Homeland (The Legend of Drizzt #1)(84)

“Who has summoned me?” the small figure demanded telepathically. The yochlol’s thoughts, too powerful for its diminutive stature, boomed within the heads of the gathered drow.

“I have, handmaiden,” Malice replied aloud, wanting her daughters to hear. The matron bowed her head. “I am Malice, loyal servant of the Spider Queen.” In a puff of smoke, the yochlol disappeared, leaving only glowing incense embers in the onyx bowl. A moment later, the handmaiden reappeared, full size, standing behind Matron Malice. Briza, Vierna, and Maya held their breath as the being laid two sickly tentacles on their mother’s shoulders.

Matron Malice accepted the tentacles without reply, confident in her cause for summoning the yochlol. “Explain to me why you dare to disturb me,” came the yochlol’s insidious thoughts.

“To ask a simple question,” Malice replied silently, for no words were necessary to communicate with a handmaiden. “One whose answer you know.”

“Does this question interest you so greatly?” the yochlol asked. “You risk such dire consequences.”

“It is imperative that I learn the answer,” replied Matron Malice. Her three daughters watched curiously, hearing the yochlol’s thoughts but only guessing at their mother’s unspoken replies.

“If the answer is so important, and it is known to the handmaidens, and thus to the Spider Queen, do you not believe that Lloth would have given it to you if she so chose?”

“Perhaps, before this day, the Spider Queen did not deem me worthy to know,” Malice responded. “Things have changed.”

The handmaiden paused and rolled its elongated eyes back into its head as if communicating with some distant plane.

“Greetings, Matron Malice Do’Urden,” the yochlol said aloud after a few tense moments. The creature’s spoken voice was calm and overly smooth for the thing’s grotesque appearance.

“My greetings to you, and to your mistress, Queen of Spiders,” replied Malice. She shot a wry smile at her daughters and still didn’t turn to face the creature behind her. Apparently Malice’s guess of Lloth’s favor had been correct.

“Daermon N’a’shezbaernon has pleased Lloth,” the hand maiden said. “The males of your house have won the day, even above the females that journeyed with them. I must accept Matron Malice Do’Urden’s summons,” The tentacles slid off Malice’s shoulders, and the yochlol stood rigid behind her, awaiting her commands.

“Glad I am to please the Spider Queen,” Malice began. She sought the proper way to phrase her question. “For the summons, as I have said, I beg only the answer to a simple question.”

“Ask it,” prompted the yochlol, and the mocking tone told Malice and her daughters that the monster already knew the question.

“My house is threatened, say the rumors,” said Malice.

“Rumors?” The yochlol laughed an evil, grating sound.

“I trust in my sources,” Malice replied defensively. “I would not have called upon you if I did not believe the threat.”

“Continue,” said the yochlol, amused by the whole affair. “They are more than rumors, Matron Malice Do’Urden. Another house plans war upon you.”

Maya’s immature gasp brought scornful eyes upon her from her mother and her sisters.

“Name this house to me,” Malice pleaded. “If Daermon N’a’shezbaernon truly has pleased the Spider Queen his day, then I bid Lloth to reveal our enemies, that we might destroy them!”

And if this other house also has pleased the Spider Queen?” the handmaiden mused. “Would Lloth then betray it to you?”

“Our enemies hold every advantage,” Malice protested. “They know of House Do’Urden. No doubt they watch us every day, laying their plans. We ask Lloth only to give us knowledge equal to that of our enemies. Reveal them and let us prove which house is more worthy of victory.”

“What if your enemies are greater than you?” asked the handmaiden. “Would Matron Malice Do’Urden then call upon Lloth to intervene and save her pitiful house?”

“No!” cried Malice. “We would call upon those powers that Lloth has given us to fight our foes. Even if our enemies are the more powerful, let Lloth be assured that they will suffer great pain for their attack on House Do’Urden!”

Again the handmaiden sank back within itself, finding the link to its home plane, a place darker than Menzoberranzan. Malice clenched tightly to Briza’s hand, to her right, and Vierna’s, to her left. They in turn passed along the confirmation of their bond to Maya, at the foot of the circle.

“The Spider Queen is pleased, Matron Malice Do’Urden,” the handmaiden said at length. “’Trust that she will favor House Do’Urden more than your enemies when battle rings out-perhaps...” Malice flinched at the ambiguity of that final word, grudgingly accepting that Lloth never made any promises, at any time.

“What of my question,” Malice dared to protest, “the reason for the summons?”

There came a bright flash that stole the four clerics’ vision. When their eyesight returned to them, they saw the yochlol, tiny again, and glaring out at them from the flames of the onyx bowl.

“The Spider Queen does not give an answer that is already known!” The handmaiden proclaimed, the sheer power of its otherworldly voice cutting into the drow ears. The fire erupted in another blinding flash, and the yochlol disappeared, leaving the precious bowl sundered into a dozen pieces.