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The Ghost and His Daughter
May. 25th, 2024 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senmutThe Ghost and His Daughter (5233 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Zaknafein Do'Urden, Vierna Do'Urden, Drizzt Do'Urden
Additional Tags: Minor Character Death, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ensemble Cast, Attempted Fratricide, Accidental Fratricide
Summary:
Vierna strode into the gymnasium, bold and self-assured in her command to the couple of fighters present to get out. Neither was sharp enough to notice her whip was not on her belt, but hastened to obey her. She caught the briefest glower on the Weapon Master's face before he mastered his expression, but that was not so unusual in recent years.
"We need to talk," her hands said, but her mouth had other words. "Weapon Master, escort me. Your view of the Houses above us is demanded."
He inclined his head, sealing his piwafwi to do as bid. Nor did he speak as they walked out of the House, to go on this scouting mission.
"Drizzt's patrol will be going to the surface after their next return," Vierna informed the Weapon Master in a calm, less domineering tone than she had used earlier, once they were well outside the House defenses. Her hands finished the rest of it when Zaknafein looked at her, careful to keep them where only he should see them. "It will not go well for him, as he is unchanged."
Was that truly shock? The man hid the initial reaction so fast that she could not be certain.
"I am certain he will find his way to be a credit to himself, from all I have heard," Zak said aloud. "You tell me this why?" his hands added to the conversation, just as careful on his placement.
"I am just as certain that he will behave exactly as he feels he should in such an undertaking," Vierna commented, her hands adding, "in hopes of saving him, you, and I."
The man's eyes narrowed, before he guided her up, by levitation for their supposed mission. "So it will be, then," he said aloud, and dropped that matter, leaving her wondering just what would happen from him when the time came. "I think the suspicions of a higher House are accurate," he added, to actually fulfill their mission in coming out. "I'll show you the routes most likely to be a vector of possibilities from them."
The note was in the raised script, and Vierna's fingers swiftly read the message in it.
Convince Matron you have a plan the day they leave; meet me above the House.
It could be a trap. She ran a risk just existing here, and was still angry she'd been thwarted in escaping during the graduation. She decided the Weapon Master's actions in the past, the way he acted toward her through her life, made it unlikely.
She could, almost, see the shape of his intentions even. No one would dare make a move while a raid was in progress; that was meant to have Lloth's sole attention in many ways. But that didn't mean Houses would stop spying and potentially laying in wait for individual members to kidnap or kill.
It was a very Llothite thing to do, and would give them time to get ahead of the patrol, as Vierna knew which path up they meant to use.
Of course, it could be a trap, she reminded herself, and she would need to pay attention to how Malice took her maneuvering. Or, more likely, Briza, though she knew good and well that the hatred between the eldest daughter and their Weapon Master ran deeper than any other in the House. So yes, paying attention to Malice's reactions were the smart way to go when she did this.
Malice was sitting in her chair on the dais and Vierna really noticed how small the woman looked, despite the vibrant energy of her eyes darting from one daughter to another.
"No one will suspect us of taking a risk with both sons out of the House," Vierna reasoned. "We know the threat is from above. The Weapon Master has protected the House interests for centuries. I will go with him, we will see to laying a few latent spells, and once our brothers come back victorious, they will be waiting for you to activate, Mother."
Laying into the family title was a risk, but today… it seemed to be the right note for Malice to actually consider it.
"And if the upper House we still have not identified is already plotting their own traps?" Briza hissed. Vierna started to reply, but Malice held her hand up to cut it off.
"Vierna is correct. Go. Take him, and lay the lines of our web. We will ask the question of which House when my sons return, as suggested." She then pinned Vierna with her piercing gaze. "Do not be seen. He will be invisible to most, so you are the weaker point here!"
Vierna smiled with all of her teeth bared. "No one will know where I pass."
She strode out on that note, ignoring the indrawn breath from Briza, and the gasp from Maya. Her mother's laughter said she had measured the woman perfectly; Malice wanted action and results, not questioning.
Those results, Vierna vowed in the protections of her mind, would not be to Malice's liking at all.
Above the House could only mean the access tunnel that was cut there, and Vierna concentrated on two spells at once, having decided that would be best to mask their true intent. One spell was an illusion of herself and Zaknafein moving away from the House until a point where even the best of their watchers could not see 'them'. The other was a variation of her mind protections, keeping the idle plotting thoughts, especially about House liabilities, at the front of her awareness.
She knew how long Malice could usually manage the mental spying the Matron employed so freely, and was still maintaining pretenses on that one when the Weapon Master emerged from the tunnel's shadows. She held a hand up to keep him quiet, moving her robes aside after that to show she had no whip but she did have a pack. He nodded, then reached up to where his House amulet rested in his neck purse. She nodded; that was a good precaution and saw to removing hers.
A warming at her hip, one she usually could not feel so easily, told her when it was safe to drop the mental chatter. She then decided that pulling that source of warmth out might be the quickest way to solve just how far the alliance with the Weapon Master went. Her true holy symbol, the mask that had been given to her in the privacy of the gathering cavern away from the House by a shadow-spirit of her true god, came up to her face in the next moment, and Zak's face showed the shock of the revelation.
That his posture changed, becoming less suspicious, made her certain that he truly was the male her god had suggested as ally so long ago.
"I'd wondered," he signed at her, but she had one last spell to cast. Vhaeraun answered it willing, and creeping shadow tendrils snaked around the pair of removed amulets, making them vanish from the tunnel completely.
"I would have loved to give you a chance to kill the whip, but I felt it might sense the treachery too quickly," she finally said as the mask vanished back into the pouch. "I know the route they were to take. I hope you know how this one connects to it."
"I have many questions for you, but show me their path instead," Zaknafein told her.
It was on their third day that Zak broached his ideas.
"We don't want them pinpointing us as what happened."
"I can't indiscriminately kill other drow," Vierna told him in turn. "Every murder I have had to do in the name of that spider weighs on me; it is not what my god chooses."
"I serve no god," Zaknafein said. "And His inclinations certainly didn't save the bulk of my generation when the hearsay of His worship was found out," he added in a bitter tone. "The only reason I tolerate Him more is because He saved you from becoming all I hate."
Vierna flinched at his first words, then lifted her chin. "That matters to you. And it was your interest in me, as a child, that drew Him to protect me and offer me a better way. Tell me; are you my sire?"
Zaknafein inclined his head to her. "I argued with Malice over your raising, was demoted from patron for it. I think it actually relieved her to do so, over an internal matter, before my death could be demanded." He chuckled softly. "We… were not always as you have most often seen us."
She drew in a deep breath, hating that city, the way it tore apart all of the finer emotions that could exist. She'd dreamed of her god's cities, heard the laughter of drow that lived fully, instead of scheming always.
"An alternative path, then, Father." She smiled as she used the word so seldom heard from noble voices. "Harass them. I can pray for stunning and disorienting spells, in one of the areas with side tunnels. More of the males will live that way… if they have skill to survive past the initial spells.
"The cleric, however, is a legitimate target, even under my restrictions, being a zealot of the spider."
Zaknafein considered, then nodded. "Very well, Daughter. I know how to strike fear without killing."
The first fighter to go missing, with the guard for that shift not having seen anything was unnerving. The cleric with them could not figure it out anymore than Dinin could… and Drizzt had been far forward from where the fighter had been.
The second one vanished on the move, while Drizzt was scouting the route the cleric had told him to check for traps and monsters. After he got back, Dinin put him on the rear guard, trusting his strange brother to be aware enough to at least alert them instead of vanishing silently.
That hope was dashed, when the next rest break found them down to just ten fighters, himself, and the cleric.
"We have to turn back," Dinin said without thinking. The whip struck him in the next moment, as the cleric grew enraged by his blasphemy.
"We are on a hunt for faerie blood for our goddess! Do not dare gainsay that path over the disappearance mere males!"
Dinin did not snarl at her, but he did not provide any reinforcement of where she walked either.
Despite double guards at the next rest, when time to move came, the priestess was still on her bedroll, looking as if asleep until one of the others went over… and realized it was not her robes shielding her body heat from their eyes.
"Throat, dagger…" was all that man got out before looking at Dinin with terror in every line of his face.
"Right in the middle of us? We go back," Dinin snapped. "Tight formation, I want everyone able to hear the breath of the man behind him."
They hastened to do just that, leaving the cleric's body to scavengers in interest of making fast time back to Menzoberranzan. Obviously the faerie were employing demons to block this passages to them!
"We wouldn't be having to hunt him if you had managed to land that stun correctly," Zak signed after realizing they had been led the wrong way.
"I didn't know he was this damned skilled, and had no idea he would resist it that strongly!" she signed back, a little angry that her wean-son, her little brother, was potentially making it back to the patrol.
"Talk in his mind then!"
She did not lose her temper at her father, but only by falling into a breathing pattern to calm herself down. He recognized her frustration at the sound of it, and moved closer, hands to both of her shoulders, and leaning his forehead against hers. He kept his ears and skin attuned to the world around them, but offered that silent apology.
"I cannot send to him or scry him," she admitted.
"We'll find him," he signed, once they were both calmer, and she nodded. They had to, or everything was for nothing. "Don't use a spell on him. Seek his swords, or his amulet."
Her eyes widened, and then she smiled. "That should work."
Dinin, having managed to convince his mother — Matron — to intercede on his behalf, mostly because he had managed to bring the rest of them back safely, was doing his damnedest to heal from Briza's beating for leaving the cleric's body. His pride was wounded, his body sore, and there was still a threat hanging on the House.
He threw himself into checking the defenses, not asking about the missing Weapon Master. That was what had gotten him beaten by his eldest sister. He never got around to asking about the next one in line, not even from his own sister who seemed to be more nervous than usual.
Maybe luck was turning in his favor, as he made out the wizard trying to spy on their House, saw the motion of the body and it etched into his mind as wrong. He'd met the Faceless One, knew that had to have been the Faceless One from the oddity of the glimpse of the wizard's head… and yet he moved entirely wrong to Dinin's memory.
A smile lit his features, briefly, as he hastened to go tell his mot — Matron what he now suspected. Perhaps they could yet salvage this entire mess around them.
Zaknafein actually ran a hand over his hair in frustration, and Vierna had to smile, seeing her own habit.
"We're getting too close to the city, Vierna."
"I know, Father," she answered, reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder.
He accepted it for a moment before suddenly spinning, and his swords were in his hands. Her own maces followed a heartbeat later, before she made out the faintest whisper of purple in he shadows ahead and above them.
"Drizzt," she called, keeping her voice as calm as she knew how despite the long chase he had led them on. "Please come talk to us."
Was it her tone or the use of the 'please' that had worked? Zaknafein watched the vague impression of motion, could not hear the sound of landing, and then the boy opened his eyes fully, so he could actually see where his son truly was. Clearly he was made for the wild spaces, if he was this good so young at hiding!
"Why did you attack the patrol? Why did you kill the cleric? I found her body, but Dinin moved them too fast for me to find them."
So he had circled back to the last known spot once the confusion of the half-landed stun wore off. How in the Abyss had he evaded them both like that?
"Will you come with us, away from this tunnel? The city is too close." Vierna opened her robes fully. "I am not, have never been, a true priestess of the Spider there, and I want to keep you and our father safe."
Drizzt's head tipped to the side, before he beckoned, showing his back to them and taking point.
"You called me father, twice," Zak signed to Vierna. "That must have been why he ended the chase."
"I see."
Malice was all but crowing with her delight on how swiftly they had been able to cut out both wizards from House Hun'ett, and to find that one of them was actually a DeVir. SiNaFay was now under dishonor as well, for not having followed full custom to kill the male for murdering her own son.
"Dinin, use that creature you mentioned, take a squadron, and find your traitor sister. Maya, accompany him.
"We will regain Lloth's favor when we kill the heretic."
"Yes, Matron," the siblings said swiftly.
Convincing Drizzt of intentions had taken less arguing than Vierna expected. Zaknafein and he had a silent conversation in sign, where she could not see their hands, and when Drizzt hugged the elder drow, she felt her spine relax. Drizzt coming back to her, and kneeling in front of where she sat was unexpected. Then she saw the mischief on his face, and she wondered what he was up to.
"Vehna," he began, slurring her name as he had when he was just learning to talk, "we have peace, yes? No more of what that city made you do?"
She could not help it; she reached out and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight.
"My brother. My wean-son. I hated what I had to do to you, but oh you did not make it easy for me to hide what I was! Or keep us both alive!"
He wrapped his arms around her in turn, and squeezed, letting him feel how strong he truly was in a reassuring hug. "Peace, then."
"Peace."
Just two sleeps after the small family had turned their direction away from Menzoberranzan, Zaknafein realized they were being hunted. He began looking for a suitable place to make it a fight, as they could not possibly keep evading a party all the way to safety —
— especially as they had no idea where safety would be.
"Drizzt."
His son didn't even turn. "I know," was signed back with hastily warmed hands, and Zak felt a swelling of pride all over again. The boy was made for the tunnels, for places not inside the walls of a House, apparently. A glance to Vierna, a quick sign for danger, and the trio were all alert to the potential threats and benefits of the areas they passed through.
Dinin signed for the squadron to stand in place, making certain that Maya was truly hidden from perceptions. He then looked at the giant cat that was the main reason they had picked up the trail. He knew that it had a strange connection to his brother, and was all but certain that Drizzt was with the two he was hunting.
"Guenhwyvar, go home." he hissed the command as quietly as possible, and her ears flattened, making him more convinced about Drizzt's presence. Once she was gone, Dinin had his current scout go forward, then had the rest go in behind, bringing up the rear. His sister better be fast with her spells to take out the renegade, he swore inside his mind, not really wanting to dwell on having to face the two fighters.
Zaknafein waited, counting the full squadron out. He was unsurprised that Dinin was bringing up the rear, but he was concerned that there was no visible priestess. He had to trust in Vierna to be protecting herself from the likely divine attack aimed for her. He didn't look for where Drizzt was —
— and then the boy dropped into full view, right between three separate fighters.
"You should all leave," Drizzt said, flaring his faerie fire around his hands and swords.
The boy had a flair for theatrics, and Zaknafein moved in silence, understanding exactly what Drizzt was doing. He was drawing eyes, throwing new light out there to force attention his way. Vierna had likely moved under that cover as well. None of the fighters Drizzt had chosen as his target cover could hope to touch him, and when they did attempt their attacks, Drizzt fouled them up immediately.
Zak kept holding back, watching his beautiful dancer move with grace and speed to cause the squadron as much chaos as possible, slapping them with the flats of his blades, drawing blood in thin lines. It was obvious he was not actually trying to kill them, making Zaknafein slightly exasperated by him — and marvel he could still be that way. Most of his mind, though, was trying to find where the cleric had to be. Was it Briza or Maya? Was it one of the lesser cousins?
He finally decided he had to intervene as two fighters started angling to get behind Drizzt while another pair did their best to tangle his swords. His first kill was before his feet actually touched the ground, and his presence changed the field entirely. Four fighters focused on him, three stayed on Drizzt with one of those being Dinin.
Maya had waited until the fight was fully engaged, then carefully slipped into the battleground. She honestly did not expect any of the fighters to survive this, maybe not even Dinin, but as long as Vierna died, it would be worth it. Lloth's Web cloaked her completely, a protection that would fail on her first attack, so it had to be calculated perfectly.
She had her whip ready, the venom enhanced for this hunt as part of the rituals Mother had performed over her and her weaponry. As soon as the heads landed on the heretic, she would move in with her mace while the poison pumped in. It would have been good to bring her back for a proper sacrifice, yet the Weapon Master's presence precluded that.
She finally eliminated all the likely hiding places by following the fighters, and aimed for where Vierna had to be —
Drizzt had agreed with the logic of Vierna only joining the battle if absolutely necessary. He did not actually want to kill these fighters, going for injuries that would disable. He was focused on that, and only half-caught a flicker of pressure against his skin. With a very rapid shove of one of his opponents blades off of his left blade, he spun, right sword striking out in a lunge.
It was a stronger strike than he'd been using against the fighters, driven by instinct, because the pressure shift was between himself and where Vierna was.
Vierna had been holding herself in reserve, just as aware as her father that a cleric had to be present. Keeping track of where everyone was, eliminating possibilities for where the cleric had to be, Vierna was certain she was going to come under attack from a specific vector, and had shifted to be smaller in her concealment.
The snapping fangs of a high priestess's whip barely missed her as the heat of a full body almost in her space registered. The blood flowing out of a massive wound made it clear the body was not an issue, and she used the banishment she had prayed for against the whip to eliminate it from the battle. Her eyes went beyond the cleric — Maya, she noted dispassionately — to see horror written all over Drizzt's face.
She jumped forward to protect his back, her maces tasting blood swiftly. Drizzt had stunned one fighter, she had killed the second on her second blow. That left Dinin.
Dinin had seconds in which to choose his fate. Maya becoming fully visible, dying or dead, and Vierna protecting their strange brother, as well as the sounds of death behind him all said he should give it his all now.
Drizzt was dropping to his knees beside Maya. Vierna's maces were in motion —
— Dinin dropped his sword and knife both, crossing his arms over his chest in surrender, calling out one word. "Brother!"
Drizzt looked, and answered the half-plea. "Don't. Don't kill him." His voice was very hoarse, gravel-ridden by his emotions.
"Are you — " Vierna made a choked off noise, and reversed her motion. "Kick them away," she told Dinin.
He obeyed, then knelt, keeping his hands on opposite shoulders the whole time.
He was the last survivor of those he had brought, and he fixed his eyes not on Vierna, but on Drizzt, who was gently straightening Maya's body. What even was the strange brother that had only lived because of him?
Dinin rather thought his own future hinged on that strangeness.
Zaknafein had never had reason to be fond of Dinin. He could tell there was no great emotion between Vierna and the fighter. Even Drizzt, who had been the deciding factor, seemed distant to him. They'd made Dinin leave his House amulet behind, and gathered everything that might be usable from all of the bodies but Maya's. Drizzt was a silent shadow in their midst, and Zak really wished he knew how to reach past whatever this was.
He just didn't understand it enough to even try.
They had traveled a long distance from the killing ground, but were now holed up in a defensible spot. Zak kept his attention mostly on Dinin. With luck, Malice would try for Maya's mind, not find her, and presume Dinin had to be dead as well. He didn't have a second artifact to put the fighter under non-detection like he wore. The fact that Vierna could never reach Drizzt's mind made him hopeful that applied to Malice as well.
They would get to the nearest city, and Zak would give Dinin a chance by pointing him at Bregan D'aerthe, as he thought Jarlaxle's people were the safest bet for the fighter to survive.
He wasn't sure why that mattered, even, except that his son was hurting, and wanted Dinin to live.
Dinin stretched his legs out, having purposefully sat beside Drizzt in this rest.
"She hated you, you know?" he finally said. "I was useful. You weren't."
Drizzt nodded, turning to see his brother, his patrol leader. "She was still our sister. And … I did not wish to kill any drow. Especially my sister."
"I don't understand that, or you. You know that, given that you are here now because of me." Dinin shrugged. "You paid that back by not letting Vierna kill me."
"She doesn't want to kill drow. She's taking us to a place where drow lives aren't sacrificed so quickly," Drizzt said. "I don't know if you can learn that."
Dinin was turning the concept over in his head, and then he felt as if his brother had slapped him. Anger came first, but he remembered that odd feeling, watching Drizzt be gentle with Maya's body. Whatever his brother was, it was not true drow. But the idea of a place where his life might not hinge on keeping the clerics happy… that felt like an offer to adapt, to change so he could be free.
Did he even know how to be free? His life had always been on the sufferance of sisters and his mother.
"Convince her to take me there," Dinin found himself saying. "Let me start over and try."
Drizzt searched his face, considering. Dinin then pulled out the cat figurine, holding it out to him. "Here, a bribe to buy your help," Dinin told him with enough humor in the tone that Drizzt actually smiled, just a little. His hands were shaky as he took the figurine, Dinin noticed.
"Thank you for not making her fight," Drizzt said, and Dinin wasn't sure how to handle that. He thought about showing his reasoning why he hadn't, but that might be the wrong words.
"Just thank me by giving me a chance to get as far from Malice Do'Urden as possible, to figure out what I can do," Dinin said instead, and found he truly meant it.
"I will."
Vierna paid close attention to the reasoning Drizzt used. She even had to admit that sparing Dinin had likely increased her worth in her god's eyes. She just wasn't certain of the rest of it, and tended to agree with their father they should dump him off on the all-male mercenary band.
"What if he betrays us?" Vierna then asked her brother silently. He met her eyes, squared his jaw, and answered.
"Then I take responsibility. In whatever form that must be."
She noted the pain etched into his features as he said it. She didn't understand his psychic wounds any more than their father did, but was letting it go, hoping Drizzt would bounce back from it as they journeyed.
"I will tell Father."
Drizzt nodded to that, then went to ready for another day on forward position, where he was most comfortable. Their father was the better fighter, but he had found a deep affinity for understanding the dangers and possibilities of the wilds they traveled through. Vierna had added that to the list of his strangenesses.
He seemed to be a well-spring of them.
A stop in Mantol-Derith allowed them to trade for new gear for both Dinin and Drizzt, though Drizzt refused to part with his swords. They had none of the specific curve he preferred, and Zak agreed he should have what he was most familiar with.
Dinin took his brother to a tavern while they were there as an attempt to actually get to know the younger man. Zaknafein had misgivings over it, but Dinin didn't dare try treachery where he had no allies. And Zak needed time to speak to Jarlaxle's people here. Vierna also had an errand of her own, seeking the small enclave of Vhaeraun, to be able to make offerings and ask questions.
When the family of four met up again, Drizzt was actually smiling, Dinin was mildly intoxicated and laughing at something, while Vierna was more thoughtful than usual.
"I take it you two enjoyed yourself?" Zak asked the younger pair.
"Your son won me a lot of coin," Dinin announced, before laughing some more.
Drizzt grinned brightly. "They made me take a drink, then added a coin to the stack I would flip after each one. Father, I flipped twelve!"
"At which point no one would add money to the pile," Dinin finished. "And somehow, he's still soberer than me."
Vierna gave a small smile at that, having used Drizzt's childhood to discreetly increase his tolerance of intoxicants and poisons alike, under her watchful eye. Drizzt just shrugged, unknowing of why he could resist, but glad to have made Dinin happy, and share a good thing with him.
"Rilauven is where we were originally going to go," Vierna told the men of her life. "Now, it is to only be a stopping point, because of Drizzt."
That made all three pay attention to her, and Dinin did his best to will himself sober.
"Why?" Zak asked flatly.
"A task suited to my abilities is open, in a space where little brother's stranger ways will not attract so much attention," she said. "As my Lord is uneasy about the fact he stands outside of the spells granted to me, unless I make extra effort."
Drizzt frowned. "But… like Father, I don't care to be caught up in gods' doings, yet I am loyal to you."
She nodded. "He knows this. But not all drow are as Father and I, or as Dinin. You, He has made me see, may have a different road in time, and this place He has chosen for us will let that be a possibility."
"Do you have a name of this place?" Zak asked. "Fre'nzel needs to know, for when Jarlaxle gets the information I asked for."
"We will go from Rilauven by portals to a place called Skullport, above the faerzress but still below ground."
They all took in that information and slowly nodded.
"I suggest we sleep, then, and start out soon after," Zak said. "I'll run my message now, and return."
"Be safe, Father." Vierna then looked at her brothers. "Come on, both of you. It might be our last chance for a bath and a bed for a long while."
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Zaknafein Do'Urden, Vierna Do'Urden, Drizzt Do'Urden
Additional Tags: Minor Character Death, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ensemble Cast, Attempted Fratricide, Accidental Fratricide
Summary:
Vierna decides to make her play for escape against the patrol heading up for the raid on the faerie village. She will save both men that matter to her.
The Ghost and His Daughter
Vierna strode into the gymnasium, bold and self-assured in her command to the couple of fighters present to get out. Neither was sharp enough to notice her whip was not on her belt, but hastened to obey her. She caught the briefest glower on the Weapon Master's face before he mastered his expression, but that was not so unusual in recent years.
"We need to talk," her hands said, but her mouth had other words. "Weapon Master, escort me. Your view of the Houses above us is demanded."
He inclined his head, sealing his piwafwi to do as bid. Nor did he speak as they walked out of the House, to go on this scouting mission.
"Drizzt's patrol will be going to the surface after their next return," Vierna informed the Weapon Master in a calm, less domineering tone than she had used earlier, once they were well outside the House defenses. Her hands finished the rest of it when Zaknafein looked at her, careful to keep them where only he should see them. "It will not go well for him, as he is unchanged."
Was that truly shock? The man hid the initial reaction so fast that she could not be certain.
"I am certain he will find his way to be a credit to himself, from all I have heard," Zak said aloud. "You tell me this why?" his hands added to the conversation, just as careful on his placement.
"I am just as certain that he will behave exactly as he feels he should in such an undertaking," Vierna commented, her hands adding, "in hopes of saving him, you, and I."
The man's eyes narrowed, before he guided her up, by levitation for their supposed mission. "So it will be, then," he said aloud, and dropped that matter, leaving her wondering just what would happen from him when the time came. "I think the suspicions of a higher House are accurate," he added, to actually fulfill their mission in coming out. "I'll show you the routes most likely to be a vector of possibilities from them."
The note was in the raised script, and Vierna's fingers swiftly read the message in it.
Convince Matron you have a plan the day they leave; meet me above the House.
It could be a trap. She ran a risk just existing here, and was still angry she'd been thwarted in escaping during the graduation. She decided the Weapon Master's actions in the past, the way he acted toward her through her life, made it unlikely.
She could, almost, see the shape of his intentions even. No one would dare make a move while a raid was in progress; that was meant to have Lloth's sole attention in many ways. But that didn't mean Houses would stop spying and potentially laying in wait for individual members to kidnap or kill.
It was a very Llothite thing to do, and would give them time to get ahead of the patrol, as Vierna knew which path up they meant to use.
Of course, it could be a trap, she reminded herself, and she would need to pay attention to how Malice took her maneuvering. Or, more likely, Briza, though she knew good and well that the hatred between the eldest daughter and their Weapon Master ran deeper than any other in the House. So yes, paying attention to Malice's reactions were the smart way to go when she did this.
Malice was sitting in her chair on the dais and Vierna really noticed how small the woman looked, despite the vibrant energy of her eyes darting from one daughter to another.
"No one will suspect us of taking a risk with both sons out of the House," Vierna reasoned. "We know the threat is from above. The Weapon Master has protected the House interests for centuries. I will go with him, we will see to laying a few latent spells, and once our brothers come back victorious, they will be waiting for you to activate, Mother."
Laying into the family title was a risk, but today… it seemed to be the right note for Malice to actually consider it.
"And if the upper House we still have not identified is already plotting their own traps?" Briza hissed. Vierna started to reply, but Malice held her hand up to cut it off.
"Vierna is correct. Go. Take him, and lay the lines of our web. We will ask the question of which House when my sons return, as suggested." She then pinned Vierna with her piercing gaze. "Do not be seen. He will be invisible to most, so you are the weaker point here!"
Vierna smiled with all of her teeth bared. "No one will know where I pass."
She strode out on that note, ignoring the indrawn breath from Briza, and the gasp from Maya. Her mother's laughter said she had measured the woman perfectly; Malice wanted action and results, not questioning.
Those results, Vierna vowed in the protections of her mind, would not be to Malice's liking at all.
Above the House could only mean the access tunnel that was cut there, and Vierna concentrated on two spells at once, having decided that would be best to mask their true intent. One spell was an illusion of herself and Zaknafein moving away from the House until a point where even the best of their watchers could not see 'them'. The other was a variation of her mind protections, keeping the idle plotting thoughts, especially about House liabilities, at the front of her awareness.
She knew how long Malice could usually manage the mental spying the Matron employed so freely, and was still maintaining pretenses on that one when the Weapon Master emerged from the tunnel's shadows. She held a hand up to keep him quiet, moving her robes aside after that to show she had no whip but she did have a pack. He nodded, then reached up to where his House amulet rested in his neck purse. She nodded; that was a good precaution and saw to removing hers.
A warming at her hip, one she usually could not feel so easily, told her when it was safe to drop the mental chatter. She then decided that pulling that source of warmth out might be the quickest way to solve just how far the alliance with the Weapon Master went. Her true holy symbol, the mask that had been given to her in the privacy of the gathering cavern away from the House by a shadow-spirit of her true god, came up to her face in the next moment, and Zak's face showed the shock of the revelation.
That his posture changed, becoming less suspicious, made her certain that he truly was the male her god had suggested as ally so long ago.
"I'd wondered," he signed at her, but she had one last spell to cast. Vhaeraun answered it willing, and creeping shadow tendrils snaked around the pair of removed amulets, making them vanish from the tunnel completely.
"I would have loved to give you a chance to kill the whip, but I felt it might sense the treachery too quickly," she finally said as the mask vanished back into the pouch. "I know the route they were to take. I hope you know how this one connects to it."
"I have many questions for you, but show me their path instead," Zaknafein told her.
It was on their third day that Zak broached his ideas.
"We don't want them pinpointing us as what happened."
"I can't indiscriminately kill other drow," Vierna told him in turn. "Every murder I have had to do in the name of that spider weighs on me; it is not what my god chooses."
"I serve no god," Zaknafein said. "And His inclinations certainly didn't save the bulk of my generation when the hearsay of His worship was found out," he added in a bitter tone. "The only reason I tolerate Him more is because He saved you from becoming all I hate."
Vierna flinched at his first words, then lifted her chin. "That matters to you. And it was your interest in me, as a child, that drew Him to protect me and offer me a better way. Tell me; are you my sire?"
Zaknafein inclined his head to her. "I argued with Malice over your raising, was demoted from patron for it. I think it actually relieved her to do so, over an internal matter, before my death could be demanded." He chuckled softly. "We… were not always as you have most often seen us."
She drew in a deep breath, hating that city, the way it tore apart all of the finer emotions that could exist. She'd dreamed of her god's cities, heard the laughter of drow that lived fully, instead of scheming always.
"An alternative path, then, Father." She smiled as she used the word so seldom heard from noble voices. "Harass them. I can pray for stunning and disorienting spells, in one of the areas with side tunnels. More of the males will live that way… if they have skill to survive past the initial spells.
"The cleric, however, is a legitimate target, even under my restrictions, being a zealot of the spider."
Zaknafein considered, then nodded. "Very well, Daughter. I know how to strike fear without killing."
The first fighter to go missing, with the guard for that shift not having seen anything was unnerving. The cleric with them could not figure it out anymore than Dinin could… and Drizzt had been far forward from where the fighter had been.
The second one vanished on the move, while Drizzt was scouting the route the cleric had told him to check for traps and monsters. After he got back, Dinin put him on the rear guard, trusting his strange brother to be aware enough to at least alert them instead of vanishing silently.
That hope was dashed, when the next rest break found them down to just ten fighters, himself, and the cleric.
"We have to turn back," Dinin said without thinking. The whip struck him in the next moment, as the cleric grew enraged by his blasphemy.
"We are on a hunt for faerie blood for our goddess! Do not dare gainsay that path over the disappearance mere males!"
Dinin did not snarl at her, but he did not provide any reinforcement of where she walked either.
Despite double guards at the next rest, when time to move came, the priestess was still on her bedroll, looking as if asleep until one of the others went over… and realized it was not her robes shielding her body heat from their eyes.
"Throat, dagger…" was all that man got out before looking at Dinin with terror in every line of his face.
"Right in the middle of us? We go back," Dinin snapped. "Tight formation, I want everyone able to hear the breath of the man behind him."
They hastened to do just that, leaving the cleric's body to scavengers in interest of making fast time back to Menzoberranzan. Obviously the faerie were employing demons to block this passages to them!
"We wouldn't be having to hunt him if you had managed to land that stun correctly," Zak signed after realizing they had been led the wrong way.
"I didn't know he was this damned skilled, and had no idea he would resist it that strongly!" she signed back, a little angry that her wean-son, her little brother, was potentially making it back to the patrol.
"Talk in his mind then!"
She did not lose her temper at her father, but only by falling into a breathing pattern to calm herself down. He recognized her frustration at the sound of it, and moved closer, hands to both of her shoulders, and leaning his forehead against hers. He kept his ears and skin attuned to the world around them, but offered that silent apology.
"I cannot send to him or scry him," she admitted.
"We'll find him," he signed, once they were both calmer, and she nodded. They had to, or everything was for nothing. "Don't use a spell on him. Seek his swords, or his amulet."
Her eyes widened, and then she smiled. "That should work."
Dinin, having managed to convince his mother — Matron — to intercede on his behalf, mostly because he had managed to bring the rest of them back safely, was doing his damnedest to heal from Briza's beating for leaving the cleric's body. His pride was wounded, his body sore, and there was still a threat hanging on the House.
He threw himself into checking the defenses, not asking about the missing Weapon Master. That was what had gotten him beaten by his eldest sister. He never got around to asking about the next one in line, not even from his own sister who seemed to be more nervous than usual.
Maybe luck was turning in his favor, as he made out the wizard trying to spy on their House, saw the motion of the body and it etched into his mind as wrong. He'd met the Faceless One, knew that had to have been the Faceless One from the oddity of the glimpse of the wizard's head… and yet he moved entirely wrong to Dinin's memory.
A smile lit his features, briefly, as he hastened to go tell his mot — Matron what he now suspected. Perhaps they could yet salvage this entire mess around them.
Zaknafein actually ran a hand over his hair in frustration, and Vierna had to smile, seeing her own habit.
"We're getting too close to the city, Vierna."
"I know, Father," she answered, reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder.
He accepted it for a moment before suddenly spinning, and his swords were in his hands. Her own maces followed a heartbeat later, before she made out the faintest whisper of purple in he shadows ahead and above them.
"Drizzt," she called, keeping her voice as calm as she knew how despite the long chase he had led them on. "Please come talk to us."
Was it her tone or the use of the 'please' that had worked? Zaknafein watched the vague impression of motion, could not hear the sound of landing, and then the boy opened his eyes fully, so he could actually see where his son truly was. Clearly he was made for the wild spaces, if he was this good so young at hiding!
"Why did you attack the patrol? Why did you kill the cleric? I found her body, but Dinin moved them too fast for me to find them."
So he had circled back to the last known spot once the confusion of the half-landed stun wore off. How in the Abyss had he evaded them both like that?
"Will you come with us, away from this tunnel? The city is too close." Vierna opened her robes fully. "I am not, have never been, a true priestess of the Spider there, and I want to keep you and our father safe."
Drizzt's head tipped to the side, before he beckoned, showing his back to them and taking point.
"You called me father, twice," Zak signed to Vierna. "That must have been why he ended the chase."
"I see."
Malice was all but crowing with her delight on how swiftly they had been able to cut out both wizards from House Hun'ett, and to find that one of them was actually a DeVir. SiNaFay was now under dishonor as well, for not having followed full custom to kill the male for murdering her own son.
"Dinin, use that creature you mentioned, take a squadron, and find your traitor sister. Maya, accompany him.
"We will regain Lloth's favor when we kill the heretic."
"Yes, Matron," the siblings said swiftly.
Convincing Drizzt of intentions had taken less arguing than Vierna expected. Zaknafein and he had a silent conversation in sign, where she could not see their hands, and when Drizzt hugged the elder drow, she felt her spine relax. Drizzt coming back to her, and kneeling in front of where she sat was unexpected. Then she saw the mischief on his face, and she wondered what he was up to.
"Vehna," he began, slurring her name as he had when he was just learning to talk, "we have peace, yes? No more of what that city made you do?"
She could not help it; she reached out and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight.
"My brother. My wean-son. I hated what I had to do to you, but oh you did not make it easy for me to hide what I was! Or keep us both alive!"
He wrapped his arms around her in turn, and squeezed, letting him feel how strong he truly was in a reassuring hug. "Peace, then."
"Peace."
Just two sleeps after the small family had turned their direction away from Menzoberranzan, Zaknafein realized they were being hunted. He began looking for a suitable place to make it a fight, as they could not possibly keep evading a party all the way to safety —
— especially as they had no idea where safety would be.
"Drizzt."
His son didn't even turn. "I know," was signed back with hastily warmed hands, and Zak felt a swelling of pride all over again. The boy was made for the tunnels, for places not inside the walls of a House, apparently. A glance to Vierna, a quick sign for danger, and the trio were all alert to the potential threats and benefits of the areas they passed through.
Dinin signed for the squadron to stand in place, making certain that Maya was truly hidden from perceptions. He then looked at the giant cat that was the main reason they had picked up the trail. He knew that it had a strange connection to his brother, and was all but certain that Drizzt was with the two he was hunting.
"Guenhwyvar, go home." he hissed the command as quietly as possible, and her ears flattened, making him more convinced about Drizzt's presence. Once she was gone, Dinin had his current scout go forward, then had the rest go in behind, bringing up the rear. His sister better be fast with her spells to take out the renegade, he swore inside his mind, not really wanting to dwell on having to face the two fighters.
Zaknafein waited, counting the full squadron out. He was unsurprised that Dinin was bringing up the rear, but he was concerned that there was no visible priestess. He had to trust in Vierna to be protecting herself from the likely divine attack aimed for her. He didn't look for where Drizzt was —
— and then the boy dropped into full view, right between three separate fighters.
"You should all leave," Drizzt said, flaring his faerie fire around his hands and swords.
The boy had a flair for theatrics, and Zaknafein moved in silence, understanding exactly what Drizzt was doing. He was drawing eyes, throwing new light out there to force attention his way. Vierna had likely moved under that cover as well. None of the fighters Drizzt had chosen as his target cover could hope to touch him, and when they did attempt their attacks, Drizzt fouled them up immediately.
Zak kept holding back, watching his beautiful dancer move with grace and speed to cause the squadron as much chaos as possible, slapping them with the flats of his blades, drawing blood in thin lines. It was obvious he was not actually trying to kill them, making Zaknafein slightly exasperated by him — and marvel he could still be that way. Most of his mind, though, was trying to find where the cleric had to be. Was it Briza or Maya? Was it one of the lesser cousins?
He finally decided he had to intervene as two fighters started angling to get behind Drizzt while another pair did their best to tangle his swords. His first kill was before his feet actually touched the ground, and his presence changed the field entirely. Four fighters focused on him, three stayed on Drizzt with one of those being Dinin.
Maya had waited until the fight was fully engaged, then carefully slipped into the battleground. She honestly did not expect any of the fighters to survive this, maybe not even Dinin, but as long as Vierna died, it would be worth it. Lloth's Web cloaked her completely, a protection that would fail on her first attack, so it had to be calculated perfectly.
She had her whip ready, the venom enhanced for this hunt as part of the rituals Mother had performed over her and her weaponry. As soon as the heads landed on the heretic, she would move in with her mace while the poison pumped in. It would have been good to bring her back for a proper sacrifice, yet the Weapon Master's presence precluded that.
She finally eliminated all the likely hiding places by following the fighters, and aimed for where Vierna had to be —
Drizzt had agreed with the logic of Vierna only joining the battle if absolutely necessary. He did not actually want to kill these fighters, going for injuries that would disable. He was focused on that, and only half-caught a flicker of pressure against his skin. With a very rapid shove of one of his opponents blades off of his left blade, he spun, right sword striking out in a lunge.
It was a stronger strike than he'd been using against the fighters, driven by instinct, because the pressure shift was between himself and where Vierna was.
Vierna had been holding herself in reserve, just as aware as her father that a cleric had to be present. Keeping track of where everyone was, eliminating possibilities for where the cleric had to be, Vierna was certain she was going to come under attack from a specific vector, and had shifted to be smaller in her concealment.
The snapping fangs of a high priestess's whip barely missed her as the heat of a full body almost in her space registered. The blood flowing out of a massive wound made it clear the body was not an issue, and she used the banishment she had prayed for against the whip to eliminate it from the battle. Her eyes went beyond the cleric — Maya, she noted dispassionately — to see horror written all over Drizzt's face.
She jumped forward to protect his back, her maces tasting blood swiftly. Drizzt had stunned one fighter, she had killed the second on her second blow. That left Dinin.
Dinin had seconds in which to choose his fate. Maya becoming fully visible, dying or dead, and Vierna protecting their strange brother, as well as the sounds of death behind him all said he should give it his all now.
Drizzt was dropping to his knees beside Maya. Vierna's maces were in motion —
— Dinin dropped his sword and knife both, crossing his arms over his chest in surrender, calling out one word. "Brother!"
Drizzt looked, and answered the half-plea. "Don't. Don't kill him." His voice was very hoarse, gravel-ridden by his emotions.
"Are you — " Vierna made a choked off noise, and reversed her motion. "Kick them away," she told Dinin.
He obeyed, then knelt, keeping his hands on opposite shoulders the whole time.
He was the last survivor of those he had brought, and he fixed his eyes not on Vierna, but on Drizzt, who was gently straightening Maya's body. What even was the strange brother that had only lived because of him?
Dinin rather thought his own future hinged on that strangeness.
Zaknafein had never had reason to be fond of Dinin. He could tell there was no great emotion between Vierna and the fighter. Even Drizzt, who had been the deciding factor, seemed distant to him. They'd made Dinin leave his House amulet behind, and gathered everything that might be usable from all of the bodies but Maya's. Drizzt was a silent shadow in their midst, and Zak really wished he knew how to reach past whatever this was.
He just didn't understand it enough to even try.
They had traveled a long distance from the killing ground, but were now holed up in a defensible spot. Zak kept his attention mostly on Dinin. With luck, Malice would try for Maya's mind, not find her, and presume Dinin had to be dead as well. He didn't have a second artifact to put the fighter under non-detection like he wore. The fact that Vierna could never reach Drizzt's mind made him hopeful that applied to Malice as well.
They would get to the nearest city, and Zak would give Dinin a chance by pointing him at Bregan D'aerthe, as he thought Jarlaxle's people were the safest bet for the fighter to survive.
He wasn't sure why that mattered, even, except that his son was hurting, and wanted Dinin to live.
Dinin stretched his legs out, having purposefully sat beside Drizzt in this rest.
"She hated you, you know?" he finally said. "I was useful. You weren't."
Drizzt nodded, turning to see his brother, his patrol leader. "She was still our sister. And … I did not wish to kill any drow. Especially my sister."
"I don't understand that, or you. You know that, given that you are here now because of me." Dinin shrugged. "You paid that back by not letting Vierna kill me."
"She doesn't want to kill drow. She's taking us to a place where drow lives aren't sacrificed so quickly," Drizzt said. "I don't know if you can learn that."
Dinin was turning the concept over in his head, and then he felt as if his brother had slapped him. Anger came first, but he remembered that odd feeling, watching Drizzt be gentle with Maya's body. Whatever his brother was, it was not true drow. But the idea of a place where his life might not hinge on keeping the clerics happy… that felt like an offer to adapt, to change so he could be free.
Did he even know how to be free? His life had always been on the sufferance of sisters and his mother.
"Convince her to take me there," Dinin found himself saying. "Let me start over and try."
Drizzt searched his face, considering. Dinin then pulled out the cat figurine, holding it out to him. "Here, a bribe to buy your help," Dinin told him with enough humor in the tone that Drizzt actually smiled, just a little. His hands were shaky as he took the figurine, Dinin noticed.
"Thank you for not making her fight," Drizzt said, and Dinin wasn't sure how to handle that. He thought about showing his reasoning why he hadn't, but that might be the wrong words.
"Just thank me by giving me a chance to get as far from Malice Do'Urden as possible, to figure out what I can do," Dinin said instead, and found he truly meant it.
"I will."
Vierna paid close attention to the reasoning Drizzt used. She even had to admit that sparing Dinin had likely increased her worth in her god's eyes. She just wasn't certain of the rest of it, and tended to agree with their father they should dump him off on the all-male mercenary band.
"What if he betrays us?" Vierna then asked her brother silently. He met her eyes, squared his jaw, and answered.
"Then I take responsibility. In whatever form that must be."
She noted the pain etched into his features as he said it. She didn't understand his psychic wounds any more than their father did, but was letting it go, hoping Drizzt would bounce back from it as they journeyed.
"I will tell Father."
Drizzt nodded to that, then went to ready for another day on forward position, where he was most comfortable. Their father was the better fighter, but he had found a deep affinity for understanding the dangers and possibilities of the wilds they traveled through. Vierna had added that to the list of his strangenesses.
He seemed to be a well-spring of them.
A stop in Mantol-Derith allowed them to trade for new gear for both Dinin and Drizzt, though Drizzt refused to part with his swords. They had none of the specific curve he preferred, and Zak agreed he should have what he was most familiar with.
Dinin took his brother to a tavern while they were there as an attempt to actually get to know the younger man. Zaknafein had misgivings over it, but Dinin didn't dare try treachery where he had no allies. And Zak needed time to speak to Jarlaxle's people here. Vierna also had an errand of her own, seeking the small enclave of Vhaeraun, to be able to make offerings and ask questions.
When the family of four met up again, Drizzt was actually smiling, Dinin was mildly intoxicated and laughing at something, while Vierna was more thoughtful than usual.
"I take it you two enjoyed yourself?" Zak asked the younger pair.
"Your son won me a lot of coin," Dinin announced, before laughing some more.
Drizzt grinned brightly. "They made me take a drink, then added a coin to the stack I would flip after each one. Father, I flipped twelve!"
"At which point no one would add money to the pile," Dinin finished. "And somehow, he's still soberer than me."
Vierna gave a small smile at that, having used Drizzt's childhood to discreetly increase his tolerance of intoxicants and poisons alike, under her watchful eye. Drizzt just shrugged, unknowing of why he could resist, but glad to have made Dinin happy, and share a good thing with him.
"Rilauven is where we were originally going to go," Vierna told the men of her life. "Now, it is to only be a stopping point, because of Drizzt."
That made all three pay attention to her, and Dinin did his best to will himself sober.
"Why?" Zak asked flatly.
"A task suited to my abilities is open, in a space where little brother's stranger ways will not attract so much attention," she said. "As my Lord is uneasy about the fact he stands outside of the spells granted to me, unless I make extra effort."
Drizzt frowned. "But… like Father, I don't care to be caught up in gods' doings, yet I am loyal to you."
She nodded. "He knows this. But not all drow are as Father and I, or as Dinin. You, He has made me see, may have a different road in time, and this place He has chosen for us will let that be a possibility."
"Do you have a name of this place?" Zak asked. "Fre'nzel needs to know, for when Jarlaxle gets the information I asked for."
"We will go from Rilauven by portals to a place called Skullport, above the faerzress but still below ground."
They all took in that information and slowly nodded.
"I suggest we sleep, then, and start out soon after," Zak said. "I'll run my message now, and return."
"Be safe, Father." Vierna then looked at her brothers. "Come on, both of you. It might be our last chance for a bath and a bed for a long while."
Tags:
- au: canon divergence,
- author: sharpest_asp,
- category: gen,
- character: dinin do'urden,
- character: drizzt do'urden,
- character: ensemble cast,
- character: vierna do'urden,
- character: zaknafein do'urden,
- freeform: canon-typical violence,
- freeform: minor character death,
- rating: general audiences,
- warning: no warnings apply
