them!"
"What of you?" the matron mother interrupted, more
concerned with the consequences to her own family's
standing than with the raid's general success.
"Five” Dinin answered proudly. "I killed five, all of them
females!"
The matron's smile thrilled Dinin. Then Malice scowled as
she turned her gaze on Drizzt. "And him?" she inquired, not
expecting to be pleased with the answer. Malice did not doubt
her youngest son's prowess with weapons, but she had come
to suspect that Drizzt had too much of Zaknafein's emotional
makeup to ever be an attribute in such situations.
Dinin's smile confused her. He walked over to Drizzt and
draped an arm comfortably across his brother's shoulders.
"Drizzt got only one kill” Dinin began, "but it was a female
child”
"Only one?" Malice growled.
From the shadows off to the side, Zaknafein listened in
dismay. He wanted to shut out the elderboy Do'Urden's
damning words, but they held Zak in their grip. Of all the
evils Zak had ever encountered in Menzoberranzan, this
surely had to be the most disappointing. Drizzt had killed a
child.
"But the way he did it!" Dinin exclaimed. "He hacked her
apart; sent all of Lloth's fury slicing into her twitching body!
The Spider Queen must have treasured that kill above all
the others”
"Only one” Matron Malice said again, her scowl hardly
softening.
"He would have had two” Dinin continued. "Shar Nadal of
House Maevret stole one from his blade-another female”
"Then Lloth will look with favor on House Maevret” Briza
reasoned.
"No” Dinin replied. "Drizzt punished Shar Nadal for his
actions. The son of House Maevret would not respond to the
challenge”
The memory stuck in Drizzt's thoughts. He wished that
Shar Nadal had come back at him, so he could have vented
his rage more fully. Even that wish sent pangs of guilt cours-
ing through Drizzt.
"Well done, my children” Malice beamed, now satisfied
that both of them had acted properly in the raid. "The Spi-
der Queen will look upon House Do'Urden with favor for
this event. She will guide us to victory over this unknown
house that seeks to destroy us”
Zaknafein left the audience hall with his eyes down and
one hand nervously rubbing his sword's hilt. Zak remem-
bered the time he had deceived Drizzt with the light bomb,
when he had Drizzt defenseless and beaten. He could have
spared the young innocent from his horrid fate. He could
have killed Drizzt then and there, mercifully, and released
him from the inevitable circumstances of life in Menzober-
ranzan.
Zak paused in the long corridor and turned back to watch
the chamber. Drizzt and Dinin came out then, Drizzt casting
Zak a single, accusatory look and pointedly turning away
down a side passage.
The gaze cut through the weapon master. "So it has come
to this” Zak murmured to himself. "The youngest warrior
of House Do'Urden, so full of the hate that embodies our
race, has learned to despise me for what I am”
Zak thought again of that moment in the training gym,
that fateful second when Drizzt's life teetered on the edge
of a poised sword. It indeed would have been a merciful act
to kill Drizzt at that time.
With the sting of the young drow warrior's gaze still cut-
ting so keenly into his heart, Zak couldn't decide whether
the deed would have been more merciful to Drizzt or to
himself.
"Leave us” Matron SiNafay commanded as she swept into
the small room lighted by a candle's glow. Alton gawked at
the request; it was, after all, his personal room! Alton pru-
dently reminded himself that SiNafay was the matron
mother of the family, the absolute ruler of House Hun'ett.
With a few awkward bows and apologies for his hesitation,
he backed out of the room.
Masoj watched his mother cautiously as she waited for Al-
ton to move away. From SiNafay's agitated tone, Masoj un-
derstood the significance of her visit. Had he done
something to anger his mother? Or, more likely, had Alton?
When SiNafay spun back on him, her face twisted in evil
glee, Masoj realized that her agitation was really excite-
ment.
"House Do'Urden has erred!" she snarled. "It has lost the
Spider Queen's favor!"
"How?" Masoj replied. He knew that Dinin and Drizzt had
returned from a successful raid, an assault that all of the
city was talking about in tones of high praise.
"I do not know the details” Matron SiNafay replied, find-
ing a measure of calmness in her voice. "One of them, per-
haps one of the sons, did something to displease Lloth. This
was told to me by a handmaiden of the Spider Queen. It
must be true!"
"Matron Malice will work quickly to correct the situation”
Masoj reasoned. "How long do we have?"
"Lloth's displeasure will not be revealed to Matron Mal-
ice” SiNafay replied. "Not soon. The Spider Queen knows
all. She knows that we plan to attack House Do'Urden, and
only an unfortunate accident will inform Matron Malice of
her desperate situation before her house is crushed!
"We must move quickly” Matron SiNafay went on. "Within
ten cycles of Narbondei, the first strike must fall! The full
battle will begin soon after, before House Do'Urden can link
its loss to our wrongdoing”
"What is to be their sudden loss?" Masoj prompted, think-
ing, hoping, he had already guessed the answer.
His mother's words were like sweet music to his ears.
"Drizzt Do'Urden” she purred, "the favored son. Kill him
Masoj rested back and clasped his slender fingers behind
his head, considering the command.
"You will not fail me” SiNafay warned.
"I will not” Masoj assured her. "Drizzt, though young, is al-
ready a powerful foe. His brother, a former master of
Melee-Magthere, is never far from his side” He looked up at
his matron mother, his eyes gleaming. "May I kill the
brother, too?"
"Be cautious, my son” SiNafay replied. "Drizzt Do'Urden is
your target. Concentrate your efforts toward his death.
" As you command” Masoj replied, bowing low.
SiNafay liked the way her young son heeded to her de-
sires without question. She started out of the room, confi-
dent in Masoj's ability to perform the task.
"If Dinin Do'Urden somehow gets in the way” she said,
turning back to throw Masoj a gift for his obedience, "you
may kill him, too”
Masoj's expression revealed too much eagerness for the
second task.
"You will not fail me!" SiNafay said again, this time in an
open threat that stole some of the wind out of Masoj's filling
sails. "Drizzt Do'Urden must die within ten days!"
Masoj forced any distracting thoughts of Dinin out of his
mind. "Drizzt must die” he whispered over and over, long
after his mother had gone. He already knew how he wanted
to do it. He only had to hope that the opportunity would
come soon.
The awful memory of the surface raid followed Drizzt,
haunted him, as he wandered the halls of Daermon
N'a'shezbaernon. He had rushed from the audience cham-
ber as soon as Matron Malice had dismissed him, and had
slipped away from his brother at the first opportunity,
wanting only to be alone.
The images remained: the broken sparkle in the young el-
ven girl's eyes as she knelt over her murdered mother's
corpse; the elven woman's horrified expression, twisting in
agony as ghar Nadal ripped the life from her body. The sur-
face elves were there in Drizzt's thoughts; he could not dis.
miss them. They walked beside Drizzt as he wandered, as
real as they had been when Drizzt's raiding group had de.
scended upon their joyful song.
Drizzt wondered if he would ever be alone again.
Eyes down, consumed by his empty sense of loss, Drizzt c
did not mark the path before him. He jumped back, startled,
when he turned a corner and bumped into somebody.
He stood facing Zaknafein.
"You are home” the weapon master said absently, his
blank face revealing none of the tumultuous emotions swirl-
ing through his mind.
Drizzt wondered if he could properly hide his own grim-
ace. "For a day” he replied, equally nonchalant, though his
rage with Zaknafein was no less intense. Now that Drizzt
had witnessed the wrath of drow elves firsthand, Zak's re-
puted deeds rang out to Drizzt as even more evil. "My patrol
group goes back out at Narbondel's first light.
"So soon?" asked Zak, genuinely surprised.
"We are summoned.
Drizzt replied, starting past. zat
caught him by the arm.
"General patrol?" he asked.
"Focused” Drizzt replied." Activity in the eastern tunnels”
"So the heroes are summoned” chuckled Zak.
Drizzt did not immediately respond. Was there sarcasm in
Zak's voice? Jealousy, perhaps, that Drizzt and Dinin were
allowed to go out to fight, while Zak had to remain within
the House Do'Urden's confines to fulfill his role as the fami-
ly's fighting instructor? Was Zak's hunger for blood so great
that he could not accept the duties thrust upon them all?
Zak had trained Drizzt and Dinin, had he not? And hun-
dreds of others; he'd transformed them into living weapons,
into murderers.
"How long will you be out?" Zak pressed, more interested
in Drizzt's whereabouts.
Drizzt shrugged. "A week at the longest”
"And then?"
"Horne”
"That is good” said Zak. "I will be pleased to see you back
within the walls of House Do'Orden” Drizzt didn't believe a
word of it.
Zak then slapped him on the shoulder in a sudden, unex-
pected movement designed to test Drizzt's reflexes. More
surprised than threatened, Drizzt accepted the pat without
response, not sure of his uncle's intent.
"The gym, perhaps?" asked Zak. "You and I, as it once
was.
Impossible! Drizzt wanted to shout. Never again would it
be as it once was. Drizzt held those thoughts to himself and
nodded his assent. "I would enjoy that” he replied, secretly
wondering how much satisfaction he would gain by cutting
Zaknafein down. Drizzt knew the truth of his people now,
and knew that he was powerless to change anything. Maybe
he could make a change in his private life, though. Maybe by
destroying Zaknafein, his greatest disappointment, Drizzt
could remove himself from the wrongness around him.
"As would I, Zak said, the friendliness of his tone hiding
his private thoughts-thoughts identical to Drizzt's.
"In a week, then” Drizzt said, and he pulled away, unable
to continue the encounter with the drow who once had
been his dearest friend, and who, Drizzt had come to learn,
was truly as devious and evil as the rest of his kin.
"Please, my matron” Alton whimpered, "it is my right. I
beg of you!"
"Rest easy, foolish DeVir” SiNafay replied, and there was
pity in her voice, an emotion seldom felt and almost never
revealed.
"I have waited-"
"The time is almost upon you” SiNafay countered, her
tone growing more threatening. "You have tried for this one
before?'
Alton's grotesque gawk brought a smile to SiNafay's face.
Yes, she said, "I know of your bungled attempt on Drizzt
Do'Urden's life. If Masoj had not arrived, the young warrior
would probably have slain you?'
"I would have destroyed him!" Alton growled.
SiNafay did not argue the point. "Perhaps you would have
won” she said, "only to be exposed as a murderous impos-
ter, with the wrath of all of Menzoberranzan hanging over
your head!"
"I did not care?'
"You would have cared, I promise you!" Matron SiNafay
sneered. "You would have forfeited your chance to claim a
greater revenge. 1rust in me, Alton DeVir. Your-our-
victory is at hand?'
"Masoj will kill Drizzt, and maybe Dinin” Alton grumbled.
"There are other Do'Urdens awaiting the fell hand of Al-
ton DeVir” Matron SiNafay promised. "High priestesses?'
Alton could not dismiss the disappointment he felt at not
being allowed to go after Drizzt. He badly wanted to kill that
one. Drizzt had brought him embarrassment that day in his
chambers at Sorcere; the young draw should have died
quickly and quietly. Alton wanted to make up for that mis-
take.
Alton also could not ignore the promise that Matron SiNa-
fay had just made to him. The thought of killing one or more
of the high priestesses of House Do'Urden did not displease
him at all.
The pillowy softness of the plush bed, so different from
the rest of the hard stone world of Menzoberranzan, of.
fered Drizzt no relief from the pain. Another ghost had
reared up to overwhelm even the images of carnage on the
surface: the specter of Zaknafein.
Dinin and Vierna had told Drizzt the truth of the weapon
master, of Zak's role in the fall of House DeVir, and of how
Zak so enjoyed slaughtering other drow-other drow who
had done nothing to wrong him or deserve his wrath.
So Zaknafein, too, took part in this evil game of drow life,
the endless quest to please the Spider Queer.
" As I so pleased her on the surface?" Drizzt couldn't help
but mumble, the sarcasm of the spoken words bringing him
some small measure of comfort.
The comfort Drizzt felt in saving the life of the elven child
seemed such a minor act against the overwhelming wrongs
his raiding group had exacted on her people. Matron Mal.
