Redemption of the Drow

Maxi organised the human cavalry as a rapid patrol to complement the existing thieves and archers around the entrance. He consulted with the cavalry officer to set up a messenger system ready to gallop to the city and the dwarfs for reinforcements if required. Maxi also drew up a priestly roster. Three priestesses were to be on duty at the barrier chanting at any one time, with a messenger standing by. This would ensure the ward would not be broken, and would also guard against Xiana using her influence to persuade a lone ward-maiden to lift the ward.

Maxi did not forget the lingering threat of Xiana's assassins, but he also had the soldier's disdain for sneaky killing and he dismissed them as cowards. For this reason he made sure that no patrol would ever have less than four members. Xiana's scum would know that the companions of any of their targets would exact swift and painful retribution. Maxi made sure he allocated sharp eyed drow to assist with guarding the surface, some of whom had even been assassins themselves in the time before Xiana, and had hidden their profession to avoid being purged.

Later Maxi discussed and arranged logistics of food supply with the officers supervising the cook-house slaves. He had heard nothing from his boss the High Priestess and so he decided to rest, after rostering guard duty among his four subordinate officers. He briefly considered sending for Kerri to share his room; as commander in chief it should be his entitlement, but then dismissed the idea. Firstly it seemed disloyal to Jade, and secondly it would be impolitic. After refusing the High Priestess it would be tactless and provocative to take her servant. Maxi fell into bed alone, dreaming of Jade.

#

Xiana had several reasons to worry. Firstly there was the wrenching pain in her teeth as they slowly formed the shape of spider mandibles, and in her abdomen as it swelled. Turning her into an arakne was part of the Spider's diabolical plan, as well as her punishment for failure.

The other gnawing worry was her influence with the Royal House. Xiana was something of a specialist in using the spying glass, and had perfected the art of making communication two way. Early on in her grab for power she and her thoughts and desires had oozed and drifted to various leaders. Most of them were unresponsive. Harald from the dwarf mines had been influenced to trust his second in command, and Xiana had also charmed a few of the dwarf judges. But long distance charms are tricky to maintain, and the dweomer on Harald was dispelled a few years ago, just before she was overthrown as High Priestess. Harald had not been accessible since then.

Jim from the City was so immune to the spying he did not even seem aware of it, but Xiana had a stroke of luck with Duke Liam. Foppish, vain and totally wrapped up in himself and his sense of entitlement, he was an ideal candidate. Xiana had used some fairly basic charms to convince him to do what he wanted to do anyway, and to withhold military support for the frontier settlements.

Xiana was chagrined therefore to find out that her well planned nuisance raids designed to distract Formen's forces and keep them from helping the usurper had been repulsed by Liam's cavalry. She was even more disconcerted to learn that a platoon of cavalry had ridden as far as the entrance to the Secretariat Spoke, boosting Elspeth's forces. Somehow the charm on Duke Liam had been broken and Xiana guessed how.

Xiana had tried spying on Mira, the dwarf who had saved the life of the usurper in the final battle, but this was quickly blocked. The snivelling wimp who deserved nothing better than to be stepped on, seemed to have powerful friends with powerful magic. Jade's whereabouts were similarly closed to spying, though she now knew through her birds and dogs that they were in the elven grove. The grove itself contained an enchantment too powerful for the demonic creatures to enter, but Xiana instructed them to wait on its margins and attack them when they left.

There was also Maxi, who had now joined the usurper and was reorganising her military strategy. Xiana's own strategy was too scattered. Her previous top commanders had been slaughtered by Maxi and his bitch, and the followers she had acquired after her counter-coup were generally self-serving, cowardly or ineffectual. Xiana knew she should have led an attack through the tunnels before Maxi had a chance to get organised. But discipline was difficult to maintain, and by the time the troops had been rallied it was too late; Maxi already had systems in place to repel them.

Xiana decided that Liam had outlived his usefulness. She whispered to her slave, who rushed away. Soon two skeletally thin drow women with ebony black skin slinked into the room. Their blonde hair had been completely removed, so it would not catch the light. They were identical twins, brought up in the Temple since birth and known by no other names but the DD twins; Death1 and Death2.

As many suspected, Xiana's chief assassins had hidden themselves away during Elspeth's purges, burying themselves in surface caves, surviving by stealing and the occasional throttling of a drunken reveller who would not be missed. Later as news of Xiana's recovery had reached them they had sneaked back to her, and re-affirmed their oath of loyalty to the Spider.

"I have a job for each of you," said Xiana to her servants.

#

Jade and Mira woke up as the sun touched their faces. They smiled, laughed and hugged each other then jumped out of bed. After each had taken a draught of the elven drink they felt refreshed. A bowl of warm water and clean elven clothes were arranged on a chair by the bed. The elves certainly knew how to treat their guests.

When the pair had been let down the tree, washed and ready to travel, they were met by a part-elven human, who introduced himself as Amrad. He was younger than the elves but older looking, quite wizened, with a hard gaze that made Jade uncomfortable, reminding her of the priestesses, especially when she had been doing something she knew she was not supposed to. Only in this case it seemed as if it there was not one particular task she had left undone, but that her whole life had been found wanting. In other ways the half-elf was rather like the leader Jim, but far less easy going, Jade thought. She unconsciously edged closer to Mira, and Mira seemed to sense her need and held on to her hand.

Amrad wordlessly led Jade and Mira to a small house among the trees, and the three of them sat down in hard chairs in the lounge. Amrad's place was sparsely decorated. No flowers like the elven homes, and no gems or tapestries like the dwarfen or drow caverns. The only ornament was a strange wooden four pointed star-shaped holy symbol on the wall.

Amrad smiled; a relief to Jade, who had expected a frown. "Greetings," he said, "Navaras asked me to assist you with protection to get into the demon Spider webs."

"That's right," said Jade, hesitatingly, "can you help us?"

"I can help you help yourselves. But it will not be easy. You appear to be frightened of me, and you are right to be so, because what I am about to teach you will be very fearsome indeed."

Jade felt cold fingers of fear creep right inside her and squeeze her tight. She had never felt so scared. Not during all her years of slavery when she was in continuous danger from a sudden, messy death, not even when fighting the mind slayer, that twitching abomination, made worse by the priestesses' fear mongering. Jade started panting, and Mira clutched hold of her.

Yet Jade knew that this wizened half-elf could not actually hurt her. And she knew she was free to refuse whatever it was he wanted. Free to go back to Maxi, fighting her way past the dragon birds and demon dogs, which at the moment appeared to her to be the lesser evils. Her fear was of a different kind. And as Navaras had said, it would require a different kind of courage to face. One that Jade showed when she nodded to the half-elf. "I am ready," she said.

"That's good," Amrad said. "And you have already made progress. I know you originally wanted revenge. Not against evil done to you but done to your mother and friend. There is a mixture of good and evil in such desire.

"Friendship is a good thing, as is a recognition of evil and a desire to fight it. But vengeance has a way of tripping up the avenger through pride and an inability to see the evil in oneself. So I am pleased that you have progressed beyond thoughts of revenge. You know that Xiana is in a prison of suffering she built for herself. This is now a fight that extends way beyond your own friends, and it is one that I knew was coming. You see, I know your father."

Jade leaned in closer. "I have never met my father, though mother Trieste spoke well of him. Is he still alive?"

"He is alive and well as far as I know, and living in a settlement to the north of here. He met your mother when he was on patrol. At that time our enemies were the deep larva goblins, and there was even an uneasy alliance with the drow. Trieste and he were together on one of the rare occasions that a combined human and drow army have united against a common enemy.

"As you may know from living among humans, we take monogamy seriously. Drin, your father, was from a tribe that took it more seriously than most. He was married, and when he came home to see me as his confessing priest he was totally distraught at what he had done."

"He could have said no, couldn't he." Jade snapped. "Or is he so weak that a drow woman was able to overpower him?"

"Well you know your mother better than I do," Amrad continued. "But from what I understand after talking to Drin, what Trieste wants, Trieste gets."

"You calling my mother a succubus?" Jade was really angry now, and had forgotten her fear. "Bet he got his rocks off just as much as her."

Mira pulled Jade towards her and whispered in her ear "He doesn't like women much. But Navaras wants us to listen to him, let's see what he can do for us."

Jade continued more calmly. "I'm sure Trieste wanted her life, her daughter and a family. She didn't get those did she? What has my father got to do with this?"

"Only that your father was a devoted disciple of our god, and when had come to realise that he had sinned against his god and his family, he prayed earnestly that our god could use what he had done for good. I believe our god heard him, and the fruits of that union will be used to undo the evils from it. This is why you have come."

"These evils being what, exactly?" said Jade, waving her hand contemptuously at the grand pronouncement. "Xiana is evil, and my mother was part of the same culture so not untainted by it. But all Trieste wanted was to find love. Drin must have been a pretty good fighter and quite a hunk for Trieste to even look at him. And she told Maxi what a tiger he was in the sack."

Amrad frowned, and Jade thought how petulant he looked. Her fear of him vanished totally, though she still wondered what unpleasant tasks she may have to perform. She glanced at Mira, who made being sick gestures, her two fingers pointing to her mouth. The two women started giggling, which made Amrad seem even more ridiculous.

"It is not a laughing matter!" he thundered in what he hoped was a commanding voice, but which just sounded peevish. "Sin is serious. Darren grieved his family a great deal. For him to fool around like that was unforgivable. And to a promiscuous drow as well. It was just too much."

"Yeah, well they can get over it," said Jade. "My mother was not a slut whatever you may think of drow generally. Nor am I. But when you are never sure whether you're going to be disembowelled the next day, it does put things into perspective as far as your sex life is concerned. You feel more inclined to seize the moment than show restraint."

"It appears that you do not understand the gravity of Drin's transgressions," said Amrad. "And you will not hear anything against your parents. Not a bad thing in itself, we are taught to honour our father and mother. I am pleased you have been able to absorb a sense of family values in spite of your upbringing. But to get back to the task in hand, we need to prepare you for your journey."

There then followed a series of confessions and denunciations. Jade had stopped being frightened of Amrad, who she now considered a pompous arse, so these were not accompanied by the gut wrenching fear and pain she had thought they would be. They were more like having an enema than fighting monsters; far from pleasant but still tolerable.

Jade was forced to confront not only the failings she knew about and had already confessed to Navaras; her cruelty during her slave days, the way she had delighted in her power over Maxi and Mira, her use of a memory spell to torment Terry. She was also required to probe the very nature of her personality; to get beyond mere behaviours to who she was. A vain, capricious woman, who always wanted to be the centre of attention, and who didn't mind using her friends to help her achieve this.

Jade's sexual exploits with Mira were of course touched on, and Amrad appeared horrified at what he found out. Though as both of them noted afterwards, this did not prevent him from wanting to hear all the details.

Jade did not agree with Amrad about her relationship with Mira; though she was broad minded enough to see his point and in some ways to sympathise. The drow saw sex as something only necessary to beget children, so they would have been equally unforgiving; though as a society promoting heterosexual promiscuity their reasoning would have been different.

At last the long day was over and Navaras came to get the couple. In bed that night the two snuggled together and compared notes. Today had been all about Jade; the next day it would be Mira in the firing line. Jade was relieved that the ordeal was not as unpleasant as she thought it would be.

"I was frightened that Amrad would be so perfect," she said to Mira. "Absolute evil is terrifying, but so is absolute good. That must be why I hated Freda at first. But in the end he has just as many hang ups as I have. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow though."

The next day they concentrated on Mira during the morning. Amrad gave her a hard time over her infidelity to her husband, and the way she did not even try to prevent Terry from running back to Elspeth. As with Jade, Mira was forced to confront the way she was; timid, fearful and overly dependent on others.

Mira did not argue like Jade, so her sessions only took half the day. The second half was spent in prayers and chants; Jade and Mira were urged to let Amrad's god Power inside them so they could use his righteousness in place of their own. Then Amrad gave each of them a holy symbol like the one she wore.

"I have finished training you. It is up to our god whether you fulfil your mission now." Amrad stood up to dismiss them.

Jade handed Amrad a note. "Please give this to my father if you see him."

Then they took their leave and walked back to the place they had been staying.

"Bit of an anti-climax really," said Jade, once they were in bed.

"What do you mean?" asked Mira.

"Well we are given to believe that some magical artefact is needed to defeat evil. Either getting one or destroying one. Rings have been mentioned before now. And then there are others who tell us the power is within us. What they call the 'force'. In the end it is just accepting our imperfections before some god from a rather pompous bloke who is trying to make things more impressive than they really are with his 'chosen one' twaddle."

"What was in the note you gave him?" asked Mira.

"Not as much as I would have liked. What can one say to a father one has never met? I thanked him for loving Trieste, allowing her to pass the love on to Maxi and me, and I told him Trieste was dead and that we were avenging her death. It's strange -- we don't have family among the drow, in fact there is not even a word for it in our language -- but I really feel I want to meet him."

Mira rested her head on Jade's shoulder. "Maybe you will when all this is over".

Chapter 8: The DD twins

Death1 was totally naked except for two dark pieces of cloth, designed for function - not beauty or modesty. The first, containing her garottes and vials of poison, was wrapped tightly around her crotch. The second was wrapped just as tightly around her small breasts, to prevent them jiggling when she ran. Her dagger she held in her hand, point towards her wrist so it would not catch the light. Her blowgun and darts were strapped to her arm.

Underground or at night she was totally invisible, slowing her metabolism so that heat vision would not give her away; staying close to shadows and other heat sources so they would mask her. Death1 kept clean and avoided sudden exertion, to prevent tell-tale body odour. As for sound; the assassin made none. The first time any victim would notice her was when the garotte slipped around their neck. And that would also be the last.

Death1 crept ever so slowly towards the entrance to the Secretariat Spoke, taking cover in a thicket about three hundred metres from the entrance. Death1 watched the guards, and noted that all of them were drow. The human cavalry must be asleep. The drow guards seemed to be keeping stronger lookouts than usual, and Death1 noted that they patrolled in groups of four. Almost as though they knew she was coming. There were only about two hours to dawn, and Death1 knew that she would need to be very careful about creeping the extra distance to the entrance.

Death1had crept to within twenty yards of the entrance when the first tinges of red covered the sky. She crouched down in a cleft in the cliff and watched the guards, calculating lines of sight. Although the guards were still keeping together in groups of four, Death1 saw that one group was more spread out than the others, and only one of them would see her if she sidled over to the far side of the entrance.

The assassin prepared her blowgun with the poisoned dart. There were two toxins the drow assassins favoured. One was a deadly poison that killed messily and painfully, the other a sleep draft. The latter would be better for this operation. A dying drow would scream or fall with a clatter and give the alarm. But who would notice a guard nodding off? Death1 would use a just a tiny amount of the draught. The intended victim would wake with a start when she caught herself falling over, and of course she would never tell her superior or her colleagues what she had done. The guard would be caught napping only for a few seconds, but it would be enough time for the assassin to sneak past.

Death1 briefly considered garrotting the guard - far more satisfying - but then decided a sleep potion would be safer. It is said that a drow master assassin can garotte one head of a Siamese twin without the other noticing, and Death1 was confident her target's colleagues would never hear a thing, but she also knew that eventually corpses are discovered and alarms raised. Death1 moved incredibly slowly; taking several hours to tip the dart with the sleeping draught and raise the blowgun to her lips. Movement is easier to detect than form, and the assassin took no chances.

When the dart stung the neck of the guard, the young woman warrior slapped at it, thinking it was a biting insect, dislodging it in the process. A few seconds later her head started sinking towards her chest. Then she awoke with a start; looking around to make sure nobody had seen her. Death1 watched the face of the guard carefully from just inside the entranceway.

Something puzzled her. Although the guard seemed distressed by her lapse in wakefulness, the cringing fear of discovery was not there. Her unease seemed to be more because she had let her team down than selfish terror for her life.