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On a dark throne in a dark place perched the dragon of shadow: Not a very large worm, but foulest of the foul, its mere presence, blackness; its talons, swords worn from a thousand thousand kills; its maw ever ith the blood of victims; its black breath, despair
A raven’s coat was its tested scales, so rich in their blackness that they shi facade of beauty for a soulless looth over the course of centuries, as dragons do, Shis folded back and moved not at all, except to s a sacrifice or to punish an insolent underling It had done its part to secure this place, routing the bulk of the dwarven aron had eaten that day! The hides of dwarves were tough and muscled, but a razor-toothed on’sto its every desire The day would coain, and Shie on’s strength, and in this respect, Shi a hoard beyond the is
And a host of loyal on of darkness
The chill wind that gave Icewind Dale its na the casual conversation the four friends usually enjoyed They moved west across the barren tundra, and the wind, as always, ca pace
Their posture and the detererness of a newly begun quest, but the set of each adventurer’s face revealed a different perspective of the journey
The dwarf, Bruenor Battlehaout above the shag of his wagging red beard, led the way He sees and beard, with his narled hands, his shield, ehtly on the back of his overstuffed pack, and his head, adorned in ato either side Neither did his eyes deviate from the path and rarely did they blink Bruenor had initiated this journey to find the ancient hoh he fully realized that the silvery halls of his childhood were hundreds of -awaited goal is clearly in sight
Beside Bruenor, the huge barbarian, too, was anxious Wulfgar loped along s the dwarf’s rolling pace There was a sense of urgency about hiry for adventure burned in his pale eyes as clearly as in Bruenor’s, but unlike the dwarf, Wulfgar’s gaze was not fixed upon the straight road before the man out to view the orld for the first tiht and sensation that the landscape had to offer
He had co to aid his friends on their adventure, but he had come, as well, to expand the horizons of his oorld The entirety of his young life had been spent within the isolating natural boundaries of Icewind Dale, li his experiences to the ancient ways of his fellow barbarian tribesmen and the frontier peoples of Ten-Towns
There was rasp as much of it as he possibly could
Less interested was Drizzt Do’Urden, the cloaked figure trotting easily beside Wulfgar His floating gait showed hie, but the shadows of his low-pulled cowl suggested so else Drizzt was a drow, a black elf, denizen of the lightless underworld He had spent several years on the surface, denying his heritage, yet had found that he could not escape the aversion to the sun inherent in his people
And so he sunk loithin the shadow of his cowl, his stride nonchalant, even resigned, this trip being merely a continuation of his existence, another adventure in a life-long string of adventures Forsaking his people in the dark city of Menzoberranzan, Drizzt Do’Urden had willingly embarked upon the road of the nomad He knew that he would never be truly accepted anywhere on the surface; perceptions of his people were too vile (and rightly so) for even the most tolerant of communities to take hi to avoid the inevitable heartache of being forced froht have come to love
Ten-Towns had been a temporary sanctuary The forlorn wilderness settleues and outcasts and, though Drizzt wasn’t openly welcouardian of the towns’ borders had granted him a small measure of respect and tolerance froh, and Drizzt had willingly set out beside the dwarf on the trek, despite his apprehension that once he moved out beyond the influence of his reputation, the treatment he received would be less than civil
Every so often, Drizzt dropped back the dozen yards or so to check on the fourthbrought up the rear of the troupe (and not by choice) with a belly too round for the road and legs too short tonow for the months of luxury he had enjoyed in the palatial house in Bryn Shander, Regis cursed the turn of luck that had forced hireatest love was co and sleeping as diligently as a young lad with drea his first sword His friends were truly surprised when he joined the, and even Bruenor, so desperate to see his ancient hois’s ability to keep up
Certainly Regis pushed himself to his physical li Unlike his coh, whose eyes looked to the road up ahead, he kept glancing back over his shoulder, back toward Ten-Towns and the home he had so mysteriously abandoned to join in the journey
Drizzt noted this with so
The companions kept their westerly course for several days To their south, the snow-capped peaks of the jagged mountains, the Spine of the World, paralleled their journey This range marked the southern boundary to Icewind Dale and the companions kept an eye out for its end When the westernround, they would turn south, down the pass between the ether and down the last hundred mile stretch to the coastal city of Luskan
Out on the trail eachbefore the sun rose at their backs, they continued running into the last pink lines of sunset, stopping to make camp at the very last opportunity before the chill wind took on its icy nighttiain before dawn, each running within the solitude of his own perspectives and fears
A silent journey, save the endless murmur of the eastern wind