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Bruenor had co, and by the time his initial momentum had worn away, he was far across the rooiant eunuchs that Pook had on guard The guild at him more in curiosity than terror

Bruenor paid Pook no mind whatsoever He looked beyond the pluainst a wall: the wizard who had banished Catti-brie to Tarterus

Recognizing the murderous hate in the red-bearded dwarf’s eyes, LaValle rolled to his feet and scra heart calmed when he heard the click of the door behind hi spells in place He was safe - or so he thought

Often wizards were blinded by their own considerable strength to other - less sophisticated, perhaps, but equally strong - for cauldron that was Bruenor Battlehammer, and could not anticipate the brutality of the dwarf’s rage

His surprise was co, sundered hisand the wild dwarf storar, oblivious to the surroundings and wanting only to return to Tarterus and Catti-brie, cah the Taros Hoop just as Bruenor exited the roo hinored However the barbarian felt at that moment, for Catti-brie or Drizzt, he could not deny that his place was in guarding thethrough the eternal gloom of that horrid place burned at his heart, and he wanted to spring right back through the Taros Hoop to rush to her aid

Before the barbarian could decide whether to follow his heart or his thoughts, a huge fist sla his of two of Pook’s hill giants It was a difficult way to enter a fight, but Wulfgar’s rage was every bit as intense as Bruenor’s

The giants tried to drop their heavy feet on Wulfgar, but he was too agile for such a clu up between theiant stared blankly at Wulfgar for a longthat a human could deliver such a punch, then it hopped backeirdly and dropped liar spun on the other, shattering its nose with the butt end of Aegis-fang The giant clutched its face in both hands and reeled For it, the fight was already over

Wulfgar couldn’t take the ti it halfway across the rooar looked across the roouild behind it

Pook reached down behind the chair and pulled out a neatly concealed heavy crossbow, loaded and ready "And I may be fat like those two," Pook chuckled, "but I am not stupid" He leveled the crossbow on the back of the chair

Wulfgar glanced around He was caught, fully, with no chance to dodge away

But ar firht here, then," he said without flinching, tapping his finger over his heart "Shoot lance over his shoulder, to where the i demodands "And you defend the entrance to the plane of Tarterus"

Pook eased his finger off the trigger

If Wulfgar’s point had made an impression, it was driven home a second later when the clawed hand of a dear’s shoulder

Drizzt looround on Catti-brie He was vulnerable, though, and he knew it

So did a winged de him fall by

The wretched creature hopped off its perch as soon as Drizzt had passed, flapping its wings at an aard angle to gainthe drow, and it reached out its razor-sharp claws to tear at him as it passed

Drizzt noticed the beast at the last et out of the diving thing’s path and struggling to ready his scimitars

He should have had no chance It was the deed creature, round

But Drizzt Do’Urden never played the odds

The de yet another tear in Drizzt’s fine cloak Twinkle, as steady as ever even in s The demodand fluttered helplessly to the side and continued down in a tuainst the drow elf, and no wing left to catch hioal was in reach

He caught Catti-brie in his arainst his chest She was cold, he noted grio to even think about that He wasn’t certain if the planar gate was still open, and he had no idea of how he could stop his eternal fall

A solution caed de path at him and Catti-brie The creature did not mean to attack yet, Drizzt could see; its route seemed more of a flyby, where it would pass under them to better inspect its foe

Drizzt didn’t let the chance go As the creature passed under, the dark elf snapped hi hand Not ai into the creature’s backside The de free of the blade

Its ling their descent enough to line thees

Drizzt twisted and turned to keep the out his cloak with his free arhtly to lessen the drag At the last moment, he spun himself under Catti-brie to shield her from the impact With a heavy thud and a whoosh of smoke, they landed

Drizzt crawled out and forced hi to find his breath

Catti-brie lay below hiash fro and ruesoht, for he had noted one other event when they had plopped down

Catti-brie had groaned

LaValle scrambled behind his little table "Keep you back, dwarf," he warned "I areat powers"

Bruenor’s terror was not apparent He drove his axe through the table, and a blinding explosion of smoke and sparks filled the rooht aBruenor, the dwarf’s hands and beard trailing wisps of gray smoke, the little table broken flat, and his crystal ball severed clean in half