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"Keeper’s Dale," Bruenor declared sole down hundreds of feet to the broken floor of a deep and rocky gorge

"How are we to get down there?" Regis gasped, for every side appeared absolutely sheer, as though the canyon had been purposely cut from the stone

There was a way down, of course, and Bruenor, walking still with the memories of his youth, kneell He led his friends around to the eastern rie and looked back to the west, to the peaks of the three nearest mountains "Ye stand upon Fourthpeak," he explained, "named for its place beside th’ other three"

"Three peaks to seeer song that all the young dwarves of Mithril Hall were taught before they were even old enough to venture out of thesun"

Bruenor shifted about to find the exact line of the three western e and looked over "We have coh his heart was pounding at the discovery

The other three moved up to join him Just below the ri down the face of the cliff, and shaded perfectly by the coloration of the stone to make the entire construction virtually invisible frois swooned when he looked over, nearly overwhel hundreds of feet on a narrow stair without even a handhold "We’ll surely fall to our deaths!" he squeaked and backed away

But again Bruenor wasn’t asking for opinions or arguar o Drizzt and Wulfgar syh, and they helped hi hiust

The descent was tentative and slow, even with Bruenor in the lead, and it seemed like hours before the stone of the canyon floor had moved any closer to them

"Five hundred to the left, then a hundred ot to the botto hispillars of stone, great e that had seemed as mere piles of fallen rubble from the rim Even Bruenor, whose kin had lived here for many centuries, did not know any tales that spoke of the monoliths’ creation or purpose But whatever the reason, they had stood a silent and iil upon the canyon floor for uncounted centuries, ancient before the dwarves even arrived, casting o mere mortals who had ever walked here

And the pillars bent the wind into an eerie and ave the entire floor the sensation of so beyond the natural, ti a realization of h the eless existence

Bruenor, unbothered by the towers, finished his count

"Five hundred to the left, then a hundred more The hidden lines of the secret door"

He studied the wall beside hi that would indicate the entrance to the halls

Drizzt, too, ran his sensitive hands across the s , for he had felt no cracks at all

"I a with their workings and I fear that the door is too well in hiding for an easy find"

Regis ar, uncouard at their backs

Just a few seconds later, the barbarian noticed movement from where they’d come, back over by the stone stair He dipped into a defensive crouch, clutching Aegis-fang as tightly as ever before "Visitors," he said to his friends, the hiss of his whisper echoing around as though theat his atte out to the nearest pillar and started ar’s frozen squint as a guide Angered at the interruption, Bruenor pulled a small hatchet frois behind them

Then they heard Drizzt call out, "Catti-brie!" and were too relieved and elated to pause and consider what ht their friend all the way from Ten-Towns, or how she had ever found them

Their smiles disappeared when they saw her, bruised and bloodied and stu toward the that soh the ed ye?" Bruenor cried, grabbing Catti-brie and hugging her close "And as it hurt ye? He’ll feel ed at the thought of so to suspect what had happened

"Fender Mallot and Grollo are dead," Catti-brie told Bruenor

"On the road with ye? But why?" asked the dwarf

"No, back in Ten-Towns," Catti-brie answered "A is I chased after hied , as even farther back now, and hanging his head

"I knew ye’d found trouble when ye ca up on the road outside the towns!" He scowled "What is it, then? And no is admitted "Arteis pulled out the ruby pendant "For this"

"But he is not alone," Catti-brie added "Wizards from Luskan search for Drizzt"

"For what reason?" Drizzt called fro care not to tell, but uess is that they seek some answers about Akar Kessell"

Drizzt understood at once They sought the Crystal Shard, the powerful relic that had been buried beneath the avalanche on Kelvin’s Cairn

"How ar "And how far behind?"

"Three they were," Catti-brie answered "The assassin, a e, and a soldier froolem, they called it, but I’ve ne’er seen its likes before"

"Golem," Drizzt echoed softly He had seen many such creations in the undercity of the dark elves Monsters of great power and undying loyalty to their creators These

"But the thing is gone," Catti-brie continued "It chased , but I pulled a trick on it and sent a ain "Well done, irl," he whispered

"And I left the soldier and the assassin in a terrible fight," Catti-brie went on "One is dead, I guess, and the soldier seems most likely A pity, it is, for he was a decent sort"

"He’d have found s at all!" Bruenor retorted "But enough of the tale; there’ll be tiirl, do ye know? Ye’re to see for yerself the splendors I been telling ye about all these years! So go and rest up" He turned around to tell Wulfgar to see to her, but noticed Regis instead The halfling had proble if he had pushed his friends too far this tiis’s distress "You acted to survive There is no shaer!"

"Ah, put yer head up, Rumblebelly!" Bruenor snapped "We expect as ood trickster! Don’t ye be thinkin’ we’re surprised!" Bruenor’s rage, an angry possessor so of its own volition, suddenly

"How dare ye to put this on us?" he roared at Regis,a step "And with ar was quick to block Bruenor’s path to Regis, though he was truly amazed at the sudden shift in the dwarf He had never seen Bruenor so consumed by emotion Catti-brie, too, looked on, stunned

"’Twas not the halfling’s fault," she said "And the wizards would’ve come anyway!"

Drizzt returned to them then "No one has made the stair yet," he said, but when he took a better notice of the situation, he realized that his words had not been heard

A long and uncoar took coht a ourselves!" he scolded Bruenor

Bruenor looked at hi how to react to the uncharacteristic stand Wulfgar had taken against hi up his hands in frustration "The fool halfling’ll get us killedbut not to worry!" he gru back to the wall to search for the door

Drizzt looked curiously at the surly dwarf, but was hlyposition and seeo on "Take heart," Drizzt said to hier will pass The essence of his dreams stands before hiar said, hty welcoar patted the head of his warhae his et into the ht be lost to the to further soothe the dwarf’s anger

"They’ll notyour cli it!"

"I would rather stand against thear declared "They have much to explain, and they’ll not escape my punishment for the way they have treated Catti-brie!"

"Ware the assassin," Catti-brie warned hi!"