Black wizards - Douglas Niles [103]
The sahuagin were ruled by their king, Sythissall, and his high priestess, Yssalla. Both of them, creatures of the greatest evil, had grown bored with their absolute mastery of the sea. They sought other realms to loot and conquer, other sights to amuse them.
Sythissall claimed as his residence the vast palace along the crest of the canyon's wall. Together with his hundred concubines, his huge octopi guards, and the skulls of his enemies, Sythissall sat in his vast throne room. The hugest of the sahuagin, the king neared giant proportions. His teeth and wide, flaring gills gave his head a broad, stubborn cast. He held a huge trident of whalebone. With it, he had once slain six prisoners, rival sahuagin, with a single blow.
The spines along the king's head, and down his back, were fully four feet long when Sythissall was aroused. He had ruled the sahuagin for centuries, and the fish-men were pleased with his leadership. They tortured and killed for him – under his direction, they had conquered or destroyed every other group of sahuagin for hundreds of miles. To celebrate their final victory, a decade earlier, Sythissall had ordered one thousand prisoners tortured slowly, and then fed to the sharks. That spectacle had been the grandest in sahuagin history.
Ysalla, the High Priestess, dwelled in her sprawling temple, across the canyon from the king's palace. As Keeper of the Eggs, Ysalla's influence among the sahuagin was nearly as great as the king's. As a female, she lacked the sharp spines along her head and backbone. Her scaled skin, and the skin of her priestesses, was a bright yellow – in contrast to the natural green of her kind. The yellow, a badge of pride and chastity, was proof that the priestesses did not breed. Tenders of the eggs, they would produce none of their own.
The priestesses of the sahuagin adorned themselves with golden bracelets, headbands, belts, and anklets. They swam among their kin with imperial arrogance, for none of the sahuagin dared harm, or insult, a priestess.
Like others of their order among the worlds of men, ores, and ogres, these priestesses were clerics of Bhaal.
Sythissall kept the sahuagins' most precious relic in his throne room. The Deepglass was a mystical artifact, crafted by sahuagin at the dawn of their race from the ice of the farthest north, forged in the fire of the deepest undersea volcano. Sythissall kept, and controlled, the Deepglass.
But only Ysalla knew how to use it.
The High Priestess could unlock the power of the Deepglass, aided by the immense power of Bhaal. Through it, Ysalla and Sythissall could look at anything they chose, anywhere. They studied the world of sun, and air – and though they found the setting unpleasant with its warmth and horrid dryness, they saw many objects that they desired for their city and themselves.
And also through the Deepglass, they found the wizard, Cyndre. The sorcerer had been watching them and waiting, for he knew that the Deepglass would eventually lead the sahuagin to his mirror. Sythissall flew into a rage at the sight of the human staring back at him.
But Ysalla was more patient. She learned that the human could speak to them, that they could understand him and speak in return. The shrieks and clicks of their conversation echoed through the huge throne room with its coral pillars and tapestries of hanging kelp. Sythissall's rage cooled as he heard the words of the black wizard promising gold, and bone, and blood.
As they listened to Cyndre's plan, they were intrigued. Sythissall saw a way to extend his influence into those realms that had been hitherto untouchable. Yssalla saw a way to serve her god and further the aims of her followers. The soft hiss of Bhaal's voice came into her ear, telling her that the human would be a useful tool in the god's scheme.
And Bhaal watched,