house had magically attacked in the night, while he was out
battling Alton and Masoj. The compound, though, was se.
rene; surely the soldiers would have known if anything like
that had occurred.
Drizzt picked up the belt for inspection. No blood, and the
clasp neatly unbuckled. No enemy had torn this from Zak.
The weapon master's pouch lay beside it, also intact.
"What, then?" Drizzt asked aloud. He replaced the sword
belt beside the bed, but slung the pouch across his neck,
and turned, not knowing where he should go next.
He had to see about the rest of the family, he realized be- I
fore he had even stepped through the door. Perhaps then
this riddle about Zak would become more clear.
Dread grew out of that thought as Drizzt headed down
the long and decorated corridor to the chapel anteroom.
Had Malice, or any of them, brought Zak harm? For what,
purpose? The notion seemed illogical to Drizzt, but it i
nagged him every step, as if some sixth sense were warning
him.
There still was no sign of anyone.
The anteroom's ornate doors swung in, magically and si-
lently, even as Drizzt raised his hand to knock on them. He
saw the matron mother first, sitting smugly on her throne
at the rear of the room, her smile inviting.
Drizzt's discomfort did not diminish when he entered.
The whole family was there: Briza, Vierna, and Maya to the
sides of their matron, Rizzen and Dinin unobtrusively
standing beside the left wall. The whole family. Except for
Zak.
Matron Malice studied her son carefully, noting his many
wounds. "I instructed you not to leave the house” she said to
Drizzt, but she was not scolding him. "Where did your trav-
els take you?"
"Where is Zaknafein?" Drizzt asked in reply.
"Answer the matron mother!" Briza yelled at him, her
snake whip prominently displayed on her belt.
Drizzt glared at her and she recoiled, feeling the same bit-
ter chill that Zaknafein had cast over her earlier in the
night.
"I instructed you not to leave the house” Malice said again,
still holding calm. "Why did you disobey me?"
"I had matters to attend” Drizzt replied, "urgent matters. I
did not wish to bother you with them”
"War is upon us, my son” Matron Malice explained. "You
are vulnerable out in the city by yourself. House Do'Urden
cannot afford to lose you now”
"My business had to be handled alone” Drizzt answered.
"Is it completed?"
"It is”
"Then I trust that you will not disobey me again” The
words came calm and even, but Drizzt understood at once
the severity of the threat behind them.
"To other matters, then” Malice went on.
"Where is Zaknafein?" Drizzt dared to ask again.
Briza mumbled some curse under her breath and pulled
the whip from her belt. Matron Malice threw an out-
stretched hand in her direction to stay her. They needed
tact, not brutality, to bring Drizzt under control at this criti-
cal time. There would be ample opportunities for punish-
ment after House Hun'ett was properly defeated.
"Concern yourself not with the fate of the weapon mas-
ter” Malice replied. "He works for the good of House Do'Ur-
den even as we speak-on a personal mission”
Drizzt didn't believe a word of it. Zak would never have
left without his weapons. The truth hovered about Drizzt's
thoughts, but he wouldn't let it in.
"Our concern is House Hun'ett” Malice went on, address-
ing them all. "The war's first strikes may fall this day”
"The first strikes already have fallen” Drizzt interrupted.
All eyes came back to him, to his wounds. He wanted to con-
tinue the discussion about Zak but knew that he would only
get himself, and Zak, if Zak was still alive, into further trou-
ble. Perhaps the conversation would bring him more clues.
"You have seen battle?" Malice asked.
"You know of the Faceless One?" Drizzt asked.
"Master of the Academy” Dinin answered, "of Sorcere.
have dealt with him often” :,
"He has been of use to us in the past” said Malice, "but no
more, I believe. He is a Hun'ett, Gelroos Hun'ett”
"No” Drizzt replied. "Once he may have been, but Alton
DeVir is his name. .. was his name”
"The link!" Dinin growled, suddenly comprehending.
"Gelroos was to kill Alton on the night of House DeVir's fall!
"It would seem that Alton DeVir proved the stronger”
mused Malice, and all became clear to her. "Matron SiNafay
Hun'ett accepted him, used him to her gain” she explained
to her family. She looked back to Drizzt. "You battled with
him?"
"He is dead” Drizzt answered. ~
Matron Malice cackled with delight.
"One less wizard to deal with” Briza remarked, replacing
the whip on her belt.
"Two” Drizzt corrected, but there was no boasting in his
voice. He was not proud of his actions. "Masoj Hun'ett is no
more”
"My son!" Matron Malice cried. "You have brought us a
great edge-in this war!" She glanced all about her family, in.
fecting them, except Drizzt, with her elation. "House
Hun'ett may not even choose to strike us now, knowing its
disadvantage. We will not let them get away! We will
destroy them this day and become the Eighth House of
Menzoberranzan! Woe to the enemies of Daermon N'a'shez.
baernon!
"We must move at once, my family” Malice reasoned, her
hands rubbing over each other in excitement. "We cannot
wait for an attack. We must take the offensive! Alton DeVir
is gone now; the link that justifies this war is no more.
Surely the ruling council knew of Hun'ett's intentions, and
with both her wizards dead and the element of surprise
lost, Matron SiNafay will move quickly to stop the battle”
Drizzt's hand unconsciously slipped into Zak's pouch
the others joined Malice in her plotting.
"Where is Zak?" Drizzt demanded again, above the cho-
rus.
Silence dropped as quickly as the tumult had begun.
"He is of no concern to you, my son” Malice said to him,
still keeping to her tact despite Drizzt's impudence. "You are
the weapon master of House Do'Urden now. Lloth has for-
given your insolence; you have no crimes weighing against
you. Your career may begin anew, to glorious heights!"
Her words cut through Drizzt as surely as his own scimi-
tar might. "You killed him” he whispered aloud, the truth
too awful to be contained in silent thought.
The matron's face suddenly gleamed, hot with rage. "You
killed him!" she shot back at Drizzt. "Your insolence de-
manded repayment to the Spider Queen!"
Drizzt's tongue got all tangled up behind his teeth.
"But you live” Malice went on, relaxing again in her chair,
''as the elven child lives!'
Dinin was not the only one in the room to gasp audibly.
"Yes, we know of your deception” Malice sneered. "The
Spider Queen always knew. She demanded restitution!'
"You sacrificed Zaknafein?" Drizzt breathed, hardly able
to get the words out of his mouth. "You gave him to that
damned Spider Queen?"
"I would watch how I spoke of Queen Lloth” Malice
warned. "Forget Zaknafein. He is not your concern. Look to
your own life, my warrior son. All glories are offered to
you, a station of honor!'
Drizzt was indeed looking to his own life at that moment;
at the proposed path that offered him a life of battle, a life of
killing drow.
"You have no options” Malice said to him, seeing his in-
ward struggle. "I offer to you now your life. In exchange,
you must do as 1 bid, as Zaknafein once did!'
"You kept your bargain with him” Drizzt spat sarcasti-
cally.
"I did!" Matron Malice protested. "Zaknafein went will-
ingly to the altar, for your sake!"
Her words stung Drizzt for only a moment. He would not
accept the guilt for Zaknafein's death! He had followed the
only course he could, on the surface against the elves and
here in the evil city.
"My offer is a good one” Malice said. "I give it here, before
all the family. Both of us will benefit from the agreement, . . .
Weapon Master?"
A smile spread across Drizzt's face when he looked into
Matron Malice's cold eyes, a grin that Mal~ce took as accept-
ance.
"Weapon master?" Drizzt echoed. "Not likely”
Again Malice misunderstood. "I have seen you in battle”
she argued. "1\410 wizards! You underestimate yourself”
Drizzt nearly laughed aloud at the irony of her words.
She thought he would fail where Zaknafein had failed,
would fall into her trap as the former weapon master had
fallen, never to climb back out. "It is you who underestimate
me, Malice” Drizzt said with threatening calm.
"Matron!" Briza demanded, but she held back, seeing that
Drizzt and everyone else was ignoring her as the drama
played out.
"You ask me to serve your evil designs” Drizzt continued.
He knew but didn't care that all of them were nervously fin.
gering weapons or preparing spells, were waiting for the
proper moment to strike the blasphemous fool dead. Those
childhood memories of the agony of snake whips reminded
him of the punishment for his actions. Drizzt's fingers
closed around a circular object, adding to his courage,
though he would have contii1ued in any case.
"They are a lie, as our-no, your-people are a lie!"
"Your skin is as dark as mine” Malice reminded him. "You
are a drow, though you have never learned what that
means!"
"Oh, I do know what it means”
"Then act by the rules!" Matron Malice demanded.
"Your rules?" Drizzt growled back. "But your rules are a
damned lie as well, as great a lie as that filthy spider you
claim as a deity!"
"Insolent slug!" Briza cried, raising her snake whip.
Drizzt struck first. He pulled the object, the tiny ceramic
globe, from Zaknafein's pouch.
"A true god damn you all!" he cried as he slammed the ball
to the stone floor. He snapped his eyes shut as the pebble
within the ball, enchanted by a powerful light-emanating
dweomer, exploded into the room and erupted into his kin's
sensitive eyes. "And damn that Spider Queen as well!"
Malice reeled backward, taking her great throne right
over in a heavy crash to the hard stone. Cries of agony and
rage came from every corner of the room as the sudden
light bored into the stunned drow. Finally Vierna managed
to launch a countering spell and returned the room to its
customary gloom.
"Get him!" Malice growled, still trying to shake off the
heavy fall. "I want him dead!"
The others had hardly recovered enough to heed to her
commands, and Dmzt was already out of the house.
Carried on the silent winds of the Astral Plane, the call
came. The entity of the panther stood up, ignoring its pains,
and took note of the voice, a familiar, comforting voice.
The cat was off, then, running with all its heart and
strength to answer the summons of its new master.
A short while later, Drizzt crept out of a little tunnel,
Guenhwyvar at his side, and moved through the courtyard
of the Academy to look down upon Menzoberranzan for
the last time.
"What place is this” Drizzt asked the cat quietly, "that I call
home? These are my people, by skin and by heritage, but I
am no kin to them. They are lost and ever will be.
"How many others are like me, I wonder?" Drizzt whis-
pered, taking one final look. "Doomed souls, as was Zakna-
fein, poor Zak. 1 do this for him, Guenhwyvar; I leave as he
could not. His life has been my lesson, a dark scroll etched
by the heavy price exacted by Matron Malice's evil prom-
ises.
"Good-bye, ZakJ" he cried, his voice rising in final defi.
ance. "My father. 'Dike heart, as do I, that when we meet
again, in a life after this, it will surely not be in the hellfire
our kin are doomed to endure!"
Drizzt motioned the cat back into the tunnel, the entrance
to the untamed Underdark. Watching the cat's easy move-
ments, Drizzt realized again how fortunate he was to have
found a companion of like spirit, a true friend. The way
would not be easy for him and Guenhwyvar beyond the
guarded borders of Menzoberranzan. They would be un.
protected and alone-though better off, by Drizzt's
estimation-more than they Bver could be amid the eVilness
of the draw.
Drizzt stepped into the tunnel behind Guenhwyvar and
left Menzoberranzan behind.
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