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The most doleful torment of incarceration, reflected Halisstra, was bore-do-lived kind, the priestess hardly noticed the passing of hours, days, even tendays when her ed Yet, despite the wisdom and patience of her more than two hundred years, a few hours&039; confinement in a featureless stone cell seemed more onerous than months of the harsh discipline she endured in her youth
The endless hours of the day crept by, a day in which her body longed to rest despite the painful glare of sunlight streahts veered wildly fro for her co the ine for each one for abandoning her to capture
Eventually, she fell into Reverie, her mind empty of new schemes or old ht have been sleeping in truth Exhaustion had finally caught up with her, not just the sheer physical exhaustion of the long tendays of travel and peril through desert, shadow, Underdark, and forest, but a kind of rief she still carried for the loss of the House she was to one day rule Halisstra ht not have pernant truth of her plight had an odd way of sur-facing in her thoughts, poisoning them with a cold, hopeless disbelief that was difficult to set aside Long hours of imprisonment offered her the opportunity to exhume the hateful situation in its entirety and contemplate her loss of station, wealth, and security until her horrible fascination was in soht her fresh food, a bowl of so stew and another half loaf of bread Halisstra found herself rav-enously hungry, and she devoured the s Soon after she&039;d finished, the door to her cell was unlocked with a rusty scraping of iron, and Seyll Auzkovyn slipped inside again
The priestess had shed her long, heavy cloak, and wore an elegant lady&039;s riding outfit, an eth skirt over a blouse of creaht of a drow priestess dressed as a noble surface elf struck Halisstra as jar-ringly incongruous
"Did the surface lord dress you like that?" she sneered at the Eilistraee worshiper "You seeentlelady of the accursed sun elves in that outfit"
"How else should I dress?" Seyll replied "I&039; friends here, and need not wear armor Besides, I found that the skull and spider motifs of my previous wardrobe seeesture to the jailers outside, and the door was closed behind her "Anyway,&039; she added, "there are no sun elves here"
"They&039;re all the same to me," Halisstra said
"When you know them better, you&039;ll be able to tell their kindred easily enough"
"I have no wish to know them better"
"Are you so certain of that? There is always advantage in knowing one&039;s enemiesespecially if they need not be your enemies"
Seyll knelt easily on the floor beside Halisstra and co, not h in her oay, but her carriage waswrong Her eyes lacked the hungering ambition or the cold appraisal Halisstra was accusto mir-rored in the faces around her One could easily mistake Seyll&039;s patient ex-pression for a sort of submissiveness, the lack of the will necessary to achieve, and yet there was a calth held in check
Halisstra&039;s eyes fell to Seyll&039;s hands, as the priestess s, and callused like a weapons master&039;s
"I had the opportunity to examine the heraldry of your ar House of the city of Ched Nasad, is it not?"
"It was," Halisstra said
She instantly regretted the slip If thesurface folk didn&039;t know of Ched Nasad&039;s fate, then she hardly needed to provide theift of infor- she revealed
"You were defeated in a House war?"
It was a reasonable guess on Seyll&039;s part, as most drow Houses that vanished, lost status, or otherwise fell low usually did so because of the actions of other Houses
"Not quite"
Seyll waited a long moment for Halisstra to elaborate, and when she did not, the Eilistraee priestess shifted tactics
"Ched Nasad is a long way froreat desert of Anauroch and the phaerimm-haunted Buried Realms between here and there Lord Dessaer is curious about the circuhter of a powerful House of Ched Nasad into the lands of his people To be honest, I aation, then?" Halisstra said "A syarner the answers to questions asked in see friendship?"
"Some account of your purpose in Cormanthor must be made before Lord Dessaer will release you into my parole If your business is as inno-cent as you say, you need not be i and quietly "Ah, I see you have not lost your penchant for cruelty despite your apostasy, Auzkovyn Did your surface friends ask you to play on a prisoner&039;s hopes by offering free-doest the tactic? Did you really think a single day in this accursed cell would reduceat phantom hopes?"
"The hopes I offer are not phanto here, show us that you&039;re no enemy of the peaceful folk of Cor-manthor, and you will have your liberty"
"You can&039;t expect me to believe that"
"I am here, am I not?" Seyll answered "Clearly some of our kind learn to live in peace with the surface folk"
"Of course you have nothing to fear a the surface folk," Halis-stra retorted "Your vapid, dancing goddess is too weak to threaten them"
"As I told you before, I was a priestess of Lolth when I was captured," Seyll said She foresture of supplication, a cere-ue of the abyssal planes where Lolth dwelt, Seyll h and secret prayer: " &039;Great Goddess, Mother of the Dark, granthearts for rant rant me the wealth of their houses for my bed By this unworthy sacri-fice I honor you, Queen of Spiders, and beseech of you the strength to destroy my foes&039; "
The infernal words seeed with an evil potency that spread through the cell like a slick of poison Seyllthe manner in which the knife was to be wielded, and settled back on her heels
Shifting back to Elvish, she closed her eyes and said, "Many hapless souls died beneath my knife, yet I found redemption and peace here Whether the same awaits you is a question I cannot answer, but I offer myself as proof that you can walk these lands in peace if you wish"
Halisstra stared at Seyll, al her for the first time She had been about to condemn the priestess once oddess, but the words died on her lips No one but a priestess of high station would have been taught that rite, yet Seyll had decided to turn her back on Lolth Not only that, but she still lived, and seemed to have found some amount of contentment in her decision Halisstra had of course been indoctrinated over years of train-ing to regard heresy, apostasy, as the vilest sort of criinable Yet in her years of sacrifice and abasement before the Spider Queen&039;s altar she had never before encountered a true apostate Oh, she&039;d slandered so away fro in the presence of sooddess, and - so far, at least - lived to tell the tale
"I want to challenge you to do soence and the i-ine, for a moment, that you could live in a place where you can walk the streets without fearing an assassin&039;s dagger in your back I more from you than the pleas-ure of your company, that your sisters cherish your acco your successes, and your children are not ine that your lovers seek you out for who you are, and not your station or influence Ioddess asks you to celebrate her with your joy, not your terror"
"There is no such - "
"You answer too quickly I asked you to iine it, if you can," Seyll said She stood andher back on Halisstra "I ait"
"I can&039;t i noth-ing We&039;re not ht-elf, not even the insipid humans Only a fool dwells on dreau?" Seyll said over her shoulder "Youcreatures do Perhaps you&039;ve drea your enemies in your power, or of a lover you couldn&039;t take, or of rising to the station you truly merit"
Halisstra snorted, truly irritated, and shook her hands in her ine the destruction of all your eneine the faithfulness of a friend or a god-dess pleased by your loyalty, not your sacrifice"
"All gods demand sacrifice You delude yourself if you think Eilistraee is any different Perhaps you&039;re simply too weak-minded to understand your bonds" Halisstra looked away and added, "You have succeeded in boring ain You may leave now"
The priestess walked to the door She rapped once on the rusty iron and waited, turning back to face Halisstra
"What if I show you that you&039;re wrong?" she said softly "Toht we dance in the forest for Eilistraee&039;s delight I will bring you there, and you will see for yourself what our goddess demands of us"
"I will have no part of it," Halisstra snapped, finally irritated enough to forget her resolve to feign a grudging conversion to the surface dwellers&039; vapid beliefs
"Your faith in your Spider Queen is so weak you can&039;t bear to watch us dance?" Seyll asked "Listen, watch, and judge for yourself That&039;s all I ask"
The endless black gale that shrieked up through the vertical streets of ruined Chaulssin welcousts so pow-erful that even he wasaround his head like a wild halo, the Anointed Blade paused a moment in his steps to allow the blast to die away
He could not re in the City of Wyrmshadows, not while Menzoberranzan&039;s ar without him, but he wasn&039;t in such a hurry that he couldn&039;t tarry a moment in the hidden citadel of his secret House Nimor Inificent ruin, the hell-carved citadel, was his domain He had not been born there, of course, nor had he spent his childhood years in the shadow-haunted city The place was too perilous for the young, so the Jaezred Chaulssin fostered their princes in a dozen hout the Underdark From the tiht, though, Niust passed, at least asaround the city, and the assassin continued on his way Menzoberranzan was little h the Plane of Shadow, and so it was fairly easy for Nimor tocolumn to tend to some "per-sonal matters" Even if Andzrel Baenre su Ni for a short tio, but no one would find it overly suspicious for a noble to tarry in the city for a short ti out to catch up to the coluh the heart of Chaulssin&039;s stonethe steps two at a tireat hall at the top, he found the patron fathers asseether in twos and threes as they traded news and fo their time of remarkable opportunity Grandfather Mauzzkyl turned to level his fearsoain you keep us waiting," he said
"I beg your forgiveness, Revered Grandfather," Nimor replied He drew up into the circle with the others and made a small bow The winds outside the chamber moaned eerily in the distance "I was summoned to a council of war that I did not think it wise to ," observed Patron Father Tomphael
Ni for some time to cultivate a particular identity and level of responsibility a Men-zoberranzan&039;s defenders, Tohtly thrown aside Until the revered grandfather instructswhen it is necessary to protect our plots against the Spider Queen&039;s favored - "
"Enough, Nis proceed in Menzoberranzan?"
"Very well, Revered Grandfather Crown Prince Horgar Steelshadow of Gracklstugh ar on Men-zoberranzan The ar in the field instead of awaiting a siege, since they fear the belligerence of other Underdark realed for the crown prince&039;s army to steal a march on the Menzoberranyr, and I also have coht moment to help assure the outcome we desire Finally, I have convinced the caainst Menzoberranzan as well, though I aion Vhok iance to our cause"
"You intend to destroy the forces of Menzoberranzan in detail, then," Patron Xorthaul observed The black-armored priest stroked his chin "What if the Menzoberranyr prove ar instead? Or Kaanyr Vhok proves unfaithful? It ht have been better to lure a smaller force into your trap, Anointed Blade Your first play is too risky"
"If I had presented the duergar as less of a threat, the nore theether As matters stand, one of three results h and Menzoberranzan The duergar ht win, it could be in effect a draw, or the drow could prevail We&039;re doing e can to deliver Menzoberranzan&039;s army into the crown prince&039;s hands, but even if he fails to destroy the Lolthites outright, there is an excellent chance the duergar will badly ar may weaken our enemies so badly we can overthrow theh is routed, wellother than the failure of our plan, we lose little"
"Reainst Menzoberranzan is a strategy of attrition," Mauzzkyl said "The city is too strong to take in one stroke, so we must bleed it to death with a dozen cuts"
"Menzoberranzan&039;s wizards will certainly divine the existence of such a great army so close to their city," Patron Tomphael, himself a wizard, observed "The matron mothers will recall their force, or reverse your arach Dyrr have helped us with this," said Nimor "Gromph Baenre has vanished The Masters of Sorcere are quite naturally testing each other&039;s resolve and resources to detere"
"There arethecity&039;s Houses, Nimor," Tomphael replied "They will not be distracted by an opportunity at Sorcere"
Nimor permitted himself a rueful nod and said, "True, but as ell know, House wizards tend to spend a lot of their ti out the weaknesses of other Houses So far, no one seems to have come for-ward to dispute the version of events I advanced to the Council"
"It would be no more than the better part of wisdom to set your plans with the assumption that your plots will be unmasked at the most incon-venient time possible," Patron Xorthaul said "What will you do if some raw apprentice in some second-rate House happens to scry the approach of the crown prince&039;s arht stand a siege forever"
"Now you understand," Nirach Dyrr with an open offer of alliance, and decided to risk bringing Kaanyr Vhok into the equation We need the Fifth House against that very possibility, to adion - into the city, if it comes to that"
Mauzzkyl folded his araze
"In either case, we shall have therandfather said, a s his features "If Kaanyr Vhok betrays you, you still have Agrach Dyrr If Agrach Dyrr betrays you, you have the ca of each other?"
Niht it best to reserve at least one surprise against each of my ostensible allies, Revered Grandfather It seemed wise to me to make certain that I would have asas possible, in developing the attack on the city"
"Excellent What assistance ht we provide you?"
The Anointed Blade considered the question He was sorely telory of the victory to co when his ability to move from place to place would be limited by the role he played at the head of Menzoberranzan&039;s ar Kaanyr Vhok Besides, if the Sceptered One proved unfaithful, he could blaather our strength and be ready to strike when our allies play their part in reducing Menzoberranzan&039;s defenses," he said
"We do not have any great force at arms, Anointed Blade," Mauzzkyl said "I will not commit the Jaezred Chaulssin to a pitched battle"
"I understand, Revered Grandfather" If they gathered all their strength in one place, the secret House would hardly ale h the Jaezred Chaulssin could have an impact out of all proportion to their nuo to Kaanyr Vhok&039;s Scoured Legion and steer the warlord in the right direction My responsibilities in Menzoberran-zan&039;s arade Agrach Dyrr do not permit me sufficient time to look after Kaanyr Vhok as well as I would like"
Mauzzkyl nodded and said, "Very well Za left for you to do at Ched Nasad I want you to go to Kaanyr Vhok and serve as our voice in his caainst Menzoberranzan, but you will answer to Nimor"
The plain-faced assassin replied, "Of course, Revered Grandfather"
He glanced over at Nihts to show on his face
"I approached the warlord through his consort, Aliisza," Nimor told Zammzt "She is an alu-fiend and a sorceress of no small skill She knows that I represent a society or order of some kind, so she should not be sur-prised to receive another of us"
Though I doubt she&039;ll extend you the saave to me, he told himself