to rip off a chunk and stuff it into the mouth in its belly. Its bluish-green, rubbery skin was dotted with white patches of freshwater barnacles, and its belly was a darker pink than those of the two that had accompanied Danifae and Pharaun into the room. Danifae searched in vain for a clue as to the thing's sex but found none - she thought perhaps the creature was male and fe-male in one - though the others had referred to Oothoon as the aboleths' "matriarch."
She felt a tickle against her scalp, and an instant later a sparkle of magic crackled through the water, pushing the tickle back as the pro-tective spell Pharaun had cast earlier was triggered. Danifae glanced at the mage out of the corner of her eye and saw him nod slightly. His boast had proved true. His magic was strong enough to keep the aboleth's mind probing at bay.
Oothoon stirred, rising slightly from the kelp nest. A chunk of something that had been trapped under the aboleth's massive body - it looked like fresh meat but left a smudge of green in the water rather than red - swirled in the current and floated gently to the floor. Aboleth flesh, Danifae decided, noting its mottled skin.
Ignoring it, Oothoon let one of her tentacles drift out toward Pharaun to hover a mere hand's breadth from his face. Another moved toward Danifae.
Pharaun's hand drifted slightly behind his back, where Oothoon wouldn't see it.
Steady,he signed.
Danifae stared at the taunting tentacle, tasting the rancid-grease odor that clouded the water around it. Fearing that even that slight exposure to it might transform her, she held her breath, not wanting to breathe the clouded water in. After a moment, Oothoon withdrew first the tentacle that was menacing Pharaun - then, when Danifae began to see spots before her eyes and was at last forced to inhale, the second tentacle. The creature's three eyes narrowed in what Danifae took to be a catlike smile.
"Why have you come?" Oothoon asked in a voice like rumbling bubbles.
Danifae let Pharaun do the talking. The mage used the drow silent speech, which Oothoon seemed to understand. The aboleth matriarch must have consumed a drow or two at some point in the past.
Centuries ago, a demon ship visited your city,Pharaun began.After it left Zanhoriloch, it was caught in a storm and was lost on this plane. We are searching for it.
"Why?"
Our leader, a powerful priestess of Lolth, wishes to find it. She wants to use it to sail to the Abyss, to meet her goddess.
Danifae glanced out of the corner of her eye at Pharaun, a frown starting to form on her brow. Quenthel had specifically ordered Pharaun to say nothing of herself - or of their quest. Was he telling the aboleth all that just to spite her?
No, Danifae thought, her eyes narrowing as she surveyed the mage. Pharaun knew better than that. He was up to something.
Once again, Oothoon's answer was a question: "Why does your leader wish to do this?"
Pharaun's expression grew troubled, and he replied,She wants to consume Lolth.
All four of Oothoon's tentacles began twitching at once. So too did the tentacles of their guards. Shared surprise, perhaps? Or humor at so audacious a statement? Danifae didn't let her mind dwell on the question. Instead she stared at Pharaun, wondering what he'd say next. He caught her eye and held ita moment in a silent warning to say nothing.
"Your leader is a fool," Oothoon said at last. "Her goddess will devour her, instead."
Our leader is no inexperienced novice but a most high-ranking priestess,Pharaun answered.She knows a spell that makes it possible for her to slay a god. Any god.
Hearing that outrageous lie, Danifae had to struggle to keep her face composed. Whatever mad scheme Pharaun was playing at, she didn't want to spoil it. He'd been crafty in his dealings with the demon Belshazu, after all. He was obviously up to more of the same.
"Who is this leader of yours?" Oothoon asked.
But when Pharaun began to spell out a word - Q-u-e-n - Danifae felt compelled to give the mage a warning nudge, disguis-ing it as a swimming motion.
Don't! shesigned, making the motion between strokes of her hand.
The mage continued as if he hadn't seen it.
- t-h-e-l.
"Quenthel," the aboleth said, repeating it aloud, then smacking her lips as if the sound itself tasted sweet. Her three eyes blinked rapidly. "I have never heard of her."
I'm not surprised,Pharaun answered.We've come from a city of