The Dark Elf Trilogy | Page 5

with an outstretched hand.
"Attend to the fighting�� the matron said to Rizzen. "Let the females of the house
see to the important matters of this battle."
Rizzen shifted again and dropped his gaze.
Dinin came to the magically wrought fence that connected the keep within the
city's west wall with the two small stalagmite towers of House Do'Orden, and
which formed the courtyard to the compound. The fence was adamantite, the
hardest metal in all the world, and adorning it were a hundred weapon-wielding
spider carvings, each ensorcelled with deadly glyphs and wards. The mighty gate
of House Do'Orden was the envy of many a drow house, but so soon after
viewing the spectacular houses in the mushroom grove, Dinin could only find
disappointment when looking upon his own abode. The compound was plain and
somewhat bare, as was the section of wall, with the notable exception of the
mithril-and-adamantite balcony running along the second level, by the arched
doorway reserved for the nobility of the family. Each baluster of that balcony
sported a thousand carvings, all of which blended into a single piece of art.
House Do'Urden, unlike the great majority of the houses in Menzoberranzan, did
not stand free within groves of stalactites and stalagmites. The bulk of the
structure was within a cave, and while this setup was indisputably defensible,
Dinin found himself wishing that his family could show a bit more grandeur.
An excited soldier rushed to open the gate for the returning secondboy. Dinin
swept past him without so much as a word of greeting and moved across the
courtyard, conscious of the hundred and more curious glances that fell upon him.
The soldiers and slaves knew that Dinin's mission
this night had something to do with the anticipated battle.
No stairway led to the silvery balcony of House Do'Urden's second level. This,
too, was a precautionary measure designed to segregate the leaders of the
house from the rabble and the slaves. Drow nobles needed no stairs, another
manifestation of their innate magical abilities allowed them the power of
levitation. With hardly a conscious thought to the act, Dinin drifted easily through
the air and dropped onto the balcony.
He rushed through the archway and down the house's main central corridor,
which was dimly lit in the soft hues of faerie fire, allowing for sight in the normal
light spectrum but not bright enough to defeat the use of infravision. The ornate
brass door at the corridor's end marked the second boy's destination, and he
paused before it to allow his eyes to shift back to the infrared spectrum. Unlike
the corridor, the room beyond the door had no light source. It was the audience
hall of the high priestesses, the anteroom to House Do'Urden's grand chapel.
The drow clerical rooms, in accord with the dark rites of the Spider Queen, were
not places of light.
When he felt he was prepared, Dinin pushed straight through the door, shoving
past the two shocked female guards without hesitation and moving boldly to
stand before his mother. All three of the family daughters narrowed their eyes at
their brash and pretentious brother. You enter
without permission! he knew they were thinking. Would that it was he who was to
be sacrificed this night!
As much as he enjoyed testing the limitations of his inferior station as a male,
Dinin could not ignore the threatening glances of Vierna, Maya, and Briza. Being
female, they were bigger and stronger than Dinin and had trained all of their lives
in the use of wicked drow clerical powers and weapons. Dinin watched as
enchanted extensions of the
clerics, the dreaded snake-headed whips on his sisters' belts, began writhing in
anticipation of the punishment they would exact. The handles were adamantite
and ordinary enough, but the whips' lengths and multiple heads were living
serpents. Briza's whip, in particular, a wicked six-headed device, danced and
squirmed, tying itself into knots around the belt that held it. Briza was always the
quickest to punish.
Matron Malice, however, seemed pleased by Dinin's swagger. The secondboy
knew his place well enough by her measure and he followed her commands
fearlessly and without question.
Dinin took comfort in the calmness of his mother's face, quite the opposite of the
shining white-hot faces of his three sisters. "All is ready�� he said to her. "House
DeVir huddles within its fence-except for Alton, of course, foolishly attending his
studies in Sorcere."
"You have met with the Faceless One?" Matron Malice asked.
"The Academy was quiet this night�� Dinin replied. "Our meeting went off
perfectly."
"He has agreed to our contract?"
"Alton DeVir will be dealt with accordingly," Dinin chuckled. He then remembered
the slight alteration he had made in Matron Malice's plans, delaying Alton's
execution for the sake of his own lust for added cruelty. Dinin's thought evoked
another recollection as well: high priestesses of Lloth had an unnerving talent for
reading thoughts.
"Alton will die this night�� Dinin quickly completed the answer, assuring the others
before they could probe him for more definite details.
"Excellent," Briza growled. Dinin breathed a little easier.
"To the meld," Matron Malice ordered.
The four drow males moved to kneel before the matron and her daughters:
Rizzen to Malice, Zaknafein