Free Maestro by R. A. Salvatore Page B

could sort through what her eyes and nose and skin were telling her—to hold onto the truth that this was a lump of smelly goo teasing her.
    “I had much I wished to discuss with you,” Yvonnel replied, taking the yochlol by the wrist and moving her hand aside. “That is why I requested your presence, after all. But it would seem that you come with information that you believe I should know.”
    “Astute,” the yochlol said, pulling away with a giggle. “I approve of your transformation and will relay my pleasure to the Spider Queen. Perhaps more so . . .” She reached to touch the beautiful young drow woman again.
    “It was Gromph who brought Demogorgon to Menzoberranzan,” Yvonnel said, trying to keep focused on the matters at hand. She had never known a handmaiden to behave like this, and wasn’t quite sure what it might be about, beyond her initial inkling that the spy for Lolth—every handmaiden was a spy for Lolth, first and foremost—was testing her.
    And she couldn’t deny her body’s reactions to the exquisite creature.
    She thought the yochlol was trying to seduce her as a test of her willpower—a ridiculous challenge indeed for one of Yvonnel’s understanding and intelligence. But then she understood: The handmaiden was testing her corporeal body, not her willpower, to see if this form Yvonnel wore was real or illusion. The physical reactions, involuntary and ignorant of willpower, would reveal that to the spy.
    The handmaiden laughed again and danced away, staring knowingly at the young Yvonnel, whose nipples had visibly hardened under the soft shirt.
    “Gromph summoned Demogorgon,” Yvonnel said again, this time more sternly.
    “Not without help,” Yiccardaria replied. “Great help, and of most of which the Archmage remains unaware. Understand that Gromph Baenre did more than summon Demogorgon.” She laughed again, and Yvonnel had to force herself not to lean forward too eagerly.
    “Let me tell you of the Faerzress,” Yiccardaria said.
    “I know . . .” Yvonnel started to interrupt, but the handmaiden didn’t slow.
    “Of what it was and what it is, and of the demon lords who have come through. The Lady of Chaos wishes you to know these things, and the source of the ritual Archmage Gromph performed.”
    “And of how it might benefit . . . me,” Yvonnel said with a wicked grin, and now it was the yochlol’s turn to offer a respectful bow.
    Yiccardaria spoke for a long time after that, revealing Lolth’s brilliant deception of Kimmuriel Oblodra, and thus, Kimmuriel’s subsequent deception of Gromph.
    “The barrier of the Faerzress is wounded,” she explained, “and so the demon lords have passed through, though they’ll not so easily return. And if they do return . . .” she paused and laughed and let Yvonnel sort out the logical conclusion.
    It was not a difficult maze to navigate. With the demon lords playing on the Material Plane in Faerûn’s Underdark, Lady Lolth would fashion the Abyss more favorably to her own demands and desires.
    Yvonnel found herself quite in awe of the Spider Queen at that moment, as she reflected on the events of the last few decades. After the murder of Mystra and the advent of the Spellplague, Lolth had made a play for the Weave in a failed effort to create the Web of magic. Then Lolth had lent her support to the chromatic dragons in their attempt to resurrect the catastrophe of Tiamat, weaving that grander purpose into a useful war in the Silver Marches.
    And now, even as all of that, too, had fizzled, Lolth had done this next thing, perhaps the greatest upheaval of all.
    How beautiful was this goddess, the Spider Queen, to so willingly and agilely assault the stability of the planes, to weave new upheavals even as the last ones were falling back to previous normality?
    “The Spider Queen?” Yiccardaria teasingly asked.
    Coming out of her contemplation, Yvonnel realized she had worn her thoughts too near the surface, and the handmaiden had read