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He nodded again, and wasn’t sure whether to be angry or concerned
"Which e of the city is your brother"
"You speak of centuries long past," Jarlaxle reiterated
"Indeed," Parise adiveinto places uninvited"
Jarlaxle again offered his nonco "Is there a point to your banter?" he asked "Beyond our blooed a smile at that, but it did not last, for he assumed a more serious expression and looked the drow directly in the eye "You serve Lady Lolth?"
Jarlaxle didn’t answer, other than to chuckle
"Very well, then," Parise redirected, obviously realizing that he was stepping into unwanted territory "You are knowledgeable in the desires of the Spider Queen, at least as would be expressed by your sister?"
"I haven’t seen h, I fear," Jarlaxle replied coldly "You overestireatly"
"Ah, but do I overestiarner information from Menzoberranzan?" Parise asked, and Jarlaxle suddenly beca else
"Our desire to trade through the channels you have offered is genuine," Parise went on "To our e, and in that regard, is there a better trading partner than Jarlaxle Bae--Jarlaxle of Bregan D’aerthe?" he asked, the slip of his tongue clearly intentional
"Probably not," the drow dryly replied
"I ad fascinated by the possibilities," Parise said "You are surely no professed follower of Lady Lolth, and yet, you are tolerated by her highest-ranking mortal Is that due to familial bonds?"
"Quenthel? Her House benefits froan D’aerthe You need look no further for the solution to your riddle than that simatism"
"And Lolth would not punish her for … well, for not punishing you?"
"Lolth’s city benefits froan D’aerthe, whatever the love between us"
"So the drow are pragmatic above all else?"
"Every society that has stood and will stand is pragmatic above all else"
Parise nodded "Then explain Drizzt Do’Urden"
It took everything Jarlaxle could muster for hiht about it, though, it did make sense that the Netherese would have taken notice--Drizzt had played a major role in the events of Neverwinter, after all, andwarlord of great repute
He feared for ato ask hiue, and in that event, Jarlaxle expected that he would be plotting the de so him facilitate that very murder
"Drizzt Do’Urden?"
"Do not even pretend that you are ignorant of that one!" Parise huffed
"I know him well"
"Why is he allowed to live?"
"Because he kills anyone who tries to kill hi forward now eagerly "It is more than that"
"Do tell, as you seem to know more about it than I do"
"Lady Lolth has not deed yet again
"Why?" Parise pressed
"Why?" Jarlaxle echoed "Does he ar upon her minions? You have never journeyed to Menzoberranzan, that much is obvious," he added with a snort "There is h ene droithout traveling to the surface to hunt for Drizzt Do’Urden"
"It is ain
"Then do tell," Jarlaxle replied He handed his elass across to the Netherese lord, and added, "As you refill lass Such fireside tales always sound better when thrown against a lass andas he replied, "Jarlaxle’s ed yet again
"Where is this going?" Jarlaxle asked "Have you a vendetta against Drizzt Do’Urden, and fear to invoke the wrath of House Baenre?"
"Surely not!" his host replied emphatically--and to his surprise, Jarlaxle found that he believed theDrizzt creature, and his relationship with the drow goddess"
Jarlaxle’s blank expression aptly reflected the confusion in his mind at that most curious comment
"Do you think it possible that she favors him, secretly?" Parise asked "She feeds on chaos, after all, and he seems to create it--or surely he once did in the city of Menzoberranzan"
Jarlaxle drained his glass in a single s and considered the words, and the potential i answer
"I have heard this suggestion before, iven deference by the priestesses," Parise suggested
Jarlaxle offered another shrug "In not hunting hi such of me and my band, then perhaps there is oddess hasn’t instructed my sister and her peers to find him and properly punish hi as he spoke, then looked Parise directly in the eye and finished, "Your thesis is quite likely correct I have often thought it so Drizzt would be an unwitting instruain, would that not be her typically cryptic way?"
The Netherese lord seemed quite pleased by that answer, and he couldn’t hide the fact behind his lifted glass of brandy
From Jarlaxle’s perspective, the more important matter hether or not such an outlandish claiht be planning
Chapter 18: Shattered
THE SHADOWS SERVED AS AN ALLY, BUT NONE OF THE SIX COMPANIONS felt particularly comforted by that reality They crouched in the colorless brush in a copse of trees, looking up at a for tower, surrounded by an enorht The castle of Lord Draygo Quick