"If drow life and culture are driven by a single force, it must be their faith. The drow are pantheistic in only the loosest sense of the word. Humans worship a variety of deities equally. Elves revere Corellon Larethian above all others, but their religion is replete with other deities that are nearly as important. But for the drow, there is only Lolth." - Drow of the Underdark "She bought a group of slaves just to fuck them and kill them?" Morga asked with a slight hint of reserved incredulity. The muscular bald drow sat back in her chair, studying the other people gathered in Morga's strategy room. Her youngest sister Mayena sat opposite to Morga together with her seemingly ever-present mentor Neorik. Morga's own second, captain Ildralan was standing behind her, constantly fiddling with the plates of his armored chestplate. The last person of the gathering was the nervous-looking House Malande guard who had just given the two noblewomen the full story of what had occurred in the slaver market the previous day. "And then what?" Mayena asked, sounding bored. "The Matron finished her errands and she and priestess Lysindra returned to the compound with no further incident," the soldier said, fidgeting in his spotless honor guard armor. "You are dismissed," Morga said promptly. "Wait for further orders." The soldier nodded and bowed deeply to Morga and Ildralan, then gave a slightly more shallow and perfunctory bow to Mayena and departed. After the door closed Morga quirked an eyebrow at her younger sister, as if challenging her to explain what was going on. Mayena tapped her chin, and looked over at Neorik. The wizened drow male with skin resembling crumbled black parchment stretched over a skeleton studied his protégée silently before nodding. "Mother is still obsessed with not only sacrificing this surface girl, but teaching her about Drow ways. I wonder why?" Mayena said. "Soresha wishes the human to not just die, but to die in total despair," Morga said firmly. The other three all blinked in surprise and Morga quietly enjoyed the moment. "She will be sacrificed, yes. But our mother wishes for Sirina to know of her fate beforehand, and feel the crushing weight of doom upon her shoulders first. As for why exactly, I do not know." "It's not really important at this point," Neorik said in his dry, wheezing voice. His gnarled finger pointed down at scrolls spread out over the small wooden table that Morga and Mayena occupied. "Whether Sirina accepts her fate quietly or not, she will be sacrificed on the Feast of Lolth, and at that point it is far too late for us to do anything. With our attempts to breach Soresha's personal sanctum a failure so far-" The drow all cast accusing glances at captain Ildralan. "-we don't have many alternative plans of action to find out Soresha's personal secrets." The four drow were quiet for a moment as their eyes hovered over the calendar and rough plan layout of the Malande main keep on the table. Finally Mayena spoke up. "There is another option. The agent I have within the household could refocus their attention from trying to learn Soresha's secrets to spying on Lysindra. Our Matron still hands the slave girl over to the priestess regularly for more menial tasks, or when Soresha is occupied elsewhere. We might have better luck striking at the slave then." Morga considered this , her eyes narrowing as she studied the plan of the keep and the secluded chapel of Lolth in the bowels of the structure, below ground level. "It's an option, sure," Morga said thoughtfully. "However if my suspicion that our mother is secretly a demon-worshipper and heretic is true, then any tampering with the slave would most likely happen when she is with the Matron, not when she is with Lysindra." "This is true," Neorik said with a deep wheeze. "However, studying the conditioning of the slave and her orders might give us information that would be useful while we formulate a better plan to get into the matron's private chambers." Neorik cast an accusing glance at Ildralan again, and the captain blustered as if he was about to start shouting. A steely glance from Morga silenced his protests before they could begin, but it was obvious he was still furious. "Can your agent do it?" Morga asked, turning back to Mayena. "I believe so, yes. They are well accustomed to risks, and they are well aware of the trickiness of this task." "Her," Ildralan said with clipped tone. Morga turned to regard her second-in-command quietly. "It's a female, I don't know why we're even continuing this charade," he said. "I've seen here. If I hadn't, we wouldn't even -be- here." Morga simply turned back to Mayena, ignoring her bristling lackey. "Get your agent on the job, then. We're running out of time, little sister." "I know. We'll be ready when the time comes. Make sure you are as well," Mayena replied, getting up and walking towards the exit with Neorik following her. On the threshold she stopped, and cast a glance from captain Ildralan to the seated Morga and back. "And sister. Make sure that your agents are as competent and trustworthy as mine, will you?" Then Mayena and Neorik were gone through the door, leaving Morga and Ildralan alone. "What did she mean by that?" Ildralan said. "I don't-" "No you don't. That's the problem," Morga said gruffly. *** Soresha leaned back in her high-backed chair, steepling her fingers and smiling a venomous smile. On this day she had chosen to wear an ensemble amounting to little more than a thin halter for her breasts and a matching bottom to hide her womanhood, coupled with very tall soft leather boots with circular cutouts along the thighs and a very elaborate tiara holding her hair in place. A simple thin belt of metal disks around her wide hips held a wicked-looking whip. What little cloth she wore was from white, soft spidersilk which contrasted starkly with the matron's black skin. Of course Sirina, Soresha's personal slave and future sacrifice to Lolth, also contrasted with her mistress. The human girl had pale Caucasian skin and long, curly blonde hair cascading down her shoulders. She wore only the ornate silver jewelry that Soresha had given her which showed off her form as much as possibly to anyone within the Malande household. Being the object of dark lusts was only part of Sirina's training of course. This was the first time Soresha had called for the personal attention of her slave since their dramatic trip into the city of Erelhei-Cinlu itself, and it seemed obvious that the human girl did not enjoy the reunion. "Oh do stop shivering, girl," Soresha said with a bored yawn. "And look at me when I'm addressing you." The blonde girl slowly raised her face up from where she had been intently staring at the black-tiled floor to meet her mistress' gaze. Soresha's dark eyes burrowed into Sirina's blue irises like daggers. The slave winced a little but managed to control her trembling body enough to meet the Matron's eyes again. "You have completed your training for me," Soresha said with a content smile, getting to her feet and striding over to where Sirina was kneeling on the floor. "The final component was robbing you of your naive world view of good and righteousness. Robbing you of your hope." The two women were totally alone in a tall-roofed room of the central tower of the Malande Keep from where a number of very large panoramic windows allowed an amazing view of the walled silhouette of Erelhei-Cinlu, dimly illuminated by the ever-present glow of the Vault of the Drow. Only somewhat obscured by the tall structures of other noble mansions between House Malande and the city, it was a suitably impressive room to invite especially important guests to. Between the windows were immense tapestries bearing the vast spider symbol of Lolth and the spear-like legs of these vast arachnids stretched from the floor to the ceiling as if they were holding the entire room together. Soresha gestured at her slave, and the human girl rose to her feet. "Now that you know despair, pet, you will be a delicious morsel to the Spider Queen. She will taste your fear, your apprehension, your hatred of me and-" "I don't hate you," Sirina said quietly. Soresha whirled around as quickly as a striking serpent. Her calm, confident expression was suddenly shattered and she stared wild-eyed at the other woman, her hand closing around the whip at her waist. "This ridiculous charade is over, girl. Stop acting," Soresha growled. "It's no act," Sirina said defiantly, and suddenly she stopped shivering and straightened up to her full height. "I don't hate you." The blow struck the human square in the face and sent her sprawling onto the floor. The Matron Mother's expression was furious. "Enough of your inane lies! You. Are. Broken!" Soresha screamed. "Lies? Why would I lie? I have nothing left to lose, as you yourself have taught me. But despite what you have told me and shown me, nothing has changed my belief. I do not hate you, Soresha Malande. I pity you. I include you in my prayers." The drow woman looked almost speechless. Her patience with her slave after so many weeks of conditioning seemed to be running out. And yet Soresha did not raise her hand to strike the girl again, despite the fact that she could easily maim or slay the human at her leisure. "How can you still spout such nonsense?" Soresha growled. "You have seen what the drow race do. You have seen how easily men are broken. You have seen how easily oaths and beliefs are tossed aside! You have seen the darkest side of the world, and yet you protest?" "I am not protesting," Sirina said, rising slowly to her feet again. "Your world is dark, and filthy and despicable. But that does not mean that everything in this world, or beyond, is." "You know -nothing- of the universe," Soresha said with a dangerous tone as she strode up to stare deep into the blue eyes of the human. "Nothing. Your understanding of the world is that of a mangy cur beaten by its owner yet still remaining faithful." "Try me, then. Tell me these grand secrets that you think are so far beyond me," said Sirina defiantly. The drow stared at her quietly for a moment while she composed herself from her outburst. Then she stepped in so close that her hot breath made Sirina's pale flesh ripple. "Imagine, you ignorant ape. Try to imagine remembering the most beautiful, serene existence possible, and then waking up in the darkest, filthiest stinking pit in creation. Imagine being ripped from your place by the capricious will of others, and knowing that to the core of your being you are damned. And to know that now only are you damned, but so is your entire kind. You writhe in filth and misery and darkness, clawing to get back to the light, and even if you do see it again, it now burns you. So you become as dark as your new home. You find new pleasures to replace the things you remember as if in dreams. Your dark hunger becomes never-ending." Sirina shivered slightly as the drow Matron's speech became more passionate and frantic with each word, her eyes burning with a dark fire. "You cower and curse and beg and wallow but nothing will change what happened! You are forsaken by everyone, mortals, gods, the whole of existence! There's nothing left for you but the darkness, so you begin to jealously, ravenously claw at anyone else that enters your reach to drag them down with you! You sire offspring and they are damned by mere association! And you know that this will never, ever change. Can you imagine that, mortal cow? Can your foggy brain actually take in the truth of how unfair and cold the universe truly is?" Sirina met Soresha's wild-eyed stare with surprising calm. "Yes, I understand that this is how you see the world," she said with a low, almost soothing tone. "But that doesn't mean the entire world is like that, only that you have chosen to see it that way. Just because you now live in darkness does not mean that the light does not exist anywhere else anymore. " "Shut up. I'm warning you, shut-" the Matron began. "Or what? You'll kill me? Whip me again? Go ahead. But you know I'm telling the truth, don't you? You know that all that hatred and despair that you're trying to make me feel is your own. You know deep down that if you wanted to, you could change your existence. You could claw your way up from the darkness. Deep down you know that the only reason you are still damned is that you have chosen to remain that way." Soresha stared at Sirina incredulously for a few breathless moments. Color had drained from the face of the matron, and she looked as if she had no idea how to punish the slave girl for her defiance. Or was there something else there as well? A trace of doubt flickering across the steely visage of the drow woman? Suddenly Soresha spun around. "Kaull! KAULL?" she screamed so loudly the windowpanes of the viewing room shuddered. The tall, somber-faced bodyguard rushed in, hand on his sword. When he ascertained there was no assassin or other danger he stopped and bowed before Soresha. "Take her. Take her away. I don't want to see her. Take her to Lysindra, she can deal with it," Soresha said. "Matron?" Kaull asked in confusion, his head still facing the floor. "DO IT! GET HER OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Soresha shrieked, jabbing a razor-nailed finger at the door. Kaull rose quickly and nodded, grabbing Sirina by the arms and herding her towards the black-framed doorway like a ragdoll. The slave looked back and saw Soresha stagger back to throw herself down on the tall chair again and stare out over the view of the distant walled city. Then Kaull dragged her out of the room and slammed the door behind them. Soresha sat in silence for several minutes before looking up. Staring at the huge spiders towering over her she frowned. "You're enjoying this, aren't you? she snapped. *** Faeridra slipped through the hallway like a shadow, her steps as light as a cat's. The professional rogue pressed her sensitive ear close to the massive blocks making up the corridor wall and gently tapped on them with the hilt of one of her daggers. Her whole body was on edge, wired because of the danger of discovery. Hiring a rogue or assassin to perform underhanded acts against family members was nothing shocking or rare in drow noble houses, but if that operative was caught and exposed he or she was the one in the most danger. Drow nobles usually had enough backup plans to cover themselves, but such a freelancer would find themselves with much fewer options. While Faeridra was smart and had enough foresight to plan for such a contingency such a situation was still not something she desired if it could be avoided. Tap-tap-tap went the dagger as she covered wall segment after wall segment. She had been given the public plans of the Keep by Mayena, who had procured it from the Matron's library. Naturally no secret passages were marked on such a simple document, but to a trained eye their absence could be just as telling. After studying the chart for some time, Faeridra had noted down where a wall was unusually thick for no obvious reason, or when a room was slightly out of skew with other rooms or corridors. A drow noble house was often filled with passages of varying degrees of secrecy, and with her new orders to find a way to get into the chapel of Lolth without being noticed, Mayena had concluded the best way was to find an existing passage leading there. Faeridra would rather have continued to work on breaching the Matron's inner sanctum, but her employer seemed quite empathic that the chapel was a better use of her energy right now. Not one to argue with the person paying her, Faeridra simply complied, even though Mayena's own sister Morga had scoffed at the idea of searching for hidden passages into the chapel of Lolth. She also found it aggravating that the foolish male Ildralan, who worked for Morga, kept trying to get her attention. Did he not understand the utter need for secrecy and anonymity her profession required? She was almost considering arranging an 'accident' for him to tie up that loose end, but she knew her employer would probably be displeased with that type of act right now. So instead Faeridra worked on her new objective whenever she could. The rogue had already examined and dismissed two other locations and was now working on the third, and was starting to wonder if perhaps the brutish warrior-woman was right in her stoic insistence that the only way into the chapel was the front door. There was a very faint hollow reverb as the hilt of Faeridra's dagger struck the wall. With a content grin the drow woman kept tapping the wall until she had determined the approximate size and direction of the hidden passage. She crept down the corridor, occasionally checking so that she didn't lose track of the hollow noise, trying to find any location that seemed likely to have a concealed doorway. Suddenly she was at a door, and as she looked up she realized she had been here before, disguised as a servant. She quickly opened the crude locks on the door and snuck into the strategy room, pushing aside tapestries and carefully examining shelves along the suspicious wall as she went. Suddenly her ears, pressed against the cold stone, found the merest hint of a difference in the tapping she produced. She let her nimble fingers run along the edges of the tall weapons rack affixed to the wall, searching for what she was certain was there. Her fingers brushed against a small button, undetectable to anyone who didn't know it was there or had Faeridra's experience and with a soft click the weapons rack swung outwards on hidden hinges. With a satisfied smirk the rogue snuck down the narrow corridor. It ran along the wall she had followed in the corridor to a point where a set of spiraling stone steps led downwards into the bowels of the structure. Faeridra noted that her bare feet did not step in any dust, indicating that the corridor may be well hidden but it was not in total disuse. As she walked down the steps she noticed some faint scrapes on the walls along the stairwell, as if someone else had passed her who was not as lithe as Faeridra. She kept on her toes in case there were any hidden traps, but nothing happened as she passed through a long stretch of corridor at the bottom of the stairs which she calculated must run through the living rock on which the keep was built. There were faint, muffled noises coming from ahead of her. Faeridra slowed her progress and walked forward anxiously, her hands hovering near her dagger sheaths. The corridor ended in a thin, tall doorway which was sealed so tightly to the wall that no light trickled into the hidden passage from the room beyond. However, Faeridra found a small, round lens set into the door through which she could peek. The rogue speculated that it must be a one-way peephole, possibly concealed through simple magic or cunning artifice. Her eyes narrowed and she saw the chapel of Lolth as if she was viewing it through the bottom of a glass. The view was distorted but clear, and Faeridra pressed herself as close to the concealed door as she could to make out the noises from beyond. "-speak to our Matron that way human!" she heard one female voice say in a sharp, angry tone. "You can't kill me, Lysindra. What would your mother say?" said another voice which had an undertone of fear but possessed a certain faint confidence. "Ah, that is the core of the problem, isn't it?" said the other voice, which Faeridra now knew belonged to the oldest daughter of Soresha Malande. The rogue, crouching behind the secret doorway, suddenly saw the two speakers emerge in her field of vision. The spy lens was aimed at the large area in front of the altar and the vast spider-like statue of Lolth, and now Lysindra was pushing the slave Sirina forward to stumble before the altar. Faeridra could tell that Sirina had been whipped but that great care had been taken to not cause any lasting harm to her. She also noticed that Lysindra's voice carried none of the obsequious, fawning tones that normally laced every word spoken by the priestess. Her voice was cold, hard and to-the-point, and Faeridra quirked an eyebrow. Something was off here. "No, I cannot kill you. My mother would flay me alive for interfering in her sacrifice, the one she believes will give her the favor of Lolth and elevate us to one of the great houses of Erelhei-Cinlu," Lysindra said, pressing Sirina down to kneel before the black altar. "And you don't want that, naturally. But alas, your surface god seems to not care enough about you to rescue you from this situation. So perhaps it is time for you to find help elsewhere?" Faeridra's body stiffened. It was like an electric surge rushed through her and it was exhilarating. The rush of discovering a well-kept secret was like a small orgasm for the rogue and she lived for these moments. Treachery from the most trusted, least ambitious daughters of the House? This was a tidbit far juicier than the simple logistics problem of sneaking Mayena and Morga into the chapel to abscond with the slave girl. Faeridra pushed against the cold stone and hungrily drank in every word that reached her ears. "Help?" Sirina said weakly. "In this place?" "There's help to be had, yes," Lysindra responded slowly, lifting the slave girl's head up by the chin. "Not all of us are utterly loyal to the Spider Queen. All I need is for you to trust me, Sirina." The human cleric seemed to consider the offer for several breathless moments, and Faeridra found herself insanely curious about the slave girl's response herself. "Tell me what you can do," Sirina said with a deeply apprehensive tone. "And why you trust your mother's personal slave with such information." Lysindra laughed, a cruel, mirthless laugh. "What I can do is prevent Lolth from receiving you as a sacrifice. On the eve before the Feast of Lolth I will perform a secret ritual that will safeguard your soul from the Spider Queen. Your body will die, unfortunately, but your soul will be free." There were several breathless moments of silence again. "As for why I would trust you, quite simply I don't. But if you go to my mother with this information there's no proof you can present, and nobody will side with a slave who is accusing her tormentor of disloyalty." "And if I agree, then what?" Sirina said weakly. "As I understand it your kind sometimes find ways to bring the dead back to life. With your soul free of the Demonweb Pits such an act would be quite possible, no?" Lysindra said confidently. "Yes. But-" "It is the best I can do. I cannot yet reveal my position here, Sirina," the priestess snapped. "And what do you have to gain from it?" asked the slave girl. "Ah. That's the crux of the matter, isn't it?" Lysindra replied with an amused tone. "If your sacrifice is incomplete and your soul removed from Lolth's grasp, Soresha's grand plan will be utterly ruined. The Spider Queen will be furious with such a tainted sacrifice and possibly even destroy the Matron on the spot. Either way, she will be sufficiently weakened that her rulership will be contested. And thus I will find my freedom as well. Your sacrifice would bring about the doom of Soresha and her wicked allies, instead of their triumph. Isn't that worth dying for, Sirina?" Again a moment of silence. "If it is the only way, then yes. I will aid you," Sirina finally said. "Good. Then I shall call you when the time comes," Lysindra said with an almost gleeful tone. As Faeridra watched, Lysindra dragged Sirina back to her feet and lead her out of the view of the spy lens. The rogue considered the weight of this information and knew that she would be well rewarded for it. She had no stake whatsoever in these political shadow games within the drow household and thus this was just another potential increase to her already sizable payment from Mayena. As she turned to return back along the secret passage, suddenly an odd click came from behind her. Faeridra spun around, fearing that Lysindra had moved towards the secret door and was now opening it, but as the infiltrator waited breathlessly, back against the chilly stone wall, the secret door did not budge an inch. She crept up to the door again and dared a peek through the lens, and saw that Lysindra was preparing something on the ground of the chapel. The rogue suddenly realized that the sound she had heard was the front door of the chapel being locked from the inside, meaning that Lysindra was doing something that she felt required privacy. Now even more curious, Faeridra waited and watched as Lysindra left her field of vision and returned with several items that the rogue could not identify. As she watched, Lysindra began a ritual chant in a language that was hard and unpleasant to listen to, and the scribbled symbols on the floor began glowing with a faint crimson light which cast grotesque shadows along the chapel wall. And then something began moving in front of Lysindra, as if someone or something was stirring the very substance of the air and pushing through it from somewhere else. Just as Lysindra finished her incantation and an opaque sphere formed around her, Faeridra caught a whiff of disgusting odor which managed to penetrate even the nearly invisible seam around the hidden door, and suddenly she understood what Lysindra was doing. Faeridra turned and ran as quietly as she could up the secret passageway to report to her employer. *** "It's too outrageous to contemplate. Our bootlick of a sister, a heretic?" Morga said in utter bafflement as Faeridra (now back in her servant girl disguise) finished her story. "My agent has no reason to lie about such a thing, sister," Mayena said soothingly, giving Faeridra a nod that she was relieved. "She has done her job exceptionally and stumbled upon the true danger to our future. That poor stupid slave thinks her soul will be saved from Lolth, when in reality Lysindra will simply consecrate it to whatever foul demon she serves." Morga slammed her mailed fist into the table so hard one of the goblets toppled off the side. "Under our noses this whole time! That snake! I'll wring her neck myself!" Morga shouted. As Faeridra stepped away to linger near the exit, Mayena rose from her seat and approached her warrior sister. "Not yet. We must wait until she tries to perform her foul ceremony. Then we'll catch her in the act. That's the only way we can expose her and turn this whole business to our advantage. If we act now Lysindra will just cover her tracks and leave us with our necks out," Mayena said soothingly. "She's quite right, mistress," Ildralan added, flexing his gauntlet. Morga felt her rage subside a little and considered the words carefully. This was indeed a wonderful opportunity to wrench the whole situation out of Soresha's and Lysindra's hands, and just the kind of opening she required to become the favored daughter of House Malande. She could deal with Mayena later, when time was no longer of the essence. "Very well. We shall bide our time," Morga said, having regained her composure. "Let us stay in contact on this matter." Mayena nodded and gestured to Faeridra and Neorik, who stood to attention. "Until next time then, sister," Mayena said pleasantly, and gestured for her two trusted servants to follow. Morga nodded and rose from her seat, pacing around the edge of the table to consider their next move but Ildralan, who had appeared nervous and fidgety throughout the meeting, hurried towards the door and left the room just behind Mayena and her confidants. In the corridor Ildralan rushed after Faeridra and finally called out. "Wait. Can we talk?" Faeridra stopped and her shoulders slumped. She realized that she was in her servant guise right now and to openly deny the request of a drow of superior standing would look very odd if someone else walked in on the exchange. "What is it, master?" Faeridra said subserviently, directing her eyes down at the floor. "You know damn well what I want. Ever since that moment in the corridor I've been thinking about you, and I'm sure you've thought of me. We're on the same side, why are you treating me like a stranger?" Faeridra almost lost her temper. When she had kissed the guard captain after their botched attempt to break into Soresha's sanctum it was to manipulate him, but the fool seemed to think the moment was born of true intimacy. Not only that, but the male was now talking about it openly in a corridor where another drow might pass by any moment. Had he no sense of subtlety whatsoever? "This is inappropriate, master. I'm but a servant and you're the captain of the guard. I cannot-" "We both know you're not a servant!" Ildralan said with a sudden irritation in his voice. "Why do you keep playing these games with me? You know I could expose you to the matron at any moment, and I suggest you treat me accordingly." "And what sort of treatment is that exactly, captain?" said a second female drow voice. Mayena Malande stepped around the bend in the corridor and fixed Ildralan with a steely gaze. The youngest daughter of Soresha was much shorter and more slender than the guard captain, but she exuded an aura of confidence and power which made people think twice about crossing her. Faeridra kept her head bowed down and backed to stand behind Mayena, continuing to play her part as a humble servant and nothing else. "I do not like your constant advances on my servant, captain, but such a slanderous accusation is too much. How dare you, male?" Mayena spat. Ildralan was startled by Mayena's demeanor and almost took a step back before steeling himself and drawing himself up to his full height. "My apologies, lady Malande. I was merely trying to-" "You inferred that you would break your oath of loyalty to my sister and go directly to the matron with some half-cocked accusation?" Mayena said with the same dangerous tone. "My loyalty is to house Malande, lady Mayena, as should yours be," said Ildralan with his absolute most pompous tone. "Any sign of disloyalty and dissent should be crushed, and-" "Be silent! Do you not realize what is at stake here you hidebound fool?" Mayena hissed. "This goes beyond your petty desires and your hurt feelings at being spurned!" Ildralan flinched. "That's not the reason at all, I-" he stammered. "You didn't think. You never think about the consequences, just like your late half-brother," Mayena spat and turned to Faeridra. "Go with Neorik. I have something else to discuss with my sister," she said in a much more soothing tone. Faeridra nodded and vanished around the bend in the corridor, while Mayena simply brushed past Ildralan towards the door to Morga's strategy room. "You are dismissed until we call for you again, captain," Mayena said without turning around. "Do not speak to my servant again." And then Mayena vanished into the door and left Ildralan pondering alone in the corridor. *** "The we are agreed. The distraction may be useful," Morga said after the two sisters had discussed Mayena's suggestion in hushed tones. "Indeed. You saw that Soresha was very upset and on edge yesterday. Whatever is going on between her and Sirina is not going fully the way our mother wishes. As such she will be looking for anything else to vent her anger on," Mayena said, happy that Morga had listened to her. "A small sacrifice to resolve a thorny situation and give Soresha something else to focus on while we prepare," Morga mused. Suddenly the bald drow woman grinned and patted Mayena on the shoulder, a deeper sign of affection than the muscular warrior had ever shown. "And all we need is to resume our previous plan to get into the Matron's secret chambers," Mayena said with a grin. *** The screams of the prisoner were muffled by the thick, foul-tasting gag that had been rammed into her mouth and tied behind her head. Kaull dragged her up the final few steps of the stairway, utterly ignoring her garbled pleas and attempts to wriggle out of his grasp. His hand held her bound wrists like a vice and his stony expression didn't betray a hint of emotion as he stepped up to the pitch black metal door and spoke a strange, song-like word. The door was suddenly lit by faintly glowing runes which had previously been utterly invisible, and Kaull casually dragged the struggling drow female through the door and into Soresha Malande's private sanctum. As she stumbled through the doorway the eyes of the prisoner went wide as she stared around the room which was locked to all but Kaull and Soresha herself. Instead of an opulent chamber fit for a queen the large room was almost bare, its walls a dull black hue and the floor covered in a thin, soft carpet which stretched from wall to wall. The combined effect of the walls and carpet was to make the room seem even bigger than it was, almost as if it faded into a vast open space along the edges. There was a sickly sweet scent in the air that reminded the captive of perfume mixed with something that was deeply unsettling. As Kaull closed the door behind them and dragged her further into the chamber, she got a better look at the few pieces of furniture that decorated the room. The room was dominated by a tall throne wrought from what looked like bleached bones that stood on a small dais as a mockery to Soresha's regal throne in the audience hall. This seat was adorned with empty-eyed skulls and jagged spines from creatures the captive could not identify, and seemed larger than what would be necessary for a normal drow. There were other pieces of furniture as well, if you could call them that, all twisted things from bleached bone and black twisted metal. The captive couldn't even guess at the purpose of some of the objects, but the illusion of great space inside the chamber made it seem like they were horrifying white creatures hovering in a black void. Before she could contemplate further, Kaull pulled her the last of the way up to a structure right in front of the throne which made the blood in the drow woman's veins turn to ice. It was tall and thin like the severed trunk of a tree, but its pale surface was carved into intricate patterns which upon closer inspections were spiraling endless reliefs of grotesque figures. But the trunk itself was still less fearsome than the four long, sinuous branches that extended at regular intervals along its length. Each one rested on the floor and ended in a curiously pointed tip with a clear cut dividing the end of each protrusion in half. As the captive struggled to break free, worried about the purpose of this thing, she heard a faint noise from behind her. Soresha Malande sat on the throne, her legs elegantly crossed. "This is one of them, then, Kaull?" she said in an utterly calm tone. "Yes mistress," Kaull said with a nod. "She tried again." "Less quick this time, eh?" Soresha said. "Very well, let's make her comfortable, then?" Kaull nodded, and despite the struggles of the limber drow woman he lifted her fully off the ground and slammed her back against the pale, sickly white trunk. As its carven surface rubbed her back unpleasantly, Kaull cut the rope holding her wrists together but left the gag in place. Before she could do anything with her newfound freedom, she was frozen in utter fear at what was happening. The four long branches of the odd object suddenly stirred and twisted on the ground, and suddenly they sprang to life. Each rose up and the slit along the end opened, revealing a fully organic mouth filled with razor sharp fangs. The prisoner tried to scream through the gag, but it was fruitless. The four serpent-like heads darted down and each slammed shut around either a wrist or an ankle, their teeth biting deep into her smooth black skin. Soresha studied the process and watched until the captive stopped spasming in the steel grip of the fang-mouthed tentacles. The drow matron stood up and walked down from the dais to stand in front of her prisoner, smiling in a faint display of amusement. Her tall, imperious figure was as beautiful as it had ever been, regal and voluptuous, the kind of body that was considered alluring even among a whole race of debauched sex addicts. In comparison the figure that hung suspended from the sickly white tentacles was slender, with smaller breasts and white hair smeared back by black grease, dressed in a simple black two-piece outfit with empty dagger sheaths strapped to her athletic thighs. Soresha quirked an eyebrow at Kaull, who leaned in to whisper something in the matron's ear. "Oh, really? Isn't that precious?" Soresha said with a laugh, reaching over one razor-nailed finger to playfully poke at the chin of the captive. "Oh, I bet you're especially upset about being here, then. Did you think that kind of subterfuge would be enough to cloak you if things went wrong? Tut tut." Soresha walked over to trace her hand along Kaull's muscular chest. Even when lightly armored as he was now, the weapons master looked as deadly as his reputation. Soresha turned around, tapping her chin in mock thought. The prisoner saw the other two through a fog of pain, vaguely aware that the impaling fangs seemed to have carefully struck so as not to open any major veins. It was extremely painful but probably not fatally so. She screamed another tirade of muffled words, which seemed to amuse Soresha. "Oh, you did achieve your goal after all, though. You're inside my private chambers, something no mortal has accomplished in years. And you're dying to know what it is I'm keeping in here that I don't want the rest of the insects scrambling about the house to see, aren't you?" Soresha spun and gestured around the room almost like a dancer. "Your little brain can't figure out what there possibly is in here that can be so secret! Well," Soresha said breathily and walked up closer, letting her perfume and musky scent fill the prisoner's nostrils, "did you ever consider that the secret I kept in here... was me?" The captive drow thrashed against her restraints, which only made the fanged mouths clamp down on her limbs and hold her in an even tighter grip. Soresha giggled and spread her arms wide, giving her unwilling guest another good look at her body. "Here it is, the secret of my sanctum! Glorious, isn't it? Can you imagine how complicated it was to build this level of the tower and enchant it to prevent all forms of magical and mundane scrying without ever slipping up and revealing a shred of the truth? A whole level simply devoted to keeping my true self hidden from view for those occasions when it was needed to drop the masquerade?" The prisoner's eyes widened in confusion as Soresha continued speaking as if in a dream. "Oh it was hard, but it will all be worth it. All things come to an end, even those that have been planned for centuries. Soon I shall have no more need to hide and cower in here, to pretend around the simple-minded drow. In a way you're privileged, do you know that? You alone among the drow of House Malande will find out the truth long before everyone else." As the matron spoke, she gestured dismissively at Kaull, and the weapons master bowed and stepped back. Soresha let her hands trail up her chest, letting her fingers linger on the nipples poking through the thin fabric before continuing up her slender neck. Her slender fingers came to rest at her cheek, trailing backwards to just behind her pointed ears. "Do you know understand? Can your mind grasp the secret of house Malande's success?" Soresha said with a wide grin as her fingers clamped down to pinch her black skin. "Have you guessed the secret that this whole chamber was constructed to keep?" The prisoner gasped as Soresha's fingernails suddenly dug deep into her skin. For a moment it seemed like the drow matron was savagely injuring herself, but then the captive drow woman realized there was no trace of blood flowing down the beautiful neck or along Soresha's slender hands. Her fingers dug deeper and grabbed hold, and then the matron mother -pulled- at her flesh, which incredibly enough stretched like dough in her hands. A mad laughter erupted from the matron's throat as she pulled, and suddenly her whole body began deforming. Her breasts flattened and vanished, waist expanded and her soft curves were replaced by lean muscle. She grew as well, soon towering over the structure holding the prisoner. Soresha's elegant outfit was shredded by the changes and fell off in tatters, giving the captive drow an eyeful of Soresha's groin as a large, twitching black manhood replaced her slit. The laughter became deeper and masculine, but retained a pleasant musical tone to it. With one final rip, Soresha tore her face off her head, and the captive screamed as an utterly black head with a crown of short, curved horns grew impossibly from within the matron's empty visage. The torn-off skin in the large, six-fingered hands of the creature changed as well, rippling and becoming a silvery, featureless feminine mask which rippled as if it was partially liquid. The towering masculine creature which had been Soresha leaned down so his large head was level with the captive's face and his pale green eyes burrowed into her. Then he smiled and extended his muscular arms in a mockery of the gesture Soresha had performed. "The secret is," the black-skinned, six-fingered creature said in his pleasant voice, "that House Malande is, in truth, the House of Graz'zt." To be continued....