Role

Chapter 2

A sumptuous, steaming feast lay out before Malchazzar - a plate with roasted,
bone-on meat, garnished with beautiful, multicolored cave fungus and spices
from the Overworld brought down to Teth Azeleth at great expense. A bowl of
rich, fatty soup rested beside it.

Across from him sat his Mistress. Behind him, a servant stood with a knife.
Malchazzar looked up at his Mistress, silent and suspicious. He never ate at the
table with her.

"I thought about telling you after you ate it, but that seemed too cruel," the
Mistress cooed. "I am merciful. Am I not?"

Malchazzar nodded. "Yes, Mistress."

On the plate before you is your firstborn son, she said. In the soup is his
mother.

She smiled wickedly.

"Now, I want to see a clean plate, Malchazzar," she said. "I want to watch you
gnaw on those delicious little bones. If Im not satisfied that you enjoyed the
meal, then my servants will prepare you in a similar fashion."

Malchazzar trembled slightly. He picked up his silverware and began to cut
into the meat.

"What do you say, Malchazzar?"

"Thank you, Mistress."

Malchazzar did not break down that night. He finished his meal with the utmost
courtesy and gratitude for his Mistress and survived to return to his quarters. It
was there, in his sleepless solitude, that the first wave of utter emptiness washed
over him.

He had long harbored rebellion deep within his heart. A discontent with the customs
of the drow and his mistreatment as a male. The human woman he had met in
Lower Cragstone had been an occasional diversion.

He felt her appearance was exotic and enticing. Most drow would live and die
underground without seeing flesh as pale as hers, or a figure as soft and rotund.
She was appreciative and considerate during sex - a welcome difference from
his cruel Mistress in Teth Azeleth.

The Mistress improved the standing of Malchazzars family, and he was obliged
to live with her and give her a daughter. The monthly sexual rituals had yet to take.
In the mean time, Malchazzar was put to use on occasional patrols. He took every
moment of autonomy to slip away to Lower Cragstone, where he would meet his
human.

Unfortunately for him, even Cragstone has spies, and the Mistress has a particular
talent for cruelty.