Homeland (The Legend of Drizzt #1)(32)

A bang on the stone door of the outermost chamber in his complex told Alton that his guest had arrived. He straightened his robes and took yet another glance around the room. The door swung open before Alton could get there, and Matron SiNafay swept into the room. How easily she made the transformation-walking from the absolute dark of the outside corridor into the candlelight of Alton’s chamber without so much as a flinch. SiNafay was smaller than Alton had imagined, diminutive even by the standards of the drow. She stood barely more than four feet high and weighed, by Alton’s estimation, no more than fifty pounds. She was a matron mother, though, and Alton reminded himself that she could strike him dead with a single spell.

Alton averted his gaze obediently and tried to convince himself that there was nothing unusual about this visit. He grew less at ease, however, when Masoj trotted in and to his mother’s side, a smug smile on his face.

“Greetings from House Hun’ett, Gelroos.” Matron SiNafay said. “Seventy-five years and more it has been since we last talked.”

“Gelroos?” Alton mumbled under his breath. He cleared his throat to cover his surprise. “My greetings to you, Matron SiNafay,” he managed to stammer. “Has it been so very long?”

“You should come to the house,” the matron said. “Your chambers remain empty.”

My chambers? Alton began to feel very sick. SiNafay did not miss the look. A scowl crossed her face and her eyes narrowed evilly.

Alton suspected that his secret was out. If the Faceless One had been a member of the Hun’ett family, how could Alton hope to fool the matron mother of the house? He scanned for the best escape route, or for some way he could at least kill the traitorous Masoj before SiNafay struck him down.

When he looked back toward Matron SiNafay, she had already begun a quiet spell. Her eyes popped wide at its completion, her suspicions confirmed.

“Who are you?” she asked, her voice sounding more curious than concerned. There was no escape, no way to get at Masoj, standing prudently close to his powerful mother’s side.

“Who are you?” SiNafay asked again, taking a three-headed instrument from her belt, the dreaded snakeheaded whip that injected the most painful and incapacitating poison known to drow.

”Alton,” he stuttered, having no choice but to answer. He knew that since she now was on her guard, SiNafay would use simple magic to detect any lies he might concoct. “I am Alton DeVir.”

“DeVir?” Matron SiNafay appeared at least intrigued. “Of the House DeVir that died some years ago?”

“I am the only survivor,” Alton admitted.

“And you killed Gelroos- Gelroos Hun’ett and took his place as master in Sorcere,” the matron reasoned, her voice a snarl. Doom closed in all around Alton.

“I did not... I could not know his name... He would have killed me!” Alton stuttered.

“I killed Gelroos,” came a voice from the side. SiNafay and Alton turned to Masoj, who once again held his favorite two-handed crossbow.

“With this,” the young Hun’ett explained. “On the night House DeVir fell. I found my excuse in Gelroos’s battle with that one,” He pointed to Alton.

“Gelroos was your brother,” Matron SiNafay reminded Masoj.

“Damn his bones!” Masoj spat. “For four miserable years I served him- served him as if he were a matron mother! He would have kept me from Sorcere, would have forced me into the Melee-Magthere instead.”

The matron looked from Masoj to Alton and back to her son. “And you let this one live,” she reasoned, a smile again on her lips. “You killed your enemy and forged an alliance with a new master in a single move.”

“As I was taught,” Masoj said through clenched teeth, not knowing whether punishment or praise would follow.

“You were just a child,” SiNafay remarked, suddenly realizing the timetable involved. Masoj accepted the compliment silently. Alton watched it all anxiously. “Then what of me?” he cried. “Is my life forfeit?”

SiNafay turned a glare on him. “Your life as Alton DeVir ended, so it would seem, on the night House DeVir fell. Thus you remain the Faceless One, Gelroos Hun’ett. I can use your eyes in the Academy to watch over my son and my enemies.”

Alton could hardly breathe. To so suddenly find himself allied with one of the most powerful houses in Menzoberranzan! A jumble of possibilities and questions flooded his mind, one in particular, which had haunted him for nearly two decades.

His adopted matron mother recognized his excitement. “Speak your thoughts,” she commanded.

“You are a high priestess of Lloth,” Alton said boldly, that one notion overpowering all caution. “It is within your power to grant me my fondest desire.”

“You dare to ask a favor?” Matron SiNafay balked, though she saw the torment on Alton’s face and was intrigued by the apparent importance of this mystery. “Very well.”

“What house destroyed my family?” Alton growled. “Ask the nether world, I beg, Matron SiNafay.”

SiNafay considered the question carefully, and the possibilities of Alton’s apparent thirst for vengeance. Another benefit of allowing this one into the family? SiNafay wondered.

“This is known to me already,” she replied. “Perhaps when you have proven your value, I will tell-.”