------------- At the End

The Queen moved intently, quietly into the chamber. She could feel it, the time coming. She had to move quickly or this would all be for nothing. There was one last thing she had to know. The Drow stopped and looked over her shoulder, not really seeing the Queen, but she didn’t have to. The Drow didn’t have eyes in the back of her head, but she did have magical ones in every skull along the path into her sanctum. She had felt this coming.

“Well. So its time at last. Here we are at the end.”

The Queen stopped and smirked, “The end for one of us.”

The Drow turned, a look of unexpected concern on her dark lips. She hadn’t changed since the Queen had met her all those years ago in Tragidor. But despite the Queen’s powers, the Drow could see her spells were failing. Her youth would soon wash away like a tide, leaving her not old, but a lifeless husk.

“The end for neither of us, darling. Surely your pet Wizard has told you this, or perhaps that bookworm sister of yours. Maybe the Krell prophetess has seen into your future. I would expect as much. After all, I have.”

“Enough, Eclavdra. I came to ask you one last thing before I take my leave of you forever.”

Amanda pulled Khalabar slowly from its scabbard and bathed the darkness with the rainbow hues from the ancient artifact.

“Ah, so it is to be on a note of violence and bloodshed you will leave the mortal realm and take your place in Shangri-La. Ask your questions then, but do not feel your threats mean anything to me. I am now as far above Khalabar’s petty sting as you are above the cave crickets outside my fortress.”

Amanda narrowed her gaze. The Drow Witch had always known more than she should have.

“I wouldn’t upset him like that, Eclavdra.”

“Yes, he still has impulse control issues,… as do you old friend.”

“Very well, but before I ask,… what happened to your accent?”

“Vould zees be more to your likink, dahlink?,… After as many centuries, and all that time on the surface, I use it when I need it. But I am no longer that wide-eyed acolyte who watched your grand-mother die.”

That confirmed one thing Amanda had suspected all along.

“So, you were involved in that?”

“And in seeing that the Svirfneblin stole her body soon after and the priest cast his Reincarnation. You owe me your memories, your strength, your very face, dear Amanda Aeriel Hayes.”

“You can have it back after I’m dead.”

“Well, there’s a problem, as neither of us is fated to die, now are we?”

Amanda remembered Mordikai’s admonition before she left the palace. She reluctantly fought Khalabar’s bloodlust and slid him back into his scabbard.

“Enough games. Time to tell me,… tell me everything, from my grandmother to your intentions towards Lolth.”

“That may take awhile. I suggested you get comfortable. Take something off. I’ll get the lights and pour us some estreya.”

------------- Credits

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