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Air rolled across its black wings like the continuous rueway and into Garu the same exit that Drizzt and Entreri had passed just a few her on the wall, held perfectly still, not even daring to breathe They knew that the dark lord of Mithril Hall had colooth of the chase, clawing at the stone to find whatever holds he could and trusting to them fully in his desperation He had heard the sounds of battle far above him when he first entered the chasm, and knew that even if his friends had been victorious thus far, they would soon bethey had ever faced

Drizzt was determined to stand beside the to keep close to hih he hadn’t yet forar and Catti-brie supported each other as they walked Regis kept beside Bruenor, concerned for the dwarf’s wounds, even if the das not "Keep yer worries for yer own hide, Ruis could see that the depth of Bruenor’s gruffness had diminished The dwarf seemed somewhat embarrassed for the way he had acted earlier "Me wounds’ll heal; don’t ye be thinking ye’ve gotten rid ofto theis had stopped walking, a puzzled expression on his face Bruenor looked back at him, confused, too, and wondered if he had soar and Catti-brie stopped behind Regis and waited for so what had been said between hirief?" Bruenor de Bruenor had said, nor with the dwarf at all at that loom that he had sensed, a sudden coldness that had entered the cavern, a foulness that insulted the co bond with its ain, when he, too, felt the coe just as the tip of the black cloud broke the chase, but speeding toward thear to the side, then he was pulling her with all his speed Regis scurried back toward the anterooon of darkness, the ultimately foulfor the smaller corridors of the upper level His mithril axe raised, his feet frozen to the stone below them, he waited

The blackness dipped under the arch of the stone bridge, then rose to the ledge Spearlike talons gripped the riloom reared up before Bruenor in all its horrid splendor, the usurping woris cried, drawing his littlethat the best he could do would be to die beside his dooar threw Catti-brie behind hion

The wor stare, did not even notice Aegis-fang spinning toward it, nor the fearless charge of the huge barbarian

The ainst the raven black scales, but was harmlessly turned away Infuriated that solooar

And it breathed

Absolute blackness enveloped Wulfgar and sapped the strength froh there seemed to be no stone to catch him

Catti-brie screaer as she plunged into the black cloud of Shie, for his long-dead kin and for his friend "Get yerself froed head-on and dove into the dragon, his axe flailing wildly, trying to drive the beast over the edge The e had on fought back

A heavy foot knocked Bruenor back to the ground, and before he could rise, the whiplike neck snapped down upon hiis fell back again, shaking with fear "Bruenor!" he cried again, this ti out as no more than a whisper

The black cloud dissipated around Catti-brie and Wulfgar, but the barbarian had taken the full force of Shiloom’s insidious venom He wanted to flee, even if the only route of escape e The shadow hounds’ baying, though it was still many minutes behind the of the goleray dwarves had put into hih his adrenaline of battle had many times before dison seear, and he couldn’t even have brought hiainst it, for he believed in his heart that Shinloom could not be defeated

Despair had stopped him where fire and steel had not He stu no strength to resist her pull

Bruenor felt his breath blasted out, as the terrible maw crunched into hi or two

Catti-brie pushed Wulfgar through the doorway and into the shelter of the sht in the cavern "Ye bastard son of a demon lizard!" she spat, as she set Taul arrows blasted holes into Shiloom’s black armor When Catti-brie understood the rasped at a desperate plan Aiht to drive it froloo bolts whistled in The seething hatred of the dragon’s narrowed eyes bore down upon the brave young woman It spat Bruenor’s broken forirl! Taste of s expanded, perverting the intaken air into the foul cloud of despair

Then the stone at the edge of the gorge broke away

Little joy ca Bruenor back into the anteroom, but had no idea of what to do next Behind him, the relentless pursuit of the shadow hounds drew closer, he was separated froar and Catti-brie, and he didn’t dare cross the cavern without knowing if the dragon was truly gone He looked down at the battered and blood-covered forhtest notion of how he in to help him, or even if Bruenor was still alive

Only surprise delayed Regis’s iray eyes and winked

Drizzt and Entreri flattened thee tuerously close It was over in a et to his friends

He had to stop again, though, and wait nervously as the black foron dropped past him, then recovered quickly andat the dwarf

Bruenor shifted uncoled to his feet The h Bruenor had been squeezed terribly and bore rows of deep bruises, and probably a host of broken ribs, for the experience The tough das still veryhis considerable pain for the more important matter before him - the safety of his friends

"Where’s the boy, and Catti-brie?" he pressed iround howls of the shadow hounds accentuating the desperation of his tone

"Another rooht beyond the door to the cavern

"Cat!" Bruenor shouted "How do ye fare?"

After a stunned pause, for Catti-brie, too, had not expected to hear Bruenor’s voice again, she called back, "Wulfgar’s gone for the fight, I fear! A dragon’s spell, for all I can s’ll be here sooner than I like!"

"Aye!" agreed Bruenor, clutching at a twinge of pain in his side when he yelled "But have ye seen the worm?"

"No, nor heared the beast!" cais

"It fell, and has been gone since," the halfling answered the questioning stare, equally unconvinced that Shiloom had been defeated so easily

"Not a choice to us, then!" Bruenor called out "We’re tothe boy?"

"It’s his heart for fightin’ that’s been bruised, no !"

Bruenor clasped Regis’s shoulder, lending support to his nervous friend "Let’s be going, then!" he roared in his fais sain Without further coaxing, he walked beside the dwarf out of the rooe, the black cloud that was Shiain crested the rim

"Ye see it?" cried Catti-brie

Bruenor fell back into the rooon all too clearly Doom closed in all around him, insistent and inescapable Despair denied his determination, not for hiical course of his fate in coraved upon the fabric of his very being frohtered - but his friends should not perish this way Not the halfling, who always before could find an escape frolorious adventures left before hiirl, Catti-brie, his own beloved daughter The only light that had truly shone in the mines of Clan Battleha coh a price for his selfish daring The loss that faced him noas simply too much for him to bear

His eyes darted around the small room There had to be an option If ever he had been faithful to the gods of the dwarves, he asked the Give hiainst one of the roois

The halfling shrugged "A storage area," he said "Nothing of value Not even a weapon"

Bruenor wouldn’t accept the answer He dashed through the curtain and started tearing through the crates and sacks that lay within Dried food Pieces of wood An extra cloak A skin of water

A keg of oil

Shie, waiting to meet the intruders on its own terms in the open cavern and confident that the shadow hounds would flush theon, pressing on in the face of peril with no other concerns than those he felt for his friends

"Hold!" Entreri called to hiet yourself killed?"

"Daon!" Drizzt hissed back "I’ll not cower in the shadows and watchwith them?" came the sarcastic reply "You are a fool, drow Your worth outweighs that of all your pitiful friends!"