Starless Night

Chapter 1 THE AMBITIOUS ONE

 
The mercenary leaned against the pillar anchoring the wide stairway of Triel Breche, on the northern side of the great cavern that housed Menzoberranzan, the city of drow. Jarlaxle removed his wide brimmed hat and ran a hand over the smooth skin of his bald head as he muttered a few curses under his breath.
Many lights were on in the city. Torches flickered in the high windows of houses carved from natural stalagmite formations. Lights in the drow city! Many of the elaborate structures had long been decorated by the soft glow of faerie fire, mostly purple and blue hues, but this was different.
Jarlaxle shifted to the side and winced as his weight came upon his recently wounded leg. Triel Baenre herself, the matron mistress of Arach Tinilith, among the highest ranking priestesses in the city,  had tended the wound, but Jarlaxle suspected that the wicked priestess had purposely left the job unfinished, had left a bit of the pain to remind the mercenary of his failure in recapturing the renegade Drizzt Do'Urden.
"The glow wounds my eyes, " came a sarcastic remark from behind. Jarlaxle turned to see Matron Baenre's oldest daughter, that same Triel. She was shorter than most drow, nearly a foot shorter than Jarlaxle, but she carried herself with undeniable dignity and poise. Jarlaxle understood her powers (and her volatile temperament) better than most, and he certainly treated the diminutive female with the greatest caution. Staring, glaring, out over the city with squinting eyes, she moved beside him. "Curse the glow, " she muttered. "It is by your matron's command, " Jarlaxle reminded her. His one good eye avoided her gaze; the other lay beneath a patch of shadow, which was tied behind his head. He replaced his great hat, pulling it low in front as he tried to hide his smirk at her resulting grimace.
Triel was not happy with her mother. Jarlaxle had known that since the moment Matron Baenre had begun to hint at her plans. Triel was possibly the most fanatic of the Spider Queen's priestesses and would not go against Matron Baenre, the first matron mother of the city, not unless Lloth instructed her to. "Come along, " the priestess growled. She turned and made her way across Tier Breche to the largest and most ornate of the drow Academy's three buildings, a huge structure shaped to resemble a gigantic spider. Jarlaxle pointedly groaned as he moved, and lost ground with every limping step. His attempt to solicit a bit more healing magic was not successful, though, for Triel merely paused at the doorway to the great structure and waited for him with a patience that was more than a bit out of character, Jarlaxle knew, for Triel never waited for anything. As soon as he entered the temple, the mercenary was assaulted by myriad aromas, everything from incense to the drying blood of the latest sacrifices, and chants rolled out of every side portal. Triel took note of none of it, she shrugged past the few disciples who bowed to her as they saw her walking the corridors. The single minded Baenre daughter moved into the higher levels, to the private quarters of the school's mistresses, and walked down one small hallway, its floor alive with crawling spiders (including a few that stood as tall as Jarlaxle's knee). Triel stopped between two equally decorated doors and motioned for Jarlaxle to enter the one on the right. The mercenary paused, did well to hide his confusion, but Triel was expecting it. She grabbed Jarlaxle by the shoulder and roughly spun him about. "You have been here before!" she accused. "Only upon my graduation from the school of fighters, " Jarlaxle said, shrugging away from the female, "as are all of Melee  Magthere's graduates."
"You have been in the upper levels, " Triel snarled, eyeing Jarlaxle squarely. The mercenary chuckled. "You hesitated when I motioned for you to enter the chamber,  "Triel went on, "because you know that the one to the left is my private room. That is where you expected to go."
"I did not expect to be summoned here at all, " Jarlaxle retorted,  trying to shift the subject. He was indeed a bit off guard that Triel had watched him so closely. Had he underestimated her trepidation at her mother's latest plans?
Triel stared at him long and hard, her eyes unblinking and jaw firm.
"I have my sources, " Jarlaxle admitted at length.
Another long moment passed, and still Triel did not blink. "You asked that I come, " Jarlaxle reminded her.   "I demanded, " Triel corrected.
Jarlaxle swept into a low, exaggerated bow, snatching off his hat and brushing it out at arm's length. The Baenre daughter's eyes flashed with anger.
"Enough!" she shouted.
"And enough of your games!" Jarlaxle spat back. "You asked that I come to the Academy, a place where I am not comfortable, and so I have come. You have questions, and I, perhaps, have answers." His qualification of that last sentence made Triel narrow her eyes. Jarlaxle was ever a cagey opponent, she knew as well as any one in the drow city. She had dealt with the cunning mercenary many times and still wasn't quite sure if she had broken even against him or not. She turned and motioned for him to enter the left hand door instead, and, with another graceful bow, he did so,  stepping into a thickly carpeted and decorated room lit in a soft magical glow. "Remove your boots, " Triel instructed, and she slipped out of her own shoes before she stepped onto the plush rug.
Jarlaxle stood against the tapestry adorned wall just inside the door, looking doubtfully at his boots. Everyone who knew the mercenary knew that these were magical. "Very well, " Triel conceded, closing the door and sweeping past him to take a seat on a huge, overstuffed chair. A rolltop desk stood behind her, in front of one of many tapestries, this one depicting the sacrifice of a gigantic surface elf by a horde of dancing drow. Above the surface elf loomed the nearly translucent specter of a half drow, half spider creature, its face beautiful and serene. "You do not like your mother's lights?" Jarlaxle asked. "You keep your own room aglow."
Triel bit her lower lip and narrowed her eyes once more. Most priestesses kept their private chambers dimly lit; that they might read their tomes. Heat sensing infravision was of little use in seeing the runes on a page. There were some inks that would hold distinctive heat for many years, but these were expensive and hard to come by, even for one as powerful as Triel. Jarlaxle stared back at the Baenre daughter's grim expression. Triel was always mad about something, the mercenary mused. "The lights seem appropriate for what your mother has planned, " he went on.
"Indeed, " Triel remarked, her tone biting. "And are you so arrogant as to believe that you understand my mother's motives?"
"She will go back to Mithril Hall, " Jarlaxle said openly, knowing that Triel had long ago drawn the same conclusion.
"Will she?" Triel asked coyly. The cryptic response set the mercenary back on his heels. Hetook a step toward a second, less cushiony chair in the room, and his heel clicked hard, even though he was walking across the incredibly thick and soft carpet. Triel smirked, not impressed by the magical boots. It was common knowledge that Jarlaxle could walk as quietly or as loudly as he desired on any type of surface. His abundant jewelry, bracelets and trinkets seemed equally enchanted, for they would ring and tinkle or remain perfectly silent, as the mercenary desired.
"If you have left a hole in my carpet, I will fill it with your heart, " Triel promised as Jarlaxle slumped back comfortably in the covered stone chair, smoothing a fold in the armrest so that the fabric showed a clear image of a black and yellow gee'antu spider, the Underdark's version of the surface tarantula. "Why do you suspect that your mother will not go?" Jarlaxle asked, pointedly ignoring the threat, though in knowing Triel Baenre, he honestly wondered how many other hearts were now entwined in the carpet's fibers.
"Do I?" Triel asked. Jarlaxle let out a long sigh. He had suspected that this would be a moot meeting, a discussion where Triel tried to pry out what bits of information the mercenary already had attained, while offering little of her own. Still, when Triel had insisted that Jarlaxle come to her, instead of their usual arrangement, in which she went out from Tier Breche to meet the mercenary, Jarlaxle had hoped for something substantive. It was quickly becoming obvious to Jarlaxle that the only reason Triel wanted to meet in Arach Tinilith was that, in this secure place, even her mother's prying ears would not hear.  And now, for all those painstaking arrangements, this all  important meeting had become a useless bantering session. Triel seemed equally perturbed. She came forward in her chair suddenly, her expression fierce. "She desires a legacy!" the female declared. Jarlaxle's bracelets tinkled as he tapped his fingers together,  thinking that now they were finally getting somewhere. "The rulership of Menzoberranzan is no longer sufficient for the likes of Matron Baenre, " Triel continued, more calmly, and she moved back in her seat. "She must expand her sphere." "I had thought your mother's visions Lloth given, " Jarlaxle remarked, and he was sincerely confused by Triel's obvious disdain.
"Perhaps, " Triel admitted. "The Spider Queen will welcome the conquest of Mithril Hall, particularly if it, in turn, leads to the capture of that renegade Do'Urden. But there are other considerations." "Blingdenstone?" Jarlaxle asked, referring to the city of the svirfnebli, the deep gnomes, traditional enemies of the drow.
"That is one, " Triel replied. "Blingdenstone is not far off the path to the tunnels connecting Mithril Hall." "Your mother has mentioned that the svirfnebli might be dealt with properly on the return trip, " Jarlaxle offered, figuring that he had to throw some tidbit out if he wanted Triel to continue so openly with him. It seemed to the mercenary that Triel must be deeply upset to be permitting him such an honest view of her most private emotions and fears. Triel nodded, accepting the news stoically and without surprise.
"There are other considerations, " she repeated. "The task Matron Baenre is undertaking is enormous and will require allies along the way, perhaps even illithid allies." The Baenre daughter's reasoning struck Jarlaxle as sound. Matron Baenre had long kept an illithid consort, an ugly and dangerous beast if Jarlaxle had ever seen one. He was never comfortable around the octopus headed humanoids. Jarlaxle survived by under standing and outguessing his enemies, but his skills were sorely lacking where illithids were concerned. The mind flayers, as members of the evil race were called, simply didn't think the same way as other races and acted in accord with principles and rules that no one other than an illithid seemed to know.
Still, the dark elves had often dealt successfully with the illithid community. Menzoberranzan housed twenty thousand skilled warriors, while the illithids in the region numbered barely a hundred. Triel's fears seemed a bit overblown. Jarlaxle didn't tell her that, though. Given her dark and volatile mood, the mercenary preferred to do more listening than speaking. Triel continued to shake her head, her expression typically sour. She leaped up from the chair, her black and purple, spider adorned robes swishing as she paced a tight circle. "It will not be House Baenre alone, " Jarlaxle reminded her, hoping to comfort Triel. "Many houses show lights in their windows."
"Mother has done well in bringing the city together, " Triel admitted, and the pace of her nervous stroll slowed.
"But still you fear, " the mercenary reasoned. "And you need information so that you might be ready for any consequence." Jarlaxle couldn't help a small, ironic chuckle. He and Triel had been enemies for a long time, neither trusting the other, and with good reason! Now she needed him. She was a priestess in a secluded school, away from much of the city's whispered rumors. Normally her prayers to the Spider Queen would have provided her all the information she needed, but now, if Lloth sanctioned Matron Baenre's actions (and that fact seemed obvious), Triel would be left,  literally, in the dark. She needed a spy, and in Menzoberranzan, Jarlaxle and his spying network, Bregan D'aerthe, had no equal. "We need each other, " Triel pointedly replied, turning to eye the mercenary squarely. "Mother treads on dangerous ground, that much is obvious. If she falters, consider who will assume the seat of the ruling house."
True enough, Jarlaxle silently conceded. Triel, as the eldest daughter of the house, was indisputably next in line behind Matron Baenre and, as the matron mistress of Arach Tinilith, held the most powerful position in the city behind the matron mothers of the eight ruling houses. Triel already had established an impressive base of power. But in Menzoberranzan, where pretense of law was no more than a facade against an underlying chaos, power bases tended to shift as readily as lava pools.
"I will learn what I may, " Jarlaxle answered, and he rose to leave. "And will tell you what I learn." Triel understood the half truth in the sly mercenary's words,  but she had to accept his offer. Jarlaxle was walking freely down the wide, curving avenues of Menzoberranzan a short while later, passing by the watchful eyes and readied weapons of house guards posted on nearly every stalagmite mound, and on the ringed balconies of many low hanging stalactites as well. The mercenary was not afraid, for his wide brimmed hat identified him clearly to all in the city, and no house desired conflict with Bregan D'aerthe. It was the most secretive of bands, few in the city could even guess at the numbers in the group, and its bases were tucked away in the many nooks and crannies of the wide cavern. The company's reputation was widespread, though, tolerated by the ruling houses, and most in the city would name Jarlaxle among the most powerful of Menzoberranzan's males.
So comfortable was he that Jarlaxle hardly noticed the Lingering stares of the dangerous guards. His thoughts were inward, trying to decipher the subtle messages of his meeting with Triel. The assumed plan to conquer Mithril Hall seemed very promising. Jarlaxle had been to the dwarven stronghold, had witnessed its defenses. Although formidable, they seemed meager against the strength of a drow army. When Menzoberranzan conquered Mithril Hall, with Matron Baenre at the head of the force, Lloth would be supremely pleased, and House Baenre would know its pinnacle of glory. As Triel had put it, Matron Baenre would have her legacy. The pinnacle of power? The thought hung in Jarlaxle's mind. He paused beside Narbondel, the great pillar time clock of Menzoberranzan, a smile widening across his ebon skinned face.  "Pinnacle of power?" he whispered aloud.
Suddenly Jarlaxle understood Triel's trepidation's. She feared that her mother might overstep her bounds, might be gambling an already impressive empire for the sake of yet another acquisition. Even as he considered the notion, Jarlaxle understood a deeper significance to it all. Suppose that Matron Baenre was successful, that Mithril Hall was conquered and Blingdenstone after that? He mused. What enemies would then be left to threaten the drow city,  to hold together the tentative hierarchy in Menzoberranzan?
For that matter, why had Blingdenstone, a place of enemies so near Menzoberranzan, been allowed to survive for all these centuries? Jarlaxle knew the answer. He knew that the gnomes unintentionally served as the glue that kept Menzoberranzan's houses in line. With a common enemy so near, the drow's constant infighting had to be kept under control. But now Matron Baenre hinted at ungluing, expanding her empire to include not only Mithril Hall, but the troublesome gnomes as well. Triel did not fear that the drow would be beaten; neither did she fear any alliance with the small colony of illithids. She was afraid that her mother would succeed, would gain her legacy. Matron Baenre was old, ancient even by drow standards,  and Triel was next in line for the house seat. At present, that would be a comfortable place indeed, but it would become far more tentative and dangerous if Mithril Hall and Blingdenstone were taken. The binding common enemy that kept the houses in line would be no more, and Triel would have to worry about a tie to the surface world a long way from Menzoberranzan, where reprisals by the allies of Mithril Hall would be inevitable. Jarlaxle understood what Matron Baenre wanted, but now he wondered what Lloth, backing the withered female's plans, had in mind. "Chaos, " he decided. Menzoberranzan had been quiet for a long, long time. Some houses fought, that was inevitable. House Do'Urden and House DeVir, both ruling houses, had been obliterated, but the general structure of the city had remained solid and unthreatened.
"Ah, but you are delightful, " Jarlaxle said, speaking his thoughts of Lloth aloud. He suddenly suspected that Lloth desired a new order, a refreshing housecleaning of a city grown boring. No wonder that Triel, in line to inherit her mother's legacy, was not amused. The bald mercenary, himself a lover of intrigue and chaos,  laughed heartily and looked to Narbondel. The clock's heat was greatly diminished, showing it to be late in the Underdark night. Jarlaxle clicked his heels against the stone and set out for the Qu'ellarz'orl, the high plateau on Menzoberranzan's eastern wall,  the region housing the city's most powerful house. He didn't want to be late for his meeting with Matron Baenre, to whom he would report on in his "secret" meeting with her eldest daughter. Jarlaxle pondered how much he would tell the withered matron mother, and how he might twist his words to his best advantage.
How he loved the intrigue.