Other quick links:
The door of Bythnara Shobalar's bedchamber thudded solidly against the wall, flung open with an exuberance that could herald only one person. Bythnara did not look up from the book she was reading. By now she was too accustomed to the irrepressible Baenre brat to show much of a reaction.
But it was impossible to ignore Liriel for long. The dark elf maid spun into their shared bedchamber, her arms out wide and her wild mane of white hair flying as she whirled and leapt in an ecstatic little dance.
The older girl eyed her resignedly. "Who cast a dervish spell on you?" she inquired in a sour tone.
Liriel abruptly halted her dance and flung her arms around her chambermate. "Oh, Bythnara! I am to undergo the Blooding ritual at last! Mistress just said!"
The Shobalar female disentangled herself as inconspicuously as possible as she rose from her chair, and she looked around for some pretense that would excuse her for wriggling out of the younger girl's impulsive embrace. On the far side of the room, a pair of woolen trews lay crumpled on the floor; Liriel tended to treat her clothes with the same blithe disregard a snake shows its outgrown and abandoned skin. Bythnara was forever picking up after the untidy little wench. Doing so now allowed her to put as much space as possible between herself and the unwanted affection lavished upon her by her young rival.
"And high time it is," the Shobalar wizard-in-training said bluntly as she smoothed and folded the discarded garment. "You will soon be eighteen, and you are already well into your Ascharlexten Decade. I've often wondered why my Mistress Mother has waited so long!"
"As have I," Liriel said frankly. "But Xandra explained it to me. She said that she could not initiate the rite until she had found exactly the right quarry, one that would truly test my skills. Think of it! A grand and gallant hunt--an adventure in the wild tunnels of the Dark Dominion!" she exulted, flinging herself down on her cot with a gusty sigh of satisfaction.
"Mistress Xandra," Bythnara coldly corrected her. She knew, as did everyone in House Shobalar, that Liriel Baenre was to be treated with utmost respect, but even the archmage's daughter was required to observe certain protocols.
"Mistress Xandra," the girl echoed obligingly. She rolled over onto her stomach and propped up her chin with both hands. "I wonder what I shall hunt," she said in a dreamy tone. "There are so many wondrous and fearsome beasts roaming the Lands of Light! I have been reading about them," she confided with a grin. "Maybe a great wild cat with a black-and-gold striped pelt, or a huge brown bear--which is rather like a four-legged quaggoth. Or even a fire-belching dragon!" She giggled a little at her own absurdity.
"We can only hope," Bythnara muttered.
If Liriel heard her chambermate's bitter comment, she gave no indication. "Whatever the quarry, I shall meet it with equal force," she vowed. "I will use weapons that correspond to its natural defenses: dagger against claw, arrow against stooping arrack. No fireballs, no venom clouds, no transforming it into an ebony statue."
"You know that spell?" the Shobalar demanded, her face and voice utterly aghast. It was a casting that required considerable power, an irreversible transformation, and a favorite punitive tool of the Baenre priestesses who ruled in the Academy. The possibility that this impulsive child could wield such a spell was appalling, considering that Bythnara had insulted her twice since she'd entered the room. By the standards of Menzoberranzan, this was more than ample justification for such retribution!
But Liriel merely tossed her chambermate a mischievous grin. "Will you come to my coming-of-age ceremony?" she asked with a touch of wistfulness in her voice. "After the ritual, I mean?"
"Of course. It is required."
This time Bythnara's curt remark did earn a response--an almost imperceptible wince. But Liriel recovered quickly, so quickly that the older female barely had time to enjoy her victory. A shuttered expression came over the Baenre girl's face, and she lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug.
"So it is," she said. "I faintly remember that I was required to attend yours, several years back. What was your quarry?"
This was a sore spot with her, for goblins were as a rule accounted neither intelligent nor particularly dangerous. She had dispatched the creature easily enough with a spell of holding and a sharp knife. Her own Blooding had been mere routine, not the grand adventure of which Liriel dreamed.
A tentative knock on the open door relieved Bythnara of the need to respond. She turned to face one of her mother's servants, a highly decorative young drow male discarded by some lesser house. In perfunctory fashion, he offered the required bow to the Shobalar female, then turned his attention upon the younger girl.
"You are wanted, Princess," the male said, addressing Liriel by the proper formal title for a young female of the First House.
Liriel's shoulders rose and fell in a long sigh. "What does Xandra want now?" she asked as they made the way toward the apartments housing the Mistress of Magic.
The servant cast furtive glances up and down the corridors before answering. "The archmage sent for you. His servant awaits you in Mistress Xandra's chambers."
Liriel stopped in mid stride. "My father?"
What could Gromph Baenre want of her now? It had been years since she had heard from him, although his servants regularly saw that the Shobolars were recompensed for her keep and training, and ensured that she had pocket money to spend at her infrequent outings to the Bazaar. In Liriel's opinion, this personal summons could only mean trouble. But what had she done?
Or more to the point, which of her escapades had been discovered and reported?
Return to The Best of the Realms