"Worse to be trapped within a lie," he whispered absently.
The panther cocked its head to the side, sensing again that Drizzt’s words carried great importance. Drizzt returned the curious stare with one that came suddenly grim. "Take me to your master." he demanded, "your false master."
Chapter 27
Untroubled Dreams
Zaknafein sank down into his bed in an easy sleep, the most comfortable rest he had ever known. Dreams did come to him this night, a rush of dreams. Far from tumultuous, they only enhanced his comfort. Zak was free now of his secret, of the lie that had dominated every day of his adult life.
Drizzt had survived! Even the dreaded Academy of Menzoberranzan could not daunt the youth’s indomitable spirit and sense of morality. Zaknafein Do’Urden was no longer alone. The dreams that played in his mind showed him the same wonderful possibilities that had followed Drizzt out of the city.
Side by side they would stand, unbeatable, two as one against the perverted foundations of Menzoberranzan.
A stinging pain in his foot brought Zak from his slumbers.
He saw Briza immediately, at the bottom of his bed, her snake whip in hand. Instinctively, Zak reached over the side to fetch his sword.
The weapon was gone. Vierna stood at the side of the room, holding it. On the opposite side, Maya held Zak’s other sword.
How had they come in so stealthily? Zak wondered. Magical silence, no doubt, but Zak was still surprised that he had not sensed their presence in time. Nothing had ever caught him unawares, awake or asleep.
Never before had he slept so soundly, so peacefully. Perhaps, in Menzoberranzan, such pleasant dreams were dangerous.
"Matron Malice will see you." Briza announced.
"I am not properly dressed." Zak replied casually. "My belt and weapons, if you please."
"We do not please!" Briza snapped, more at her sisters than at Zak. "You will not need the weapons." Zak thought otherwise.
"Come, now." Briza commanded, and she raised the whip.
"I should be certain of Matron Malice’s intentions before I acted so boldly, were I you." Zak warned. Briza, reminded of the power of the male she now threatened, lowered her weapon.
Zak rolled out of bed, putting the same intense glare alternately on Maya and Vierna, watching their reactions to better conclude Malice’s reasons for summoning him.
They surrounded him as he left his room, keeping a cautious but ready distance from the deadly weapon master.
"Must be serious." Zak remarked quietly, so that only Briza, in front of the troupe, could hear. Briza turned and flashed him a wicked smile that did nothing to dispel his suspicions. Neither did Matron Malice, who leaned forward in her throne in anticipation even before they entered the room.
"Matron." Zak offered, dipping into a bow and pulling the side of his nightshirt out wide to draw attention to his inappropriate dress. He wanted to let Malice know his feelings of being ridiculed at such a late hour.
The matron offered no return greeting. She rested back in her throne. One slender hand rubbed her sharp chin, while her eyes locked upon Zaknafein.
"Perhaps you could tell me why you’ve summoned me." Zak dared to say, his voice still holding an edge of sarcasm. "I would prefer to return to my slumbers. We should not give House Hun’ett the advantage of a tired weapon master."
"Drizzt has gone." growled Malice.
The news slapped Zak like a wet rag. He straightened, and the teasing smile disappeared from his face.
"He left the house against my commands." Malice went on.
Zak relaxed visibly when Malice announced that Drizzt was gone, Zak had first thought that she and her devious cohorts had driven him out or killed him.
"A spirited boy." Zak remarked. "Surely he will return soon."
"Spirited." Malice echoed, and her tone did not put the description in a positive light.
"He will return." Zak said again. "There’s no need for our alarm, for such extreme measures." He glared at Briza, though he knew well that the matron mother had called him to audience to do more than tell him of Drizzt’s departure.
"The secondboy disobeyed the matron mother." Briza snarled, a rehearsed interruption.
"Spirited." Zak said again, trying not to chuckle. "A minor indiscretion."
"How often he seems to have those." Malice commented.
"Like another spirited male of House Do’Urden."
Zak bowed again, taking her words as a compliment. Malice already had his punishment decided, if she meant to punish him at all. His actions now, at this trial―if that’s what it was―would be of little consequence.
"The boy has displeased the Spider Queen!" Malice growled, openly enraged and tired of Zak’s sarcasm. "Even you were not foolish enough to do that!"
A dark cloud passed across Zak’s face. This meeting was indeed serious, Drizzt’s life could be at stake.
"But you know of his crime." Malice continued, easing back again. She liked that she had Zak concerned and on the defensive. She had found his vulnerable spot. It was her turn to tease.
"Leaving the house?" Zak protested. "A minor error in judgment. Lolth would not be concerned with such a trifle issue."
"Do not feign ignorance, Zaknafein. You know that the elven child lives!"
Zak lost his breath in a sharp gasp. Malice knew! Damn it all, Lolth knew!
"We are about to go to war." Malice continued calmly, "we are not in Lolth’s favor, and we must correct the situation."
She eyed Zak directly. "You are aware of our ways and know that we must do this."
Zak nodded, trapped. Anything he did now to disagree would only make matters worse for Drizzt, if matters could be worse for Drizzt.
"The secondboy must be punished." Briza said. Another rehearsed interruption, Zak knew. He wondered how many times Briza and Malice had practiced this encounter.
"Am I to punish him, then?" Zak asked. "I’ll not whip the boy that is not my place."
"His punishment is none of your concern." Malice said.
"Then why disturb my slumber?" Zak asked, trying to detach himself from Drizzt’s predicament, more for Drizzt’s sake than his own.
"I thought that you would wish to know." Malice replied.
"You and Drizzt became so close this day in the gym. Father and son."
She saw! Zak realized. Malice, and probably that wretched Briza, had watched the whole encounter! Zak’s head drooped as he came to know that he had unwittingly played a part in Drizzt’s predicament.
"An elven child lives." Malice began slowly, rolling out each word in dramatic clarity, "and a young drow must die."
"No!" The word came out of Zak before he realized he was speaking. He tried to find some escape. "Drizzt was young. He did not understand…"
"He knew exactly what he was doing!" Malice screamed back at him. "He does not regret his actions! He is so like you, Zaknafein! Too like you."
"Then he can learn." Zak reasoned. "I have not been a burden to you, Mali―Matron Malice. You have profited by my presence. Drizzt is no less skilled than I, he can be valuable to us."
"Dangerous to us." Matron Malice corrected. "You and he standing together? The thought does not please me."
"His death will aid House Hun’ett." Zak warned, grabbing at anything he could find to defeat the matron’s intent.
"The Spider Queen demands his death." Malice replied sternly. "She must be appeased if Daermon N’a’shezbaernon is to have any hope in its struggles against House Hun’ett."
"I beg you, do not kill the boy."
"Sympathy?" Malice mused. "It does not become a drow warrior, Zaknafein. Have you lost your fighting will?"