Surfacing Ch. 04

I had to admit, I was surprised and that was more than I had expected from the muscular brute. That he had even noticed, or was guessing...or perhaps had sensed something?

It wasn't much of a guarantee; I could steal it back any time, certainly pluck it off his corpse when he fell. He must have some thought that he can keep it, or keep me from it, but...

Kurn smiled at my hesitation. "Yes, that will do. It is something for you to lose, like the rest of us."

I tilted my head. "You have some magic on you, do you not?"

"Perhaps."

I slowly pulled the necklace up and out to let it lie on my unevenly black leather; they stared at my chest.

"It affects negatively those who use magic, but are not Drow," I said, which was only half-true and left it open how much magic I could use.

Everyone looked interested as I removed the sapphire pendant, feeling my spiders press farther up into my hair as I let my white braid fall through. I held it up.

"In the interest of cooperation, I will give it up as a guarantee, but...I recommend one who does not use magic be the bearer."

Rithal jerked his head toward Mathais. "My vote."

Kurn glowered but Castis peered at the swinging pendant and looked at him, whispered something in his native tongue. The Hellhound answered back, then almost barked, "Show me."

Sarilis steepled his fingers, leaning back to watch and looking far more pleased than last night at the table conversation.

"Cast something, Castis," I suggested. "It will glow."

The mage considered the dirty dishes in front of him then murmured something with a few small, graceful gestures. My sapphire lit up an eerie blue in the darkened room and, though the dishes seemed to spontaneously clean themselves—bits of food and moisture evaporating into the air but not disappearing, instead falling as crumbs—Castis got a pinched look on his face. I smiled.

"Care to hold it and cast something else?" I asked with a decidedly seductive expression. "Something...stronger?"

The Ma'ab magician shook his head and looked at Kurn. "We should not hold it. It drained some of my power. I could feel it. Small...but a larger spell, it may take more."

I nodded. "Enough to damage, especially if you are touching it. It could even be permanent."

Castis was suitably horrified at that possibility and the Hellhound did not look happy, but to everyone's relief he believed his brother's council.

"To Mathais, then. You will hold it in trust for our 'Drow' and if she steals it back, I will take it as intent to betray us and I will kill her."

I shrugged and smiled pleasantly at Mathias. "Lose or trade it away, bounty hunter, and I shall drag you back down into the Underdark with me."

The Human shook his head in denial. "Uh-uh—"

"Yer the only one who doesn't use magic, twit," Rithal grumbled. "Jess keep the stone for the elf! That's all!"

Well. If I had to give up something of mine temporarily—and I did not like the feeling in my chest as I considered that I would have to now just to keep this negotiation moving—then at least I had just received some very good information about my fellow travelers.

I tossed it toward the bounty hunter before I could hesitate again or he could refuse, and to everyone's surprise, he caught it. He stared at it, feeling the weight of the platinum, and I could see some awareness of its value beyond the glow. He pursed his lips, not happy to have it foisted upon him. That was good enough for me. For now.

I also understood that Kurn wanted to test my patience and likely thought he could use this to cause a misstep on my part, and any attack from him would be justified. If I were more like him, he would be right.

Mathais tucked it into a pouch and looked back up at us expectantly.

"Alrighty, then!" Sarilis broke the silence happily. "Shall we discuss the plan, my fellow fiends?"

Overall, the plan was as the death mage had told me the night before, the goal of polluting the sacred pool the same, the end point where the Manalara would be turned against the Ma'ab with brute force instead of tactics, both suffering heavy losses before Sarilis would raise the dead bodies through the pool's power to finish off the rest of them.

"I will know when you have succeeded," the death mage said. "Of the three vials you shall carry, even one being introduced to the pool will allow it to sing to me through the ether. Of course, it will be up to you to escape well before the first wave of bodies rises up, as I will not be able to keep them from attacking you should you come face to face..."

There were loud protests, of course, but essentially Sarilis said that he only had so much power, including the vials he was giving us and the special illusion potion he had worked on "all night" and would give to me later, as the only one who could not pass for Human or dwarf.

"Only take it once outside Manalar," he told me, "it will only last for perhaps eight hours before it fades to reveal your true form."

"What kind of aura will that cast?" Castis asked. The Ma'ab mage finally seemed to be useful.

"Passively? None," Sarilis said proudly. "A Templar would have to cast an equally powerful spell to suggest all was not as it seemed."

Which made it possible, even likely, in their magical stronghold. I nodded, though, and mostly listened as I already knew these details were highly suspect—if not from a plotting standpoint then from the simple fact that there were far too many variables to account for it all here at this table. That was why Rausery hadn't gone over more than the broad goal and a "get it done" order.

There was the high likelihood that, if I found Jael prior to that coming siege, I would grab her and we'd run off to watch from afar how things went at Manalar, maybe go after the Godblood later if he survived the attack, or get that proof he was dead after the war did our work for us.

There was nothing that said Jael had to complete her mission at that location, and again, there was no time limit. Well...except for me as my belly started to swell to become visible...but winter would be coming and we would have had to figure something else out by then.

All this planning and debating specifics around a table as a group...it simply seemed a waste of time to me. There was no way this was how it was going to go. If I had alternate plans, it was a given that everyone else here did, too. Knowing the details of what everyone *said* they wanted and planned to do was good for me to hear but a far cry from believing it and actually being surprised if they did something different instead.

This wasn't a mentally interlinked contingent of Red Sisters all charging into battle to take down our enemies...this was a splintered group of general Surface guides at best, each with his own desire.

"Gavin will guide you there," Sarilis told us.

Everyone, most importantly Gavin, looked surprised to hear this.

"No, no, you do not need to give us your apprentice, Sarilis," Mathais said first. "I'm sure you have more need for him here."

"Gavin is an orphan from that area, he knows the way," the old man insisted.

"We have studied your maps, Necromancer," Kurn said firmly.

"They are old, and even I can hardly read my notes, I'm sure you agree. Besides, you will not be taking them with you. You will need him."

"He'll glow like a bonfire to the Templars!" Castis blurted.

"Only if he uses his magic," Sarilis countered. "He knows how to suppress his aura as you do."

"Don' want someone not wishing ta go," Rithal said, jerking his head where the apprentice had shrunk somewhat against the wall. Indeed, he did not look eager at all.

"Imagine his usefulness cooking and whatnot on the way. Send him back once you've set eyes on your final horizon if you must, but I won't have you getting lost and missing this small window of opportunity."

"He could get us lost on purpose," Kurn grunted.

"He would prefer to keep his head on his shoulders, I'm sure," Sarilis said.

I was listening to the argument but was watching Gavin. I did not think I was mistaken when his eyes brightened with just the barest, magical flash as he stared at the back of his master's head. I could see the hatred there, even as he was trying to remain inconspicuous. It was the look that often told the Nobles that it was time for a servant to die, or one might find herself poisoned before long.

"I will take him," I said.

"No, we won't!" Kurn thundered.

I met the Hellhound's eyes. "You did not hear me. *I* will take him. You can ignore him."

"You are with us," he ground out, "so you cannot take him separately."

"Then he goes with us to go with me. You can still ignore him."

The Ma'ab warrior narrowed his dark eyes. "Why do you want him?"

"The Surface is not my world. I want a guide who has been to where we are going," I said, then smiled. "I also like his cooking."

The Necromancer chuckled and looked at me appreciatively. "Alas, you must have an iron stomach, my dear, but whatever ways he may be of use to you. I have certainly met more gifted apprentices in my day."

Gavin's stance had tensed a bit more as it seemed he was considering leaving but yet hesitating while we discussed his immediate fate. He finally spoke up, resenting the first word. "Master, it has been years since I—"

Sarilis clutched his bone staff and shifted in his seat, his expression and eyes a startling black after our being used to his generally jovial demeanor. He hissed a command word and Cullen charged forward to strike Gavin across the face with an unrestrained fist. I heard the sound of meat smacking against meat and a bone snapping in Cullen's hand just before the apprentice fell to the floor, his robes coming perilously close to the fire in the hearth. He was aware of it and rolled away, though Cullen stomped on his ribs with a booted heel and I heard the young man cry out in pain.

"Sarilis, I need him able to walk when we leave," I said.

The old man seemed to sneer at me before he quickly smoothed his face and said, "Of course, my dear."

He gestured with his staff for Cullen to step back and the thrall obeyed, his face blank through the entire conflict. I could hear Gavin gasping as he hauled himself to his feet; I saw blood dripping from his nose and a swelling lip as he moved toward the Tower's stairs.

"You will go, Gavin!" Sarilis shouted after him. "You will guide them back to the festering source of that fucking god and his fanatics!"

Silence around the table as everyone absorbed the abrupt shift in plans and the impression we'd all gotten of our host. I considered those last words especially but kept my peace until the last of the plans were laid out and we agreed to leave on the morrow.

As Sarilis got up, begging the need for a break and checking on his vials one more time, I removed myself to my room as well and waited for the others to disperse before sneaking back down through the kitchen and hallway to knock on the Necromancer's door. Cullen opened it for me and I stepped down the stairs to the bottom once again.

Sarilis was hunched over his work bench and had his back to me. "A question, dark angel?"

"Yes. What link does Gavin have to Manalar?" I asked bluntly. "Did he grow up there?"

Sarilis shook his head and looked over his shoulder before turning slowly on his stool. "No, but his father was a cleric of a fundamental sect of Manalara, though I do not know exactly where. He is a bastard child of theirs and would love to see their jewel city fall, I'm sure. Trust me, he will accept this."

I tilted my head. "Bastard child. What is that?"

Sarilis's eyebrows rose up a bit. "Well, my dear...that would depend. Do you have pair bonds where you come from?"

"How do you mean?"

The old man chuckled softly. "Generally it takes one male and one female to produce a child, yes?"

"Yes," I replied without taking the bait; I showed no reaction for his starting with such basics.

"Alright." He moved on with a twitch of a grin. "And those two may raise their child together to better protect and provide for it, with the legal understanding that this child inherits whatever the parents have earned in their life, correct?"

I shook my head. "What? Legal?"

"My, my," Sarilis commented. "This is a bit different, isn't it? How is it for children in your womanly society, Sirana? Rausery and I never discussed this; I only gained the knowledge that your elder was fully accustomed to being in charge."

It certainly didn't take long much to gain such knowledge...

I considered those differences; I remembered my Elder and Sisters debating some of them with me on the night before I saw the Sun for the first time. "The matron claims all her living children, protects and provides for them or loses them to death. Inheriting is partly based on birth order, but...it can vary if a younger one is better suited to the task. The sire may or may not help educate and train them, depending on his loyalty and the matron's tolerance to keep him as well."

The Necromancer was listening with rapt attention. "Fascinating. So...there are no 'bastards' in your society. A pregnancy is a pregnancy. And the mother chooses her favorites to follow after her..."

Unless one of her children got her first, but I didn't interrupt his pondering to add that.

"I gather it is freely sexual with the females holding all choice, then? Sounds like fun if you are female, though the males surely have their ways to woo their own preferences." He chuckled happily. "You never fail to intrigue me, Sirana, with these little tidbits you hand out."

"So what is a bastard child to you, Sarilis?" I asked again, trying to stay on track. Gavin's status as one may very well affect me in this Human-dominated world.

The old mage tapped his scruffy chin some in contemplation. "Very well. Let us stay simple. Say the 'sire' is dominant and must keep track of his children. Say the mother instead conceives by a different sire...why would the first wish to raise the offspring of the second? It is expensive enough as it is! The sire does not want that child. That child is a 'bastard,' unwanted."

I nodded to show that I followed and he continued.

"It works the other way, too. Say the dominant male chooses one female to bear his children specifically to inherit his wealth after he dies...but then he impregnates another one or two or however many other females. To keep things orderly and less bloody in the more privileged Human society, it is decided that only the first female's children may inherit that wealth, and in strict birth order. The others born outside of wedlock are 'bastards' and must make their own way as lowly commoners."

I listened intently, trying to understand this thinking with the male having more power over the children than the female—which in turn meant he had to maintain control over her and her body as well. It almost made her a slave, or a servant, even being the "legal" mate.

I could see the link to what Jael had asked, why do the women tolerate being treated so? Certainly they would if they were not only the smaller of the race as a whole, but also if a particular woman was the "legal" female protecting her territory and her resources for her offspring, driving away those leeches from other females who had mated her same male. I could understand that quite well; it was only natural in such circumstances. One did what one had to do with what was available.

I could also grasp that in such a rigid and limiting social structure, there were accidental pregnancies where the child had no easy place, even as they were inevitable, results of passion and impulse. I had never thought that a child necessarily required both parents, and among the common Drow especially there were families of females who worked together to run their business and modest holdings, some males kept and others not. If strict "legal" pairing was how powerful Humans reared their young, then I could see how it made for some complex interactions and the unpaired matrons and sires producing unplanned bastards.

Oddly, I thought of the Red Sisters, of the circumstances where one of us conceived. We were more restricted; we not allowed to end it, and yet in our very function we could never provide for the child. We had to give it to the Priestesses, who found a use for it over letting it "make its own way." In a strange way, it made Shyntre and my own unborn the closest thing we had to "bastards."

And yet someone always wanted a Drow child successfully birthed. It took so long to complete the pregnancy compared to Humans who took less than a year...it required enough focus and resources that there was always somewhere to place a living Drow child, some use once the umbilical cord was severed, even if only to be sacrificed for power later.

Ultimately the Valsharess was the one determining the future of the children of the Red Sisters. She was the one claiming and providing for them, if indirectly. Rausery had even suggested some of it could be intentional; Phaelous and D'Shea, most recently...

I nodded. "I see. And Gavin is a bastard?"

"Worse, actually. He is a bastard brought by impurity. His father was a holy man, a spiritual leader. That particular faith requires their spiritual leaders to remain pure and not fornicate with women."

I squinted. "'Fornicate'?"

Sarilis's pale face actually darkened in color as he laughed harder this time. "Oh...let me see... those pair bonds I mentioned? Yes, they are very important. If you mate with your bonded other, that is alright. If you mate with anyone else, whether you are bonded or not, that is fornicating."

I felt only disbelief and knew that it showed on my face. Only one to fuck? ONE? The Drow lived far too long to even consider that possible!

Oh, but of course, that is the only way a short-lived male can be sure he is the sire of a child... I knew that, but somehow all the talk of bastards and placing children had me imagining the multiple partners as I was used to. Now Sarilis was saying there was a clear delineation between "approved" mating and "unapproved" mating.

Surely the Humans knew that only made the forbidden behavior that much more delicious? I did not understand how this was supposed to work. Why not just give in to their natures?

"I seem to have stumbled into a riddle for you, my dear," the Necromancer said. "You look most confused. Yes, I do wonder about the circumstances where Gavin's poor father and priest had to confront his own weakness within his self-chosen beliefs!"

The old man cackled and Gavin's name brought me back to our discussion.

"But...if spiritual leaders cannot 'fornicate' at all... then they have no children to pass on the leadership."

"I know, I know," Sarilis said, waving a hand. "I never said it made sense, and keep in mind other Human groups do not do it this way. Thank all that is unholy that there is some variety! But this cleric, whoever he was, rutted with a woman...and...I dare wonder if it was a Ma'ab woman at that? The boy has the black eyes and hair that Kurn and Castis both have, perhaps you've noticed?"

Certainly I'd noted the coloring of every sentient here, yes, but it would not have struck me as significant. "That coloring is not as common in this area?"

"Well, plenty of brown hair and eyes, but all lighter, with healthy swaths of blond and red like the dwarf...and light eyes like mine and...yours." The Necromancer grinned. "Rausery had dark red eyes. Tell me, which is more common, the red or the blue?"

"The red," I answered.

"I see. So you are notable amongst your own. Fascinating! Well, as I said, the black eyes and hair are how the Ma'ab forces are described, those are the dominant traits. So...if that is his lineage, perhaps you can imagine why my pitiful apprentice cowers so. He has probably been beaten for all his life being half-Ma'ab among our mutual enemy. You may have to do the same if he gets stubborn. He responds best to it sometimes."