Homeland de-1

by Robert Anthony Salvatore

  Belwar started barking out commands, mostly organizing the retreat down the chamber’s other tunnel. Drizzt wondered where he would fit into the gnome’s thinking. Certainly Belwar couldn’t hope to outrun the drow patrol dragging along a prisoner.

  Then the gnome leader suddenly stopped talking and stopped moving. Too suddenly.

  The drow clerics had led the way in with their insidious, paralyzing spells. Belwar and another gnome were held fast by the dweomer, and the rest of the gnomes, realizing this, broke into a wild scramble for the rear exit.

  The drow warriors, Guenhwyvar leading the way, charged into the room. Any relief Drizzt might have felt at seeing his feline friend unharmed was buried under the ensuing slaughter. Dinin and his troops cut into the disorganized gnomes with typical drow savagery.

  In seconds―horrible seconds that seemed like hours to Drizzt―only Belwar and the other gnome caught in the clerical spell remained alive in the chamber. Several of the svirfnebli had managed to flee down the back corridor, but most of the drow patrol was off in pursuit.

  Masoj came into the chamber last, looking thorougly wretched in his mud covered clothing. He remained at the tunnel exit and did not even look Drizzt’s way, except to note that his panther was standing protectively beside the secondboy of House Do’Urden.

  "Again you have found your measure of luck, and more." Dinin said to Drizzt as he cut his brother’s bonds. Looking around at the carnage in the chamber, Drizzt wasn’t so sure.

  Dinin handed him back his scimitars, then turned to the drow standing watch over the two paralyzed gnomes. "Finish them." Dinin instructed.

  A wide smile spread over the other drow’s face, and he pulled a jagged knife from his belt. He held it up in front of a gnome’s face, teasing the helpless creature. "Can they see it?" he asked the high priestess.

  "That is the fun of the spell." the high priestess replied. "The svirfneblin understands what is about to happen. Even now he is struggling to break out of the hold."

  "Prisoners!" Drizzt blurted.

  Dinin and the others turned to him, the drow with the dagger wearing a scowl both angry and disappointed.

  "For House Do’Urden?" Drizzt asked Dinin hopefully. "We could benefit from…"

  "Svirfnebli do not make good slaves." Dinin replied.

  "No," agreed the high priestess, moving beside the dagger wielding fighter. She nodded to the warrior and his smile returned tenfold. He struck hard. Only Belwar remained.

  The warrior waved his bloodstained dagger ominously and moved in front of the gnome leader.

  "Not that one!" Drizzt protested, unable to bear anymore.

  "Let him live!" Drizzt wanted to say that Belwar could do them no harm, and that killing the defenseless gnome would be a cowardly and vile act. Drizzt knew that appealing to his kin for mercy would be a waste of time.

  Dinin’s expression was more a look of anger than curiosity this time.

  "If you kill him, then no gnomes will remain to return to their city and tell of our strength," Drizzt reasoned, grasping at the one slim hope he could find. "We should send him back to his people, send him back to tell them of their folly in entering the domain of the drow!"

  Dinin looked back to the high priestess for advice.

  "It seems proper reasoning." she said with a nod.

  Dinin was not so certain of his brother’s motives. Not taking his eyes off Drizzt, he said to the warrior, "Then cut off the gnome’s hands."

  Drizzt didn’t flinch, realizing that if he did, Dinin would surely slaughter Belwar.

  The warrior replaced the dagger on his belt and took out his heavy sword.

  "Wait." said Dinin, still eyeing Drizzt. "Release him from the spell first, I want to hear his screams."

  Several drow moved over to put the tips of their swords at Belwar’s neck as the high priestess released her magical hold. Belwar made no moves.

  The appointed drow warrior grasped his sword in both hands, and Belwar, brave Belwar, held his arms straight out and motionless in front of him.

  Drizzt averted his gaze, unable to watch and awaiting, fearing, the gnome’s cry.

  Belwar noted Drizzt’s reaction. Was it compassion?

  The drow warrior then swung his sword. Belwar never took his stare off Drizzt as the sword cut across his wrists, lighting a million fires of agony in his arms.

  Neither did Belwar scream. He wouldn’t give Dinin the satisfaction. The gnome leader looked back to Drizzt one final time as two drow fighters ushered him out of the chamber, and he recognized the true anguish, and the apology, behind the young drow’s feigned impassive facade.

  Even as Belwar was leaving, the dark elves who had chased off after the fleeing gnomes returned from the other tunnel. "We could not catch them in these tiny passageways." one of them complained.

  "Damn!" Dinin growled. Sending a handless gnome victim back to Blingdenstone was one thing, but letting healthy members of the gnome expedition escape was quite another. "I want them caught!"

  "Guenhwyvar can catch them." Masoj proclaimed, then he called the cat to his side and eyed Drizzt all the while. Drizzt’s heart raced as the wizard patted the great cat.

  "Come, my pet." Masoj said. "There is hunting left to be done!" The wizard watched Drizzt squirm at the words, knowing that Drizzt did not approve of Guenhwyvar engaging in such tactics.

  "They are gone?" Drizzt asked Dinin, his voice on the edge of desperation.

  "Running all the way back to Blingdenstone." Dinin replied calmly. "If we let them."

  "And will they return?"

  Dinin’s sour scowl reflected the absurdity of his brother’s question. "Would you?"

  "Our task is complete, then." Drizzt reasoned, trying vainly to find some way out of Masoj’s ignoble designs for the panther.

  "We have won the day." Dinin agreed, "though our own losses have been great. We may find still more fun, with the help of the wizard’s pet."

  "Fun." Masoj echoed pointedly at Drizzt. "Be gone, Guenhwyvar, into the tunnels. Let us learn how fast a frightened gnome may run!"

  Only a few minutes later, Guenhwyvar came back into the chamber, dragging a dead gnome in its mouth.

  "Return!" Masoj commanded as Guenhwyvar dropped the body at his feet. "Bring me more!"

  Drizzt’s heart dropped at the sound of the corpse flopping to the stone floor. He looked into Guenhwyvar’s eyes and saw a sadness as profound as his own. The panther was a hunter, as honorable in its own way as was Drizzt. To the evil Masoj, though, Guenhwyvar was a toy and nothing more, an instrument for his perverted pleasures, killing for no reason other than its master’s joy of killing.

  In the hands of the wizard, Guenhwyvar was no more than a murderer.

  Guenhwyvar paused at the entrance to the small tunnel and looked to Drizzt almost apologetically.

  "Return!" Masoj screamed, and he kicked the cat in the rear. Then Masoj, too, turned an eye back on Drizzt, a vindictive eye. Masoj had missed his chance to kill the young Do’Urden he would have to be careful how he explained such a mistake to his unforgiving mother. Masoj decided to worry about that unpleasant encounter later. For now, at least, he had the satisfaction of watching Drizzt suffer.

  Dinin and the others were oblivious to the unfolding drama between Masoj and Drizzt, too engaged in their wait for Guenhwyvar’s return, too engaged in their speculations of the expressions of terror the gnomes would cast back at such a perfect killer, too caught up in the macabre humor of the moment, that perverted drow humor that brought laughter when tears were needed.

  Part 5

  Zaknafein

  Zaknafein Do’Urden, mentor, teacher, friend. I, in the blind agony of my own frustrations, more than once came to recognize Zaknafein as none of these. Did I ask of him more than he could give? Did I expect perfection of a tormented soul, hold Zaknafein up to standards beyond his experiences, or standards impossible in the face of his experiences?

  I might have been him. I might have lived, trapped w
ithin the helpless rage, buried under the daily assault of the wickedness that is Menzoberranzan and the pervading evil that is my own family never in life to find escape.

  It seems a logical assumption that we learn from the mistakes of our elders. This, I believe, was my salvation. Without the example of Zaknafein, I, too, would have found no escape, not in life.

  Is this course I have chosen a better way than the life Zaknafein knew? I think, yes, though I find despair often enough sometimes to long for that other way. It would have been easier, truth, though, is nothing in the face of self-falsehood, and principles are of no value if the idealist cannot live up to his own standards.

  This, then, is a better way.

  I live with many laments, for my people, for myself, but mostly for that weapon master lost to me now, who showed me how―and why―to use a blade.

  There is no pain greater than this; not the cut of a jagged-edged dagger nor the fire of a dragon’s breath. Nothing burns in your heart like the emptiness of losing something, someone, before you truly have learned of its value. Often now I lift my cup in a futile toast, an apology to ears that cannot hear

  To Zak, the one who inspired my courage.

  Chapter 24

  To Know Our Enemies

  "Eight drow dead, and one a cleric." Briza said to Matron Malice on the balcony of House Do’Urden. Briza had rushed back to the compound with the first reports of the encounter, leaving her sisters at the central plaza of Menzoberranzan with the gathered throng, awaiting further information. "But nearly two score of the gnomes died, a clear victory."

  "What of your brothers?" asked Malice. "How did House Do’Urden fare in this encounter?"

  "As with the surface elves, Dinin’s hand slew five." replied Briza. "They say that he led the main assault fearlessly, and he killed the most gnomes."

  Matron Malice beamed with the news, though she suspected that Briza, standing patiently behind a smug smile, was holding something dramatic back from her. "What of Drizzt?" the matron demanded, having no patience for her daughter’s games. "How many svirfnebli fell at his feet?"

  "None.", Briza replied, but still the smile remained. "Still the day belonged to Drizzt," she added quickly, seeing an angry scowl spreading across her volatile mother’s face. Malice did not seem amused.

  "Drizzt defeated an earth elemental." Briza cried, "all alone, almost, with only minor help from a wizard! The high priestess of the patrol named the kill his!" Matron Malice gasped and turned away. Drizzt had ever been an enigma to her, as fine with the blade as any but lacking the proper attitude and the proper respect. Now this, an earth elemental! Malice herself had seen such a monster ravage an entire drow raiding party, killing a dozen seasoned warriors before wandering off on its way. Yet her son, her confusing son, had defeated one single-handedly!

  "Lolth will favor us this day." Briza commented, not quite understanding her mother’s reaction.

  Briza’s words struck an idea in Malice. "Gather your sisters." she commanded. "We shall meet in the chapel. If House Do’Urden so fully won the day out in the tunnels, perhaps the Spider Queen will grace us with some information."

  "Vierna and Maya await the forthcoming news in the city plaza." Briza explained, mistakenly believing her mother to be referring to information about the battle. "Surely we will know the entire story within an hour."

  "I care nothing for a battle against gnomes!" Malice scolded. "You have told everything that is important to our family, the rest does not matter. We must parlay your brothers’ heroics into gain."

  "To learn of our enemies!" Briza blurted as she realized what her mother had in mind.

  "Exactly." replied Malice. "To learn which house it is that threatens House Do’Urden. If the Spider Queen truly finds favor with us this day, she may grace us with the knowledge we need to defeat our enemies!"

  A short while later, the four high priestesses of House Do’Urden gathered around the spider idol in the chapel anteroom. Before them, in a bowl of the deepest onyx, burned the sacred incense―sweet, deathlike, and favored by the yochlol, the handmaidens of Lolth.

  The flame moved through a variety of colors, from orange to green to brilliant red. It then took shape, heard the beckons of the four priestesses and the urgency in the voice of Matron Malice. The top of the fire, no longer dancing, smoothed and rounded, assumed the form of a hairless head, then stretched upward, growing. The flame disappeared, consumed by the yochlol’s image, a half melted pile of wax with grotesquely elongated eyes and a drooping mouth.

  "Who has summoned me?" the small figure demanded telepathically. The yochlol’s thoughts, too powerful for its diminutive stature, boomed within the heads of the gathered drow.

  "I have, handmaiden." Malice replied aloud, wanting her daughters to hear. The matron bowed her head. "I am Malice, loyal servant of the Spider Queen."

  In a puff of smoke, the yochlol disappeared, leaving only glowing incense embers in the onyx bowl. A moment later, the handmaiden reappeared, full size, standing behind Matron Malice. Briza, Vierna, and Maya held their breath as the being laid two sickly tentacles on their mother’s shoulders.

  Matron Malice accepted the tentacles without reply, confident in her cause for summoning the yochlol.

  "Explain to me why you dare to disturb me." came the yochlol’s insidious thoughts.

  "To ask a simple question." Malice replied silently, for no words were necessary to communicate with a handmaiden. "One whose answer you know."

  "Does this question interest you so greatly?" the yochlol asked. "You risk such dire consequences."

  "It is imperative that I learn the answer." replied Matron Malice. Her three daughters watched curiously, hearing the yochlol’s thoughts but only guessing at their mother’s unspoken replies.

  "If the answer is so important, and it is known to the handmaidens, and thus to the Spider Queen, do you not believe that Lolth would have given it to you if she so chose?"

  "Perhaps, before this day, the Spider Queen did not deem me worthy to know." Malice responded. "Things have changed."

  The handmaiden paused and rolled its elongated eyes back into its head as if communicating with some distant plane.

  "Greetings, Matron Malice Do’Urden." the yochlol said aloud after a few tense moments. The creature’s spoken voice was calm and overly smooth for the thing’s grotesque appearance.

  "My greetings to you, and to your mistress, Queen of Spiders." replied Malice. She shot a wry smile at her daughters and still didn’t turn to face the creature behind her. Apparently Malice’s guess of Lolth’s favor had been correct.

  "Daermon N’a’shezbaernon has pleased Lolth." the handmaiden said. "The males of your house have won the day, even above the females that journeyed with them. I must accept Matron Malice Do’Urden’s summons." The tentacles slid off Malice’s shoulders, and the yochlol stood rigid behind her, awaiting her commands.

  "Glad I am to please the Spider Queen." Malice began. She sought the proper way to phrase her question. "For the summons, as I have said, I beg only the answer to a simple question."

  "Ask it." prompted the yochlol, and the mocking tone told Malice and her daughters that the monster already knew the question.

  "My house is threatened, say the rumors." said Malice.

  "Rumors?" The yochlol laughed an evil, grating sound.

  "I trust in my sources." Malice replied defensively. "I would not have called upon you if I did not believe the threat."

  "Continue." said the yochlol, amused by the whole affair."They are more than rumors, Matron Malice Do’Urden. Another house plans war upon you."

  Maya’s immature gasp brought scornful eyes upon her from her mother and her sisters.

  "Name this house to me." Malice pleaded. "If Daermon N’a’shezbaernon truly has pleased the Spider Queen this day, then I bid Lolth to reveal our enemies, that we might destroy them!"

  "And if this other house also has pleased the Spider Queen?" the handmaiden mused. "Would Lolth then
betray it to you?"

  "Our enemies hold every advantage." Malice protested. "They know of House Do’Urden. No doubt they watch us every day, laying their plans. We ask Lolth only to give us knowledge equal to that of our enemies. Reveal them and let us prove which house is more worthy of victory."

  "What if your enemies are greater than you?" asked the handmaiden. "Would Matron Malice Do’Urden then call upon Lolth to intervene and save her pitiful house?"

  "No!" cried Malice. "We would call upon those powers that Lolth has given us to fight our foes. Even if our enemies are the more powerful, let Lolth be assured that they will suffer great pain for their attack on House Do’Urden!"

  Again the handmaiden sank back within itself, finding the link to its home plane, a place darker than Menzoberranzan. Malice clenched tightly to Briza’s hand, to her right, and Vierna’s, to her left. They in turn passed along the confirmation of their bond to Maya, at the foot of the circle.

  "The Spider Queen is pleased, Matron Malice Do’Urden." the handmaiden said at length. "Trust that she will favor House Do’Urden more than your enemies when battle rings out, perhaps…" Malice flinched at the ambiguity of that final word, grudgingly accepting that Lolth never made any promises, at any time.

  "What of my question." Malice dared to protest, "the reason for the summons?"

  There came a bright flash that stole the four clerics vision. When their eyesight returned to them, they saw the yochlol, tiny again, and glaring out at them from the flames of the onyx bowl.

  "The Spider Queen does not give an answer that is already known!" The handmaiden proclaimed, the sheer power of its otherworldly voice cutting into the drow ears. The fire erupted in another blinding flash, and the yochlol disappeared, leaving the precious bowl sundered into a dozen pieces.