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Kessell raised the crystal shard high above hireater level of power Down on the battlefield, even at the great distance, the coence of the powerful presence they had known as Cryshal-Tirith Huoblinalike, even those locked in mortal combat, paused for a second to look at the beacon on the od, cheered wildly and abandoned their heretofore defensive posture Encouraged by the glorious reappearance of Kessell, they pressed the attack with savage fury

"You see how my mere presence incites the attention - to the wizard or the battle below He was standing in puddles of water now fro relic He was intent on a noise that his keen ears had caught a A rumble of protest frolory of Akar Kessell!" the wizard cried, his voiceproportions by the power of the relic he held "How easy it shall be for me to destroy the boats on the lake below!"

Drizzt realized that Kessell, in his arrogant disregard for the dangers growing around hirant mistake All that he had to do was delay the wizard fro any decisive actions for the next few er at the back of his belt and flung it at Kessell, though he knew that Kessell was joined in some perverted symbiosis with Crenshinibon and that the s its er the wizard to divert his fury away froh the air Drizzt turned and ran

A thin beam shot out from Crenshinibon and melted the weapon before it found its ed "You should bon before , you have earned the distinction of beingthe shard away fro drow But as he spun he sank, suddenly up to his knees in the ry rumbles of the mountain

Drizzt broke free of the relic’s sphere of influence and without hesitating to look back, he ran, putting as much distance between himself and the southern face of Kelvin’s Cairn as he could

Iet free of the watery snow He called upon the power of Crenshinibon again, but his concentration wavered under the intense stress of iain for the first ti apprentice who had murdered his teacher

As if the crystal shard had rejected him

Then the entire side of the mountain’s snow cap fell The ruoblins and even ogres, were thrown to the ground

Kessell clutched the shard close to hian to fall But Crenshinibon burned his hands, pushed him away Kessell had failed too er accept him as its wielder

Kessell screaers His shriek, though, was drowned out by the thunder of the avalanche The cold darkness of snow closed around hi with him on the descent Kessell desperately believed that if he still held the crystal shard, he could survive even this Small comfort when he settled onto a lower peak of Kelvin’s Cairn

And half of the mountain’s cap landed on top of hiain The thread that had incited their an to unravel But in the ti activity had taken place Two frost giants, the only reiants in the wizard’s entire aruard to their side and then called for the orc and goblin tribes to gather around them and follow their lead

Still, the dismay of the army was obvious Tribal rivalries that had been buried under the iron-fisted domination of Akar Kessell resurfaced in the form of blatant , and only fear of the giants held them in line beside the other tribes

"Well oblin head, as the barbarian horde finally broke through to the dwarves

"An’ to yerself, boy!" the dwarf replied, burying his axe into the chest of his own opponent "Tiht that I’d have to kill yer share o’ the scuh He had discovered the two giants co the dwarf’s gaze to the ring of ogres "They are all that hold the tribes together!"

"Better sport!" Bruenor laughed "Lead on!"

And so, with his principle attendants and Bruenor beside hioblin ranks

The ogres crowded in front of their newfound coar was close enough by then

Aegis-Fang whistled past the ogre ranks and took one of the giants in the head, dropping it lifeless to the ground The other, gawking in disbelief that a huainst one of its kind from such a distance, hesitated for only a brief res charged in on Wulfgar’s group, pushing theround before the press, anxious to rejoin the bulk of the huh This was the type of chaotic fighting that he s of the leading line of ogres andtheir ranks

Froar saw the dwarf’s odd departure "Where are you off to?" he shouted after hiry Bruenor couldn’t hear the call and wouldn’t have heeded it anyway

Wulfgar couldn’t view the flight of the wild dwarf, but he could approximate Bruenor’s position, or at least where the dwarf had just been, as ogre after ogre doubled over in surprised agony, clutching a knee, haroin

Above all of the coed in direct co the second resurgence

But, settled now on the lower slopes of the hting ht their ships in under full sail, sliding them up recklessly onto the sands of the shallows to avoid the delays ofin deeper waters They leaped fro into the battle with a fearless frenzy that drove their opponents away

Once they had established theether in a tight for far off in that direction and knew that thea swath north to join up with his men His plan was to meet them on the Eastway and then drive ard toward Bryn Shander with his reinforced nu since fled, and one northwest to the ruins of Cryshal-Tirith and the ood speed toward their goal They reached the road with few losses and dug in to wait for the southerners

Ke on the waters of Maer Dualdon The spokesos, appointed commander of the forces of the four cities of the lake, had moved cautiously thus far for fear of a heavy assault froht only the h this conservative stance, with the sounds of raging battle howling across the field, was tearing at his adventurous heart

As the oblin reinforcements, the spokesman had sent a small schooner to run up the coastline and find out as delaying the occupying force in Ter into view Riding high upon the s that Kemp had most desired but least expected: The red banner of the catch, though in this instance, it signaled that Ter northward

Kehest spot he could find, his face flushed with a vengeful desire "Break the line, boys!" he shouted to his men "Cut me a swath to the city on the hill! Let Cassius co on the doorstep of his town!"

They shouted wildly with every step, men who had lost homes and kin and seen their cities burned out fro left to lose All that they could hope to gain was a sed for the re swords and spears that seeh it slowed their reflexes, did nothing to teer that burned in the blood of every cohting wore on, with troops getting hopelessly separated froainst each other, unable, even with a co-standing hatred for the rival tribes A thick cloud of dust enveloped the heaviest concentrations of fighting; the dizzying claainst shields, and the expanding screaenerated the structured clash into an all out brawl

The sole exception was the group of battle-seasoned dwarves Their ranks did not waver or disintegrate in the least, though Bruenor had not yet returned to thee exit

The dwarves provided a solid platforar and his s was back a the ranks of his men just as Cassius and his force linked up The spokesed intent stares, neither certain of where he stood with the other Both ise enough to trust fully in their alliance for the present, though Both understood that intelligent foes put aside their differences in the face of a greater enee that the newly banded allies enjoyed Together, they outnuoblin tribe they faced And since the goblin tribes would not work in unison, each group had no external support on its flanks Wulfgar and Cassius, following and supporting each other’s movements, sent out defensive spurs of warriors to hold off periroups, while the h one tribe at a tioblins for every man they had lost, Cassius was truly concerned Thousands of the monsters had not even come in contact with the hu with fatigue He had to get thear, also apprehensive about his warriors’ ability tothat there was no other escape route, instructed his a wasn’t even certain that the people of Bryn Shander would let his warriors into the city

Kemp’s force had e to the slopes of the principle city, but as they neared their goal, they ran up against heavier and more desperate concentrations of hued down and fighting on all sides

The ar in from the east had done better Their rush down the Eastway had met with little resistance, and they were the first to reach the hill They had sailed ht all the way across the plain, yet Jensin Brent, the lone surviving spokesinal four, for Schermont and the two from the southern cities had fallen on the Eastould not let them rest He clearly heard the heated battle and knew that the bravethe et

Yet when the spokesman led his troops around the final bend to the city’s north gate, they froze in their tracks and looked upon the spectacle of the gerated tales Cohters who had somehow lost their weapons bit and scratched at their opponents

Brent sure force would be able to make it back to the city on their own The arht spot

"To the west!" he cried to his e of adrenalin sent the weary arht to the rescue of their comrades On orders fro, side-by-side line, but when they reached the battlefield, only the roups at the ends of the formation collapsed into the e, its tip breaking all the way through the monsters to reach Keerly accepted the lifeline, and the united force was soon able to retreat to the northern face of the hill The last stragglers stuar’s barbarians, and the dwarves broke free of the closest ranks of goblins and cliround of the hill

Noith the huoblins iants or ogres reoblins and orcs lay dead Cryshal-Tirith was a pile of blackened rubble, and Akar Kessell was buried in a frozen grave

The men on Bryn Shander’s hill were battered and wobbly with exhaustion, yet the gri ht on to their last breath They had backed into the final corner, there would be no further retreat

Doubts crept into the oblin and orc that reh their numbers were still probably sufficient to complete the task, many more of them would yet fall before the fierce men of Ten-Towns and their deadly allies would be put down Even then, which of the surviving tribes would claiuidance of the wizard, the survivors of the battle would certainly be hard-pressed to fairly divide the spoils without further fighting

The Battle of Icewind Dale had not followed the course that Akar Kessell had promised