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They ca calmly atop a pinned Dunkin Drizzt waved the cat off the man and they departed
Drizzt was hardly conscious of the journey back across the island to the rowboat He said nothing all the way, except to dismiss Guenhwyvar back to her astral home as soon as they realized that they would face no resistance on the beach this tione and so were the zo the drow’s iven him, remained quiet as well
Drizzt repeated the blind seer’s words over and over in histo commit them to memory Every syllable could be a clue, Drizzt realized, every inflectionhis father prisoner But the words had come too suddenly, too unexpectedly
His father! Zaknafein! Drizzt could hardly breathe as he thought of the sudden possibility He re matches, the years they had spent in joyful and determined practice He remembered the time when Zaknafein had
tried to kill him, and he loved his father even more for that, because Zaknafein had coone over to the dark ways of the drow
Drizzt shook the ia now; he had to focus on the task so suddenly at hand As great as was his elation at the thought that Zaknafein ht be returned to hi, either a matron mother, or perhaps even Lloth herself, held the secret, and the hag’s words ier cast a sidelong glance at Catti-brie, as lost in apparently si had intimated that all of this, the attack in Waterdeep and the journey to this reht revenge not only upon Drizzt, but upon Catti-brie
Drizzt slowed and let the others get a few steps ahead as they dragged the rowboat to the surf He released Catti-brie frooing back to privately reciting the hag’s verse The best thing he could do for Catti-brie, and for Zaknafein, was to memorize it, all of it, as exactly as possible Drizzt understood that consciously, but still, the possibility that Zaknafein ht be alive, overwhelmed him, and all the verses seeht hard to recollect Drizzt was not alert as they splashed back off the beach of Caerwich His eyes focused only on the swish of the oars under the dark water, and so intent was he that if a horde of zoainst them from the water, Drizzt would have been the last to draeapon
As it turned out, they got back to the Sea Sprite without incident and Deudermont, after a quick check with Drizzt to assure that they were done with their business on the island, wasted no ti the ship back out to sea Deuderot out of the enveloping fog of Caerwich, and the swift schooner soon put the misty island far, far behind Only after Caeras out of sight did Deudermont call Drizzt, Catti-brie, and the tizards into his private quarters for a discussion of what had just transpired
"You knehat the old witch was speaking about?" the captain asked Drizzt
"Zaknafein," the drow replied without hesitation He noticed that Catti-brie’s expression seemed to cloud over The woiddy, but it seemed to Drizzt that she was now merely crestfallen
"And our course now?" Deudermont asked
"Home, and only home," Robillard put in "We have no provisions, and we still have soe to repair from the storm that battered us before we made the Gull Rocks"
"After that?" the captain wanted to know, looking directly at Drizzt as he asked the question
Drizzt armed by the sentiave no immediate response, the captain went on
" ’Seek the one who hates you ht that be?"
"Entreri," Catti-brie answered She turned to a surprised Deudermont "Artemis Entreri, a killer from the southlands"
"The same assassin we once chased all the way to Calimshan?" Deudermont asked
"Our business with that one never see Drizzthis head, running a hand through his thick white hair "Not Entreri" The drow understood Artemis Entreri quite well, too well Indeed Entreri hated him, or had once hated him, but their feud had been more propelled by blind pride, the assassin’s need to prove hiible reason for enmity After his stay in Menzoberranzan, Entreri had been cured of that need, at least soe went deeper than the assassin This had to do with Lloth herself, and involved not only Drizzt, but Catti-brie, and the dropping of the stalactite olden ring, was based in pure and utter hatred
"Who then?" Deuderive a definite answer "A Baenre, most likely," he replied "I have made o to great lengths to kill me"
"But how do you know it is someone from Menzoberranzan?" Harkle interjected "Do not take this the wrong way, but you have made many eneain
Drizzt shook his head "The hag said, ’A foe made in the home that was first,’" Drizzt explained "An enemy from Menzoberranzan"
Catti-brie wasn’t sure that Drizzt had correctly repeated the witch’s exact words, but the evidence see the role ofmore, asked them all
"The witch spoke of otherworldly influence," Robillard reasoned "She mentioned the Abyss"
"Lloth’s hoet some answers from the Abyss," the wizard reasoned
"Are we to sail there?" Deudereable in sucha fiend to our world," he explained, "and extract information from it Not so difficult or unusual a task for those practiced in the art of sorcery"
"As you are?" Deudermont asked him
Robillard shook his head and looked to Harkle
"What?" the distracted Harpell said duaze upon hi to reconstruct the blind witch’s verse, though froe point in the cave, he hadn’t heard every word
"As you are," Robillard explained, "practiced in matters of sorcery"
"Me?" he squeaked "Oh, no Not allowed at the Ivy Mansion, not for twenty years TooHarpells!"
"Then ill get us the answers?" Catti-brie asked
"There are wizards in Luskan who practice sorcery," Robillard offered, "as do some priests in Waterdeep Neither will coold," Deuderold," Drizzt put in "For all crew of the Sea Sprite"
Deuder his head with every syllable "Not until Drizzt Do’Urden and Catti-brie came aboard have we enjoyed such a business and such a profit," he told the drow "You are a part of the Sea Sprite, a member of her crew, and all will donate their share as you would donate yours to help another"
Drizzt could find no argu when Robillard added, "Indeed"
"Waterdeep or Luskan, then?" Deudermont asked Robillard "Do I sail north of the Moonshaes, or south?"
"Waterdeep," Harkle unexpectedly answered "Oh, I would choose the priest," the wizard explained "A goodly priest Better with fiends than a wizard because the wizard ht have other duties or questions he wishes to ask of the beast Not good to get a fiend too involved, I say"
Drizzt, Catti-brie and Deuder to decipher what he was talking about
"He is right," the Sea Sprite’s wizard quickly explained "A goodly priest will stick to the one task, and we can be sure that such a person will call to a fiend only to better the cause of good, of justice" He looked at Drizzt as he said this, and the drow got the feeling that Robillard was suddenly questioning the wisdo the blind witch’s words Questioning the course, and perhaps, Drizzt realized, theZaknafein from the clutches of Lloth, or of a matron er seeping into the edges of his voice
"Then a goodly priest is our best choice," the Sea Sprite’s wizard replied casually, no apologies forthco