Chapter I

	Under the light of the moon, a lone male drow moved as silently as the shadows 
themselves.  He was glad that night had finally fallen.  His eyes were still sensitive to the 
light.  He’d only been on the surface for three weeks, and he was sure the blinding light 
of the sun would end up causing his demise.
	“ If only because of the headaches it give me…,” he muttered.  The night offered 
little comfort though, with its stars and moon.  In the Underdark, one always had tons of 
rock hanging over one’s head.  The young drow felt oddly exposed under the seeming 
endless sky of the surface world.
“ I’ll only be up here in this insufferable place a while longer,” he reminded 
himself.  “ Just long enough to see if the rumors are true, and if they are, to bring mother 
home.”
	This young drow was named Ra’zak Da’sharr, and as far as he knew, his mother 
died seventeen years ago when their house was destroyed.  Ra’zak shuddered 
involuntarily as he remembered that day…he was only ninety-five years old when it 
happened.  He was down in the gym awaiting his father, Ra’nafein, to show up for their 
daily sparing session, when he heard the screams of outrage coming from the throne 
room.  He had rushed to look out a window, and almost got his head taken off by a 
crossbow bolt.  He scrambled down the hall, knowing full and well that the house was 
under attack.  A spell of lightning ripped through the air and the roof the temple came 
crashing down.  He heard the screams of several of the priestesses, and knew most of 
them were dead.  What he didn’t know, was that his mother, Zakvara, the High Priestess 
of House Da’sharr, was in the temple.  Ra’zak turned to go and find his father, but saw 
Ra’nafein before he even took a step.  The frantic weapons master was digging through a 
pile of rubble, trying to get into the temple to find Zakvara.  Ra’zak had run over, had 
tried to explain it was a pointless task, that Zakvara had been crushed to death under 
almost a ton of stone, but Ra’nafein would have none of it, and kept digging.  When 
another bolt of lightning shook the house, and sent the roof tumbling down on the two 
finest warriors of House Da’sharr, it took all of Ra’zak’s strength to push his father out of 
the way, and clear the falling rubble himself.  Only then did Ra’nafein give up his search, 
and the two of them used a secret passage to get out of the house, and out of the city.  
Three days later they reentered, and joined a band of renegade drow that admitted both 
males and females.  This group was the most powerful mercenary band in the city, and 
did not admit weaklings, but Ra’nafein knew the leader of Velderin D’streea, Dalnar, 
from his days at Magthere D’thulack so Ra’zak and his father joined.
For seventeen years, he had thought his mother dead and had been renegade drow 
on the streets of Ched Nasad…then the rumors of a two female drow that lived on the 
surface had begun to filter into the city.  They were rumored to live south of Baldur’s 
Gate, and one of them was very young…only sixteen or seventeen.  The other was older, 
about two to three hundred, and was the younger drow’s mother.  The daughter was a 
ranger in training who had supposedly tamed a winter wolf, and the mother was rumored 
to have once been the High Priestess of a fallen drow house, who still wielded her magic 
but was also skilled with the sword.  The woman was rumored to have once lived in Ched 
Nasad.
	The rumors had gotten under Ra’zak’s skin…could the older drow woman be his 
mother?  It had been seventeen years since the fall of the house…could the younger drow 
be a sister he had not even know he had?  The questions had burned in Ra’zak’s mind for 
weeks before he decided to go see for himself.  At least then he would know the truth.  
He left Ched Nasad without telling anyone where he was going.  He had no wish to get 
his father’s hopes up, only to have them crushed if the rumors weren’t true.  And he 
would need no one’s help surviving on the surface.  He had his armor and his 
weapons…a long sword and a crossbow.  Ra’zak had graduated first in his class and had 
been the second best warrior in House Da’sharr, out matched only by his father.  He 
needed no help…or so he told himself.
	With a sigh, Ra’zak pulled out his map.  He would make it to Baldur’s Gate well 
before sunrise.  He was almost there.
	“ Know this, Zakvara Da’sharr…if you are alive, I will find you,” he whispered.

* * *

	Azet and Gabriella walked silently down the dimly lit hall of the thieves’ guild.  It 
was unusual for Ranster to call people to his private rooms just to give them a mission.  
Usually, word was sent through one of his lieutenants, or the guild mage, Vallatar, who at 
this point in time, happened to be a Gold Elf who had been exiled from his homeland for 
doing several ‘naughty things’.
	“ I don’t like this at all!,” Gabriella hissed under her breath as ran a hand through 
her raven black hair in a futile attempt to keep it out of her golden eyes.  Her black hair 
had golden highlights that shimmered brightly in the dim candlelight.
	Azet nodded, and turned to say something when Vallatar put a hand on her 
shoulder.
	“ Val?,” Gabriella asked.  The wizard sighed wearily.  His golden eyes still shined 
brightly in the dim light, as did his golden hair, which fell to his shoulder blades.
	“ Promise me you will watch your backs carefully this night…I fear I shan’t see 
either of you for quite some time.  Our halfling friend is not to be trusted.  Flee the city as 
soon as you are sure no prying eyes are following you, and do not return until you know 
you will be able to defeat much of the guild.”
	“ What are you babbling about?,” Azet asked and poked the elven mage on the 
shoulder.
	“ Ranster has set you up!  He has alerted the Flaming Fist that the two of you are 
planning to rob Sorceress Sundries and I swear half of the damn garrison will be there to 
meet you, and take you to your deaths!  I warn you only because you are my 
friends…and the only of my kin in this place,” Vallatar sighed.
	“ We owe you one, my friend,” Gabriella said and kissed him lightly on the 
cheek.
	“ Yep,” Azet nodded in agreement and also kissed the mage.  “ We’ll come back 
for you as soon as we can, then all three of us can have some grand adventures, alright?”
	“ Of course, my dear,” Val smiled and then turned and walked away, hoping that 
Azet’s prophecy would come true.
	“ I’m going to kill that little halfling runt!,” Azet hissed as she and Gabriella 
resumed their march down the hall.  “ Why would he do such at thing!  We’re the best 
thieves in the whole damn guild!” the elf paused and then her eyes narrowed.  “ and that’s 
the bloody answer to my question!”
	“ We’ve been here to long…,” Gabriella shook her head.
	“ It’s only been fifty years!,” Azet sputtered.
	“ For us, no time at all…for halfings and humans, that’s almost a life time,” 
Gabriella said.  “ He thinks were going to over throw him and take the guild for ourselves 
and end up having the whole city under our thumbs for hundreds of years.”
	“ And not only does this put Ranster on alert, but the other guild leaders have no 
desire to see a group of elven thieves rule ‘their’ city.”
	Gabriella nodded as they reached the door to Ranster’s main chamber.  “ Do we 
even go in?  Or do we take the back way out and run?”
	“ We take the back way out, stop by the armory, then we run…then once we’ve 
made some friends we come back for Val and destroy Ranster and his ever so precious 
guild,” Azet smiled.
	“ Sounds like a wonderful plan to me,” Gabriella nodded.  Then the two warrior 
thieves ran off down the hall.

***

	Dalnar walked silently and swiftly down the thin magical webbing walkway that 
led to the back gate of the House Nasadra, First House of Ched Nasad.
	“ Ah, little brother,” a silky voice cooed from the shadows near the gate, “ Any 
news?”
	“ Nothing worth reporting, but I’d rather not face Matron Aunrae’s wrath by not 
showing up for this at all,” Dalnar grinned as the owner of the voice, one of his five elder 
sisters, stepped out of the shadows.  He smiled despite himself when it was Verellina.  
She was Dalnar’s favorite sister…mostly because she at least offered him a minimal 
amount of respect for running Venonik Streea.
	“ Tell me, Dalnar, what is going on in the outside world?,” Verellina asked.
	Dalnar’s smiled widened.  There was another reason he liked Verellina…she was 
actually interested in his work.  “ Well, Razak Da’sharr had gone missing.”
	“ Oh really?,” Verellina asked and raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.  “ Isn’t he 
one of your best fighters?”
	“ That he is.  He’s been gone for about three weeks now.  You’ve heard of the 
rumors of the Drow priestess that has taken up residence near Baldur’s Gate, yes?”
“ I’m not totally blind to the rumors flying within our city,” Verellina snapped as 
she lowered her hand towards the snake-headed whip at her side.  She may have liked 
Dalnar to a certain extent, but he was still a male.
	“ Razak thinks it’s his mother,” Dalnar said quickly.
	“ Zakvara Da’sharr?,” Verellina laughed.  “ That traitorous wench died seventeen 
years ago when her house fell…that was her fault you know…how dare she forsake Lloth 
and worship Eilistraee!”
	Dalnar simply nodded.  Like many Drow males, he had no love for the Spider 
Queen, but did nothing to inspire her wrath or put his family out of her favor.
	“ I do hope he is telling you valuable information, Verellina,” a cold, cruel voice 
said.  Dalnar had to stop himself from cringing, for this sister would not hesitate to use 
her whip.
	“ Hello to you as well, Guenavar,” Dalnar said.  Guenavar glared at him.  She was 
the second most powerful of Matron Mother Aunrae Nasadra’s daughters.  She was out 
matched only by Telesona, the oldest of the Nasadra children.
	“ Come along, Verellina,” Guenavar hissed.  “ You needn’t waste anymore of 
your time on this…male.”  With that, the High Priestess of Lloth spun on her heel and 
marched back into the Nasadra Mansion grounds.
	“ It appears it is time for me to return to being a ‘houseless rebel’,” Dalnar 
grinned at Verellina.  “ Next month then?  For the report?”
	“ As always,” Verellina said and headed back inside.  After all her meetings with 
Dalnar, she couldn’t help but be amazed at her mother’s wisdom.  By allowing Dalnar to 
lead the mercenary guild of Venonik Streea, she had eyes in the surface world, and into 
all corners of the city.  Nothing got past Matron Aunrae.  Nothing.  Verellina dreaded the 
day something did.