“You have evidence of all this?” Haresk demanded. As Coran had surmised, up until now he had believed that the drow invasion of the Cormanthor had been a strategic military action, but if the monk was right, then this was an entirely different war than he thought it was. “The drow who hold the Windstar estate are part of a large group, several thousand strong, that apparently calls itself house Jaelre… which is the same group that has been raiding Mistledale,” Coran revealed. “We found documents that detailed their efforts to repurpose the mythals that protected the Court to defend them, while at the same time trying to keep the dales from interfering with them and stealing supplies. The drow who abused Ryllae often taunted her about being unworthy to breed with, but that another group he called the Auzkovyn clan wasn’t as selective and that if she had been taken by them, one of them would have probably made her his wife and she’s have been baring children already. I also gleamed a lot of information from my own travels and various encounters I have had with drow, both hostile and cordial… and yes, there are drow who are not hostile who do not worship Eilistraee. Like every race, not all drow subscribe to the same philosophy, some see Lolth’s silence and the fall of Maerimydra as opportunities to escape their oppressive society and live free. Most of the individual drow I’ve encountered who were not hostile fall into this category… they just want to survive in a world that hates and reviles them on sight.” Haresk, Nerval and Willow stared at Coran with near disbelief, while Taenya smiled coyly, now understanding why he was so receptive of her, he had spent time with other drow who were not evil. The only reason they took what he said at face value was the influence of the candle of truth, which meant that at least he believed everything he had said. However, what he had told them would change everything they thought they knew about the conflict they were in with the drow; there were a lot more of them then they believed, the attacks on the dales were only distractions and supply raids, and there were multiple factions who were as hostile toward each other as they were to everyone else. He had also claim that he had encountered at least a few non-hostile drow who had broken from their kin to try and survive on their own. These revelations were as important as the existence of the priestesses of Eilistraee. “What you have told is in earthshattering,” Haresk admitted with a heavy sigh. “But knowing that the attacks against Mistledale are little more than supply raids and distractions to keep our forces from their main efforts in the Elven Court doesn’t change the fact that we can barely defend our people. However, knowing that they are desperate for supplies, we will need to reinforce the defense of the Abby of the Golden Sheaf. If roamers are true, and the Abby stores are sufficient to feed all the dales for years, then they could sustain this house Jaelre indefinitely. I surmise that the only reason they haven’t made an all-out assault on Abby is that they do not know what’s there.” Drug in by a pair of Riders, with another two standing guard, the drow wizard was unceremoniously shoved into heavy metal chair, his arms and legs shackled, while his hands were contained in mage-binders, rigid metal gloves that held his hands and fingers immobile, fused together and locked about his wrists, and a harsh leather gag keep him silent. As soon as the gag was removed, he began to spit a stream of curses, but, with a newly lit candle of truth that burned before him preventing him for saying anything false, he quickly found himself fumbling for words as he couldn’t utter anything physical impossible, which most curses include. “If your quite through?” Haresk began calmly, when he stops, realizing he was only babbling incoherently. “Why don’t we start with your name?” Sneering at the portly human, he knew that he would probably be put to death sometime soon, so his name might as well live, so he replied with an arrogant smirk; “I am Adamar Yhendorn… enemy of humanity and upholder of drow supremacy.” “Right,” the High Councilor acknowledged dismissively, then continued in the tone of a practiced official; “We know there are many factions of drow within the Cormanthor… which do you serve?”