01 Homeland

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to find a focus, unable to place the strange, dancing sights in accord with the ritual s sounds.
He heard the high priestesses gasping and coaxing the stu-
dent on, knowing the conjuring to be at hand. He heard the
snap of the snake whip-another incentive?-and cries of
Glabrezu! from the student. So primal, so powerful, were these screams that they cut through Drizzt
and the other males in the room with an intensity they never would have believed possible.
The flames heard the call. They roared higher and higher and began to take shape. One sight caught the
vision of all in the room now-caught it and held it fully. A giant head, a goat-horned dog, appeared within
the flames, apparently studying this alluring young drow student who had dared to utter its name.
Somewhere beyond the otherplanar form, the snake whip cracked again, and the female student
repeated her call, her cry beckoning, praying.
The giant denizen of the lower planes stepped through the flames. The sheer unholy power of the
creature stunned Drizzt. Glabrezu towered nine feet and seemed much more, with muscled arms ending in
giant pincers in-stead of hands and a second set of smaller arms, normal arms, protruding from the front
of its chest.
Drizzt s instincts told him to attack the monster and res-cue the female student, but when he looked
around for sup-port, he found the matron mistress and the other teachers of the school back in their
ritualistic chanting, this time with an excited edge permeating their every word.
Through all the haze and the daze, the talJtalizing, dizzy-ing aroma of the smoky red incense continued its
assault on reality. Drizzt trembled, teetered on a narrow ledge of con-trol, his gathering rage fighting the
scented smoke s confus-ing allure. Instinctively, his hands went to the hilts of the scimitars on his belt.
Then a hand brushed against his leg.
He looked down to see a mistress, reclined and asking him to join her-a scene that had suddenly
become general around the chamber.
The smoke continued its assault on him. ;
The mistress beckoned to him, her fingernails lightly scraping the skin of his leg.
Drizzt ran his fingers through his thick hair, trying to find some focal point in the dizziness. He did not like
this loss of control, this mental numbness that stole the fine edge of his reflexes and alertness.
He liked even less the scene unfolding before him. The sheer wrongness of it assaulted his soul. He
pulled away from the mistress s hopeful grasp and stumbled across the room, tripping over numerous
entwined forms too engaged to take note of him. He made the exit as quickly as his wob-bly legs could
carry him, and he rushed out of the room, pointedly closing the door behind him.
Only the screams of the female student followed him. No stone or mental barricade could block them
out.
Drizzt leaned heavily against the cool stone wall, grasping at his stomach. He hadn t even paused to
consider the impli-cations of his actions; he knew only that he had to get out of that foul room.
Vierna then was beside him, her robe opened casually in the front. Drizzt, his head clearing, began to
wonder about the price of his actions. The look on his sister s face, he noted with still more confusion,
was not one of scorn.
You prefer privacy she said, her hand resting easily on Drizzt s shoulder. Vierna made no move to
close her robe. I understand she said.
Drizzt grabbed her arm and pulled her away. What in-sanity is this? he demanded.
Vierna s face twisted as she came to understand her
brother s true intentions in leaving the ceremony. You
refused a high priestess! she snarled at him. By the laws,
she could kill you for your insolence
I do not even know her Drizzt shot back. I am expected
to-
You are expected to do as you are instructed!
I care nothing for her Drizzt stammered. He found he could not hold his hands steady.
Do you think Zaknafein cared for Matron Malice? Vierna replied, knowing that the reference to
Drizzt s hero would surely sting him. Seeing that she had indeed wounded her brother, Vierna softened
her expression and took his arm. Come back she purred, into the room.
There is still time
Drizzt s cold glare stopped her as surely as the point of a scimitar.
The Spider Queen is the deity of our people Vierna
sternly reminded him. I am one of those who speaks her
will
I would not be so proud of that Drizzt retorted, clinging to his anger against the wave of very real fear
that threat-ened to defeat his principled stand.
Vierna slapped him hard across the face. Go back to the ceremony! she demanded.
Go kiss a spider Drizzt replied. And may its pincers tear your cursed tongue from your mouth It was
Vierna now who could not hold her hands steady.
You should take care when you speak to a high priestess she warned.
Damn your Spider Queen! Drizzt spat. Though I am certain Lloth found damnation eons ago!
She brings us power! Vierna shrieked. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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