Chapter 30: The spiders fall

With heavy panting, his body covered in blood and his red eyes standing wide, frantic even, Breghen slammed the door behind him in the lock, pulling Elendar from his slumber. When the man looked over his shoulder, his eyes turned wide, seeing his panting son standing against the door, like he wanted to prevent anyone from coming in. The man raised himself from the ground, pulling himself up at the bars of his cell. The torture and the cold environment had made his joints stiff and it took him more and more strength to get up from the ground.

“What …” he started, but Breghen jumped in between.

“She’s dead.” He stammered. Elendar frowned, letting his eyes get used to the light of the fire that the young boy lit in one of the braziers. 

“Who’s dead?” He asked carefully.

“Nazira! Nazira is dead!” The boy yelled in panic. He started to pace from side to side, trying to calm his mind, but it had no use.

While the boy was getting more and worked up, falling into a state of panic, Elendar tried to keep his cool. He took a deep breath, leaning into the iron bars.

“What happened?” he asked in a calm tone, trying not to rouse his son more than he already was.

“The Blue Dragon!”

“The Blue Dragon?” Elendar repeated in a shocked and surprised tone. Almost all Drow knew who the Blue Dragon was. A Dragon Elf that had killed more Drow than any other known outsider. She was there on the surface and had prevented more than one surface raid, angering the Spider Queen in her wake. She formed a barrier between the Underdark and the Surface. More than once stories from the Blue Dragon reached the larger cities, telling about her devastating power and her wiping out entire Drow villages and outposts. It was even told that many Drow disappeared without a trace whenever she had passed. For a long time, she had been seen as a legend, a myth, … As there was never a Drow that could tell the tale … until now it seemed.

“Yes, the Blue Dragon!” Breghen spat out, his hands going through his white hair, grabbing at the roots like he wanted to pull it out.

“I saw her standing next to Nazira, cutting …. cutting out her latest child. Together with that Thaqir guy, the traitor!”

Elendar shook his head when he heard the story, trying to put things in their place, but no matter he tried, it seems unbelievable.

“What child? Who’s Thaqir?” Elendar asked, trying to put the pieces together.

Breghen stopped pacing for a second, his eyes looking towards Elendar. Seeing his father’s calm look seemed to calm him down for a bit. Elendar could see the desperation in his son’s eyes and he knew there was more at play.

“A rogue, a Drow rogue, but he … he always scared me. Like a shadow looms around him. His eyes were black, instead of red. Tall, broad,... Creepy looking guy. He came out of nowhere. She trusted him, he was good at his job. He has been at her side for the past years, but now … he stood at her side. At the Dragon’s side. Suddenly House Doh’Arn was attacked, out of the shadows. Nazira was pregnant again.”

Elendar frowned. Wasn’t her last child barely a year old? The one that Breghen had conceived? Most Drow females waited a few decades, some even centuries before thinking of another child. Strengthening their house wasn’t done by breeding alone. It seemed to him that Matron Nazira had other opinions about that fact. But Elendar didn’t doubt it that the wicked female was planning something … or had at least.

“She became obsessed with getting children, wanting her House to become the strongest. But they came, the Dragon’s army. They killed her, Nazira, slashing her throat. She cut her open, ripping the baby from her womb. I … I …. I couldn’t find her!!”

Elendar tilted his head, noticing the rising panic in his son's eyes. He knew he was no longer talking about Nazira, but someone else.

“Who? Who was it you couldn’t find?”

“MY DAUGHTER!!” Breghen yelled, slamming on the iron bars. His breathing was still heavy, indicating his body becoming more and more tired as he tried to calm himself down. 

“She was gone, she was not in her room. I couldn’t find her, there was no trace!!”

“You … you went to look for her?” The man asked carefully, only to see Breghen nod.

“So you care for her …”

Breghen wanted to reply something, yet the realization came faster.

“I … I don’t … I didn’t …” He stammered when he looked up, looking towards the slight smuk face of the imprisoned man. Elendar couldn’t withhold a chuckle, knowing that laughing right now was not the right thing to do, but seeing his son so desperate because he couldn’t find his daughter, made him feel euphoric inside. 

“You care …” Elendar said carefully, not wanting to look like he enjoyed his son’s suffering. 

“You wanted to keep her safe, otherwise you would not have gone out to look for her. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t stand here like a panicking parent.”

Breghen suddenly grabbed the bars, pulling himself closer towards the cell, letting out an angry snarl.

“Don’t mock me. This is your fault, you and your blasphemous chattering about care and love. This is all your fault!! You filled my mind with these sacrilegious thoughts!”

“No!” Elendar slamming his fist on the iron.

“This is your own doing! I can not teach you how to care or about how to love. You can or you can not. You have to find that out by yourself and you just did! You are scared to lose your child, just as I was scared to lose you and my daughter. You are afraid to lose something you love!”

“No, I …”

Elendar grabbed the bars, trying to come as close to his son as he could.

“Listen to me, Breghen. This is no longer the place for you. Leave the Underdark. In this lightless world, such feelings will only drive you mad. You will have to watch how the people you care for die before your very eyes. It will drive you insane! If they know about it, they will use it against you. Just like they used it against me!”

Breghen gave an uncontrolled snarl, his fist slamming into the stone wall.  

“How!?” he yelled. “How can I leave? They will hunt me, I am theirs!!” He said enraged, not wanting to admit that his own father, the one he despised for so long, hated with all his might, was right. The idea that his daughter, his own child was dead was driving him mad.

“Where would I go?!”

“To the surface. Find your sister. It’s the only place where you will be safe as a dark skinned elf.”

“Ha!” Breghen laughed, an uncontrolled chuckle leaving his mouth.

“My sister …” he whispered. “The one of whom I killed her mother, her Tribe, destroyed her home.” 

His eyes dropped, turning towards the imprisoned man, who was looking at him with empathy in his eyes. 

“If she learns of what I did, she will hate me. She will kill me!”

“No, she won’t.” Elendar said, releasing a sigh.

“How can you know?” Breghen said, turning his back to the wall, letting himself slip to the ground.

“Because the surface doesn’t work that way. The Surface is not the Underdark. Yes, she will hate you. And she will maybe think to kill you, but she won’t. They are not mindless killers as we are, Breghen. She will be hurt, she will be angry, but once she learns the truth, the fact that you were forced to kill her family … She will forgive you. And she will punish those who are really responsible for her Tribe’s death. You were only the blade after all … not the one who ordered the command.”

Breghen was silent for a few seconds, letting his father’s words roll in his mind for a bit, seeing the image of the white haired girl he once saw in a vision, looking at him, reaching out her hand. But he quickly shook the daydream away from his mind.

“I can never escape …” he whispered. “I am their weapon, their champion, their … tool.” The boy dropped his head towards his knees, realizing his fate. 

“They will hunt me, track me down and punish me like they’d punish you, like … a traitor.” 

​

Elendar lowered himself to his knees, trying to get an eye to eye level with the teenage boy, for that was what he still was. A boy, a child. Born in this dark matriarchal underworld where men were nothing more than toys for the women, all under control of Lolth, the Spider Queen.

“You have to try, Breghen. If you don’t, you will be trapped here forever. Go out, run! You will be able to track her with your blood connection, just like you tracked me. It will guide you, lead you, faster than their tracker will be able to catch you.”

Breghen huffed shortly, cracking a weak smile.

“You really think I can do that?” he whispered. Elendar answered his smile with his own.

“Yes, I think you …”

“AARRRGGGHHHH!”

A scream filled the halls, making that Breghen shot up from the ground.

“What was that?” He whispered, only hearing more and noise coming from the halls. People that were running, yelling orders in a frantic way. Suddenly the entire House was in an uprising.

Breghen left the cell compartment, running up the stairs and using his levitation to reach the Noble quarters.

“What is going on?” he asked, seeing his mother yelling out commands to his sisters and the rest of the Clerics, while the warriors were ordered by their commanders.

“Our House is under attack, you fool!” Sharadreza barked, balling her fist in the process.

“Who?” Breghen asked. “Who is so foolish to attack House Duscrain?”

“House Deveniir!” Irae’Lin yelled back.

“House Deveniir?” Breghen asked, confused. “But why? They are in a higher position than us! What would they gain from attacking us??”

“Revenge.” Shinira answered on her turn.

“It is known that Nazira made some shady deals with Deveniir, which were not in their advantage. Now that Nazira is dead, they want to take back what is theirs … by attacking us, the ones who were her allies.”

Breghen walked to the balcony, seeing the fight envelop before his eyes down in the courtyard. Unprepared, House Duscrain 's warriors were trying to organize themselves. They had been living safe in their walls for almost a decade. House Doh’Arn had protected them and no fool had thought to ever strike and invoke the wrath of Matron Nazira. But when a Matron falls from her throne, that news would quickly spread among the Priestesses of Lolth. Now that House Duscrain was no longer under the protection of House Doh’Arn, they were weak.

“The gate is breached!!” Irae’Lin barked while Breghen saw how the magical gate to their courtyard was broken, it’s magic disappearing in thin air. Troops of House Deveniir rushed inside, killing any warriors that carried the insignia of House Duscrain. From the sides, the Deveniir wizards waved their wands, calling spells and demons in their wake.

“They are slaughtering us!!” Irae’Lin yelled in anger, balling her fist towards her mother, who sat down on her throne, releasing a deep sigh.

“It seems so, my daughter.” The matron whispered, her eyes dropping to the floor. 

“You accept this defeat without even trying to fight back?? Do you really want House Duscrain to go into history as cowards!!??”

Irae’Lin growled, already reaching for her whip. Breghen saw her intention, the hatred in her eyes. He knew his sister would not go under without a fight. And if she had to kill their mother to get the power she needed to give it a try, she would do so.

“Breghen.” The boy turned around when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. When he looked over his shoulder, he noticed that Shinira stood behind him.

“Leave this House, now! If she takes power, you will no longer be safe.”

​

The boy knew she was right. Irae’Lin hated him with her entire heart. If she would become Matron of House Duscrain and succeed, he would no longer be their Elderboy, but their brother. And with Nazira gone, he no longer had her protection as well. Irae’Lin would whip him down to the ground, let him crawl like an underground rat, begging for his life. It never mattered to her that he survived that trial years ago. It had only angered her more, that it had not been her who was placed on that sacrificial stone. 

He knew what Shinira did was not out of love and neither out of mercy. It was simple preservation. He had a special power in his blood, the power of elements. If he would die, it would be lost. But if he would live, the power would stay alive as well. He knew his sister hinted towards the shadow world of Dro’Naqar, becoming a mercenary. Everyone knew that Shinira had some deep connections there to acquire needed information. And when the time comes, she would call upon Breghen to complete his debt ...

Without saying anything, no nod, no hum, the boy turned around, not waiting to see if Irae’Lin would strike or not. But when he approached the exit of the hall, a sudden restless feeling came over him. From the shadows, a pair of red eyes were looking at him and he could see a sneer forming on the person’s face. 

“And where are you going, my disloyal champion?”