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"Did you bring honor to our house?"
Jarl looked up from his kneeling position to answer Matron Reinela's question. "The raid was a success. Ninety-three elves were killed, and we lost only one."
Reinela knew the details of the raid, every house involved did. Dantrag was being honored for leading the most successful raid in over a thousand years. Every house knew the important details, though the conflict between Dantrag and Zaknafein went unreported.
"But how did you do personally?" she asked.
"My personal accomplishments do not matter. All was done for the glory of Lloth." This was the right answer, and Reinela smiled, but she still wanted to know. "I was the patrol's point scout, arguably the most important position. I was in charge of ensuring the patrol's safety and made sure we did not walk into a trap." Jarl was purposefully leaving the number of his kills out to annoy his mother. Besides a bear, he did not have any kills. "I killed seventeen elves."
Reinela had no reason to doubt her son and was very pleased. If anyone had thought to keep track of the kills by adding up what each returning patrol member told his matron mother, it would have been discovered that the elven village must have been at least three times as large as it really was. Besides, Lloth encouraged lies.
"What are to be my responsibilities now?" Jarl asked once his mother's silence continued for several moments.
"You know of our precarious position as the fourth house in this city." Jarl nodded at his mother's statement. "What you don't know is that we have a plan to rectify that problem and perhaps even advance our position."
Jarl's ears picked up at this. He had hoped his duties would go beyond simply standing guard and repelling any house that came attacking. Reinela then told him of the mind flayer cavern they had discovered and the drow who were being held prisoner there. Jarl knew very little about illithids, but he knew enough to know this was no easy task that Reinela wished to take on.
"Krol has told me that the svirfnebli are preparing to make a move against the illithids to secure the ore deposit, and our time to act will come soon. You and Krol will continue to gather information for our house until the time to strike comes. You will lead our fighters in that battle and will be responsible for training the drow that we rescue."
Jarl nodded and began to rise. "Wait!" Reinela called. "I have not dismissed you."
"My apologies, Matron Mother," Jarl bowed deeply.
Reinela smiled at her obedient son. "You will need this." Jarl looked up, and Reinela handed him a red headband. "This will protect your mind from unwanted psionic intrusion. It will not make you immune to the mind flayers, but it will keep them from easily reading your thoughts."
Jarl put it on, and with his long white hair hanging over it, it was nearly invisible. After receiving the gift, he remained in a kneeling position, not wanting to leave early again. Reinela appreciated the obedience and made him wait several minutes before dismissing him.
***
"Did you bring honor to our house?"
Zak looked up from his kneeling position to answer Matron Vartha's question. "The raid was a success. Ninety-three elves were killed, and we lost only one."
Vartha knew the details of the raid, every house involved did. Dantrag was being honored for leading the most successful raid in over a thousand years. Every house knew the important details, though the conflict between Dantrag and Zaknafein went unreported.
"But how did you do personally?" she asked.
"My personal accomplishments do not matter. All was done for the glory of Lloth." This was the right answer, and Vartha smiled, but she still wanted to know. "I was involved with the scouting effort of the main village, and I was chosen to protect the group against ambush, forcing me to battle several deadly creatures summoned by an elf wizard." Zak was purposefully leaving the number of his kills out to annoy his matron mother. "I killed only one elf maiden." Zak was unique among the patrol members, as he was the only one who did not lie.
"Only one!" Vartha shrieked. Malice was there two, and her frown was equally severe. It was her mother's place to scold Zak, and she remained quiet. "You have brought disfavor on our house!"
"I did not," Zak dared to disagree with Vartha. "Dantrag Baenre led the patrol, and he positioned me such that I would not be able to obtain any kills. He is jealous of the praise I have received and thought to get even with me."
Vartha was intrigued by this. "And how did you respond to this slight?"
"When there was only one elf left, I challenged him for the kill. He denied me again, but I defeated him and killed the child."
"You challenged Dantrag Baenre openly in front of the rest of the patrol?" Malice asked in shock.
"I did," Zak responded. "I defeated him and took the kill."
"This was not in the official report," Vartha said, not doubting her future weapon master, but wanting to hear his explanation.
"Who filed that report?" Zak asked, knowing full well that Dantrag had.
Vartha understood it as well. Zak had openly challenged the patrol leader in front of the rest of the group and had won. Not only that, but the patrol leader was Dantrag Baenre, the secondboy of Matron Baenre, and a male who was predicted to have quite an impact on the city in the future.
"You may be excused," Vartha dismissed Zak, and he left quickly.
Once he was gone, Malice turned to her mother. "Do you think Dantrag will retaliate?"
Vartha shrugged her shoulders. "The dealings of males do not trouble me in the least."
"But if he disgraced Dantrag in front of the entire patrol ..."
"Matron Baenre will not lead her house to war over the honor of a male, even if it is her secondboy," Reinela said confidently. "If that is your worry put it out of your head. If this Dantrag takes it upon himself to attack Zaknafein, then that is their business to decide. If Zaknafein defeated him once, I have no doubt that he will be able to do it again."
Malice was unconvinced. Her mother's words brought little comfort. Her intuition told her that this conflict between Zaknafein and Dantrag was just the precursor to something bigger. She would not openly disagree with her mother, but she would need to make sure she was ready if something should happen. Right now, she put those thoughts out of her mind. Zak had just returned after an absence of over several months. She had slept alone too many nights in a row for her liking.
***
"You brought honor to our house."
Dantrag looked up at his mother and smiled. Even though Elrial had been on the raid as well, he was there alone right now, making him think that this meeting was going to entail more than just the success of the raid.
"Are you ready to take on the responsibilities of weapon master of this house?" Baenre asked slowly
"I am," Dantrag replied, smiling broadly. "Shall I inform Drelmn of the change or will you?"
"Drelmn is dead," Baenre said casually. Triel, who stood next to her mother, enjoyed the shocked expression on her brother's face. "Uthegental, the weapon master of the second house, killed him to obtain the title of the best weapon master in the city," Baenre added.
"I shall avenge his death and restore honor to this hou-"
"You will do nothing of the kind!" Matron Baenre shouted, standing from her throne.
"But if he has-"
Matron Baenre rarely used her whip, but she did now. Dantrag had never known such pain. The most powerful drow in the city had to restrain herself somewhat, for no male could survive her full fury, but she let Dantrag know that he should never question her command again.
Baenre had not realized how accurate Drelmn had been with regard to Dantrag's pride. It had to be strong in order to inspire him to speak out so blatantly against her. In reality, Khazid'hea had been the main reason for Dantrag's quick comeback. From now on, Dantrag would need to learn how to keep his sword's comments from influencing him so dramatically. If their partnership was going to work, he would need to exercise his control better.
"The ranking of weapon masters within the city does not matter. Since you are the youngest and least experienced among all the weapon masters in the city, in my mind you rank last among them."
Dantrag struggled back to his knees, his muscles still convulsing from the beating he had taken. "Say it!" Baenre cried, her whip poised to strike again.
Khazid'hea tried to maintain its influence over Dantrag, but the drow shut it out. "I am the least among all the weapon masters," he said humbly.
If only Zaknafein had found me instead of you, Khazid'hea lamented. Dantrag could hear the thought and nearly threw the sword across the room, but he exercised incredible willpower and stayed motionless in front of his mother.
Baenre was satisfied with this for now and sat back down. The room remained quiet and motionless for many minutes. Dantrag grew restless and looked up at his mother. She gave him a very expectant look. Dantrag took this to mean, "What are you still doing here?" and began to rise.
"Where are you going?" Baenre asked coldly.
Dantrag did not know what to say. "I thought that-"
Baenre snapped her whip above her son's head, and he shut up. "Why do males have to be so stupid," she asked herself, though loud enough for Dantrag to hear.
Yes, why? Khazid'hea echoed. Dantrag did not need the distraction as he tried to think what he was forgetting. He had no idea.
Baenre realized they would be here for quite a while if she waited for her stupid son to figure it out. "I asked you if you were ready to take on the responsibilities of being weapon master of this house. You said 'yes,' which implies that you have completed the task that I had previously given to you."
Triel smiled broadly at Dantrag's confusion as he looked up at his mother. The sight of his grinning sister reminded him of the last time he had seen her, and then it hit him. "I have discovered Jarlnian Del'Axle's identity."
Triel stopped smiling at this. She had assumed her brother had failed and was looking forward to another whipping display. "You have?" Baenre asked.
"He is a noble," Dantrag said, "though not of house Del'Axle. He was stolen from one of the lesser houses in the city."
"Which one?"
Dantrag knew the question was coming and dreaded the answer he had to give. "I know that it is a house ranked somewhere in the twenties, but I do not know the name."
"Then you have failed me," Baenre said, preparing her whip.
"House Del'Axle does not even know the name of the house," Dantrag said quickly.
Baenre held her whip in check for now. "Explain."
"I interrogated Krol Del'Axle, the one who conducted the actual theft-"
"You alerted the fourth house as to our investigation!" Triel burst out, pulling her own whip to beat her brother. Before she could do anything against him, Matron Baenre put a restraining hand in front of her daughter to stop any attack. Baenre realized, as had Dantrag, that Krol would not be able to tell anyone within his house that he had spilled their secret or his life would be forfeit. Baenre nodded for her son to continue.
Dantrag took a brief moment to gloat over his older sister and went on. "He told me that he had stolen the child from a lesser house but had kept the name of the house secret to even himself, knowing that there was a potential he would be caught later."
"Clever," Baenre said, "for a male. So you have no way to determine the true house?"
Dantrag shook his head. "If it is still important, I will try to make an inquiry, but since the theft happened so long ago, the evidence will be hard to come by. Don't houses claim nobles from other houses as their own all the time?"
"Only after a house war, and the other side is totally defeated," Baenre explained. "Any drow that is not killed, including nobles, are absorbed by the victorious house. House Del'Axle has not conducted a house battle in a very long time."
"Did you not go to Gromph as I suggested?" Triel asked.
"Yes," Dantrag responded, "but he was unable to help me."
"Explain," Baenre demanded.
Dantrag did as he was told. He explained how he had gone to Gromph and explained Matron Baenre's concern. They had collected a sample of Jarl's blood and then summoned the imp. After the time determined, they called it back. "We learned that he was a noble, but after that the imp told only lies."
Baenre was not convinced. She knew about the spell Gromph must have used and that her oldest son was a powerful mage. A simple imp should not have been able to refuse them. "What kind of lies?"
Dantrag tried to think back. "We asked what his true name was, but the imp cursed us."
"What did it say exactly?" Baenre asked again, growing frustrated.
It had been over a year now, and Dantrag had worked hard to forget what the imp had said the moment he had left his brother's summoning room. He had thought it all to be worthless. It did not come back to recollection that easily.
Baenre became frustrated and muttered about how stupid males were again. This time she did something about it and cast a spell on her son. Suddenly Dantrag's memory became an open book and the incident in Gromph's chambers seemed to have taken place only seconds ago.
"We asked what his true name was, and the creature responded, 'Iblith.' It went on to say, 'Yes, you stupid males. The child was born under the name Iblith. Do you not know that is how Lloth views all males? You are nothing more than excrement.'"
"I don't see how that was a lie," Triel said, smiling at her brother.
Baenre cast a nasty look at her oldest daughter, and Triel wisely shut up. Baenre also thought they were not lies, though she believed they went further than just insulting her sons. She knew that if Gromph had cast the spell properly they could not be lies. The only thing that made sense, though, was something that she did not even want to contemplate. "Continue," she bade her son before her memory-enhancing spell wore out.
Dantrag nodded, easily pulling out the next piece of the conversation from his memory. "The imp turned his attention to me and continued. 'Matron Baenre believes this too. She thinks of all of her male children as offal, as iblith. She has even secretly named one of her sons such.'"
This last comment caught Triel's attention, and she was filled with dread at the possibility. She was recalling a sacrifice she and her sisters had made some 31 years ago.
Dantrag could tell that his story had some hidden meaning to the two females, and he continued. "We asked again for the true house, but the imp said that it had already told us. Gromph told me that he lost control of the imp at this point, and I rushed into the circle to extract the information manually. The imp cried out several different houses that it knew I knew could not possibly be the real ones before looking me in the face and saying that Jarlnian was my brother, and his name was Iblith Baenre."
Dantrag had finished his story and the memory spell expired. "As you can see," Dantrag said, "all lies."
Neither of the females was listening to him now, but they were trying to fathom the only possibility that presented itself. "How old is Jarlnian?" Triel asked.
Dantrag thought briefly. "He graduated last year, so he just completed the first year of his fourth decade. He's 31."
A very intense shudder went down Matron Baenre's spine, and her mind went racing. How could House Del'Axle have pulled off such a theft and kept it hidden from her for all these years?
Dantrag could see something was terribly wrong, but had no idea what. "What is it?"
"You are excused," Baenre said. "You have completed your task and are now weapon master of this house."
"But, what-"
Matron Baenre cast him a sideways glance, and Dantrag was gone from the room within two seconds. She turned her attention back to her daughter. "What are we going to do?" Triel asked.
For the first time in her life, Baenre did not have the answer. "I don't know. But we will do something."
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