F O U R (65 page)

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

is dead. I saw her once, and I don'Menzoberranzan during the Time of Tt just  mean the manifestation who visited

roubles. I've gazed upon
 
t
he Dark Mother

in the full majesty of her divinity, and I  can't  imagine that anything could ever lay her low "

.

"Y

"I thought you might ou have looked upon the Spider Queen?"be interested in that," said the mage. "It wasn't  long after I

sister Sabal against her twin Greyannagraduated from Sorcere, returned home to. One night, a delega serve my mother, and sided with my tion of priestesses

came to  our  stalactite castle. Triel Baenre herself led the  expedition—she  was

Mistress of Arach-Tinilith in those da

from Houses Xorlarrin, Agrach Dyrr  ys—and she'd  brought along dignitaries ,  Bar-rison Del'note. It was a momentous occasi        Armgo, and other families of

on, especially for me, because all these great

ladies had come to arrest me.

"I never did find out if Greyanna instigated the affairshe would have done, but it needn't have been  her   . It was the kind of thing

.  You'll scarcely credit it, but in

meek and modest gentlethose days, I was considered an insoleman you see before you tnt, uppity scapegrace, a far cry from the oday.  A good many clerics  mahave suspected me of irreverence."                    y

"This is what happened to Tsabrak," Syrzanturned him into a drider, and drove him forth."  said. "The priestesses arrested him,

en fouler," Pharaun said, "but  first

th"Sometimes they mete out punishments evey  examine  you to  determine  your  true  sentiments. I

intervene. She was one of  the great Matrons of Menzoberranzan, and I' hoped my mother would d scored a

believed me a traitor in thnumber of coups for House e making or was reluctant toMizzrym, but she never said a word. Perhaps she

Maybe she simply found my predicament amusing. Miz'ri' disagree with the Baenre. s  like that."Be that as it may

,

question, employing whips a the priestesses threw me in a dungeon and put me to the to make a spurious confession merely nd other toys. Somehow I managed to resist the urge

mind-reading spell, only to slap up agaito stop the pain. A fellow wizard cast a nst the defenses most mages erect to protect their thoughts. I imagine an illith

but he was unequal to the challenge."   id would have smashed right through, "Then you passed the test?" Syrzan asked.

ers deemed the results inconclusive

and accordingly asked a higher power to make"Alas, no," Pharaun laughed. "The examinon an obsidian altar             the determination. They laid me

together, and the torture ,  performed a dancchamber faded awaying, keening, self-mutilating ritual . You'd think I would have been glad of it, wouldn't you, but m

y  new surroundings were no less ominous."Pharaun's captors had ignored his silver ring, obviously thinking it m

ere

jewelry,  if they noticed it at all. As soon as he'd  looked at Syrzan, he'd  discovered its m

agic operated even within the confines of the lich's phantasmal creation. He

forced  an  idea  into  his  subconscious  and  continued  to  prattle.

"The priestesses had drugged me  to prevent my  resisting their attentions, thenused m

e  with considerable brutality. It  took me

head and look around. When I did, I perceived that I lay atop an enorm a while just to lift my battered ous object with the shape of a staffer length of  cord m

ade of a substance  that  gave

ever so slightly but was as strong as  adamantine nonetheless. Otherwise, itwould have disintegrated under its own  weight. Far ahead, m

y  perch fused at

right  angles  with  another  such  object,  which  connected

pattern spreading out to form, I suddenly r     with still others, the ealized, a spiderweb of insane

Richard Lee Byers

177

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

complexity, huge enough to make a world. If it was attached to anything, the

anchor points were too distant for me  to see. Perhaforever                     ps it just went on and on"

.

"The Demonweb," Syrzan said.

ined his captor's talismans, using the magic inthe silvPharaun surreptitiously examer rin

g,  trying  to  figure out  which  one  would  allow an  il-lithid to send a psionic "Call" to every ore and goblin in Menzoberranzan.

"Very good," the ma

teachers discoursed on the sundry planes of ge said. "I see you were paying attention when your existence. I was indeed exiled to that layer of the Abyss where Lolth holds sway. I rem

embered hearing that the

strands of the web were hollow and that much of the life of the place existed

inside. Well, I certainly couldn't see any source of food or water on the outside,

let alone a portal to take me  home, so, still dazed and sick from  the clerics'attentions, I started crawling and searching for a m

eans of entry.

"Eventually, I might have found one, but  I ran out of time. The strand I was traversing began to tremble. I peered about and saw her scuttling t

oward me ".

"Lolth?" Syrzan asked."Who else? Her priestesses say she travels her domain in a mobile iron

fortress, but she must have left it behind that day.  I beheld the goddess herself in the guise of a spider as huge as the  Great Mound of the Baenre. Sh

e's appeared

to others in the same shape only smaller,  but she was colossal  when she came for

me.

"I was terrified, but what  was one to do about it? Run? Fight? Either effort

would  have  been  equally  absurd.  I  exercised  the  only  sensible  option.  I  huddled

atop the thread and covered my eyes.   blindness. Her will took hold of me and

forced me to look up. She was looming "Alas, she denied me the comforts of over me, staring down with a circle of luminous ruby orbs.

"I felt as if her gaze was not merely  piercing but dissolving me. The sensationwas intolerable, I wanted to die,  and in a way

,  she granted my wish.

with a dainty precision, sh"Her legs were immense, e used the two front-most mebut they tapered to points  at the ends, and, moving mbers to dissect me. Did the process kill me? I don't know

life, my spirit lingered in my divided fl. By all rights, it should have, but if I lost my esh, still suff"My soul was conscious, too, of its own destruction.ering the horror and pain. Somehow

Queen picked apart my flesh and bones,             , as the Spider well. It irks me that I can't  describe  how it felt. I hail from a race of torturers and she was filleting my mind and spirit as

spellcasters, but I still lack the vocabulary.  Suffice it to say, it wasn't pleasant."In the end, every aspect of my self lay in pieces before her—for ins

realize now, though I was in too much agony  and dread to work it out at the time. pection, I

When she'd looked her fill, she put me back together."

Pharaun decided it was the triangle Still careful not to betray himself,  that would power the alhoon'keeping his mind focused on the storys Call. The ,question then was what to do about it.

Syrzan'                The real brooch hung on the chest of s  physical body, back in the material world. The one inside his mind was a sort of echo. An analogue. Would depriving Syrzan of  it accomplish anything?

intellect and spirit exactly asPharaun continued, "Do you think she rec they'd  been before? Over thonnected every subtle juncture of my e  course of the next few years, I invested a fair amount of time  brooding

over  that particular question,  but

it's unanswerable, so let it not detain us.

Richard Lee Byers

178

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

"After the Mother of Lusts cobbled me

native reality               together, she tossed me back to my acceptable. I im, back onto the altar

inquisitor to rejoice in a suspect'agine the clerics were disappointed. I'

, in fact, thus indicating she found meve never known an

s  acquittal.

"Perhaps they took a bit of solace in the discovery that I'd gone altogether

mad. They carted me  back to my  family, who strapped me  to a bed and debated

whether it wouldn't be more convenient all around to smother me with a pillow.

Sabal was my  advocate and guard. She couldn't afford to lose her staunchest ally.

"Let's

wits returned, and as I reflected on m skip over all the raving and hallucinations, shall we? Eventually myy  experiences in the Abyss, I realized thatwhile Lolth was infinitely dreadful  and m

align, she was transcendentl

beautiful as well. I'd sim                        yply been too distraught to recognize it at the time."

The magic of both the ring and the  brooch had accompanied the dreamers

into the dream. Otherwise, Pharaun wouldn't be able to see the triangle glowing.

So  perhaps if  he disposed of  the talisman in this place, its counterpart in

mundane reality would lose its enchantments.

doubted he'Possibly not, also, but the Master of Sorcere felt he had to take a chance. He d  get another.

"Certainly she exemplified that supremparticularly we wizards, aspire," the drow e power to which all dark elves,

rambled on. "I felt inspired that she

was our patron. She's worthy of us, as we are worthy of her "."She impressed you," Syrzan said, its mouth tentacles wriggling, "as e

ven the

pettiest deity can overawe a mortal. Still, you're a scholar of the mysteries.  You should know there are powers greater than  Lolth, entities who,  if  the

y  saw  fit—"Pharaun snatched the triangular ivory brooch off the undead mind flayer'

s

soiled and shabby robe and slammed it down on the convoluted parapet at theedge of the bridge. The ornam

ent didn't break. In desperation, he pulled back his

arm  to throw it. Perhaps the illithid-lich  would have difficulty retrieving it from

the murky pool below.

A cold, rough hand grabbed him  by the collar and wrenched him  down. He  was powerless to resist. In the reality Syrzan ha

titan.                 d created for itself, it was as strong as a

The lich ripped the brooch from  Pharaun's grasp and thrust it into a pocket. Itclutched the dark elf with both hands, leaned its head close, and w