Annihilation

"Yes," the wizard said finally, "well, I will accept that gracious threat in the spirit in which it was offered, Jeggred Baenre. Nonetheless, I—"

"Will shut up," the draegloth interrupted. "You will shut your damned mouth."

Jeggred licked the dying, squealing, flayed rat, leaving blood dribbling from his cracked gray lips.

"I don't like this," the half-demon said. "This one—" he tipped his chin to indicate the captive uridezu—"is pla

"It's a demon," Quenthel replied quietly.

"Meaning?" the draegloth asked, almost shouting.

"Meaning," Pharaun answered for her, "that of course it will betray us—or try to. The only thing you can trust about a demon is that it will be untrustworthy. It might cheer you to know we feel the same way about you, my draegloth friend."

Pharaun had expected some reaction to that comment but not the one he got. Jeggred and Quenthel locked stares, their eyes boring into each other's. There was a long silence. It was Quenthel who looked away first.

Jeggred actually seemed disappointed.

Chapter Six

Aliisza nuzzled close to Kaanyr Vhok, her long ebony tresses mingling with the cambion's silver hair.

"Have you been entertaining ladies while I was away?" the alu-fiend cooed into her lover's neck.

The cambion let out a slow breath through his nose and slid a hand onto Aliisza's back. He drew her closer to him, so their sides were pressed together. Aliisza could feel his blazing body heat, so much hotter than a dark elf's. So comfortable and reassuring. So powerful.

"Jealous?" Kaanyr Vhok whispered.

Aliisza thrilled that he was playing along. It was a rare reaction from the half-demon, who normally kept his feelings so carefully guarded.

"Never," she whispered back, pausing to let her hot, moist lips brush along his skin. "I just wish I could have joined you."

She hoped for further playfulness but instead got a dismissive chuckle. Kaanyr Vhok withdrew from her, and she plastered a coy pout on her face, narrowing her deep green eyes in a scowl.

Vhok flashed her a rare grin and put a finger gently to her lips.

"Don't cry, my dear," he said. "When this mad war is over, we'll have time for dalliances to thrill the likes of even you."

"Until then?"

He took his hand away and stepped to a small table on which was set a tray, a crystal decanter of fine brandy stolen for sport from a shop in Skullport, and a single glass.

"Until then," Vhok said, pouring a splash of the rust-colored liquid into the glass, "we'll have to occasionally break for business."

"How goes that business?"

"Menzoberranzan is under siege," the cambion answered, making a sweeping gesture to indicate their surroundings, "and will be for a very long time, unless someone manages to inject some intelligence—or dare we hope, imagination—into our gray dwarf allies."

"You don't sound hopeful," she said.

"They're as dull witted as they are ill tempered," Vhok replied, "but we make do."

He turned to look at her, and Aliisza smiled, shrugged, and sat. More accurately, she let her body pour onto a richly upholstered sofa, her lithe body draping seductively across it and her eyes playing over his body. Her leather bodice looked stiff and restraining, but it flowed over her the same way she flowed over the sofa, shifting to her will like her own skin. The sheathed long sword at her hip tucked under one leg.

Vhok's own costume was typically opulent, a tunic embroidered in a military style. A long sword of his own hung at his hip, and Aliisza knew he wore any number of magical bits and pieces, even in the privacy of his own temporary quarters.

The tent they inhabited at the rear of the siege lines was cloaked in enchantments that would prevent anyone from overhearing, peeking in, or spying on them in any conceivable way, but still Aliisza felt exposed.

"That lake," she said, her eyes drifting around the silk-draped confines of the tent, "is the dullest place I've ever been, and I've spent time in duergar cities."

Vhok took a small sip of the brandy and closed his eyes, savoring it. Aliisza had long ago gotten over not being offered any.

"It's a dreary, gray cave," she added. "I mean, the air is actually gray. It's awful."

Vhok opened his eyes and shrugged, waiting for more.

"They captured the captain," she continued.

"An uridezu?" the cambion asked.

Aliisza nodded, lifting an eyebrow at the oddly accurate guess.

"Sometimes," Vhok said, "I think you forget what I am."

"I remember," she said hastily.

Kaanyr Vhok was a cambion, the son of a human father and a demon mother. He shared the most dangerous qualities of both those chaotic animals.

Aliisza reached out a hand and shifted on the sofa.

"Come," she said. "Sit with me, and I'll tell you everything I saw. Every last detail. For the war effort."

Vhok downed the rest of the brandy in one gulp, set the glass down, and took Aliisza's hand. His olive skin looked dark and rich against her own pale flesh. Not as dark as Pharaun's of course, but…

"Sounds to me," the cambion said as he slid onto the sofa next to his demon lover, "as if these drow are pla

"They are past pla

"They are past foolishness," replied Vhok. "Typical drow, serving a chaotic mistress with such strident lawfulness. Always marching in lockstep, with their Houses and their laws and their infantile traditions. No wonder the spider bitch turned her back on them. I'm surprised she suffered their nonsense this long."

Aliisza smiled, showing perfect teeth—human teeth she chose for intimate occasions. She'd found over the decades that even Vhok could be put off by her jagged fangs. Aliisza smiled often and nearly as often changed the size and shape of her teeth to fit her mood.

"You think too little of them," she cautioned. "One or two drow have proven interesting. One or two of the interesting ones, together, can prove dangerous."

Vhok answered with a noncommittal grunt then said, "I suppose I should apologize for calling you back from the Lake of Shadows before you could make contact with this wizard of yours. It was unforgivably officious of me."

The alu-demon leaned in closer and let the tip of her tongue play along the edge of Vhok's pointed ear. He sat still, responding in ways more than simply physical. Aliisza could feel herself flush.

"You will get us both in trouble," the cambion whispered to her, "with the wrong dalliances."

"Or make us both triumphant," she replied, "with the right ones."

Vhok didn't bother answering, and Aliisza moved to whisper very close, very quietly into his ear, "They could do it. The ship of chaos could get them there."

Vhok nodded, and Aliisza tried to read that response. She thought he was happy with her at least for being as discreet as she was with that opinion, even in the spell-warded tent.

She began to unbutton his tunic, teasing him with each slow twist of her fingers, each incremental loosening of his clothing. Aliisza knew what to expect of Kaanyr Vhok without his clothes. Though from all appearances the marquis cambion was an aging half-elf from the World Above, his chest, arms, and legs were covered in green scales. That demon's flesh was a sight few had ever lived to see twice.

"They go in search of the spider bitch," Vhok said, twisting to help her more easily slide his tunic off.

"They mean to wake her?" Aliisza asked, turning her attention to the glistening scales on Vhok's broad chest.

"They mean to take their quest for her favor to her sticky little throne," the cambion replied, "or her sticky little bed … or her sticky little tomb, and wake her from her sleep. You say they've been feeding the ship?"