"Yvonnel is always keeping something from everyone, Sabal. I don't know why you're surprised," Alystin said, barely looking up from her books. She had a few volumes on demon lords and the nature of the Abyss that she was pouring over, but nothing promising had shown itself yet. She didn't understand how it was that the Lady of Sacrifice wasn't in them. It made no sense. "And so is Cessair. She's on a first name basis with demons, but I don't understand how."
Sabal leaned against the wall, looking around the vast library of Arach-Tinilith hidden in the lower levels of the famous and infamous Academy. Her connections in the Church had allowed them passage into the vaults without trouble. "This was different than the other secrets. It has to do with Lloth. I caught a single unguarded thought after that: Duskryn. They seem to be the root of a good many secrets."
The mage paused and lifted her head to meet those worried amber eyes when they flashed back towards her. "You think the two are related. How?"
"I think we need to ask Revered Lirayne that. She was the one leading troops into Niar'hannenlyn thirty years ago. Perhaps she knows something that even the Matron does not," Sabal said firmly, clearly having resolved to do something. "There is a reason you can find nothing of our demon lord in those books."
"She'll probably be here in the the library of Arach-Tinilith today. Nede always stops to talk to her," Alystin said. "She usually has her human bodyguard with her. I don't know why she keeps him around. He's clearly past his prime. I don't know if he could even defend her against an assailant."
Sabal paused. She'd seen the man in question a few times and knew he was named Galen. There had always been warmth in his thoughts when he turned his gaze towards the unreadable Lirayne. Perhaps Lirayne craved what so many drow did in secret: devotion, connection, even safety of more than one kind. Other drow were treacherous to a fault, but perhaps Lirayne had found in the human a companion an actual sense of loyalty. The wilder couldn't blame her for holding fast to something good when she had it.
Did Alystin realize she had stumbled into much the same thing? Likely not. She was too used to watching her back for any attack from any source. Sabal wondered how deep trust ran in Aly's heart.
"She has her reasons, I am certain," Sabal said a little more forcefully than usual. As tenuous as her relationship with most nobles was, she respected Lirayne. They had never actually met and talked, but the Second Daughter of House Duskryn had a reputation that spoke for itself. Which was probably part of Aly's dislike: everyone acknowledged that few could compare with the priestess in her devotion to Lloth and her skill at hunting heretics.
"I don't want to talk to her," Alystin admitted as she closed her books. "Must we?"
"Yes," Sabal said. "You said yourself that the statue bore more than a passing resemblance to Matron Siniira. Now would be an excellent time to find out why. And if anyone would know, it would be Revered Lirayne. Don't feel as though you have to come."
"No, I need to," Aly said with a sigh. "Let's go, then."
Just a little ways further into the library, Lirayne pinched the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger, looking down at the scattered notes she had about favored souls. There were plenty of scholarly treatises, but nothing that would really help her daughter learn to master her gift. Arach-Tinilith was so accustomed to training clerics that they didn't necessarily even understand what Llolfaen was. Thankfully, she had a few years to sort this business out, even if they were years spent hunched over musty tomes until her eyes felt like they were going to start bleeding. It was possible that her daughter would be acquiring the bulk of her training after Arach-Tinilith rather than during.
She heard two sets of footsteps approaching and froze for a split second before snapping her book shut. Better not to give anyone a hint of what she was working on, for Faen's sake. Lirayne's maternal instincts weren't perfect, bur she was extremely protective of her daughter. Perhaps too much. How prepared for Arach-Tinilith was Llolfaen? Certainly, she had some martial knowledge and her magical prowess, but was she capable of the casual, seemingly random violence so common to priestesses and initiates alike? At least she knew not to trust too easily.
She vaguely recognized the amber-eyed inquisitor and slender mage who rounded the corner of the shelves. House...Druu'giir? She recalled the defeat of House Kenafin in an academic way, devoid of emotion. She had been busy so close to that little war with the fight against Shami-Amourae. Two militant conflicts in two years was no small deal for Menzoberranzan despite the war-like nature of the drow. "Can I help you?" she said, crossing her arms and putting her body casually between them and the books.
"We hope so, Revered Lirayne," Sabal said respectfully. "I'm Inquisitor A'Daragon and this is Honored Alystin Druu'giir. Would it be alright if we asked you some questions about the Lady of Sacrifice?"
Lirayne arched an eyebrow. "I have no idea who the Lady of Sacrifice even is," she answered honestly. It sounded as though it was probably related to a cult, which was mildly unsettling. An inquisitor inquiring if you knew something about the religion of heretics was not generally a positive sign. "If you would care to elaborate?"
"We think she might be a new demon lord," Alystin said without preamble. She looked a little uncomfortable, as though the sooner the conversation was over, the better. Which was honestly reflective of her internal thoughts. Lirayne could have that effect on people, particularly since the priestess looked slightly irritated about being interrupted. She was at an angle to see the books, however. She even recognized some of the titles. Why is Revered Lirayne reading about favored souls? She's not one.
Something almost unreadable flickered in Lirayne's expression. Sabal caught a flash of pain and a swirl of other buried emotions: regret, anger, sorrow, concern. "I'm afraid I'm not so familiar with the power structure of the Abyss beyond the Demon Queen of Spiders," Lirayne said, even though she heard Cessair's words echo in her thoughts. Sabal heard them too. She's not coming back.
Sabal was wrestling with herself inside. Part of her wanted to press and part of her was screaming that one didn't force a priestess so much in favor with Lloth to talk about anything she didn't want to. "Anything you do know could help us," Sabal said, settling on a neat compromise.
Lirayne suddenly tensed, switching from pleasant conversation to high alert. "We are not alone," she said barely above a whisper, keen ears picking up the muted sound of soft boots against the stone floor. She'd spent a lifetime as a noble evading or slaying assassins, which meant a great deal of practice in her perceptive skills. "Are they yours, Honored Alystin?"
"No," the wizard said uneasily, tightening her grip on her staff. She was beginning to wonder exactly how inoffensive Cessair really was.
Sabal heard something and instinctively twitched to the side, very narrowly avoiding a dagger aimed at her throat. She drew her sword and sprang, colliding bodily with a figure in the shadows that tried to close with her. "There's more than one!" she called out, lashing out with her pommel to smash her assailant in the nose.
There was a crack and one screamed as divine magic tore open wounds all over his body. The blood poured out and he dropped in his tracks. Sabal didn't even flinch, more than familiar with the handiwork of Lloth's clerics. At least if Lirayne was aiding them, the assassins probably didn't belong to her. The inquisitor hissed as she felt a dagger slice across her thigh and adjusted her attention to the black-cloaked figure that was responsible. Her blade snapped in an arc, slashing open the assassin's throat before she used the momentum to carry on back towards her original target. He moved and parried with a long dagger before driving the one in his other hand towards her body.
Almost as soon as she'd felt the wound, it was closing again with a brief rush of warmth. Alystin realized that she didn't need to heal Sabal and lashed out with crackling lightning, dropping the man. "I may have put a little too much power into that. I meant to keep him alive," the wizard said apologetically.
"I could heal one," Lirayne said without enthusiasm. She seemed to approve of their deaths. She continued in a more normal tone, "I doubt they would tell us who sent them anyway. That said, we might be able to find something on them."
The disguise spells on their attackers flickered and faded now that they were dead, revealing pale and dark hair. "Cessair's friends?" Alystin ventured, crouching down by one of the bodies. "Well, probably not. They're aasimar, part celestials. What in the Nine Hells are they doing down here?"
"Definitely not Cessair," Lirayne said, well aware that her old friend wouldn't have sent anyone after her or even her guests. Inquisitors were under Yvonnel's jurisdiction, so there would be no need. Cess was firmly on the priestess's side even if she didn't follow Lloth. Loyalty was one of the main things Lirayne admired about the scoundrel. But now they had other things to worry about, so she helped Sabal search the bodies. "Nothing except a sheet of parchment with my house symbol drawn on it. Probably to identify their target. That means I need to return to my House immediately. The Matron may be in danger."
"Any other priestess would be jumping for joy if someone said that," Alystin mused.
Lirayne shrugged. "Things have changed," she said simply, standing up from her crouch. "If there's anything my sister taught me, it's that sometimes blood is thicker than personal gain." She could feel Aly's puzzled expression without needing to even look for it. The sentiment was an alien one to most drow, but it was responsible for much of Duskryn's good fortune. Lirayne and Siniira forming a united front had cowed most of their rivals into submission. One powerful, favored cleric was a serious danger to confront. Two would be virtually impossible to take out unless they were turned against each other.
Sabal felt a hint of admiration for their temporary ally. Not many drow were so loyal to anything but themselves. It reminded her of Xullae. "Why would aasimar try and kill you?" the wilder asked, heading off the conversation she could feel coming. Aly wouldn't understand, not with how poorly her family had treated her when she was young. "They're surface creatures."
"It may have to do with your line of inquiry," Lirayne said, starting to walk swiftly towards the doors. She needed to head back to the House and ensure that the assassins, if they hadn't already struck, made it nowhere near her mother. "Come with me. I may need your assistance yet and perhaps we should talk after all."
"A sudden change of heart," Aly said, equal parts curious and suspicious. She wasn't used to priestesses abruptly turning on their heel to tell her the truth.
"If there are assassins coming after my family, I have a vested interest in helping you," Lirayne said forcefully, jaw tightening at the thought. Llolfaen would be safe, since she wouldn't be wearing her House symbol as a student at Arach-Tinilith. The priestess had instructed her daughter not to, after all, warning that it could bring trouble down on her head from instructors that had an axe to grind with Matron Siniira. "I'm not exactly warmly disposed towards people with their knives pointed at my back."
The rushed walk to House Duskryn's estate in Narbondellyn was thankfully a short one with Lirayne leading the way. She seemed to know every shortcut and back alley in this section of the city and was able to cut at least a few minutes off their time. Aly had to fight down the shudder at the statues of Lloth's handmaidens on either side of the gate that made her skin crawl. It was something about the eyes, as if they were watching her. And then she felt the enchantments almost wholly concealed by the powerful wards: living statues meant to defend the House if it was under siege. So really, they were watching her. That was an unnerving realization.
The audience hall was a scene of carnage at the moment, five bodies sprawled across the floor in mangled pieces surrounded by pools of dark blood. "You're late, Lirayne," the Matron said, for once not seated in the House's ivory throne. She met them on equal footing. The past thirty years hadn't aged Siniira a day, the silver in her hair simply a few threads through snow white. At the moment, her lips were pursed in something approaching irritation, probably at the fact she'd have to clean the long, intricately woven carpet laid out that two of the bodies were bleeding on. "I assume you had a similar interruption of your business."
"They sent fewer. I feel hurt now," Lirayne said, cracking a smile. "You seem to have handled it without my aid."
"It is somewhat disappointing," the Matron Mother said, looking back at the bodies. "I always hope for something challenging to break up daily life with more excitement."
"If you like, I can hire someone skilled to assault you. I'm ever your servant, Matron," the priestess said. "They're from the surface. It seems a long way to come for either of us."
"Yvonnel already does me that particular courtesy now and again," Siniira muttered before raising an eyebrow at Alystin and Sabal. "Ah, guests. Inquisitor A'Daragon, Honored Alystin, please forgive the mess. Normally I keep a cleaner house. What can we do for you?"
Alystin felt her mouth suddenly do an admirable impression of a desert, tongue cleaving to the roof of her mouth. This was a Matron Mother on the Council, one of the women who shaped the future of Menzoberranzan without needing to lift a finger. Even Nedelyne hadn't been able to secure an audience with Siniira since she ascended to power in House Druu'giir. Apparently walking in with Revered Lirayne was the trick.
Sabal picked up the slack, feeling an echo of Aly's discomfort. "It might be better discussed in private, Matron," she said softly. "Since it may be why you've suddenly acquired an assassin problem."
Even Sabal had never imagined that she would be sitting in Matron Siniira's private quarters, talking to both the woman herself and Revered Lirayne. That was the kind of privilege reserved for someone like the Revered Daughter. But she supposed strange times lead to strange places. Aly was sitting up as straight as possible and being so carefully polite that it was almost painful. She felt exposed. If either of the clerics of Lloth were to find out her own secret, she would be dead before she could blink. At least neither of them were psionic.
"What we discuss cannot leave this room," Siniira said. She paused for a moment and checked the strength of her wards of silence just in case. However, they were as powerful as the day she'd created them. "Have no fear, Inquisitor, Yvonnel already knows all this. She was there with us. Lirayne?"
"We didn't know what they were calling her, but we do know the demon lord you speak of. I virtually had to wring it out of Cessair, but between her cryptic answer and what we've been told by the yochlol, we think we know what happened at the planar rift that once stood at the center of Niar'hannenlyn," Lirayne explained quietly, toying with her wine glass. "She ascended thirty years ago to replace Shami-Amourae and took control of a plane called Vallashan, with a fair amount of help from the Queen of Succubi."
"Why do you know all this?" Aly asked, her curiosity overcoming her fear and desire to flee as quickly as possible. She relaxed slightly into her seat and allowed her academic nature to take over her.
"She's my sister. Well, half-sister," Lirayne said bluntly. "We thought Valyne had been trapped in the Wells of Darkness after her battle with Shami-Amourae, but recently it's become apparent that she wasn't. The cult surprises me as much as it does you, trust me."
"Your half-sister?" Aly blurted out, earning a barely-there smile of amusement from Sabal. "How...?"
"That I think I can answer," Siniira said calmly, removing her circlet and setting it down on the table. "Rites of Lloth often call demons forth. In this case, the demon in question happened to be much more powerful than the average summoned creature. The children of balor and more powerful demons can hide their nature. We had no idea Valyne was as she is for most of her life."
Lirayne took up the thread. "Before the battle, Malcanthet offered a way out of death to Valyne and she took it. Cessair said something about a shard. It must have come from the heart of the Abyss, the same thing that corrupted Asmodeus and lead to his fall from grace to become Prince of the Nine Hells. For Val, it and the death of Shami-Amourae lead to her becoming a demon lord. The cult must have followed. I have a sneaking suspicion that Cess probably knows more than she admitted about that too."
"She usually does," Siniira said with a wry smile.
Sabal frowned slightly. "Aly, you said the Abyss was...shifting. Perhaps the aasimar were in the service of celestials who felt it too."
The Matron laughed, the pleasant sound hanging in the air. "There's a delightful sort of irony in celestials stooping to assassination," she said with amusement. "But why would they care about abyssal politics?"
Lirayne arched an eyebrow, remembering Malcanthet. "Perhaps it won't be just an abyssal problem," she said. "Malcanthet struck me as incredibly ambitious. What are the odds she wouldn't work with another demon lord to get what she wants? Val was connected to her closely. Maybe they think it's the easiest way to interrupt her plans."
"Whatever those are," Aly said quietly. "We need a way to find out."
"That might be a good inquiry to put to our favorite tiefling," Lirayne commented, looking to her mother.
"Then do so," the Matron said. She looked over at Sabal and Alystin. "I need a private word with my daughter for a moment if you would care to wait outside. It will just be a few minutes and then she can accompany you to speak with Cessair. The rogue might be more accommodating with our permission."