Vanity's Brood - Lisa Smedman [87]
"All the more reason to keep you close," the marilith answered.
Karrell gestured at the dretches. They had peeled back the skin of the dead one's neck and fought over the right to suck the spinal cord.
"You sent them in to herd the faithful into Dendar's mouth," Karrell said. "Why?"
The demon gloated. "You haven't figured that out?" it tsk-tsked. "You're not as clever as I thought, half- blood. Perhaps there's too much human in you."
"Then pity me. Tell me why you want Dendar to grow so big. Is it so sho'll be stuck inside her cave?"
The demon frowned. "What purpose would that serve?"
"It would prevent the Night Serpent from escaping when Sibyl opens the door to her lair."
"Why should we care if Dendar escapes?" "Because…" Karrell was at a loss.
The marilith was right. Why indeed? For all the demons cared, the entire world beyond the Abyss- and all of the souls it contained-could disappear.
"Why should Sibyl want to open that door?" the marilith continued. "Hmm?"
"To reach Smaragd," she said. She waved her hand in a circle. "Through your gate."
The marilith gave a throaty laugh. "You truly are as stupid as you seem, mortal. Nothing living can enter the Fugue Plane."
Karrell knew that, of course, just as she knew that Sibyl was very much alive-and as mortal as she was. If she could keep the marilith talking, perhaps she could learn what was really going on.
"Sibyl could enter it by dying," she said.
The marilith sighed. "Who would claim her soul?" Karrell deliberately blinked. "Why… Sseth, of course."
The marilith started to say something, then bent until its lips brushed Karrell's ear. "You look tired. Rest. Sleep." It gave Karrell a wicked smile. "Dream."
KarrelI flinched away from the demon's touch. The marilith's last comment had been an odd one. Since being dragged into Smaragd, Karrell had slept fitfully, one ear always open for the sounds of the marilith and its dretches. Her dreams had been troubled. With Dendar feeding on the souls of the faithful, any dreams Karrel I had were certain to be full-blown nightmares, perhaps more than her mind could stand. Why would the demon want Karrell to do something that might harm her-and thus it?
With a suddenness that left her dizzy, Karrell realized what was happening. Sseth communioated with his worshipers through whispers and dreams, and Sseth was bound. The dreams he was sending had turned into a writhing nest of nightmares. That was why Karrell-why all of the yuan-ti-had been having such troubling dreams for the past several months, dreams that disturbed their sleep enough to cause them to wake up, hissing in alarm. Dreams of being bound, of feeling trapped, of being prey rather than predator, dreams that were terrifying in their imagery but not quite substantial enough or clear enough to convey whatever message Sseth was so urgently trying to send.
If Dendar gorged herself on the faithful-if she stopped eating nightmares-those dreams would come through, not in a trickle, as they had for the past several months, but in a terrible, mind- drowning rush.
Sibyl wasn't planning to enter Smaragd through Dendar's cave. Dendar was only the solution to her immediate problem. There had to be another entrance to Smaragd, one that Sseth knew-one that he was trying to send to his faithful through dreams that had become nightmares.
Whatever that route was, the Circled Serpent was the key. Of that Karrell was certain. She closed her eyes, praying that key didn't fall into the wrong hands.
Something stroked her hair-the marilith's claw-tipped fingers. "A copper for your thoughts," it hissed.
Karrell pressed her lips grimly shut. Inside her belly, her children kicked. They could feel her tension, her anxiety. Forcing herself to remain calm, she placed a hand on her stomach.
The demon stared thoughtfully at it. "Is it your time?" it asked. "Has it begun?"
One of the dretches rose from its feast and sniffed Karrell, its blood-smeared nostrils twitching. Karrell smacked its hand away.
"Not yet," she told the demon, meeting its eye.
It was a lie. Karrell's