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When Halisstra and Danifae returned to the Cold Foundry, they found that Quenthel had rented one of the inn&039;s larger wings, a freestanding structure with its own sht private cha seear&039;s conception of drow couests, not dwarves, it was richly appointed with tapestries and lavish rugs, and all the doors had locks Dark elves didn&039;t require endless hours of sleep in the same manner as lesser races, but fe felt safe or co their ease behind a locked door
The rest of the cos or sat at the co of a bountiful meal accompanied by silver ewers of wine Arainst the walls, but weapons remained within easy reach
Halisstra raised an eyebrow, eyeing the banquet spread out on the sideboard A large roast of rothe, several wheels of finelyplatters of braisedshe&039;d been without a decent, hot meal
"The food&039;s safe?" she asked
Quenthel snorted "Do you think we&039;re stupid? Of course we checked it The innkeeper sent us a cask of drugged wine the first tired looked up and suessed she knehat form that complaint had taken - "so the banquet is complimentary Enjoy"
Halisstra perforic ring she wore for just that purpose Poisons were too coranted Satisfied, shehelped herself and sat down by the table Danifae took soe near Quenthel
"I see the wizard has not yet returned Have you had any luck?" Halis-stra asked Valas as she ate
The scout sat cross-legged beside the door, his knife belt loosened but still around his narrow hips He sipped at a htfully on a piece of bread
"After a fashion," he said "The weapons master and I encountered no overt hostility, but we didn&039;t get as far as I would have liked, despite our efforts to iled the pouch of coins at his belt "I don&039;t know if this is a sign that so, but Coalhewer didn&039;t like it"
"Where is the dwarf?" asked Danifae
"He wanted to see if he could obtain a writ through other channels"
"You trust hi we could not easily do ourselves" The scout griar clans in a reasonably forthright fashion If I was caught looking into forging our passes, I would look very much like a spy, wouldn&039;t I? And so would all of you, by association"
"Real spies would approach Gracklstugh in much the same manner we have," Ryld said froainst the wall, within easy reach
"True, but reler hi us to the attention of the crown prince," Valas replied "Still, the weaponsour provisions, so we&039;re ready to leave whenever Coalhewer obtains our pass"
"It seems we&039;ve done all we can for now," Halisstra observed "I, for one, a shadowlands, and bare cavern floors If we&039;re soon to return to the bleak and comfortless wilds, I&039;ll enjoy what civilization I can"
Halisstra held up her cup for Danifae to fill The battle captive rose sinuously and refilled her oblet
"Drink if you like, but don&039;t let your wits become too sodden," Quenthel warned fro friends in this filthy city"
"When are any of us truly ahed softly and said, "Indeed, Ryld, but tonight we can rest in coe that we none of us trust each other and that not too far away lurk grim enemies ould destroy us if they could Would we have it any other way?"
Danifae carried the ewer to Quenthel Ignoring the subtle writhing of the priestess&039;s serpent whip, she lowered her eyes and leaned forward to refill the high priestess&039;s cup
"We must seize what pleasures we can when the opportunity arises," Danifae added "Is that not the purpose of power?"
Halisstra sipped her wine and watched the scene Danifae had neg-lected to don an ar-coat beneath her mail, as she had found the blackOf course, Halisstra had already offered Danifae a spare coat of her own, and she had no doubt that in the irl&039;s perfect dark skin gleah the ly beneath the steel as she stooped to pour Quenthel&039;s wine The males in the rooht Even Jeggred, four-arirl&039;s grace and beauty Valas frowned and busied hi the peril of thewith his usual caution Ryld, on the other hand
Ryld was looking at her Halisstra carefully kept the surprise froaze Their eyes locked Hisexpression seemed avid, intense, and Halisstra knew that Danifae&039;s posturing could not have escaped his notice, but instead of gaping at the girl in her araze on her
Ryld offered a slight s play
I do not follow your h that the weapons master knew perfectly well that she did
She returned her attention to Danifae as the girl kneeled close beside Quenthel, sipping her oine The cosava set to play a gaainst Valas while the others con-tented theer
Pharaun returned eventually, a handful of scrolls tucked under one arm He retired to his chamber after a couple of halfhearted jibes at the weapons h the Bregan D&039;aerthe scout gave a good account of hi day," Quenthel said "I shall retire to ht Two others atch tomorrow"
She stood and stretched, and turned her eyes on Danifae before glid-ing out of the room
"I think I&039;ll do the salanced at Halisstra, offered a coy smile, and went quickly after Quenthel Ryld put away hissava board and headed up to his roored tossed a coin for first watch Halisstra stood, gathered herpii around her, and went up to her own room She paused briefly by Quenthel&039;s door and listened, just long enough to hear what , then she moved on Quenthel&039;s serpents would likely report an eavesdropper at her door
Clever girl, Halisstra thought Quenthel was an astute and daring move indeed
In Ched Nasad Halisstra had sent Danifaeto seduce a rival on matic priestess had her favorite pets, and soht be h her secret pleasures Halisstra doubted that Dani-fae could succeed in establishing any real influence over Quenthel, but at the worst, she was providing the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith with a reason not to abandon Halisstra and her handmaid on a whim Of course, if Danifae&039;s services provedtoo valuable to Quenthel, the Baenre ht be inclined to claim the captive as her own, but that was a risk Halisstra illing to take
Even if Danifae continued to encourage the Baenre to do just that, Halisstra thought of the silver locket around the girl&039;s neck, and allowed herself a s spell, she couldn&039;t take the smallest step in that direction, as Halisstra&039;s death would precipitate her own For the moment Halisstra felt she could rely on Danifae&039;s loyalty
Halisstra found her roo her ar her macewhere she could reach it quickly
She drifted into Reverie thinking about Quenthel and Danifae together
Aliisza rode in an iron palanquin through the streets of Gracklstugh, car-ried by four ogres and escorted by a dozen tanarukk warriors The tanarukks wore arreatswords One fellow carried a yellow banner emblazoned with Kaanyr Vhok&039;s assuauntleted hand Twice their nu, suspicious glares fixed rigidly on the black palanquin and its occupant The alu-fiend preened just a little beneath the attention She would have rand entrance into the city of the gray dwarves ar to take her seriously Besides, it was fun
The journey from the halls of old Ammarindar had not been particu-larly swift or easy Aliisza and her warriors had pressed hard at their best possible speed for five days along ancient dwarven highways to reach the shores of the Darklake, and it had taken three daystired of dashing this way and that through the Underdark at Kaanyr Vhok&039;s command On the other hand, it continued to demonstrate her usefulness to the de that circuave her reasons to leave his side from time to tiave her the opportunity to indulge her taste forvariety
Gracklstugh seees and reeking smoke It struck Aliisza as not unlike the foundry hall in the ruins of Ae was only a fraction of the size of the gray dwarf realht Still, the sheer scale of the work that went on around her was staggering More than once, she spotted co asseht have been farDwarven skill and single-ic and cruelty
The gray dwarves turned her escort toward a great fortress delved into a uarded the slop-ing sides of the duergar castle As the ogres carried her into the open gate of the king&039;s palace, Aliisza could not check her ihty portcullis and deadly devices poised to crush any attack She had several ways to escape if she needed to, but none of her warriors would get out of the palace alive if the gray dwarves decided not to let thee, cheerless hall whose floor was made of polished stone slabs
"It seems that I am here," Aliisza said to herself
She tapped on the palanquin&039;s side, and the ogres lowered the carriage carefully to the floor The alu-fiend waited for the seat to settle, then let herself out, straightening and stretching her wings
A duergar officer wearing a plain black surcoat over his armor ap-proached her
"You said you wished to see the crown prince," he stated
"At his earliest convenience," Aliisza replied She&039;d had the saray dwarf lieutenants and captains
"Who are you, again?"
"I am Aliisza, an envoy from Kaanyr Vhok, the Sceptered One, Lord of Aate Keep I believe your crown prince will findto"
The officer scowled doubtfully
"They stay here," he said, nodding at Aliisza&039;s entourage "Follow lanced at the leader of her escort, a battered old tanarukk cha tusk, and said, "You and your warriors wait here I ar captain deeper into the fortress, flanked by another half-dozen gray dwarf soldiers She decided to think of the stairway that ray dwarves had taken a single step toward decorating the place, and finally ca a vaulted ceiling high overhead
At the far end of the charay dwarves By the way they uessed that they were the high advisors and nobles of the realarb displayed no such ostentation In their ray dwarfshe&039;d seen yet with any kind of orna chain old A circlet of gold rested atop his bare head, and rings of gold gathered the braids of his beard
The captain escorting Aliisza motioned for her to halt and went closer to whisper in the ear of the crown prince The gray dwarf ruler glared at Aliisza, then stepped forward, thick arh," he said, though his hard eyes offered no welcoar Steelshadow What does Kaanyr Vhok want of races, Aliisza noted
Well, she&039;d never ray das She decided to speak plainly and not waste time on flattery or subtlety, as it was clear any such efforts would be lost on the ruler of Gracklstugh She offered a shtened
"Kaanyr dispatched me to ask a few questions about what happened in Ched Nasad, and to perhaps explore soray dwarves standing nearby "Does everyone here enjoy your confidence?"
Horgar frowned, andin Dwarvish Several of the advisors or noblesto whatever duties they had else-where A pair of heavily aruards in black surcoats rear, a scarred fellow in armor ore a tabard ar said, then indicated the scarred dwarf "This is the clan laird Borwald Firehand, h&039;s ar with a sullen glare She shrugged and got back to the point, deciding to ar clan - Xornbane, wasn&039;t it? - attacked the drow city of Ched Nasad, and precipitated its destruction Kaanyr Vhok wonders if you set them to it"
"Clan Xornbane are mercenaries," Borwald answered The scar he carried creased the side of his bald head fro a visible indentation "Whatever job they took in Ched Nasad is an issue of codom policy You should take up the matter with them"
"I would, but survivors are hard to find," Aliisza said "As near as we can tell, they trapped theaze to Horgar Steelshadow and asked, "So, did they destroy Ched Nasad with your blessing?"
"With ht for a mo Webs fell, but I did not dispatch Clan Xornbane to do that piece of work Khorrl Xorn-bane was hired by one of Ched Nasad&039;s matron mothers to help her de-stroy those Houses ahead of hers I did not choose to interfere with Xornbane&039;s business"
"In that case, Xornbane&039;s choice of tactics seems spectacularly un-sound They delivered their e so," Aliisza observed
"I am afraid that I was at least in part responsible for that," said a melodious voice to one side
Froed, a rakish drow of short stature and catlike grace He was a handsoray, and he wore a er at his hip
"On behalf of ed for Khorrl&039;s troops to be provided with the stonefire bo in Menzoberranzan I did not iine they would de-stroy Ched Nasad in its entirety, of course"
Aliisza raised an eyebrow and said, "I did not expect to find a dark elf in the confidence of the prince of the duergar"
"I a of a sellsword," the fellow replied, "tasked with ef-fecting certain changes in a handful of Houses in Ched Nasad and Men-zoberranzan" He offered her a slight smile that didn&039;t reach his intense eyes "Call me Nimor"
"Nimor," Aliisza replied "Whatever your purpose, you certainly ef-fected a change in Ched Nasad What do you have in ar shifted uncomfortably and asked, "What interest is this to Kaanyr Vhok?"
"Well, had we known that soht have offered our assistance," Aliisza replied "My lord scents oppor-tunity in the dark elves&039; difficulties If so a si to take on partners in our business"
Borwald sneered, "I doubt the Deepkingdo in fungus-grown ruins"
Aliisza suppressed her annoyance
They&039;re duergar, she told herself, abrasive and crass This is how they are
"Your intelligence is somewhat out of date," she said "My lord com-mands over two thousand hardened tanarukk warriors, each of there and three ties and arh, but sufficient to arm and arbears, ogres, giants, and such - aze on Borwald and added, "We don&039;t have the strength of the Deepkingdoray dwarves and give theion at your peril"