Page 11 (1/2)

TACTICS AND FIREBALLS

Brilliant thought, this battling against wizards!" Regis said, ending in a shriek as he dived aside and behind a water trough A lightning bolt blasted out the distant building&039;s open front door, digging a sis had been

"They are annoying," Drizzt said, accentuating his point by popping up fro fly three arrows in rapid succession fro bolts of their own, disappeared into the darkness of the house and popped loudly against sois remarked "He - or they - knohere we are"

Drizzt shook his head, but dived low and cried out as a second bolt of lightning ca it to kindling and sending out a thick spray of foais started to cry out for his friend, but stopped when he discovered that Drizzt, ical anklets, was already crouching beside hiht," the drow conceded

"Call Guenhwyvar, at the least!" Regis said, but Drizzt was shaking his head through every word

Guenhwyvar had fought beside theht, and the Astral panther had limitations on the ti those limitations rendered Guenhwyvar a feeble and pained companion

Regis glanced back down the road the other way, at a column of black smoke that rose into the late afternoon sky "Where is Deudere, as we kneould be"

"Soh to our aid!"

"We&039;re forward scouts," Drizzt ree"

"Forward scouts in a battle that cais reis sat in Deudermont&039;s cabin on Sea Sprite, none of theht But apparently, over the course of the afternoon, the captain had coh captains, and had received a reply to his and Lord Brambleberry&039;s offer They&039;d received an answer froilant Robillard intercepted that reply with a diffusion of ies, sea

And so it was on, suddenly and brutally, and the Luskan Guard, their loyalties split between the five high captains, had made no overt moves to hinder Deuderone north first, past the ruins of ancient Illusk and the grand open market of Luskan to the banks of the Mirar River To cross out onto the second island, Cutlass by name, and assault the Hosttower directly would have been a foolish move, for the Arcane Brotherhood had established safehouses and satellite fortresses all over the city Deudermont meant to shrink Arklem Greeth&039;s peri difficult indeed

"Let us hope we can extract ourselves frois turned his cherubic but frowning face up at Drizzt, recognizing from the drow&039;s tone that his words were a not so subtle reminder of why they had been spotted by the wizard in the house in the first place

"I was thirsty," Regis rin frolance at the shattered beer barrel that had so lured the halfling scout into the open

"Wars will do that to you," Drizzt replied, ending in another yelp and shoving Regis down beside hi in across the top of the trough and taking out one of the higher boards in the process Even as the ground shook beneath theis rolled one away, Drizzt the other, the drow co his bow to use again, first through the open door, then shattering a glassand another on the second floor for good ical quiver forever replenishing his supply of enchanted missiles

A different sort of h, a trio of s over each other, bending and turning and sweeping unerringly for Drizzt

One split off at the last e It veered right into Regis&039;s chest, singeing his vest and sending a jolt of energy through hirowl, and turned around to send an arrow at thefrom which the missiles had flown As he let fly, he envisioned his path to the house, looking for barriers against the persistentIt hit the doorja that as cover, the drow sprinted at an angle to the right side of the street, heading behind a group of barrels

He thought he wouldstroke, as he lowered his head and sprinted full out He felt foolish for so over-balancing, though, as he saw a pea of flaracefully arc out of the second floor

"Drizzt!" Regis cried, seeing it too

And the halfling&039;s friend was gone, just gone, when the fireball exploded all around the barrels and the front of the building backing theainst the current at thebolts reached out at her froht desperately to hold back Braer span of Harbor Cross, the westerne across the Mirar

"We would need to lose a score of men to each wizard downed, you claimed, if ere to have any chance," Deudermont remarked to Robillard, who stood beside him at the rail "But it would seem that Lord Brambleberry has chosen his soldiers well"

Robillard let the sarcaset a better su before thee were afla no real traction One of Braht up an elemental from the Plane of Water, a creature that knew no fear of such fires

One of the ene of his own, a great creature of the earth, a collection of rock, rassy turf that see arms of connected stone and dirt with boulder hands It splashed into the river to do battle, its h to keep the waters fro dirt away, and both sides of the battle seemed intent on the other&039;s eleht forth their own otherworldly servants

A trumpet sounded on the southern end of Harbor Cross, from Blood Island, and out from Brambleberry&039;s position ca, spear tips glistening in thesun

"Idiots," Robillard ed out onto the wide bridge

"Harder to port!" Deuder, as had Robillard, that Braroaned under the strain as she listed farther, the river waters pounding into her broadside, threatening to drive her against one of the huge rocks that dotted the banks of the Mirar She couldn&039;t hold her position, of course, but she didn&039;t need to Her crack catapult tea through the wind

A barrage of lightning bolts, capped by a fireball, slae, and the riders disappeared in a cloud of sed, a bit fewer in nuer andback the way they&039;d coht have felt, though, was short-lived, as Sea Sprite&039;s shot thundered into the side of one of the structures they used for cover, one of several compounds that had been identified as secret safehouses for the Arcane Brotherhood The wooden building went up in flames, and wizards scraed across the bridge once ht the current!" Deuderroaned back the other way, barely holding her angle

A second ball of pitch went flying, and though it fell short, it splattered up against the barricades used by the ene, and rasped the rail, cursing at the less-than-favorable winds and tide If he could just get Sea Sprite&039;s archers in range, they could quickly turn the tide of the fight

The captain winced and Robillard gave an ae of Braic Missiles of glowing energy, lightning bolts, and a pair of fireballs burst upon the fro thunder of the earth ele

"Just take her near to the wharf and debark!" the captain cried, and to Robillard, he added, "Bring it up"

"You wanted to hold our surprise," the wizard replied

"We cannot lose this battle," Deuderht of the Luskan garrison, and they are watching intently, knowing not where to join in And the young lord has the Hosttower behind hi"

"He has two secured bridges and the roads around the ruins of Illusk," Robillard reminded the captain "And a busy marketplace as buffer"

"The Hosttoizards need not cross to the e of Closeguard"

"They&039;re not on Closeguard," Robillard argued "High Captain Kurth&039;s es, east and west"

"We don&039;t know that Kurth&039;s men would even try to slow the wizards," Deudermont stubbornly replied "He has not professed his loyalty"

The wizard shrugged, gave another of his all-too-co and waving his ar that the Hosttower kept several safehouses in the northern district, Robillard and some of Brambleberry&039;s h out into the river for Sea Sprite to get up beside it safely As Robillard ignited the e, the front poles of thethe helmsman

Still, Sea Sprite wouldn&039;t have been able to tack enough to ain, Robillard provided the answer He snapped his fingers, propelling hiate back to his customary spot on the raised deck behind the usts of wind to help fill the sails then to communicate with his own elemental from the Plane of WaterSea Sprite lurched and bucked, the river slaainst her starboard side The eleainst the port side and braced with its otherworldly strength

The catapult crew let fly a third e, Brae and the leading edge et across just as Sea Spriteslid in behind the secret, subed wharf, a hundred yards downriver Planks went out beside the securing ropes, and the creasted no ti to the rail

Robillard closed his eyes, trusting fully in his detection spell, and sensed for the et Still with his eyes closed, the wizard loosed a searing line of lightning into the water just before the wharf&039;s guide poles His shot proved precise, severing the locking chain of the wharf Buoyed by a line of empty barrels, free of its shackles, the wharf lifted up and broke the water with a great splash and surge The crew poured down

"Noe have theh, when a great crash sounded upriver, as a span of the century-old Harbor Cross Bridge collapsed into the Mirar

"Back to stations!" Deuderh, ran to the nearest plank and scra to desert his creho had already left the ship "Port! Port!" he cried for his ship to flee

"By the giggling demons," Robillard cursed, and as soon as Deuder, the wizard coo the ship and slide under it to catch the drifting flotsa a wand and shooting a line of lightning at the heavy rope tying her off forward, severing it cleanly

Before the crew aft could even begin to free that second heavy rope, Sea Sprite swung around violently to the left, and a pair of unfortunate crewmen flipped over the rail to splash into the cold Mirar

Sputtering curses, the wizard blinked himself to the taffrail and blasted the second rope apart

The first pieces of the shattered bridge expanse swept down at theot through, chasingSea Sprite as she glided away toward the harbor

Robillard ordered his eleh of relief as he saw his friend Deudere piece of the fallen bridge sla its integrity, as it, too, becae Barrels and dock planks joined the sweep of debris

Robillard had to stay with the ship, at least long enough for his summoned monster to assist Sea Sprite safely out of the river mouth and into quieter waters He never took his eyes off of Deuder that his dearest friend was surely doomed, trapped as he was on the northern bank with only a fraction of Brary wizards against the ball of flan

He knew better, though, and knew, too, that he couldn&039;t hope to get out of its explosive range So he threw his shoulders back violently and kicked his feet out in front of him, and didn&039;t even try to break his fall as he slae to throw his ar the his cloak to wrap it around hi and cloak, the darkness flehen the fireball exploded, and hot fla a thousand tiny fires in his body It lasted only an instant, mercifully, and winked out as immediately as it had materialized Drizzt knew he couldn&039;t hesitate - the wizard could strike at hiain within the span of a few heartbeats, or if another wizard was inside the house, a second fireballaway fro on his cloak and clothing, and even left the cloak sain Drizzt ran full out, leaning forward in coht strand of birch trees He dived in headlong, rolling to a sitting position and curling up, expecting another blast

Nothing happened