I will probably update irregularly. Depending on how many people review and such. If a lot of people want the next chapter, I might decide to write it quickly. . . hint hint. He he he. I hope that you all enjoy the story, and if you have any suggestions, don't hesitate to state them in a review. If you think I should change something, or add something, tell me. If you want to see something in the story, I will be more then happy to incorporate it, as long as it's reasonable and I agree. : ) and I don't really mind flames, there just another review, good or bad. Again I hope you like the story. Though for now I will keep the rating slightly lower (hoping more people will review () then when I reach the parts of the story where the rating should be higher, I will bump it.

Here is a revised, aka better spaced, grammar wise and spelled chapter. Thanks go to Ruatha Wehrling :), who basically showed me the errors of this chapter. Now I am off to redo the other chapters I have done so far. (Sunday, June 13th, 2004.)

(Oh and a note. I do tend to switch back and forth between perspectives. SO it may get confusing. Hopefully to lessen the confusion, if there is any, I will either say the characters name or somehow hint in the paragraph that his/her perspective is in.)

******Ah and if you review my story, I will review yours :)********

Anubis-XI

Prologue

One must be wary of their actions. . .

"GOD DAMMIT!" Ma'licion cried as she pounded her hand into her finely carved onyx table, causing her male servants to jump. Ma'licion temper was infamous. One would always hear tales of the matron losing her temper and then some of her servants would go missing, only to be found later, near unrecognizable.

A knock on her door caused the matron mother even more anger. Who would dare disturb her?! Turning around she watched as Fosual Dilsi'nla walked in. She rolled her eyes at the casual way he walked, even in front of her. True, he was the notorious weapon master, as well as a major player in the war, but for the past sixteen years he had still come up empty handed. The person he had been charged to find and capture had still eluded him, and at that time had been nothing more than an object. He had been punished severely after losing the person, and had returned in shame. He blames it on his lack of information though, if his informants would have scouted the area a little more they would have noticed the human warriors and either dodged them, or preferably, destroyed them.

Instead he had been surprised, and he was relieved of his mission objective. They had taken the object from them, and now the dark elves had lost their bargaining chip with the dragons. In fact, the dragons had become even more hostile, and started attacking anything within sight. If only Fosual had done his job correctly they could have strengthened their alliance with the dragons, while gaining a load of gold and power along with it. True, they had won their true prize, and their God was pleased, but what was the use of living on the surface if one always had to look to the sky to make sure an angry dragon didn't descend upon them and kill them?

"What do you want Fosual? Why do you interrupt me?" Ma'licion asked with contempt. She had never liked him, and yet she needed him. How her God loved torment.

With an over sardonic bow, Fosual straighten and looked at his matron. Ma'licion was dressed in dark red robes, with a white moon insignia upon it, apparently having some spiritual significance. At her side was a whip with nine snake shaped heads, a reference to her station as matron mother. "Well, I have come to impart to you some important information… but it seems that you are busy, and I shall leave, Shallin," and with that the cocky weapon master turned to exit the room. He knew she would call him back, and that made this fun. Toying with someone more powerful than himself was fun, especially when you were indispensable.

Ma'licion rolled her eyes as she called his name, causing him to pivot and walk back into the poorly lit room. He was dressed in his normal ensemble. He wore his open dark green vest; oh she despised that color, along with his dark blue pants. He wore many gold rings, some of which represented his house of Dilsi'nla, while others escaped her. Upon his left ear were too many earrings to count, and he wore a small nose ring. His hair was of medium length and the white hairs were braided and combined to make a long braid at the back. Strapped to his back was his war axe, a monster of a weapon, that if set upon the floor, would be more than half his five foot nine inches, the blade anyway.

As Fosual entered the room he looked around at the fairly decorated walls. She had placed the portraits of the previous matron mothers. In the center of the room was the single onyx table, and behind that was the single onyx chair. In the underdark, if he remembered correctly, she had many onyx belongings, all of which were priceless. Apparently she had had a problem moving them to the surface.

"I heard you swear before I came in. Is everything all right?" Fosual asked in his usual smug tone, only adding to Ma'licion's displeasure.

"Of course it is, now I suggest that you quickly part with your information, or you will be parting with your head…" Ma'licion threatened.

Fosual smiled and walked over to the only other piece of furniture, a wooden chair, and took a seat unceremoniously. He noticed that caused Ma'licion to inhale sharply, only adding to his amusement. "Actually, I came to inform you…" he started as he reached for the letter opener on her desk taking his time. "That I believe…"

"Do hurry up!" Ma'licion sneered. "Your presence annoys me!"

"There may be a human settlement left upon Tylrogar," Fosual stated, referring to the land in which the surface dwellers dwelled.

"Impossible, we would have found it. We made sure to eliminate everything!" Ma'licion said as she hovered around the free willed drow.

Fosual forced down a shudder as Ma'licion placed one of her delicate hands upon his shoulder. This was not in her norm, she never touched anyone. It was even said that her touch could kill; apparently that wasn't true, praise Darkdios. "Well, we tried to eliminate everything," Fosual said as he gracefully slipped out of the chair, leaving Ma'licion's hand to rest in the air.

Ma'licion watched as the weapon master started to flip the letter opener in front of her, blade over pommel. Of course while he was doing this, he never took his eyes off of Ma'licion. She knew what he was up to though; he was trying to act dominant in their little conversation, which would have to end now.

Ma'licion closed the distance between herself and Fosual. She wrapped her left hand around the back of his neck and leaned in and purred into his ear, "So what is this city called?" the Matron mother noticed at how he stiffened and ceased the flipping of the letter opener, she was disquieting him. Ma'licion, with her right hand, made ready with her whip. All she needed was his answer, good or bad it didn't matter.

"Last Stop," Fosual replied hoarsely. She wasn't acting normally, and that was making him nervous. It was his personal belief that most women were not to be trusted, and he knew undoubtedly that some agreed with him, only the males. Everything important should be run by a man. One couldn't trust a woman in power. One could never trust a woman with more power than a man. In this case… one could never trust her, ever.