Qu'ellarz'orl, surrounded by a dry moat crossed at only one point by a wide, defensible bridge. In the center of the ring of stalagmites, behind a square wall of spell-crafted stone, was the House temple. That massive cathedral was more than a symbol to the drow of House Agrach Dyrr—it was a sincere and passionate proclamation of their faith in the Spider Queen.
In the past months, though, the temple had grown as quiet as the goddess it was built to honor.
'Lolth has abandoned us,' the lichdrow said.
He stood at the entrance to the temple. A hundred yards in front or him, his granddaughter kneeled before the black altar and stared silently up at an enormous, stylized representation of the goddess. The idol weighed several tons and had been shaped by divine magic out of a thousand of the most precious materials the Underdark had to offer.
'We have abandoned her,' Yasraena replied.
Their voices carried through the huge chamber.
The lichdrow floated toward her, his toes almost touching the marble floor. She didn't turn around.
'Well,' he said, 'what could she expect?'
The matron mother let the joke hang there without comment.
'The bridge holds,' Dyrr reported, sounding almost bored. 'Word from agents within Sorcere is that Vorion was captured but was later killed. I'm still finding out if he broke.'
'Vorion. .' the matron mother breathed.
She had taken Vorion as her consort only a few years before.
'My condolences,' the lichdrow said.
'He had a few admirable qualities,' the matron mother replied. 'Ah well, at least he died in defense of the House.'
Dyrr tired of the subject, so he changed it.
'Gromph has regained his sight.'
Yasraena nodded and said, 'He'll be coming for us.'
'He'll be coming for me,' the lichdrow corrected.
The matron mother sighed. She must have known he was right. The priestess, bereft of her connection to Lolth, was still a force to be reckoned with. She was experienced, cruel, strong, and she had access to the House's stores of magical items, artifacts, and scrolls, but against the Archmage of Menzoberranzan, she would be little more than a nuisance. If Gromph was coming, he was coming for the lichdrow, and if Agrach Dyrr was to survive, it would be the lichdrow who would have to save it.
'I don't suppose you can count on your new friends,' the matron mother said.
'My 'new friends' have problems of their own,' Dyrr replied. 'They lay siege to the city, but Baenre and the others Houses have done a surprisingly good job of holding the entrances to the Dark Dominion.'
'They have us bottled in our palace like rats in a trap,' said the matron mother.
Dyrr laughed, the sound muffled and strained from under his mask. The lichdrow almost never allowed anyone to see his face. Yasraena was one of the few to whom he would reveal himself, but even then, not often. Though she wasn't looking at him, he maintained the affectation of leaning on his staff. The outward illusion of advanced age and physical weakness had become second nature to him, and he'd begun to maintain that attitude even when no one was looking. His body, free of the demands of life for a millennia, was as responsive as it had been the day he died and was resurrected.
'Don't begin to believe our own ruse, granddaughter,' Dyrr said. 'Not everything has gone strictly to plan, but all is far from lost, and we are far from trapped. We were meant to be in the city, and here we are. The two of us are in our own temple, unmolested. We have lost troops and the odd consort and cousin, but we live, and our assets are largely intact. Our 'new friends' as you call them, have the city hard under siege, and many of the Houses refuse to join the fight—join it in any real way, at least. All we have to do is keep pressing, keep pressing, keep pressing, and we will win the day. I grant you that it is an inconvenience that Gromph escaped my little snare. I do wonder how he managed it. But I assure you it will be the last time I underestimate the Archmage of Menzoberranzan.'
'Did you underestimate him,' she asked, 'or did he beat you?'
There was a moment of silence between them as Yasraena stared up at the idol of Lolth, and Dyrr waited in mute protest.
'This assassin. . ' she said at last.
'Nimor,' Dyrr provided.
'I know you don't trust him,' she said.
'Of course not,' the lichdrow replied with a dry chuckle. 'He is committed to his cause, though.'
'And that cause?' asked the matron mother. 'The downfall of Menzoberranzan? The destruction of the matriarchy? The wholesale abandonment of the worship of Lolth?'
'Lolth is gone, Yasraena,' Dyrr said. 'The matriarchy has functioned, but as with all things past it too may not survive the Spider Queen's demise. The city, of course, will endure. It will endure under my steady, immortal hand.'
'Yours,' she asked, 'or Nimor's?'
'Mine,' the lichdrow replied with perfect finality.
'He should be in the city,' Yasraena added before there could be too significant a pause. 'Nimor and his duergar friends should be here. Every day that goes by, Baenre and Xorlarrin wear us down. Little by little, granted, but little by little for long enough and. .'
She let the thought hang there, and Dyrr only shrugged in response.
'If you expected to do this without Gromph on their side,' Yasraena asked, 'what now that he's back?'
'As I said,' the lichdrow replied, 'I will kill him. He will come for me, and I will be ready. When the time comes, I will meet him.'
'Alone?' she asked, concern plain in her voice.
The lichdrow didn't answer. Neither of them moved, and the temple was silent for a long time.
He had come for a little food and a few minor incidentals. They could drink the water from the Lake of Shadows but could use a few more skins to carry it in. Under normal circumstances nothing could be easier for someone as well traveled as Valas Hune.
Normal circumstances.
The words had lost all meaning.
'Hey,' the gnoll grumbled, hefting its heavy war-axe so Valas could see it. 'You wait line, drow.'
Valas looked the gnoll in the eyes, but it didn't back down.
'Everybody wait line,' the guard growled.
Valas took a deep breath, left his hands at his side, and said, 'Is Firritz here?'
The gnoll blinked at him, surprised.
Valas could feel other eyes on him. Drow, duergar, and representatives of a few more lesser races looked his way. Though they would be angry, impatient at having to wait in line while Valas presumed to bypass it, none of them spoke.
'Firritz,' Valas repeated. 'Is he here?'
'How you. .?' the gnoll muttered, eyes like slits. 'How you know Firritz?'
Valas waited for the gnoll to understand that he wasn't going to say any more. It took seven heartbeats.
With a glance at the increasingly restless line, the gnoll said, 'Follow.'
Valas didn't smile, speak, or look at the others. He followed the gnoll in silence the full length of the line then through a mildewed curtain into a very large room with an uncomfortably low ceiling. The space was so crowded with sacks and crates and barrels that in the first few seconds after entering, Valas saw at least one of everything he'd come for.
A single, stooped old drow sat at a table in the center of the storehouse. A dozen different types of coins were arranged in neat stacks on the table in front of him. The gnoll nodded toward him, and Valas stepped closer to the merchant.
'Firritz,' the scout said, his voice echoing.
