Revenge of the Drow

So when Jade returned, alone, after a further three days on the road, she practically leapt at Maxi and dragged him into her bed. Maxi was at an important meeting the next day; some traveller had been captured by the drow and Maxi was needed to interpret findings during his interrogation. Jade was not invited, so she spent the day sulking and pouting in bed, still physically and mentally exhausted from her journey and her four on one fight with her fellow drow.

The next day, in bed with Maxi, she was wide awake and listening to his news.

"So now we know who killed Trieste," she said.

"We need to take revenge."

"Yes, I agree. But where does the 'we' come into it. She was my mother."

"We both loved her," said Maxi.

"Yes, and maybe that's what set us apart from other drow."

"But you're not really drow, are you?"

"I was brought up among them," said Jade. "Drow is my mother tongue, though I am choosing not to speak it now."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Oh, can't you see, Maxi? How did we escape our culture and upbringing? It was because we both loved Trieste. And Trieste loved my father, and he loved her, although I never met him. Which meant she could love me in turn. And I .. I love you."

It was the first time Jade had admitted her love for Maxi, and he responded by clinging tight to her warm soft body. At times like this he wished he believed in the gods, so he could thank them for his happiness. But the only god he knew was the Spider, and he shuddered as he thought of Her and Her fiendish minions, poisoning the underworld.

"That's what she wants," he said. "The High Priestess. A world without love. A world without any feeling at all. Everything falling into her web and devoured. Sucked dry. Anything good thrown out and leaving just a husk."

"Maybe your friend Terry will be able to love his girl to redemption too," said Jade. "Though I must agree that the priestesses give me the shivers. I was a temple slave, I know their cruelty. And that was under the old regime. The one that let Trieste keep me, while she was alive. How much worse it would be under this new priestess, this monster, who killed Trieste for no other reason than because she loved me." Jade suddenly burst into tears, and Maxi held her silently.

#

Maxi and Jade petitioned the city leader for permission to lead a raiding party to the drow. Jim listened with some sympathy, but also with quite obvious reluctance.

"This is a private vengeance trip," he said. "Nothing to do with city defences. I won't even ask for volunteers to go with you, because I don't want to weaken us."

Maxi and Jade then asked if they could go just the two of them. Jim thought for a bit. The truth was he was reluctant to spare two of his best people, especially on a mission that they would likely not return from. And then there was the problem of what they might tell the drow under torture. Fortunately, there was little they could tell about strategy and defensive positions that could not be immediately changed once they had failed to return.

"Do you really want to get killed?" he said. "Or are you so bored with each other? Why Maxi, lad, if I had a lassie like yours I wouldn't be going on any daft suicide missions."

It certainly was a point. The main drow underground complex had five entrances to the outside world, like spokes on a wheel, leading to five passageways used by the five strata of drow society. These five Spokes sloped gradually downwards towards a central point, the Hub, the Holy of Holies, the great Temple of the Spider Goddess. Lateral passageways connected the five spokes at regular intervals. The shape was designed to mimic the icon of drow existence; the spider web.

Although the light-intolerant drow hated the outside world, they depended upon it for much of their prosperity, including their food. The magically enhanced fungi and the occasional underground furry creature that strayed so far from its home were sufficient for slaves, but provided scant nourishment for a continually expanding colony used to taking what they wanted. So drow would pour to the surface for hunting expeditions, and to raid hapless human, halfling or half-orc villages. In recent times plunder had become scarcer as their targets had either moved from the area or fortified their defences. Drow overseers and their slaves were being forced to come to the surface and grow food for the colony.

The approximate position of the slave entrance could therefore be detected by the presence of cultivated land nearby. Jade and Maxi already knew the whereabouts of the soldiers' entrance. The three other entrances belonged to the free drow, the priestesses and the Secretariat. The High Priestess herself never ventured to the surface, contenting herself, like the giant spider she emulated, to lurk around the Temple, where she presided at the centre of her web, giving the other strings a twitch now and then to show she was in charge.

The problem with entering through one of the five main entrances, was that they were usually very well guarded, and not just by warriors. Thieves and assassins; sneaky, slanty-eyed cut-throats with special skills in slinking and stalking, garotting and backstabbing, constantly lurked around the entrance way, neutralising any hapless traveller who came too close to their lair. Jade remembered the halfling siblings, Elma and Digg, and their skill in bypassing these dangerous guardians, and wished she had them with her. Rumour had it that Xiana had two devoted and fanatical twin assassins, undetectable by sharp eyes or by magic, invisible at day and night; mastering the light as the halfling siblings had mastered darkness.

Three years ago Jade and Maxi had escaped from the mines up a passageway that led to abandoned farmland. The passage was not originally made by drow, and it was not guarded. But there was no re-entering by this passage. During times of prosperity the mines were full of drow overseers supervising the mine work. The mines would be back in operation again now the mind slayer had itself been slain. From the mines a secret door led to the operations room for the barracks that Maxi had commanded. This was connected, via several miles of twisting tunnels, to the main web like complex. But as Maxi knew, the secret door could only open one way as a means of preventing slaves and underworld denizens from raiding the barracks.

Then Jade remembered the other passageway; the one from the dwarf settlement. She mentioned this to Maxi and the leader.

"Why did you not tell us about this sooner, lass?" Jim's voice was quiet but harsh, a sign he was very angry.

Jade shrugged petulantly. "Slipped my mind, I guess."

"So you didn't think this was something we might like to know about?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Make sure it doesn't happen again," continued Jim. "Maybe you drow like to keep secrets from each other, but here we share information. Have you told the dwarfs?"

Jade shook her head.

"Didn't catch that, lass. Have you told the dwarfs?"

"No," said Jade, angry now.

"No need to snap at me." Jim raised his own voice. Only slightly, but to Jade it sounded like a bellow. "The dwarfs are our allies. They need to be told that kind of thing. I can't understand why you didn't tell me. Don't you think they need to know that they could be overwhelmed at any moment?"

Jade suddenly felt frightened. She looked at Maxi for support, but Maxi just shrugged. She didn't know why this elderly and normally benevolent man affected her this way. She had not long ago faced three drow soldiers without flinching. Perhaps it had something to do with her actions. After all, she did owe her living to the people of Formen, and they had been good to her.

And then there were the dwarfs. Freda's death had been avenged. But Freda herself would have wanted her own people to be notified of any potential threat. And it was not as if Jade owed the drow anything, or particularly wanted them to overrun the dwarfs. Jade clearly saw that she had been irresponsible., treasonous almost. More so, when she realised the dwarfs would almost certainly now know about the passage, but not from her. Seven corpses and clotting blood splattered on the walls of your lover's apartment is not something that can be hidden very well.

She bowed low, drow style. "Sorry," she said. "I did wrong. Please forgive me."

Jim waved his hand as if to dismiss the matter. Then he continued in a totally different tone of voice. "Okay, so there is a secret passageway. Why do you think it isn't guarded?"

Maxi explained. "Because there are intrigues within intrigues. I think some of the priestesses were doing the dirty, and the present High Priestess was part of it before she got her power. Somehow she made or cleared this passageway so she could communicate with dwarf traitors without either the dwarfs or drow knowing."

"So now it seems you have killed the drow slavers. Would the High Priestess not miss them, and send someone to the passageway?"

Jade thought for a bit. "I don't think so. I don't think she would risk letting the rest of the drow complex know about what she was up to. Treachery among priestesses is a tradition among the drow, but so is showing no mercy to those who practice it. The elite Secretariat may be in the know as far as that passage is concerned, but it seems even the slavers use the above ground entrance way. Not something drow would normally do willingly, meaning as it does, several days march above the surface. Xiana and her minions probably think the slavers were killed by the dwarfs. Or even that they double crossed the High Priestess and are now selling their wares elsewhere."

"So are you sure it even leads to the drow lair?," said Jim. "There are orcs, kobolds and other foul beasts below ground as well."

"All underground passages lead to the drow eventually," said Maxi firmly. "It may have originally led through the territory of some other underground races, but the drow military are ruthless in exterminating these creatures and bringing the underworld into the sway of the drow. I have participated in such operations myself. The only exception I know about was the mind slayer, and that was a special case. But the chance of another Über drow being involved is slim, so that passage will eventually link up to the main drow complex. "

Jim thought carefully. He was adamant that these two headstrong drow would not be taking any of his fighting force with them on this ridiculous mission. He did not want them to go either, and if the mission had a low chance of success would have had no hesitation in ordering them to stay, and locking them up if they tried to leave. But it appeared as if they may have a reasonable chance of seeing this through and striking a blow against their enemy. Plus, he realised, it would only cause resentment if he forbade them. There was also a chance that if they were successful in pursuing their private vendetta against the High Priestess, they would weaken the drow stronghold sufficiently to ensure they did not trouble the city again for a very long time.

"All right, you can go," he said, "but you're not taking any city guard with you. And we are not launching a rescue mission if you don't come back."

Jade and Maxi held out their hands, the three fingers extended in the respect gesture. "We'll be back," they said.

"Another thing. Since you're going that way, you van make a visit to the dwarfs and you tell them officially about the passageway, and how you found it. Save me a journey."

Jade and Maxi promised they would do this, and the two lovers were ready to part the next evening, when they found their way out of the city barred by Terry. The fighter had been given the run of the city until he found a situation, in return for his information, but he was bored, didn't know anyone, and was itching to be gone again.

"You must be going to raid the drow," he said.

"Who told you?" snapped Maxi.

"Oh nobody, I worked it out myself. I saw how you reacted to news about the woman who was murdered -- your mother wasn't it," turning to Jade.

"Yes, my mother. And Maxi's lover. And nothing to do with you".

"Let me come too," said Terry.

"Why?" said both Jade and Maxi together.

"Don't you think I want revenge as well. After the way I was treated?"

Maxi was about to refuse, but Jade suddenly butted in. "Let him come. He has information that may be of use to us. Something you reported that he said is bothering me, but I can't think what. And besides, he will be a useful decoy. We need a reason to be travelling to the High Priestess if we are caught, and we can pretend we are bringing a human prisoner."

"All right," said Maxi to Terry, "you can come with us. But I think you have another reason, not just revenge."

Terry blushed as he fell in step with them.

#

Jade and Maxi wanted to travel at night. But it was a new moon, and it soon became apparent that Terry was as blind as a mole. So they compromised, marching in the pre-dawn and twilight periods, and resting for the hottest part of the day and the darkest part of the night.

Two days out from their journey, as they neared the secret entrance to the dwarf settlement, Terry was keeping watch during the day. Jade and Maxi were half asleep in the shade of a large tree, their bodies twined together, wrapped in a cloak, their weapons by their side where they could be grabbed instantly if required.

The area between the dwarfen mines and human settlements around Formen was busy, with regular travel by human and dwarf merchants, and equally regular patrols by both races. As such, it was one of the safest routes to travel in the frontier regions, and almost as safe as parts of the Royal Highway. The two lovers had taken advantage of this, and had removed their leather armour in the hot weather. Both wore nothing at all under their fairly thin travelling cloaks, which meant that skin was touching skin, and Terry watched them enviously as they snuggled closer together, fingers touching, caressing lazily, with little grunts of pleasure escaping from them.

Terry thought of Elspeth, and her firm doll-like body, all too perfect in its proportions. Terry did not know this, but her body was the product not of nature, but ruthless drow eugenics. The same eugenic urge that had wanted to remove Jade's sullied pedigree as soon as possible, and would have succeeded but for Trieste's aggressive protectiveness. Terry started to daydream, the sound of muffled groans nearby acting as a stimulus for his own erotic fantasies.

And then suddenly he was fully alert. Nothing out of the ordinary could be seen, except a large black bird, making lazy circles some way off. But Terry had been a keen bird watcher in his youth, and had accompanied his father, the hawk-master for a local nobleman, on many hunting expeditions. The bird was one he had never seen before. What is more, although it was the size of a hawk, it was not behaving like a bird of prey. Terry watched it for half an hour, and in that time did not see it once swoop, move from the area it was in or investigate anything on the ground below.

Terry wondered whether he should wake the others, and then when he heard another sleepy moan he decided it would be a pleasure. Jade and Maxi woke instantly, one moment sleepily exploring their bodies, next second scanning the sky.

"Üruma," said Maxi. Jade shuddered.

"And what is that?" replied Terry.

"Devil-bird. I've never seen one before," said Maxi. "But I have heard that the spies of the High Priestess and her Secretariat have a few in their employ. According to our legends, some birds of paradise were given to the elves as messengers to the gods during the making of the world. When the drow rebelled and moved to the underworld, some of the birds came with them and they changed their form, together with their masters.

"The devil birds are not kept captive, but the High Priestesses have a special bond with them so they will come when they are called, and do their bidding. It is said they feed remotely on the souls of tortured prisoners. Each scream gives them sustenance for several days, so they have no need to eat. And they do the will of the High Priestess, continually hoping for more diabolical food."

"If that's true, then with the amount of screaming the drow put me through, that bird would be too fat to get off the ground," said Terry grimly. "But one thing I did notice, it doesn't seem to be hunting."

"Well I don't believe in gods and devils," continued Maxi. "But those birds give me the creeps. They've been said to appear to above ground races when someone is about to die, and to draw energy from their suffering. Yet another reason to stay away from drow priestesses, and find yourself a nice human girl to settle down with." He looked at Terry pointedly.

"Let's not go into that again," said Jade. "Terry's in love. He's not going to listen to reason. The point is, what are we going to do? That bird is too high for us to shoot, and even if we brought it down, its absence will warn the High Priestess that someone has been prowling close to the entrance to the secret passageway. I don't think they're looking for us in particular, they're just snooping around, because the slavers didn't return. But if that foul bird sees us, it will be flapping as fast as it can back to its mistress."

The travellers decided they had no choice but to knock on the main entrance of the dwarf's stronghold, and ask permission from the dwarfs to use the passageway. Something Jade was not too happy about.

"You see, last time I was there I left a bit of a mess." Jade dropped her robe, revealing she had nothing on underneath, and started to pull on her tunic, prior to strapping on her leather armour.

"We need to make ourselves presentable for the dwarfs," she said.

Terry blushed and looked away, which Jade found very amusing. "You will have to get used to what a drow body looks like, if you are still keen on your sweetheart," she laughed.

Chapter 5: The trial

Mira the dwarf was young, pretty, naïve and in a great deal of trouble. The previous evening she had been looking forward to a romantic evening in the company of her lover, deputy chief artisan for the mine. She fell asleep in her lover's arms and woke up from her drug induced sleep a day and a half later. What woke her was the charnel house smell of bodies just starting to decompose. Then the flies started buzzing as her movement disturbed them, and suddenly she was wide awake and gazing with horror at the scene before her. Smears of blood on every wall, her lover dead beside her, and drow corpses littering the carpet. Mira lost her head and screamed and screamed.

Next thing she knew she was being questioned by a bunch of tough looking officials with their beards down to their ankles, and finally, after a full days interrogation, found herself in a cell. She was charged not only with murdering her lover and his parents, but of collaboration with drow slavers and the abduction of Freda the priestess three years ago.

While Mira was incarcerated, the important looking dwarf officials searched the apartment and gathered evidence. The passage to the surface was discovered, further evidence of Mira's perfidy, and this was immediately blocked off.

Freda's father Harald, still grieving for his daughter, had now lost his best worker, the one he had been grooming to take his place as head artisan in the mine. He wove a terrible tale of deceit around Mira, his ageing voice wavering but passionate. It was quite clear that he believed everything he was saying. How Mira had seduced his deputy with her wayward wiles, talked her way into his bed, and then arranged for the drow slavers to nab him when he slept. The way he told it, the boy's parents had rushed in to save him, and had been garotted for their trouble. The garottes were tendered as evidence, and identified as a type favoured by the drow.