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They started at dawn, charging across the tundra like an angry ind Animals and monsters alike, even the ferocious yetis, fled before theround cracked beneath the stamp of their heavy boots, and the th of their song, the song to the God of Battle
They ain before the first rays of dawn, ry for blood and victory
Drizzt Do’Urden sat nearly halfway up on the northern face of Kelvin’s Cairn, his cloak pulled tight against the bitter wind that howled through the boulders of the ht up here since the council in Bryn Shander, his violet eyes scanning the blackness of the plain for the first signs of the coed for Regis to sit beside hi at hi squeezed in between two boulders a further protection frois would have been tucked away in the war to the quiettree branches beyond alls But he understood that as a spokesman everyone expected hiested at the council It quickly became obvious to the other spokesy s as the representative of the dwarves, that the halfling wouldn’t beany battle plans, so when Drizzt told Bruenor that he would need a courier to sit watch with hi was thoroughly ers were nuainst the hard stone This was the third night out, and Regis gru his discoh it all, Drizzt sat un and oblivious to the conditions, his stoic dedication to duty overriding any personal distress
"How is whined "One , I’m sure - maybe even tomorrow they’ll find us up here, dead and frozen to this cursed mountain!"
"Fear not, little friend," Drizzt answered with a smile "The wind speaks of winter The barbarians will come all too soon, determined to beat the first snows" Even as he spoke, the drow caught the tiniest flicker of light in the corner of his eye He rose fro, and turned toward the direction of the flicker, histo spot a confiran, but Drizzt silenced him with an outstretched pale of the horizon
"You have gotten your wish," Drizzt said with certainty
"Are they out there?" Regis whispered His vision wasn’t nearly as keen as the drow’s in the night
Drizzt stood silently in concentration for a fewto measure the distance of the campfires and calculate the time it would take the barbarians to complete their journey
"Go to Bruenor and Cassius, little friend," he said at length "Tell them that the horde will reach Bremen’s Run when the sun peaks tois "Surely they’ll not put you out when you bear such urgent news"
"I have a more important task at hand," Drizzt answered "Now be off! Tell Bruenor - and Bruenor alone - that I shall ht of dawn" And with that, the drow padded off into the darkness He had a long journey before hiis called after him
"To find the horizon’s horizon!" caht
And then there was only theup their encampment shortly before Drizzt reached its outer periuard; the first thing Drizzt noticed was that they had set many men on watch But alert as they were, their caht, the time of the drow The normally effective watchht, one who could conjure a ical darkness that even the keenest eyes could not penetrate and carry it beside hiible cloak Invisible as a shadow in the darkness, with footfalls as silent as a stalking cat’s, Drizzt passed by the guards and entered the inner rings of the ca and talking of the battle they would fight the next day Yet even the adrenalin and bloodlust that puh their veins could not dispel the exhaustion from their hard march Most of theDrizzt as he picked his way a the the battle plans
Several tents were grouped together within the encauards posted outside its entrance The flap was closed, but Drizzt could see the glow of candles within, and he could hear gruff voices, often raised in anger The drow slipped around to the back Luckily, no warriors had been permitted to make their beds close to the tent, so Drizzt was fairly secluded As a precaution, he pulled the panther figurine out of his pack Then, taking out a slender dagger, he poked a tiny hole in the deerskin tent and peeked in
There were eight men inside, the seven barbarian chiefs and a smaller dark-haired man that Drizzt knew could not have been froround in a se him questions about the terrain and forces they would encounter the next day
"We should destroy the town in the wood first," insisted the largest est man Drizzt had ever seen, who bore the symbol of the Elk "Then we can follow your plan to the town called Bryn Shander"
The sh Drizzt could see that fear of the huge barbarian king would te," he answered tentatively, "if the fishing fleets sight trouble and land before we get to Bryn Shander, we shall find an ar for us within the solid walls of that city"
"They are only weakly southerners!" growled Heafstaag, thrusting out his barrel chest in pride
"Mighty king, I assure you that er for southern blood," said the dark-haired man
"Then speak, deBernezan of Ten-Towns Prove your worth to my people"
Drizzt could see that the last statement rattled the one called deBernezan, for the undertones of the barbarian king’s de how barbarians generally felt about outsiders, the drow realized that the slightest error during any part of this can would probably cost the little man his life
deBernezan reached down into the side of his boot and produced a scroll He unrolled it and held it out for the barbarian kings to see It was a poor ht tremble of the southern man’s hand, but Drizzt could clearly make out many of the distinctive features that marked Ten-Towns on the otherwise featureless plain
"To the west of Kelvin’s Cairn," deBernezan explained, running his finger along the western bank of the largest lake on the round called Breoes south between the mountain and Maer Dualdon From our location, this is the most direct route to Bryn Shander and the path that I believe we should take"
"The town on the banks of the lake," Heafstaag reasoned, "should then be the first that we crush!"
"That is Termalaine," replied deBernezan "All of its men are fishermen and will be out on the lake as we pass You would not find good sport there"
"We will not leave an enes cried out their agreement
"No, of course not," said deBernezan "But it will not takeHaalfdane and the Tribe of the Bear sack the tohile the rest of the force, led by yourself and King Beorg, presses on to Bryn Shander The fires of the burning town should bring the entire fleet, even the ships fro Haalfdane can destroy them on the docks It is ios The people of Bryn Shander will receive no aid from the other lakes in tiainst your charge The Tribe of the Elk will flank around the base of the hill below the city and cut off any possible escape or any last-minute reinforcements"