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"Goblins?" Regis asked Drizzt bent low over one of the dwarven corpses, shaking his head even before he got close enough to fully inspect the wounds Goblins would not likely have left the dwarves in this condition, the drow ranger knew, certainly not with all of their valuable aroblins never recovered the bodies of their own dead, yet the only kills in this corridor were dwarves No reat their advantage of surprise, Drizzt did not think it likely that they could have killed this sturdy party without a single loss

The wounds on the nearest dwarf seemed to confirm the drow’s instincts Slender and precise, these cuts were not e, razor sharp and probably enchanted, had sliced this particular dwarf’s throat The line was barely visible, even after Drizzt had wiped away the blood, but ulti i the torch alternately from one hand to the other

Drizzt’s mind refused to accept the obvious conclusion Howbeside his drow kin, had Drizzt Do’Urden witnessed wounds similar to these? No other race in all the Realms, with the possible exception of the surface elves, used weapons so finely edged

"What killed theain, a notable tremor in his voice

Drizzt shook his white locks "I do not know," he replied honestly He ainst the wall Despite the abundance of blood, the only wound the drow found was a single clean, diagonal slash along the right side of the unfortunate dwarf’s throat, a cut paper thin but very deep

"It could be Duergar," Drizzt said to Regis, referring to the evil race of gray dwarves The thought looon, and had inhabited these halls until just a few months before, when Bruenor’s forces had chased the was based ar would have stripped these victi equipar, like mountain dwarves, favored heavier weapons, such as the battle-axe No such weapon had hit this dwarf

"You don’t believe that," Regis said behind hi in a crouch, he shuffled over to the next unfortunate dwarf

Regis’s voice fell away behind hi’s last state in his life

"You think Entreri did it"

Drizzt did not think that, did not think that any lone warrior, however skilled, could possibly have done such a co i Drizzt for so’s reasoning curious indeed, and the only explanation he could think of was that Regis was terribly frightened that Entreri had followed him out of Caliation On the body of the third dwarf he found a clue that narrowed the list of potential killers to one race

A tiny dart protruded from the body’s side, under its cloak Drizzt had to take a steadying breath before he nized it, and it explained the ease hich these toughened dwarves had been slaughtered The quarrel, made for a hand-held crossbow, undoubtedly had been coated with sleep poison and was a favored missile of dark elves

Drizzt came up from his low crouch; his scimitars leaped into his slender hands "We must leave this place," he whispered harshly

"What is it?" Regis asked

Drizzt, his keen senses attuned to the darkness farther along the corridor, did not answer

Fro, Guenhwyvar issued a lol

Drizzt eased one foot behind hi that any abrupt er an attack Dark elves in Mithril Hall! Of all the horrors Drizzt could think of - and in Faerun, these were countless - not one cais whispered

Twinkle’s blue light see the sciis for just adisappeared under a ball of conjured darkness, the ’s torch in the blink of an eye

Drizzt rolled to the side of the corridor and spun back around behind the propped body of a dead dwarf He closed his eyes, forcing them into the infrared spectruhtly, once and then again Drizzt knew it had been hit with quarrels

A black streak elobe of darkness behind hiis apparently went out the back side of the darkened area, his torch shedding solobe

The halfling did not cry out, though This surprised Drizzt and is had been taken

Guenhwyvar padded by hiht A poison-coated quarrel skipped off the stone floor, inches fro paws Another struck Guenhwyvar with a thud, but the cat hardly slowed

Drizzt saw the heated outlines of two slender forh they were again taking aim with their wicked weapons Drizzt called upon his own innate lobe of darkness into the corridor ahead of Guenhwyvar, offering so the cat, hoping that Regis somehow had escaped

He went into his own area of darkness without slowing, sure-footed, re the layout of the corridor perfectly and deftly skipping over yet another dwarven body When he ee to his left Guenhwyvar had flown right past it, and noas bearing down on the two drow forms, but Drizzt, trained in the tactics of the dark elves, knew in his heart that the side passage could not be clear

He heard a scuttling noise, as of s, and then he fell back, stunned and afraid, as an eight-legged monstrosity, half drow and half arachnid, cla hold with equal ease on both floor and wall Twin axes waved ominously in its hands, which once had been the delicate hands of a drow