Disclaimer: all in favor of wanting to own Drizzt Do'Urden raise your hands. 1..2..17..55..498...2,034...65,833... *Pauses and then glances off into the distance at even more hands* Sorry, everyone, I don't own him, so I can't give him to you.

Chapter 2

Drizzt

Drizzt stood before Matron Malice, now 20 years of age. Having trained for almost 5 years under Zaknafein (and effectively proving he was ready), with Furor sheathed in his left boot. Unlike Zaknefain, who had it in a hiding place, Drizzt decided to place it on his body. A risky move he knew, but he tested his resistance without Zak's awareness and was sure it wouldn't just stop out of nowhere. Just to be safe though, the dagger was in a sheath and not directly on his skin.

Drizzt faced Malice with silent contempt. He no longer thought of her as his mother for she had never influenced his life in any positive way—she was the reason he had made his first kill. The youth had learned to not trust others so easily—especially females—after that incident.

Malice had called him there as he was to be in the school Melee Magthere starting tomorrow. Zaknafein had proclaimed that he could make him a far better fighter if he stayed here under his tutelage, which no one doubted, but for reasons unknown to Drizzt he was to be sent to Melee Magthere along with Dinin.

Lolth

Unbeknownst to Drizzt, Lolth was currently in an... unpleasant state of mind (Goddesses do not panic). She had been searching through all of her cities, but none of the children in Menzoberanzen had lavender eyes. She went to search the other drow cities she had domain over.

Nothing.

Could Libran not be a drow? No! She had made sure of it. If Libran was killed by the symbolic animal, or in her case arachnid, of any God or Goddess then he would be born as that God's/Goddess' signature race. Could he be among the traitorous drow who lived on the surface? No, again not possible. There weren't any expecting for some time in those areas. So Libran must have done something. What she is unsure.

She frowned, "How dare he try to change the inevitable!" She had plenty of time before he turned 50 and an eternity afterwords with him. The time limit she gave was but an eye blink to her. Lolth was growing impatient, however; and wanted to see Libran desperately. He should be about 20 now. He was plenty old enough for her to 'visit' him. If she could just find him.

Lolth decided to up the date of her announcement to the Matrons of each city.

She gave her command and her warning, if they did not fulfill it they would rue the day she ever took an interest in them.

Malice

Malice could not believe the honor that was bestowed upon her for being able to meet Lolth in person.

Flashback

The Matrons were having a meeting on their lack of slaves and how they needed to locate more, when the drider statue (the top a beautiful female drow and the bottom a spider) came to life and changed into a full drow.

It had shocked the Matrons for such an event to suddenly happen. The shock was soon replaced with anger as they all unsheathed their whips, thinking someone had placed a spell on the statue and was about to attack them.

A Matron, Malice didn't know by name, approached the female, "Who is your creator?!"

She raised her whip, but it never made its mark. As soon as the snake was in its ark it turned and struck the hand that held it.

The Matrons froze. A snake whip never did that. Who was this female?The Matron who had attacked her writhed on the floor in agony from the poison in her whip (most whips held a numbing bite, but she had altered hers to cause pain instead).

The female glanced down at the Matron, then looked up at the others.

"I would have thought it obvious who I was from how I entered. That statue was an avatar of me was it not? Or is this how you would normally greet your Deity?"

Malice as well as every other female stood still at hearing this. They stared at her, before they fell to the floor in humility.

Lolth loved the turmoil she was causing. Feeling the confusion and fear; and enjoying every minute of it, she looked over the matrons at her feet.

Sending an air of mystery and haughtiness she went to Baenre's thrown. Sitting down she bade the women to stand. Before they could a male drow, Baenre's newest mate, had entered, he was meant to be the entertainment for the meeting not knowing just who he would be entertaining. He had turned his gaze to the throne expecting his Mistress to be there, he didn't realize his mistake until his gaze fell upon a young, beautiful, and very angry female.

Lolth did not appreciate any male, unless it was Libran, looking at her without her permission. Before the Matrons' eyes he was instantly covered with deadly spiders. Lolth glared at him and simply stated "Move and die." causing him to go rigid, before turning her eyes on the females who had yet to follow her previous command. They all quickly stood but none dared look at her.

Lolth grinned at their uneasiness and got comfortable. She crossing her slender legs as she viewed her audience and, she glanced to the side, recent entertainment.

The Spider Queen watched the panicing male for a minute or two, wondering how long it would take one of the Matrons to build up enough courage to ask why she was here. It took about four (a disappointment) when Baenre stepped forward and bowed once more to Lolth before asking if she could speak.

The Goddess nodded.

"What is it that you wish from us?" The first Matron asked delicately wishing to keep her own life, Lolth was a being of higher power. To insinuate that such a person would need help from a mortal was pure blasphemy. She, and a few others, glanced every now and then at the unfortunate male. His doom was obvious to the Matrons. Baenre was also saddened at the loss. She had trained him from a very young age herself; he never learned how to fight, only how to please, and now he would die. He had been so handsome and submissive too.

Lolth stayed silent for a little bit, reveling in their feelings of anxiousness. When she got bored with it, she spoke, "I have come in search of someone who thinks he can escape me, I want you to find him for he is of the up most importance to me."

The Matrons stood still. Who would dare defy their deity. The myth that Lolth took a mate came to their minds. They themselves had been frightened into obedience with the tale that if they betrayed their previous Matrons then Lolth would turn them male (a horror unto itself) and take them as her toys. Thinking that she would never choose a real male, they were surprised. One had dared to ask, "A male my Queen?"

Lolth's eyes got dark, but they did not notice. "Why yes, did you think I had someone else in mind?" She asked sweetly with a hint of venom, "You perhaps?"

"Of course not!" The female blurted out. They all lowered their eyes. Sensing, too late, that she was not happy with that remark.

The Spider Queen stood up ever so slowly, her eyes still dark. "You will find him. If you do not, I will set this city deeper then you have ever been in your life. You will never get out and will slowly die from starvation and that is only the beginning. I'm sure you can imagine the horrors I could bring after death." She let them think over that before continuing. "It is a male and he will be 20 years of age as of this moment. He would be of an unusual behavior, by your standards. I want him by the time he turns 50. That is all I am going to tell." With that she turned to the male that had been listening; his eyes and mouth were clenched shut so as to prevent the arachnids from entering, but couldn't do a thing as the small ones crawled into his nose and ears. The male was shivering uncontrollably from the sensation of legs inside him and was barely holding back a scream.

Lolth frowned at such a weak male in front of her. Noticing his garb as a concubine. She studied him, he was not too bad in appearance, and it would be a shame to waste his learning.

She swayed up to the male and gently nudged away a few spiders that crawled on his cheek. Leaning in she whispered into his ear, "For looking where you should not have you will die. Your soul will be a prisoner in my domain for my entertainment until my mate arrives," she then leaned in further as if to kiss him, but she instead bit down hard, making him jerk. Causing all the spiders on and inside him to bite down as well, within a few seconds he was dead and the statue Lolth had occupied was back in its original state.

End Flashback

Granted there were some unpleasantly close calls, and the loss of a good male slave, but she just knew that this would fall in her own favor.

The Matrons had been warned by their deity that the male's 50th birthday was their deadline. If he was 20 years of age now, then that would be roughly 30 years. A blink of the eye for any elf.

However, to Malice, it was plenty of time, but in order to get started she needed to send her children out into the schools, without them knowing of course (if any of her daughters even suspected her plan they could very well replace her and get the glory for themselves), to find that male. Which was why she didn't let Drizzt stay. Her second son would have more access to the rest of the males in his class then Dinin would.

This put Malice's thoughts toward her second son who was also around that age. She would have to keep as close an eye on Drizzt as the others, but keeping him here would only make the other Matrons assume it is him, putting her house in great danger. No, better to put him out there as if she already did her research, broadcasting out that she believed it to not be him. Some might see it as foolish on her part, but Malice knew the others would probably do the same with there own sons. She would have time to investigate Drizzt as well as the other males his age.

At 20 years the male should be in Melee Magthere or Sorcere. She would have to figure something out for Sorcere later. If the male wasn't in this city though... but one thing at a time. She didn't get this far by worrying over every detail from the beginning. She bid her family good day and watched them all as they departed.

Plus Zaknafein must have had something else in mind when he requested Drizzt to stay, so that was two elves with one spider(1).

Zaknafein

All right, so his plan didn't work. He could have sworn that Malice would agree, but obviously something was going on that he didn't know about, otherwise she would have either agreed or made a longer argument then just 'He is going' with such finality (She usually enjoyed the verbal spars he could provide her. Him being male, made it even more amusing). Zaknafein wasn't confident in Drizzt's skills of guarding Furor.

The last owner had done exactly what Zaknafein had warned Drizzt about (used its power for his own purposes) only in this case Zaknafein had gotten to it first. With witnesses about, the owner didn't want to be seen with it, so the drow let Zaknafein take it, thinking he would go mad once he touched it.

Which would have happened if not for a very lucky incident. Zak bent over to pick it up, but paused when a spider crawled over it. As a drow, the Weapons Master waited for the spider to move on, but then the arachnid screech out a frightful noise, before going to the tip of the blade and deliberately running itself into it.

Definitely not the normal behavior of a spider. Zak did not wish to touch it, but he knew others would come across it and that they would either die or take it with dark thoughts in mind. With no other choice Zak had taken out a glove and holding his breath, cautiously picked the dagger up. When nothing happened he let his breath out in relief. He quickly hid the dagger in his pack and left the killing sight.

The owner, who had been watching, followed and had surprised attacked him, demanding it back.

Zaknafein was shocked and had been disarmed. When the demand came he knew exactly how that house had died. The owner was from a low standing house, but he was a talented sorcerer in his own right. Zak wouldn't be fast enough to attack without a spell coming at him first.

He gambled.

Zak had carefully taken it out of his pack, his eyes on the other, and threw it at the owner. The drow did not react fast enough, for Furor grazed his hand. The drow began to cackle uncontrollably, spouting off nonsense, before picking up the dagger and simply killed himself.

Zak had other encounters with other drow finding the dagger, one even tried to kill him before killing herself; which is what led him to locking it away.

Now Drizzt might find himself in the same situation if he wasn't careful. Zak was tempted to not let Furor leave House Do'Urden, but he knew that one day Drizzt would have to leave his watchful eye, if not now than later on. It would be better to see if Drizzt could handle it now while among his own peers, who would not be able to overwhelm him, instead of later with a far greater foe.

Zak sighed dejectedly, he could only pray to whatever higher deity was listening that Drizzt would be all right.

A/N:

1: a drow version I made up of 'two birds with one stone'.

I have adopted a cat. I'm thinking of naming him L.R. (for Little Review). He is barely 4 weeks old, so I guess he is more of a kitten than a cat, but I love him anyway. He is white with the most gorgeous blue eyes. If anyone wants to play with him he is just over there.