Ascendancy of the Last - Lisa Smedman [111]
Mistrust was a habit that was hard to shake.
Q'arlynd kneeled beside the pool, his knees sinking into the moss that cushioned the stone. He did as Flinderspeld had instructed, picking one of the tiny blue flowers that speckled the ground and tossing it into the pool. "Show me," he said, concentrating on the rippling waters. "Show me how Halisstra was killed by L-" He paused, reconsidering. With divinations, it was best to get the language precisely right. What was the title T'lar had used? Ah yes. "Show me how Halisstra was killed by the Lady Penitent."
Though he could still hear the fountain tinkling, the surface of the pool stilled and became as flat as glass. An image appeared on its mirrorlike surface: Halisstra, dressed in armor, kneeling with two other females before a throne on which sat a massive black widow spider. Seven identical spiders crouched behind the throne, watching. The room's crazily slanting walls and floor were constructed of iron. Cobwebs filled the gloomy corners.
"Lolth's iron fortress," Q'arlynd whispered, his voice tight.
He recognized the female to Halisstra's left at once: the pout-lipped, scheming Danifae, battle-captive to Halisstra. The female on the other side of Halisstra also looked familiar. At first, Q'arlynd couldn't place her. Then he remembered who she was: Quenthel Baenre, the high priestess from Menzoberranzan. The presence of Danifae and Quenthel in the vision could mean just one thing: the pool was showing Q'arlynd something that had happened seven years ago, during Lolth's Silence.
"That's too early," he said aloud. He reached for another flower, intending to try again, but his hand halted as he saw what happened next. In the vision, Lolth lunged from her throne to bite Danifae. The battle-captive screamed as her head and shoulders disappeared into Lolth's mouth. Danifae's legs spasmed, then stilled as the goddess consumed her.
For a brief moment, no one moved. Then the other seven spiders crept forward menacingly. Q'arlynd expected them to attack Quenthel or Halisstra, but instead they surrounded the spider that had eaten Danifae. They grasped it-and began to tear the body apart. Yochlols hurried into view and hastened the process, ripping chunks from the spider's quivering body. All the while, Halisstra and Quenthel remained kneeling. Halisstra, Q'arlynd saw, had her eyes tightly shut. Her lips moved. Q'arlynd wondered if she were whispering Eilistraee's name. His sister held a sword in her hand-a straight-bladed sword. It should have been the Crescent Blade, according to what Leliana had told him. Halisstra, she'd said, had taken the Crescent Blade into the Demonweb Pits to kill Lolth, during the Silence.
Was that indeed the Crescent Blade, disguised by a glamor? If so, why hadn't Halisstra used it, instead of kneeling meekly before Lolth's throne? Had she lost her nerve, once in the goddess's presence? That was easy to understand. Even viewing the Spider Queen at a distance-and removed in time-sent a hollow chill through Q'arlynd.
The spiders and yochlols finished their grim task and stepped back. Within the remains of the spider they'd torn to pieces, a form stirred. Then it rose, revealing itself to be a spider with Danifae's face.
Was this the Lady Penitent? Was it Lolth, reborn?
The Danifae-headed spider turned to Quenthel and spoke to her, but the patter of the fountain obscured the words. Quenthel's face twisted with fury, but she bowed her head. Then she stood, turned, and departed.
That left only Halisstra. She looked up at the Danifae-headed spider, said