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Tephanis watched the party of six - the five friars and Drizzt - make their sloay toward the tunnel on the western approach to Mirabar Roddy had sent the quickling ahead to scout out the region, telling Tephanis to turn the drow, if he found the drow, back toward Roddy "Bleeder’ll be taking care of that one," Roddy had snarled, slapping his formidable axe across his palm
Tephanis wasn’t so sure The sprite had watched Ulgulu, a uably more powerful than Roddy McGristle, dispatched by the drow, and another hty master, Caroak, had been torn apart by the drow’s black panther If Roddy got his wish andfor yet another master
"Not-this-ti to et-you!" Tephanis knew the tunnel to Mirabar - he and Roddy had used it the winter before last, when snow had buried the western road - and had learnedone that the sprite now planned to use to his advantage
Heto alert the sharp-eared drow, and stillbefore the others A fewat an intricate lock, one that see, on a portcullis crank
Brother Mateus led the way into the tunnel, with another friar at his side and the re circle around Drizzt Drizzt had requested this so that he could remain inconspicuous if anyone happened by He kept his cloak pulled up tightly and his shoulders hunched He stayed low in the roup
They e at a steady pace They ca the raised portcullis to a passage on the right side A dozen steps in, an iron door side, and the passage beyond that was pitch black, not torch-lit like the main tunnel
"How curious," Mateus remarked
"Careless," another corrected "Let us pray that no other travelers, who ht not know the way as well as we, happen by here and take the wrong path!"
"Perhaps we should close the door," still another offered
"No," Mateus quickly interjected "There may be some down there, merchants perhaps, ould not be so pleased if we followed that plan"
"No!" Brother Jankin cried suddenly and ran to the front of the group "It is a sign! A sign from God! We are beckoned, !"
Jankin turned to charge down the tunnel, but Mateus and one other, hardly surprised by Jankin’s custo upon hiround
"Phaestus!" Jankin cried wildly, his long and shaggy black hair flying all about his face "I a!"
"What is it?" Drizzt had to ask, having no idea of what the friars were talking about, though he thought he recognized the reference "Who, or what, is Phaestus?"
"Hephaestus," Brother Mateus corrected
Drizzt did know the name One of the books he had taken froon lore, and Hephaestus, a venerable red dragon living in the mountains northwest of Mirabar, had an entry
"That is not the dragon’s real naled with Jankin "I do not know that, nor does anyone else any the other monk aside, and promptly stomped down on Mateus’s sandal
"Hephaestus is an old red dragon who has lived in the caves west of Mirabar for as long as anyone, even the dwarves, can remeaged than Mateus "The city tolerates hih I would not tell him so Most cities, I presu the thing! But Hephaestus is not- none can recall the last time he even ca for hire, though the fee is steep"
"So Jankin back under control, "especially late in the season, looking tocan separate hter disappeared quickly as Jankin slugged hiround
Jankin bolted free, for just a moment Quicker than anyone could react, Drizzt threw off his cloak and rushed after the fleeing le step and twisting maneuver put Jankin down hard on his back and took the wild-eyed friar’s breath away
"Let us get by this region at once," the drow offered, staring down at the stunned friar "I grow tired of Jankin’s antics - I on!"
Two of the others caathered Jankin up, then the whole troupe turned to depart
"Help!" came a cry from farther down the dark tunnel
Drizzt’s sciathered around hiloo?" Mateus asked the drow, knowing that Drizzt’s night vision was much keener than his own
"No, but the tunnel turns a short way froain Behind the group, around the corner in the s were adept ventriloquists, and the biggest proble his cries slow enough to be understood
Drizzt took a cautious step in, and the friars, even Jankin, sobered by the distress call, followed right behind Drizzt o back, even as he suddenly realized the potential for a trap
But Tephanis was too quick The door sla thud and before the droo steps away, could push through the startled friars, the sprite already had the door locked A moment later, Drizzt and the friars heard a second crash as the portcullis caht a fewhimself to keep a puzzled expression when he explained to Roddy that the drow’s party was nowhere to be found
The friars grew tired of yelling as soon as Drizzt reht arouse the occupant at the other end of the tunnel "Even if soh this door," the drow said, inspecting the heavy portal with the single candle Mateus had lit A combination of iron, stone, and leather, and perfectly fitted, the door had been crafted by dwarves Drizzt tried pounding on it with the pommel of a scimitar, but that produced only a dull thud that went no farther than the screaroaned Mateus "We have no way out, and our stores are not too plentiful"
"Another sign!" Jankin blurted suddenly, but two of the friars knocked hion’s den
"Perhaps there is so," Drizzt said after a long pause
Mateus looked at hi that our stores would last longer if Brother Jankin went to meet Hephaestus?" he asked
Drizzt could not hold his laughter "I have no intention of sacrificing anyone," he said and looked at Jankin struggling under the friars "No ! But we have only one way out, it would seeaze down the dark tunnel "If you plan no sacrifices, then you are looking the wrong way," the portly friar huffed "Surely you are not thinking to get past the dragon!"
"We shall see," was all that the droered He lit another candle from the first one and ood sense argued against the undeniable excite Hephaestus, but it was an argument that he expected sion, Drizzt reer’s memories of the battle, aside fro to understand what the blind ranger had told him about the differences between survival and fulfillht have left to live?
For the friar’s sake, Drizzt did hope that so and open the portcullis and door The drow’s fingers tingled with proh, when he reached into his sack and pulled out a book on dragon lore he had taken frorove
The drow’s sensitive eyes needed little light, and he could make out the script with only minor difficulty As he suspected, there was an entry for the venerable red who lived west of Mirabar The book confiron’s real naod of blacksmiths
The entry was not extensive, on for its breath, and other tales of led too ry or in a foul mood - for they never came back out Most importantly to Drizzt, the entry confirmed the friar’s description of the beast as lazy and so to the notes, Hephaestus was overly proud, as dragons usually were, and able to speak the coht normally associated with the breed, particularly with venerable reds"
"Brother Herschel is atte over to Drizzt "Your fingers are niive it a try?"
"Neither Herschel nor I could get through that lock," Drizzt said absently, not looking up fro," Mateus growled, "and not huddled off by hi some worthless toet out of here alive," Drizzt said, still not looking up He had the portly friar’s attention
"What is it?" Mateus asked, leaning closely over Drizzt’s shoulder, even though he could not read
"It tells of vanity," Drizzt replied
"Vanity? What does vanity have to do "
"Dragon vanity," Drizzt explained "A very ions possess it in excess, evil onesas swords and breath that can rumbled Mateus
"Perhaps," Drizzt conceded, "but vanity is a weakness - do not doubt - even to a dragon Several heroes have exploited this trait to a dragon’s de the thing?" Mateus gawked
"If I ain absently Mateus threw up his hands and walked away, shaking his head to answer the questioning stares of the others
Drizzt s His plans were taking definite for every word of it toand the friars were growing iry They prodded Mateus, who stood, hiked his belt up over his belly, and strode toward Drizzt
"More vanity?" he asked sarcastically
"Done with that part," Drizzt answered He held up the book, showing Mateus a sketch of a huge black dragon curled up around several fallen trees in a thick swaon that may aid our cause"
"Hephaestus is a red," Mateus remarked scornfully, "not a black"
"This is a different dragon," Drizzt explained "Mergandevinasander of Chult, possibly a visitor to converse with Hephaestus"
Brother Mateus was at a coet on well," he snipped, his skepticism obvious "Every fool knows that"
"Rarely do I listen to fools," Drizzt replied, and again the friar turned and walked away, shaking his head
"There is so more that you do not know, but Hephaestus most probably will," Drizzt said quietly, too low for anyone to hear "Mergandevinasander has purple eyes!" Drizzt closed the book, confident that it had given hi to make his attempt If he had ever witnessed the terrible splendor of a venerable red before, he would not have been snorance anddroarrior who had so little to lose, and Drizzt had no intention of giving in to starvation for fear of soo forward either, not yet
Not until he had tion voice
Of all the splendors Drizzt had seen in his adventurous life, none - not the great houses of Menzoberranzan, the cavern of the illithids, even the lake of acid - began to approach the awe-inspiring spectacle of the dragon’s lair Mounds of gold and ge waves, like the wake of sonificently, were piled all about, and the abundance of crafted iteoblets and the like - could have fully stocked the treasure roos
Drizzt had to remind himself to breathe when he looked upon the splendor It wasn’t the riches that held his - but the adventures that such wondrous iteed Drizzt in a hundred different directions Looking at the dragon’s lair belittled his si Friars and his simple desire to find a peaceful and quiet place to call his hoon tale, and of all the other adventurous tales the blind ranger had told him Suddenly he needed those adventures for himself
Drizzt wanted a home, and he wanted to find acceptance, but he realized then, looking at the spoils, that he also desired a place in the books of the bards He hoped to travel roads dangerous and exciting and even write his own tales
The cha back around blind corners The whole of it was dilow It arm, uncomfortably so when Drizzt and the others took the time to consider the source of that heat
Drizzt turned back to the waiting friars and winked, then pointed down to his left, to the single exit "You know the signal," he mouthed silently
Mateus nodded tentatively, still wondering if it had been wise to trust the drow Drizzt had been a valuable ally to the pragon was a dragon
Drizzt surveyed the roo past the treasures Between two piles of gold he spotted his target, and that was no less splendid than the jewels and gee, scaled tail, red-gold like the hue of the light, swishing slightly and rhythold deeper around it
Drizzt had seen pictures of dragons before; one of the wizard masters in the Acadeon types for the students to inspect Nothing, though, could have prepared the drow for this on In all the known realon types, huge reds were perhaps the ed to tear his gaze from the tail, he sorted out his path into the chah on the side of a wall, but a clear trail led down to the floor Drizzt studied this for a longevery step Then he scooped two handfuls of dirt into his pockets, removed an arrow from his quiver, and placed a darkness spell over it Carefully and quietly, Drizzt picked his blind steps down the trail, guided by the continuing swish of the scaly tail He nearly stuems and heard the tail come to an abrupt stop
"Adventure," Drizzt re on his on rearing up before hiuise He winced instinctively, expecting a burst of flaulf him and shrivel him where he stood But he pressed on, and when he at last calad to hear the easy, thunderlike, breathing of the sluon
Drizzt started up the second hts He didn’t really expect the spell to work very well - it had been failing et would add to the effect of his deception Halfway up the eon rouse, but didn’t slow, drawing his bow as he went
When he reached the ridge, he leaped out and enacted the levitation, hanging motionless in the air for a split second before the spell failed Then Drizzt dropped, firing the bow and sending the darkness globe soaring across the chamber
He never would have believed that a monster of such size could be so nioblets and jeweled trinkets, he found hiry beast
Those eyes! Like twin beaht through hirovel for mercy, and to reveal every deception, to confess every sin to Hephaestus, this god-thing The dragon’s great, serpentine neck angled slightly to the side, but the gaze never let go of the drow, holding his
A voice sounded faintly but firer spinning tales of battle and heroism At first, Drizzt hardly heard it, but it was an insistent voice, re Drizzt in its own special way that five other men depended on him now If he failed, the friars would die
This part of the plan was not too difficult for Drizzt, for he truly believed in his words "Hephaestus!" he cried in the conificent! More on’s head rolled back a dozen feet from Drizzt, and a confused expression ca the facade "You know ofDrizzt’s white hty Hephaestus!" Drizzt cried, scra to stand "It was you whoht, and now I have found you and aon’s terrible eyes narrowed suspiciously "Why would a dark elf seek Hephaestus, Destroyer of Cockleby, Devourer of Ten Thousand Cattle, He Who Crushed Angalander the Stupid Silver, He Who " It went on forthe foul breath stoically, all the while feigning enchant of his many wicked accomplishments When Hephaestus was done, Drizzt had to pause a moment to remember the initial question