Tangled webs - Elaine Cunningham [104]
Chapter 14
Call of the Deep
A scarle was a city of rare beauty and ancient wonders. Shakti, however, was not impressed. When not in conference with the illithid regent, the drow priestess spent many hours pacing about the marvelous marble corridors, seeking places that were not too scorchingly bright for her drow eyes to endure, seething with impatience as she waited for the tangled plans of the others to sort themselves out, and pondering ways to best turn them to her personal advantage. On her own, Shakti was a canny manager, but she had no notion of how to mesh her goals with those of her new allies.
At the moment, Shakti was taking a meal in the company of the illithid's other "guest." The priestess cast an angry glare at the man who was seated at the far end of the long table, calmly eating some sort of overcooked seafood by the light of a single candle. She noted, with a touch of pride, that his new hand was functioning nicely. That had been a pleasant interlude-selecting the slave who'd serve as a donor, inflicting the painful rituals, indebting the arrogant human to her in ways he could not begin to understand. Still, that pleasure did little to dispel the worry and boredom that had become Shakti's lot.
"How long must i wait for my prisoner?" she snarled at Rethnor. "What purpose this delay?"
The black-bearded human regarded her somberly for a long moment; then he pushed back from the table. "Come," he said and strode from the dining hall.
Shakti hissed a curse, then rose to follow. The man led her through a labyrinth of corridors to the most peculiar room the drow had yet seen. Her first impression was annoyance. She was assaulted by faint green light too bright for comfort and too thick with energy to be anything but magical. The air was humid, and heavy with the scent of salt and of growing things. This piqued Shakti's interest. Agriculture was, after all, her original passion and area of expertise.
The drow edged into the strange room. It was a vast chamber whose walls and high-arched ceiling were made of thick, translucent crystal. The entire room was filled with rows of long, narrow vats. Curious, Shakti stepped closer and peered into the nearest container. It was full of salt-scented water, in which was growing a curious type of weed.
Rethnor reached in and plucked off a bit of the plant, a tightly whorled frond at the end of a long stem. "This is a kelpie," he informed her. "A rare form of seaweed. They are grown here, and sprouts such as this one are sent to Ruathym, where they are placed into the waters surrounding the island."
"What is that to me?" demanded the drow.
The Northman beckoned to a nearby slave, a fair-haired man nearly his own height and girth, and ordered him to approach the large vat at the far end of the room. The slave's eyes widened in terror, but he did not disobey. "Watch carefully," Rethnor advised the drow. "You should find this most entertaining."
As the curious priestess looked on, lank strands of weed rose, of their own accord, from the vat, writhing sinuously in the humid air. They quickly took the form of a green-clad woman. It was not an impressive illusion-the innate magical immunity of the drow allowed Shakti to see through it at once-but the slave's face took on a look of rapt obsession as he contemplated the creature before him, as if the rather pathetic imitation were the true embodiment of his deepest, unspoken longings.
"A charm spell," Shakti muttered, watching as the kelpie woman beckoned the slave into her embrace. He went to her eagerly, and they tumbled together into the vat of water. There was no struggle, no sign of life but for a rift of bubbles that ended soon enough. The surface went still and remained so. The man had drowned-quickly, quietly, blissfully content with his fate.
"Kelpies," Rethnor repeated. "They have lured many Ruathen warriors and sailors to their deaths. This is but one of the strategies used against our foe. In due time, they will weaken, and we will attack."
"Very impressive," she sneered. "You have demonstrated