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aithne(Imryne, in House Melrae)
Imryne opened the door to the Melrae mage library. Inside, Challay sat with a book open on her lap, Urlryn curled next to her. At the sound of the door opening, they both looked up. Imryne saw a wild, glad light come into Challay's eyes as she jumped to her feet.
Imryne walked into the room and pulled her daughter into a long hug. Challay put her head down on Imryne’s shoulder; she could feel the trembling in Challay’s body. Beside her, Tar and Jevan were embracing Urlryn, and wordlessly Imryne pulled herself and Challay into their embrace. Challay was in the center, now, surrounded by a circle of her parents. When she spoke, her voice danced on the razor edge of tears. “Glad you survived, Mother. Please don’t go anywhere ever again. I don’t want to do that again.”
“I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon.” She tightened her arms around her bone-thin daughter. “You survived, the house is still standing, and the family is still alive.”
“Barely. But yes.”
“Barely still counts.” She kissed Challay’s cheek. “So, what was the damage done?”
“The wall by the main gate was breached, a ten foot wide hole. The area just inside the front gate was tunneled under, leaving a wide hole. The inner house was breached, but only the doors sustained damage. Oblodra resealed the wall and the tunnel. We are currently backfilling it to the sewer. The doors will have to be completely remade and the traps in the door chambers reset, the mages say it will be at least strands and maybe a skein before they’re repaired. The door to the matron’s apartments were destroyed, and the furniture in the main room is a loss. We lost no family members, but thirty-eight guards died. Another twelve are seriously injured but will recover. One lost a leg.” Challay took a deep breath. “Chaulssin was killed defending me. Injuries to Urlryn, Phaere and the illithid have been completely healed. I have to say, Mother, the illithid saved us all in your apartments.”
“What did he do?” Imryne asked.
“Blasted Miz’ri’s personal guard with something that left them unconscious, leaving us only Miz’ri to deal with. It was very weak after, and fed on the guards.”
Imryne shook her head. “I’m glad he was there, then. I’ll have to go thank him and see if there’s anything we can do for him. Maybe it’s time he at least visited his people, we might be able to manage that. I had no idea he could do anything like that.”
“Nor did I,” Challay said. “We owe it our lives, and I owe Chaulssin mine. If you allow it, mother, I would like to entomb her with the family.”
The thought of the ancient matron mother finally finding a home with a living House, even in death, was enough to nearly bring tears to Imryne’s eyes. “We can certainly do that. I knew she had died, but not how.”
“She stepped in front of me and was hit by several crossbows.”
If Chaulssin had not been there, if she had not made the decision she had... I could have lost you, little one. I am so glad I did not. Was this how Triel felt every time Imryne had survived a close scrape? This relief, this protective rage, this abiding fear? “That’s...strange. I suppose we’ll never know why she chose to do that in that moment.”
“I don’t know either. The house should be back to normal in a few days, the doors will be replaced soon enough. There are two sets of temporary doors set up in the passage between the inner and outer houses, and a temporary door on your apartments. I have doubled the guard on them.”
“Good. And Noquar is gone.”
Challay smiled, just a little. “Quite dead. Miz’ri’s head is preserved in that jar.” She freed and arm and pointed to a shelf off to the side.
Noquar Miz’ri’s head floated in a cloud of her hair in a large jar. Her mouth gaped in an expression of eternal surprise, and her nose seemed even more beaky as the flesh clung to her skull closely. “Perhaps I can use it to make a point, sometime.” Imryne hugged her daughter again, and let her go. “I’d like to go drop it into Imrae’s lap, but that wouldn’t accomplish anything but a very temporary satisfaction. “
“And maybe an attack we can’t defend against,” Challay pointed out.
“Yes.” Imryne shook her head, thinking of Imrae. “I don’t know what else Imrae is up to, but I’m worried about Tlabbar now. Good work, Challay. You did as well as I could have hoped.”
There was a deep relief on Challay’s face. “Thank you, Mother.”
Imryne smiled. “I need to go find out if I can send Alystin home, or if the fact that the attack occurred when it did was more than coincidence on her part. Jevan, with me, please. The rest of you can come if you like.”
Tar rolled her eyes. “I am going to go take the longest bath of my life. You two can come join me later. I have no desire to talk with the spider priestess. Urlryn? Want to come? We can catch up.” There was a bright light burning in Tar’s eyes, and Urlryn grinned, took Tar’s hand, and almost ran out the door with her. Challay followed them, and Jevan came with Imryne as they walked toward the outer house.
Imryne and Jevan walked through the halls of Melrae in comfortable silence. Imryne desperately wanted to join Tar and Urlryn in that bath, but questioning Alystin took precedence. They arrived at the room that had been given the Lloth priestess and knocked; after a moment, she called, “Enter.”
They did. Alystin was in the middle of packing her bags. When she saw them, she had a peculiar expression on her face, a kind of resigned exhaustion and incompletely hidden pain. “Alystin, could you come with us for a few minutes?” Imryne asked. “There’s something we need to do before we send you home.”
Alystin put down the bag she had been holding. “Do we need to go somewhere? I assume you came here to question me.”
“Yes, we did. There’s someone else who should be present, and we’ll need to go to him.”
Alystin looked between the both of them, and her shoulders rounded. There was hardly any fight left in her at all. It was as if she had convinced herself that she was not going to live out the hour, much less see her family again. She did not resist as Jevan and Imryne each took one of her arms and walked her to the room that the illithid occupied. Imryne paused at the door. “Wait here with her, I want to talk to him first,” she told Jevan. He nodded, and Imryne rapped on the door and went inside.
He was waiting for her, as always, and did not bother to pull his hood up to hide his face. Matron Mother Imryne. Good to see you alive.
““It’s good to be alive. Thank you, for saving the lives of my family.”
He inclined his head. It was a very drow gesture, how he did that, and it made her wonder if he had been studying them, trying to copy the mannerisms of her people. I would say that my motives were pure, but I was saving myself and my people as well.
“I know, but your interests and ours continue to coincide, thankfully.” She smiled at him. “Is there anything we can do to thank you? Do you want to go see your people?”
As much as I would like to, it's best that no one goes there. People could follow us. I have contact with them all, so I am not lonely.
“Is there anything else we could do?” she asked.
He shook his head slightly, his tentacles writhing a little. For now, nothing that we can think of. You have performed all the service we will need. We are alive and in a home that is reasonably secure.
“Well, good.,” she said. “So I have another one of those favors to ask you. I need to read someone for me, and find the truth of whether she betrayed us.”
That, I can perform, he said.
“Thank you. I’ll bring her in.” She opened the door to admit Jevan and Alystin. Alystin, when she saw the occupant of the room, looked startled and in no small measure wary. “Please sit, Alystin. We are going to ask you some questions, and our guest here will let us know if your answers are whole and truthful.”
Alystin sat in one of the hard chairs. She looked between Imryne, Jevan, and the illithid. “You want to know if I revealed any of your secrets?”
“More or less.”
She took a shallow breath. “Yes, I did. But before Jevan kills me, let me have my peace with you. Let me tell you why I did it.”
Imryne’s jaw tightened. She was inclined to have Jevan kill Alystin out of hand, but she had asked to have her peace. A prisoner who requested to confess with those words had to be heard out by those present. At least the illithid would be able to tell if she were being truthful. “Please. I’d like to know.”
The Lloth priestess put her hands on her knees, looking down at the floor. She seemed to be gathering strength. “When I came here, I was a Lloth priestess, and you are a house of Ellistraee. You had helped us to survive to live another day, but I was ripped from my city, my friends, the only home I had ever known. So on my return, I contacted Larynda of House Vandree. She answered my message and we started a series of messages back and forth. Her questions became probing. and I realized that this was not Larynda when she could not answer questions we both knew. By that time, it was too late. I had mentioned Ulitree.” She looked up at them, her eyes pleading. “I did not realize that Ulitree was not one of your family. From there, I gave no more information, but I knew it was my fault as soon as they mentioned her name. That is my crime. Kill me quickly.”
Imryne glanced at the illithid. “She tells the truth?”
She does.
She turned her attention back to Alystin. “What was your relationship with Larynda? Friends, or more?”
“Friends, no more. She would have like much more but I was not so inclined. But she still tried, and I liked the attention.”
Imryne nodded. “She died a few skeins ago.”
Alystin’s hands folded together. “I assumed the worst.”
“And you never intended to betray us?” she asked.
“No, I did not,” Alystin said.
She speaks truth still, the illithid added. Alystin’s flinch told Imryne that he had included her in that thought.
“When the Noquar people had taken you away from the rest of us, how were they treating you?” Imryne asked.
She took a long, shuddering breath. “As you assumed, I was raped.”
Imryne sighed, shifting in her seat. “So. It was an honest mistake, and Phyrra did not lie to me about what they were doing to you. I don’t think we’re going to kill you, Alystin.”
“Just so you know, as well...” Alystin was staring at the floor, pain written in the lines of her body. “Lloth has abandoned me. I knew it was a possibility, but the reality is--upsetting.”
“I’m sorry, Alystin. I truly am,” she said gently, meaning every word. “We’ll send you home later today.”
“I will need escort that you can’t afford to lose. And it will do no good. My mother will lock me away.” There was a bitter note in her voice.
“Why, because Lloth has turned her face from you?”
Alystin rubbed her forehead. “What good is a daughter that can’t cast spells, that has been turned away from Lloth? I am a creature to be shunned and pitied. She will keep me alive, because she ordered me to do it. but in the end, it will be a cage, nothing more.”
Imryne said carefully, “You have a sister who has...different religious predilections. Does your mother not know about her?
She shook her head. “Drada left just after the transfer. She and her husband are gone now many years. I might be able to find her again, though. I would need transfer home, but not totally home--to the surface above.”
“I would offer to let you stay here, but I don’t think it would be any less a cage for you, and I think we wear on your nerves.”
Alystin briefly put her face in her hands. As the interview wore on, she was more and more bent, seeming to collapse in on herself. The former priestess was trapped, Imryne could see. “It would be hard for me to stay. I will always think of this place now as the place that my god abandoned me.”
“We can transport you to the surface so you can go look for Drada, then,” she said gently. “Do you want me to tell your mother anything? I could tell her that you died doing what she requested.”
“That would be best,” Drada said.
“Do you still have contact with the person you thought was Larynda?” Jevan asked.
“I do,” she said.
Imryne and Jevan exchanged a glance. She asked the illithid, “Can you find out who that person is?”
Yes. It requires her to initiate a spell to talk to her, which she will need a potion for, but once established and I link with her, I can tell you for sure who is on the other end.
“Alystin, are you willing to do this?” Alystin nodded in response. “You could send a message saying that you were leaving. It’s true enough.”
“Or that she has the potion,” Jevan said. “Which is sort of true. Might lure whoever out.”
“If it’s Imrae, it definitely will. Let’s try that,” Imryne said. Imryne sent for a message potion, since Alystin was no longer capable of casting it. They discussed messages, and settled on a simple message telling the person Alystin had thought was Larynda that she had gotten her hands on the potions that they had gone into the deep to retrieve, and needed to get it out before Imryne suspected.
As Alystin was talking, the illithid’s tentacles were writhing tensely. She gave him sidelong glances. Amalica of House Tlabbar, he said.
Imryne felt shock as nausea, and she pressed her lips together as her gorge rose. Not Amalica. Goddess. The response came quickly, and the illithid broadcast it to them all. It was a very good imitation of Larynda's voice. “Mother will be so pleased. Is there some way you can get out, and we can meet?”
Imryne thought swiftly. “Somewhere in Arabani,” she murmured to Alystin. “An hour from now.” Alystin nodded and relayed the message. Both females signed off, and Imryne sighed. “How are you feeling?” she asked Jevan. “Up for a possible fight?”
He grinned. “Perfectly fine, from your tender healings.”
She chuckled, then remembered what they were about to do and sobered abruptly. “Good. You, me, Alystin, Maya. Sabal, too, I think. Maya can hide us. I don't know who's going to show up, but I'm guessing it might be someone disguised as Larynda. Alystin, You're bait, I fear.” Alystin nodded, looking resigned. “We'll give you vials similar to the ones we got from the temples and put some magic on them to make it look like you've got something special. We should do that and go--I want to get in there first and make sure nobody's setting up any surprises. Alystin, come with me. Jevan, find the children.”
It was only a few minutes later that they were gathered in the outer house, ignored by those who were rushing around them, trying to clean up the mess the battle had left behind. A guard opened the gates for them and they stepped through, Maya shielding them from any eyes. House Arabani was a bit of a walk away, at the foot of the slope that the largest houses loomed atop. House Arabani's gates stood half-open as they had for cycles now, and once they were inside the air was still tinged with the smell of old smoke. The fire that Melrae had set after Arabani had departed had almost completely destroyed the inner house, but the outer house was largely intact still. One of the outer rooms would make a good meeting place, and Maya let go of her protection of Alystin as the rest of them settled against the wall.
A little while before Larynda arrived, Maya made a small, startled noise. “There are drider outside the house. Two sets of three. I can feel them.” It was strange, but there was nothing to be done for the moment. One hour exactly after Alystin had contacted the person she thought was Larynda, they heard footsteps approaching.
A very impressive fake Larynda sailed into the room, looking overjoyed. “It is so good to see you again, Alystin,” she said as she threw her arms around the Arabani and kissed her soundly on the lips. “Do you have it?”
Alystin smiled. “I do. Melrae was distracted by the damage to their house and weren't watching me closely.”
“Good. Get out, Alystin, when you can. Go home. It's not safe here any more. I will take the potion and see if I can get what I need from Imrae, and then maybe I can join you.” If Imryne hadn't known that was not Ladrynda, she might have been fooled. The voice was right, the movements were right, even the small gesture of raising her hand to touch her house symbol when she said Imrae's name was right.
“What are you going to be trading the potion for?” Alystin asked.
“The cure for the drider--at least, for a few,” the false Larynda said. The stress in her voice was all too real.
Alystin's eyebrows went up in genuine surprise. “Really. They can be cured?”
“So says Imrae. She may lie, but I have to try.”
“Why, what do you care?” Alystin cocked her head.
The other female shook her head. “The drider she has are my husbands and brothers. She experimented on them, or House Kilsek did, or whoever. They are still in there. She releases them sometimes to tug at my heart, and for a few minutes they are themselves again. Then she takes control again, and walks away.” Her voice trembled. “She is releasing some now anyway. With only three female drider, she is having a harder and harder time keeping control of them. She has had to put down many of them.”
“There are too many of them here anyway. You're right, it's not even close to safe here any more.”
“Go home, Alystin. You will be safer.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I should go.”
Imryne made a sharp gesture to Maya, and stepped forward. Maya dropped the unseeing on her as she did. The false Larynda clapped one hand to her mouth, stepping back. “Oh, damn.” Behind her, thudding scuttles heralded the arrival of the drider that had been stationed nearby. Jevan stepped out from behind Imryne, and she heard the sliding ring of his swords being drawn.
“You might as well drop the illusion, Amalica,” Imryne said. “You and I both know Larynda's dead.”
Amalica swallowed, then pressed her lips together. The illusion dissolved, showing her true form beneath. Imryne's heartbeat hitched, seeing her. She raised a hand to the drider, and they stepped back. “I know. Don't stop me, Imryne. I have to do this.”
“No, you don't. We're working on a cure, Amalica.”
She glanced over her shoulder, and with a sick feeling Imryne recognized the drider that Amalica looked at. It was Elendar, her husband, the one Imryne had met years ago. His gaze was blank, impassive. “They are next in line for the cull. I don't have time to wait.”
“If you give her the true potion, all of us die, except her,” she said. “Everyone in this city. Including them. We can help you, if you let us.”
Amalica shook her head. “Can you smuggle six drider out of the city and break the control, and force them to not give away our location?”
“I think we can do that with some. I don't know if we have time for all of them,” Imryne said. “We can but try, because Imrae getting her hands on that potion would mean disaster.” She gentled her voice. “Is this what's been eating at you, Amalica?”
The other female brought her head up sharply. “Do you know what it's like to see your family walking around as drider, ones you thought dead but who don't recognize you? Then to find out they do, they just can't say anything. Imrae sent Tlabbar to clean out the slums for one reason--so I'd encounter three of my husbands and my brothers down there.” She dropped her gaze. “It ate at me. Then Imrae said she could find a cure and return them to me. When she intercepted that first call from Alystin, she gave me the job of stringing it out. Then she heard of Ulitree, and told Noquar. Is that potion Alystin has a fake?”
“Believe it or not, Amalica, I do know exactly what it's like,” she said, thinking of Quave. “I can't tell you for the moment, Amalica.”
Amalica sighed, fisting one hand. “Imrae is probably lying about the cure, too.” She paused, and raised her eyes to meet Imryne's. “Imrae knows I am out here. If I come back empty handed, she will kill one of the drider from my family. If I come back with an obvious fake, she will do something as well but she will probably be more angry with Alystin. If it's a good fake, it will buy me time to get them out.”
Imryne relented. “One healing potion, one transformation, both magicked to look a lot more powerful than they are.”
“Might buy me a few hours or a day.” She swiped at her eye with one hand. “The family is already gone.”
Goddess. “You're about to fold up and disappear, aren't you?” she asked, her voice gentle.
Amalica nodded. “There is nothing more than a token force in House Tlabbar. It could be taken by a little earthquake.”
“Ah. I think I see what needs to be done here. Take the potions.” She motioned to Alystin to give Amalica her vials. “I'll contact you in a few hours.”
The other female took the vials, looking grateful. “Thank you, Imryne. I am sorry.”
We all do what we must, in such times. “I am sorry as well, Amalica. I'll miss you.”
“I will miss you, too.” There was genuine regret on Amalica's face. “Maybe in another few centuries.”
“If both of us are fortunate enough to live so long. We should go.” Amalica nodded and turned on her heel, walking out and taking the drider with her. Maya disguised the rest of them once more, and they walked back to House Melrae.
Alystin returned to her room, and Maya went in search of Sabal. Imryne and Jevan walked back to the matron's apartments. “I have one of those options,” Jevan said, keeping his voice low as they walked.
She glanced over at him, and was not at all reassured by the expression on his face. “The crazy ones? Let's hear it.”
“We give her up to Imrae. She will die, for sure, and so will her drider. But we fall back into Imrae's good graces, at least for a bit. The rest of her house is gone already. We tell Imrae we will take the rest of Tlabbar and attack the house, we give the guards there the option of joining us. No fight, Tlabbar gone and our house strength back to normal. Jezzara will think Imrae found out about the scheme and killed Amalica. She will never know it was us.”
She was silent for a moment, the sound of their feet on the stone and the quiet rustle of her skirt seeming altogether too loud. “It's a good plan,” she said, finally. “Except that I hate it, for reasons that have nothing to do with tactics.”
“So do I, but you know as well as I do that we can't get them out. It requires Oblodra to break the link, and then Sabal to fly them out one by one.”
They had reached the apartments, and Imryne held her tongue as they nodded to the guard on the door and went inside. She walked into her office, and Jevan followed, shutting the door behind them. “I was hoping we could find a way,” she said as she dropped into the chair behind the desk.
He pulled another chair over so he could sit beside her. “In just a few hours, when they find out about those potions--Imrae is going to kill the drider, at least some of them. I know you have some feelings for her, but she gave us up to Noquar.”
She bit back her first bitter response. “In her place, I might have done the same thing. If you'd been changed into a drider, if Zyn had.”
Jevan put a hand on her arm. “I know, and so would I.”
He didn't try to convince her, only let her think in silence for a few heartbeats, as she tried to force her runaway thoughts into some semblance of order. She and I both knew it would never come to anything. No matter how much both of us might have desired it. “You're right. I hate it, but you're right. I just hoped...well. I had hopes.”
“I know, love,” he said gently. “Think on it, it’s just a suggestion to a situation that could get us in worse trouble.”
She rubbed her forehead. “It's so easy, too. Claim to Imrae that I can prove that a spy in Melrae had passed information to Amalica, who set Noquar on us. Meet with Amalica and let Imrae witness. Get Amalica to say something incriminating. The potions, I can claim those weren't given to her by me.”
“Her insistence that the fake potions were given to her by you will just look desperate,” he said.
It was easy, so easy. “I'll tell Amalica that I have the real potions to give her. There is no way she'll not show up for a meeting if I tell her that. She trusts me, still.” A bitter note had crept into her voice. “And then I confront her in front of Imrae. Goddess, I am not looking forward to this.”
Jevan stroked her arm, his fingers slow and gentle. “Nor am I. Where do you want to do this?”
“We can use House Arabani again,” she said. “It's not one of our usual meeting places. Now I just have to get the accusations to stick. I think I can do it.”
He took her hands in his. “I know you can.”
That small gesture nearly brought her to tears. “Thank you, Jevan. I should send the messages to Imrae and Amalica before I lose my nerve.” She squeezed his hands, tried to smile and failed, then let go with one hand to rummage in a drawer for the message potions she'd need. Her hand encountered fabric, but no vials. She leaned over, peering into the drawer. “Oh. Challay must have used all of my message potions during the attack. I wish she'd told me.”
“She had bigger things to think about,” Jevan said. “That's one you can cast anyway, isn't it?”
“It's just less work to use one I've already cast and stored, is all.” She sat back in her chair, arranging her body more comfortably. She closed her eyes, then murmured the words that shaped her will. The power reacted to her touch on it, crowding in warm and eager. To Amalica, she sent, Imrae holds the best hope for your brothers. I can give you what she wants in exchange for helping them. Can you meet me at Arabani in an hour? To Imrae, she sent, I believe that House Tlabbar was behind the attack by House Noquar on House Melrae. I plan to confront Amalica about it in the ruins of House Arabani in an hour. I respectfully suggest that you may wish to be there. Should you bring guards, please bring a way to keep them well-hidden.
She waited, and felt a doubled pressure on her head. Both matron mothers sent acknowledgement and thanks. She dropped her hands into her lap, and looked down at them. “It's done,” she said, her voice sounding small.
Jevan took her hands, then pulled her close. Silence was the only comfort he had to offer, in that moment.
(Tarithra, in House Melrae)
“Ah, Tarithra?”
Tar turned to see who had called her name, then blinked. Standing in the doorway of the large library was, of all people, Alystin. “Yes?” she said, wary. To Angaste, who had been helping her look for one of the novels she thought had mistakenly gotten mixed in with the reference texts, she said, “Off with you. See if it's in the next room.”
With a curious glance at the Lloth priestess, Angaste obeyed. Alystin stepped forward, into the room. “Do you know where the pens and ink are kept? I was packing, and I realized that both of my pens were broken on the trip. I was hoping I might beg one or two from Melrae before I’m sent on my way.”
She gave Alystin a hard look. “Who are you, and what have you done with Alystin? That was actually polite. And if you're being polite, I'm willing to wager that you're not here to ask for a pen.”
Alystin flushed. “I--I just thought--” She stopped, and swallowed. “Matron Mother Imryne is going to send me to the surface so I can look for my sister Drada. Lloth has rejected me. If I go home, I will be a prisoner for the rest of my life. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about the surface, and about surviving there. I've never been to the surface. Most of my sisters went with the slavers, but I never did.”
Tar's eyebrows went up. “So you came to me to ask for advice?”
The other female ducked her head. “I knew this was a bad idea. I'll stop bothering you.”
“Alystin--” Tar rolled her eyes. “So why are you going to the surface if you don't know a thing about it? If I know Imryne, she offered to let you stay here. She does that.”
It took Alystin a moment to answer. “This is where my life ended, where my goddess cast me out. And none of you like me, anyway.”
Tar snorted gently. “Forget that for a second, and let me tell you a little tale, Alystin. Come over here, sit down.” She indicated a pair of chairs that were clustered around a coldlight lamp. Tar plopped down, wriggling around to get comfortable. Alystin sat down far more gingerly, and stayed rod-straight. “Well, I suppose that will do. See, I was with Imryne while sweet little Phyrra was trying to get her to carry the vial to the surface. Imryne was naked, in chains, and she was negotiating. Not exactly a position of strength, except that she had the one thing that Phyrra couldn't return to Fanaedar without--that vial, and the ability to carry it without dying. At one point, they strung me up on the wall to try to get her to see things Phyrra's way. I've got a new scar across my shoulders to show for it, too. They gave me a taste of the lash, just in case seeing me hurt would affect her more than almost killing Jevan did.”
“Did it?” Alystin asked slightly.
“More, I don't know. But she'd also just told Imryne what they were doing to you. She insisted that they stop it and bring you back, take me down from the wall, and yes she would carry the stupid vial. She stuck her neck out for you, Alystin, and mine by extension.” Tar wrinkled her nose. “She might not like you. But on this trip you became one of her people. She'd die for any of us. Myself, I'd say give life in Melrae a chance before you say you wouldn't be happy here.”
Alystin stared down at the floor. “I betrayed this house.”
Tar's eyebrows shot up. “And you're still alive?”
“It was accidental,” she said. “The matron mother let me keep my life. Do you understand why the surface might be better than staying, now?”
She quirked her mouth. “It's your decision. I should go see if Angaste has found my book yet. Go to the mage laboratory--take a right out this door, take the first left and the first right, and you're looking for the double doors with the lightning carved on the lintels--and ask for a couple of pens. Tell them I said it was all right. The books about the surface are mostly on that shelf over there. Look for the thin ones with the green leather covers, those are survival manuals.” She got to her feet and turned the direction Angaste had gone. “Did you find it, lovey?”
Angaste's head popped around the corner. “No, but I found some other books sort of like the one you were looking for. Where did the spider lady go?”
Tar glanced over her shoulder. Alystin was gone. “She has somewhere to go, little one. With any luck, she'll figure out where that is sometime soon. Now, show me to this stash you found.” She followed the girl towards a promising-looking stack of books, putting the conversation with the former priestess out of her mind.
(Imryne, in House Arabani)
Imrae, as Imryne and Jevan entered the large room where they had met with Amalica, stepped out of the shadows, dropping the spell that kept her unseen. She nodded to Imryne and then stepped back, blending into shadow and stone. Imryne set herself to wait, quelling any urge she might have to fidget. Jevan leaned over and murmured into her ear, “Six guards, well armed. No drider.”
She nodded, barely, just acknowledging his words. If this went badly, Challay might have to take over House Melrae permanently. Even if it went well, an allied house would fall. Imryne briefly entertained the notion of simply ordering Jevan to kill Imrae and her guards, but she assumed that Imrae had prepared for that eventuality. So she waited, still as stone.
Amalica arrived on time, almost rushing into the room. They heard the scratching footsteps of drider outside, but none entered. Amalica's hair was mussed, and her hands were trembling. She almost came to hug Imryne, then stopped a few feet from her, seeming to recover her senses. “I am so glad you changed your mind.”
“Yes, this potion you're so insistent on,” Imryne said quietly. “Did you give the other to Imrae yet?”
The other matron mother twisted her hands together. The hope in her eyes was shining brightly, and Imryne's stomach cramped at the sight. “I did, but I can tell her it's the wrong one. She will understand, I am sure.”
“I hope so. And do I trust that you're not going to get yet another house to attack us?”Imryne asked, tilting her head.
Amalica blew out a breath, and shook her head. “I had hoped that Noquar would not go that far.”
“What did you think they were going to do?”
“I didn't know,” she said, spreading her hands. “But I didn't think that. I had hoped they would bargain for Ulitree, not launch a full scale attack.”
Her bright gaze was still fixed on Imryne when the twanging snap of crossbows firing came far too late to be a warning. Three crossbow bolts passed all the way through Amalica's body, and three more lodged in her chest, sending her staggering back. Her mouth opened and closed, and she looked down at the bolt ends protruding from her chest, raising her hands to touch them. She raised her stunned gaze to Imryne, meeting her eyes.
The death of the hope on Amalica's face was almost worse than her attempt to say something, bringing up nothing but blood. Then she collapsed, spasmed, and took one last, rattling breath. She was still, then, as Imryne stared, shocked and sorrowing.
Imrae's voice reminded Imryne that there was still a role for her to play. “Another spy dead. Good work, House Melrae.”
She turned to Imrae, inclining her head. “We are mobilizing our guard to destroy their house, if you approve.”
“I don't.” Imrae fixed Imryne with a sharp look. “I am tired of losing houses left and right. Take them with as few losses of their house as you can, then send a sister to take control of the house. Tlabbar will retain its council seat, with your sister as matron mother.”
Imryne tried to make no sudden moves, attempting not to do anything rude in her shock. “I will do that, then. Thank you.”
Imrae nodded. “Oh, and House Melrae? Why was it that you called on Xalyth to come to your aid, and not House Vandree?”
She regarded Imrae with a thoughtful look. “Xalyth owed Melrae a favor, and I owe them as much death as possible. I knew they would come when I called, Greyanna is predictable like that. I knew a lot of warriors would die, and I preferred that they be of Xalyth.”
“Well, I would like to see our alliance become stronger as someday I will get rid of Xalyth,” Imrae said, and her eyes narrowed just slightly. It might have been amusement, or pleasure. “I would like Melrae to occupy the position of third. Vandree, Claddeth and Melrae will be the new alliance that will last for the next many centuries.”
Over my dead body. She smiled a little, and sweetened her tone. “In other words, when we next need help, call you?”
“That would be preferable.” It was not a suggestion. She turned to the guards she had with her, now visible. “Take the body and feed it to the drider.” She turned back to Imryne. “Thank you for showing us the spy.”
“You're welcome.” She laced her fingers together in a gesture of submission. “All respect and honor to House Vandree.”
“And to House Melrae.” Imrae turned and swept out, the guards following. The last one was dragging Amalica's body by her slippered feet, her skirt falling over her body and face, obscuring her expression. Imryne stood very, very still for a long few heartbeats, until she was sure they were gone. Then she began to walk, wordless. Jevan fell in beside her, and they treaded the streets back to House Melrae.
“Take a small force to Tlabbar,” she told him. “Tell them what's happened. I need to go talk to Gaussiara. Goddess, of all the times to lose our house steward.”
“Will you be all right?” Jevan asked, obviously concerned.
“I have to be,” she told him. “Go. Now.” Jevan looked like he wanted to argue, but obeyed. Imryne went to look for her sister.
Gaussiara was by turns excited, horrified, and sheerly terrified by the news Imryne had for her. It took her nearly half an hour to calm down enough to realize that she had work to do before she went to become matron mother of Tlabbar, and vanished into the bowels of the house. Jevan returned a little while later. “They surrendered without a fight, as predicted,” he told her.
“I thought they would,” she said. “I've told Gaussiara about her new position, and she will be going over with a detachment of our guards that will become part of hers. We're very low on warriors at the moment, unfortunately. Probably part of Imrae's plan. I'm going to see if our allied houses can spare a few people, and ask Oblodra to reinforce the walls.” She rubbed her forehead. Exhaustion was creeping in, blackness at the edge of her vision.
“And what about Alystin? Do you want to talk to her before she leaves?” Jevan asked.
Imryne nodded slowly. “I should. Goddess, I am not in the mood for her snippiness, but I should at least try to speak with her a bit. She's lost everything, I understand that, and in her place I’d be unpleasant as well.”
“She has, I will give her a break because of it.” He put an arm around her. “Are you doing all right?”
“No.” She inhaled. “But I'll do this one last thing and go back to our rooms to cry where the entire house won't see.”
“Let me go get her, love. Sit down in here, I'll be back in a little bit.” The room he showed her into was a sitting room near the doors to the inner house. She settled into a comfortable chair, feeling numbness spreading from her extremities towards her heart. She kept hearing snatches of conversation, voices that were angry, distorted, disturbed. Her hands tightened on the arms of the chair, digging into the fabric of the padded arms. Hold it back. Hold.
Jevan stepped into the room, Alystin in tow. Imryne lifted her head. “Alystin. I wanted to talk with you one last time before you go.”
The other female settled gingerly into a chair nearby. Jevan moved so he stood behind Imryne's chair, and she took strength from his silent presence. “Yes, Matron Mother?” Alystin said.
Imryne sighed raggedly. “It's just Imryne, Alystin. I'm not used to being called matron mother yet. We'll be sending a message potion or two with you when you go. If you run into trouble, please don't hesitate to call us for help. House Melrae--and I personally--owe you a debt.”
“A debt?” Alystin blinked. “For what? I nearly got you killed and your house destroyed.”
“You opened a door that let us see truths that we otherwise would never have been able to see, and you stayed with us even though you knew it was going to cost you everything,” she said, and found that she meant it. “And your help meant that I found out who had betrayed us to Noquar.”
Alystin bent forward a little, and a look of tremendous pain crossed her face. When she spoke, her voice was soft. “I did what was best for my family even though it's cost me everyone I held dear. My children will be given to my sisters, my husbands and wives will have no houses to move back to, so they will stay. If they are lucky, my sisters will find them attractive and they will become her husband or wife. My goddess abandoned me. To be honest, Imryne, I don't know what to do.”
“I thought you were going to go find Drada?”
She shook her head. “Finding Drada will take a long time. Cycles and more, depending on where she went. I will be a single drow on the surface for a long time.”
Imryne felt some measure of sympathy for the Arabani. “I see. And yet you can't really stay here, since as far as I can tell you hate all of us. And I don't blame you. You'd be welcome to stay, if you were comfortable with it, but...” She shrugged.
Alystin brought her head up. “I don't hate you. I was just angry, because I knew what helping you would cost me. Ellistraee to me was just a word. A goddess to hate and followers to kill.”
Gently, Imryne said, “It's a little different when you get to know the enemy, isn't it?”
“It is. I was taught--” She broke off, shook her head. “I was taught that Ellistraee worshippers took Lloth worshippers to the surface and had them raped by elves. You were the people to fear, those things that came out in the daylight when we couldn't see, to steal us away, to be rape victims for the elves.”
Imryne took a sharp breath, something Phyrra had said to her coming back in force. “That's what Phyrra was talking about. Dear goddess. If that's what Lloth worshipers are taught about us, no wonder all of them hate us.”
She nodded, folding her hands. “Until I saw that you cared about Jevan and him about you, and it wasn't some sick thing about your liking to be raped by him or your revenge on him for raping you. You chose him because you loved him, I assume?”
Imryne glanced over her shoulder at Jevan. “Yes, I did. I've loved him almost since we first laid eyes on each other over fifty cycles ago.”
Alystin seemed to be struggling for words, and Imryne waited for her to untangle her tongue. “I would maybe like to know that love someday for myself,” she finally said, softly. “My marriages were arranged, and though they were good husbands and wives, I don't love them like you do yours. If it is acceptable, I would like to stay to understand more.”
“You're very welcome to do that,” Imryne told her.
“I am sorry about my attitude and snideness,” she said, straightening. “I hope you will forgive me, Imryne.”
How we are changed, Alystin. “I will, Alystin. I was trying hard not to hold it against you too much, after I learned about the why. I'll talk to the staff and have you settled into a more permanent room. If you'll excuse me, Alystin, it's been a very difficult day.”
“I understand, Imryne.” She rose stiffly, bowed a little to the two of them, and left the room.
Imryne stared where she had gone for a few heartbeats. “I think I'd like to go back to our rooms.”
Jevan offered her his hand, and helped her to her feet. They started to walk back, but the voices were starting to crowd close, and Imryne could no longer hold back tears. Jevan gave up on helping her walk and scooped her up about halfway back to the matron's apartments, carrying her the rest of the way. He laid her in the middle of the big bed, tugging off her shoes. Then he curled around her, holding her as she turned her face into the blankets and sobbed.
Over and over again, she replayed the scene of Amalica dying, the look on her face when she realized that Imryne had betrayed her. The image of Amalica falling was intermingled with Tar's cry as the whip bit into the flesh of her back, the crumbling walls of Melrae, the dead bodies laid in neat, shrouded lines near the outer walls, awaiting burial. My fault. My fault. My fault.
The dark water rose, and Imryne clung to first Jevan and then Tar and Urlryn when they arrived, trying to keep her head above it. She heard unearthly sounds, a high whistling screaming, and realized during a moment of relative lucidity that it was coming from her.
She felt more people nearby, voices competing with the voices screaming for attention in her mind. Ryld. I am here, Mother. Challay. Please stay, Mother. Please. So many others. Brothers and sisters, fathers, cousins. So many, and she was responsible for all of them.
After some time, she felt her hands and feet being held gently but firmly, inexorably. Swallow, Imryne, swallow. Was that her mother, or Tar? She sobbed, and opened her mouth, and tasted salty, metallic liquid.
Oh, my daughter.
She opened her eyes, and surfaced into the world.
(Imryne, in House Melrae, eight surface months later)
There were strange noises coming from Ryld's room.
“Shall we go see what that is, Kophyn?” she asked the baby in her arms, resting partially on the upper curve of her belly. The tiny infant wriggled in response, yawning. The twins had been having a bad night, and Imryne had been having irregular contractions all day. Walking seemed to help Kophyn settle, and it helped Imryne deal with the discomfort of early labor. Nadal was still with Urlryn, having fallen asleep just before Imryne had taken his restless twin for a walk.
They were only three threads old now. It had been so frightening, when after a difficult pregnancy Urlryn had gone into labor five threads before the earliest possible date she could have been due. Tar had done everything she could, but Urlryn had sickened as she tried to slow labor, and Tar had finally made the call that the twins were better off being born and taking their chances than possibly dying and taking Urlryn with them.
Fortunately, both twins were small but very strong. They were fragile yet, and Urlryn's recovery from the birth had been slow. Complicating things was the twins' loathing for each other, evident from the moment they had been first placed side by side in a cradle after they had been washed, dried, and wrapped up. “Babies don't hate,“ Tar had said. “They're too busy being babies to hate anything. But these two...”
They refused to be fed at the same time, refused to sleep in the same cradle or in the same space between their parents' bodies. When they touched each other, they recoiled as if the brush of their skin hurt them, and screamed. Privately, Imryne wondered if this was the reason Ulitree's pregnancy had been so miserable. She winced as another contraction set in, pausing to lean against the wall. As if in response, the child in her womb moved. “I will be so glad when you finally decide to be born, little one,” she said. “I am so tired of being pregnant, I’m almost looking forward to childbirth.”
Kophyn opened his eyes, blinking up at her as if to question her statement. He had his father's eyes, as all Jevan's children did. “All right, I'll take you back to Tar. I probably shouldn't be wandering the halls holding a baby anyway. I'll just check on Ryld.” She walked down the hall, wincing as her body protested her movements. She didn't mind any part of pregnancy as much as this part, when she was huge and ungainly, every movement hurting in a new and unanticipated way.
The noises coming from Ryld's room were--odd. It almost sounded like voices, two voices. Ryld's door was open halfway. Sometimes, shifting air currents opened the doors in these apartments if they hadn't been latched properly. Curious, she looked around the doorframe, into the room beyond.
Her eyes for a moment couldn't quite make sense of what was going on. Then she blinked, and the scene resolved. There was Ulitree, mother-naked, moving in a very familiar way. Beneath her, Ryld moved, his hands on her hips. They were too involved to notice Imryne at the door. Flushing, she stepped away, carrying Kophyn quietly away.
She'd known that Ulitree had been spending a lot of time with Ryld, and had almost since he had come home. She wondered how long they had been having sex. Probably since Ryld had become able to control his body well enough, she thought. Maybe before, if I know Ulitree. Perhaps she would take him as her first husband. Imryne could hope, at least.
Imryne felt a familiar brushing touch on her mind. You're very nosy, Mother, Ryld said.
I'm your mother, I'm required to be nosy, she told him. If you want privacy, remember to close the door.
He was amused, she could feel it. I'll remember that. Abruptly, the feel of his mind touching hers changed to urgent worry. Mother, set Kophyn down. Now.
She stooped painfully, setting the infant down on the stone of the hallway floor. Why--
There was a feeling of deep, burning pain within her, as a contraction much more intense than those she'd been having swept over her. She found herself on her side on the floor, curled around her belly, shuddering. She tried to remember to ride the pain--it will end, it will end, it will end--and when the contraction died away, she simply lay there and breathed. Next to her, Kophyn fretted. I think your little brother or sister is trying to tell me it's time to come into the world, she said to Ryld.
Sister, he said. Father and Tar are coming.
She sat up, took Kophyn into what remained of her lap. Ryld had sounded sure. A girl, another heir for Melrae. Finally.
Tar and Jevan appeared, Tar swooping down to take Kophyn, Jevan picking up Imryne. “Back to bed with us,” Tar said. “I'll have Faeryl wake a few of the priestesses and prepare things.”
They bore her back to bed, and when it became clear that Imryne's labor was already quite far along, she was moved to a room next to their bedroom, where she alternately walked and lay down, walked and lay down. Two hours later, Imryne delivered a healthy, screaming girl.
After Tar and the other priestesses had done what she could to make Imryne comfortable and transferred her back into the big bed, and the still-nameless baby had been washed, checked, and handed back to Imryne, she lay propped up by pillows, her spouses around her and the new child curled on her chest. Urlryn held Nadal, who was sleeping soundly, and Tar had Kophyn, awake but quiet.
One by one, the children filtered into the big bedroom, clustering silently around the bed. Challay and Faeryl and Lesrak, Maya and Sabal and Angaste, Ryld and Ulitree. Then her brothers and sisters: Nizana, Mizzrym, Omareth, Laele, Nendra, Nimruil. After them came Triel's husbands to see their newest granddaughter, and the cousins. Tonight, the entire House seemed gripped in that peculiar, ebullient stillness; the matron mother had braved childbirth, and emerged victorious. Death had been cheated once more, and a new life had been snatched from the darkness that consumed.
“Yvonnel,” Imryne murmured, putting a hand that trembled with exhaustion on the infant's head. “Your name is Yvonnel.”
So it is, murmured the gathered crowed. So it is.
Here ends Stone Sky.
