"Karsh! Get in here!" Matron Kichaza Te'kari yelled, standing in her large throne room. The young male drow scurried into the room, head bowed to his mother.

"Yes, Matron Te'kari." he said humbly, staring at the adamantite floor which was engraved with a pattern of spiderwebs, in honor of Lloth, the Queen of Spiders.

"The entire dining room needs to be scrubbed clean by the time I get back from my visit to Matron Za'pora." she said, gesturing to her eldest daughter, Tezza. " Your sister will give you the necessary materials to do the job." she said as Tezza stepped forward, her hand on the snake whip she kept on her belt.

"Yes, Matron Mother. Thank you, Matron Mother." Karsh said, not daring to look up off of the floor. Tezza was very handy with her whip, even though she had not achieved priestess status yet, she always carried around a adamantite barbed whip, and the young page prince had felt the barbs many times in his short lifetime.

House Te'kari had been in decline since the stories of the tragic destruction of House Do'Urden by the wicked renegade drow Drizzt Do'Urden, and his friends in far off Menzoberranzan. This renegade drow had scoffed at the worship of Lloth and had left the Underdark of Toril. The violet eyes of the renegade had been whispered about among the drow nobles and priestesses as being the cause of the refusal of Lloth's principles, and fearing a similar story in their own homeland, in Akura all violet eyed drow had been killed after that incident. One of these violet eyed drow had been the young high priestess daughter of Matron Kichaza Te'kari, Kirita. Kichaza had ordered her best warriors to take her to the surface and kill her, but, being afraid of her powers, these brave drow had simply bound and deserted her up there in a forest of Elistraaes' chosen. The warriors had been taken care of after that, and at the same time, as House Te'kari was most vulnerable, the duregar had decided to attack House Te'kari. Kichaza and Tezza had been able to hold off the duregar from destroying their home, but the renegade dwarves had slain many of her servants, leaving few to do the chores around the House. Karsh was now one of the new scapegoats for chores.

"Get to work, scum." Tezza ordered, thrusting a bucket of water and a small brush at Karsh. "You heard the Matron."

"Yes, Tezza." he said, bowing deeply, keeping his gaze on the floor until he was certain that he no longer heard her footfalls. Looking up, he sighed, and started off to the dining hall.

***

Several hours later, Karsh rested against a wall as he surveyed the smooth, now clean, onyx walls of the dining hall. After a while, finally satisfied that he had finished the job satisfactorily, he left the hall and levitated down to the lower level of the House, where the servants quarters were kept. Placing the bucket and brush near one of the small rooms, he was preparing to go back up to find the weaponmaster of the house to work on his swordsmanship, when he heard his name called. Curious, he looked around the nearly deserted floor.

"Karsh, you bumbling idiot of a page prince, get over here!" Karesck, the first son of Matron Te'kari hissed at the young drow from around a corner. Karsh looked at him in surprise.

"What are you doing down here?" he asked, walking tentatively over to his brother. "Only the servants live down here."

"Yes, I am aware of that." Karesck said, giving him a cuff on the shoulder for being slow. "That's why I'm down here. Noone will ever suspect us here." he said, leading Karsh over to where a Tallfoot halfling was standing, wringing his hands nervously at the sight of two drow now appearing in front of him.

The halfling knew that he was going to get himself in serious trouble eventually. All of the halflings in Bremis's family had a reputation for getting into situations that they could not talk themselves out of. It had all started out when he had taken that dare to explore the tunnel leading underground next to his home. He had been wandering through the tunnel, when suddenly, he had been snatched up by some rather fierce looking drow warriors. He had been dragged here and given a choice, serve the Matron Te'kari or die. Any sensible being would have chosen work, and thus he had been serving House Te'kari for a month. Now he had been cornered by two drow males of the house, just as he had been working out a plan for escape. Life just couldn't get much worse.

"Good masters." he said meekly, "What would you require of me today? Shall I polish your swords perhaps, or possibly mend boots?" he asked, looking timidly at the two drow that were advancing on him. One, he recognized as the page prince of the house, the other simply scared the daylights out of him with his fierce looking face and shining armor under his piwafwi.

"Actually, I have an interest in your plans for escape." Karesck told him, cutting right to the point of the matter. "I have had scouts monitoring you, to notify me of any plans that you might have to escape from here." he said, leaving Karsh back as he moved closer and closer to the frightened halfling.

"Plans for escape? How would I think to escape from such a House as this?" the halfling squeaked, desperately trying to avoid discovery, "I mean, with such warriors as yourself guarding the House, how could I . . ." he was abruptly cut off as Karesck grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up in the air.

Karsh stood there impassively. He had no clue as to why his brother was so worried about a halflings' plan for escape. One thing that Karsh could pride himself on, though, was being able to wait, and this he did.

"I know you have a plan, and you will give it to me, if you value your life." Karesck said evilly, brandishing a wicked spider-hilted dagger in the halflings' face. The halfling squirmed for a minute, unsure of what to do until Karesck pricked his throat with the dagger blade.

"Allright, they are in my room!" he exclaimed frantically. "Under the pallet." he said, defeatedly as Karesck threw him roughly in a corner.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" he asked, walking over to the halflings' room. Karsh, by far the gentler of the brothers, looked at the halfling, checking if he was still alive. Bremis decided to play up to the younger drow, seeing a hint of sympathy in his amber eyes.

**End of Part 1**
**Mirror Image**

Chapter 1; Part 2