Dyrr had sent him far—sent him to another plane of existence altogether.
"The Green Fields," Gromph repeated. "Halfling Heaven. .»
Nauzhror,he thought, sending the name out into the Weave. Grendan? Can you hear me?
Nothing.
Gromph sighed. It was going to take him a while to get home.
Chapter Fifteen
"Oh, now, why the long face?" Aliisza purred.
Her hand slipped along Pharaun's waist, tickling him, but he didn't move. She smiled and wrapped her arm around him, sliding her hand onto his back and moving closer and closer until her body pressed against his. She was warm—almost hot, and she smelled good. She felt better.
"Your journey is barely beginning," the alu-fiend whispered into his ear. Her breath was so hot it nearly burned the side of his neck. "I almost envy you the sights you'll see, the things you'll experience. You will be in the presence of your goddess soon enough."
"Will I like what I see?" he asked. "Will the experience be a fulfilling one? Will my goddess speak to me?"
Aliisza stiffened, but just for a second, then she wrapped one leg around him and nestled in. The force of her embrace turned them slightly in the air. Pharaun glanced down at the ship of chaos and his companions, a hundred feet or more beneath them, oblivious to their presence there.
"Those are all things you'll have to discover on your own," she said.
"Then how can you be sure it'll be something to envy?" he asked, his voice playful but forced, his attention returning to her.
"I envy you the surprises," she replied with a wink.
"Have you been there?"
"To the Abyss?" she asked. "Not for a long time."
"The Demonweb Pits?"
The alu-fiend withdrew enough to look him in the eye, smiled, and said, "No, I've never been to the Demonweb Pits. Have you?"
Pharaun shook his head. He could answer her but not when she was looking at him. He leaned into her, and she squeezed him tighter.
"I was there twice, I think," he said into the soft warmth of her long neck.
"You think?"
"It was a long time ago," Pharaun replied, "and it might have been a dream. There was the last time, when we were all there in astral form, but I thought you might have been there once in the flesh. You're a demon. You can go there and. ."
Pharaun stopped talking. He wasn't sure what he was trying to say.
"Have you been to Menzoberranzan?" he asked instead.
Aliisza stiffened again and for a little bit longer, and he knew that she had.
"Will there be a city for us to return to?" he asked.
Aliisza shrugged. Pharaun could feel the gesture against his body.
"Answer me," he pressed.
"Yes," she said, "or no. It all depends on what you find in the Abyss and how soon Kaanyr and his new friends can break your matron mothers' backs."
Pharaun found himself laughing. He was exhausted again. The Lake of Shadows had a way of sapping his strength.
"Honestly, Pharaun," she said, "you ask me questions as if I'm some sort of fortune teller or oracle … or goddess. I don't know what'll happen to you and your friends. No one, not even your Spider Queen I think, can predict what will happen from minute to minute in the mad chaos of the Abyss."
Pharaun looked her in the eye and decided not to say the first few things that came into his mind.
"Have you thought about my coming with you?" Aliisza asked.
"Why would you help me pilot the ship?" he asked her, gently pushing her away. "We enjoy each other, but I can't imagine you're asking me to simply trust you. I'll need an answer."
Aliisza resisted playfully and flicked the tip of her tongue against his cheek.
"You're pretty," she teased.
"Not as pretty as you," said Pharaun. "Answer me. Why would you help me find Lolth and help Vhok and the duergar lay siege to Menzoberranzan at the same time? You're the enemy—the consort of the enemy, at least—of the city I call home. One might be tempted to choose sides."
"Whatever for?" she asked. "When I'm with you, I like you best. When I'm with Kaanyr, he is everything to me. Either way, I'm amused."
Pharaun found himself laughing again.
"I'll assume that's the best answer I'll ever get from you," he said, "or any other tanar'ri."
Aliisza winked at him again.
As Pharaun let his hands explore her exquisite body, he said, "We should begin our lessons. Quenthel and the others are anxious to get underway."
Aliisza responded to his touch with a sigh, then replied, "As soon as you wish, love. You know how to get there from here?"
"Through the Shadow Deep," he said.
The alu-fiend nodded and said, "From there to the Plain of Infinite Portals—the gateway to the Abyss. There you'll need to find precisely the right entrance. The place you seek—the Demonweb Pits—is the sixty-sixth layer. There are guardians there and lost souls and things maybe even you can't imagine. You might actually like the Abyss, and you might not. Either way, it will change you."
Pharaun sighed. She was probably right.
He really didn't want to go.
Who is responsible? Quenthel asked.
Oh, Mistress, Mistress, K'Sothra answered. Of the five vipers in her scourge, K'Sothra was the least intelligent, but Quenthel listened anyway. Mistress, it was you. You are responsible. It's all your fault.
Quenthel closed her eyes. The skin on her face felt tight, stretched too thin on her skull. Her head hurt. She touched the viper just below its head, and K'Sothra writhed playfully under her touch.
Was it really my fault? the high priestess asked. Could it be?
She drew her finger away from K'Sothra, found the next viper, and cupped her head in two fingers.
I came back when she sent me back and I served her as best I could, Quenthel sent to all five snakes. I became the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith, and the worship of Lolth was never stronger. Isn't that what she sent me back to do?
There was no answer.
What will become of us all? she asked Zinda.
The black-and-red-speckled snake twitched, flicked her tongue at Quenthel, and said, That is also your responsibility, Mistress. What happens as a result of your having driven Lolth away from us will be washed away if only you can bring her back. If you can attract her good graces again, she will save us all. If not, we will be destroyed.
Quenthel felt herself physically sag under the weight of that. Though she tried hard to muster all her training and natural fortitude, she wasn't able to sit up straight. What weighed most heavily on her was the feeling that the snakes were right. It was her fault, and she was the only one who could fix it.
When will Lolth answer? Quenthel asked, moving her fingers to Qorra.
The third viper had the most potent poison. Quenthel only let her strike when she wanted to kill, when she wanted to show no mercy at all.
Never,Qorra hissed into the high priestess's mind. Lolth will never answer. Menzoberranzan, Arach-Tinilith, and your entire civilization are doomed without her, and she's never coming back.
Quenthel's head spun. She was sitting on the deck of the ship of chaos but still felt as if she were about to fall over.
That isn't necessarily true, said Yngoth.
Quenthel had grown more and more dependent on Yngoth's limitless wisdom. It was his voice that tended to reassure her, and to Quenthel he sounded most like a drow.
Why was I sent back? she asked Yngoth. Is this why? To find her?
When you were sent back, the viper replied, Lolth didn't need to be found. Haven't you thought all along that you were sent back to sit at the head of Arach-Tinilith? To hold that post for House Baenre and preserve Lolth's faith and Lolth's favorite in the power structure of Menzoberranzan?