Tangled webs - Elaine Cunningham [155]
Welcome, Liriel of House Baenre.
The words sounded in Liriel's mind as clearly if they had been engraved there by the finger of Lloth. The drow spun, and her amber eyes widened.
An illithid, one of the most powerful and most feared creatures of the Underdark, glided silently toward her. Liriel did not need to ask how the thing had sensed her presence. An illithid could read thoughts as easily as a drow's eyes could perceive heat patterns.
i am Vestress, Regent Ruler of Ascarle. Your presence here has long been desired.
Liriel flung back her cloak and faced down the powerful creature. "How do you know of me?"
We have need of a wizard, one who possesses considerable command over magic portals. You have proven yourself to be just such a one, the illithid continued. It is no small thing, to move an entire ship!
"That was not my doing, but Lloth's," Liriel said bluntly. She saw no reason to prevaricate; the illithid would take the thought from her mind, regardless.
is it so? You are indeed a priestess of the Spider Queen? A hint of amusement-and speculation-entered the creature's oddly feminine voice. This situation may prove even more diverting than we had hoped.
"What do you want from me?" the drow demanded, although she was beginning to suspect what the illithid had in mind.
Vestress outlined the plan in detail. As Liriellistened, she kept her mind carefully blank, calling upon the discipline and concentration she had learned in three decades of magic studies to focus her thoughts entirely upon the illithid's instructions. A moment of doubt, a single stray thread of counterstrategy, and all would be lost.
Finally the drow nodded. "i will do as you say. The banshee will be defeated, the portal opened for the armies of Ascarle."
And in return, we offer you the power you crave, the illithid said slyly. All the magical treasures of Ascarle will be open to you: the spells and artifacts of a mighty elven people, wonders that form the stuff of legends. This tapestry, which
has so taken your fancy, will be yours to do with as you like. And there is one other reward you might consider: a conquered Ruathym mnust be administered so that the Kraken Society is well served. We agree with your assessment of the human males who rule this island. Order your human champion to do away with the other battle chieftains and establish himself as leader. He will make a most useful puppet-and you will possess a kingdom to rival that of the matrons who forced you from the Underdark, as well as more wizardly might than the father who betrayed you. In time, you could amass power enough to take your revenge and reclaim your place Below. All of this, we offer you.
"i will think on it," Liriel said in a stunned whisper. She turned and fled the chamber, before the too-perceptive illithid could steal more of her thoughts.
No longer concerned with keeping silent, the drow sped to the council chamber and plunged into the pool. She called the nereid to her and took refuge in the effervescent tunnel that would take her far away from this place.
in moments, Liriel sat alone on the rocky shore near inthar, hundreds of miles from the wonders and horrors of Ascarle. Yet she could not escape thoughts of the temptations that the canny illithid had laid out before her, temptations made all the more poignant for being torn from the fabric of her own unspoken desires.
Early the next morning, Liriel found Dagmar by the cove, working with several others to mend a torn net. She pulled the young woman away from the other fisherfolk. As they walked along the deserted shore, Liriel told her what she and Fyodor had witnessed, and what she herself had learned in Ascarle.
"You have seen Ygraine. Then you understand why i have done these things," Dagmar whispered. "Even so, i will surely be slain for my treachery. And i would welcome the blade, even if wielded by your hand!"
"Don't tempt me," Liriel said coldly. "Believe me, i have to keep reminding myself that you're of more use to me alive than dead. You're going to go to