Elaine Cunningham - The Best of the Realms, Book I

Elaine Cunningham

There were in the lands of Toril powerful men whosenames were seldom heard, and whose deeds were spoken only in furtive whispers.Among these were the Twilight Traders, a coalition of merchant captains whodid business with the mysterious peoples of the Underdark.

There were perhaps six in that exclusive brotherhood,all canny, fearless souls who possessed far more ambition than morals.Membership in the clandestine group was carefully guarded, achieved onlythrough a long and difficult process monitored not only by the members, but bymysterious forces from Below. Those who survived the initiation were granted arare window into the hidden realms: the right to enter the underground tradecity known as Mantol-Derith.

An enormous cavern hidden some three miles below thesurface, Mantol-Derith was shrouded with more layers of magic and might than a wizard'sstronghold. Secrecy was its first line of defense: even in the Underdark, notmany knew of the marketplace's existence. Its exact location was known only toa few. Even many of the merchants who regularly did business there would havebeen hard pressed to place the cavern on a map. So convoluted were the routesleading to Mantol-Derith that even duergar and deep gnomes could not hold theirrelative bearings along the way. Between the market and any nearby settlementlay labyrinths of monster-infested tunnels complicated by secret doors,portals of teleportation, and magical traps.

No one "stumbled upon" Mantol-Derith; amerchant either knew the route intimately or died along the way.

Nor could the marketplace be located by magical means.The strange radiations of the Underdark were strong in the thick, solid stonesurrounding the cavern. No tendril of magic could pass through-all spells wereeither diffused or reflected back to the sender, sometimes dangerously mutated.

Even the drow, the undisputed masters of theUnderdark, did not have easy access to the market. In the nearest dark elvensettlement, the great city of Menzoberranzan, no more than eight merchantcompanies at any one time knew the secret paths. That knowledge was the key toimmense wealth and power, and its possession the highest mark of statusattainable by members of the merchant class. Accordingly, it was pursued withan avid ferocity, with complex levels of intrigue and bloody battles ofweaponry and magic, all of which would probably earn nods of approval from thecity's ruling matrons-if indeed the priestesses of Lolth were inclined tonotice the doings of mere commoners.

Few of Menzoberranzan's ruling females-except forthose matron mothers who maintained alliances with this or that merchantband-had much interest in the world beyond their city's cavern. Those drow werean insular people: utterly convinced of their own racial superiority,fanatically absorbed in their worship of Lolth, completely enmeshed in thestrife and intrigue inspired by their Lady of Chaos.

Status was all, and the struggle for power all-consuming.Very little could compel the subterranean elves to tear their eyes from theirtraditionally narrow focus. But Xandra Shobalar, third-born daughter of a nobleHouse, was driven by the most powerful motivating forces known to the drow: hatred and revenge.

The members of House Shobalar were reclusive even bythe standards of paranoid Menzoberranzan, and they were seldom seen outside ofthe family complex. At the moment, Xandra was farther from home than she hadever intended to go. The journey to Mantol-Derith was long-the midnight hour ofNarbondel would come and pass perhaps as many as one hundred times from theoutset of her quest until she stood once again within the walls of HouseShobalar.

Few noble females cared to be away for so long, forfear that they would return to find their positions usurped. Xandra had no suchfears. She had ten sisters, five of whom were, like Xandra, counted among therare female wizards of Menzoberranzan. But none of these five wanted her job.

Xandra was Mistress of Magic, charged with the wizardlytraining of all young Shobalars as well as the household's magically giftedfosterlings. She had a great deal of responsibility, certainly, but there wasfar more glory to be found in the hoarding of spell power, and in conductingthe mysterious experiments that yielded new and wondrous items of magic. Ifone of the Shobalar wizards should ever try to wrest the instructor's positionaway, the powerful Xandra would certainly kill her-but only as a matter ofform. No drow female allowed another to take what was hers, even if she herselfdid not particularly want it.

Xandra Shobalar might not have been particularlyenamored of her role, but she was exceedingly good at what she did. TheShobalar wizards were reputed to be among the most innovative inMenzoberranzan, and all of her students were well and thoroughly taught.

These included the children-both female and male-ofHouse Shobalar, a few second-born sons from other noble Houses, which Xandraaccepted as apprentices, and a number of promising common-born boy-childrenthat she acquired by purchase, theft, or adoption-an option that usuallyoccurred after the convenient death of an entire family, rendering themagically-gifted child an orphan.

However they came to House Shobalar, Xandra's studentsroutinely won top marks in yearly competitions meant to spur the efforts of theyoung drow. Such victories opened the doors of Sorcere, the mage school at thefamed academy Tier Breche. So far every Shobalar-trained student who wished tobecome a wizard had been admitted to the Academy, and most had excelled in theArt. Their high standard was a matter of pride, which Xandra Shobalar possessedin no small measure.

It was that very reputation for excellence, however,that had caused the problem that brought Xandra to distant Mantol-Derith.

Almost ten years before, Xandra had acquired a newstudent, a female of rare wizardly promise. At first, the Shobalar mistress hadbeen overjoyed, for she saw in the girl-child an opportunity to raise her ownreputation to new heights. After all, she had been entrusted with the magicaleducation of Liriel Baenre, the only daughter and apparent heiress of GromphBaenre, the powerful Archmage of Menzoberranzan. If the child proved to betruly gifted-and that was almost a certainty, for why else would the mightyGromph bother with a child born of a useless beauty such as SosdrielleVandree? — then it was not unlikely that young Liriel might in due time inherither sire's title.

What renown would be hers, Xandra exulted, if shecould lay claim to training Menzoberranzan's next arch-mage-the first female tohold that high position.

Her initial joy was dimmed somewhat by Gromph'sinsistence that the arrangement be kept in confidence. It was not animpossibility, given the reclusive nature of the Shobalar clan, but it wasbrutally hard on Xandra not to be able to tout her latest student and claim theenhanced status that Baenre favor conferred upon her House.

Still, the Mistress Wizard looked forward to the timewhen the little girl could compete-and win! — at the mageling contests, and shebided her time in smug anticipation of glories to come.

From the start, young Liriel exceeded all of Xandra'shopes. Traditionally, the study of magic began when children entered theirAscharlexten Decade-the tumultuous passage between early childhood and puberty.During those years, which usually began at the age of fifteen or so and weredeemed to end either with the onset of puberty or the twenty-fifthyear-whichever came first-drow children at last became physically strong enoughto channel the forces of wizardly magic, and well-schooled enough to read andwrite the complicated drow language.