Tangled webs - Elaine Cunningham [16]
Shakti's last scream of anguish lifted into a peal of triumphant laughter.
Much later, the drow priestess came to herself She sat up gingerly and found the pain had disappeared, leaving behind an unnatural contentment that bordered on euphoria. It was enough for her just to look and to see.
But the moment passed quickly, and the focus of Shakti's newly sharp vision tunneled inward upon her goals. She had found a cure for her myopia-a sure omen that nearsightedness was not an immutable sentence. It had been so with her, and so it would be for Menzoberranzan. She would play by the rules-she would become Matron Mother ofher house and she would see her clan advance in rank-and then she would use that power to lift the eyes of Menzoberranzan's drow from their constant, incestuous warfare, to turn their focus from this single cavern to the wider world. Broader vistas, new possibilities. There were many ways to accomplish this, and Shakti planned to explore them all.
The priestess warded her chamber with still more privacy spells and set her personal guard-a pair of drowshaped stone golems-to watch the door. Golems were perfect guardians, incapable of thought or treachery. When all was secure, she placed the scrying bowl on a table, carefully filled it from a flask of still-warm blood, and ringed it with candles.
Briefly, Shakti thought of the last image she had received from the scrying bowl through the eyes of the dying wizard Nisstyre: the beautiful face and taunting words of Liriel Baenre. In outwitting the drow male, the thrice-bedamned princess had once again bested Shakti. With newfound discipline, Shakti thrust aside the familiar hatred and envy that thoughts of Liriel always evoked in her, and she focused her mind on the steps that must be taken before vengeance could be hers.
Liriel possessed a human artifact that enabled her to take drow magic to the surface. Retrieving this artifact was an important part of Shakti's overall plan. Her ally Nisstyre had come close, but the curse of the drow-a quick rage and a burning desire for revenge-had overcome Shakti and had resulted in the loss of both ally and amulet. She would not make that mistake again.
Calmly, she considered her course. At that last encounter, the Baenre princess had been in an underground port city, doing battle with Nisstyre and his fellow merchants of the Dragon's Hoard-all followers of Vhaeraun. Though their leader had been slain, Shakti planned to reestablish ties with the band, for they were valuable in bringing both information and merchandise from the surface lands. But to find her slippery rival, Shakti sought a more direct route and a more powerful ally than drow merchants.
Bold steps. A broader vision. That was what was needed. Cupping the scrying bowl with her hands, Shakti began to chant a spell that would open a window to another plane. Not the Abyss-the drow's first choice for power and allies-for much about her work had to be kept secret from the priestesshood of Lloth, and Abyssal denizens were notorious for treachery. Nor did they hold sway in the places where Liriel now stood. No, Shakti sought another, lesser-known place: the elemental plane ofwater.
Drow were adept at traveling the lower planes, but they had little to do with the elemental planes. Yet, Shakti reasoned, if Liriel sought the vast waters of the surface world, what better place could Shakti look for an ally? She had learned to do so at considerable cost, for the hideous Abyssal creature that had shown her the path to the plane of water had enacted a grim pledge from the drow priestess. Shakti quickly thrust that thought aside. It was her darkest secret, one she did not care to contemplate until forced to do so.
The priestess stared deep into the bowl, watching as the blood darkened to ebony and the surface took on a glossy sheen. Then all color vanished, and the bowl seemed full of a wraithlike