at it, filled with sudden, overwhelming disgust. He had risked his life to gain this relic, and for what? So Malice could please Lloth and win at her wicked little games of intrigue and treachery? The purple jewel in the Dagger's hilt glinted like an evil eye. Zak's lip curled back in loathing. No, he would have no part in gaining Lloth's favor. There was only one thing he could do, and damn the consequences.
'I will do nothing that pleases you, Lloth!' he shouted above the deafening roar. 'If you want your precious Dagger, you can go look for it in the Abyss!' With that, Zak hurled the Dagger down the stairwell, into the heart of the rising fire. The relic flashed, then was lost in the roiling crimson flames. Zak's hair began to curl and crisp. Steam rose from his leather clothes. In another heartbeat he would be roasted alive. With a cry of rage and defiance, he heaved himself up through the opening and pulled the circle of stone shut behind him.
Fire and noise ceased. Zak sprawled atop the pillar, pressing his singed cheek to the cool stones. Only after a long moment did he realize he was still alive. With a groan, he pulled himself to his feet. Below, the procession of purple magelights was already winding its way back to Tier Breche. Only the base of Narbondel glowed with heat now, belying the fires that raged within. Zak drew in a deep breath, steadying himself. He stepped off the edge of the pillar and levitated to the street below.
By the time he reached House Do'Urden, Matron Malice was waiting for him.
'I have returned.'
Zak drifted over the adamantite balcony and landed on the onyx floor. Malice whirled around, stalking toward him with dangerous grace.
'So I see.' Her eyes were half-lidded, her expression unreadable. 'Did you gain the Dagger?'
Zak could not hesitate if he was to have any chance of deceiving her. 'I fear not, Matron Mother,' he said, feigning regret. 'The spiderjewel led me to a tomb beneath Narbondel. I have no doubt that it was once the resting place of the Dagger. But the relic was gone. Stolen by grave robbers long ago, I imagine.'
Malice slipped her arms around him. Zak stared in amazement. Had she forgiven him so easily? Then she bent her lips to his ear, whispering a single word.
'Liar.'
Zak stiffened in shock, stepping backward, fumbling for words. 'It is no He, Matron Mother…'
'Silence!' she shrieked, her eyes alight with unholy fury. 'I saw everything, you fool. Everything!' She reached a hand toward his shoulder. A small spider scurried up her arm to perch on her own shoulder, many- faceted eyes glistening.
Zak swore a silent oath. So she had sent one of her little spies with him. He should have guessed. Dread was replaced by chill resignation. He bowed his head. 'I do not regret what I have done.' 'You will, Zaknafein,' Malice hissed. 'You will.' She made a sharp gesture. Three forms stepped out of the shadows. Her daughters. Vierna and Maya grasped his arms while Briza bound his hands together with cruel leather thongs. Zak glanced up, hoping to see sorrow in Vierna's eyes. Instead, he saw nothing at all.
'What are we going to do, Mother?' Briza asked, jerking on the bonds to tighten them further. 'The Dagger was to bring us the favor of Lloth. Surely this blasphemous act will bring the Spider Queen's displeasure instead.'
'We are doomed!' Maya wailed in despair. 'Not yet,' Malice snapped. 'Not if the crime is atoned for properly. Then Lloth will be appeased. Zaknafein must be punished for this heinous act. And there can be but one punishment.'
'Death?' Vierna asked, her voice emotionless. Malice shook her head. 'Death would not be enough to satisfy Lloth's anger.' Her lips curled in a wicked smile. 'No,' she crooned, 'Zaknafein's punishment will be something far worse than mere death.'
Zak stared at her in growing horror. What could she mean? But even his darkest fears were nothing compared to the reality of her words.
'For your crimes against Lloth and House Do'Urden, Zaknafein, I sentence you to be made into… a drider!' Zak reeled at this pronouncement. Even Malice's daughters gasped. There was no more terrible punishment known to the dark elves. To be made into a drider was to have one's body twisted into an accursed form that was half drow, half spider, a transformation that could never be reversed.
'Take him to the Cavern of the Lost,' Malice commanded. 'And let me look upon his face never again!'
Zak strained against his bonds, but it was no use. He was powerless as Malice's daughters dragged him off to meet his doom.
Chapter Five: Invitation to Glory
With white-knuckled hands, Matron Malice gripped the adamantite railing and gazed at the slaves working like insects in the compound below.
'Whither now, Daermon N'a'shezbaernon?' she murmured, using the ancient name of House Do'Urden. 'Has your march to glory come to an end already?'
Hands reached from behind, caressing her shoulders, running down the smooth flesh of her back. She felt warm breath against the nape of her neck. 'Come to bed, Malice. I will help you forget your troubles.'
With a sharp jerk, Malice shrugged off the hands and whirled around. 'That's Matron Malice to you, Rizzen,' she said in a venomous tone, glaring at her current patron. She had more than enough that day of disrespectful males who did not know their places.
Rizzen's eyes bulged in alarm. He fumbled over a clumsy apology.
Malice sighed then, dismissing his words with an annoyed wave of her hand. There was no point in taking her anger out on Rizzen. He was weak and malleable, and he crumbled far too easily to give her any satisfaction. She shook her head. Had Zaknafein only been more like Rizzen, this disaster would never have occurred. But then, had Zak been like Rizzen, he never would have had the strength to gain the Dagger of Menzoberra in the first place. Zaknafein had always been her bane and her boon. But he would be neither ever again.
'Leave me, Rizzen,' she commanded.
Rizzen gave a deep bow, backing from the room. Malice forgot him before he was even gone.
The matron of House Do'Urden turned her mind to the matter at hand. It was crucial to understand every possible implication, to foresee every possible consequence of what had occurred. She had to be certain her house had not been placed in a position of weakness by all this. If it were, some lower-ranked house could seize this opportunity to rise in station by launching a covert attack against House Do'Urden.
Again and again, Malice went over all the potential outcomes in her mind. At last she nodded, satisfied that House Do'Urden was safe, at least for the moment. Zaknafein had thrown Menzoberra's Dagger into the Fires of Narbondel. There was absolutely no hope now that Lloth would appear within the walls of House Do'Urden tomorrow, on the Festival of the Founding. However, for his blasphemous act, Zaknafein had been sentenced to the most dire punishment known to drow. Surely that would appease Lloth and tip the scales of favor back into balance. Malice had gained no ground for her efforts, but she had to believe that she had lost none, either.
A shudder passed through her then at the thought of the judgment she had passed upon her weapons master. It was not something she had done with relish. Even as she had uttered the terrible words, her heart had cried out for her to stop. To be transformed into a drider was a fate she would hesitate to wish upon even her worst enemy. By her order, Zak would become a monster: a tortured creature of hideous aspect, forced to live out his days in pain and madness and loathing, haunting the labyrinth of the Dark Dominion.
Yet what choice had Malice had? None. What she had done was done to protect House Do'Urden. She was matron mother. The prosperity of the house came before all else. She could not forget that. Still, the awful weight of her actions pressed upon her, dragging her to her knees. A moan escaped her lips. Most days she reveled in her power as matron mother of a noble house. But sometimes power was a terrible burden.
A low humming reached her delicate, pointed ears. Malice looked up in surprise to see a small disk hovering before her. The metal circle glowed with sapphire light as it whirled in midair. A message disk! But from whom?
She held out her hand, and the disk alighted upon it, warm against her skin. An image appeared, translucent but clear, hovering over the disk's surface. It was the visage of an ancient elf woman, her dark flesh withered, her hair yellowed and scraggly, but her eyes as bright as polished stones. Malice gasped. The image was that of Matron
