Maestro

by R. A. Salvatore

  “She is already announced,” came a voice from those stairs and a woman climbed into view. She was young, younger than Catti-brie even, and dressed in a loose blouse and gray pants, a uniform Catti-brie knew well.

  “You may go back to your duties,” the young sorceress told the guard.

  “She is a known threat,” the soldier protested, and that caught Catti-brie by surprise for both claims—that she was “known” and a “threat.”

  “Lady Avelyere is touched by your concern,” the young student of the Coven, clearly coached, replied. “She is also disappointed in your lack of faith in her ability to control this situation.”

  The female guard leader held up her hand in acquiescence and turned around, waving for her minions to go off with her.

  On the stairs, the young woman motioned for Catti-brie to join her.

  They descended several levels, through a maze of corridors and rooms all splendidly decorated and meticulously cleaned. This was Avelyere’s home, Catti-brie realized, and like the Coven in the floating Shade Enclave, the lady kept true to appearances.

  They came to a door hung with curtains. Catti-brie saw Lady Avelyere through the glass, and a mix of emotions swirled. Avelyere had been Catti-brie’s captor, though she had been allowed many privileges. But Avelyere had been as a mentor to her as well, and sometimes a caring one at that. There were occasions where Avelyere, under the terms of the capture, could have punished Catti-brie—indeed, Lady Avelyere could have simply executed Catti-brie at any time, and no one who cared would have ever known.

  Inside the room, the lady motioned, and Catti-brie’s escort opened the door and stepped aside, then closed the door behind her, leaving Catti-brie alone in the room with the middle-aged woman.

  “Ah, Catti-brie,” Lady Avelyere greeted. She motioned to a chair set across a small table from where she was a seated, and where a glass of white wine was set. “Or should I call you Ruqiah?”

  Catti-brie took a deep breath to compose herself, and to remind herself that she was not the little-skilled child who had been in Lady Avelyere’s care. She was Chosen of Mielikki, and a powerful wizard trained by the Harpells. She had faced down Archmage Gromph Baenre, who could likely reduce this woman sitting in front of her to ashes with a snap of his dark fingers.

  “I prefer Catti-brie,” she replied.

  “Even then, no doubt, when you lied to me under my own roof.”

  “When I was a prisoner, you mean, stolen from my family.”

  Avelyere started to respond, but just tipped her wine glass.

  “I did not kill the body I put in the House to disguise my escape,” Catti-brie told her—for some reason she didn’t yet understand, she wanted Lady Avelyere to know that truth.

  “I know.”

  “What else do you know?” Catti-brie asked. She picked up the wine and started to bring it to her lips, then paused and looked at it suspiciously.

  Then she looked at Avelyere and nodded, and took a sip.

  “You fear it poisoned?”

  “Lady Avelyere is far too clever and charming for such things. Besides, why would you be angry with me?”

  “You left without my permission, and in complete deception.”

  “And I return without your permission, and indeed, not even to see you. I came to speak with Lord Parise Ulfbinder, as I was bidden by a mutual friend. I accommodate you by visiting now, but if you wish, I will be on my way to Lord Parise.”

  “And if I tried to stop you?”

  “I would burn your house down.”

  Lady Avelyere stared at her hard and long. “You believe you can do exactly that, don’t you?”

  “I believe my road has been difficult enough without your judgment.”

  Lady Avelyere continued to stare for only a short while, then smiled and held up her hands. “I am glad that you accepted my invitation, Ruqi—Catti-brie,” she said.

  “Then I am, too,” Catti-brie replied. “There are too many questions along too many hallways. But I know in my heart that I bear you no ill will. Believe it or not, good Lady Avelyere, but I am truly glad that you are alive, that you survived the catastrophe that befell Shade Enclave.”

  “I believe you, Ruqiah,” the older woman, who was not really older, replied. “And forgive me, but that name still brings joy to me. We watched you, you know.”

  “When I was here?” a confused Catti-brie asked.

  “When you left. We found you in Longsaddle, or rather, when you were leaving Longsaddle. I watched you climb the lone mountain in Icewind Dale, and reunite with Drizzt Do’Urden. Our lives became complicated, and war came to our door, but still I found time to look in on you from afar during your struggles in the Silver Marches.”

  “We saw your victory over the drow and the orcs,” said another voice, a man’s voice. A well-groomed, smartly-dressed man with a beautifully-kempt gray beard and piercing eyes entered the room.

  “This is the man you came to speak with,” Lady Avelyere explained.

  “Through a scrying mirror, we watched the light emanate from Drizzt Do’Urden, destroying the roiling blackness the drow had placed over the Silver Marches,” Lord Parise Ulfbinder explained. “We witnessed the victory of Mielikki over Lolth, and it was a grand display indeed.”

  “Should I feel violated?” Catti-brie asked as she rose and offered the lord her hand. He took it gently and kissed it.

  “Lovely lady, we watched only from afar. How could we not, knowing that two goddesses were waging a proxy war through you?”

  Catti-brie stepped back and took her seat, lifting the wine for another sip as she tried to figure out what was going on here.

  “Did you witness my fight with the woman named Dahlia?” she asked at length.

  The two looked at each other, then back at her, and she knew they had not.

  “That, I expect, was the truest battle, waged between myself and the troubled elf named Dahlia, with me serving as proxy for Mielikki, and Dahlia championing Lolth, though I doubt the poor woman even understood her role.”

  “Will you tell us?” Lord Parise asked, his eagerness not hard to discern.

  “An entertaining tale,” Catti-brie promised. “Unless, of course, Lady Avelyere has poisoned my wine here and I will fall dead before I can complete it.”

  “Oh, do not be foolish,” Avelyere protested with a sarcastic sigh.

  She looked Avelyere right in the eye and remarked, “You never brought pain to my parents.”

  “There was a war,” Parise said from the side, where he gathered up a chair and a glass of wine for himself. At the table, Lady Avelyere didn’t let go of Catti-brie’s stare.

  “I do not take pleasure in inflicting pain,” Avelyere replied.

  “I know, and that is why I was indeed very glad to learn that you had survived the troubles that happened here, in this fallen city, and in the war. I am not your enemy, nor have I ever been.”

  “And I did not poison the wine.”

  With that, Catti-brie lifted her glass in toast, and Lady Avelyere tapped it with her own.

  “It is so good to be among people who understand that life is more complex than darkness and light,” Lord Parise remarked.

  In both her lives combined, few words had Catti-brie ever heard that brought a truer sense of comfort. Lord Parise had spoken a simple truth, and a sad one.

  Would that more people understood.

  Again Catti-brie told her tale of the fight in Gauntlgrym, and the return to Gauntlgrym, where Bruenor was now king. She used that last battle to segue into the issues at hand, the rebuilding of the Hosttower of the Arcane, and at that point, she handed the Jarlaxle’s missive to Lord Parise.

  “Wonderful,” he remarked repeatedly as he read the parchment, and when he finished and handed it to Lady Avelyere, he added, “What an amazing opportunity!”

  “You will join our efforts, then?”

  “I would be forever angry if you did not allow me to do so!” Lord Parise said. He glanced at Av
elyere. “Perhaps in this, Ruqiah can be the teacher.”

  “The invitation is for you,” Avelyere replied.

  “It is a request, not an invitation,” said Catti-brie. “I do not know the level of magic that will be needed on every piece of the Hosttower as we reconstruct it, but we are not afforded the luxury of turning away powerful spellcasters.” She paused and reached across the table to squeeze Avelyere’s hand. “Particularly if they are trustworthy.”

  “I would like to join in this quest, then,” Avelyere said. “And I have a few students who might prove useful.”

  “This could take years,” Lord Parise warned.

  “Perhaps decades,” said Catti-brie. “The work on the Hosttower might continue long after we are all dead.”

  “Still, it is the journey of life that matters, and not the goal,” said Lord Parise. “And this journey will prove exhilarating, I expect. To converse with the Archmage of Menzoberranzan! And dragons! Jarlaxle’s missive speaks of dragons!”

  “Tazmikella and Ilnezhara,” Catti-brie explained. “Copper dragons, and sisters, and both very powerful in the ways of the Art. A very unusual duo.”

  “Splendid!” Lord Parise said, and clapped his hands together. “What wondrous things we might learn.”

  Lady Avelyere nodded, but then put on a curious expression as she regarded Catti-brie. “What of your Desai parents?”

  Catti-brie wasn’t sure how to take that.

  “You do not know? They are capable wizards, both.”

  “There are many capable wizards,” Catti-brie replied. “They have a child, a young child.”

  “You do not wish them in the midst of a city controlled by the drow,” Lord Parise suggested.

  “Reconsider, then,” said Lady Avelyere. “The practices of the Desai spellcasters, who spent decades hiding their talents, are a bit different from those I taught at the Coven, as, I’m sure you discovered, mine are different from those of the Harpells of Longsaddle, and those are different from those of this Archmage Gromph.”

  “To truly recognize the old and lost magic that originally built the Hosttower, we may have to look at it from many different perspectives, and so from people skilled in the Art who have trained and honed their skills differently,” Lord Parise added. “This is why Jarlaxle has brought in Archmage Gromph and the dragons, and why he sent you to fetch me. Do not discount the potential contributions of the tribal casters, who employ different vocalizations and movements, even different spell components, in enacting their magical spells than wizards of other areas and schools.”

  “I will consider it,” she replied, in a tone that ended that line of discussion. “Time is short.”

  “And Jarlaxle is waiting,” said Lord Parise.

  “No,” Catti-brie said, and the other two looked at her curiously. “Jarlaxle is away on a most important mission.”

  “Another tale!” Lord Parise said happily. He finished his glass and turned back to the bottle.

  But that, too, Catti-brie denied. “We must be on the road, immediately.”

  “I will find someone to teleport us.”

  “There is a place I must go first,” Catti-brie said. “A place not far.”

  They left the Netherese enclave soon after, Catti-brie astride Andahar, and her companions upon magically summoned mounts. They rode hard to the south and soon came in sight of the Desai tents.

  “Better that we wait here,” Lord Parise said, tipping his chin to Lady Avelyere.

  “The war is over,” Catti-brie reminded him.

  “I know that, but do they?”

  Catti-brie started to reply, but held back as she considered the tribe beyond the tent of Niraj and Kavita. The Desai were ferocious warriors, many of whom had no doubt suffered great losses at the hands of the Netherese. She could not argue with confidence that her companions would be safe among those tents.

  She rode in alone to the Desai encampment to bid farewell to her second family, while Lord Parise, Lady Avelyere, and a few others of Avelyere’s Coven, who had caught up with them, waited for her on the Netheril plain.

  When the troupe turned to the west, for Luskan, Niraj and Kavita were not among their ranks.

  CHAPTER 10

  Confusion

  ANYONE WATCHING FROM THE SIDE WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THEM a single being, a marilith, perhaps, with six arms, all holding deadly weapons of extraordinary craftsmanship and imbued with powerful magic. Even those who knew these three warriors well—Drizzt, Entreri, and Jarlaxle—would have simply sat back and gasped.

  Their coordination was marvelous. Their intertwining dance—rolling over each other’s thrusts, following a sweeping blade to cross to the other side of their battle line, ducking beneath the sidelong swipe of an ally’s weapon, even leaping at the last possible instant as a long sword or scimitar cut beneath—mesmerizing in its perfection and timing.

  The demons in front of them, including balgura and manes, melted away, cut a dozen times, stabbed in the eye, the heart, the groin, and the line of three warriors steadily advanced, stepping over the smoking, dissipating husks of the fallen.

  When the corridor widened, so, too, did their line. Whichever two were on the ends moved out wide, which only made the rolling dance a more athletic endeavor. Simple turns became dramatic leaps, and simple steps become quick jaunts. Having more enemies clustering in front of them only gave them more things to hit. The demons couldn’t keep up with the trio, and never seemed close to getting a weapon or a clawed hand anywhere near an intended target.

  The power … Jarlaxle heard in his head, and it seemed more an expression of ecstasy than anything else.

  The mercenary concentrated on the fight at hand, stabbing Khazid’hea forward, then twisting to parry the swing of a balgura’s heavy hammer.

  In the simple parry, meant to deflect and not to block, the demon’s weapon fell apart, the shaft sliced cleanly and even the heavy stone head falling to the stone floor in two pieces, cut diagonally. Jarlaxle, intent on finishing the brute, which he did with a second thrust, only barely registered the destroyed hammer, but that image stayed with him as he moved forward.

  He knew Khazid’hea, Cutter, was a powerful blade—a sword of sharpness—but the thought that such a simple twist could cut a heavy warhammer so easily and cleanly seemed purely ridiculous!

  The power … he heard again in his head, and this time he knew it was the blade telepathically communicating.

  Jarlaxle dismissed the noise in his thoughts and focused more fully on the battle at hand, reminding himself that working with such allies as Drizzt and Entreri could get one as readily killed by a friendly sword as an enemy blade if one was imperfect in the dance.

  But that was exactly what seemed to be happening around him.

  Drizzt leaped forward and fell into line, right beside a balgura. The demon hesitated only for the blink of an eye before biting at the drow dinner that had just served itself.

  Jarlaxle’s fine sword intervened, cutting the balgura in the side of its face. But then Drizzt’s blade parried Jarlaxle’s, and a riposte sent Jarlaxle sliding backward.

  “Foul tricksters!” Drizzt yelled. “Be warned, we are deceived!”

  Entreri leaped past Jarlaxle then, going at Drizzt—clearly to kill the drow rather than support him!

  Jarlaxle didn’t know what to do, so he reacted with the wand that had served him so well all these years. He hit the pair with a summoned gob of goo.

  “You are both deceived!” he shouted as they tumbled away, and Jarlaxle filled the void immediately to stab hard at the balgura, forcing it back. To the side, Drizzt and Entreri were already both extricating themselves from the goo. Jarlaxle had only scored a glancing hit.

  Jarlaxle threw down the feather from his magical hat, bringing forth the giant diatryma bird, and bade it drive back the balgura and the few remaining minor demons behind it. From a ring, he launched a blade barrier, a whirlwind of summoned swords, into the back of the demon pack, chewing at them and s
licing them apart. From a necklace, he detached a small ruby and threw it to the far side of the enemy forces, melting a bunch of manes with a fireball.

  Jarlaxle hated wasting his precious contingency spells and items—he could not summon the diatryma for another day, could not use the spell from his ring until he managed to get it recharged by a powerful priest, and it would take him many coins to replace the ruby on his necklace of fireballs. But there were other concerns.

  He looked to his companions, shouting at them to stop. They were nearly free then, and already trying to swing at each other.

  “By the gods, you idiots,” Jarlaxle screamed, “the fight is ended!”

  The volume of his scream and the atypical behavior from Jarlaxle finally seemed to get through to them. Drizzt tore free of the remaining goo and stumbled backward, scimitars still in hand as he eyed Entreri suspiciously.

  “Show your true form, d-demon,” Entreri ordered, but he stuttered at the end and blinked repeatedly, then stood up straight and glanced at Jarlaxle, clearly confused.

  “It would seem that our demon enemies have some tricks of their own to play,” said Drizzt, who also sheathed his weapons then.

  But Jarlaxle was only half-listening, if that.

  Do you feel it? Khazid’hea asked in his head. The magic of life, the music of chaos …

  Jarlaxle wasn’t sure what to make of it, but then it occurred to him that this part of their journey had taken them very near the Faerzress. Khazid’hea was a drow blade, and so the magic of that mystical radiation had been instrumental in giving the sword sentience and its magically enhanced keen edge.

  You have been here before, many times, Jarlaxle reminded the blade. He was confident that the sword had traversed these tunnels in the past. Yet I sense your surprise.

  Never like this, he felt from his excited sword.

  Jarlaxle wasn’t sure what to make of it, but he slid the sword away for safekeeping and focused again on his companions. Both were shaken and scrutinized each other as if they both expected a demon to take shape from within the other’s drow form.