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Now running with the currents of the Chionthar, and with the breeze at enough of an angle from the north for the sails to catch a bit of a push, the Sea Sprite cruised away fro a white spray despite the concurrent movement of the water

"The Sword Coast by ar "And off the coast, with no land in sight until we make Asavir’s Channel Then a southern journey around the edge of the world and back east to Cali a new pennant olden field crossed by slanted blue lines

Drizzt looked at Deuder that this was not an ordinary practice of sailing vessels

"We run Waterdeep’s flag north of Baldur’s Gate," the captain explained "Calimport’s south"

"An acceptable practice?" Drizzt asked

"For those who know the price," chuckled Deudermont "Waterdeep and Calimport are rivals, and stubborn in their feud They desire trade with each other - they can only profit fro to dock in their harbors"

"A foolish pride," Wulfgar remarked, painfully reminded of some similar traditions his own clannish people had practiced only a few years before

"Politics," Deuder "But the lords of both cities secretly desire the trade, and a few dozen ships haveThe Sea Sprite has two ports to call hoement"

"Two markets for Captain Deudermont," Drizzt reood sailing sense as well," Deuder the waters north of Baldur’s Gate respect the banner of Waterdeep above all others, and those south of here take care not to rouse the anger of Cali Asavir’s Channel have hts, and they are ht"

"And you are never bothered?" Wulfgar couldn’t help but ask, his voice tentative and alured out if he approved of the practice

"Never?" echoed Deudermont "Not ’never,’ but rarely And on those occasions that pirates come at us, we fill our sails and run Few ships can catch the Sea Sprite when her sails are full of wind"

"And if they do catch you?" asked Wulfgar

"That is where you two can earn your passage," Deaderht soften a looting pirate’s desire to continue the pursuit"

Wulfgar brought Aegis-fang up in front of him "I pray that I have learned the h for such a battle," he said "An errant swing ht send me over the rail!"

"Then swim to the side of the pirate ship," Drizzt mused, "and tip her over!"

From a darkened chamber in his tower in Baldur’s Gate, the wizard Oberon watched the Sea Sprite sail out He probed deeper into the crystal ball to scry the elf and huge barbarian standing beside the ship’s captain on the deck They were not fro, the barbarian was more likely from one of those distant tribes far to the north, beyond even Luskan and around the Spine of the World mountains, in that desolate stretch of land known as Icewind Dale How far he was fro the open sea!

"What part could these two play in the return of Pasha Pook’s geone all the way to that distant strip of tundra in search of the halfling? Were these two pursuing him south?

But it was not the wizard’s affair Oberon was just glad that Entreri had called in the debt with so easy a favor The assassin had killed for Oberon - h Entreri had never mentioned the favors in his many visits to Oberon’s tower, the wizard had always felt as if the assassin held a heavy chain around his neck But this very night, the long-standing debt would be cleared in the puff of a sinal

Oberon’s curiosity kept hier He focused upon the elf - Drizzt Do’Urden, as Pellman, the harbormaster, had called hi seemed amiss about this elf Not out of place, as the barbarian see in the way Drizzt carried himself or looked about with those unique, lavender orbs

Those eyes just did not seem to fit the overall persona of that elf, Drizzt Do’Urden

An enchantuise The curious wizard wished that he had more information to report to Pasha Pook He considered the possibilities of whisking hiate further, but he hadn’t the proper spells prepared for such an undertaking Besides, he reain, this was not his affair

And he did not want to cross Arteht, Oberon flew out of his tower and cliht sky, a wand in hand Hundreds of feet above the city, he loosed the proper sequence of fireballs

Riding the decks of a Calimport ship named Devil Dancer, two hundred miles to the south, Arte the sequence of the bursts He turned to the halfling standing beside him

"Your friends pursue us by sea," he said "And less than a week behind! They have done well"

Regis’s eyes did not flicker in hope at the news The cliht They had left the winter far behind, and the hot winds of the southern Real’s spirits The trip to Calimport would not be interrupted by any other stops, and no ship - even one less than a week behind - could hope to catch the speedy Devil Dancer

Regis wrestled against an inner dile to co with his old guildis had personally witnessed Pook dealing out severe punishments to those thieves who dared to steal froone even a step further than that; he had stolen frouildical ruby pendant, was Pook’s is put his head down and walked slowly back toward his cabin

The halfling’s soh Entreri’s spine Pook would get the ge, and Entreri would be paid well for the service But in the assassin’s old was not the true reward for his efforts

Entreri wanted Drizzt Do’Urden