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On the sa that Dove’s party left on the road to Maldobar, Drizzt set out on a journey of his own The initial horror of his gruesoht had not diminished, and the drow feared that it never would, but another e He could do nothing for the innocent fare their deaths That thought was not so pleasing to Drizzt; he had left the Underdark behind, and the savagery as well, he had hoped With the ie still so horribly clear in his mind, and all alone as he was, Drizzt could look only to his scimitar for justice
Drizzt took two precautions before he set out on the murderer’s trail First, he crept back down to the farmyard, to the back of the house, where the farmers had placed a broken plowshare The metal blade was heavy, but the deterht to the discomfort
Drizzt then called Guenhwyvar As soon as the panther arrived and took note of Drizzt’s scowl, it dropped into an alert crouch Guenhwyvar had been around Drizzt long enough to recognize that expression and to believe that they would see battle before it returned to its astral home
They hest’s clear trail, as Ulgulu had hoped Their pace was sloith Drizzt hindered by the plowshare, but steady, and as soon as Drizzt caught the sound of a distant buzzing noise, he knew he had done right in collecting the cumberso passed without incident The trail led the coh, uneven cliff Drizzt feared that he ht have to scale the cliff face - and leave the plowshare behind - but soon he spotted a single narrow trail winding up along the wall The ascending path remained smooth as it wound around sheer bends in the cliff face, blind and dangerous turns Wanting to use the terrain to his advantage, Drizzt sent Guenhwyvar far ahead andvulnerable on the open cliff
That feeling did nothing to quench the sih, which burned clearly fronoll cloak If the sight of the ravine loo just to the side unnerved the drow, he needed only to remember the farmers A short while later, when Drizzt heard the expected buzzing noise from somewhere lower on the narrow trail, he only smiled
The buzz quickly closed froainst the cliff wall and snapped out his sci the time it took the sprite to close
Tephanis flashed beside the drow, the quickling’s little dagger darting and prodding for an opening in the defensive twists of the waving sci up ahead of Drizzt, but Tephanis had scored a hit, nicking Drizzt on one shoulder
Drizzt inspected the wound and nodded gravely, accepting it as aattack, and he knew, too, that allowing this first strike had been necessary for his ultirowl on the path up ahead put Drizzt quickly back on alert Guenhwyvar hadpaws that couldback around
Again Drizzt put his back to the wall,approach Just as the sprite came around the corner, Drizzt jumped out onto the narrow path, his scimitar at the ready The drow’s other hand was less conspicuous and held steady a
The speeding sprite cut back in toward the wall, easily able, as Drizzt realized, to avoid the sciet, the sprite failed to notice Drizzt’s other hand
Drizzt hardly registered the sprite’s !" and the sharp vibrations in his hand as the creature srin to his lips He let the plowshare drop and scooped up the unconscious sprite by the throat, holding it clear of the ground Guenhwyvar bounded around the bend about the same time the sprite shook the dizziness fro and pointed ears nearly flopping right over the other side of his head with each movement
"What creature are you?" Drizzt asked in the goblin tongue, the language that had worked for hinoll band To his surprise, he found that the sprite understood, though his high-pitched, blurred response cain to understand
He gave the sprite a quick jerk to silence hirowled, "One word at a time! What is your nanantly Tephanis could s a hundred tiood while he was suspended in the air The sprite glanced down to the narrow ledge and saw his s next to the dented plowshare
Drizzt’s scierously "Did you kill the farmers?" he asked bluntly He al chuckle
"No," Tephanis said quickly
"Who did?"
"Ulgulu!" the sprite proclaimed Tephanis pointed up the path and blurted out a streaulu waiting dinner," being theof them
Drizzt really didn’t knohat he would do with the captured sprite Tephanis was simply too fast for Drizzt to safely handle He looked to Guenhwyvar, sitting casually a few feet up the path, but the panther only yawned and stretched
Drizzt was about to coure out where Tephanis fit into the whole scenario, but the cocky sprite decided that he had suffered enough of the encounter His handstoo fast for Drizzt to react, Tephanis reached down into his boot, produced another knife, and slashed at Drizzt’s already injured wrist
This time, the cocky sprite had underestimated his opponent Drizzt could not match the sprite’s speed, could not even follow the tiny, darting dagger As painful as the wounds were, though, Drizzt was too filled with rage to take note He only tightened his grip on the sprite’s collar and thrust his scimitar ahead Even with such lih to dodge, laughing wildly all the while
The sprite struck back, digging a deeper cut into Drizzt’s forearm Finally Drizzt chose a tactic that Tephanis could not counter, one that took the sprite’s advantage away He slammed Tephanis into the wall, then tossed the stunned creature off the cliff
Some time later, Drizzt and Guenhwyvar crouched in the brush at the base of a steep, rocky slope At the top, behind carefully placed bushes and branches, lay a cave, and, every so often, goblin voices rolled out
Beside the cave, to the side of the sloping ground was a steep drop Beyond the cave, the le The tracks, though they were sometimes scarce on the bare stone, had led Drizzt and Guenhwyvar to this spot; there could be no doubt that the htered the farht with his decision to avenge the farmers’ deaths He would have preferred a more civilized justice, a lawful court, but as he to do? He certainly could not go to the huers with his suspicions, nor to anyone else Crouching in the bush, Drizzt thought again of the farirl, barely a wo ht hard to keep his breathing steady In the wild Underdark he had soes, a darker side of hiht with brutal and deadly efficiency, and Drizzt could feel that alter-ego welling within hie, but then he remembered the lessons he had learned This darker side was a part of hiether evil
It was necessary
Drizzt understood his disadvantage in the situation, however He had no idea how many enemies he would encounter, or even what type of e at the far ment told him to sit and watch, to learninstant of reer in another, Drizzt stalked up the stony hill He didn’t slohen he neared the cave, but ht in
Guenhwyvar hesitated and watched frohtforward tactics
Tephanis felt cool air brushing by his face and thought for asome pleasant dreah, and realized that he was fast approaching the ground Fortunately, Tephanis was not far froh to produce a constant hu sound and clawed and kicked at the cliff in an effort to slow his descent In the an the incantations to a levitation spell, possibly the only thing that could save hily slow seconds passed before the sprite felt his body buoyed by the spell He still hit the ground hard, but he realized that his wounds were minor
Tephanis stood relatively slowly and dusted hiulu of the approaching drow, but he reconsidered at once He could not levitate up to the cave cohest, and there was only one path up the cliff face - which the droas on
Tephanis had no desire to face that one again
Ulgulu had not tried to cover his tracks at all The dark elf had served the barghest’s needs; now he planned tohim into ulu’s two goblin guards were not too surprised at Drizzt’s entrance Ulgulu had told them to expect the drow and to sihest could cooblins halted their conversation abruptly, dropped their spears in a blocking cross over the curtain, and puffed out their scrawny chests, foolishly following their boss’s instructions as Drizzt approached
"None can go in - " one of thele swipe of Drizzt’s sciered down, clutching at their opened throats The spear barrier fell away and Drizzt never even slowed as he stalked through the curtain
In the middle of the inner rooiant-sized, the barghest waited with crossed arrin
Drizzt threw the dagger and charged right in behind it That throw saved the drow’s life, for when the dagger passed harnized the trap He came in anyway, unable to break hisanything tangible to cut into
The real barghest was behind the stone throne at the back of the rooical repertoire, Kee of himself into the middle of the room to hold the drow in place
Immediately Drizzt’s instincts told him that he had been set up This was no real monster he faced but an apparition meant to keep him in the open and vulnerable The roo nearby offered any cover
Ulgulu, levitating above the drow, ca softly behind hiht in place
Drizzt, his reflexes andperfection, sensed the presence and dove forward into the ie hand only clipped Drizzt’s flowing hair, but that alone nearly ripped the drow’s head to the side
Drizzt half-turned his body as he dove, rolling back to his feet facing Ulgulu He e, but that fact did nothing to intied drow Like a stretched cord, Drizzt snapped straight back at the barghest By the tiulu even recovered from his unexpected miss, Drizzt’s lone sci a neat little hole under his chin
The barghest roared in rage but was not too badly hurt, for Drizzt’s drow-ic in the drow’s tiical weapons - such as Guenhwyvar’s claws and teeth - could truly hare panther slah force to drop the barghest facedown on the floor Never had Ulgulu felt such pain as Guenhwyvar’s claws raked across his head