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Drizzt noticed that Montolio looked more than a little troubled after Hooter, back with more news, departed

"The split of Graul’s forces?" he inquired

Montolio nodded, his expression gri around to the west"

Drizzt looked out beyond the rock wall, to the pass secured by their brandy trough "We can stop theer’s expression told of doo froer’s fear, as Montolio added, "Caroak is leading theht that one would fall in with Graul"

"A giant?" Drizzt asked

"No, winter wolf," Montolio replied At the words, Guenhwyvar flattened its ears and growled angrily

"The panther knows," Montolio said as Drizzt looked on in aht against creatures following the natural order, and thus, Guenhwyvar’s eneain

"It’s a large creature," Montolio went on, "and too sive us a ti orcs, he rowled a third tireat claws

"Guenhwyvar will deal with Caroak," Drizzt rerabbed the panther by the ears, holding Guenhwyvar’s gaze with his own sightless expression " ’Ware the wolf’s breath," the ranger said "A cone of frost, it is, that will freeze your iant felled by it!" Montolio turned to Drizzt and knew that the droore a concerned expression

"Guenhwyvar has to keep theroup," the ranger said, "then we can ements for Caroak" He released his hold on the panther’s ears and swatted Guenhwyvar hard on the scruff of the neck

Guenhwyvar roared a fourth tirove, a black arrow aimed at the heart of doom

Graul’sand hollering and traroups, one through each of the dense copses

"Airoup on the south!" Montolio called up to Drizzt, in position on the crossbow-laden rope bridge "We’ve friends in the other!"

As if in confirer’s decree, the northern copse erupted suddenly in orc cries that sounded more like terrified shrieks than battle calls A chorus of throaty growls accompanied the screams Bluster the bear had come to Montolio’s call, Drizzt knew, and by the sounds in the copse, he had brought a number of friends

Drizzt wasn’t about to question their good fortune He positioned himself behind the closest crossbow and let the quarrel fly as the first orcs eht down the line the drow ran, clicking off his shots in rapid succession From down below, Montolio arced a few arrows over the wall

In the sudden swarm of orcs, Drizzt couldn’t tell howbolts did slow the orc charge and scattered their ranks Several orcs dropped to their bellies; a few turned and headed straight back into the trees The bulk of the group, though, and so to join from the other copse, came on

Montolio fired one last time, then felt his way back into a sheltered run behind the center of his bent tree traps, where he would be protected on three sides by walls of wood and trees His bow in one hand, he checked his sword and then reached around to touch a rope at his other side

Drizzt noticed the rangerinto position twenty feet below hiht be his last free opportunity He sorted out an object hanging above Montolio’s head and dropped a spell over it

The quarrels had broughtorcs, but the traps proved more effective First one, then another, orc stepped in, their cries rising over the din of the charge As other orcs saw their companions’ pain and peril, they slowed considerably or stopped altogether

With the co in the field, Drizzt paused and carefully considered his final shot He noticed a large, finely outfitted orc watching frohs of the northern copse Drizzt knew this was Graul, but his attention shifted i "Da McGristle Noas torn, and he moved the crossbow back and forth between the adversaries Drizzt wanted to shoot at Roddy, wanted to end his personal torment then and there But Roddy was not an orc, and Drizzt found hi a huet," the drow told himself, more to distract his inner torment than for any other reason Quickly, before he could find any u and far, knocking into the trunk of a tree just inches above Graul’s head Roddy pro and pulled hi stone giant, rock in hand

The boulder clipped the trees beside Drizzt, shaking the branches and bridge alike A second shot followed at once, this one taking a supporting post squarely and dropping the front half of the bridge

Drizzt had seen it coh he was ae As the front half of the bridge fell away beneath hile of branches When he finally sorted himself out, he was faced by a new proble torches

Drizzt looked to the log trap, then to the crossbow It and the post securing it had survived the boulder hit, but the drow could not hope to cross to it on the faltering bridge

The leaders of the main host, now behind Drizzt, reached the rock wall then Fortunately, the first orc leaping over landed squarely into another of the wicked jaw traps, and its companions were not so quick to follow

Guenhwyvar leaped around and between thethe descent to the north The panther caught the distant first cries of battle back at the grove, buthowls of the approaching wolf pack The panther sprang up to a low ledge and waited

Caroak, the huge silver canine beast, led the charge Focused on the distant grove, the winter wolf’s surprise was co wildly

Clu, Caroak dove into a sidelong roll Guenhwyvar rode the wolf as a lu with each step But Caroak was a wizened old wolf, a veteran of a hundred battles As the monster rolled about to its back, a blast of icy frost caed aside, both froot the panther on the side of the face, though, nu Guenhwyvar’s jaw Then the chase was on, with Guenhwyvar leaping and tury Caroak, nipping at the panther’s heels

Ti out for Drizzt and Montolio Above all else, the dro that he must protect their rear flank In synchronous movements, Drizzt kicked off his boots, took the flint in one hand and put a piece of steel in his mouth, and leaped up to a branch that would take hiot above it awith one hand, he struck the flint hard Sparks rolled down, close to the ain, and finally, a spark hit the oil-soaked rags tipping the loaded quarrel squarely enough to ignite them

Now the droas not so lucky He rocked and twisted but could not get his foot close enough to the trigger

Montolio could see nothing, of course, but he kneell enough the general situation He heard the approaching worgs at the back of the grove and knew that those in front had breached the wall He sent another bow shot through the thick canopy of bent trees, just for good measure, and hooted loudly three tiroup of oooped down fro the rock wall Like the traps, the birds could only cause ht the defenders a little more time

To this point, the only clear advantage for the grove’s defenders came in the northernest bear buddies had a dozen orcs down and a score ht from a bear, came around a tree and nearly crashed into Bluster The orc kept its wits enough to thrust its spear ahead, but the creature hadn’t the strength to drive the crude weapon through Bluster’s thick hide

Bluster responded with a heavy swipe that sent the orc’s head flying through the trees

Another great bear ae arms wrapped in front of it The only clue that the bear held an orc in the crushing hug was the orc’s feet, which hung out and kicked wildly below the engulfing fur

Bluster caught sight of another eneed, but the diot close

Tephanis had no intentions of joining the battle He had coroup ht, and had planned all along to re The trees didn’t seeet into the southern copse

About halfway to the other woods, the sprite’s plans were foiled again Sheer speed nearly got him past the trap before the iron jaws snapped closed, but the wicked teeth just caught the end his foot The ensuing jolt blasted the breath frorass

Drizzt kne revealing that little fire on the quarrel would prove, so he was hardly surprised when another giant-hurled rock thundered in It struck Drizzt’s bending branch, and with a series of cracks, the li down

Drizzthooked the crossboith his foot as he dropped, and he hit the trigger immediately, before the weapon was deflected too far aside Then he stubbornly held his position and watched

The fiery quarrel reached out into the darkness beyond the eastern rock wall It skidded in low, sending sparks up through the tall grass, then thudded into the side - the outside - of the brandy-filled trough

The first half of the worg-riders got across the trap, but the re in just as flaout The brandy and kindling roared to life as the riders plunged through Worgs and orcs thrashed about in the tall grass, setting other pockets of fire

Those who had already coration One orc rider was thrown heavily, landing on its own torch, and the other two barely kept their seats Above all else, worgs hated fire, and the sight of three of their kin rolling about, furry balls of flathen their resolve for this battle

Guenhwyvar cale maple Onlookers to the panther’s rush would have blinked incredulously, wondering if the vertical tree trunk was really a log lying on its side, so fast did Guenhwyvar run up it

The worg pack ca about, certain that the cat was up the tree but unable to pick out Guenhwyvar’s black forhs

The panther showed itself soon enough, though, again dropping heavily to the back of the winter wolf, and this ti care to lock its jaws onto Caroak’s ear

The winter wolf thrashed and yelped as Guenhwyvar’s claws did their work Caroak ed to turn about and Guenhwyvar heard the sharp intake of breath, the sa blast

Guenhwyvar’s huge neckCaroak’s open jaws to the side The foul breath caht in the face

Guenhwyvar’s ain suddenly, and the panther heard Caroak’s neck snap The winter wolf plopped straight down, Guenhwyvar still atop it

Those three worgs closest to Guenhwyvar, the three who had caught Caroak’s icy breath, posed no threat One lay on its side, gasping for air that would not ht circles, fully blinded, and the last stood perfectly still, staring down at its forelegs, which, for some reason, would not answer its call to h, nearly a score strong, ca Guenhwyvar looked all about for so openings

They worked in har

The leading orcsfor soress, but the whole of the trap was interconnected, and any one of a dozen trip wires would send all the pines springing up

One of the orcs found Montolio’s net, then, the hard way It stuh into the air, one of its coined how much better off they were than those they had left behind, particularly the orc unsuspectingly straddling the knife-set rope When the trees sprang up, so did this devilish trap, gutting the creature and lifting it head over heels into the air

Even those orcs not caught by the secondary traps did not fare well Tangled branches, bristling with prickly pine needles, shot up all about the and disorienting the others

Even worse for the orcs, Montolio used the sound of the rushing trees as his signal to open fire Arrow after arrohistled down the sheltered run,the ht one arrow in the face and another in the chest Another beast turned and fled, crying "Badthe rock wall, the screaround Its startled companions understood when the orc ca from its back