Tangled webs - Elaine Cunningham [141]
Rethnor glared with ill-concealed wrath at the illithid. The man had yet to reconcile himself with the fact that Vestress could read his thoughts as easily as if they had been inscribed upon parchment. Vestress knew he was growing increasingly restive in Ascarle and the islands above, for the ambitious man would never be content in a place where he himself did not rule. Yet the illithid had a purpose in keeping him in her stronghold-beyond the amusement that the sparring of human and drow brought her. Let the man's frustration build; then let him vent his rage in conquest. This suited Vestress well.
"Bring me Y graine," Rethnor demanded, snapping out the order with a force that suggested that he must give one or burst. Vestress understood and let it pass.
The illithid also realized at once what Rethnor intended to do, and she approved his plan. So she sent out a mental summons to the slave the man had requested and seated herself on her crystal throne.
After a few moments a tall, pale-haired woman walked into the room, her movements wooden and her blue eyes vacant. When she drew near the crystal throne, Vestress reached out and entwined a lock of the slave's white-gold hair around her purple fingers. It was an odd color, very distinctive-a pale shade of blond that few humans kept past childhood. Rethnor's spy would recognize it and respond to the implied threat.
The illithid tore the hank of hair from the woman's scalp; the enslaved human did not so much as blink. Vestress knotted the lock at each end and handed it to the waiting merrow.
Send this to Ruathym. Give it to Rethnor's spy and demand that the new berserker be slain at once.
The sea ogre bowed low, then hastened to the pool of water at the far end of the illithid's council chamber. The creature splashed in and began the long swim through the tunnel that led out into the open sea beyond Ascarle's walls.
There remains only the matter of the drow wizard, Vestress continued, turning her attention to the restless human. Unlike you and the drow priestess, we have little faith that Liriel Baenre will respond to the death of her lover. We have, however, found another way of luring her to us. We tell you this, the illithid informed Rethnor pointedly, so you will abandon any notion of using her to enact your personal vengeance upon Shakti. The priestess is admittedly of little use to you, but we have plans for her and do not wish her destroyed.
"As you wish," Rethnor gritted out. The High Captain of Luskan was becoming more than a little tired of taking orders from squid-women and black-elf females, and for once he did not care ifVestress took that information from his thoughts. But he could hardly refuse the illithid, at least not so long as he remained in her stronghold.
You know ofmy nereids, Vestress continued coolly. If the illithid knew of Rethnor's mutinous thoughts, she did not seem concerned. One of them crawled back to Ascarle in a sorry state. She brought us some interesting news.
The illithid glided over to a fountain and leaned over the water. From it emerged a water nymph. It seemed to Rethnor that the creature was hardly beautiful enough to explain her lethal success in charming men. This one was wan and bedraggled, with a woeful face and empty eyes. Her soul-shawl was taken, stolen through