Triel glanced at Maignith.
"Not a word of this to anyone," she hissed.
Maignith bowed, then stared meaningfully at each of the guards on either side of Triel and said, "You can count on our silence, Matron Mother."
Triel returned her attention to the captive. She was delighted that he had at last succumbed to her magical suggestion?he was giving her even more information than she'd dared hope for. Wetting her lips like a lizard scenting blood, she probed further.
"Was it the lichdrow who sent you here? Was it his magic that got you inside?"
"No. . and no."
"Who got you inside, then?"
"Nimor himself. And though I have failed, he will not. Your defenses are as weak as cobwebs against him. He escorted me through the shadows and into your 'stronghold' with ease."
"Nimor is within these walls?" Maignith gasped.
The assassin smirked and answered, "He was."
Triel's eyes narrowed. Not at the fact that Nimor had been able to creep into the heart of House Baenre?the massive stalagmite that had been hollowed out to form the Great Mound?but that, having accomplished such a feat, he would have left it again. Why hadn't he stayed to attack her himself? Why leave a weaker vassal behind to do his bidding? Certainly he would have known that this man would be caught.
The assassin interrupted her musings with a pained laugh.
"You will see Nimor's power and majesty yourself soon enough, when he leads the final assault against this House. That is, if you live to?"
Triel realized that the glare of defiance?and self-will?had never left the assassin's eye, the entire time he was speaking. And his gaze had slid down to her chair more than once?but only when he thought she wasn't looking at him.
"Guards!" she shouted. "Shields!"
Instantly, the women on either side of her sprang into motion, thrusting their shields between Triel and the only visible threat: the assassin.
Even as the two shields clanged together, the audience chamber filled with a blast of magical energy. Searingly hot flame exploded outward from where the assassin lay, the roar of it slamming against Triel's eardrums with such volume that it nearly blotted out the screams of the guards whose bodies were blackening like overcooked meat.
The magic of their shields held fast, and the blast was deflected over, under, and around the chair on which Triel cringed. She felt the wash of its heat as little more than a flush of warmth; felt nothing of its blast save for the shields that were forced back against her chair. The throne itself had not reacted to the blast of the fireball the assassin had carried within himself. Triel could guess the reason. The attack was directed at the assassin who'd carried it into the room, not at the matron mother herself. Nimor's information?and his guess as to where Triel would question the failed assassin?had been flawless.
All this Triel realized in the instant of ear-ringing silence that followed the blast.
Maignith and the other two guards crumpled to the floor, burned beyond recognition. The lizard, too, was dead, curled and immobile in one corner of the room, its skin no longer glowing.
Of the assassin's body, nothing remained but bones, glowing red like coats and sending up wisps of oily black smoke.
Triel shivered, aware that she had come within a heartbeat of death. For a moment, she knew fear. No wonder the assassin had been so willing to talk. He had needed to keep her within range until the spell went off.
Triel heard running feet in the hallway outside, approaching the audience room door. She gripped the legs of her chair, clenching tightly to subdue the trembling of her hands. She stared over the blackened husk of her guard, wincing at the burned-meat smell, as a captain of her House guard ran into the room. The woman's eyes widened at once as she took in the blackened bodies on the floor.
"Matron Mother," she gasped. The captain was panting, as if she'd run some distance. "The enemy approaches the city!"
"From which direction?"
"Through the caverns to the southeast. Our patrols have skirmished with them at the Cavern of Severed Tentacles and at Ablonsheir's Cave."
"Was it tanarukks the patrols encountered or duergar?" Triel asked.
"Both, but most tanarukks"
"In what numbers?"
The captain shrugged and said, "Impossible to tell. But the armies seem to have combined and are making their way swiftly through the Dark Dominion. They'll reach the outskirts of the city at any moment."
Triel ground her teeth. Was it a feint?or an assault in force? Judging by their approach, the tanarukks and duergar were aiming to enter Menzoberranzan through one of the nine tunnels that lay between Donigarten Lake and the edge of the plateau, but which would they emerge from? And, should they succeed in entering the great cavern, what would their target be? Under ordinary circumstances, Triel would have expected the attackers to push north across the great cavern, cutting off Donigarten and the moss beds, the city's main water and food sources, to ensure that Menzoberranzan would have nothing to sustain it during their siege. But given the timing of the assassination attempt?which, had it succeeded, would have thrown her House into chaos?perhaps there was another target. House Baenre would be the first stepping stone to an assault on Qu'ellarz'orl itself. If she was right, the main force of the attack would come through the tunnels closest to the plateau.
Was there still time to plug the gap? She dared not commit the House guard. It would be needed to defend the Baenre compound if the enemy made it into the city. There was only one other House Baenre company close enough.
"Pull our troops back from the siege of House Agrach Dyrr," Triel ordered. "Send them into the caverns immediately below the eastern end of the plateau. Order them to hold them at all cost. And tell the other Houses to send their troops to defend the other caverns leading into Narbondellyn. House Barrison Del'Armgo especially. Our troops will be first to bear the brunt of the assault, but Del'Armgo must reinforce us. Leave Agrach Dyrr to the Xorlarrin."
The captain bowed and said, "As you order, Matron Mother."
As the captain hurried away, Triel chewed her lip, praying she'd made the right decision.
Where in the Nine Hells was Gromph when House Baenre needed him most?
Chapter Eight
Glass.
Curved glass.
And outside it…
Gray stone.
Tunnel walls.
Close.
Outside curved glass.
Gromph Baenre, Archmage of Menzoberranzan, stared, unblinking, at the rough stone that lay just outside the wall of his prison. He was trapped inside curved glass. In utter silence. Inside a hollow sphere that lay on the floor of an unknown tunnel. Unable to move, unable to breathe, only sluggishly able to think.
He stared at his own reflection, distorted by the concave surface of the glass. His face was coarse but unlined despite his seven centuries, thanks to the amulet of eternal youth pinned to his piwafwi.
His silver-white hair floated loosely around his head, unaffected by the gravity that existed only outside the sphere. His eyes were open and unblinking.
Growing weary of his own face, he stared at the tunnel walls instead, noticing a bright vein of quartz. Noticing how wide it was, how large the crystals.
Time passed.
A while later?ten cycles, a year??Gromph felt something tickle his mind. An awareness. A presence. Turning his mind toward it, Gromph sought it out. Struggling like an exhausted man trying to lift his head, he concentrated his will.
Kyorli?
Nothing.
More time passed.
He stared at the vein of quartz, picking out a crystal within it. By concentrating on its facets?blurred though they were by the concave glass in front of his eyes?he could focus his thoughts.