Chapter 6 – An Offer You Shouldn't Refuse
"Nathyrra, do you have a moment?" Donnia asked as they moved for the beholder caves.
"Certainly, Donnia," Nathyrra replied. Since her offering of support the night before, she was willing to most anything for Donnia. Other than the Seer, Donnia was the only one who was willing to help her.
"Could you tell me more of the Red Sisters?" Donnia wanted to know any information that might be of some help in this quest.
"The Red Sisters are a group of well trained assassins that work for the Valsharess. I first ran into them a very long time ago, almost a lifetime ago. The Valsharess was not pleased with me or my actions so she sent some of her Red Sisters to kill me much in the way she had planned to kill you, Donnia."
Donnia well remembered her first encounter with the Drow in Waterdeep.
Nathyrra continued, "However, the Valsharess's plans were not going as she had initially hoped. I killed every assassin she sent to kill me. Eventually she asked me to join up with her. I was more valuable to her alive now, than dead. The training to become a Red Sister is very difficult. The entire time not only must you complete the training portion itself, but you must also kill every other Drow being trained with you."
"Isn't that inconvenient? The Valsharess would have many more assassins if they didn't all kill one another."
"Not at all. If they could not kill one another, they would quickly be killed on their assignments. My last assignment was to kill the Seer. When I went to kill her I found her in the temple, much as you did when you first arrived. I walked up to her, blade in hand, and she never showed fear. She sat there, calmly looking up at me. It was then that my life began to change. The Seer spoke to me and told me that Elistraee would accept me, even the assassin that I had become. She would forgive me for everything I had done if I were to turn my back on the Valsharess and the other Red Sisters at that moment. I did. I never went back to the Valsharess, and strangely, she has not sent anyone to kill me. You were lucky, Donnia that someone sent you that dream and woke you, or I fear all would have been lost in your passing."
"Well, since I am here, not dead, I will do everything in my power, and more so if possible, to stop the Valsharess and her apparent reign over the Underdark. You have my word on that."
Nathyrra gave a slight nod, knowing this would be true.
The belt Donnia wore cast a light in front of them, forming and changing eerie shadows from the faces of the rocks that surrounded them. Never before had Donnia been somewhere so bleak. Her heart wanted to give a little, surrender to the blackness, give in to the geas, but she knew she could not fail in this. For if she did, not only would the Underdark fall, but nothing would stand between the Valsharess and the surface.
The group forged ahead into the darkness when Donnia fell without warning or sound.
Donnia blinked several times, for what she saw was not what she expected. She stood in a large circular room overpowered by a large devil. There were several women standing along the walls, forming a circle of power.
"You are what I am supposed to fear?" a woman said to her. The woman wore a dark armor that did little to protect her from Donnia's observation. Her whip was coiled and grasped in one hand while the other hand was perched on her hip.
"You must be the Valsharess," Donnia said to the woman.
She grinned, "You are a smart one, I'll give you that. But I did not bring you here to introduce myself. I'm giving you a chance for power beyond the greatest dreams you have ever had. Join with me and we shall rule the world together."
Donnia paused, seeming to think the plan over, "What would I get out of this arrangement? How do I know you won't just kill me when I have helped you succeed?"
"I would give you my word, but I doubt that you would take it. If you agree to help me defeat the Seer and all other followers of Elistraee in Lith My'athar I would remove that annoying geas placed upon you, share my power with you, and not kill you as I have been planning to do all along."
Donnia paused again, "When you summoned me here, how did you know that I would not attack you and kill you?"
The Valsharess laughed, "Go ahead and try."
Donnia raised her sword and charged the woman, only to be thrown to the ground before she reached her.
"Do you honestly believe I would risk my life by bringing you here? I know your power; I would rather have you with me than kill you and waste talents such as yours. You cannot leave that circle until I grant you that power to do so. So, will you join me?"
"I would rather spend eternity in the hells than fight at your side."
"Be careful what you wish for, little surfacer. I can do whatever I want with you when I feel like it. Such are the benefits of commanding Mephistopheles, the archdevil and duke of the 8th Hell of Baator."
"Do with me as you wish, but I will kill you. If you think petty deals are going to sway me, then you have not done a very good job of defending your people."
The Valsharess seemed to glow with anger, "Have it your way. When you cry out in pain, begging me to deal with you, I shall only smile as your torture continues. Enjoy your death, for it shall be the last merciful thing I grant you."
Donnia was almost overcome in shock. Her mind was pulled back so long ago to the first time she had heard that statement. Suddenly, the ceremony room before her was a large open cavern with grey stone as the walls. The Valsharess slowly morphed into a lizard being, hissing with each breath. No, Donnia thought, this is not happening. I am not still there. She was defeated. I am not hallucinating.
She shook her head, trying to clear the shaded images, praying that they would disappear.
"Donnia! You must wake up! Find your way back!" a strange voice seemed to call to her from the darkness.
Donnia opened her eyes to the dreariness of the Underdark once more. Nathyrra appeared to be in a meditative state, casting some spell. Valen looked down at her with worried eyes. When she looked up at him he breathed a sigh of relief. Brushing her hair out of her face, Valen sat her up. "Are you okay? What happened? Are you injured? Did she hurt you?"
At the sound of his insistent voice, Nathyrra stopped her casting and looked at Donnia, thankful to see her awake. "Valen, give her a moment to come back."
Donnia took several deep breaths, but they did nothing to clear her mind. "What happened?"
Valen answered, "We were walking along when you suddenly dropped. I was able to catch you before you fell, but you had not merely tripped on something. You were gone. Your skin grew very cold and nothing we did would warm you. We could not wake you no matter what we tried. Where did you go? Where did she take you?"
"So you know it was the Valsharess?" Donnia asked. It was the Valsharess, not the Old One, Donnia kept reminding herself. Valen and Nathyrra were real. She was in the Underdark, not a powerful stone. However, a small bead of fear remained.
"We assumed as much, yes. She is the only one who would try such a thing."
"She took me to what I thought was her stronghold. There were several women surrounding me in this great circular room."
Nathyrra frowned, "That would be her ceremony hall. You are lucky to be alive. If she had injured you, your body would have felt the pain here."
"I fear it gets worse. She has summoned Mephistopheles, an archdevil of some hell."
"The 8th Hell of Baator. I know it well," Valen added with a weary look.
"It seems she has him bound to do her bidding. But that was not why she took me there, to show me her growing power. She wanted to make a deal with me, have me fight with her."
Valen's expression changed little, but a wave of anger, disbelief, and strangely, acceptance seemed to cascade from him over Donnia.
Donnia could not mask the look of hurt on her face at his question. She thought, so quick to pass judgment, Valen? Looking at him directly she said, "She said that if I agreed to fight at her side that she would grant me power with her in her rule over the world."
Valen only scowled deeper. Nathyrra almost feared for Donnia given the tension arising from him.
Not breaking her focus on Valen, Donnia continued, "I told her that I would rather spend all of eternity in the hells than fight at her side. She then threatened me with torture both in life and after it. The last thing she said to me was to enjoy my death, for it would be the last merciful thing she would grant me." A threat that I am well familiar with, she continued in her mind. She had seen the look of complete distrust on Valen's face. Now she could not bring herself to look at him any longer. Does he really not trust me that much, she thought. Has nothing I have done proven my true intentions to him? We are never going to succeed if I cannot get him to trust me; and I thought we had moved so far already. Guess I was wrong again, Donnia's thoughts continued.
Without another word, Donnia rose, grabbed her sword and headed for the beholder caves, not caring if they followed her or not.