The Dark Elf Trilogy | Page 4

bugbears stumbled blindly over the stones, he felt it was worth the risk.
His anger sated, he moved off again, picking a more careful route through the
heat shadows. As a member of the tenth house of the city, Dinin could go as he
pleased within the giant cavern without question, but Matron Malice had made it
clear that no one connected to House Do'Urden was to be caught anywhere near
the mushroom grove.
Matron Malice, Dinin's mother, was not to be crossed, but it was only a rule, after
all. In Menzoberranzan, one rule, took precedence over all of the petty others,
Don't get caught.
At the mushroom grove's southern end, the impetuous drow found what he was
looking for: a cluster of five huge floor-to-ceiling pillars that were hollowed into a
network of chambers and connected with metal and stone parapets and bridges.
Red-glowing gargoyles, the standard of the house, glared down from a hundred
perches like silent sentries. This was House DeVir, Fourth House of
Menzoberranzan.
A stockade of tall mushrooms ringed the place, every fifth one a shrieker, a
sentient fungus named (and favored as guardians) for the shrill cries of alarm it
emitted whenever a living being passed it by. Dinin kept a cautious distance, not
wanting to set off one of the shriekers and knowing also that other, more deadly
wards protected the fortress. Matron Malice would see to those.
An expectant hush permeated the air of this city section. It was general
knowledge throughout Menzoberranzan that Matron Ginafae of House DeVir had
fallen out of favor with Loth, the Spider Queen deity to all drow and the true
source of every house's strength. Such circumstances were
never openly discussed among the drow, but everyone who knew fully expected
that some family lower in the city hierarchy soon would strike out against the
crippled House DeVir.
Matron Ginafae and her family had been the last to learn of the Spider Queen's
displeasure ever was that Lloth's devious way and Dinin could tell just by
scanning the outside of House DeVir that the doomed family had not found
ample time to erect proper defenses. DeVir sported nearly
four hundred soldiers, many female, but those that Dinin could now see at their
posts along the parapets seemed nervous and unsure.
Dinin's smile spread even wider when he thought of his own house, which grew
in power daily under the cunning guidance of Matron Malice. With all three of his
sisters rapidly approaching the status of high priestess, his brother an
accomplished wizard, and his uncle Zaknafein, the finest weapon master in all of
Menzoberranzan, busily training
the three hundred soldiers, House Do'Urden was a complete force. And, Matron
Malice, unlike Ginafae, was in the Spider Queen's full favor.
"Daermon N'a'shezbaernon," Dinin muttered under his breath, using the formal
and ancestral reference to House Do'Urden. "Ninth House of Menzoberranzan!"
He liked the sound of it.
Halfway across the city, beyond the silver-glowing balcony and the arched
doorway twenty feet up the cavern's west wall, sat the principals of House
Do'Urden, gathered to outline the final plans of the night's work. On the raised
dais at the back of the small audience chamber sat venerable Matron Malice, her
belly swollen in the final hours of pregnancy. Flanking her in their places of honor
were her three daughters, Maya, Vierna, and the eldest, Briza, a newly ordained
high priestess of Lloth. Maya and Vierna appeared as younger versions of their
mother, slender and deceptively small, though possessing great strength. Briza,
though, hardly carried the family resemblance. She was
big- huge by drow standards-and rounded in the shoulders and hips. Those who
knew Briza well figured that her size was merely a circumstance of her
temperament, a smaller body could not have contained the anger and brutal
streak of House Do'Urden's newest high priestess.
"Dinin should return soon" remarked Rizzen, the present patron of the family, "to
let us know if the time is right for the assault."
"We go before Narbondel finds its morning glow!" Briza snapped at him in her
thick but razor-sharp voice. She turned a crooked smile to her mother, seeking
approval for putting the male in his place.
"The child comes this night�� Matron Malice explained to her anxious husband.
"We go no matter what news Dinin bears."
"It will be a boy child�� groaned Briza, making no effort to hide her disappointment,
"third living son of House Do'Orden."
"To be sacrificed to Lloth�� put in Zaknafein, a former patron of the house who
now held the important position of weapon master. The skilled drow fighter
seemed quite pleased at the thought of sacrifice, as did Nalfein, the family's
eldest son, who stood at Zak's side. Nalfein was the elderboy, and he needed no
more competition beyond Dinin within the ranks of House Do'Urden.
"In accord with custom�� Briza glowered and the red of her eyes brightened. "To
aid in our victory!" Rizzen shifted uncomfortably. "Matron Malice�� he dared to
speak, "you know well the difficulties of birthing. Might the pain distract you"
"You dare to question the matron mother?" Briza started sharply, reaching for the
snake-headed whip so comfortably strapped and writhing on her belt. Matron
Malice stopped her