The group of drow lead Liana through even more tunnels and vast caverns until they came to a city. Carved out of the stone itself with lights of varying shades of purple and silver, there was a certain beauty to the place, despite the eerie sense of foreboding it possessed.
Through this strange settlement they lead her; to a large temple built out slightly from the rock. Elegant pillars designed like spider webs adorned the structure, and a set of three steps led up to a large door gilded with silver set in the stone edifice. Up the stairs they went, Liana's steps slowing fearfully as they entered the temple of Lolth.
Inside, they were met with a hallway leading to a large circular room with an obsidian altar in the centre. Within the ritual room stood an abnormally tall female drow, garbed in a spider silk dress reaching down to the floor; one of her dark grey legs visible through the hip high split in the side of her skirt.
The drow warriors all dropped to one knee before her.
"Why are you back so soon?" She asked, eyeing them scornfully, "Have you found him yet?"
"We found him, but failed to capture him, my lady." The leader said, shivering a bit at her condescending tone, "We will return to the search immediately, but please accept this wood elf for a sacrifice." He stood, and ushered Liana forward.
The priestess; for that was obviously what she was; smiled slightly.
"It does not surprise me that he managed to elude you." She said, stepping forward and stroking the warrior's hair, "He is quite the escape artist, but I am confident he will come home eventually. As for the surface elf, put her in one of the slave pens. She can stay there until I have need of her."
So Liana was lead away once more, through the winding hallways of the temple to a dark and cold cave, who's entrance was sealed with a heavily bared gate guarded by two sentinels. The drow shoved her in, and she fell to the ground, biting back a cry of pain as she landed on her shoulder.
Hearing the metal gate shut with a clang, Liana slowly stood, looking around the chamber. There were other prisoners in the cave as well; each with hands shackled before them as hers were.
Some of them looked up from the floor to see the newcomer; others didn't move at all. Many of them appeared to be simple village folk from the surface, huddled together for warmth in the dark and cold chamber. Others had the look of adventurers; standing up straight as the gate was opened, and holding the defiant position even after it was shut again.
Liana sat with her back against the wall, staring blankly at the locked gate. How long would she have before the drow sacrifice her to their Dark Mother? Would she be able to get herself, or any of these other unfortunate souls out of here before they were all killed?
Her eyes drifted shut with exhaustion as these thoughts drifted through her head, and she fell into a troubled sleep.
0*0*0*0*0
Three days she judged had passed in that depressing cavern, but still no one had been taken away for some demonic ritual.
Liana was once again seated by the wall watching the gate; when suddenly one of the guards fell to the ground with a choking cry. The other knelt beside him to figure out what had happened, but was attacked from behind by two spiders as large as his own head. The arachnids swiftly spun webs around their victim, leaving him alive but immobilized.
Seeing both guards incapacitated, the prisoners moved towards the gate in curiosity. Soon, Liana couldn't see the exit anymore; but her eyes widened as she heard the metal door creak open, and the other prisoners shuffle out into the hallway. Her eyes widened even further when she saw who stood by the open gate, key in hand.
A short, slim figure in torn clothing and leather armour, with a dragon skull mask covering both face and head.
He spoke a few words to the other captives as the two spiders climbed onto his shoulders, gesturing down the hall, and they nodded; heading off in the direction he had indicated.
Once they had all disappeared around a bend in the tunnel, he focused his attention on the wood elf.
"Makareth?" Liana whispered as he entered the cave, walking right up to her, and using his lock picks to rid her of her hand-cuffs.
He pulled the mask off, but refused to look her in the eye.
"I shouldn't have run when you got caught." He mumbled, keeping his eyes glued to the floor, "I'm sorry. Can... Can you forgive me?" The last sentence was spoken so softly Liana could barely hear it.
The wood elf gently lifted Makareth's chin so he would look at her. His eyes were full of uncertainty and fear; but that subsided at the gentle smile she gave him.
"I knew you were different." She said quietly, "Of course I can forgive you."
The drow returned her smile with a small one of his own, and lead her out of the chamber.
As they passed the snared guard at the gate; his red eyes widened in recognition of Makareth.
"You've got some nerve coming back here, you little scoundrel!" He snarled, "I am going to have to report this, you know."
"And?" Makareth replied with a smirk, "Is that supposed to scare me?"
The guard clenched his jaw at the younger drow's apparent lack of concern.
"You've spent all this time running from Ishrae's men; and then just let me report you to her?" He asked, "Wouldn't it suit you better to just slay me now?"
"Actually, no." Makareth said, his eyes narrowing as he moved closer to the guard, "I want you alive, to deliver a message to her. Tell my "mistress" that I'm done with this foolishness. Done with being her little pet!"
After a pause, the guard laughed cruelly.
"So confident." He sneered, "But where would that confidence be if you were speaking to her directly? You wouldn't be able to give that little speech to her face." His voice dropped an octave as he locked eyes with Makareth, "You don't have the guts."
The younger drow dropped his gaze with a flinch.
"You wouldn't be able to either if you were in my position." He whispered.
"You think that's some sort of excuse?" The guard scoffed, "Pathetic. You are, and always will be, nothing but a useless coward!"
Makareth abruptly turned away from him, and began walking briskly down the hall in the direction that the rest of the prisoners had gone. Liana followed him, concern for the smaller elf written all over her features.
"What were you talking about?" She asked after they were out of the guard's earshot, lengthening her stride to walk right next to Makareth, "Your "mistress", "being someone's pet"..." Her voice trailed off for a moment, before she gently but firmly gripped his arm, "What have they been doing to you Makareth?" She whispered.
He stopped walking, but just stared ahead silently for a few moments.
"I'll tell you later. For now let's focus on getting out of here." He said quietly, re-situating the mask on his head.
The pair soon came to a storage room, filled with weaponry and armour, where the other captives had armed themselves. Of the adventurers, it looked like all of them had found their own equipment taken from them at capture; while the villagers had found spears and knives of the drow's own manufacturing.
"Gear up so we can get out of here." Makareth said to Liana, "I'll stand guard by the door. All of the rest of you good to go?"
The other prisoners nodded, and the masked drow stepped out of the room.
"How do we know we can trust him?" One of the adventurers, a high elf wizard, asked the others in a hushed whisper once the slim drow had vanished from sight, "We don't know who, or even what he is."
"He is trustworthy." Liana stated, gathering up a suit of leather armour, "I've met him before. He's not perfect, but he's a good kid."
"He has trained spiders." Another one of the adventurers, a dwarven barbarian, said with a shudder, "I've only seen that here in the Underdark, and the owners of such spiders are always cruel drow."
"He's not one of them." Liana insisted, pausing the fastening of her armour to glare at the dwarf.
Technically, that was only partly true. Makareth was undeniably a drow, as determined by his blood. Though he shared physical similarities with the worshipers of Lolth, he was not one of them because of his personality.
The high elf made a hand motion for silence, and the topic was discussed no further. Though the other prisoners, the high elf especially, continued to look at Makareth with suspicion.
Once Liana was fully equipped with a suit of armour, and a bow and arrows; the group set out down the dark hallways, following behind Makareth.
They moved swiftly, meeting no hindrance for about a half an hour. Then the wizard drew in a hissing breath, warning the others.
"A group of drow are pursuing us. They are gaining fast!"
Makareth growled a curse under his breath, and broke into a run.
"We're almost there!" he threw over his shoulder. The others increased their speed to keep up with him, rounding a bend in the hall, and sprinting through the door he wrenched open.
Slamming it shut again, the masked drow wedged a chair under the handle to stall their pursuers. Hearing someone on the other side slam into the zurkhwood door, the group of escaping prisoners continued down the hall, until Makareth lead them to a balcony over a steep drop shrouded in spider's webs.
"I am not jumping down there!" Another adventurer, this one an orc fighter exclaimed, as Makareth peered over the edge.
"It's the only way." The masked drow stated, sending his twin jumping spiders down via a dragline, "The landing won't be exactly soft, but you should remain uninjured."
The orc stood stubbornly by the wall furthest from the edge, his mind unswayed. Makareth shook his head, startling in surprise at the sound of splintering wood.
Angry shouts were the only warning they got before the group of drow warriors burst onto the balcony.
"Go!" Makareth commanded, drawing his knives, and meeting the first dark elf in combat.
Liana looked uncertainty over the edge, then at the horrified villagers. She grabbed hold of a thicker strand of spider silk, and gave them a reassuring smile.
"Come on. The webs should slow our fall." She said. Some of them joined her on the railing, finding a web to hold on to as well; while the others looked between the long drop, and the brawl that was breaking out as some of the other adventurers joined in attacking the drow.
To keep the farm folk encouraged, Liana closed her eyes and stepped off the balcony, feeling gravity take her swiftly down through the webs, landing with a pained grunt on a web stretched out like a safety net. Standing up and looking around, the wood elf saw Makareth's jumping spiders spinning more safety nets around the area.
Soon, a few of the villagers came down, landing in the webs woven by the giant jumping spiders, followed by the adventurers that weren't fighting the drow. Seeing that their comrades were alright, the rest of the civilians quickly followed, until the only people that remained on the balcony were Makareth, and the adventurers that stayed to fight with him.
"Come on guys!" Liana shouted, hearing the clash of blades, and sizzle of magic above them.
On the balcony, the fight had spread out a bit; the dark elves stretched thin between the multiple surfacers attacking them relentlessly.
The balcony was strewn with the bodies of fallen drow, but even with their numbers deminished, they managed to take down the orc fighter who had slain a large number of them in a berserker rage.
Breaking away from the remaining dark elves, the adventurers dropped down to the webs bellow. Reaching for one of the rope like strands himself, Makareth was thrown back suddenly by a flaming blast of magical energy. He spun around to see more drow coming through the door, a mage in their ranks this time.
A quick look back at the blazing spider webs confirmed that escaping that way was no longer an option.
"Just jump!" Liana shouted, seeing the little dark elf struggling not to fall, as he avoided attacks from the drow who had just appeared on the balcony.
"Even with the nets down there, a straight up drop would kill me!" He growled back.
"I'll catch you! Trust me!" Liana practically shrieked in fear, "Makareth! Just jump!"
A narrowly avoided sword thrust set the small drow off balance, and he looked down at the wood elf in terror. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, allowing himself to topple over into the depths.
He felt the air rush past his body as he fell, keeping his eyes closed even while his limbs caught in spider webs. True to her word, Liana caught him, but wasn't able to keep her own balance; the two elves landing in a heap on one of the spider web safety nets.
"Are you alright?" She asked him, not quite ready to let go of his smaller form.
"I should be asking you that." He grumbled, crawling off her with a shudder, "I'm fine. You?"
Liana nodded, standing up.
"Let's get out of here."
0*0*0*0*0
"The prisoners have escaped!" A guard exclaimed, running up to the priestess.
"What? How?" Ishrae asked, whirling around to look at him.
"The guards at the prison gate were both neutralized, and the captives made their escape from the balcony over the spider's layer."
"The guards were neutralized?" Ishrae repeated enraged, "By whom?"
The drow shifted from one foot to the other nervously.
"The sentry that survived, said it was Darkblade."
There was silence for a while as the priestess thought about this recent development.
"So, my little pet came home without telling me, released my prisoners, and left without saying goodbye." She growled, "He really must be brought to heel before he causes any more trouble."
"I will alert your warriors at once. They will catch him in no time, with a fresh trail." The guard said.
"No need." Ishrae purred, "I will go after him myself."