Homeland (The Legend of Drizzt #1)(87)

“Why should I grant you another chance?” SiNafay asked him. “Why should I believe that you will fare better the next time you try?”

“Because I want him dead!” Masoj cried. “More than even you, my matron. I want to tear the life from Drizzt Do’Urden! When he is dead, want to rip out his heart and display it as a trophy!”

SiNafay could not deny her son’s obsession. “Granted,” she said. “Get him, Masoj Hun’ett. On your life, strike the firstblow against House Do’Urden and kill its secondboy.”

Masoj bowed, the grimace never leaving his face, and swept out of the room.

“You heard everything?” SiNafay signaled when the door had closed behind her son. She knew that Masoj might well have his ear to the door, and she did not want him to know of this conversation.

“I did,” Alton replied in the silent code, stepping out from behind a curtain.

“Do you concur with my decision?” SiNafay’s hands asked. Alton was at a loss. He had no choice but to abide by his matron mother’s decisions, but he did not think that SiNafay had been wise in sending Masoj back out after Drizzt. His silence grew long.

“You do not approve,” Matron SiNafay bluntly motioned.

“Please, Matron Mother,” Alton replied quickly. “I would not...”

“You are forgiven,” SiNafay assured him. “I am not so certain that I should have allowed Masoj a second opportunity. Too much could go wrong.”

“Then why?” Alton dared to ask. “You did not grant me a second chance, though I desire Drizzt Do’Urden’s death as fiercely as any.”

SiNafay cast him a scornful glare, sending him back on his courageous heels. “You doubt my judgment?”

“No!” Alton cried aloud. He slapped a hand over his mouth and dropped to his knees in terror. “Never, my matron,” he signaled silently. “I just do not understand the problem as clearly as you. Forgive me my ignorance.”

SiNafay’s laughter sounded like the hiss of a hundred angry snakes. “We see together in this matter,” she assured Alton. “I would no more give Masoj a second chance than I gave you.”

“But-,” Alton started to protest.

“Masoj will go back after Drizzt, but this time he will not be alone,” SiNafay explained. “You will follow him, Alton DeVir. Keep him safe and finish the deed, on your life.”

Alton beamed at the news that he would finally find some taste of vengeance. SiNafay’s final threat didn’t even concern him. “Could it ever be any other way?” his hands asked casually.

“Think!” Malice growled, her face close, her breath hot on Drizzt’s face. “You know something!”

Drizzt slumped back from the overpowering figure and glanced nervously around at his gathered family. Dinin, similarly grilled just a moment ago, kneeled with his chin in hand. He tried vainly to come up with an answer before Matron Malice upped the level of the interrogation techniques. Dinin did not miss Briza’s motions toward her snake whip, and the unnerving sight did little to aid his memory.

Malice slapped Drizzt hard across the face and stepped away. “One of you has learned the identity of our enemies,” she snapped at her sons. “Out there, on patrol, one of you has seen some hint, some sign.”

“Perhaps we saw it but did not know it for what it was,” Dinin offered.

“Silence!” Malice screamed, her face bright with rage. “When you know the answer to my question, you may speak! Only then!” She turned to Briza. “Help Dinin find his memory!”

Dinin dropped his head to his arms, folded on the floor in front of him, and arched his back to accept the torture. To do otherwise would only enrage Malice more.

Drizzt closed his eyes and recounted the events of his many patrols. He jerked involuntarily when he heard the snake whip’s crack and his brother’s soft groan.

“Masoj,” Drizzt whispered, almost unconsciously. He looked up at his mother, who held her hand out to halt Briza’s attacks-to Briza’s dismay.

“Masoj Hun’ett,” Drizzt said more loudly. “In the fight against the gnomes, he tried to kill me.” All the family, particularly Malice and Dinin, leaned forward toward Drizzt, hanging on his every word.

“When I battled the elemental,” Drizzt explained, spitting out the last word as a curse upon Zaknafein. He cast an angry glare at the weapon master and continued, “Masoj Hun’ett struck me down with a bolt of lightning.”

“He may have been shooting for the monster,” Vierna insisted. “Masoj insisted that it was he who killed the elemental, but the high priestess of the patrol denied his claim.”

“Masoj waited,” Drizzt replied. “He did nothing until I began to gain the advantage over the monster. Then he loosed his magic, as much at me as at the elemental. I think he hoped to destroy us both.”

“House Hun’ett.” Matron Malice whispered. “Fifth House.”

Briza remarked, “Under Matron SiNafay.”

“So that is our enemy,” said Malice.

“Perhaps not,” said Dinin, wondering even as he spoke the words why he hadn’t left well enough alone. To disprove the theory only invited more whipping.

Matron Malice did not like his hesitation as he reconsidered the argument. “Explain!” she commanded.