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I a with Jarlaxle in the tunnel near the conjured iron wall, with poor Cobble’s squashed body I underneath

"Did you believe it would be so easy?" the mercenary replied "We have entered the runnels of a fortified dwarven coainst thousands

"You will recapture your brother," Jarlaxle added, not wanting Vierna to get overly anxious "My troops are well-trained Already I have dispatched nearly three dozen, the entire Baenre co out of Mithril Hall proper None of Drizzt’s allies shall enter that way, and his trapped friends shall not escape" "When the dwarves learn we are about, they will send an arrimly

"If they learn," Jarlaxle corrected "The tunnels of Mithril Hall are long It will take our adversaries sonificant force - days perhaps We will be halfway to Menzoberranzan, with Drizzt, before the dwarves are organized"

Vierna paused for a long while, considering her next course of action There were only tays up fro tunnels some distance to the north She looked to the roo if she had done wrong in sending only three after Drizzt She considered ordering her entire force - a dozen drow and the drider - down in pursuit

"The huh he had read her mind "Artemis Entreri knows our enemy better than we; he has battled Drizzt across the wide expanses of the surface world Also, he wears still the earring, that you ress Up here we have Drizzt’s friends, only a handful by , to deal with"

"And if Drizzt eludes Entreri?" Vierna asked

"There are only tays up," Jarlaxle reain

Vierna nodded, her decision made, and walked across to the chute She took a small wand out of a fold in her orna a soft chant Slowly and deliberately, Vierna traced precise lines across the opening, the tip of the wand spewing sticky filament Perfectly, the priestess outlined a spiderweb of thin strands, covering the opening Vierna stepped back to examine her work Fro a second chant, she sprinkled it over the web Immediately the strands thickened and took on a black and silvery luster Then the shine faded and the wary cooled to roo the strands practically invisible

"Now there is one way up," Vierna announced to Jarlaxle "No weapon can cut the strands"

"To the north, then," Jarlaxle agreed "I have sent a handful of runners ahead to guard the lower tunnels"

"Drizzt and his friends must not join," Vierna instructed

"If Drizzt sees his friends again, they will already be dead," the cocky mercenary replied with all confidence

"There ar offered "If we could strike at theone froical locket and looking to the floor, sensing that his friend was somewhere below them

"When we’ve killed all our enear, still holding the battlerager off the ground by his helave hi drow," Bruenor replied, and he gave both Catti-brie and Wulfgar concerned sidelong glances, "not like this We’re to keep away from them if we can, hit at ’ena," Wulfgar offered, "and sweep the tunnels clean of dark elves"

Bruenor looked to thehi the path He and his friends could lose perhaps an hour in working their roundabout way to Mithril Hall, and several hoursup a sizable force Those were several hours that Drizzt probably didn’t have to spare

"We go for Drizzt," Catti-brie decided firht, and Guenhwyvar will take us to hi that opened the possibility for a fight, and Guenhwyvar’s fur was ruffled, the panther anxious, sleek ar and nearly spat at the lad for the worried, condescending expression splayed across his face as he studied Catti-brie

Without warning, Guenhwyvar froze in place, issuing a low, quiet growl Catti-brie i torch and crouched low, using the red-glowing dots of dwarven eyes to keep her bearings

The group ca for the others to remain in the side chamber while he went out to see what the cat had sensed

"Drow," he explained when he returned afast and to the north"

"Handful o’ dead droent corrected The others could hear the battlerager eagerly rubbing his hands together, the shoulder joints of his ar!" Bruenor whispered as loudly as he dared, and he grabbed Pwent’s arht have an idea of where to find Drizzt, that they’re out looking for hiht"

"And if we put up the torch, we’ll find ourselves fighting soon enough," Catti-brie reasoned

"Then light the damned torch!" Pwent said hopefully

"Shut yerout slow and easy - and ye keep the torch, ns of a fight," he told Wulfgar Then hethe cat to keep the pace slow

Pwent shoved his large flask into Catti-brie’s hand as soon as they exited the tunnel "Take a hit o’ this," he instructed, "axvdpaa? \t about"

Catti-brie blindlyit to be a flask She gingerly sniffed the foul-s liquid and started to hand it back

"Ye’ll think the better of it when a drow elf puts a poisoned dart into yer backside," the crude battlerager explained, patting Catti-brie on the ru about yer blood, no poison’s got a chance!"

Re wohed and stuht dwarf eyes and four cat eyes staring at her, but the double vision soon went away and she passed the flask on to Bruenor

Bruenor handled it easily, offering a sigh and a profound, though quiet, belch when he had finished "War

After Wulfgar had recovered, the group set off, Guenhwyvar’s padded paws quietlynoisily with every eager stride

Forty battle-ready dwarves followed the stoh the lower uardrooeneral explained to his charges, "and branch out fro up a series of tapping signals and leaving directions for any subsequent troops that caroups less than a dozen were to be allowed into the new sections