smooth black marble and walls of glittering rock. Globes of crimson mage-light drifted aimlessly high overhead, illuminating a sheer rift at one end of the room, from which a breath of stale, cold air sighed.
'Where are we?' Araevin asked. 'Who are you, and what do you want with us?'
The sorcerer-captain studied him with his single green eye, and deliberately stepped forward and slapped Araevin with all his might. The blow snapped Araevin's head back and set bright white stars reeling in his vision. His knees buckled and he would have fallen, but the fey'ri swordsmen beside him held him upright.
'You will address me with respect,' the sorcerer stated. 'I am Lord Nurthel Floshin. You need know nothing else for now.'
Araevin sensed magic at work as the teleportation hoop functioned again, and Ilsevele was dragged through by more of the fey'ri. He managed to catch her eye and he shook his head subtly, encouraging her to remain silent. In a few moments the rest of their captors had joined them, the last demons dragging the coin-filled chests the behir had hoarded. Araevin took the opportunity to study the room as best he could. It was deep underground, that much was clear. The very air seemed to glimmer with a strange quality-a powerful, pervasive magic, harnessed to the place.
We're inside a mythal of some kind, he realized. Where do mythals still stand?
Araevin's guards stirred, and he was jerked around to face a hallway behind him. Light footfalls sounded beyond the archway, and a daemonfey woman appeared.
Short and girlish in appearance, she was strikingly beautiful in spite of her clearly demonic heritage-her scarlet skin, slender tail, and long, leathery wings gave that much away. She wore black robes with a scalloped, stiff cut, finished with elaborate gold embroidery. Her eyes glowed with green malice as she circled Araevin and his comrades, studying them.
'I am weary, Nurthel,' she said. 'Is this who I think it is?'
'Yes, my queen. I brought them directly to you,' the fey'ri captain said.
'Kneel, paleblood dog!' growled one of Araevin's guards. The elf mage was shoved to his knees, as were his companions. 'Grovel before your queen!'
'Go to hell,' Maresa snapped, but she was quickly hammered to the ground by three or four cruel kicks and blows.
'Well done, Nurthel,' the woman said. She gazed at each of them before fixing her emerald eyes on Araevin. 'I am Sarya Dlardrageth, and you will be my guests for a short time. The comforts of your visit are largely up to you. Now, who are you?'
Araevin briefly considered a sullen silence, but given the way Maresa had been mishandled, it seemed likely that the daemonfey would eventually compel him to speak. He decided to save his resistance for something that mattered.
'Araevin Teshurr,' he said, his jaw still aching from Nurthel's open-handed slap.
'And your companions?'
'So you are the Dlardrageths,' Araevin said. 'You have survived all the long centuries since Siluvanede's fall… and no one knew. Where are we?'
Sarya snorted softly and said, 'You forget who is asking the questions.' She glanced at Nurthel. 'Has he opened the third stone?'
Nurthel shook his head, then he produced the telkiira from a hidden pocket and carried it to Sarya's divan. 'Good,' said Sarya.
Sarya examined the gemstone closely, turning away from her captives.
Over her shoulder, she said, 'Since you have not told me who your companions are, Araevin, choose one of them to die-the human dog or the planar mongrel, I don't care. If you don't pick, I'll kill them both.'
'Wait!' cried Araevin. He indicated them with a nod of his head. 'He is Grayth Holmfast, a cleric of Lathander. She is Maresa Rost. And this is Ilsevele Miritar.' He drew a deep breath, and fixed his eyes on Sarya's back. 'You've won. You have your damned telkiira. The others had no part in this affair. I asked them to join me in recovering the stones. Let them go, and you can do as you will with me.'
Sarya laughed aloud-a husky, predatory sound-and said, 'Why, Araevin, I believe I will do with you as I please, regardless. You have little to bargain with.'
'They'll most likely kill us anyway, Araevin,' Grayth growled. 'There isn't much point in trying to spare us any trouble.'
'I thought I heard a dog barking,' Sarya remarked.
Nurthel turned at once and snapped a vicious circle kick to Grayth's chin, smashing the cleric to the floor. Grayth groaned once and lay still, knocked senseless by the blow.
In spite of his determination to endure whatever petty malice the daemonfey chose to inflict, Araevin surged to his feet before the demons behind him caught his shackled arms and hurled him back down to the cold, marble floor.
'Get on with it, then!' he snarled, spitting blood from his mouth. 'Whatever you're going to do, do it.'
'Ready to die already?' Sarya laughed.
Araevin simply glared at her. The daemonfey queen arose and paced near. She leaned down close to him, and held the green-black gemstone before his face.
'Don't you want to find out what is in this third stone,' Sarya teased, 'and puzzle out the little mystery Philaerin left for you, the old fool?'
Araevin glanced up, despite himself. Sarya smiled and drew away, her sharp nails gliding across his cheek.
Araevin forced himself to say, 'If Philaerin had lived, you never would have found any of the telkiira!*
'That is not entirely true, paleblood. The second and third stones we never would have found without your help. But the first stone… that one belongs to me. I took it from Kaeledhin more than five thousand year ago, and I gave it to Nurthel to conceal on Philaerin's body once he'd killed the high mage. I knew that some enterprising young fool just like you would find it and seek out its sisters.'
Araevin looked at her blankly. He couldn't make sense of it. The daemonfey had the stone, and hid it in the stronghold of their enemies? Were the telkiira some form of insidious trap? Had the daemonfey manufactured them to destroy Philaerin? It explained how the daemonfey found him so quickly with their scrying spells and anticipated his efforts to find the stones. In fact, they had likely prepared the telkiira with enchantments that would make its bearer easier to find. He felt sick.
'You spied on me, waiting for me to find each stone. They are sealed against you.'
Sarya paced away again, pausing to study Ilsevele before nodding in approval.
'A fine-looking girl,' said Sarya, looking at Ilsevele. 'I should give you to my son. We need more Dlardrageths.' Ilsevele's face paled, but she refused to look away from Sarya until the daemonfey turned back to Araevin. 'Yes, they are sealed against us. You can open the telkiira, but we cannot. Before my imprisonment, I spent years trying to open Kaeledhin's key with no success.'
Araevin shook his head, horrified. All his efforts since the raid on Tower Reilloch had played directly into the hands of the daemonfey queen.
Ilsevele drew herself up and looked Sarya in the eye.
'What are the stones for?' she demanded. 'Why are they important?'
'We were betrayed9, Sarya hissed. 'The telkiira are the key to redressing many wrongs. My family was destroyed by the Coronal of Arcorar and his High Spell — star, Ithraides. Only a few of us escaped from Arcorar.
'Of all the heirlooms we abandoned in Arcorar, the greatest was the selukiira known as the Nightstar. High mages of my House preserved many of the old secrets of glorious Aryvandaar in its depths. After the Coronal of Arcorar destroyed my family, Ithraides discovered our selukiira in the ruins of our palace. He hid it away very carefully to make sure it would never fall into our hands again, but he recorded the hiding spot in these three telkiira you have helped us find.
'During the days of my exile in Siluvanede, I searched assiduously for the Nightstar. With the secrets of the selukiira, I could remake Siluvanede in the image of glorious Aryvandaar, and take the throne denied my House for generations. I found Kaeledhin, and from him I extracted the tale of what Ithraides had done with my family's heirloom. But I could not defeat Ithraides' wards guarding the telkiira, and so I could not follow it to its fellows or discern the hiding place of the Nightstar.'
