were stuffed with baskets, folded clothes and books. Q'arlynd nodded. He wasn't surprised that Leliana read. She had a lively mind. Something else caught his eye, a crescent-shaped harp in an alcove next to the door. He reached out to touch it then lowered his hand, as if suddenly remembering his manners.
'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I shouldn't touch your things, but it… reminds me of my sister.' He glanced up at Leliana. 'Did you know Halisstra well?'
'I met her only once.'
Q'arlynd brushed the strings of the harp with a fingertip. A shiver of notes filled the air. 'She was a musician, too. She played the lyre.'
'Quit stalling. You came here to tell me something about the Nightshadows. Spit it out.'
Q'arlynd raised an eyebrow as he bowed. 'As you command… Mistress.'
'Don't call me that.'
'Why not?' Q'arlynd countered. 'You were born in the Underdark, weren't you? Menzoberranzan, if I'm not mistaken about your accent. Born into a noble House, no doubt. You certainly have an aristocratic bearing.'
Leliana ignored the flattery. She closed the door against the chill wind then folded her arms across her chest. Now that she was no longer wearing her armor, Q'arlynd could appreciate the curve of her breasts and the lean muscles of her folded arms. She was only a little taller than he was-short, for a female.
'Get to the point,' she said.
Q'arlynd sighed. 'Things really are done differently in the surface realms, aren't they?' he said. 'Very well, then. I gather, from our conversation of last night, that you're worried about an attack by Vhaeraun's assassins.'
The silence stretched. Leliana neither confirmed nor denied what he'd just said. 'Go on.'
'The Nightshadows are masters of deception and disguise,' Q'arlynd said. He leaned closer, as if about to share a dark secret. 'But I know how to spot them.'
'So do I,' Leliana said sarcastically. 'The first clue is that square of black cloth they're so fond of wearing.'
Q'arlynd smiled. 'That's true, but a Nightshadow can still work his magic, even when his mask is thousands of paces distant.' He waved a hand. 'But you knew that already, of course. Just as, no doubt, you already know that a Nightshadow's deception spell can mask his alignment, his true faith-even his very thoughts, but what you don't know, I'm willing to wager, is how to counter this deception.'
'And you do?'
'Yes.'
Leliana's expression was openly skeptical, but she hadn't thrown him out yet. She wanted to hear more.
'Let me explain. Many years ago, back when I was a novice wizard, a…' he searched for the right word-it wasn't one the drow frequently used. 'A friend of mine came to me for help. A Nightshadow. He had a problem he thought my magic could solve.'
'What problem was that?'
'He'd been cursed.' Q'arlynd walked to the center of the room, deliberately testing her willingness to let him invade her private space. When she made no move to block him, he leaned back against the table, stretching himself out. Showing off his body. He smiled, inwardly, as he saw her eyes linger on it.
'You're familiar with Vhaeraun's avatar?' he asked.
'Not personally-we've never met. Eilistraee willing, I'll never have that pleasure.'
Q'arlynd chuckled. 'Nor have I, but my friend enlightened me. The Masked Lord's avatar, he said, looks just like a regular drow, except for his eyes. They change color, you see, to reflect his moods. Red when the god is angry, blue when he's pleased, green when-'
'Let me guess-when he's envious.'
'When he's puzzled, actually.' Q'arlynd waved a hand. 'But that's neither blood nor water. What's important to the story is that this Nightshadow had transgressed against his faith. He'd cast an illusion upon himself that made his eyes change color and tried to pass himself off as Vhaeraun's avatar. It was a stupid thing to do, and he paid the price for his temerity. Vhaeraun cursed the Nightshadow so that his eyes would forever betray him. They continued to change color, even after his illusion ended, marking him as a cleric of Vhaeraun, and in Ched Nasad, that wasn't a healthy thing to be.'
'So he asked you to remove the curse?'
'Exactly.' Q'arlynd sighed. 'But that spell, unfortunately for him, was beyond my abilities. I was still just a novice, capable of no more than a few cantrips and simple spells.'
Leliana frowned. 'Then why did he come to you for help?'
Q'arlynd shrugged and looked away. 'He had his reasons.'
'Why? Because you were a Nightshadow, too?'
Q'arlynd stared up into her eyes unflinchingly. 'No. For a time, I considered becoming a petitioner-my friend took me into his confidence and told me a great deal about the Nightshadows. I even attended one of their secret meetings, but I never did take up the mask.'
'So were you able to help your friend?'
Q'arlynd sighed. 'In the course of telling him I couldn't help him, it slipped out that I was studying how to render living creatures invisible. He begged me to cast this spell on him, so he could escape the city.'
She nodded. 'Did he escape?'
Q'arlynd's expression hardened. 'No. Instead of invisibility, I cast a spell that rendered him unconscious. Then I handed him over to the matron mother of our House.'
That last 'slip' had been deliberate. It took less time than he expected for it to sink in. Leliana's eyes widened almost immediately. 'You and this 'friend' were blood relatives?'
Q'arlynd nodded. 'He was my younger brother.' He glanced away, letting the silence stretch for a moment. 'I was 'rewarded' for turning him in by being allowed to watch when our mother sacrificed him. She cut his body apart, piece by piece, and offered it up to Lolth. It took…' he deliberately let his voice catch. 'It took a very long time for him to die.'
Leliana looked ill. 'You betrayed your own brother.'
'I had to. If I helped him, I'd have been marked for sacrifice myself.'
'Not if he escaped.'
'An invisibility spell wouldn't have helped. It would have worn off long before he escaped the city, and his eyes would have given him away. He'd have revealed who aided him. Lolth's priestesses, just like Eilistraee's, have ways of wringing the truth out of a person.'
He sighed. 'What I should have done was given Tellik a swift, clean death, but I wasn't strong enough to do that.' He glanced up at her. 'You grew up in the Underdark. You understand what's necessary. To survive. You must have… done things, things you later regretted.'
Leliana's eyes narrowed. 'I left all that behind.'
'So have I. I've taken Eilistraee's vows. I've come into the light.'
Leliana cocked an eyebrow. 'Have you?'
'Yes. That's why I shared this story with you, painful though it was to relate. I wanted to give you a weapon you could use against any Nightshadows who try to sneak into your shrine in disguise.' He smiled. 'This is what I came to tell you. If you word a curse carefully, you can create the same effect, cause a Nightshadow's eyes to mirror his avatar's. No matter what disguise he's wearing, it will give him away.'
Leliana considered this for several moments. 'An interesting story,' she said at last.
Q'arlynd felt his face grow warm. 'You don't believe me?' He pointed at her sword. 'Then wave that around and cast your truth spell. Make me repeat my 'story,' and see if I'm telling the truth.'
Leliana's mouth quirked in a smile. 'No need,' she said. 'Before inviting you in, I said a prayer that would cause me to hear a ringing sound, whenever you spoke a lie. It's much more subtle than the truth-compelling spell I used on you earlier, don't you think?'
Q'arlynd laughed, his anger having evaporated. Leliana was a drow female to the core. 'Nicely done,' he said, tipping his head.
'And you,' she replied. 'You told a heart-wrenching tale, complete with confessions and self-recriminations that should have earned my sympathy, and you've offered a possible method to reveal our enemies.'
'The method will work,' Q'arlynd said. 'I've seen it tested.'
