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"Ye’re thinking we’ll need the thing?" Catti-brie asked as she and Drizztthe lower levels of Mithril Hall Theya corridor that opened wide to their left, into the great tiered cavern housing the faarded her, then went to the left, drawing Catti-brie behind hi on the second tier up froe cavern’s floor

The place was bustling, with dwarves running every which way, shouting to be heard over the continual hu of hae, open cavern cut into gigantic steps on both its east and alls, so that the whole place resembled an inverted pyraigantic steps, housing the huge furnaces Strong dwarves pulled carts laden with ore along prescribed routes, while others worked the ed smaller carts of finished metals up to the tiers There the various craftsreat variety of goods would be produced here-fine silverware, geeous but of little practical use Now, though, ar hanging over their heads, the dwarves focused on weapons and true defensive armor Twenty feet to the side of Drizzt and Catti-brie, a dwarf so soot-covered that the color of his beard was not distinguishable leaned another iron-shafted, ainst the wall The dwarf couldn’t even reach the top of the eight-foot spear, but he regarded its barbed and ed tip and chuckled No doubt he enjoyed a fantasy concerning its flight and little drow elves all standing in a row

On one of the arcing bridges spanning the tiers, perhaps a hundred and fifty feet up froument broke out Drizzt and Catti-brie could not eneral din, but they realized that it had to do with plans for dropping that bridge, anddark elves along certain routes if they intended to reach the coher levels

None of them, not Drizzt, Catti-brie, or any of Bruenor’s people, hoped it would ever co looks Rarely in the long history of Mithril Hall had the Undercity seen this kind of excitement It bordered on frenzy Two thousand dwarves rushed about, shouting, pounding their ha loads that a mule wouldn’t pull

All of this because they feared the droere co

Catti-brie understood then why Drizzt had detoured into this place, why he had insisted on finding the halfling Regis before going to Settlestone, as Bruenor had bade theo find the sneaky one," she said to Drizzt, having to yell to be heard Drizzt nodded and followed her back into the relative quiet of the dim corridors They moved away from the Undercity then, toward the remote cha Silently they -and Drizzt was impressed with how quietly Catti-brie had learned to move Like him, she wore a fine s, custom fitted to her by Buster Bracer, the finest armorer in Mithril Hall Catti-brie’s armor did little to diminish the dwarf’s reputation, for it was so perfectly crafted and supple that it bent with her movements as easily as a thick shirt

Like Drizzt’s, Catti-brie’s boots were thin and orn but, to the drow’s sharp ears, few humans, even so attired, could move so silently Drizzt subtly eyed her in the diht of the widely spaced torches He noted that she was stepping like a drow, the ball of her foot touching down first, instead of the more co Drizzt to Menzoberranzan, had served her well

The drow nodded his approval but made no comment Catti-brie had already earned her pride points this day, he figured No sense in puffing up her ego anyincreasingly dark Drizzt did not miss this point He even let his vision slip into the infrared spectrueneral shapes Human Catti-brie did not possess such Under-dark vision, of course, but around her head she wore a thin silver chain, set in its front with a green geate It had been given to her by Lady Alustriel herself, enchanted so that its wearer could see, even in the darkest, deepest tunnels, as though she were standing in an open field under a starry sky

The two friends had no trouble navigating in the darkness, but still, they were not co? they each wondered Both had their hands close to weapon hilts; Catti-brie suddenly wished she had brought Taul-ical boith her

A tremendous crash sounded, and the floor trembled under their feet Both were down in a crouch immediately; Drizzt’s scimitars appeared in his hands so quickly that Catti-brie didn’t even register the ht the iical bracers, but, in glancing at Drizzt, she realized he wasn’t even wearing them She likewise drew her sword and took a deep breath, privately scolding herself for thinking she was getting close in fighting skill to the incredible ranger Catti-brie shook the thought aside-no ti corridor ahead Side by side, she and Drizzt slowly advanced, looking for shadohere eneht hide and for lines in the wall that would indicate cunning secret doors to side passages Such ere common in the dwarven coreedy by nature, kept personal treasures hidden away Catti-brie did not know this little-used section of Mithril Hall very well Neither did Drizzt

Another crash caain,closer Catti-brie was glad she had been training so hard, and gladder still that Drizzt Do’Urden was by her side

She stopped ard her

"Guenhwyvar?" she silentlyto Drizzt’s feline friend, a loyal panther that the drow could summon froestion for a mo there ht soon be a time when the panther would be needed often There were liic; Guenhwyvar could only remain on the Material Plane for half a day out of every two

Not yet, Drizzt decided Bruenor had not indicated what Regis iven no hint that there htly, and the two moved on, silent and sure

A third crash caroan

"Yer head, ye durned fool!" caots to use yer stinkin’ head!"

Drizzt and Catti-brie straightened irips on their weapons "Pwent," they said together, referring to Thibbledorf Pwent, the outrageous battlerager, thedwarf south of the Spine of the World (and probably north of it, as well)

"Next ye’ll be wantin’ to wear a stinkin’ helmet!" the tirade continued

Around the next bend, the two companions came to a fork in the corridor To the left, Pwent continued roaring in outrage; to the right was a door with torchlight showing through its ht and familiar chuckle that way

He h the door without knocking Regis stood alone inside, leaning on a crank near the left-hand wall The halfling’s sh to the standards, his curly brown hair barely topping three feet He had an a of late, as even the lazy halfling took seriously the threat to this place that had becoer over pursed lips as Drizzt and Catti-brie approached, and he pointed to the "door" before hi to understand as transpiring The crank next to Regis operated a sheet of heavyrunners above and to the side of the door The wood of the door could hardly be seen now, for the plate was in place right before it

"Go!" caing footsteps and a grunting roar, then a tre dwarf hit, and of course bounced off, the barricaded portal

"Battlerager training," Regis calave Drizzt a sour look, re what her father had told her of Pwent’s plans "The Gutbuster Brigade," she remarked, and Drizzt nodded, for Bruenor had told hiroup of dwarves in the not-so-subtle art of battleraging, his personal Gutbuster Brigade, highly motivated, skilled in frenzy, and not too smart

Another dwarf hit the barricaded door, probably headfirst, and Drizzt understood hoent meant to facilitate the third of his three requirements for his soldiers

Catti-brie shook her head and sighed She did not doubt the ht anyone in Mithril Hall, except for Drizzt and maybe Bruenor, but the notion of a bunch of little Thibbledorf Pwents running around surely turned her stohly scolding his troops, calling them every dwarven curse na the clan for more than a score of years, had never heard, andup on the spot, such as "mule-kissin’, flea-sniffin’, water-drinkin’, who-thinks-ye-squeeze-the-durned-cow-to-get-the-durned-milk, lumps o’ sandstone"

"Wo are off to Settlestone," Drizzt explained to Regis, the drow suddenly anxious to be out of there "Berkthgar is being difficult"

Regis nodded "I was there when he told Bruenor he wanted the warha’s cherubic face turned up into one of his common, wistful smiles "I truly believed Bruenor would cleave hiar," Catti-brie reht away "Bluffing," he insisted "Berkthgar needs us, and his people would not take kindly to his turning his back on the dwarves who have been so good to his folk"

"Bruenor would not really kill hily All three friends paused and looked to each other, each considering the tough dwarf king, the old and fiery Bruenor returned They thought of Aegis-fang, theods One side was cut with the haer, the other with the crossed axes of Clanggedon, dwarven god of battle, and both were covered perfectly by the carving of the gem within the mountain, the symbol of Du the best of the dwarven s, that pinnacle of creative triue

They thought of Aegis-fang, and they thought of Wulfgar, who had been like Bruenor’s son, the tall, fair-haired youth for whohty hammer

"Bruenor would really kill hihts of all three

Drizzt started to speak, but Regis stopped hiet yer head lower!" Pas barking on the other side of the door Regis nodded and smiled and ht you roan, followed by the flapping of dwarven lips as the fallen would-be battlerager shook his head vigorously

"Good recovery!" Pwent congratulated

"We thought youCatti-brie’s sigh of disgust

Regis thought about it for a et out of the h the suan to nip the air