releasing a sparkle of spores, then she contemplated her glowing fingertip.
Useful as Pharaun's spells were, his latest treachery had tipped the scales, turning him into a liability - one that needed to be elimi-nated. Yet killing him was not the simple solution it seemed.
Pharaun was a powerful wizard and a key player in the politics of the Academy. If it was learned that Quenthel had killed him, she would surely face the wrath of Pharaun's patron, her brother Gromph. Quenthel's sister Triel, Matron Mother of House Baenre, would not be pleased at having to choose sides between her siblings, especially as long as they were all weakened by Lolth's inattention. By all accounts, Pharaun's own matron mother, Miz'ri Mizzrym, was hardly fond of the mage, but he was a Master of Sorcere after all and still an important part of House Mizzrym's modest assets - and House Mizzrym was a close ally of the First House. The other mas-ters and wizards of Sorcere would likewise be displeased to lose one of their own - especially one important enough to have been chosen for the expedition in the first place. Killing Pharaun would indeed be difficult, yet there had to be a way. . . .
Quenthel thought over what Danifae had told her. According to the battle-captive, the aboleth would only reveal where the ship of chaos was in exchange for an opportunity to consume a pow-erful spellcaster. Pharaun was obviously gambling that Oothoon would fail to realize that Quenthel's spells were no longer useful - that the aboleth would provide him with the location of the ship before his trickery was discovered. And the aboleth matriarch had obviously believed him. If not, she would have simply consumedPharaun on the spot to acquire the spells the wizard carried inside his own mind.
You should turn thesavaboard on him,Yngoth suggested.Offer Pharaun to Oothoon, in exchange for the ship.
Easily said,Quenthel answered.But not so easily done. I would have to meet Oothoon in person and first persuade the aboleth matriarch that I was not worth eating.
Tell the truth,Zinda said.Your spells are useless. Lolth is silent, per-haps forever. Perhaps she is dead.
"No!" Quenthel cried aloud. "Lolth lives!"
Seeing Jeggred's sharp glance in her direction, she shut her mouth.
She must live,she continued silently.If I didn't believe she was still alive, I would -
What?Yngoth spat, his thoughts cracking Quenthel out of her despair.Give up? Embrace death yourself? What god, then, would claim your soul?
Anger making her steadier - she hated it when the vipers peered into her innermost fears - Quenthel spat her thoughts back at them.
No. Never that. It's just that revealing what has happened to Lolth would mean bargaining from a position of weakness. The aboleth would realize I was powerless. She might even decide to mount an attack on the drow, as other races have done.
Hsiv joined the debate with a chuckle in his voice. The first of the imps to be bound into her whip, he was often the one who helped guide Quenthel's thoughts back to a truer course.
The aboleths are an aquatic race,he reminded her.They can't leave their lake.
I know that,Quenthel retorted, not caring that the vipers would see through her lie.But the aboleths might tell other races about Lolth'ssilence. If word of our weakness spreads, we're doomed. Ched Nasad has fallen, and now Pharaun is no longer able to contact Gromph. For all we know, Menzoberranzan -
Menzoberranzan is far from Lake Thoroot,Hsiv gently reminded her.And this is a little-visited region. Anyone the aboleth might tell would attack a drow city that is closer to hand.
Quenthel barely heard him. All of the fears and doubts she'd kept bound tightly inside her ever since the group had fled from Ched Nasad erupted like spiders from a cocoon.
But that's just it!she wailed.Who knows how many of our cities have been destroyed - or how many will yet be destroyed before this crisis is done? I've got to find Lolth - to tell her what's going on. Triel and the other matron mothers are all depending on me, and I'm not sure . . . I don't know how. . .
Leave that to us,Yngoth hissed.
Quenthel wasn't listening.
The fate of every drow city in the Underdark is on my head,she moaned.Things are hard enough without Pharaun and his stupid, petty power games. Doesn't he realize what's at stake? This could result in the extinction of our race!
It could,Zinda agreed.
Yngoth quickly hissed the larger viper to silence.