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By Root 389 0

waves of noise that had been pouring into his mind were stopped down to a trickle; now he "saw" only the sounds emanating from Zelia's room. He had to shift, slightly, to screen out the light from the hearth, which filled his mind with a sharp crackle. The fire had been well stoked; like all yuan-ti, Zelia liked her rooms at basking temperature. At last he managed to narrow his field of view to include just Zelia and Naneth. As he did, their voices sprang into focus.

"… to be done tonight," the midwife said.

"Why?" Zelia asked.

"Because Foesmasher has summoned his clerics," Naneth said urgently. "He's convinced them to do his dirty work. This time, the child will be killed."

Zelia arched an eyebrow. "Surely he wouldn't slay his own grandchild?"

Naneth snorted. "He doesn't have the same respect for life that Lady Dediana does. To him, the child is just a serpent. I've heard it said that he refers to it as `the demon.'" She shook her head in a parody of sadness, sending a ripple through her double chin.

Zelia lounged in her chair, her expression confident. "I'll get the girl out."

"How?" Naneth asked. "Glisena's chamber is warded against serpents."

Zelia smiled. "There are ways of getting around wards."

Naneth leaned forward, pudgy hands on her knees. "Just so long as you can do it. Remove her from the palace, and I'll teleport her to Hlondeth."

"Directly to the House Extaminos compound?" Zelia asked.

Naneth nodded. "Yes. Tell your mistress the girl will be delivered, as promised."

Arvin waited, tense with anticipation.

"I'll contact you as soon as I have her," Zelia promised.

"This needs to be done sooner, rather than later," Naneth urged. "As swiftly as you can."

"Swift as a striking serpent," Zelia agreed with a hiss of laughter. She leaned forward as she spoke, playing with a strand of her long red hair. It parted, revealing a finger-long chunk of crystal that hung from a silver hoop in her ear. Judging by its faint glow, it was a crystal capacitor or power stone-which was strange, since Zelia had always before scorned the use of psionic "crutches."

Something must have made Naneth nervous; the midwife raised a hand to her temple to wipe sweat from her forehead.

Zelia settled back into her chair, staring at Naneth through slit eyes. Her tongue flickered out of her mouth, as if she were savoring the midwife's discomfort.

Naneth wiped her temple, glanced in the direction of the hearth, and moved her chair a little farther from it. Arvin gave a mental nod; he felt the same discomfort in the yuan-ti's overheated rooms.

"Will you be staying on in Sespech once our business is concluded?" Naneth asked.

Zelia smiled. "Only for a few days," she said. "Then we really must leave."

"Who is "we'?" Naneth asked.

Zelia smiled. "You'll find out-seven days from now." A soft, satisfied hiss of laughter followed.

Arvin's eyes widened as he realized what he'd just witnessed. Naneth hadn't been wiping sweat from her brow. She'd been wiping away a sheen of ectoplasm. Zelia had just seeded her. The earring-a power stone-must have contained a copy of the mind seed power.

The power that Arvin thought he had stripped from her for good, six months ago.

Arvin closed his eyes, blocking out both sight and sound. Bile rose in his throat; he swallowed it down. He could guess what must have happened. He'd relayed his warnings about Naneth being one of Sibyl's minions to Tanju, who in turn had conveyed them to Lady Dediana. And she, in turn, had passed the information along to Zelia, her agent in Sespech. Together, no doubt, with an order: that Zelia try, once again, to plant a spy within Sibyl's ranks.

Thunder grumbled from a clear sky: the laughter of Hoar. Naneth had placed a demon in Glisena's womb, and Zelia had just planted a mind seed in the midwife. The god of poetic justice was, beyond a doubt, pleased.

Arvin shuddered.

He watched as the two women in the room exchanged good-byes. Zelia promised to use another sending to contact Naneth the instant Glisena was out of the palace. Naneth nodded then teleported away.

Zelia