vious night, had barricaded themselves within their two-
stalagmite structure, fully expecting what was to come.
Outside their gates, all of the nobles of Menzoberranzan,
more than a thousand drow, had gathered, with Matron
Baenre and the other seven matron mothers of the ruling
council at their head. More disastrous for the guilty house,
the entirety of the three schools of the Academy, students
and instructors, had surrounded the Thken'duis compound.
Matron Malice led her group to the front line behind the
ruling matrons. As she was matron of the ninth house, only
one step from the council, other drow nobles readily
stepped out of her way.
"House Thken'duis has angered the Spider Queen!" Ma.
tron Baenre proclaimed in a voice amplified by magical
spells.
"Only because they failed” Zak whispered to Drizzt.
Briza cast both males an angry glare.
Matron B~enre bade three young drow, two females and
a male, to her side'. "These are all that remain of House
Freth” she explained. "Can you tell us, orphans of House
Freth” she asked of them, "who it was that attacked your
home?"
"House Thken'duis!" they shouted together.
"Rehearsed” Zak commented.
Briza turned around again. "Silence!" she whispered
harshly.
Zak slapped Drizzt on the back of the head. "Yes” he
agreed. "Do be quiet!"
Drizzt started to protest, but Briza had already turned
away and Zak's smile was too wide to argue against.
"Then it is the will of the ruling council” Matron Baenre
was saying, "that House Thken'duis suffer the consequences
of their actions!"
"What of the orphans of House Freth?" came a call from
the crowd.
Matron Baenre stroked the head of the oldest female, a
cleric recently finished in her studies at the Academy. "No-
bles they were born, and nobles they remain” Baenre said.
"House Baenre accepts them into its protection; they bear
the name of Baenre now”
Disgruntled whispers filtered through the gathering.
Three young nobles, two of them female, was quite a prize.
Any house in the city gladly would have taken them in.
"Baenre” Briza whispered to Malice. "Just what the first
house needs, more clerics!"
"Sixteen high priestesses is not enough, it seems” Malice I
answered. ;
" And no doubt, Baenre will take any surviving soldiers of
House Freth” Briza reasoned.
Malice was not so certain. Matron Baenre was walking a
thin line by taking even the surviving nobles. If House
Baenre got too powerful, Lloth surely would take exception.
In situations such as this, where a house had been almost
eradicated, surviving common soldiers were normally
pooled out to bidding houses. Malice would have to watch
for such an auction. Soldiers did not come cheaply, but at
this time, Malice would welcome the opportunity to add to
her forces, particularly if there were any magic-users to be
had.
Matron Baenre addressed the guilty house. "House Thken-
duis!" she called. "You have broken our laws and have been
rightfully caught. Fight if you will, but know that you have
brought this doom upon yourselfl" With a wave of her
hand, she set the Academy, the dispatcher of justice, into
motion.
Great braziers had been placed in eight positions around
House Thken'duis, attended by mistresses of Arach- Tinilith
and the highest-ranking clerical students. Flames roared to
life and shot into the air as the high priestesses opened gates
to the lower planes. Drizzt watched closely, mesmerized c:
and hoping to catch a glimpse of either Dinin or Vierna.
Denizens of the lower planes, huge, many-armed mon-
sters, slime covered and spitting fire, stepped through the
flames. Even the nearest high priestesses backed away from
the grotesque horde. The creatures gladly accepted such
servitude. When the signal from Matron Baenre came, they
eagerly descended upon House Teken'duis.
Glyphs and wards exploded at every corner of the house's
feeble gate, but these were mere inconveniences to the
summoned creatures.
The wizards and students of Sorcere then went into
action, slamming at the top of House Teken'duis with con-
jured lightning bolts, balls of acid, and fireballs.
Students and masters of Melee-Magthere, the school of
fighters, rushed about with heavy crossbows, firing into
windows where the doomed family might try to escape.
The horde of monsters bashed through the doors. Light-
ning flashed and thunder boomed.
Zak looked at Drizzt, and a frown replaced the master's
smile. Caught up in the excitement-and it certainly was
exciting-Drizzt bore an expression of awe.
The first screams of the doomed family rolled out from
the house, screams so terrible and agonized that they stole
any macabre pleasure that Drizzt might have been experi-
encing. He grabbed Zak's shoulder, spinning the weapon
master to him, begging for an explanation.
One of the sons of House Teken'duis, fleeing a ten-armed
giant monster, stepped out onto the balcony of a high win-
dow. A dozen crossbow quarrels struck him simultane-
ously, and before he even fell dead, three separate lightning
bolts alternately lifted him from the balcony, then dropped
him back onto it.
Scorched and mutilated, the drow corpse started to tum-
ble from its high perch, but the grotesque monster reached
out a huge, clawed hand from the window and pulled it
back in to devour it.
"Drow justice” Zak said coldly. He didn't offer Drizzt any
consolation; he wanted the brutality of this moment to stick
in the young drow's mind for the rest of his life.
The siege went on for more than an hour, and when it was
finished, when the denizens of the lower planes were dis-
missed through the braziers' gates and the students and in-
structors of the Academy started their march back to Tier
Breche, House Teken'duis was no more than a glowing lump
of lifeless, molten stone.
Drizzt watched it all, horrified, but too afraid of the con-
sequences to run away. He did not notice the artistry of
Menzoberranzan on the return trip to House Do'Urden.
Chapter 10
The Stain of Blood
"Zaknafein is out of the house?" Malice asked.
"I sent him and Rizzen to the Academy to deliver a f!les-
sage to Vierna” Briza explained. "He shan't return for many
hours, not before the light of Narbondel begins its descent”
"That is good” said Malice. "You both understand your du-
ties in this farce?"
Briza and Maya nodded. "I have never heard of such a de-
ception” Maya remarked. "Is it necessary?"
"It was planned for another of the house” Briza an-
swered, looking to Matron Malice for confirmation. "Nearly
four centuries ago”
"Yes” agreed Malice. "The same was to be done to Zakna-
fein, but the unexpected death of Matron Vartha, my
mother, disrupted the plans”
"That was when you became the matron mother” Maya
said.
"Yes” replied Malice, "though I had not passed my first
century of life and was still training in Arach. Tinilith. It was
not a pleasant time in the history of House Do'Urden”
"But we survived” said Briza. "With the death of Matron
Vartha, Nalfein and I became nobles of the house”
"The test on Zaknafein was never attempted” Maya rea-
soned.
"Too many other duties preceded it” Malice answered.
"We will try it on Drizzt, though” said Maya.
"The punishment of House Thken'duis convinced me that
this action had to be taken” said Malice.
"Yes” Briza agreed. "Did you notice Drizzt's expression
throughout the execution?"
"I did” answered Maya. "He was revolted”
"Unfitting for a drow warrior” said Malice, "and so this
duty is upon us. Drizzt will leave for the Academy in a short
time, we must stain his hands with drow blood and steal his
innocence”
"It seems a lot of trouble for a male child” Briza grumbled.
"If Drizzt cannot adhere to our ways, then why do we not
simply give him to Lloth?"
"I will bear no more children!" Malice growled in re-
sponse. "Every member of this family is important if we are
to gain prominence in the city!" Secretly Malice hoped for
another gain in converting Drizzt to the evil ways of the
drow. She hated Zaknafein as much as she desired him, and
turning Drizzt into a drow warrior, a true heartless drow
warrior, would distress the weapon master greatly.
"On with it, then” Malice proclaimed. She clapped her
hands, and a large chest walked in, supported by eight ani-
mated spider legs. Behind it came a nervous goblin slave.
"Come, Byuchyuch” Malice said in a comforting tone.
Anxious to please, the slave bounded up before Malice's
throne and held perfectly still as the matron mother went
through the incantation of a long and complicated spell.
Briza and Maya watched in admiration at their mother's
skills; the little goblin's features bulged and twisted, and its
skin darkened. A few minutes later, the slave had assumed
the appearance of a male drow. Byuchyuch looked at its fea-
tures happily, not understanding that the transformation
was merely a prelude to death.
"You are a drow soldier now” Maya said to it, "and my
champion. You must kill only a single, inferior fighter to
take your place as a free commoner of House Do'Urden!"
After ten years as an indentured servant to the wicked
dark elves, the goblin was more than eager.
Malice rose and started out of the anteroom. "Come” she
ordered, and her two daughters, the goblin, and the ani-
mated chest fell in line behind her.
They came upon Drizzt in the practice room, polishing
the razor edge of his scimitars. He leaped straight up to si-
lent attention at the sight of the unexpected visitors.
"Greetings, my son” Malice said in a tone more motherly
than Drizzt had ever heard. "We have a test for you this day,
a simple task necessary for your acceptance into Melee-
Magthere”
Maya moved before her brother. "I am the youngest, be-
side yourself” she declared. "Thus, I am granted the rights
of challenge, which I now execute”
Drizzt stood confused. He had never heard of such a
thing. Maya called the chest to her side and reverently
opened the cover.
"You have your weapons and your piwafwi” she ex-
plained. "Now it is time for you to don the complete outfit of
a noble of House Do'Urden” From the chest she pulled out a
pair of high black boots and handed them to Drizzt.
Drizzt eagerly slipped out of his normal boots and put on
the new ones. They were incredibly soft, and they magically
shifted and adjusted to a perfect fit on his feet. Drizzt knew
the magic within them: they would allow him to move in ab-
solute silence. Before he had even finished admiring them,
though, Maya gave him the next gift, even more magnifi-
cent.
Drizzt dropped his piwafwi to the floor as he took a set of
silvery chain mail. In all the Realms, there was no armor as
supple and finely crafted as drow chain mail. It weighed no
more than a heavy shirt and would bend as easily as silken
cloth, yet could deflect the tip of a spear as surely as
dwarven-crafted plate mail.
"You fight with two weapons” Maya said, "and therefore
need no shield. But put your scimitars in this; it is more fit-
ting to a drow noble” She handed Drizzt a black leather
belt, its clasp a huge emerald and its two scabbards richly
decorated in jewels and gemstones.
"Prepare yourself” Malice said to Drizzt. "The gifts must
be earned” As Drizzt started to don the outfit, Malice
moved beside the altered goblin, which stood nervously in
the growing realization that its fight would be no simple
task.
"When you kill him, the items will be yours” Malice prom-
ised. The goblin's smile returned tenfold; it could not com-
prehend that it had no chance against Drizzt.
When Drizzt again fastened his piwafwi around his neck,
Maya introduced the phony drow soldier. "This is Byuchy-
uch” she said, "my champion. You must defeat him to earn
the gifts. . . and your proper place in the family”
Never doubting his abilities, and thinking the contest to be
a simple sparring match, Drizzt readily agreed. "Let it be-
gin, then” he said, drawing his scimitars from their lavish
sheaths.
Malice gave Byuchyuch a comforting nod, and the goblin
took up the sword and shield that Maya had provided and
moved right in at Drizzt.
Drizzt began slowly, trying to take a measure of his oppo-
nent before attempting any daring offensive strikes. In only
a moment, though, Drizzt realized how badly Byuchyuch
handled the sword and shield. Not knowing the truth of the
creature's identity, Drizzt could hardly believe that a drow
would show such ineptitude with weapons. He wondered if
Byuchyuch was baiting him, and with that thought, contin-
ued his cautious approach.
After a few more moments of Byuchyuch's wild and off-
balanced swings, however, Drizzt felt compelled to take the
initiative. He slapped one scimitar against Byuchyuch's
shield. The goblin-drow responded with a lumbering
thrust, and Drizzt slapped its sword from its hand with his
free blade and executed a simple twist that brought the
scimitar's tip to a halt against the hollow of Byuchyuch's
chest.
"Too easy” Drizzt muttered under his breath.
But the true test had only begun.
On cue, Briza cast a mind-numbing spell on the goblin,
freezing it in its helpless position. Still aware of its predica-
ment, Byuchyuch tried to dive away, but Briza's spell held it
