Daughter of the Drow - Elaine Cunningham [113]
The wizard carefully masked his fear. For centuries, Lloth's clergy had made a holy task of seeking out and destroying the followers of Vhaeraun. Shakti had no proof against him, but now that she was a high priestess a single word of accusation would be enough to have him flayed alive and hung in pieces from the various comers of Arach-Tinilith.
Well, accusations could be spoken both ways; she had offered to turn traitor-priestess.
"If you are sincere about your commitment to Vhaeraun, that thing will hardly endear you to the Masked Lord," the male said dryly, pointed at the writhing snake-headed weapon.
Shakti gave him a smile of supreme confidence. "Vhaeraun is with me," she said stoutly, and then she spoke a word of power that Nisstyre-himself a mighty wizard-had never heard. A dark shadow appeared, flitting around the room and then settling upon Shakti's face, taking the form of a half-mask of blackest velvet. The wizard recognized the manifestation of Vhaeraun, the Masked Lord.
As Nisstyre watched in stunned silence, the double priestess held out her hand, palm up. Cradled within it was a gem, a sparkling ruby about the size and shape of a draw's eye.
This is but one of the Masked Lord's gifts to me," Shakti said with dark pleasure. "In turn, I give it to you."
Her velvet mask dissolved, reforming into the black shadow. The darkness flowed like smoke to engulf the wizard. Nisstyre's astonishment turned to terror when he realized he could neither speak nor move.
Shakti advanced upon him, the ruby in her outstretched hand. She pressed it to Nisstyre's forehead. With a searing hiss, the gem burned into his flesh and sank deep into his skull. The pain surpassed anything he had ever known or imagined. Only the steadying arms of his unseen, treacherous god kept him from falling to the floor.
At last the ordeal ended, and the white-hot pain in Nisstyre's brain dulled to a burning throb. Shakti smiled and ran her fingers over the part of the gem still exposed. "A third eye," she explained. The ruby is attuned to a scrying bowl that will enable me to see whatever you see, even in the Night Above."
It was that term, more than anything, that convinced Nisstyre the drow god was truly with Shakti. Only the followers of Vhaeraun referred to the surface lands as the Night Above. The god had spoken with this priestess and had made her his own despite the weapons of Lloth she wielded. Which deity claimed Shakti's deepest allegiance, Nisstyre could not know. That uncertainty made the priestess dangerous beyond reckoning.
"Wherever you go, my eyes will be upon you," Shakti continued. "Through the power of the gem I can speak into your mind at will, and I can inflict terrible pain. If you try to betray me, you will die," she announced with the newfbund calm and confidence of the truly powerful.
She settled into Nisstyre's own chair, pointed to a lesser chair, and bade him take a seat. He did so, without any act of will on hie own part. "You have received the gift of Vhaeraun. Now it is Lloth's turn."
The wizard received this announcement with silent dread. If his own god had made him a virtual slave to this female, what might the Spider Queen do? Then came the second surprise: Lloth's gift was information.
Shakti told him all she knew about Liriel Baenre's amulet, even gave him copies of the notes the girl had written. The particulars of the young wizard's experiments were not spelled out, but this much was clear: Liriel's amulet was indeed the one Nisstyre had stolen from the human warrior, and it gave her the power to take both her innate drow magic and dark-elven wizardry into the Night Above.
Nigstyre received this news with an excitement that transcended his pain and humiliation. This was the key he sought, the thing that might lure the proud drow from their subterranean homeland! And if this device could be duplicated, what wonders might he accomplish! He envisioned an army of drow, a silent and invisible force sweeping the surface lands. With such a thing, Vhaeraun's kingdom-and his own reign-was virtually ensured.