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"Yes, Captain Xornbane, by all ray dwarves closed in on both Drisinil and Quenthel

The two drow and the draegloth, unable to flee, stared about the to break free of the ical hold over hiar who had spoken ray dwarves moved in, axes lifted

"Wait!" Faeryl exclaimed, then leaned in close to whisper with Ssipriina privately for a moment "Mother, let&039;s not kill the two Menzoberranyr yet I&039;d like to keep them for a while"

"I think that would be an extraordinarily bad idea," one of the lared at the impertinent male, whom she seeently as an aid for a nuht his nahtly, for he was far from pretty

"Do you always butt into conversations you were not meant to hear?" the ambassador asked

Zaiveafter the House&039;s best interests If this plan of subversion and surprise is to succeed in overthrowing House Melarn, then no one who knows the truth can be allowed to live If the drow or the fiend are able to relay to anyone - anyone at all - what transpired here today, you will lose your backing from the other Houses No one will support your rise to the council, Matron Mother It&039;s an unnecessary risk"

Matron Mother Zauvirr studied her daughter carefully for a moment then said, "He does have a point"

"Mother, believe et the chance to talk to anyone I will make sure of it"

Ssipriina finally nodded and said, "All right, you&039;ve earned the chance to extract a little revenge, I suppose, but you must make certain that they do not talk to anyone, especially not Halisstra Do you understand?"

Zaue in consternation, but he apparently knew better than to argue further He had e in conversation with some of the House wizards

Faeryl, elated, said, "Of course, Mother I understand all too well If our plan is to succeed, everyone ether"

"Precisely Now, I o and prepare We still have a lot of work to do"

With that, Ssipriina Zauvirr departed, Za in close to discuss issues privately

The ambassador moved back over to Quenthel onceto e absurd, "we didn&039;t really steal the Black Claw merchandise You did Or at least, that&039;s hoill appear e report findingalready sled desperately needed supplies out of Ched Nasad and preparing to steal even more

"I&039;m sure they&039;ll wonder why Matron Mother Melarn would have wanted to turn her back on her own city in favor of Menzoberranzan, but unfortunately, they won&039;t be able to ask her, since she resisted us and had to be killed"

Faeryl signaled to the co as three of the gray dwarves stepped close At her nod, they raised their axes high and swung Behind her, Faeryl heard Quenthel&039;saround

There was no runt from Drisinil as three axes slammed into her flesh, but the blades bit deeply and the fat drow&039;s eyes widened in pain and terror, though she couldn&039;t react in any other way The three duergar yanked their axes free and prepared to strike again, but Faeryl motioned for them to hold She wanted to watch as Drisinil died slowly

"You&039;ll never look down your nose at ain, you fat rothe"

Drisinil&039;s red eyes blinked and widened, seeer drow only smiled as she stood casually, hands on hips, and watched the matron mother&039;s lifeblood drip into a puddle on the floor around her laze over Her breathing was rapid for a mo

Faeryl turned back to Quenthel, who had been able to see the h priestess seemed to look both terrified and furious, all at the same time The ambassador stepped in close to the Baenre noble and sht while trying to flee the scene, though you and I will know better, at least for a ti to receive a stay of execution, just as I did back in Menzoberranzan Aren&039;t you pleased? Instead of dying right away, you&039;ll get soraciously entertained by your sister"

Faeryl spat the words at her captive, the sed to the forefront of her thoughts

"And as for you, you wretched, foul-sred, "I will ensure that you learn what true pain is"

The draegloth&039;s eyes bored into her balefully, but she forced herself to stare resolutely back at hi away

"Gruherth," Faeryl called, looking for one of her brothers in the throng of drow stillabout, "I want those two eons in House Melarn"

Gruherth appeared and said, "We&039;ll need a safe way to transport them"

"I&039;ll take care of that," another wizard said, stepping closer to the fiend

Pulling a few itee white bubble forloth At the instruction of the wizard, four guards lifted the sphere - with surprising ease, Faeryl noted - and began to carry it into another part of the storehouse

Very quickly, the same spell was applied to Quenthel, and four other drow boys bore her milky white sphere away, too

Faeryl turned and looked for the duergar leader

"CaptainXornbane, is it?"

The gray dho had given the order to kill Drisinil nodded

"As I understand it, the next step in our plan is to get your coht," the duergar repeated, folding his arements been made to deal with this?"

"They have," he said, then he turned and trudged off after Faeryl&039;sthe ambassador to fume at his rudeness

Gruherth reappeared

"We&039;re ready to begin h to the interior of House Melarn," he said to his sister "Mother wants you there at the front so that we can throw off suspicion in case there are Melarn troops in sight once we begin crossing through the portal"

Faeryl griotten how much at her mother&039;s beck and call she had been when she was last in the city Still, she decided, it was better than being at Quenthel&039;s beck and call

Much better

Aliisza wriggled her toes in delight as she stretched out on the bed next to the wizard It had been quite a while since she had felt this good, and it wasn&039;t hted her This Pharaun was quite the wit, she had decided, boisterous and clever for a drow

"How come you&039;re so unlike the rest of your race?" the alu asked hiers up his slender, graceful black ar the contrast in color "Every other dark elf I&039;ve everYou, on the other hand, h"

Pharaun, with his head propped on his hands as he lay stretched out on his back, smiled

"Just unlucky, I suppose"

Aliisza furrowed her brow in confusion and asked, "What?"

"Can you i around &039;staid and boring&039; drow all the tis beneath him "No one ever appreciates et funny looks, if I&039; with other males, or scowls, if I&039; So I say it&039;s just bad luck I was born a drow, but I was given a gled and rested her chin on both hands, gazing at the dark elf&039;s red eyes

"Oh, coet to talk to other drow Look attanarukks around"

"Oh, yes, the tanarukks A few grunts and an obscene gesture, and they&039;ve recited their clan history, right?"

Aliisza laughed outright

"They&039;re not so bad as all that, but they certainly aren&039;t ones for clever humor Not even Kaanyr likes to devote thisthe wizard&039;s so and ht up your other lover That&039;s no kind of pillow talk, you know"

"Sorry I won&039;t do it again," Aliisza proe to spar with this high priestess of yours? I thought the females of your species didn&039;t put up with too ainst the pillow "She goes from bad to worse," heup these?" Aliisza punched hi "Just answer the question"

Pharaun eyed her for a moment He seemed suddenly wary "Why are you so curious?" Aliisza shook her head "No real reason Just curiosity, I suppose"

Pharaun rolled away from her to the side of the bed and asked, "Whyare you here? In Ched Nasad, I mean"

Aliisza pouted just a little She really hadn&039;t e, and now she had to think of a way to calh of it, was the best medicine "Because Kaanyr Vhok wantson"

"You told me you already knew In fact, you explained tofor?"

"Nothing," the alu replied, reaching a hand out to stroke the back of the drow&039;s arers "I have all the infor one of the matron mothers to see if she wants Kaanyr&039;s assistance They have so I&039;m still here because you&039;re here"

Pharaun eyed her a er, then chuckled and shook his head

"I knew this was a bad idea," he said at last "TheI&039;d liketo drop in on one Somehow, that just doesn&039;t bode well forone of her eyebrows at the e "I&039;m not about to tell anyback to - back to you-knoho" - she sh I don&039;t see how you can avoid thewith"

"What,Quenthel? No, that&039;s not a problereeable to her plan to take the Black Claw goods back to Menzoberranzan, so - " The wizard stopped inyou this I am a sex-addled idiot"

He stared at Aliisza intently, his red eyes glittering

The alu-fiend stared back, but she couldn&039;t help but s whether to try to killone eyebrow she shi back on her elbows provocatively "I have a better idea," she said, feeling her voice grow husky with desire "Teacha combination of exhilaration and dread, left Aliisza in the little house Exhilarated fro afternoon he&039;d spent with the alu, he was dreading all the things he&039;d let slip Though he&039;d repeatedly told himself to be wary, he&039;d stu with the fiend had reduced his normally sharp instinct for caution to soht to be cognizant of but wasn&039;t It was just an accepted practice that a drow never openedhis strictly business, and yet here he was, sharing her bed and spilling his best-kept secrets Still, if he had to pick a risky diversion, Aliisza was quite the prize

Whatever his apprehensions, Pharaun found that his steps were light as he made his way back to the Serpent and Flame He had useful information to share with the rest of the Menzoberranyr, and he also had a couple of divinations he wanted to atteoing on in the Abyss Plus, he ht still have time to fulfill that request of Quenthel&039;s All in all, it was turning out to be a truly memorable day

Despite his own elation, Pharaun could still feel the tension of the city buzzing in the air, and he was careful to avoid the worst of the crowds After the experience of the previous day, he didn&039;t think it wise to get caught up in a chest-thuruntled citizens Hefro co ladders that connected different levels

Theshop called Gauralt&039;s Spices, a place that purported to offer hard-to-find co Valas hadbefore they set out on their separate errands, and Pharaun found it exactly where the scout had said it would be Of course, getting what he needed ht prove to be another matter, but Gauralt, a drow male who ran the place, was able to supply him with the fourstrips of ivory and the particular incense he needed, and he was on his way again in no tie&039;s coht spendto round up the needed supplies and mounts for the return journey, but he was sored had not coine ould require them to spend that much time there, but then it was just as well

If she was here, he told hi to snipe about, anyway

He began to make a mental checklist of the spells he wanted to cast First, he would use his new co to kill Quenthel

And probably offer to help, he added, grinning

He also planned to try again to take a peek into the Demonweb Pits

It was a spell he had tried more than once back in Menzoberranzan, with no luck whatsoever, but he hoped it would yieldresults away from the City of Spiders The Master of Sorcere had no basis for this supposition, but he thought it was still worth an attempt

Pharaun retrieved the four strips of ivory he&039;d acquired, along with the incense, and sat down to perfor it would leave hiained froe arranged the four strips of ivory into a rectangle upon the carpeting, lit the incense, and closed his eyes It was not a spell he cast often, and it required a careful application of chanting and specific questions He couldn&039;t stumble at any point, for he didn&039;t knohen the next opportunity to try it would arise