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Bruenor knocked lightly on the door, not expecting a response As usual, no reply cah, the stubborn dwarf did not walk away He turned the latch and entered the darkened roo his slender fingers through his thick mane of white hair, Drizzt sat on his bed with his back to Bruenor Even in the dimness, Bruenor could clearly see the scab line sliced across the drow’s back The dwarf shuddered, never i in those wild hours of battle that Drizzt had been so viciously wounded by Artemis Entreri

"Five days, elf," Bruenor said quietly "Do ye mean to live yer life in here?"

Drizzt turned slowly to face his dwarven friend "Where else would I go?" he replied

Bruenor studied the lavender eyes, twinkling to reflect the light of the hallway beyond the open door The left one had opened again, the dwarf noted hopefully Bruenor had feared that the demodand’s blow had forever closed Drizzt’s eye

Clearly it was healing, but still those marvelous orbs worried Bruenor They seeood bit of their luster

"How is Catti-brie?" Drizzt asked, sincerely concerned about the young woe the subject

Bruenor shting’s back and she’s not caring for lyin’ quiet in a bed!" He chuckled, recalling the scene earlier in the day, when one attendant had tried to prilare alone had drained the blood from the man’s face "Cuts her servants doith her blade of a tongue when they fuss over her"

Drizzt’s sar?"

"The boy’s better," Bruenor replied "Took four hours scraping the spider gook off his on his arm for athat boy down! Though as a !"

They watched each other until the s’s feast is about to begin," Bruenor said "Ye going? With a belly so round, uess is that Rued noncommittally

"Bah!" Bruenor snorted "Ye can’t be living yer life between dark walls!" He paused as a thought suddenly popped into his head "Or are ye out at night?" he asked slyly

"Out?"

"Hunting," explained Bruenor "Are ye out hunting Entreri?"

Now, Drizzt did laugh - at the notion that Bruenor linked his desire for solitude to some obsession with the assassin

"Ye’re burning for him," Bruenor reasoned, "and he for yerself if he’s still for drawing breath"

"Co a loose shirt over his head He picked up the ical mask as he started around the bed, but stopped to consider the item He rolled it over in his hands, then dropped it back to the dressing table "Let us not be late for the feast"

Bruenor’s guess about Regis had notthe two friends was splendidly adorned with shining silver and porcelain, and the aro their lips as they is sat at the long table’s head, the thousand geht in a glittering burst every tiiant eunuchs who had guarded Pook at the bitter end, their faces bruised and bandaged

At the halfling’s right sat LaValle, to Bruenor’s distaste, and at his left, a narrow-eyed halfling and a chubby young uild

Farther down the table sat Wulfgar and Catti-brie, side by side, their hands clasped between theuessed - by the pale and weary looks of the tas as enuine affection

As weary as they were, though, their faces lit with sis’s, when they saw Drizzt enter the room, the first time any of them had seen the drow in nearly a week

"Welcois said happily "It would have been a shallow feast if you could not join us!"

Drizzt slid into the chair beside LaValle, drawing a concerned look frouild’s lieutenants, too, shifted uneasily at the thought of dining with a drow elf

Drizzt sht of their discomfort; it was their probleis

"Brooding," Bruenor wanted to say as he sat next to Drizzt, but he tactfully held his tongue

Wulfgar and Catti-brie stared at their black friend from across the table

"You swore to killar flushed a deep red and tightened his grip on Catti-brie’s hand

"Only the strength of Wulfgar could have held that gate," Drizzt explained The edges of his mouth turned up in a wistful san, but Catti-brie cut hi woh "Let us not be talking about troubles we’ve past Too ht," spouted Bruenor "The days walk by us as we sit and heal! Another week, and we o," declared Wulfgar

"Ye’re not," retorted Catti-brie "Nor a road beyond"

"Ahe their attention "About your departure, " He stopped to consider their stares, nervous about presenting his offer in just the right way "Iuhthought thatIwhat his little friend had in mind

"Well, I have built a place for is continued

"And ye’re to stay," reasoned Catti-brie "We’ll not bla ye!"

"Yes," said Regis, "and no There is room here, and wealth With the four of you by my side"

Bruenor halted him with an upraised hand "A fine offer," he said, "but me ho on our return," added Catti-brie

Regis realized the finality of Bruenor’s refusal, and he knew that Wulfgar would certainly follow Catti-brie - back to Tarterus if she so chose So the halfling turned his sights on Drizzt, who had become an unreadable puzzle to them all in the last few days

Drizzt sat back and considered the proposition, his hesitancy to deny the offer drawing concerned stares froar, and, particularly, Catti-brie Perhaps life in Calimport would not be so bad, and certainly the drow had the tools to thrive in the shadowy realis square in the eye

"No," he said He turned at the audible sigh from Catti-brie across the table, and their eyes locked "I have walked through too many shadows already," he explained "A noble quest stands before "

Regis relaxed back in his chair and shrugged He had expected as o back to a war, then I would be a sorry friend if I did not aid your quest"

The others eyed him curiously, never amazed at the surprises the little one could pull

"To that end," Regis continued, "one of ents reported the arrival of an important person - from the tales Bruenor has told " He snapped his fingers, and a young attendant entered fro Captain Deuderis, and lower still to the dear friends he had made on the perilous journey from Waterdeep "The as at our backs," he explained, "and the Sea Sprite runs swifter than ever We can depart on the entle rock of a boat is a fine place to mend weary bones!"

"But the trade," said Drizzt "The market is here in Cali!"

"I et you all the way to Waterdeep," said Deudermont "The winds and ice will tell But you surely will find yourself closer to your goal when you take to land once again" He looked over at Regis, then back to Drizzt "For my losses in trade, accois tucked his thumbs into his jeweled belt "I owed you that, at the least!"

"Bah!" snorted Bruenor, an adventurous gleam in his eye "Ten times more, Rumblebelly, ten times more!"

Drizzt looked out of his rooleat the dark streets of Caliht, hushed in suspicion and intrigue, anticipating the power struggle that would inevitably follow the downfall of a guildmaster as powerful as Pasha Pook