The black ruby crystal gleamed bright as blood in the light of a circle of candles. Shakti Hunzrin bent low over the bowl, her nearsighted eyes drinking in the ____ scene magically laid out before her. Nisstyre was dead, and Liriel’s final taunt still echoed in the priestess’s ears. But the sight before her was ample proof that she had not lost, after all.
In the dark circle of the scrying bowl was a hideous face, the face of Shakti’s new ally—a creature from another plane. Not the Abyss, but another, lesser traveled place. Few drow knew of such beings, and fewer still dared to consort with them. Those who did trod a razor-thin path. On the one side was the promise of immense power; on the other, madness and servitude. The risks were great, but so was the potential reward.
Shakti Hunzrin had developed a taste for both, in nearly equal measure.
Back in the Promenade Temple, the followers of JSilistraee mourned their dead and tended the wounded according to their usual custom: they sang and they danced. Music, eerie and haunting, filled the cavern for days. Some of the songs were prayers for healing, others praise to the Dark Maiden for victory.
The Chosen found strength and solace in their dancing, but they also took time to tend to practicalities. The dragon’s wealth was added to the temple treasury to be used in aiding the many who fell prey to the dangers of Skullport. Some of the coins would help pay the expenses of rearing and training the more than dozen drow children who had been added to the Promenade’s ranks. Elkantar took charge of this task himself, tending the children with a fierce devotion reminiscent of a brooding she-dragon watching over her eggs.
Nor was Liriel idle. She worked and danced alongside the silver-haired drow, doing whatever was needed. She ventured out into Skullport from time to time, seeking adventure and planning her next steps. She could not forget that most of her journey lay before her, that the rune she needed was as yet unformed.
She also haunted the hallway outside Fyodor’s room. His wounds were mending, but slowly, and only on the third day after the battle was she allowed to see him. There was much she needed to tell him, so he could understand what lay ahead.
The Rashemi listened as Liriel told him what she knew of rune magic. First the shaping, in which a rune was formed through a journey of discovery. Then the carving of the rune on the sacred tree Yggsdrasil’s Child, using as a tool the chisel hidden inside the Windwalker amulet. Finally, the casting of a spell that forged insight into power.
“So you see, I have to go to Ruathym. I’ve booked passage. The ship leaves in a few days.”
Fyodor nodded and took her hand. “It is right for you to go, little raven. In my land, no wychlaran would consider giving up her power for another, as you would have done in the dragon’s cavern. I will never forget that, or you.”
The drow stared at him. Understanding came to her, then rage. Snatching free her hand, Liriel leaped to her feet, head held high and eyes blazing. “After all this, do you still think so little of me? Or do you doubt I’m wizard enough to wield the Windwalker for us both?”
“It is not that,” he said somberly. “I doubt neither your friendship nor your powers. But the journey you describe is not one I wish to make.”
Liriel fell back a pace. It had never occurred to her that Fyodor might not wish to come with her. “To see the land of your ancestors!” she wheedled.
“It is a worthy dajemma” Fyodor agreed slowly, warming to the entreaty in her eyes, “but I do not want to endanger you so. You take a great risk, to travel with me as I am.”
So that was it, Liriel thought with relief. Humans worried about the strangest things! Risk!
“It hasn’t been dull,” she agreed happily, sitting down on the edge of his bed. “You’ve got to get better fast, for the ship leaves as soon as the captain is released from a certain dungeon. I’d have thought it nearly impossible to get arrested in Skullport, but Hrolf the Unruly has a certain flair for such things. Let me tell you…”
With a smile, Fyodor leaned back against his pillows, well content to yield the role of storyteller to another. His excitement grew as he listened, for the plans Liriel unfolded far exceeded any dreams for dajemma that he, the dreamer, had ever dared to fashion. Whether or not he ever regained control of his berserker .magic, the journey she described would be well worth taking.
But what pleased him most of all was the knowledge that their journey together was just beginning.
Welcome to the FORGOTTEN REALMS, the largest and most detailed of TSR’s fantasy worlds.
Look out from the high walls of Waterdeep, the sprawling, cosmopolitan City of Splendors. Beyond lies the Savage Frontier: the rugged mountains and endless forests of the Sword Coast, wilderlands that cloak the crumbling ruins of fallen kingdoms.
Travel with the caravans that cross these dangerous lands, heading east toward the kingdom of Cormyr, fabled realm of ancient forests, land of chivalry and romance. Stop over in the Dalelands, home of the crusty old wizard Elminster and the birthplace of many heroes and heroines. Then continue onward to distant Thay . . . and beyond.
In your travels, you will encounter
many folk from highborn to low. Among the beautiful and deadly Seven Sisters are Storm Silverhand, the silver-haired Bard of Shadowdale, and High Lady Alustriel, the gentle and just ruler of Silverymoon. A third sister is the Simbul, fey and wild-tempered Witch-Queen of Aglarond. There are four more sisters, each beautiful and powerful in her own way.
If you meet them on the road, do not meddle with the mysterious Harpers, who work to uphold freedom and the causes of good throughout the Realms. You may, however, share a drink with the eccentric explorer Volo, and pick his brain for a wealth of information about your next destination. Beware that sinister-looking fellow in the corner of the common room. He may be a Zhentarim agent, gathering information for a takeover of the Heartlands.
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Should the surface world not prove exciting enough for you, make your way beneath Mount Waterdeep to traverse the miles upon miles of tunnels and caverns known as Undermountain—but beware its deadly traps and skulking monsters. If you survive these hazards, press on to the subterranean city of Menzoberranzan, home of the deadly drow and birthplace of the renegade Drizzt DolJrden.
When you return to the light of the surface world, you may want to explore the crumbling ruins of Myth Drannor, a storehouse of lost magic and deadly monsters in the heart of the vast Elven Court forest.
From the dangerous sewers and back alleys of sprawling cities, to glaciers, deserts, jungles, and uncharted seas (above and below the surface!), there’s a whole world to explore in the lands of the FORGOTTEN REALMS.
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More books for your Underdark reading pleasure
If you enjoyed reading Daughter of the Drow, don’t miss the further adventures of dark elf Liriel Baenre and her companion, Fyodor of Rashemen. In Tangled Webs, by Elaine Cunningham, Liriel is lured from her home on a quest for magical power. When she stumbles upon ancient lore that enables her to wield her innate drow magic on the surface world, she sets off in search of excitement. Before her adventure is over, Liriel must battle an old foe, accept a deadly power over her closest friend, and confront her own dark nature. (ISBN 0-7869-0516-6)
Explore the world of Menzoberranzan and Skullport, of warriors and rogues like Drizzt DoTJrden and Liriel Baenre. Leave the security of the surface world and seek out the darkness that lies below, in novellas by Ed Greenwood, Elaine Cunningham, Roger Moore, Brian Thomsen, and Mark Anthony. Welcome to the Realms of the Underdark.
(ISBN 0-7869-0487-9)
Beneath the city of Waterdeep lies a city of another sort, created by a mad wizard in ages past. Its subterranean byways are home to all manner of creatures, human and otherwise. Join Artek the Knife and his companions as they attempt to Escape from Undermountain (by Mark Anthony). (ISBN 0-7869-0477-1)
Follow the adventures of the most famous dark elf in the Realms. The drow outcast Drizzt Do’Urden and his friends find plenty of trouble in R. A. Salvatore’s best-selling series: The Legacy (ISBN 1-56076-640-9) Starless Night (ISBN 1-56076-880-0) Siege of Darkness (ISBN 0-7869-0164-0)
About the Author
Elaine Cunningham spends a great deal of time in one alternate reality or another. Her work for TSR. Inc. includes a dark fantasy story in the Mist.s of Ravenlofl anthology, a young adult novel for FIRST QUEST”1 Books entitled The Unicorn Hum. and the fourth book in the SPELUAMMER Books Cloakmaster Cycle. The Radiant Dragon. She is most at home in the Forgotten Realms, which is the setting of her best-selling Harper novels Elfshadow and Elfsong. as well as related stories in the FORGOTTEN REALMS anthologies Realms of Vfr/wand Realm* of Infamy.
Elaine is an omnivorous reader, an occasional musician, and a dedicated dilettante who has more interests than time. Of all the worlds she inhabits, her favorite is shared by her husband, William, and their two sons. Andrew and Sean.