Page 4 (2/2)

Drizzt nodded "She would have no reason to believe that she is in any danger, not down here Have you theyet, and I fear we’ll be needing what I’ve got and nized the fiery gleam that flared up in the drow’s lavender eyes "When first we met this woman, we struck a fair deal," he went on "A deal we shall honor"

Bruenor understood and approved He felt the tingle of anticipation start in his blood He turned back on the woer at her side instead of the parchment Apparently she understood the nature of the two adventurers she was dealing with

Drizzt, also noticing theto appear unet a better angle on some suspicious cracks that he had noticed in the wall - cracks that s of a secret door

Bruenor approached the woman with his erumbled, "then we have no choice but to pay But I’ll be seein’ the er into the dwarf’s eye before either of his hands could get back to his belt for a weapon, Whisper relaxed and moved her empty hand to the parchment under her cloak

But she underestis twitched, launching hih to sla her nose and knocking her head into the wall He went for the ereed"

Drizzt, too, had sprung into motion As soon as the dwarf flinched, he had called upon the innate lobe of darkness in front of theharboring the crossbowered shouts of the two archers echoed throughout the alley

Then the cracks in the wall split open, as Drizzt had anticipated, and Whisper’s second line of defense cah The droas prepared, scimitars already in his hands The blades flashed, blunt sides only, but with enough precision to disarain, slapping the man’s face, and in the sa one pommel, and then the other, into the man’s temples By the time Bruenor had turned around with the map, the as clear before them

Bruenor examined the drow’s handiith true admiration

Then a crossbow quarrel ticked into the wall just an inch froo," Drizzt observed

"The end’ll be blocked, or I’norowling roar in the building beside theht them some comfort

"Guenhwyvar," Drizzt stated, as two cloaked men burst out into the street before theotten all about that cat!" cried Bruenor

"Be glad that Guenhwyvar’s hed Drizzt, and Bruenor, despite his feelings for the cat, laughed with him They halted at the end of the alley and scouted the street There were no signs of any trouble, though the heavy fog provided good cover for a possible ambush

"Take it slow," Bruenor offered "We’ll draw less attention"

Drizzt would have agreed, but then a second quarrel, launched from somewhere down the alley, knocked into a wooden beao!" Drizzt stated e wildly as he sped off into the fog

They h the twists and turns of Luskan’s ratover any rubble barriers and Bruenor sirew confident that there was no pursuit, and they changed their pace to an easy glide

The white of a sh the dwarf’s red beard as he kept a satisfied eye cocked over his shoulder But when he turned back to view the road before hi to find his axe

He had coical cat

Drizzt couldn’t contain his laughter

"Put the thing away!" Bruenor deood dwarf," the drow shot back "Remember that, Guenhwyvar cleared our escape trail"

"Put it away!" Bruenor declared again, his axe swinging at the ready

Drizzt stroked the powerful cat’s muscled neck "Do not heed his words, friend," he said to the cat "He is a dwarf, and cannot appreciate the finer h he breathed a bit easier as Drizzt dismissed the cat and replaced the onyx statue in his pouch

The two ca in a final alley to look for any signs of ambush They knew at once that there had been trouble, for several injured men stumbled, or were carried, past the alley’s entrance

Then they saw the Cutlass, and two fa on the street out in front

"What’re ye doin’ out here?" Bruenor asked as they approached

"Seeis, who hadn’t been touched in the fray Wulfgar’s face, though, was puffy and bruised, and he could barely open one eye Dried blood, some of it his own, caked his fists and clothes

Drizzt and Bruenor looked at each other, not too surprised

"And our roois shook his head "I doubt it"

"Andshook his head

"Bah!" snorted Bruenor, and he stamped off toward the door of the Cutlass

"I wouldn’t" Regis started, but then he shrugged and decided to let Bruenor find out for himself

Bruenor’s shock was colass, and unconscious patrons lay broken all about the floor The innkeeper slu his bloodied head in bandages Theli softly, and Bruenor couldn’t help but chuckle at the handiwork of the hty barbarian Every now and then, one of the barave hi

"Good coins wasted," Bruenor surmised, and he walked back out the door before the innkeeper noticed him and set the barmaids upon him

"Hell of a row!" he told Drizzt when he returned to his cois answered "A soldier"

"A soldier of Luskan, down here?" asked Drizzt, surprised by the obvious inconsistency

Regis nodded "And even uard, Jierdan, that let us into the city" Drizzt and Bruenor exchanged concerned looks

"We’ve killers at our backs, a busted inn before us, and a soldier paying us o," Drizzt responded for the third tiar looked at hiht?" Drizzt asked hiht out before him "And how many of them would drool at the opportunity to put a blade in your back?"

"Besides," added Regis before Wulfgar could answer, "I’ve no desire to share a bed in an alley with a host of rats!"

"Then to the gate," said Bruenor

Drizzt shook his head "Not with a guard so interested in us Over the wall, and let none know of our passing"

An hour later, they were trotting easily across the open grass, feeling the wind again beyond the break of Luskan’s wall

Regis suht in our first city, and we’ve betrayed killers, fought down a host of ruffians, and caught the attention of the city guard An auspicious beginning to our journey!"

"Aye, but we’ve got this!" cried Bruenor, fairly bursting with anticipation of finding his homeland now that the first obstacle, the map, had been overcome

Little did he or his friends knoever, that the ions, one in particular that would test the four friends to their limits - and beyond