chance, Danifae prostrated herself before the high priestess.
"Let me do your bidding, Mistress," she said. "I will serve you as faithfully as I have served Lolth."
As she spoke, she cast a baleful eye on Halisstra, hoping Quenthel would take her point. Halisstra had acted blasphemously during their recent journey to the Demonweb Pits and was not to be trusted.
Or course, neither was Danifae. She had nointention or going to Menzoberranzan if she was chosen. Not when there was a wizard in Sschindylryn who might be able to help her to free herself, once and for all, from the odious Binding that tied her to Halisstra.
Danifae felt Quenthel touch her hair, and she looked up expectantly.
"No, Danifae," Quenthel said, the touch turning into a gentle stroke. "You will stay with me."
Danifae ground her teeth. Apparently, she'd done too good a job of seducing Quenthel.
Halisstra stepped forward - and, to Danifae's astonishment, also fell to her knees in front of Quenthel.
"Mistress," Halisstra said. "Let me carry the message for you. I know that I failed you earlier, in the shadow of the goddess's own temple. I beg of you now. Please let me . . . redeem myself."
"No!" Danifae spat. "She's up to something. She has no inten-tion of going to Menzoberranzan. She - "
Halisstra laughed.
"And just wherewould I go, Danifae?" she asked. "Ched Nasad lies in ruins. I no longer have a House to return to. I need to make a new home for myself - in Menzoberranzan. And what better way to start than by braving the dangers of the World Above to carry a vital message to the First House?"
Danifae's eyes narrowed. She could sense that Halisstra was up to something.
"You'd travel to Menzoberranzan on thesurface?" she asked, spitting out the word. "Alone? Through woods crawling with House Jaelre? You'd be captured again before night fell."
Danifae was pleased to see Quenthel nodding - she was obvious-ly about to reject Halisstra's foolish notion and send Danifae, instead. Then Halisstra's lips quirked into a smile - and Danifae realized that, somehow, unwittingly, she'd just played right into Halisstra's hands.
"This will see me through," said Halisstra, patting the leather case that held her lyre. "I know abae'qeshel song that will allow me to walk on wind. Using it, I could reach Menzoberranzan in a tenday, at most."
Danifae's eyes narrowed and she said, "I've never seen you use a spell like that."
"What use would it have been in the Underdark?" Halisstra said with a shrug. "There's no wind - and if there were, I'd only walk straight into a cavern wall. Regardless, I have not been, nor am I now, in the habit of justifying myself to a battle-captive. Our situation has changed some, Danifae, but not entirely."
Not yet, Danifae thought, then she grasped Quenthel's knee and pleaded, "Don't send her. Send me. If Halisstra dies, I - "
"You'd be very, very sorry, wouldn't you?" Quenthel said with a smirk. She was well aware of the particulars of the Binding. "Halis-stra will go. With you here, we will be able to trace her, and at least know that she still lives. And the two of you Houseless wretches are the most expendable."
Danifae lowered her eyes in acquiescence, even though inwardly she burned with impotent anger. Halisstra, on her own in the World Above, would almost certainly be killed. It would only be a matter of time.
And when she died, the magic of the Binding would see to it that Danifae died, too.
Chapter Three
Valas felt the knot of tension between his shoulders relax - just a little - as familiar darkness enveloped him. The harsh sunlight had been left behind after the third bend in the tunnel. He could still smell the earthy tang of wet leaves that told him the Surface Realms were just above their heads, but the air around him al-ready felt cleaner. As they descended the twisting fissure that led ever downward through the stone, he felt his eyes adjusting to the darkness. Gone was the itching glare of sunlight, allowing him to fully open his eyes and use his darkvision for the first time in too many days.
Behind Valas, Quenthel and the others followed in a line. They'd fallen quiet instinctively as soon as they'd left the sunlight behind. Even the upper Underdark could be a dangerous place for the unwary, and that particular tunnel was unknown territory. Yet compared to Valas, they hardly moved in silence. He could hear the scrape of armor against stone as someone behind