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Belwar heard the echoes, subtle vibrations in the thick stone that no surface dweller could ever have noticed
The other three hundred svirfnebli heard thenomes-in the deeper tunnels of the Underdark, they often coh the rock They heard the echoes now, constant echoes, not like the one huge explosion they had heard a couple of hours before, the ru dropped The seasoned svirfnebli fighters considered the newest sound, a peculiar rhythreat battle, and not so far away
Belwar conferred with his coh the unfaest vibrations Often one of the svirfnebli on the perihtly on the stone, trying to get a feel for the density of the rock Echo hunting was tricky because the density of the stone was never uniform, and vibrations were often distorted Thus, the svirfnebli, arguably the finest echo followers in all the world, found the way down a fork in the trail
A deterh, they stayed with it, and afterminutes, a priest named Suntunavick bobbed up to Belwar and Firble and announced with all confidence that this was as close to the sound as these tunnels would allow theet
The two followed the priest to the exact spot, alternately putting their ears against the stone Indeed the noise beyond was loud, relatively speaking
And constant, Belwar noted with soive-and-take battle, not the echoes they had heard earlier, or at least, there was more to the sound than that
Suntunavick assured the burroarden this was the correct place Mixed in with this more constant sound was the familiar rhythm of battle joined
Belwar looked to Firble, who nodded, then to Suntunavick The burroarden poked his finger at the spot on the wall, then backed away, so Suntunavick and the other priests could crowd in
They began their chanting, a grating, ru, and apparently wordless sound, and every once in a while one of the priests would throw a handful of soainst the stone
The chanting hit a crescendo; Suntunavick rushed up to the wall, his hands straight out in front of hiether With a cry of ecstacy, the little gnoroaned, his ar as he pulled the wall apart, opened it as though it were no more solid than a curtain of heavy fabric
The priest jumped back, and so did all the others, as the echo became a roar and a fine spray, the mist of a waterfall, came in on them
"The surface, it is," Firble muttered, barely able to find his breath
And so it was, but this deluge of water was nothing like any of the gno like the descriptions in the roup harbored thoughts of turning back then and there, but Belho had spoken with Drizzt not so long ago, knew so here was out of the ordinary
The burroarden hooked a rope from his belt with his pick-axe hand and held it out to Firble, indicating that the councilor should tie it about his waist Firble did so and took up the other end, bracing hihtest of hesitation, the brave Belwar squeezed through the wall, through the veil of e that led hiazed upon stars
Thousands of stars!
The gnohtened all at once This was the surface world, that greatest of caverns, under a dome that could not be reached
The , of aas short-lived, defeated by the clear sounds of battle Belas not in Keeper’s Dale, but he could see the light of the fight, flaical enchantainst
With Belwar in their lead, the three hundred svirfnebli filtered out of the caverns and began a quiet march to the east They came upon many areas that seenomish priests, opened the way In but a few ht, the scramble within thedrow, of wretched goblins and kobolds and huge huht of the tallest svirfneblin
Noar did hesitate, realizing fully that his force of three hundred would plunge into a battle of thousands, a battle in which the gno
"It is e have come," Firble whispered into the burroarden’s ear
Belwar looked hard at his uncharacteristically brave codenstone," Firble said
Belwar led the way
Drizzt held his breath, they all did, and even Guenhwyvar ise enough to stifle an instinctive snarl
The five coh, wide corridor, while a column of drow, many drow, marched past, a line that went on and on and seemed as if it would never end
Two thousand? Drizzt wondered Five thousand? He had no way of guessing There were too in a count What Drizzt did understand was that the bulk of the drow force had linked together and was ular purpose That could mean only that the way had been cleared, at least to Mithril Hall’s lower door Drizzt took heart when he thought of that door, of the ion Even this h the portal; the tunnels near the lower door would pile high with bodies, drow and dwarf alike
Drizzt dared to slowly shift his head, to look past Guenhwyvar, tight against the wall beside him, to Bruenor, stuck uncomfortably between the panther’s rear end and the wall Drizzt alht that he had better move quickly once the drow coluht over the lip of the ledge, taking Drizzt with her
But that smile did not coht in leading Bruenor out here? he wondered, not for the first tione back to the lower door with the dwarves they hadof Mithril Hall could be in place areatly Bruenor’s fiery presence would bolster the defense of that lower door, and the defense of the Undercity Every dwarf of Mithril Hall would sing a little louder and fight with a bitBruenor Battleha the way
Drizzt’s reasoning had kept Bruenor out, and now the droondered if his action had been selfish Could they even find the enemy leaders? Likely the priestesses who had led this ar their forces with no antic chess board
Thethis force, would take no personal risks, because that was the droay
Suddenly, up there and crouched on that ledge, Drizzt Do’Urden felt very foolish They were hunting the head, as he had explained to Bruenor, but that head would not be easy to find And, given the size of the force that wasbelow them, toward Mithril Hall, Drizzt and Bruenor and their other coet anywhere near the dwarven coer put his head down and blew a deep, silent breath, co hi the day, that though that lower door would not be easily breached, it would eventually co the defenders But out here noith so an to appreciate the enormity of the task before him How could he ever hope to find the leaders of the drow army?
What Drizzt did not knoas that he was not the only one on a purposeful hunt
"No word froan D’aerthe"
Matron Baenre sat atop her driftdisk, digesting the words and thebehind the scowl from her mother stopped her short
Still the phrase echoed in Matron Baenre’s an D’aerthe"
Jarlaxle was lying low, Baenre realized For all his bravado, the mercenary leader was, in fact, a conservative one, very cautious of any risks to the band he had spent centuries putting together Jarlaxle hadn’t been overly eager toonly because he hadn’t really been given a choice in the hter and closest advisor, the mercenary had hoped for a quick and easy conquest and a fast return to Menzoberranzan, where so many questions were still to be answered The fact that no word had coan D’aerthe scouts could be coincidence, but Baenre suspected differently Jarlaxle was lying low, and that could mean only that he, with the reports that he was constantly receiving from the sly scouts of his network, believed the momentum halted, that he, like Baenre herself, had come to the conclusion that Mithril Hall would not be easily swept away
The withered old matron mother accepted the news stoically, with confidence that Jarlaxle would be back in the fold once the tide turned again in the dark elves’ favor She would have to come up with a creative punishment for the mercenary leader, of course, one that would let Jarlaxle know the depth of her dis her a valuable ally
A short while later, the air in the san to tingle with the budding energy of an enchantlanced nervously about and breathed easier when Methil stepped out of thin air into the midst of the drow priestesses
His expression revealed nothing, just the same passive, observant stare that always came from one of Methil’s otherworldly race Baenre considered that always unreadable face thewith the illithids Never did they give even the subtlest clue of their true intentions