F O U R (12 page)

s.

looking boy, perhaps a disfavored son from one of the lesse A somewhat seedy cobbler in conversation while              r Houses, engaged a

an expensive pair of snakeskin boots a confederate opened his volinside. Male commoners, obliged to lower uminous mantle to slip th

eir  eyes  to  every female

compensated by sneering and swaggering their way and step  aside for every noble of either genderamong the creatures less ,

exalted than  any drow.

dwarves, the goggle-eyed fi These latter were a motley assortment of beings—gray sh-men called kuotoas, and even a huge, horned ogre

mage  from the World Above—bold enough to trade or even dwell  in a dark elf

city. Lowliest of all, at least as  numerous as the free but in their utter insignificance far easier to overlook, were the slaves. Ore, gnoll, and bugb

ear

warriors guarded their masters and mistresses, harried, starveling goblinsfetched and carried for the m

e

and hauled it away      rchants, and little reptilian kobolds collected litter .Pharaun knew from  occasional errands there that if this hub of com

merce had

existed in one of the lands that saw the sky,  it would have been exceptionally

noisy. But the Menzoberranyr, to keep  their cavern from  roaring with a

constant  echoing  clamor,  had  laid  subtle  enchantments  about  the  smooth  stone

floor. Sounds close at hand were as audible as was natural, but those farther

away  faded  and  blended  to  the  faint  drone  he  and  Ryld  had  heard  while

on the brink of Tier Breche.                     sitting

In the Bazaar, several of the magical buffers operated in close proxim

another                            ity to one .  To  newcomers, the effect coul

sufficed to carry them  from  whispering quid be a little disconcerting as a single step et to raucous noise,  the full volume of

an auctioneer's

Happily, no such enchantm shout or a piper's skirling.ents existed to suppress the smells of the

marketplace, a glorious olfactory tapest

imported from  the surface world and, alas, a little past its primry redolent of spice, exotic produce e, mu

leather                            lled wine, ,  burned frying oil, rothe dung,  freshly spilled blood, and a thousand

other things. Pharaun closed his eyes and breathed in the scent."This is always grand, isn't it?"

"I suppose," answered Ryld.For his excursion away from  Tier Breche, R

his burly shoulders. The cloak covered his dwarf-myld had tossed a piwafwi around ade armor and short sword, and its cowl obscured his features,  but no garm

ent could have hidden the

Richard Lee Byers

30

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

enormous weapon sheathed across his  back. R

Splitter                    yld called the great sword ,  and while Pharaun deplored the  nameadmit that it was apt. In his friend'      as ugly and prosaic, he had to

could with a single swing cleave alm s capable hands, the enchanted weapon ost anything in two.R

yld looked entirely relaxed, but the wizard knew the appearance was in onesense deceptive. The Master of Melee-Magthere was reflexively s

crutinizin

their surroundings for signs of danger with               gregarded him                a facility that even Pharaun, who

self as considerably more observant than most, could never match.

"Y

or do you find something lacking?"ou suppose," Pharaun repeated. "Is that  just your usual glumness speaking, "I do," said R

yld. He wathrong, the stalls, and the maze of pathved his hand in a gesture that took in the diverse

could use some order "        s snaking among them. "I think the Bazaar .

Pharaun grinned and said,  "Careful, or I'll have to report you for blasphemy. It'

s  chaos that made us, and made us what we are."

"Right. Chaos is life. Chaos is creativity. Chaos makes us strong. I rememberthe creed, but as a practical matter

,  don't you  see that all this confusion could serveas a mask for the city'

s enemies? They could use it  to smuggle their  spies  and

assassins in and to smuggle stolen secrets and treasure out.""I'm

sure they  do.  That's certainly  the way  our  agents operate in  ma

elsewhere in the Underdark."                   rketplaces

An ore female came scurrying through  the crowd with her head down and a

whipping if she didn'parchment clutched in her t deliverhand. Perhaps her master had threatened her with a narrow space between Pharaun and anothe a message quickly. She tried to dodge through the

into the wizard.            r pedestrian, misstepped, and bumped

The pig-faced slave looked up and saw that  she'd just jostled an elegantly and

open in terrorexpensively dressed dark elf. Her mouth  with its prominent lower canines fell .  Wand ran.     ith a flick of his fingers, Pharaun bade her begone. She turned

"Then the Council should control the Bazaar  properly," said Ryld. "Don'

send the occasional patrol marching through to discourage thievery. License the t just merchants. Conduct routine searches of th

"From what I understand," said Pharaun, "it'eir pack animals, tents, and kiosks."s been tried, and every time it wasthe Bazaar became less profitable and  wound up pouring fewer coin     ,

s  into the

coffers of the matron mothers. I daresay the same thing  would happen today.

Regulation would also inconvenience all  the Houses who are themselves running illicit operations hereabouts. I assure

Pharaun should know. Before his exile you, a goodly number of them do."

played a substantial role in House Mizzrymfrom his own family, he and Sabal had the deep gnomes, or svirfneblin, arguably  the deadliest of t's covert and highly illegal trade with h

e  dark  elves'  ma

foes.                                 ny

"If you say so," said Ryld. "Not being a noble, I wouldn't know about thilike that."                              ngs

elf could be, but during his climb to The wizard sighed. It was true, his friehis present eminence, he had pernd was about as humbly born as a dark force become fully acquainted with the ways of the  aristocracy. It was  just that at odd

moments he took an obscure satisfaction in pretending to a  peasant like

ignorance."Well, I rejoice that you remain so close to your roots," Pharaun said. "I'

m

Richard Lee Byers

31

War Of The Spider Queen

Book 1

Dissolution

counting on your familiarity with the slencounters with the lower orders."    ums to see me safely through my

"I've been wondering when that's  going to happen. Shouldn't we  have gone  to

Eastmyr or the Braeryn straightaway?"

HPharaun supposed that in fact, they'

"No point going there blind if we  can acquire some intelligence first."d bette

e  could have used some  idle time drifting through em

r collect it quicklyporia  ,like, f but it was a pity.

or inst

Daelein Shimmerdark's Decanter with its  astonishing collecti     ance, on of wines,

liquors, and, for those who knew  how  to  ask, potions and poisons from  all overthe world. Perhaps it would clear his head.

was still plenty to buyOr maybe it would only give him another, it seemed to  him the Bazaar as a whole was o enigma to ponder, for though there fferinfew                                 g

er goods than usual. Why was that? Could it possibly have anything  to do

with the runaway males?And what about the demon spider that had materialized above him and R

yld on the plateau and proceeded to break into Arach-T

was it simply a gambit in one of Menzoberranzan' inilith? Did that tie in, or s  innumerable secret feuds that had nothing at all to do with his concerns?

He  had to grin. He  knew  so little, and  what little he had gleaned was scarcel

a source of reassurance.                         y

"There it is," said Ryld."Indeed."

Carved from a long, relatively low protrusion of stone, the Jewel Box sat j ustinches beyond what custom decreed to  be the limits of the Bazaar

, where alltraders were required to shift their stalls  to a diff

Despite its lack of a signboard or  other external advertisemerent spot every sixty-six days. ent,  the establishment had alw

ays attracted a  steady trickle of  shoppers and  merchants,

and when the two masters descended  the stair that ran from street level to the

limestone door, Pharaun could hear considerably more sounds of revelry that

usual. There was laughter, animated conversation, and a longhorn, yarting, and h

and-drum  trio  playing  a  lively  tune.  The

flat.                  third string of the yarting was a little

Ryld knocked with the brass knocker,  wh

center of the door. A pair of eyes peered out, then disappeared. The portal swung ereupon a little panel slid open in the

open.Pharaun grinned. In all his visits there,  he had never seen anyone turned a

wa

and he suspected the business with the nonsense intended to m

ake a visit to the Jewel Box seem

peephole was just an agreeable  bit of y,

even more piquantly

criminal. Perhaps the doorman actually would attempt to dissuade a female if

one had sought admittance.The low-ceilinged room  beyond the threshold smelled of a sweet and mildl

yintoxicating incense. The three m

usicians had crowded themselves onto a

platform  against the west wall. A few of the patrons were att      tiny ending to the performance, but m

ost had elected to focus on other pleasures. At  one table, half

a dozen disheveled fellows tossed back their liquor simultaneously in  whatappeared to be a drinking contest. Other m

ales threw daggers at the target on the

wall with a blithe disregard for the safety of those standing in the immediatevicinity of thei

r mark.  Dice  clattered,  cards  rustled  and  slapped,  and  coins

scraped across tabletops as the luckier gamblers raked in their winnings.R

yld studied his surroundings with his customary unobtrusive vigilance,

Richard Lee Byers

32