"He who killed the earth elemental” Zak snarled derisively. He launched a measured attack, a simple lunge with one blade. Drizzt batted it aside without even thinking of the parry.
Sudden fires erupted in Zak's eyes, as if the first contact had sundered all the emotional bonds that had tempered his thrust. "He who killed the girl child of the surface elves!" he cried, an accusation and no compliment. Now came the second attack, vicious and powerful, an arcing swipe descending at Drizzt's head. "Who cut her apart to appease his own thirst for blood!"
Zak's words knocked Dnzzt off his guard emotionally, wrapped his heart in confusion like some devious mental whip. Drizzt was a seasoned warrior, though, and his reflexes did not register the emotional distraction. A scimitar came up to catch the descending sword and deflected it harmlessly aside.
"Murderer!" Zak snarled openly. "Did you enjoy the dying child's screams?" He came at Drizzt in a furious whirl, swords dipping and diving, slicing at every angle.
Drizzt, enraged by the hypocrite's accusations, matched the fury, screaming out for no better reason than to hear the anger of his own voice.
Any watching the battle would have found no breath in the next few blurring moments. Never had the Underdark witnessed such a vicious fight as when these two masters of the blade each attacked the demon possessing the other-and himself.
Adamantite sparked and nicked, droplets of blood spat. tered both the combatants, though neither felt any pain, , and neither knew if he'd injured the other.
Drizzt came with a two-blade sidelong swipe that drove Zak's swords out wide. Zak followed the motion quickly, turned a complete circle, and slammed back into Drizzt's thrusting scimitars with enough force to knock the young warrior from his feet. Drizzt fell into a roll and came back up to meet his charging adversary.
A thought came over him.
Drizzt came up high, too high, and Zak drove him back on his heels. Drizzt knew what would soon be coming; he invited it openly. Zak kept Drizzt's weapons high through sev. eral combined maneuvers. He then went with the move that had defeated Drizzt in the past, expecting that the best Drizzt could attain would be equal footing: double-thrust low.
Drizzt executed the appropriate cross-down parry, as he had to, and Zak tensed, waiting for his eager opponent to try to improve the move. "Child killer!" he growled, goading on Drizzt.
He didn't know that Drizzt had found the solution. With all the anger he had ever known, all the disappointments of his young life gathering within his foot, Drizzt focused on Zak. That smug face, feigning smiles and drooling for blood.
Between the hilts, between the eyes, Drizzt kicked, blowing out every ounce of rage in a single blow.
Zak's nose crunched flat. His eyes lolled upward, and blood exploded over his hollow cheeks. Zak knew that he was falling, that the devilish young warrior would be on him in a flash, gaining an advantage that Zak could not hope to overcome.
"What of you, Zaknafein Do'Urden?" he heard Drizzt snarl, distantly, as though he were falling far away. "I have heard of the exploits of House Do'Urden's weapon master!
How he so enjoys killing!" The voice was closer now, as
Drizzt stalked in, and as the rebounding rage of Zaknafein sent him spiraling back to the battle.
"I have heard how murder comes so very easily to Zaknafein!" Drizzt spat derisively. "The murder of clerics, of other drow! Do you so enjoy it all?" He ended the question with a blow from each scimitar, attacks meant to kill Zak, to kill the demon in them both.
But Zaknafein was now fully back to consciousness, hating himself and Drizzt equally. At the last moment, his swords came up and crossed, lightning fast, throwing Drizzt's arms wide. Then Zak finished with a kick of his own, not so strong from the prone position but accurate in its search for Drizzt's groin.
Drizzt sucked in his breath and twirled away, forcing himself back into composure when he saw Zaknafein, still dazed, rising to his feet. "Do you so enjoy it all?" he managed to ask again.
"Enjoy?" the weapon master echoed.
"Does it bring you pleasure?" Drizzt grimaced.
"Satisfaction!" Zak corrected. "I kill. Yes, I kill”
"You teach others to kill!"
"To kill drow!" Zak roared, and he was back in Drizzt's face, his weapons up but waiting for Drizzt to make the next move.
Zak's words again entwined Drizzt in a mesh of confusion. Who was this drow standing before him?
"Do you think that your mother would let me live if I did not serve her evil designs?" Zak cried. Drizzt did not understand.
"She hates me” Zak said, more in control as he began to understand Drizzt's confusion, "despises me for what I know” Drizzt cocked his head.
"Are you so blind to the evil around you?" Zak yelled in his face. "Or has it consumed you, as it consumes all of them, in this murderous frenzy that we call life?"
"The frenzy that holds you?" Drizzt retorted, but there was little conviction in his voice now. If he understood Zak's words correctly-if Zak played the killing game simply because of his hatred for the perverted drow-the most Drizzt could blame him for was cowardice.
"No frenzy holds me” Zak replied. "I live as best I can. survive in a world that is not my own, not my heart” The lament in his words, the droop of his head as he admitted his helplessness, struck a familiar chord in Drizzt. "I kill, kill drow, to serve Matron Malice-to placate the rage, the frustration, that I know in my soul. When I hear the children scream . . . " His gaze snapped up on Drizzt and he rushed in all of a sudden, his fury returned tenfold.
Drizzt tried to get his scimitars up, but Zak knocked one of them across the room and drove the other aside. He rushed in step with Drizzt's awkward retreat until he had Drizzt pinned against a wall. The tip of Zak's sword drew a droplet of blood from Drizzt's throat.
"The child lives!" Drizzt gasped. "I swear, I did not kill the elven child!"
Zak relaxed a bit but still held Drizzt, sword to throat. Dinin said-"
"Dinin was mistaken” Drizzt replied frantically. "Fooled by me. I knocked the child down-only to spare her-and covered her with the blood of her murdered mother to mask my own cowardice!"
Zak leaped back, overwhelmed.
"I killed no elves that day” Drizzt said to him. "The only times I desired to kill were my own companions!"
"So now we know” said Briza, staring into the scrying bowl, watching the conclusion of the battle between Drizzt and Zaknafein and hearing their every word. "It was Drizzt who angered the Spider Queen”
"You suspected him all along, as did I” Matron Malice replied, "though we both hoped differently.
"So much promise!" Briza lamented. "How I wish that one had learned his place, his values. Perhaps. . . "
"Mercy?" Matron Malice snapped at her. "Do you show mercy that would further invoke the Spider Queen's displeasure?"
"No, Matron” Briza replied. "I had only hoped that Drizzt could be used in the future, as you have used Zaknafein all these years. Zaknafein is growing older”
"We are about to fight a war, my daughter” Malice reminded her. "Lloth must be appeased. Your brother has brought his fate upon himself; his actions were his own to decide”
"He decided wrongly”
The words hit Zaknafein harder than Drizzt's boot had.
The weapon master threw his swords to the ends of the room and rushed in on Drizzt. He buried him in a hug so intense that it took the young drow a long moment to even realize what had happened.
"You have survived!" Zak said, his voice broken by muf. fled tears. "Survived the Academy, where all the others died!"
Drizzt returned the embrace, tentatively, still not guessing the depth of Zak's elation.
"My son!"
Drizzt nearly fainted, overwhelmed by the admission of what he had always suspected, and even more so by the knowledge that he was not the only one in his dark world angered by the ways of the drow. He was not alone.
"Why?" Drizzt asked, pushing Zak out to arm's length.
"Why have you stayed?" Zak looked at him incredulously. "Where would 1 go? No one, not even a drow weapon master would survive for long out in the caverns of the Underdark. Tho many monsters, and other races, hunger for the sweet blood of dark elves”
"Surely you had options”
"The surface?" Zak replied. "Th face the painful inferno every day? No, my son, I am trapped, as you are trapped” Drizzt had feared that statement, had feared that he would find no solution from his newfound father to the dilemma that was his life. Perhaps there were no answers.
"You will do well in Menzoberranzan” Zak said to comfort him. "You are strong, and Matron Malice will find an appropriate place for your talents, whatever your heart may desire”
"To live a life of assassinations, as you have?" Drizzt asked, trying futilely to keep the rage out of his words.
"What choice is before us?" Zak answered, his eyes seeking the unjudging stone of the floor.
"I will not kill drow” Drizzt declared flatly.
Zak's eyes snapped back on him. "You will” he assured his son. "In Menzoberranzan, you will kill or be killed”
Drizzt looked away, but Zak's words pursued him, could not be blocked out.
"There is no other way; the weapon master continued softly. "Such is our world. Such is our life. You have escaped this long, but you will find that your luck soon will change”
He grabbed Drizzt's chin firmly and forced his son to look at him directly.
"I wish that it could be different; Zak said honestly, "but it is not such a bad life. I do not lament killing dark elves. I perceive their deaths as their salvation from this wicked existence. If they care so dearly for their Spider Queen, then let them go and visit her!"
Zak's growing smile washed away suddenly. "Except for the children” he whispered. "Often have I heard the cries of dying children, though never, I promise you, have I caused them. I have always wondered if they, too, are evil, born evil. Or if the weight of our dark world bends them to fit our foul ways”
"The ways of the demon Lloth; Drizzt agreed.
They both paused for many heartbeats, each privately weighing the realities of his own personal dilemma. Zak was next to speak, having long ago come to terms with the life that was offered to him.
"Lloth; he chuckled. "She is a vicious queen, that one. I would sacrifice everything for a chance at her ugly face!"
"I almost believe you would” Drizzt whispered, finding his smile.
Zak jumped back from him. "I would indeed” he laughed heartily. "So would you!"
Drizzt flipped his lone scimitar up into the air, letting it spin over twice before catching it again by the hilt. "True enough!" he cried. "But no longer would I be alone!"
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Sudden fires erupted in Zak's eyes, as if the first contact had sundered all the emotional bonds that had tempered his thrust. "He who killed the girl child of the surface elves!" he cried, an accusation and no compliment. Now came the second attack, vicious and powerful, an arcing swipe descending at Drizzt's head. "Who cut her apart to appease his own thirst for blood!"
Zak's words knocked Dnzzt off his guard emotionally, wrapped his heart in confusion like some devious mental whip. Drizzt was a seasoned warrior, though, and his reflexes did not register the emotional distraction. A scimitar came up to catch the descending sword and deflected it harmlessly aside.
"Murderer!" Zak snarled openly. "Did you enjoy the dying child's screams?" He came at Drizzt in a furious whirl, swords dipping and diving, slicing at every angle.
Drizzt, enraged by the hypocrite's accusations, matched the fury, screaming out for no better reason than to hear the anger of his own voice.
Any watching the battle would have found no breath in the next few blurring moments. Never had the Underdark witnessed such a vicious fight as when these two masters of the blade each attacked the demon possessing the other-and himself.
Adamantite sparked and nicked, droplets of blood spat. tered both the combatants, though neither felt any pain, , and neither knew if he'd injured the other.
Drizzt came with a two-blade sidelong swipe that drove Zak's swords out wide. Zak followed the motion quickly, turned a complete circle, and slammed back into Drizzt's thrusting scimitars with enough force to knock the young warrior from his feet. Drizzt fell into a roll and came back up to meet his charging adversary.
A thought came over him.
Drizzt came up high, too high, and Zak drove him back on his heels. Drizzt knew what would soon be coming; he invited it openly. Zak kept Drizzt's weapons high through sev. eral combined maneuvers. He then went with the move that had defeated Drizzt in the past, expecting that the best Drizzt could attain would be equal footing: double-thrust low.
Drizzt executed the appropriate cross-down parry, as he had to, and Zak tensed, waiting for his eager opponent to try to improve the move. "Child killer!" he growled, goading on Drizzt.
He didn't know that Drizzt had found the solution. With all the anger he had ever known, all the disappointments of his young life gathering within his foot, Drizzt focused on Zak. That smug face, feigning smiles and drooling for blood.
Between the hilts, between the eyes, Drizzt kicked, blowing out every ounce of rage in a single blow.
Zak's nose crunched flat. His eyes lolled upward, and blood exploded over his hollow cheeks. Zak knew that he was falling, that the devilish young warrior would be on him in a flash, gaining an advantage that Zak could not hope to overcome.
"What of you, Zaknafein Do'Urden?" he heard Drizzt snarl, distantly, as though he were falling far away. "I have heard of the exploits of House Do'Urden's weapon master!
How he so enjoys killing!" The voice was closer now, as
Drizzt stalked in, and as the rebounding rage of Zaknafein sent him spiraling back to the battle.
"I have heard how murder comes so very easily to Zaknafein!" Drizzt spat derisively. "The murder of clerics, of other drow! Do you so enjoy it all?" He ended the question with a blow from each scimitar, attacks meant to kill Zak, to kill the demon in them both.
But Zaknafein was now fully back to consciousness, hating himself and Drizzt equally. At the last moment, his swords came up and crossed, lightning fast, throwing Drizzt's arms wide. Then Zak finished with a kick of his own, not so strong from the prone position but accurate in its search for Drizzt's groin.
Drizzt sucked in his breath and twirled away, forcing himself back into composure when he saw Zaknafein, still dazed, rising to his feet. "Do you so enjoy it all?" he managed to ask again.
"Enjoy?" the weapon master echoed.
"Does it bring you pleasure?" Drizzt grimaced.
"Satisfaction!" Zak corrected. "I kill. Yes, I kill”
"You teach others to kill!"
"To kill drow!" Zak roared, and he was back in Drizzt's face, his weapons up but waiting for Drizzt to make the next move.
Zak's words again entwined Drizzt in a mesh of confusion. Who was this drow standing before him?
"Do you think that your mother would let me live if I did not serve her evil designs?" Zak cried. Drizzt did not understand.
"She hates me” Zak said, more in control as he began to understand Drizzt's confusion, "despises me for what I know” Drizzt cocked his head.
"Are you so blind to the evil around you?" Zak yelled in his face. "Or has it consumed you, as it consumes all of them, in this murderous frenzy that we call life?"
"The frenzy that holds you?" Drizzt retorted, but there was little conviction in his voice now. If he understood Zak's words correctly-if Zak played the killing game simply because of his hatred for the perverted drow-the most Drizzt could blame him for was cowardice.
"No frenzy holds me” Zak replied. "I live as best I can. survive in a world that is not my own, not my heart” The lament in his words, the droop of his head as he admitted his helplessness, struck a familiar chord in Drizzt. "I kill, kill drow, to serve Matron Malice-to placate the rage, the frustration, that I know in my soul. When I hear the children scream . . . " His gaze snapped up on Drizzt and he rushed in all of a sudden, his fury returned tenfold.
Drizzt tried to get his scimitars up, but Zak knocked one of them across the room and drove the other aside. He rushed in step with Drizzt's awkward retreat until he had Drizzt pinned against a wall. The tip of Zak's sword drew a droplet of blood from Drizzt's throat.
"The child lives!" Drizzt gasped. "I swear, I did not kill the elven child!"
Zak relaxed a bit but still held Drizzt, sword to throat. Dinin said-"
"Dinin was mistaken” Drizzt replied frantically. "Fooled by me. I knocked the child down-only to spare her-and covered her with the blood of her murdered mother to mask my own cowardice!"
Zak leaped back, overwhelmed.
"I killed no elves that day” Drizzt said to him. "The only times I desired to kill were my own companions!"
"So now we know” said Briza, staring into the scrying bowl, watching the conclusion of the battle between Drizzt and Zaknafein and hearing their every word. "It was Drizzt who angered the Spider Queen”
"You suspected him all along, as did I” Matron Malice replied, "though we both hoped differently.
"So much promise!" Briza lamented. "How I wish that one had learned his place, his values. Perhaps. . . "
"Mercy?" Matron Malice snapped at her. "Do you show mercy that would further invoke the Spider Queen's displeasure?"
"No, Matron” Briza replied. "I had only hoped that Drizzt could be used in the future, as you have used Zaknafein all these years. Zaknafein is growing older”
"We are about to fight a war, my daughter” Malice reminded her. "Lloth must be appeased. Your brother has brought his fate upon himself; his actions were his own to decide”
"He decided wrongly”
The words hit Zaknafein harder than Drizzt's boot had.
The weapon master threw his swords to the ends of the room and rushed in on Drizzt. He buried him in a hug so intense that it took the young drow a long moment to even realize what had happened.
"You have survived!" Zak said, his voice broken by muf. fled tears. "Survived the Academy, where all the others died!"
Drizzt returned the embrace, tentatively, still not guessing the depth of Zak's elation.
"My son!"
Drizzt nearly fainted, overwhelmed by the admission of what he had always suspected, and even more so by the knowledge that he was not the only one in his dark world angered by the ways of the drow. He was not alone.
"Why?" Drizzt asked, pushing Zak out to arm's length.
"Why have you stayed?" Zak looked at him incredulously. "Where would 1 go? No one, not even a drow weapon master would survive for long out in the caverns of the Underdark. Tho many monsters, and other races, hunger for the sweet blood of dark elves”
"Surely you had options”
"The surface?" Zak replied. "Th face the painful inferno every day? No, my son, I am trapped, as you are trapped” Drizzt had feared that statement, had feared that he would find no solution from his newfound father to the dilemma that was his life. Perhaps there were no answers.
"You will do well in Menzoberranzan” Zak said to comfort him. "You are strong, and Matron Malice will find an appropriate place for your talents, whatever your heart may desire”
"To live a life of assassinations, as you have?" Drizzt asked, trying futilely to keep the rage out of his words.
"What choice is before us?" Zak answered, his eyes seeking the unjudging stone of the floor.
"I will not kill drow” Drizzt declared flatly.
Zak's eyes snapped back on him. "You will” he assured his son. "In Menzoberranzan, you will kill or be killed”
Drizzt looked away, but Zak's words pursued him, could not be blocked out.
"There is no other way; the weapon master continued softly. "Such is our world. Such is our life. You have escaped this long, but you will find that your luck soon will change”
He grabbed Drizzt's chin firmly and forced his son to look at him directly.
"I wish that it could be different; Zak said honestly, "but it is not such a bad life. I do not lament killing dark elves. I perceive their deaths as their salvation from this wicked existence. If they care so dearly for their Spider Queen, then let them go and visit her!"
Zak's growing smile washed away suddenly. "Except for the children” he whispered. "Often have I heard the cries of dying children, though never, I promise you, have I caused them. I have always wondered if they, too, are evil, born evil. Or if the weight of our dark world bends them to fit our foul ways”
"The ways of the demon Lloth; Drizzt agreed.
They both paused for many heartbeats, each privately weighing the realities of his own personal dilemma. Zak was next to speak, having long ago come to terms with the life that was offered to him.
"Lloth; he chuckled. "She is a vicious queen, that one. I would sacrifice everything for a chance at her ugly face!"
"I almost believe you would” Drizzt whispered, finding his smile.
Zak jumped back from him. "I would indeed” he laughed heartily. "So would you!"
Drizzt flipped his lone scimitar up into the air, letting it spin over twice before catching it again by the hilt. "True enough!" he cried. "But no longer would I be alone!"
Chapter 26
Angler Of The Underdark
Drizzt wandered alone through the maze of Menzoberranzan, drifting past the stalagmite mounds, under the leering points of the great stone spears that hung from the cavern's high ceiling. Matron Malice had specifically ordered all of the family to remain within the house, fearing an assassination attempt by House Hun'ett. Too much had happened to Drizzt this day for him to obey. He had to think, and contemplating such blasphemous thoughts, even silently, in a house full of nervous clerics might get him into serious trouble.
This was the quiet time of the city; the heat-light of Nar-bondel was only a sliver at the stone's base, and most of the drow comfortably slept within their stone houses. Soon after he slipped through the adamantite gate of the House Do'Urden compound, Drizzt began to understand the wisdom of Matron Malice's command. The city's quiet now' seemed to him like the crouched hush of a predator. It was poised to drop upon him from behind everyone of the: many blind corners he faced on this trek. "
He would find no solace here in which he might truly contemplate the day's events, the revelations of Zaknafein, kindred in more than blood. Drizzt decided to break all the rules-that was the way of the drow, after all-and head out of the city, down the tunnels he knew so well from his weeks of patrol.
An hour later, he was still walking, lost in thought and feeling safe enough, for he was well within the boundaries of the patrol region. '
He entered a high corridor, ten paces wide and with broken walls lined in loose rubble and crossed by many ledges.
It seemed as though the passage once had been much wider.
The ceiling was far beyond sight, but Drizzt had been through here a dozen times, up on the many ledges, and he gave the place no thought.
He envisioned the future, the times that he and Zaknafein, his father, would share now that no secrets separated them.
Together they would be unbeatable, a team of weapon masters, bonded by steel and emotions. Did House Hun'ett truly understand what it would be facing? The smile on Drizzt's face disappeared as soon as he considered the implications: he and Zak, together, cutting through House Hun'ett's ranks with deadly ease, through the ranks of drow elves-killing their own people.
Drizzt leaned against the wall for support, understanding firsthand the frustration that had racked his father for many centuries. Drizzt did not want to be like Zaknafein, living only to kill, existing in a protective sphere of violence, but what choices lay before him? Leave the city?
Zak had balked when Drizzt asked him why he had not left. "Where would I go?" Drizzt whispered now, echoing Zak's words. His father had proclaimed them trapped, and so it seemed to Drizzt.
"Where would I go?" he asked again. "Travel the Underdark, where our people are so despised and a single drow would become a target for everything he passed? Or to the surface, perhaps, and let that ball of fire in the sky burn out my eyes so that I may not witness my own death when the elven folk descend upon me?"
The logic of the reasoning trapped Drizzt as it had trapped Zak. Where could a drow elf go? Nowhere in all the Realms would an elf of dark skin be accepted.
Was the choice then to kill? to kill drow?
Drizzt rolled over against the wall, his physical movement an unconscious act, for his mind whirled down the maze of his future. It took him a moment to realize that his back was against something other than stone.
He tried to leap away, alert again now that his surroundings were not as they should be. When he pushed out, his feet came up from the ground and he landed back in his original position. Frantically, before he took the time to consider his predicament, Drizzt reached behind his neck with both hands.
They, too, stuck fast to the translucent cord that held him. Drizzt knew his folly then, and all the tugging in the world would not free his hands from the line of the angler of the Underdark, a cave fisher.
"Foo!!" he scolded himself as he felt himself lifted from the ground. He should have suspected this, should have been more careful alone in the caverns. But to reach out bare-handed! He looked down at the hilts of his scimitars, useless in their sheaths.
The cave fisher reeled him in, pulled him up the long wall toward its waiting maw.
Masoj Hun'ett smiled smugly to himself as he watched Drizzt depart the city. Time was running short for him, and Matron SiNafay would not be pleased if he failed again in his mission to destroy the secondboy of House Do'Urden. Now; Masoj's patience had apparently paid off, for Drizzt had come out alone, had left the city! There were no witnesses. It was too easy.
Eagerly the wizard pulled the onyx figurine from his pouch and dropped it to the ground. "Guenhwyvar!" he called as loudly as he dared, glancing around at the nearest stalagmite house for signs of activity.
The dark smoke appeared and transformed a moment later into Masoj's magical panther. Masoj rubbed his hands together, thinking himself marvelous for having concocted such a devious and ironic end to the heroics of Drizzt Do'Urden
"I have a job for you” he told the cat, "one that you'll not enjoy!"
Guenhwyvar slumped casually and yawned as though the wizard's words were hardly a revelation.
"Your point companion has gone out on patrol” Masoj explained as he pointed down the tunnel, "by himself. It's too dangerous”
Guenhwyvar stood back up, suddenly very interested.
"Drizzt should not be out there alone” Masoj continued.
"He could get killed”
The evil inflections of his voice told the panther his intent before he ever spoke the words.
"Go to him, my pet” Masoj purred. "Find him out there in the gloom and kill him!" He studied Guenhwyvar's reaction, measured the horror he had laid on the cat. Guenhwyvar stood rigid, as unmoving as the statue used to summon it.
"Go!" Masoj ordered. "You cannot resist your master's commands! I am your master, unthinking beast! You seem to forget that fact too often!"
Guenhwyvar resisted for a long moment, a heroic act in it. self, but the magic's urges, the incessant pull of the master's command, outweighed any instinctive feelings the great panther might have had. Reluctantly at first, but then pulled by the primordial desires of the hunt, Guenhwyvar sped off between the enchanted statues guarding the tunnel and easily found Drizzt's scent.
Alton DeVir slumped back behind the largest of the stalagmite mounds, disappointed at Masoj's tactics. Masoj would let the cat do his work for him; Alton would not even witness Drizzt Do'Urden's death!
Alton fingered the powerful wand that Matron SiNafay had given to him when he set out after Masoj that night. It seemed that the item would play no role in Drizzt's demise.
Alton took comfort in the item, knowing that he would have ample opportunity to put it to proper use against the remainder of House Do'Urden.
Drizzt fought for the first half of his ascent, kicking and spinning, ducking his shoulders under any outcrop he passed in a futile effort to hold back the pull of the cave fisher. He knew from the outset, though, against those war. rior instincts that refused to surrender, that he had no chance to halt the incessant pull.
Halfway up, one shoulder bloodied, the other bruised, and with the floor nearly thirty feet below him, Drizzt resigned himself to his fate. If he would find a chance against the crablike monster that waited at the top of the line, it would be in the last instant of the ascent. For now, he could only watch and wait.
Perhaps death was not so bad an alternative to the life he would find among the drow, trapped within the evil framework of their dark society. Even Zaknafein, so strong and powerful and wise with age, had never been able to come to terms with his existence in Menzoberranzan; what chance did Drizzt have?
When Drizzt had passed through his small bout with self-pity, when the angle of his ascent changed, showing him the lip of the final ledge, the fighting spirit within him took over once again. The cave fisher might have him, he decided then, but he'd put a boot or two into the thing's eyes before it got its meal!
He could hear the clacking of the anxious monster's eight crablike legs. Drizzt had seen a cave fisher before, though it had scrambled away before he and his patrol could catch up to it. He had imagined it then, and could imagine it now, in battle. Two of its legs ended in wicked claws, pincers that snipped up prey to fit into the maw.
Drizzt turned himself face-in to the cliff, wanting to view the thing as soon as his head crested the ledge. The anxious clacking grew louder, resounding alongside the thumping of Drizzt's heart. He reached the ledge.
Drizzt peeked over, only a foot or two from the monster's long proboscis, with the maw just inches behind. Pincers reached out to grab him before he could get his footing; he would get no chance to kick out at the thing.
He closed his eyes, hoping again that death would be preferable to his life in Menzoberranzan.
A familiar growl then brought him from his thoughts.
Slipping through the maze of ledges, Guenhwyvar came in sight of the cave fisher and Drizzt just before Drizzt had reached the final ledge. This was a moment of salvation or death for the cat as surely as for Drizzt. Guenhwyvar had traveled here under Masoj's direct command, giving no consideration to its duty and acting only on its own instincts in accord with the compelling magic. Guenhwyvar could not go against that edict, that premise for the cat's very existence . .. until now.
The scene before the panther, with Drizzt only seconds from death, brought to Guenhwyvar a strength unknown to the cat, and unforeseen to the creator of the magical figurine. That instant of terror gave a life to Guenhwyvar beyond the scope of the magic.
By the time Drizzt had opened his eyes, the battle was in full fury. Guenhwyvar leaped atop the cave fisher but nearly went right over, for the monster's six remaining legs were rooted to the stone by the same goo that held Drizzt fast to the long filament. Undaunted, the cat raked and bit, a ball of frenzy trying to find a break in the fisher's armored shell.
The monster retaliated with its pincers, flipping them over its back with surprising agility and finding one of Guenhwyvar's forelegs.
Drizzt was no longer being pulled in; the monster had other business to attend to.
Pincers cut through Guenhwyvar's soft flesh, but the cat's blood was not the only dark fluid staining the cave fisher's back. Powerful feline claws tore up a section of the shell armor, and great teeth plunged beneath it. As the cave fisher's blood splattered to the stone, its legs began to slip.
Watching the goo under the crablike legs dissolve as the blood of the monster struck it, Drizzt understood what would happen as a line of that same blood made its way down the filament, toward him. He would have to strike fast if the opportunity came; he would have to be ready to help Guenhwyvar.
The fisher stumbled to the side, rolling Guenhwyvar away and spinning Dmzt over in a complete bumping circuit.
Still the blood oozed down the line, and Drizzt felt the filament's hold loosen from his top hand as the liquid came in contact.
Guenhwyvar was up again, facing the fisher, looking for an attack route through the waiting pincers.
Drizzt's hand was free. He snapped up a scimitar and dove straight ahead, sinking the tip into the fisher's side. The monster reeled about, the jolt and the continuing blood flow shaking Drizzt from the filament altogether. The drow was agile enough to find a handhold before he had fallen far, though his drawn scimitar tumbled down to the floor. Drizzt's diversion opened the fisher's defenses for just a moment, and Guenhwyvar did not hesitate. The cat barreled into its foe, teeth finding the same fleshy hold they had already ripped. They went deeper, under the skin, " crushing organs as Guenhwyvar's raking claws kept the pincers at bay.
By the time Drizzt climbed back to the level of the battle, the cave fisher shuddered in the throes of death. Drizzt pulled himself up and rushed to his friend's side. Guenhwyvar retreated step for step, its ears flattened and teeth bared.
At first, Drizzt thought that the pain of a wound blinded the cat, but a quick survey dispelled that theory. Guenhwyvar had only one injury, and that was not serious. Drizzt had seen the cat with worse.
Guenhwyvar continued to retreat, continued to growl, as the incesant pounding of Masoi's command, back again after the instant of terror, hammered at its heart. The cat fought the urges, tried to see Drizzt as an ally, not as prey, but the urges.
"What is wrong, my friend?" Drizzt asked softly, resisting the urge to draw his remaining blade in defense. He dropped to one knee. "Do you not recognize me? How often we have fought together!"
Guenhwyvar crouched low and tamped down its hind legs, preparing, Drizzt knew, to spring. Still Drizzt did not draw his weapon, did nothing to threaten the cat. He had to trust that Guenhwyvar was true to his perceptions, that the panther was everything he believed it to be. What now could be guiding these unfamiliar reactions? What had brought Guenhwyvar out here at this late hour?
Drizzt found his answers when he remembered Matron Malice's warnings about leaving House Do'Urden.
"Masoj sent you to kill me!" he said bluntly. His tone confused the cat, and it relaxed a bit, not yet ready to spring.
"You saved me, Guenhwyvar. You resisted the command” Guenhwyvar's growl sounded in protest.
"You could have let the cave fisher do the deed for you” Drizzt retorted, "but you did not! You charged in and saved my life! Fight the urges, Guenhwyvar! Remember me as your friend, a better companion than Masoj Hun'ett could ever be!"
Guenhwyvar backed away another step, caught in a pull that it could not yet resolve. Drizzt watched the cat's ears come up from its head and knew that he was winning the contest.
"Masoj claims ownership” he went on, confident that the cat, through some intelligence Drizzt could not know, understood the meaning of his words. "I claim friendship. I am your friend, Guenhwyvar, and I'll not fight against you” He leaped forward, arms unthreateningly wide, face and chest fully exposed. "Even at the cost of my own life!"
Guenhwyvar did not strike. Emotions pulled at the cat stronger than any magical spell, those same emotions that had put Guenhwyvar into action when it first saw Drizzt in the cave fisher's clutches.
Guenhwyvar reared up and leaped out, crashing into Drizzt and knocking him to his back, then burying him in a rush of playful slaps and mock bites.
The two friends had won again; they had defeated two foes this day.
When Drizzt paused from the greeting to consider all that had transpired, though, he realized that one of the victories was not yet complete. Guenhwyvar was his in spirit now' but still held by another, one who did not deserve the cat, who enslaved the cat in a life that Drizzt could no longer witness.
None of the confusion that had followed Drizzt Do'Urden out of Menzoberranzan that night remained. For the first time in his life, he saw the road he must follow, the path to his own freedom. He remembered Zaknafein's warnings, and the same impossible alternatives that he had contemplated, to no resolution.
Where, indeed, could a drow elf go?
"Worse to be trapped within a lie; he whispered absently.
The panther cocked its head to the side, sensing again that Drizzt's words carried great importance. Drizzt returned the curious stare with one that came suddenly grim.
"Take me to your master” he demanded, "your false master”
This was the quiet time of the city; the heat-light of Nar-bondel was only a sliver at the stone's base, and most of the drow comfortably slept within their stone houses. Soon after he slipped through the adamantite gate of the House Do'Urden compound, Drizzt began to understand the wisdom of Matron Malice's command. The city's quiet now' seemed to him like the crouched hush of a predator. It was poised to drop upon him from behind everyone of the: many blind corners he faced on this trek. "
He would find no solace here in which he might truly contemplate the day's events, the revelations of Zaknafein, kindred in more than blood. Drizzt decided to break all the rules-that was the way of the drow, after all-and head out of the city, down the tunnels he knew so well from his weeks of patrol.
An hour later, he was still walking, lost in thought and feeling safe enough, for he was well within the boundaries of the patrol region. '
He entered a high corridor, ten paces wide and with broken walls lined in loose rubble and crossed by many ledges.
It seemed as though the passage once had been much wider.
The ceiling was far beyond sight, but Drizzt had been through here a dozen times, up on the many ledges, and he gave the place no thought.
He envisioned the future, the times that he and Zaknafein, his father, would share now that no secrets separated them.
Together they would be unbeatable, a team of weapon masters, bonded by steel and emotions. Did House Hun'ett truly understand what it would be facing? The smile on Drizzt's face disappeared as soon as he considered the implications: he and Zak, together, cutting through House Hun'ett's ranks with deadly ease, through the ranks of drow elves-killing their own people.
Drizzt leaned against the wall for support, understanding firsthand the frustration that had racked his father for many centuries. Drizzt did not want to be like Zaknafein, living only to kill, existing in a protective sphere of violence, but what choices lay before him? Leave the city?
Zak had balked when Drizzt asked him why he had not left. "Where would I go?" Drizzt whispered now, echoing Zak's words. His father had proclaimed them trapped, and so it seemed to Drizzt.
"Where would I go?" he asked again. "Travel the Underdark, where our people are so despised and a single drow would become a target for everything he passed? Or to the surface, perhaps, and let that ball of fire in the sky burn out my eyes so that I may not witness my own death when the elven folk descend upon me?"
The logic of the reasoning trapped Drizzt as it had trapped Zak. Where could a drow elf go? Nowhere in all the Realms would an elf of dark skin be accepted.
Was the choice then to kill? to kill drow?
Drizzt rolled over against the wall, his physical movement an unconscious act, for his mind whirled down the maze of his future. It took him a moment to realize that his back was against something other than stone.
He tried to leap away, alert again now that his surroundings were not as they should be. When he pushed out, his feet came up from the ground and he landed back in his original position. Frantically, before he took the time to consider his predicament, Drizzt reached behind his neck with both hands.
They, too, stuck fast to the translucent cord that held him. Drizzt knew his folly then, and all the tugging in the world would not free his hands from the line of the angler of the Underdark, a cave fisher.
"Foo!!" he scolded himself as he felt himself lifted from the ground. He should have suspected this, should have been more careful alone in the caverns. But to reach out bare-handed! He looked down at the hilts of his scimitars, useless in their sheaths.
The cave fisher reeled him in, pulled him up the long wall toward its waiting maw.
Masoj Hun'ett smiled smugly to himself as he watched Drizzt depart the city. Time was running short for him, and Matron SiNafay would not be pleased if he failed again in his mission to destroy the secondboy of House Do'Urden. Now; Masoj's patience had apparently paid off, for Drizzt had come out alone, had left the city! There were no witnesses. It was too easy.
Eagerly the wizard pulled the onyx figurine from his pouch and dropped it to the ground. "Guenhwyvar!" he called as loudly as he dared, glancing around at the nearest stalagmite house for signs of activity.
The dark smoke appeared and transformed a moment later into Masoj's magical panther. Masoj rubbed his hands together, thinking himself marvelous for having concocted such a devious and ironic end to the heroics of Drizzt Do'Urden
"I have a job for you” he told the cat, "one that you'll not enjoy!"
Guenhwyvar slumped casually and yawned as though the wizard's words were hardly a revelation.
"Your point companion has gone out on patrol” Masoj explained as he pointed down the tunnel, "by himself. It's too dangerous”
Guenhwyvar stood back up, suddenly very interested.
"Drizzt should not be out there alone” Masoj continued.
"He could get killed”
The evil inflections of his voice told the panther his intent before he ever spoke the words.
"Go to him, my pet” Masoj purred. "Find him out there in the gloom and kill him!" He studied Guenhwyvar's reaction, measured the horror he had laid on the cat. Guenhwyvar stood rigid, as unmoving as the statue used to summon it.
"Go!" Masoj ordered. "You cannot resist your master's commands! I am your master, unthinking beast! You seem to forget that fact too often!"
Guenhwyvar resisted for a long moment, a heroic act in it. self, but the magic's urges, the incessant pull of the master's command, outweighed any instinctive feelings the great panther might have had. Reluctantly at first, but then pulled by the primordial desires of the hunt, Guenhwyvar sped off between the enchanted statues guarding the tunnel and easily found Drizzt's scent.
Alton DeVir slumped back behind the largest of the stalagmite mounds, disappointed at Masoj's tactics. Masoj would let the cat do his work for him; Alton would not even witness Drizzt Do'Urden's death!
Alton fingered the powerful wand that Matron SiNafay had given to him when he set out after Masoj that night. It seemed that the item would play no role in Drizzt's demise.
Alton took comfort in the item, knowing that he would have ample opportunity to put it to proper use against the remainder of House Do'Urden.
Drizzt fought for the first half of his ascent, kicking and spinning, ducking his shoulders under any outcrop he passed in a futile effort to hold back the pull of the cave fisher. He knew from the outset, though, against those war. rior instincts that refused to surrender, that he had no chance to halt the incessant pull.
Halfway up, one shoulder bloodied, the other bruised, and with the floor nearly thirty feet below him, Drizzt resigned himself to his fate. If he would find a chance against the crablike monster that waited at the top of the line, it would be in the last instant of the ascent. For now, he could only watch and wait.
Perhaps death was not so bad an alternative to the life he would find among the drow, trapped within the evil framework of their dark society. Even Zaknafein, so strong and powerful and wise with age, had never been able to come to terms with his existence in Menzoberranzan; what chance did Drizzt have?
When Drizzt had passed through his small bout with self-pity, when the angle of his ascent changed, showing him the lip of the final ledge, the fighting spirit within him took over once again. The cave fisher might have him, he decided then, but he'd put a boot or two into the thing's eyes before it got its meal!
He could hear the clacking of the anxious monster's eight crablike legs. Drizzt had seen a cave fisher before, though it had scrambled away before he and his patrol could catch up to it. He had imagined it then, and could imagine it now, in battle. Two of its legs ended in wicked claws, pincers that snipped up prey to fit into the maw.
Drizzt turned himself face-in to the cliff, wanting to view the thing as soon as his head crested the ledge. The anxious clacking grew louder, resounding alongside the thumping of Drizzt's heart. He reached the ledge.
Drizzt peeked over, only a foot or two from the monster's long proboscis, with the maw just inches behind. Pincers reached out to grab him before he could get his footing; he would get no chance to kick out at the thing.
He closed his eyes, hoping again that death would be preferable to his life in Menzoberranzan.
A familiar growl then brought him from his thoughts.
Slipping through the maze of ledges, Guenhwyvar came in sight of the cave fisher and Drizzt just before Drizzt had reached the final ledge. This was a moment of salvation or death for the cat as surely as for Drizzt. Guenhwyvar had traveled here under Masoj's direct command, giving no consideration to its duty and acting only on its own instincts in accord with the compelling magic. Guenhwyvar could not go against that edict, that premise for the cat's very existence . .. until now.
The scene before the panther, with Drizzt only seconds from death, brought to Guenhwyvar a strength unknown to the cat, and unforeseen to the creator of the magical figurine. That instant of terror gave a life to Guenhwyvar beyond the scope of the magic.
By the time Drizzt had opened his eyes, the battle was in full fury. Guenhwyvar leaped atop the cave fisher but nearly went right over, for the monster's six remaining legs were rooted to the stone by the same goo that held Drizzt fast to the long filament. Undaunted, the cat raked and bit, a ball of frenzy trying to find a break in the fisher's armored shell.
The monster retaliated with its pincers, flipping them over its back with surprising agility and finding one of Guenhwyvar's forelegs.
Drizzt was no longer being pulled in; the monster had other business to attend to.
Pincers cut through Guenhwyvar's soft flesh, but the cat's blood was not the only dark fluid staining the cave fisher's back. Powerful feline claws tore up a section of the shell armor, and great teeth plunged beneath it. As the cave fisher's blood splattered to the stone, its legs began to slip.
Watching the goo under the crablike legs dissolve as the blood of the monster struck it, Drizzt understood what would happen as a line of that same blood made its way down the filament, toward him. He would have to strike fast if the opportunity came; he would have to be ready to help Guenhwyvar.
The fisher stumbled to the side, rolling Guenhwyvar away and spinning Dmzt over in a complete bumping circuit.
Still the blood oozed down the line, and Drizzt felt the filament's hold loosen from his top hand as the liquid came in contact.
Guenhwyvar was up again, facing the fisher, looking for an attack route through the waiting pincers.
Drizzt's hand was free. He snapped up a scimitar and dove straight ahead, sinking the tip into the fisher's side. The monster reeled about, the jolt and the continuing blood flow shaking Drizzt from the filament altogether. The drow was agile enough to find a handhold before he had fallen far, though his drawn scimitar tumbled down to the floor. Drizzt's diversion opened the fisher's defenses for just a moment, and Guenhwyvar did not hesitate. The cat barreled into its foe, teeth finding the same fleshy hold they had already ripped. They went deeper, under the skin, " crushing organs as Guenhwyvar's raking claws kept the pincers at bay.
By the time Drizzt climbed back to the level of the battle, the cave fisher shuddered in the throes of death. Drizzt pulled himself up and rushed to his friend's side. Guenhwyvar retreated step for step, its ears flattened and teeth bared.
At first, Drizzt thought that the pain of a wound blinded the cat, but a quick survey dispelled that theory. Guenhwyvar had only one injury, and that was not serious. Drizzt had seen the cat with worse.
Guenhwyvar continued to retreat, continued to growl, as the incesant pounding of Masoi's command, back again after the instant of terror, hammered at its heart. The cat fought the urges, tried to see Drizzt as an ally, not as prey, but the urges.
"What is wrong, my friend?" Drizzt asked softly, resisting the urge to draw his remaining blade in defense. He dropped to one knee. "Do you not recognize me? How often we have fought together!"
Guenhwyvar crouched low and tamped down its hind legs, preparing, Drizzt knew, to spring. Still Drizzt did not draw his weapon, did nothing to threaten the cat. He had to trust that Guenhwyvar was true to his perceptions, that the panther was everything he believed it to be. What now could be guiding these unfamiliar reactions? What had brought Guenhwyvar out here at this late hour?
Drizzt found his answers when he remembered Matron Malice's warnings about leaving House Do'Urden.
"Masoj sent you to kill me!" he said bluntly. His tone confused the cat, and it relaxed a bit, not yet ready to spring.
"You saved me, Guenhwyvar. You resisted the command” Guenhwyvar's growl sounded in protest.
"You could have let the cave fisher do the deed for you” Drizzt retorted, "but you did not! You charged in and saved my life! Fight the urges, Guenhwyvar! Remember me as your friend, a better companion than Masoj Hun'ett could ever be!"
Guenhwyvar backed away another step, caught in a pull that it could not yet resolve. Drizzt watched the cat's ears come up from its head and knew that he was winning the contest.
"Masoj claims ownership” he went on, confident that the cat, through some intelligence Drizzt could not know, understood the meaning of his words. "I claim friendship. I am your friend, Guenhwyvar, and I'll not fight against you” He leaped forward, arms unthreateningly wide, face and chest fully exposed. "Even at the cost of my own life!"
Guenhwyvar did not strike. Emotions pulled at the cat stronger than any magical spell, those same emotions that had put Guenhwyvar into action when it first saw Drizzt in the cave fisher's clutches.
Guenhwyvar reared up and leaped out, crashing into Drizzt and knocking him to his back, then burying him in a rush of playful slaps and mock bites.
The two friends had won again; they had defeated two foes this day.
When Drizzt paused from the greeting to consider all that had transpired, though, he realized that one of the victories was not yet complete. Guenhwyvar was his in spirit now' but still held by another, one who did not deserve the cat, who enslaved the cat in a life that Drizzt could no longer witness.
None of the confusion that had followed Drizzt Do'Urden out of Menzoberranzan that night remained. For the first time in his life, he saw the road he must follow, the path to his own freedom. He remembered Zaknafein's warnings, and the same impossible alternatives that he had contemplated, to no resolution.
Where, indeed, could a drow elf go?
"Worse to be trapped within a lie; he whispered absently.
The panther cocked its head to the side, sensing again that Drizzt's words carried great importance. Drizzt returned the curious stare with one that came suddenly grim.
"Take me to your master” he demanded, "your false master”
Chapter 27
Untroubled Dreams
Zaknafein sank down into his bed in an easy sleep, the most comfortable rest he had ever known. Dreams did come to him this night, a rush of dreams. Far from tumultuous, they only enhanced his comfort. Zak was free now of his secret, of the lie that had dominated every day of his adult life.
Drizzt had survived! Even the dreaded Academy of Menzoberranzan could not daunt the youth's indomitable spirit and sense of morality. Zaknafein Do'Urden was no longer alone. The dreams that played in his mind showed him the same wonderful possibilities that had followed Drizzt out of the city.
Side by side they would stand, unbeatable, two as one against the perverted foundations of Menzoberranzan.
A stinging pain in his foot brought Zak from his slumbers.
He saw Briza immediately, at the bottom of his bed, her snake whip in hand. Instinctively, Zak reached over the side to fetch his sword.
The weapon was gone. Vierna stood at the side of the room, holding it. On the opposite side, Maya held Zak's other sword.
How had they come in so stealthily? Zak wondered. Magical silence, no doubt, but Zak was still surprised that he had not sensed their presence in time. Nothing had ever caught him unawares, awake or asleep.
Never before had he slept so soundly, so peacefully. Perhaps, in Menzoberranzan, such pleasant dreams were dangerous.
"Matron Malice will see you” Briza announced.
"I am not properly dressed” Zak replied casually. "My belt and weapons, if you please”
"We do not please!" Briza snapped, more at her sisters than at Zak. "You will not need the weapons” Zak thought otherwise.
"Come, now” Briza commanded, and she raised the whip.
"I should be certain of Matron Malice's intentions before I acted so boldly, were I you” Zak warned. Briza, reminded of the power of the male she now threatened, lowered her weapon.
Zak rolled out of bed, putting the same intense glare alternately on Maya and Vierna, watching their reactions to better conclude Malice's reasons for summoning him.
They surrounded him as he left his room, keeping a cautious but ready distance from the deadly weapon master.
"Must be serious” Zak remarked quietly, so that only Briza, in front of the troupe, could hear. Briza turned and flashed him a wicked smile that did nothing to dispel his suspicions. Neither did Matron Malice, who leaned forward in her throne in anticipation even before they entered the room.
"Matron” Zak offered, dipping into a bow and pulling the side of his nightshirt out wide to draw attention to his inappropriate dress. He wanted to let Malice know his feelings of being ridiculed at such a late hour.
The matron offered no return greeting. She rested back in her throne. One slender hand rubbed her sharp chin, while her eyes locked upon Zaknafein.
"Perhaps you could tell me why you've summoned me”
Zak dared to say, his voice still holding an edge of sarcasm. "I would prefer to return to my slumbers. We should not give House Hun'ett the advantage of a tired weapon master”
"Drizzt has gone” growled Malice.
The news slapped Zak like a wet rag. He straightened, and the teasing smile disappeared from his face.
"He left the house against my commands” Malice went on.
Zak relaxed visibly; when Malice announced that Drizzt was gone, Zak had first thought that she and her devious cohorts had driven him out or killed him.
"A spirited boy” Zak remarked. "Surely he will return soon”
"Spirited” Malice echoed, and her tone did not put the description in a positive light.
"He will return” Zak said again. "There's no need for our alarm, for such extreme measures” He glared at Briza, though he knew well that the matron mother had called him to audience to do more than tell him of Drizzt's departure.
"The secondboy disobeyed the matron mother” Briza snarled, a rehearsed interruption.
"Spirited” Zak said again, trying not to chuckle. "A minor indiscretion”
"How often he seems to have those” Malice commented.
"Like another spirited male of House Do'Urden”
Zak bowed again, taking her words as a compliment. Malice already had his punishment decided, if she meant to punish him at all. His actions now, at this trial – if that's what it was-would be of little consequence.
"The boy has displeased the Spider Queen!" Malice growled, openly enraged and tired of Zak's sarcasm. "Even you were not foolish enough to do that!"
A dark cloud passed across Zak's face. This meeting was indeed serious; Drizzt's life could be at stake.
"But you know of his crime” Malice continued, easing back again. She liked that she had Zak concerned and on the defensive. She had found his vulnerable spot. It was her turn to tease.
"Leaving the house?" Zak protested. "A minor error in judgment. Lloth would not be concerned with such a trifle issue”
"Do not feign ignorance, Zaknafein. You know that the elven child lives!"
Zak lost his breath in a sharp gasp. Malice knew! Damn it all, Lloth knew!
"We are about to go to war” Malice continued calmly, "we are not in Lloth's favor, and we must correct the situation”
She eyed Zak directly. "You are aware of our ways and know that we must do this”
Zak nodded, trapped. Anything he did now to disagree would only make matters worse for Drizzt-if matters could be worse for Drizzt.
"The secondboy must be punished” Briza said.
Another rehearsed interruption, Zak knew. He wondered how many times Briza and Malice had practiced this encounter.
"Am I to punish him, then?" Zak asked. "I'll not whip the boy; that is not my place”
"His punishment is none of your concern” Malice said.
"Then why disturb my slumber?" Zak asked, trying to detach himself from Drizzt's predicament, more for Drizzt's sake than his own.
"I thought that you would wish to know” Malice replied.
"You and Drizzt became so close this day in the gym. Father and son”
She saw! Zak realized. Malice, and probably that wretched Briza, had watched the whole encounter! Zak's head drooped as he came to know that he had unwittingly played a part in Drizzt's predicament.
"An elven child lives” Malice began slowly, rolling out each word in dramatic clarity, "and a young drow must die”
"No!" The word came out of Zak before he realized he was speaking. He tried to find some escape. "Drizzt was young. He did not understand. . . "
"He knew exactly what he was doing!" Malice screamed back at him. "He does not regret his actions! He is so like you, Zaknafein! So like you”
"Then he can learn” Zak reasoned. "I have not been a burden to you, Mali-Matron Malice. You have profited by my presence. Drizzt is no less skilled than I; he can be valuable to us”
"Dangerous to us” Matron Malice corrected. "You and he standing together? The thought does not please me”
"His death will aid House Hun'ett” Zak warned, grabbing at anything he could find to defeat the matron's intent.
"The Spider Queen demands his death” Malice replied sternly. "She must be appeased if Daermon N'a'shezbaernon is to have any hope in its struggles against House Hun'ett”
"I beg you, do not kill the boy”
"Sympathy?" Malice mused. "It does not become a drow warrior, Zaknafein. Have you lost your fighting will?"
"I am old, Malice”
"Matron Malice!" Briza protested, but Zak put a look on her so cold that she lowered her snake whip before she had even begun to put it to use.
"Older still will I become if Drizzt is put to his death”
"I do not desire this either” Malice agreed, but Zak recognized her lie. She didn't care about Drizzt, or about anything else, beyond gaining the Spider Queen's favor.
"Yet I see no alternative. Drizzt has angered Lloth, and she must be appeased before our war”
Zak began to understand. This meeting wasn't about Drizzt at all. "Take me in the boy's stead” he said.
Malice's narrow grin could not hide her feigned surprise.
This was what she had desired from the very beginning.
"You are a proven fighter” the matron argued. "Your value, as you yourself have already admitted, cannot be underestimated. To sacrifice you to the Spider Queen would appease her, but what void will be left in House Do'Urden in the wake of your passing?"
" A void that Drizzt can fill” Zak replied. He secretly hoped that Drizzt, unlike he, would find some escape from it all, some way around Matron Malice's evil plots.
"You are certain of this?"
"He is my equal in battle” Zak assured her. "He will grow stronger, too, beyond what Zaknafein has ever attained”
"You are willing to do this for him?" Malice sneered, eager drool edging her mouth.
"You know that I am” Zak replied.
"Ever the fool” Malice put in.
"To your dismay” Zak continued, undaunted, "you know that Drizzt would do the same for me”
"He is young” Malice purred. "He will be taught better”
"As you taught me?" snapped Zak.
Malice's victorious grin became a grimace. "I warn you, Zaknafein; she growled in all her vile rage. "If you do any. thing to disrupt the ceremony to appease the Spider Queen, if, in the end of your wasted life, you choose to anger me one final time, I will give Drizzt to Briza. She and her torturous toys will give him to Lloth!"
Unafraid, Zak held his head high. "I have offered myself, Malice” he spat. "Have your fun while you may. In the end, Zaknafein will be at peace; Matron Malice Do'Urden will ever be at war!"
Shaking in anger, the moment of triumph stolen by a few simple words, Malice could only whisper, "Take him!"
Zak offered no resistance as Vierna and Maya tied him to the spider-shaped altar in the chapel. He watched Vierna mostly, seeing an edge of sympathy rimming her quiet eyes. She, too, might have been like him, but whatever hope he had for that possibility had been buried long ago under the relentless preaching of the Spider Queen.
"You are sad” Zak remarked to her.
Vierna straightened and tugged tightly on one of Zak's bonds, causing him to grimace in pain. "A pity” she replied as coldly as she could. "House Do'Urden must give much to repay Drizzt's foolish deed. I would have enjoyed watching the two of you together in battle”
"House Hun'ett would not have enjoyed the sight” Zak replied with a wink. "Cry not, . .. my daughter” Vierna slapped him across the face. "Take your lies to your grave! "
"Deny it as you choose, Vierna” was all that Zak cared to reply.
Vierna and Maya backed away from the altar. Vierna fought to hold her scowl and Maya bit back an amused chuckle, as Matron Malice and Briza entered the room. The matron mother wore her greatest ceremonial robe, black and weblike, clinging and floating about her all at once, and Briza carried a sacred coffer.
Zak paid them no heed as they began their ritual, chant. ing for the Spider Queen, offering their hopes for appeasement. Zak had his own hopes at that moment.
"Beat them all” he whispered under his breath. "Do more than survive, my son, as I have survived. Live! Be true to the callings in your heart”
Braziers roared to life; the room glowed. Zak felt the heat, knew that contact to that darker plane had been achieved.
"Take this. . . " he heard Matron Malice chant, but he put the words out of his thoughts and continued the final prayers of his life.
The spider-shaped dagger hovered over his chest. Malice clenched the instrument in her bony hands, the sheen of her sweat-soaked skin catching the orange reflection of the fires in a surrealistic glow.
Surreal, like the transition from life to death.
Drizzt had survived! Even the dreaded Academy of Menzoberranzan could not daunt the youth's indomitable spirit and sense of morality. Zaknafein Do'Urden was no longer alone. The dreams that played in his mind showed him the same wonderful possibilities that had followed Drizzt out of the city.
Side by side they would stand, unbeatable, two as one against the perverted foundations of Menzoberranzan.
A stinging pain in his foot brought Zak from his slumbers.
He saw Briza immediately, at the bottom of his bed, her snake whip in hand. Instinctively, Zak reached over the side to fetch his sword.
The weapon was gone. Vierna stood at the side of the room, holding it. On the opposite side, Maya held Zak's other sword.
How had they come in so stealthily? Zak wondered. Magical silence, no doubt, but Zak was still surprised that he had not sensed their presence in time. Nothing had ever caught him unawares, awake or asleep.
Never before had he slept so soundly, so peacefully. Perhaps, in Menzoberranzan, such pleasant dreams were dangerous.
"Matron Malice will see you” Briza announced.
"I am not properly dressed” Zak replied casually. "My belt and weapons, if you please”
"We do not please!" Briza snapped, more at her sisters than at Zak. "You will not need the weapons” Zak thought otherwise.
"Come, now” Briza commanded, and she raised the whip.
"I should be certain of Matron Malice's intentions before I acted so boldly, were I you” Zak warned. Briza, reminded of the power of the male she now threatened, lowered her weapon.
Zak rolled out of bed, putting the same intense glare alternately on Maya and Vierna, watching their reactions to better conclude Malice's reasons for summoning him.
They surrounded him as he left his room, keeping a cautious but ready distance from the deadly weapon master.
"Must be serious” Zak remarked quietly, so that only Briza, in front of the troupe, could hear. Briza turned and flashed him a wicked smile that did nothing to dispel his suspicions. Neither did Matron Malice, who leaned forward in her throne in anticipation even before they entered the room.
"Matron” Zak offered, dipping into a bow and pulling the side of his nightshirt out wide to draw attention to his inappropriate dress. He wanted to let Malice know his feelings of being ridiculed at such a late hour.
The matron offered no return greeting. She rested back in her throne. One slender hand rubbed her sharp chin, while her eyes locked upon Zaknafein.
"Perhaps you could tell me why you've summoned me”
Zak dared to say, his voice still holding an edge of sarcasm. "I would prefer to return to my slumbers. We should not give House Hun'ett the advantage of a tired weapon master”
"Drizzt has gone” growled Malice.
The news slapped Zak like a wet rag. He straightened, and the teasing smile disappeared from his face.
"He left the house against my commands” Malice went on.
Zak relaxed visibly; when Malice announced that Drizzt was gone, Zak had first thought that she and her devious cohorts had driven him out or killed him.
"A spirited boy” Zak remarked. "Surely he will return soon”
"Spirited” Malice echoed, and her tone did not put the description in a positive light.
"He will return” Zak said again. "There's no need for our alarm, for such extreme measures” He glared at Briza, though he knew well that the matron mother had called him to audience to do more than tell him of Drizzt's departure.
"The secondboy disobeyed the matron mother” Briza snarled, a rehearsed interruption.
"Spirited” Zak said again, trying not to chuckle. "A minor indiscretion”
"How often he seems to have those” Malice commented.
"Like another spirited male of House Do'Urden”
Zak bowed again, taking her words as a compliment. Malice already had his punishment decided, if she meant to punish him at all. His actions now, at this trial – if that's what it was-would be of little consequence.
"The boy has displeased the Spider Queen!" Malice growled, openly enraged and tired of Zak's sarcasm. "Even you were not foolish enough to do that!"
A dark cloud passed across Zak's face. This meeting was indeed serious; Drizzt's life could be at stake.
"But you know of his crime” Malice continued, easing back again. She liked that she had Zak concerned and on the defensive. She had found his vulnerable spot. It was her turn to tease.
"Leaving the house?" Zak protested. "A minor error in judgment. Lloth would not be concerned with such a trifle issue”
"Do not feign ignorance, Zaknafein. You know that the elven child lives!"
Zak lost his breath in a sharp gasp. Malice knew! Damn it all, Lloth knew!
"We are about to go to war” Malice continued calmly, "we are not in Lloth's favor, and we must correct the situation”
She eyed Zak directly. "You are aware of our ways and know that we must do this”
Zak nodded, trapped. Anything he did now to disagree would only make matters worse for Drizzt-if matters could be worse for Drizzt.
"The secondboy must be punished” Briza said.
Another rehearsed interruption, Zak knew. He wondered how many times Briza and Malice had practiced this encounter.
"Am I to punish him, then?" Zak asked. "I'll not whip the boy; that is not my place”
"His punishment is none of your concern” Malice said.
"Then why disturb my slumber?" Zak asked, trying to detach himself from Drizzt's predicament, more for Drizzt's sake than his own.
"I thought that you would wish to know” Malice replied.
"You and Drizzt became so close this day in the gym. Father and son”
She saw! Zak realized. Malice, and probably that wretched Briza, had watched the whole encounter! Zak's head drooped as he came to know that he had unwittingly played a part in Drizzt's predicament.
"An elven child lives” Malice began slowly, rolling out each word in dramatic clarity, "and a young drow must die”
"No!" The word came out of Zak before he realized he was speaking. He tried to find some escape. "Drizzt was young. He did not understand. . . "
"He knew exactly what he was doing!" Malice screamed back at him. "He does not regret his actions! He is so like you, Zaknafein! So like you”
"Then he can learn” Zak reasoned. "I have not been a burden to you, Mali-Matron Malice. You have profited by my presence. Drizzt is no less skilled than I; he can be valuable to us”
"Dangerous to us” Matron Malice corrected. "You and he standing together? The thought does not please me”
"His death will aid House Hun'ett” Zak warned, grabbing at anything he could find to defeat the matron's intent.
"The Spider Queen demands his death” Malice replied sternly. "She must be appeased if Daermon N'a'shezbaernon is to have any hope in its struggles against House Hun'ett”
"I beg you, do not kill the boy”
"Sympathy?" Malice mused. "It does not become a drow warrior, Zaknafein. Have you lost your fighting will?"
"I am old, Malice”
"Matron Malice!" Briza protested, but Zak put a look on her so cold that she lowered her snake whip before she had even begun to put it to use.
"Older still will I become if Drizzt is put to his death”
"I do not desire this either” Malice agreed, but Zak recognized her lie. She didn't care about Drizzt, or about anything else, beyond gaining the Spider Queen's favor.
"Yet I see no alternative. Drizzt has angered Lloth, and she must be appeased before our war”
Zak began to understand. This meeting wasn't about Drizzt at all. "Take me in the boy's stead” he said.
Malice's narrow grin could not hide her feigned surprise.
This was what she had desired from the very beginning.
"You are a proven fighter” the matron argued. "Your value, as you yourself have already admitted, cannot be underestimated. To sacrifice you to the Spider Queen would appease her, but what void will be left in House Do'Urden in the wake of your passing?"
" A void that Drizzt can fill” Zak replied. He secretly hoped that Drizzt, unlike he, would find some escape from it all, some way around Matron Malice's evil plots.
"You are certain of this?"
"He is my equal in battle” Zak assured her. "He will grow stronger, too, beyond what Zaknafein has ever attained”
"You are willing to do this for him?" Malice sneered, eager drool edging her mouth.
"You know that I am” Zak replied.
"Ever the fool” Malice put in.
"To your dismay” Zak continued, undaunted, "you know that Drizzt would do the same for me”
"He is young” Malice purred. "He will be taught better”
"As you taught me?" snapped Zak.
Malice's victorious grin became a grimace. "I warn you, Zaknafein; she growled in all her vile rage. "If you do any. thing to disrupt the ceremony to appease the Spider Queen, if, in the end of your wasted life, you choose to anger me one final time, I will give Drizzt to Briza. She and her torturous toys will give him to Lloth!"
Unafraid, Zak held his head high. "I have offered myself, Malice” he spat. "Have your fun while you may. In the end, Zaknafein will be at peace; Matron Malice Do'Urden will ever be at war!"
Shaking in anger, the moment of triumph stolen by a few simple words, Malice could only whisper, "Take him!"
Zak offered no resistance as Vierna and Maya tied him to the spider-shaped altar in the chapel. He watched Vierna mostly, seeing an edge of sympathy rimming her quiet eyes. She, too, might have been like him, but whatever hope he had for that possibility had been buried long ago under the relentless preaching of the Spider Queen.
"You are sad” Zak remarked to her.
Vierna straightened and tugged tightly on one of Zak's bonds, causing him to grimace in pain. "A pity” she replied as coldly as she could. "House Do'Urden must give much to repay Drizzt's foolish deed. I would have enjoyed watching the two of you together in battle”
"House Hun'ett would not have enjoyed the sight” Zak replied with a wink. "Cry not, . .. my daughter” Vierna slapped him across the face. "Take your lies to your grave! "
"Deny it as you choose, Vierna” was all that Zak cared to reply.
Vierna and Maya backed away from the altar. Vierna fought to hold her scowl and Maya bit back an amused chuckle, as Matron Malice and Briza entered the room. The matron mother wore her greatest ceremonial robe, black and weblike, clinging and floating about her all at once, and Briza carried a sacred coffer.
Zak paid them no heed as they began their ritual, chant. ing for the Spider Queen, offering their hopes for appeasement. Zak had his own hopes at that moment.
"Beat them all” he whispered under his breath. "Do more than survive, my son, as I have survived. Live! Be true to the callings in your heart”
Braziers roared to life; the room glowed. Zak felt the heat, knew that contact to that darker plane had been achieved.
"Take this. . . " he heard Matron Malice chant, but he put the words out of his thoughts and continued the final prayers of his life.
The spider-shaped dagger hovered over his chest. Malice clenched the instrument in her bony hands, the sheen of her sweat-soaked skin catching the orange reflection of the fires in a surrealistic glow.
Surreal, like the transition from life to death.
Chapter 28
Rightful Owner
How long had it been? An hour? Two? Masoj paced the length of the gap between the two stalagmite mounds just a few feet from the entrance to the tunnel that Drizzt, and then Guenhwyvar, had taken. "The cat should have returned by now” the wizard grumbled, at the end of his pa. tience.
Relief flooded through his face a moment later, when Guenhwyvar's great black head peered around the edge of the tunnel, behind one of the displacer beast statue guard. ians. The fur around the cat's maw was conspicuously wet with fresh blood.
"It is done?" Masoj asked, barely able to contain a shout of elation. "Drizzt Do'Urden is dead?"
"Hardly” came the reply. Drizzt, for all his idealism, had to admit a tinge of pleasure as a cloud of dread cooled the elated fires in the sinister wizard's cheeks.
"What is this, Guenhwyvar?" Masoj demanded. "Do as I bid you! Kill him now!"
Guenhwyvar stared blankly at Masoj, then lay at Drizzt's feet.
"You admit your attempt on my life?" Drizzt asked. Masoj measured the distance to his adversary-ten feet. He might be able to get off one spell. Perhaps. Masoj had seen Drizzt move, quick and sure, and had little desire to . chance the attack if he could find another way out of this predicament. Drizzt had not yet drawn a weapon, though the young warrior's hands rested easily across the hilts of his deadly blades.
"I understand” Drizzt continued calmly. "House Hun'ett and House Do'Urden are to battle”
"How did you know?" Masoj blurted without thinking, too shocked by the revelation to consider that Drizzt might merely be goading him into a larger admission.
"I know much but care little” Drizzt replied. "House Hun'ett wishes to wage war against my family. For what reason, I cannot guess”
"For the vengeance of House DeVir!" came a reply from a different direction.
Alton, standing on the side of a stalagmite mound, looked down at Drizzt.
A smile spread over Masoj's face. The odds had so quickly changed.
"House Hun'ett cares not at all for House DeVir” Drizzt replied, still composed in the face of this new development. "I have learned enough of the ways of our people to know that the fate of one house is not the concern of another”
"But it is my concern" Alton cried, and he threw back the cowl of his hood, revealing the hideous face, scarred by acid for the sake of a disguise. "I am Alton DeVir, lone survivor of House DeVir! House Do'Urden will die for its crimes against my family, starting with you”
"I was not even born when the battle took place” Drizzt protested.
"Of little consequence!" Alton snarled. "You are a Do'Urden, a filthy Do'Urden. That is all that matters” Masoj tossed the onyx figurine to the ground. "Guenhwyvar!" he commanded. "Be gone!"
The cat looked over its shoulder to Drizzt, who nodded his approval.
"Be gone!" Masoj cried again. "I am your master! You can-not disobey me!"
"You do not own the cat” Drizzt said calmly.
"Who does, then?" Masoj snapped. "You?"
"Guenhwyvar” Drizzt replied. "Only Guenhwyvar. I would think that a wizard would have a better understanding of the magic around him”
With a low growl that might have been a mocking laugh, Guenhwyvar loped across the stone to the figurine and dissipated into smoky nothingness.
The cat walked down the length of the planar tunnel, toward its home in the Astral Plane. Ever before had
Guenhwyvar been anxious to make this journey, to escape the foul commands of its drow masters. This time, though, the cat hesitated with every stride, looking back over its shoulder to the dot of darkness that was Menzoberranzan.
"Will you deal?" Drizzt offered.
"You are in no position to bargain” Alton laughed, drawing out the slender wand that Matron SiNafay had given him.
Masoj cut him short. "Wait” he said. "Perhaps Drizzt will prove valuable to our struggle against House Do'Urden” He eyed the young warrior directly. "You will betray your family?"
"Hardly” Drizzt snickered. " As I have already said to you, I care little for the coming conflict. Let House Hun'ett and House Do'Urden both be damned, as surely they will! My concerns are personal”
"You must have something to offer us in exchange for your gain” Masoj explained. "Otherwise, what bargain can you hope to make?"
"I do have something to give to you in return” Drizzt replied, his voice calm, "your lives” Masoj and Alton looked to each other and laughed aloud, but there was a trace of nervousness in their chuckles.
"Give me the figurine, Masoj” Drizzt continued, undaunted. "Guenhwyvar never belonged to you and will serve you no more”
Masoj stopped laughing.
"In return” Drizzt went on before the wizard could reply,
"I will leave House Do'Urden and not take part in the battle”
"Corpses do not fight” Alton sneered.
"I will take another Do'Urden with me” Drizzt spat at him.
"A weapon master. Surely House Hun'ett will have gained an advantage if both Drizzt and Zaknafein-"
"Silence!" Masoj screamed. "The cat is mine! I do not need any bargains from a pitiful Do'Urden! You are dead, fool, and House Do'Urden's weapon master will follow you to your grave!"
"Guenhwyvar is free!" Drizzt growled.
The scimitars came out in Drizzt's hands. He had never really fought a wizard before, let alone two, but he remembered vividly from past encounters the sting of their spells. Masoj had already begun to cast, but of more concern was Alton, out of quick reach and pointing that slender wand.
Relief flooded through his face a moment later, when Guenhwyvar's great black head peered around the edge of the tunnel, behind one of the displacer beast statue guard. ians. The fur around the cat's maw was conspicuously wet with fresh blood.
"It is done?" Masoj asked, barely able to contain a shout of elation. "Drizzt Do'Urden is dead?"
"Hardly” came the reply. Drizzt, for all his idealism, had to admit a tinge of pleasure as a cloud of dread cooled the elated fires in the sinister wizard's cheeks.
"What is this, Guenhwyvar?" Masoj demanded. "Do as I bid you! Kill him now!"
Guenhwyvar stared blankly at Masoj, then lay at Drizzt's feet.
"You admit your attempt on my life?" Drizzt asked. Masoj measured the distance to his adversary-ten feet. He might be able to get off one spell. Perhaps. Masoj had seen Drizzt move, quick and sure, and had little desire to . chance the attack if he could find another way out of this predicament. Drizzt had not yet drawn a weapon, though the young warrior's hands rested easily across the hilts of his deadly blades.
"I understand” Drizzt continued calmly. "House Hun'ett and House Do'Urden are to battle”
"How did you know?" Masoj blurted without thinking, too shocked by the revelation to consider that Drizzt might merely be goading him into a larger admission.
"I know much but care little” Drizzt replied. "House Hun'ett wishes to wage war against my family. For what reason, I cannot guess”
"For the vengeance of House DeVir!" came a reply from a different direction.
Alton, standing on the side of a stalagmite mound, looked down at Drizzt.
A smile spread over Masoj's face. The odds had so quickly changed.
"House Hun'ett cares not at all for House DeVir” Drizzt replied, still composed in the face of this new development. "I have learned enough of the ways of our people to know that the fate of one house is not the concern of another”
"But it is my concern" Alton cried, and he threw back the cowl of his hood, revealing the hideous face, scarred by acid for the sake of a disguise. "I am Alton DeVir, lone survivor of House DeVir! House Do'Urden will die for its crimes against my family, starting with you”
"I was not even born when the battle took place” Drizzt protested.
"Of little consequence!" Alton snarled. "You are a Do'Urden, a filthy Do'Urden. That is all that matters” Masoj tossed the onyx figurine to the ground. "Guenhwyvar!" he commanded. "Be gone!"
The cat looked over its shoulder to Drizzt, who nodded his approval.
"Be gone!" Masoj cried again. "I am your master! You can-not disobey me!"
"You do not own the cat” Drizzt said calmly.
"Who does, then?" Masoj snapped. "You?"
"Guenhwyvar” Drizzt replied. "Only Guenhwyvar. I would think that a wizard would have a better understanding of the magic around him”
With a low growl that might have been a mocking laugh, Guenhwyvar loped across the stone to the figurine and dissipated into smoky nothingness.
The cat walked down the length of the planar tunnel, toward its home in the Astral Plane. Ever before had
Guenhwyvar been anxious to make this journey, to escape the foul commands of its drow masters. This time, though, the cat hesitated with every stride, looking back over its shoulder to the dot of darkness that was Menzoberranzan.
"Will you deal?" Drizzt offered.
"You are in no position to bargain” Alton laughed, drawing out the slender wand that Matron SiNafay had given him.
Masoj cut him short. "Wait” he said. "Perhaps Drizzt will prove valuable to our struggle against House Do'Urden” He eyed the young warrior directly. "You will betray your family?"
"Hardly” Drizzt snickered. " As I have already said to you, I care little for the coming conflict. Let House Hun'ett and House Do'Urden both be damned, as surely they will! My concerns are personal”
"You must have something to offer us in exchange for your gain” Masoj explained. "Otherwise, what bargain can you hope to make?"
"I do have something to give to you in return” Drizzt replied, his voice calm, "your lives” Masoj and Alton looked to each other and laughed aloud, but there was a trace of nervousness in their chuckles.
"Give me the figurine, Masoj” Drizzt continued, undaunted. "Guenhwyvar never belonged to you and will serve you no more”
Masoj stopped laughing.
"In return” Drizzt went on before the wizard could reply,
"I will leave House Do'Urden and not take part in the battle”
"Corpses do not fight” Alton sneered.
"I will take another Do'Urden with me” Drizzt spat at him.
"A weapon master. Surely House Hun'ett will have gained an advantage if both Drizzt and Zaknafein-"
"Silence!" Masoj screamed. "The cat is mine! I do not need any bargains from a pitiful Do'Urden! You are dead, fool, and House Do'Urden's weapon master will follow you to your grave!"
"Guenhwyvar is free!" Drizzt growled.
The scimitars came out in Drizzt's hands. He had never really fought a wizard before, let alone two, but he remembered vividly from past encounters the sting of their spells. Masoj had already begun to cast, but of more concern was Alton, out of quick reach and pointing that slender wand.