, Ni Her heels drummed on the marble floor as she drowned in her own blood He would have liked to have killed Vadaluards - whatever they actually were - simply corination, Nimor backed off several steps and blinked aith the power of his ring, e an instant later near the balcony where he had first entered the castle The forbidding kept hile dimensional leap, but the assassin simply seized the body of the Tlabbar wizard he&039;d left by the door and darted outside again The cut across his shoulders burned abos ached where the icy tendrils of the sphere had lashed him, but Nirin of triumph

"Fortunate fellows," he said to the dead uarded the door through which I calad that you are dead"

The bodies lanced out at the faerielight gli to the alar fro tih, he clenched his fist around his black ring and willed himself away