Page 6 (2/2)

Valas spread his hands and replied, "We&039;ll have to carry soe for us I think it&039;s sooods," Pharaun observed dryly "Doesn&039;t that ex-planation seem a little thin?"

"I told his in Eryndlyn she wishes to check on, and that if she finds things in order, she ar teah&039;s territory I also iht do well to ement"

Pharaun didn&039;t have time to reply before the cavern echoed softly with the stealthy padding of nulanced up fro, led by the two mercenaries who had fled a few minutes before At least a dozen of their fellows followed close behind the from hairy paws, murder in their eyes The other patrons of Dinnka&039;s inn began to slip away fro huue

"Tell me," said Valas, "did sobear when I was talking with Coalhewer?" The scout glanced back at the others, and at Jeggred, who shrugged He sighed "Was I un-clear when I advised against starting fights here?"

"There was a ements," Quenthel explained

Ryld stood, threw his cloak over his shoulder toclear his arht be more of them nearby"

"Tis," Halis-stra re the approach-ing warriors with a wry sred?" she said

Groh above Menzoberranzan, studying the di for nearly an hour, and his patience was almost exhausted Under most cir-cumstances an hour here or an hour there would haveto a dark elf with centuries of life behind hie waited in fear, dreading the arrival of the one who had summoned him to this clandestine encounter It was not a sensation Gromph was accustomed to, and he found that he did not care for it at all He had, of course, taken extre himself with an array of formidable defensive spells and a carefully considered selec-tion of protective e was not entirely confi-dent that those precautions would deter the one who came to meet him in that lonely, ept spot

"Groreeted hian to turn, he felt the presence of the other, an icy chill that soreat and terrible ood of you to accepttime, has it not?"

The ancient sorcerer Dyrr approached froreat staff, his feet seelided forward in a rustle of robes no quicker than an oldthe ambitious drow of his own House, it suited Dyrr to wear the shape of a venerable old dark elf of fantastic age, but Grouise to the truth behind it Dyrr was dead, dead these e but dusty bones clothed in tattered shreds of mummified fleshHis hands were the claws of a skeleton, his robes were faded and threadbare, and his face was a hideous grinning skull, the black eye sockets alight with the bright green flauise does not deceive you," the lich rasped "In truth, I would have been disappointed if you were so easily beguiled, Arch He inclined his head without taking his eyes off the lichdrow "In truth, I a us I have heard whispers that you still lived - er, so to speak - secluded in your house I thought fro the affairs of Agrach Dyrr, but I have not met anyone who claims to have seen you in almost two hundred years, and it&039;s been almost twice that since last we spoke"

"I value e my descendants to value my pri-vacy as well It&039;s best for all involved if my hand remains hidden We wouldn&039;t want to make the matron mothers nervous noould we?"

"Indeed In hed, a horrible sound that chilled the blood Heforward to stand by Groe found himself more than a little unsettled by the un-natural presence of the undead creature - again, a sensation he did not experience often at all

What secrets does this walking ghost hold in its empty skull? Gromph wondered What does he know about this city that no one else rehts of lore has he scaled alone in the dreary centuries of his deathless existence?

The questions troubled Gromph, but he decided to put such specula-tion behind him for theWhat shall we talk about?"

"You were always ad Baenre," the lich said "It&039;s a refreshing quality aet swiftly to the point, what do you think of the recent difficulties that have beset our fair city? More specifically, what do you think should be done about the powerlessness that has descended upon our ruling caste of priestesses?"

"What should be done?" Gromph replied "That&039;s hard to say, when the question would seem to be what can be done? It is hardly within my power to entreat the Queen of the Demonweb Pits to restore her favor to her priestesses Lolth will do as she will"

"As ever I do not mean to ireen fire of its gaze locked on the arche "What do you see when you look out over Menzoberranzan today, Gromph?"

"Disorder Peril Denial"

"And, perhaps, opportunity?"

Gromph hesitated a moment, then said, "Yes, of course"

"You hesitated You do not agree with e frowned, and chose his words with care He did not wish to give offense to the powerful apparition Dyrr seeh, but the es of undeath He had to assu the lich was not capable of

"Lord Dyrr," he said, "surely you have observed that there is no end to the wiles of the Spider Queen The only certainty of our existence is that Lolth is a capricious and de very harsh lessons indeed What if her silence is a ruse to test her faith-ful? Isn&039;t it likely, even probable, that Lolth withholds her favor from her priestesses to see how they respond? Or - worse yet - to see whether the en-eht be emboldened to creep out from the shadows and assault her minions directly? If that is the case, what then becoh to defy the Queen of Spiders when she tires of her test and restores her full favor to her priestesses, just as abruptly as she with-drew it? I would not care to be caught out by such a ploy Not at all"

"Your logic is sound enough, though I think you have perhaps allowed the habit of caution to hobble your thoughts," Dyrr said "I could alree with you, dear boy, except for this one fact In the more than two thousand years that I have walked this world,I have never seen this happen before Oh, I can recall several occasions when Lolth denied her clerics spells for a few days, and many instances in which she arbitrarily decided to stop favoring this priestess or that House all together, casting them down to their enemies, but never has she abandoned our entire race for lanced up in a reflective manner "It seems a poor way to treat one&039;s worshipers Should I ever attain godhood, I think I will try to do a better job of it"

"What precisely do you propose, then, Lord Dyrr?"

"I propose nothing yet, but I do consider, young Baenre, whether powerless clerics should be trusted with the rule of this city for very reat and terrible powers, do we not? The mystic secrets of our Art have not abandoned us, nor are they likely to at any point in the future Perhaps it is time to look to the security of our civilization, the defense of our city, by taking up the reins of governance the h to hold Our city&039;s peril groith every hour We have rivals outside the Dark Dominion, after all, other races and realms that threaten us"

"And that is precisely why I aainst drow priestesses," Gro that could possibly increase our current vulnerability would be to start a civil war To spare ourselves the fate of Ched Nasad, weorder until the crisis has passed"

"And what thanks do you think you will earn, from the priestesses or from the Spider Queen herself, for that blind loyalty?" Dyrrturned back to Groer in the center of the arche&039;s chest Gro Gromph You are not without talent, and you see past House Baenre to Menzoberranzan itself Put those qualities to work and consider carefully the course you choose in the next few days Events are coreatness, or failure Do notchoice"

Groulf of the cavern and hovering in the air

"I am afraid I must tend Narbondel, Lord Dyrr I will take my leave nowand I will think carefully on your words You may have appreci-ated the situation aze of the lichdrow followed Gromph down into the darkness as he fell softly toward the city below He would indeed think long and hard about the lich&039;s words He ht stall Dyrr once with civility and caution, but he wouldnot be able to do so indefinitely Gromph didn&039;t doubt the lich would expect a different anshen next they spoke

The Darklake was a strange and terrible place A blackness greater than any Halisstra had ever known enveloped her and her conawed at the reat cav-erns of the droere oftencities of erate - the Darklake occupied a cavern well over one hundred ht Great island colu fanglike archipelagos in the dark-ness The waters of the lake virtually filled the iwas often less than a spearcast above the many hundreds, or even thousands of feet of blacksensation

Coalhewer&039;s boat was less than co itself It was an asymmet-rical vessel made mostly of planks sawn froantic Underdark idity The zurkhwood formed a broad platform, which floated on a cluster of soft air bladders taken fro was riveted together with the excellent res in life, perhaps, or maybe trolls - crouched in a well-like area in the boat&039;s center, endlessly turning two large cranks that drove a pair of zurkhheels The mindless undead never tired, never complained, never even slowed their pace unless Coalhewer ordered the the boat onith no sound but the soft rush of water over the wheels and the faint clicking and scraping of their bones in ray dwarf stood near the stern on a sh to see over the heels He peered ahead into the darkness, arhts to hiers crouched on the cold, unco a little ways back froe of the plat-form The journey from Mantol-Derith was not extremely swift, as the vessel was not quick, and Coalhewer had to carefully thread his way around places where the cavern roof dropped so low there wasn&039;t enough roo on the bridge beside the dwarf, keeping a careful eye on the course he steered Pharaun sat cross-legged at the base of the structure, deep in Reverie, while Ryld and Jeggred kept a sharp watch on the port and starboard sides respectively,sure that none of the lake&039;s denizens approached undetected The priestesses kept to the out over the lightless waters, lost in thought

They passed al only briefly for austere ar captain rest Coalheas ex-traordinarily cautious about showing any kind of light and made them build their cookfires in a small, secluded fire-box that shielded the flas as are drawn by the light," he erous"

After their third such meal, late on their second day of travel, Halis-stra retired to the bow of the boat so that she could look out over the waters and not find herself staring at one or another of her coadath, and the walk through the Plane of Shadow, she had had little time to embrace and understand her new circu to the softof the boat&039;s skeletal engine had unfortunately failed to i her with the opportunity to replay the fall of Ched Nasad over and over again in her head

What became of my House? she wondered Did any of our servants and soldiers survive by escaping Ched Nasad? Are they together, and who leads them? Or did they all die amid the flame and ruin?

Matron Mother Melarn&039;s death left Halisstra as the head of the House - presued to claim leadership If one of them had, Halisstra was certain she could wrest it away from her kinswohters, the oldest, the strongest, and she knew her cousins could not deny her her birthright

But it see reat chasm Even if some part of her household had escaped, would she want to seek theerous exile in the Underdark?

This was not hoas supposed to be, she thought I was to ascend to my mother&039;s place in time, and wield the power that had been hers and her mother&039;s before her The thousand strands of Ched Nasad would have ht have fulfilled with a word, a look, a simple frown Instead, I am a rootless wanderer

Why, Lolth? she cried out in her ive you? What weakness did we show?

Once Halisstra had heard the dark whispers of the Spider Queen in her heart, but that place was empty Lolth chose not to answer She did not even choose to punish Halisstra for the te an answer

If Lolth had truly abandoned her, ould become of her if she fol-lowed her House down into death? All of her life, Halisstra had believed that her faithful service as a priestess and abae&039;qeshel to the Queen of the Deh place in Lolth&039;s domain after her death, but ould become of her now? Would her rootless spirit be interred with the other unfortunate souls no god claimed in the afterlife, fated to dissipate and die the real and eternal death in the gray voids reserved for the faithless? Halisstra shivered in horror Lolth&039;s faith was hard, and weak-lings had no place in it, but a priestess could expect that she would be re-warded in death for her service in life If that was no longer true

Danifae approached with sinuous grace and knelt beside her She looked into Halisstra&039;s face boldly, and did not lower her eyes

"Grief is a sine, Mistress Melarn If you drink but a little, you are tes are never i in either"

Halisstra looked away to compose herself She did not care to share her secret horror with Danifae

"Grief is not enough of a word for what is in ht of little else since we began this intere Ched Nasad was lorious drea webs, Houses full of wealth and pride and ambition, all burned to ashes in a few short hours The city, its hters, the beautiful web-spun palaces, all lost now, and for what reason?" She closed her eyes and battled the hot ache in the hollow of her breast "The dwarves did not destroy us We de-stroyed ourselves"

"I will notof Ched Nasad," Danifae said Halisstra looked up sharply, cut irl&039;s dispassionate tone than her words "It was a city full of enemies, most of whom are dead, while others flee as paupers into the wilds of the Underdark No, I will not mourn Ched Nasad Who, besides the few Ched Nasadans who survive, will?"

Halisstra did not choose to answer No one would grieve for a city of drow, not even other dark elves That was the way of the drow The strong endured, and the weak fell by the wayside, as the Spider Queen deain

"Have you given thought to ill do next?"

Halisstra glanced at her and said, "Our lot is already cast with the Menzoberranyr, is it not?"

"For today, yes, but tomorroill your purposes and theirs coincide? What will you do if Lolth&039;s favor returns too?"

"Does it matter?" Halisstra said "Return to Ched Nasad, I suppose, and gather together what survivors I can It will be a hard task, more than I likely could hope to accomplish evenin a lifeti House Melarn ain"

"Do you think Quenthel would per?"

"Why should she care what I do with the rest ofruins of my city?" Halisstra said bitterly

Danifae merely spread her hands Halisstra understood What reason would a Baenre need to do anything at all, really? The Menzoberranyr ht have been their saviors from the wreck of Ched Nasad, but at a word froht becolanced back to where the others ns, carefully hidden froht be wise to consider exactly hoe can make ourselves indispensable to the Menzoberranyr, she er wish to rely on Quenthel Baenre&039;s benevolence, such as it is

"Careful," Halisstra cautioned

She sat up straight and deliberately controlled her own impulse to look over her shoulder Danifae had an uncanny instinct for manipulation, but if Quenthel suspected that Halisstra and Danifae planned to under-mine her authority - or even impose limits on her freedom of action - Halisstra didn&039;t doubt that the Baenre would take quick and drastic steps to reest, Danifae Quenthel would not hesitate to kill a challenger, and if I were killed -

I would not survive, Danifae finished for her I understand the condi-tions of my captivity quite well, Mistress Melarn Still, inaction in the face of our danger is every bit as risky as what I am about to propose Hear me out, and you can decide what you wishher perfect features, her alluring figure She thought of the conversation between Quenthel and Danifae she had overheard in the catacoadath She could put a halt to Danifae&039;s scheh the ic of the locket - but then she wouldn&039;t knohat Dan-ifae plotted, would she?

"Very well," she said Tell me what you have in mind