Revenge of the Drow

"An excellent idea, O Priestess," said Jade solemnly -- again winking at Mira. "And may I also suggest that we communicate only in the human tongue so we all understand each other."

"You may," intoned Elspeth.

Jade and Mira moved behind the screen into the little bedroom. It still smelled of sex, and the bed itself gave off Elspeth's body smell. Mira lay on top of the narrow bed and felt Jade squeeze in beside her. Jade had removed her helm and most of her clothes, so her long hair was tickling Mira's face. Then she felt Jade move closer and put her arms around her. Her mouth grazed the side of Mira's head. Mira started to pull away, but then relaxed as she realised Jade was simply trying to get her mouth close to her ear so that none of the others could hear what she was saying.

"Cheer up, Mira," she whispered. "I've been brutal to you during the march through the Spoke, but you must understand it was part of the act. You're worth ten of that bossy bitch."

Mira flushed with pleasure. Jade had that effect on her. Able to sink her into the deepest mire of misery and lift her up to the heights of happiness. She wriggled around until her own mouth was in the same position next to Jade's ear.

"What's going to happen with those two?" she whispered.

"I have plans for our friend Elspeth. I will tell you if you promise never to breathe a word to the others." Mira nodded, so Jade whispered the plan.

Mira smiled for the first time since they had entered the drow complex. She snuggled closer to Jade and they fell asleep wrapped up in each other, their breath in each others faces. Mira had never been that close to a woman before, but she found it comforting.

When they awoke the others were waiting to go. Elspeth and Terry were making eyes at each other in a way they thought deeply meaningful, but the others found ludicrous. Jade and Mira ate the food that the jailer had brought in for the prisoner and that the others had left for them, and looked at Elspeth for instructions. Maxi avoided looking at Jade, keeping up the pretence that she was nothing more than a slave.

"We have two hours to mid night," said Elspeth. "It will take us almost that time to skirt around the lateral passages to the Secretariat Spoke. Commander Maxi and I will be guarding the rest of you, who will be tied up as alien races. Including you," she glared at Jade.

Jade bowed. "You may need my charm spells to get to the complex. And I can also play for you. So I need my hands free, O Priestess." Elspeth was about to yell at Jade, but then changed her mind.

"Very well, slave," she said. "So you'll be tied around the waist. We're not letting a grubby half-caste go free. It would look very odd." Jade bowed and said nothing.

Even though Mira liked Jade, and had appreciated her comforting presence while she was sleeping, she was pleased that Jade was getting some taste of the treatment she had herself meted out.

Chapter 9: The battle

With Elspeth leading the way, it proved quite simple for the adventurers to skirt their way around lateral passages to the Secretariat Spoke. They passed a few isolated drow but nobody gave them any trouble or challenged them. All those they met, particularly the men, put their heads down and hurried away when they saw a Priestess in her official garb, flanked by what looked like a senior drow commander.

Jade had to admire Elspeth's confidence; a confidence born of arrogance, and an unwavering sense of entitlement. She found herself quite unconsciously adopting the posture of a slave again, and an unpleasant feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. It was only by glancing at Maxi that she was able to remember who she really was.

Eventually they came to the main passage of the Secretariat Spoke, and could see the lurid purple glow of the Temple in the distance. This was the most awkward part of their journey. They did not want to go as far as the Temple, fearing a trap, but they also had to look as though they had a purpose. Although they knew that the passageway to Xiana's trysting chamber was somewhere near, they did not know exactly where it was.

Two teenage acolytes came out of a passage behind them, and glanced at them suspiciously. Then Mira spotted a secret door on the right, dwarfen crafted, better made than most drow workmanship. She slowed down and slumped just before it, pretending to be tired. The acolytes hurried past them and made for the stairs leading down to the torture chamber.

Elspeth was just about to strike the dwarf, taking her role a little too enthusiastically as Jade thought, when Mira whispered to her that she had found a door. Once the dwarf had pointed it out the others saw it too. A stone door set in the passage.

Elspeth muttered an incantation. The door opened. Before they could slip into the passageway they noticed a group of young acolytes hurrying towards them down the Spoke towards the Temple, one of them dragging a temple slave along with her. A priestess strolled behind the acolytes, dressed in the purple and red robes of the Secretariat, and she hailed the party.

"Are you taking these prisoners to the torture chamber? Excellent sport. But you're going the wrong way."

"Greetings, fellow priestess" replied Elspeth. "We may come later. As you see we have our own bard slave, a hideous half caste to help play. But first we have an appointment with the Holy of Holies."

The priestess jerked back at hearing Xiana referred to. The acolytes giggled nervously. "What can she want with these slaves?" she asked.

Jade tensed. The priestess was suspicious, and even the acolytes were now staring at the party open mouthed, sensing that something was up. Would they have to fight their way out of this mess? She was about to prepare a charm spell on the priestess when Maxi spoke.

"O Priestess," he said. "Her Holiness has a certain appointment with men of high rank. Our priestess is here to pray for her, the half caste to play for her, and the two others are for us to amuse ourselves with afterwards. For you see we like boys as well as girls".

The priestess sniggered. "You men are filthy perverts. Best be on your way then. Mustn't keep Her Holiness waiting." She looked at Maxi keenly. "I wouldn't mind a piece of you myself if you are not too exhausted after her Holiness".

Maxi bowed. "It will be a pleasure, O priestess. I will attend you in the torture chamber when I have finished". With that the party slipped into the room, and the door shut itself behind them. Jade squeezed Maxi's hand.

"Well done," she whispered.

The chamber they found themselves in was totally dark, though they could see a purple light come from a passageway on their left. It sloped gradually downwards, and Jade guessed this was the passage Xiana had used to get to the torture room under the central temple. She could hear raucous voices from the passage. The priestesses they had met appeared to be starting their session.

As they got used to the dim light, they saw that the room was full of torture gear. Iron maidens, racks, thumbscrews, breaking wheels, and other hideous machinery of pain that even the three drow could not recognise. The walls were stacked with cupboards and tables, providing plenty of cover for the five to hide behind. Another passageway left the room to the right. This must be the one leading to Xiana's chamber.

All of them took off their ropes, readied their weapons and hid behind the furniture. They had been hiding for several minutes when the secret door opened and three burly male officers clattered through. Maxi recognised one of them as the senior officer who had stood over him while he took his right of conquest, that time when he was still in love with Trieste. The men were in a joking, ribald mood, and they yelled bawdy comments at each other as they moved through the passage on the right, one at a time.

A minute later, Xiana stepped through the secret door. Although all had been expecting her, none were prepared for the effect she had on them. Terry felt again the pain of the white hot needles. Elspeth felt a tight knot in her stomach. Mira was almost stunned by an overpowering aura of evil. Jade again experienced the gut wrenching fear from her slave days. Even Maxi, peering at the High Priestess from behind the cupboard, felt a fluttering of fear.

Xiana was dressed only in a robe, and her firm breasts and hard nipples were visible underneath it. Maxi had a sudden urge to leap out at Xiana while she was on her own. But before he could act on it, she had swept through the chamber to follow the men.

As Xiana left, the raiders stepped carefully out of the shadows. Maxi held up three fingers. Three minutes. He was taking command again. Then they silently crept up the passageway the men and Xiana had taken, until they came to a light from a chamber on the left. Maxi peered around the chamber carefully. He could see Xiana bent over against the far wall, naked, her buttocks thrust out towards the men. The three men were also naked, and the first one was about to move towards the High Priestess. There was a drow temple slave in the far recess of the room, holding Xiana's robe and cringing.

Then one of the men started to turn round. Jade and Maxi moved quickly; the way they had practised together in Formen. Both leapt to the opening; Jade crouched on one knee at Maxi's feet, and both fired their crossbows. Two bolts hit the man behind Xiana, just as he had been about to plunge into her. As he hit the floor, Jade and Maxi somersaulted into the room, their crossbows discarded and their weapons in their hands. Maxi held his sword, and Jade her lyre.

One of the men was down, but the others had reacted instantly; grabbing sword and shield. Even as Jade started playing, Xiana leapt round and cast a spell. The music screeched to a discordant halt as Jade's playing lost its power.

Terry now rushed in, and started to engage one of the fighters. But it was obvious his combat ability was not up to the drow fighters' standard. Maxi was fully engaged with his ex superior officer, who was proving a formidable opponent, and he could not afford a lapse of concentration. He was dimly aware of Elspeth entering the chamber, and then Terry collapsed. The spider poison that still bubbled inside Terry had taken effect, and he had fallen at Elspeth's feet.

Xiana and Jade were locked in a mind battle with spells. Xiana had started a hideous chant, and as they watched the form of a demonic sentinel started to shimmer in the room. Jade plied her music with all her skill to slow down the formation of the grotesque shape, but she realised she had underestimated the High Priestess.

Elspeth had moved in to engage the second fighter with combat spells; spells of ice, fire and steel. But though the chamber crackled with lightening and the smell of brimstone pervaded the chamber, the fighter dodged every spell she cast. Maxi and his opponent were still locked in combat. The temple slave was rooted to the spot; cowering and whimpering, but watching everything with fear widened eyes.

Jade knew that if the demon materialised, they would all be dead. She could now see its horns and its leering grin. Jade resolved to kill herself rather than be captured into slavery again. Then she noticed that her music had regained its strength and the demon form had vanished. Mira stood beside her, the holy wafer in her hand, chanting steadily. As this happened the others felt a new burst of strength.

Jade sent a charm spell towards Xiana, which was not fully effective, but did slow her down. Maxi drew first blood; a gash on the naked thigh of his opponent, and he knew that the battle would be his, if only he had enough time.

But Elspeth was in a bad way. She had exhausted her spells, and the fighter had lunged at her with his sword. Elspeth was not a bad fighter, but she was not in the same class as the cream of the crop who serviced the High Priest. She parried the blow downwards, with the result that the sword pierced her gut and not her heart. She fell down groaning, her guts starting to spill out.

Maxi's ex-superior officer was weakened, which was just as well, because now Maxi had to engage two enemies; blocking them from Jade, who was still playing, and who seemed to be forcing the High Priestess to do her will, with the help of Mira's chanting. But then Mira broke off the chant and ran to Elspeth. Mira placed her hands on her and immediately Elspeth's wound was staunched, though the pain did not completely leave her.

Mira's action probably saved Elspeth's life, but it put Jade's in danger. Mira's sonorous chant had been broken, and Xiana now leapt forward to attack Jade. Disdaining weapons, she swiped viciously at Jade with her fingernail. Jade leapt back, and avoided losing her eyes. But the nail still raked her face, causing a deep gash in her forehead, and flooding her eyes with blood. Jade drew her dagger and rushed to meet her enemy.

Elspeth knew that her rival in love, the one she had treated so badly and enjoyed doing so, had saved her life. She looked at Terry lying dying at her feet, and wished she could do the same. She suddenly felt something towards Terry she had only ever felt towards herself. I wish there was something I could do to help, she thought, and then -- through some flash of insight she did not even understand, she realised there was. The words of a spell that were somehow familiar yet unfamiliar coursed through her brain. She felt a sense of overwhelming presence as she leant over Terry, touched him, and felt the power drain from her into his body.

Maxi had by now dispatched his superior officer. But his leg was badly injured, and the fighter who had gutted Elspeth was driving him back. Mira was rushing over to heal him, but Maxi realised she would probably not get there before he collapsed with the pain and the widening tear in his flesh. Jade was also in a bad way. Xiana was a vicious opponent, even naked and weaponless. Elspeth had run to help, but her injury was not totally cured, and she would be unlikely to be in time to save Jade.

Then the soldier fighting Maxi was struck from behind and fell. It was Terry. Fully healed, and seemingly stronger than he was before. Now it was Xiana who was in trouble. Terry rushed in to help Jade, and Mira was healing Maxi's leg. Maxi would soon be able to engage the High Priestess himself.

Terry's miraculous healing seemed to restore morale generally. Jade had been pushed back against the wall, bruised and bloodied, but Terry took her place fighting the High Priestess long enough for her to send a mind probe to Xiana. Xiana jerked backwards as if she had been shot, and now Maxi was moving in for the killing blow.

It never fell. Xiana had decided the odds were against her and had made her escape. Maxi's sword lunged not into dark and shapely flesh, but into thin air. Xiana had gone. Nobody knew where.

Everybody's first thought was that she would return. The four skilled combatants retreated to the walls of the chamber and cocked their crossbows, while Mira cleaned Jade's face and chanted spells of healing. But several minutes passed and there was no sign of the High Priestess. Elspeth beckoned the slave and she came slowly, eyes darting from side to side.

"Where is your mistress?" she asked.

"I- I don't know, O Priestess. She never tells me. I was here to pleasure the men when they had finished. But I think she goes to the temple."

"Bad news if she gathers her supporters. They will come back and kill us. We need to get out."

"Where will you go, darling?," said Terry. "Will you come back with me?"

"Of course I will, my sweet," said Elspeth. "I can't stay here."

"You can and you must," said Jade fiercely, and everyone looked at her.

"Xiana is not coming back." she continued. "Not in a hurry. She has been defeated. Humiliated. Her and her best men cut down by renegades, half castes and slaves. She will no doubt go to her previously prepared bolt hole, and consolidate her power again, but for the meantime she will have no status here. You know the drow laws. Her conqueror must be High Priestess in her stead".

"You -- High Priestess?" sneered Elspeth. "You're not even real drow."

"Don't act even stupider than you really are," snapped Jade. "I mean you of course. You're the perfect candidate. It is known among the Secretariat that Xiana had picked you for a higher calling. And you have just done an amazing thing, something no drow has achieved since we split from the elves. You have successfully cast a healing spell. If you could demonstrate this feat to the Secretariat, and especially the army, they will be throwing themselves at your feet. Do you have any idea how you did it?"

"I don't really know. It seemed somehow familiar to me. I felt bad at the way I treated Mira when she saved my life, then I just felt I loved Terry so much and I needed to do something for him".

"That must be the secret," said Jade. "It was the love Trieste had for me that allowed me to break away from the prejudices of my culture. Maxi felt the same, first for Trieste and then for me. And because you love Terry, you have to let him go."

"What's that?" said Terry. "Elspeth can't leave me."

"She has no choice. Don't you see? If she leaves the drow, they will have no leader, but someone will eventually emerge, and who knows whether they will be better than Xiana? Whoever they are, they will be our enemies. We have caused quite a lot of carnage here. But with Elspeth as High Priestess, we could have peace between human, dwarf and drow. And something tells me we have not seen the last of Xiana. She has some demonic power that we all need to beware of. I know Elspeth is a bossy bitch, but she is capable of love, and that is her redemption. But Xiana is not. And nor is the hideous demon Spider she serves. Both of them have renounced all pleasure and only seek to destroy. So we have to fight them."

Elspeth stood silently. She realised Jade was right about her bossy nature, so her anger at her was fleeting. Her other feelings were mixed. On the one hand there was Terry. The only man who had ever cared for her, ever treated her gently. But striving against this feeling was naked ambition. High Priestess. The ultimate career goal, and hers for the taking. Why not? There were a few changes she would like to make. More fraternising between the sexes for one. And less pointless disembowelling. She made up her mind.

"Terry, I love you. But I cannot come with you. Jade is right. It is my destiny." She wallowed in feelings of sad nobility as she beckoned to the temple slave. "Go and tell them in the torture chamber that the High Priestess is defeated. Their new High Priestess will be attending on them shortly. And give me that robe before you go."

The slave handed over Xiana's robe and scuttled out, not fully understanding what had happened but pleased to have escaped a rogering.

Elspeth slipped on the robe. "Maxi, you are my fighter escort. Jade, you are my musician. I want you to play for me. And Terry and Mira, you are emissaries from the men and from the dwarfs. Let us go and make an entrance."

Jade bowed low. "Yes, O High Priestess," she said. She winked at Mira as she followed Elspeth.

#

Jade's prediction turned out to be correct. It had been very simple to win over the other Priestesses. Elspeth had made a dramatic entrance to the torture session, where one of her own colleagues was being experimented on by apprentice torturers. Elspeth had stopped the session, then, gazing at Terry and remembering his love, she had healed the prisoner. There was stunned silence, followed by a forest of hands, all raised in the air, the three fingers pointing at Elspeth. Her future reign was secure -- for now.