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The people of Bryn Shander heard the fighting out on the field, but it wasn’t until the lightening of full dawn that they could see as happening They cheered the dwarves wildly and were amazed when the barbarians crashed into Kessell’s ranks, hacking down goblins with gleeful abandon

Cassius and Glensather, in their customary positions upon the wall, pondered the unexpected turn of events, undecided as to whether or not they should release their forces into the fray

"Barbarians?" gawked Glensather "Are they our friends or foes?"

"They kill orcs," Cassius answered "They are friends!"

Out on Maer Dualdon, Keh they couldn’t see as involved Even un, this one to the southwest, in the town of Bremen Had the men of Bryn Shander come out and attacked? Or was Akar Kessell’s force destroying itself around hilassy and vibrant sides taking on an opaque, deathly stillness

"Regis,"the tower’s loss of power "If ever a hero we had!"

The tower shuddered and shook Great cracks appeared over the length of its walls Then it broke apart

The monster army looked on in horrified disbelief as the bastion of the wizard they had co down

The horns in Bryn Shander began to blow Kemp’s people cheered wildly and rushed for the oars Jensin Brent’s forward scouts signaled back the startling news to the fleet on Lac Dinneshere, who in turn relayed the hout the temporary sanctuaries that hid the routed people of Ten-Towns cae!"

The arates of Bryn Shander’s wall poured out of the courtyard and onto the field The fleets of Caer-Konig and Caer-Dineval on Lac Dinneshere and Good Mead and Dougan’s Hole in the south lifted their sails to catch the east wind and raced across the lakes The four fleets asse that sae

In a ind rush of chaos and surprise, the final Battle of Icewind Dale had begun

Regis rolled out of the way as the e and ripping in a desperate struggle Nor the helldog, but in its weakened state, the cat found itself fighting for its life The hound’s hot breath seared black fur; its great fangs bit into is wanted to help the cat, but he couldn’t even get close enough to kick at its foe Why had Drizzt run off so abruptly?

Guenhwyvar felt its neck being crushed by the powerfulover with it But the hold of the canine jaas not broken Dizziness swept over the cat froan to send its h it la failed its master in his time of need

Then the toent dark The startled hellhound relaxed its grip slightly, and Guenhwyvar was quick to seize the opportunity The cat planted its paws against the dog’s ribs and shoved free of the grasp, rolling away into the blackness

The helldog scanned for its foe, but the panther’s powers of stealth were beyond even the considerable awareness of its keen senses Then the dog saw a second quarry A single bound took it to Regis

Guenhwyvar was playing a game that it knew better, now The panther was a creature of the night, a predator that struck from the blackness and killed before its prey even sensed its presence The helldog crouched for a strike at Regis, then dropped as the panther landed heavily upon its back, claws raking deeply into the rust-colored hide

The dog yelped only once before the killing fangs found its neck

Mirrors cracked and shattered A sudden hole in the floor sed Kessell’s throne Blocks of crystalline rubble began falling all about as the tower shuddered in its final death throes Screais that a sihout the structure He was gladdened when he saw Guenhwyvar dispatch the helldog, but he understood the futility of the cat’s heroics They had nowhere to run, no escape frois called Guenhwyvar to his side

He couldn’t see the cat’s body in the blackness, but he saw the eyes, intent upon hi hi if the stress and the wounds the dog had inflicted upon Guenhwyvar had driven the cat intohih into the air; Guenhwyvar had sprung

Dust choked hiin Then caulfed hiht, he couldn’t see He heard nothing, not even the sound of air rushing by Yet he knew for certain that he was falling

And then the light dih a cloud It all seemed so dreamlike, so cootten into this position He couldn’t recall his own name

Then he dropped into a deep pile of snow and knew that he was not drea bite He tried to stand and get a better idea of his surroundings

And then he heard, far away and below, the screa battle He remembered Cryshal-Tirith, remembered where he had been There could only be one answer

He was on top of Kelvin’s Cairn

The soldiers of Bryn Shander and Easthaven, fighting ared down the sloping hill and drove hard into the confused ranks of goblins The two spokesh the ranks of es On the wall a fewthe saured that if all three ar support, their sliave way to the assault In their absolute dismay and surprise at the sudden turn of events, the anize any semblance of a defensive line

When the four fleets on Maer Dualdon landed just north of the ruins of Targos, they encountered the saanized and disoriented resistance Keain a foothold on the land, but theirTermalaine would sweep down behind them if they pushed in from the beach and cut off their only escape route

They needn’t have worried, though In the first stages of the battle, the goblins in Termalaine had indeed rushed out with every intention of supporting their wizard But then Cryshal-Tirith had tu heard rue force to wipe out the Orcs of the Severed Tongue in the conquered city of Bremen And when they saw the tower, the pinnacle of Kessell’s strength, crash down in ruins, they had reconsidered their alternatives, weighing the consequences of the choices before them They fled back to the north and the safety of the open plain

Blowing snow added to the heavy veil atop the mountain Drizzt kept his eyes down, but he could hardly see his own feet as he determinedly placed one in front of the other He still held the h it approved of the frigid teed hi farther along the high face, to one of the adjacent peaks The wind carried a disturbing sound to his ears - the cackle of insane laughter

And then he saw the blurred for out over the southern precipice, trying to catch a gli on the battlefield below

"Kessell!" Drizzt shouted He saw the form shift abruptly and knew that the wizard had heard hih the howl of the wind "In the name of the people of Ten-Towns, I demand that you surrender tobreath of winter freeze us where we stand!"

Kessell sneered "You still do not understand what it is you face, do you?" he asked in amazement "Do you truly believe that you have won this battle?"

"How the people below fare I do not yet know," Drizzt answered "But you are defeated! Your tower is destroyed, Kessell, and without it you are but awhile they talked and was now only a few feet froh his opponent was still a ray field

"Do you wish to kno they fare, Drow?" Kessell asked "Then look! Witness the fall of Ten-Towns!" He reached under his cloak and pulled out a shining object - a crystal shard The clouds seemed to recoil from it The wind halted within the wide radius of its influence Drizzt could see its incredible power The drow felt the blood returning to his nuray veil was burned away, and the sky before them was clear

"The tower destroyed?" Kessell mocked "You have broken just one of Crenshinibon’s countless ies! A sack of flour? To defeat the most powerful relic in the world? Look down upon the foolish men who dare to oppose me!"

The battlefield was spread wide before the drow He could see the white, wind-filled sails of the boats of Caer-Dineval and Caer-Konig as they neared the western banks of Lac Dinneshere

In the south, the fleets of Good Mead and Dougan’s Hole had already docked The sailorsup for an inland strike The goblins and orcs that had for had not witnessed the fall of Cryshal-Tirith Though they sensed the loss of power and guidance, and as many of them remained where they were or deserted their comrades and fled as rushed around Bryn Shander’s hill to join in the battle

Ke off cautiously froroup had landed into the thickest concentration of Kessell’s forces, but also into the area that was under the shadow of the tohere the fall of Cryshal-Tirith had been the oblins interested in running away than ones intent on a fight

In the center of the field, where the heaviest fighting was taking place, thewell The barbarians had nearly joined with the dwarves Spurred by the e of Bruenor, the two forces were tearing apart all that stood between them And they would soon become even more for in at a steady pace

"By the tale my eyes tell me, your army does not fare well," Drizzt retorted "The ’foolish’ men of Ten-Towns are not defeated yet!"