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Catti-brie didn’t

A streak of silver flashed across the chas into the chest of one of the sentries, its powerfulhied immediately for the lever, but Catti-brie coolly co arrow took him in the eye

The routed dwarves in the room below poured out into the cavern below her, and others froar and Bruenor would coht into the midst of a ready host!

Bruenor’s evaluation of Catti-brie had been on target A fighter she was, and as willing to stand against the odds as any warrior alive She buried any fears that she ht have had for her friends and positioned herself to be of greatest assistance to them Eyes and jaw steeled in detere of death at the asse host that put the for cover

Bruenor roared out, blood-spattered, his reat ancestors as yet unavenged Wulfgar was right behind, consu aside his smaller enemies as easily as he would part ferns on a forest path

Catti-brie’s barrage did not relent, arrow after streaking arrow finding its deadly mark The warrior within her possessed her fully and her actions stayed on the edges of her conscious thoughts Methodically, she called for another arrow, and the ed Taul, and in the wake of its notes lay the scorched and blasted bodies ofthat he would be more trouble than use to his friends in theone more body for them to protect when they already had all they could handle in looking out for theh of an early advantage to claiainst the many eneis worked to make sure their fallen opponents in the roo up behind

Also, though, to ray ones possessed were not wasted on corpses

He heard the heavy thump of a boot behind him He dove aside and rolled to the corner just as Bok crashed through the doorway, oblivious to his presence When Regis recovered his voice, heto his friends

But then Sydney entered the rooar’s warhaed dwarf’s battle cries, "for me father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s" Wulfgar wore a grianized ranks Arrows burned lines of silver right beside hih in Catti-brie not to fear a stray shot His ar’s shining arth

But then arht hiar that renize Bok as an ally They fled in terror to the chas to cross and destroy the route of any pursuit behind theis didn’tSydney’s power froy had flattened both Bruenor and Wulfgar; the halfling shuddered to think what it could do to hiht If he could get Sydney caught in its hypnotizing spell, he h for his friends to return

Slowly, he e, wary for the beginnings of any killing bolt

Sydney’s wand remained tucked into her belt She had a trick of her own planned for the little one She is and puffed gently, launching a filis understood the spell’s nature when the air around hi webs - sticky spiders’ webs They clung to every part of hi his movements, and filled the area around hiical pendant, but the web had hi of her power, Sydney turned to the door and the battle beyond She preferred calling upon the poithin her, but understood the strength of these other eneray dwarves facing him He had takenhie within hih, blinded him to the pain His blood lust was sated now, but only until he turned back toward the anteroo the life out of hiet a clear shot at the gole, the combatants stued to Bruenor under her breath, as all that she could do atch

Half of Wulfgar’s body was nuthened arh, and he put a hand in-the gole to divert soy froar sla into the monster’s face with all the force he could ht circuain Bok seemed not to notice

The arh the barbarian His fingers tingled with nuround

Bruenor was al But as the dwarf passed the open door to the anterooy shot out at him It struck his shield, luckily, and deflected up to the cavern ceiling, but the sheer force of it hurled Bruenor froled to a sitting position

Catti-brie saw the bolt and remembered the siar back in the oval roohtest hesitation or concern for her own safety, she was off, running back down the passageway, driven by the knowledge that if she couldn’t get to the e, her friends didn’t have a chance

Bruenor was more prepared for the second bolt He saw Sydney inside the anteroom lift the wand at him He dove on his belly and threw his shield above his head, facing the y harmlessly away, but Bruenor felt it weaken under the impact and knew that it would not withstand another

The stubborn survival instincts of the barbarian brought his drifting mind from the swoon and back into focus on the battle He didn’t call for his haole that he could have clasped it anyway He sue arms around Bok’s neck His corded led No breath would corowled away the pain and the fear, grih the sensations of nuis at last et his hand and the pendant out froe!" he cried at Sydney, not expecting her to listen, but only hoping to divert her attention long enough for her to gli that Entreri had not inforain the ainst the’s ruby, Sydney glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, htly than to listen to any words he ht her attentionmoe, Catti-brie crouched low and sped along as swiftly as she could Then she heard the baying

The hunting shadow hounds filled the corridors with their excited cries, and filled Catti-brie with dread The hounds were far behind, but her knees eak as the unearthly sound descended upon her, echoing froritted her teeth against the assault and pressed on Bruenor needed her, Wulfgar needed her She would not fail them

Shethe door to the anterooet a shot at theTaulmaril over her shoulder, drew her sword, and boldly, blindly, charged through

Locked in a killing ear and Bok stuorge The barbarian ical work; never before had he faced such a foe Wildly, he jerked Bok’stheit in one direction, driving on with every ounce of power that he had left to give He couldn’t reer kneho he was, or where he was

His sheer stubbornness refused to yield

He heard the snap of bone, and couldn’t be sure if it had been his own spine or the golerip The head turned easily now, and Wulfgar, driven on by the final darkness that began its descent upon hied and turned in a final flurry of defiance

Skin ripped away The blood-stuff of the wizard’s creation poured onto Wulfgar’s arar, to his own aht that he had won

Bok sees of the ruby pendant’s hypnotizing spell shattered when the door crashed in, but Regis had played his part By the tier, Catti-brie was too close for her to cast her spells

Sydney’s gaze locked into a stunned, wide-eyed stare of confused protest All of her dreams and future plans fell before her in that one instant She tried to screaods of fate had a more important role planned for her in their scheme of the universe, convinced that they would not allow the shining star of her budding power to be extinguished before it ever came to its potential

But a thin, wooden wand is of little use in parrying a et, felt nothing in that instant but the necessity of her duty Her sword snapped through the feeble wand and plunged home

She looked at Sydney’s face for the first time Time itself seeed, her eyes and mouth still open in denial of this possibility

Catti-brie watched in helpless horror as the last flickers of hope and aushed over Catti-brie’s arasp of breath seemed impossibly loud

And Sydney slid, ever so slowly, frole, vicious cut froar fell free He landed on one knee, barely on the edge of consciousness His huge lungs reflexively sucked in a volu the dwarf’s presence clearly, but without eyes to focus upon its target, the headless goleed confusedly at Bruenor and ical forces that guided the monster, or kept it alive, and he had little desire to test his fighting skills against it He saw another way "Co toward the gorge In a ar, "Get yer hammer ready, boy"

Bruenor had to repeat the request over and over, and by the tiht up to the ledge

Only half aware of his actions, Wulfgar found the warhammer returned to his hand

Bruenor stopped, his heels clear of the stone floor, a sole that Bruenor had nowhere left to run

Bruenor dropped to the floor as Bok lunged forward, Aegis-fang sla it over the dwarf The monster fell silently, with no ears to hear the sound of the air rushing past

Catti-brie was still standing ar and Bruenor entered the anteroom Sydney’s eyes and mouth remained open in silent denial, a futile attempt to belie the pool of blood that deepened around her body

Lines of tears wetted Catti-brie’s face She had felled goblinoids and gray dwarves, once an ogre and a tundra yeti, but never before had she killed a human Never before had she looked into eyes akin to her own and watched the light leave them Never before had she understood the complexity of her victim, or even that the life she had taken existed outside the present field of battle

Wulfgar moved to her and e free of the re

The dwarf had trained Catti-brie to fight and had reveled in her victories against orcs and the like, foul beasts that deserved death by all accounts He had always hoped, though, that his beloved Catti-brie would be spared this experience

Again Mithril Hall loo

Distant howls echoed from beyond the open door behind them Catti-brie slid the sword into its sheath, not even thinking to wipe the blood from it, and steadied herself "The pursuit is not ended," she stated flatly "It is past time we leave"

She led them from the room then, but left a part of herself, the pedestal of her innocence, behind