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Part 2 WALKING THE ROADS OF DANGER

We each have our own path to tread That seeht, but in a world of relationships where so s and desires in consideration of others, we take h, if we are to be truly happy, we must follow our hearts and find our way alone I learned that truth when I walked out of Menzoberranzan and confirmed my path when I arrived in Icewind Dale and found these wonderful friends After the last brutal fight in Mithral Hall, when half of Menzoberranzan, it seemed, marched to destroy the dwarves, I knew that my path lay elsewhere, that I needed to journey, to find a new horizon on which to set aze Catti-brie knew it too, and because I understood that her desire to go along was not in sympathy to my desires but true to her own heart, I welcomed the company

We each have our own path to tread, and so I learned, painfully, that fateful ar had found one that diverged from my own Hoanted to stop him! Hoanted to plead with him or, if that failed, to beat hi him back to the camp When we parted, I felt a hole in my heart nearly as profound as that which I had felt when I first learned of his apparent death in the fight against the yochlol

And then, after I walked away, pangs of guilt layered above the pain of loss Had I let Wulfgar go so easily because of his relationship with Catti-brie? Was there some place within me that saw my barbarian friend’s return as a hindrance to a relationship that I had been building with the woether?

The guilt could find no true hold and was gone by the time I rejoined ar his, so too would Catti-brie find hers With ar? Who could know? But whatever her road, I would not try to alter it in such a o easily for any sense of personal gain Not at all, for indeed o withoutI, or our other friends, could do to heal the wounds within hi hiress, then surely it had been destroyed in the flick of Wulfgar’s fist sla into her face

Partly it was fear that drove Wulfgar from us He believed that he could not control the derasp of those painful recollections, he ar left us because of sha Catti-brie? How could he face Catti-brie? What words y when in truth, and he knew it, it very well ar perceived hiacy were so overwhelible to attack the strongdefeated bydefeated in battle is no cause for shahest dishonor

Along that sareat ible thing such as a memory equates with cowardice

He will learn better, I believe He will come to understand the he should feel no shame for his inability to cope with the persistent horrors and temptations of Errtu and the Abyss And then, when he relieves himself from the burden of shame, he will find a way to truly overcouilt over the temptations Only then will he return to Icewind Dale, to those who love hierly

Only then

That is ar ran off into the wilds, into the Spine of the World, where yetis and giants and goblin tribes make their homes, where wolves will take their food as they find it, whether hunting a deer or a man I do not honestly know if he means to come out of the mountains back to the tundra he knoell, or to the h and dangerous trails, daring death in an attee he believes he has lost Or perhaps he will tereatly, so that it will finally win out and put an end to his pain

That is my fear

I do not know We each have our own roads to tread, and Wulfgar has found his, and it is a path, I understand, that is not wide enough for a companion

Chapter 8 INADVERTENT SIGNALS

They moved so reunited and on the road again had been stolen by Wulfgar’s departure When he returned to camp and explained the barbarian’s absence, Drizzt had been truly surprised by the reactions of his cois had screaru and the woh, and it turned out to be Catti-brie’s voice above all the others proclaiar needed to choose his own course She was not bitter about the attack and to her credit showed no anger toward the barbarian at all

But she knew Like Drizzt, she understood that the inner de words froh the fury of battle She had tried and had thought that she was ress, but in the end it had beco to help the ar had to help himself

And so they went on, the four friends and Guenhwyvar, keeping their word to guide Ca the south road

That night, Drizzt found Catti-brie on the eastern edge of the enca out into the blackness, and it was not hard for the drow to figure out what she was hoping to spot

"He will not return to us any ti to the wolanced at him only briefly, then turned her eyes back to the dark silhouettes of theto see

"He chose wrong," the wo and silent moments had slipped past "I’m knowin’ that he has to help hi his friends, not out in the wilds,"

"He did not want us to witness his most personal battles," Drizzt explained

"Ever was pride Wulfgar’s greatest failing," Catti-brie quickly replied

"That is the way of his people, the way of his father, and his father’s father before hier said "The tundra barbarians do not accept weakness in others or in thear believes that his inability to defeat ht more than weakness"

Catti-brie shook her head She didn’t have to speak the words aloud, for both she and Drizzt understood that thein that belief, that, many times, the most powerful foes are those within

Drizzt reached up then and brushed a finger gently along the side of Catti-brie’s nose, the area that had swelled badly froar’s punch Catti-brie winced at first, but it was only because she had not expected the touch, and not from any real pain

"It’s not so bad," she said

"Bruenor ree with you," the drow replied

That brought a sht Wulfgar back soon after the assault, it would have taken all of them to pull the vicious dwarf off the ar had been as a son to Bruenor for many years, and the dwarf had been purely devastated, more so than any of the others, after the ar’s troubles had taken hiain, Bruenor sorely ainst Catti-brieas long as the barbarian was properly contrite They all would have forgiven Wulfgar, coment, and would have helped him in any way they could to overcoedy of it all, for they had no help to offer that would be of any real value

Drizzt and Catti-brie sat together long into the night, staring at the e shoulder of the drow

The next two days and nights on the road proved peacefully uneventful, except that Drizzt iant friend, apparently shadowing their movements Still, the behemoth made no approach near the camp, so the drow did not become overly concerned By the ar’s departure, they caht of the city of Luskan

"Your destination, Camlaine," the drow noted when the driver called out that he could see the distinctive skyline of Luskan, including the treelike structure that uild "It has been our pleasure to travel with you"

"And eat your fine food!" Regis added happily, drawing a laugh from everyone

"Perhaps if you are still in the southland e return, and intent on heading back to the dale, ill accolad ill all be for the co the drow’s hand "Farewell, wherever your roadas a courtesy only, for I do not doubt that you shall fare well indeed! Let theand hide their heads low"

The wagon rolled away, down the fairly s tiis offered "You are knoell enough down there, I would guess," he added to the drow "Your heritage should not bring us any proble even finished the thought "I can indeed walk freely through Luskan," he said, "butroad lies ahead of us" "But in Luskan-" Regis started "Ruht be in there," Bruenor bluntly cut in Fro the ht indeed," Drizzt said "And I hope that he is, for Luskan is not nearly as dangerous as the wilds of the Spine of the World"

Bruenor and Regis looked at hi, eren’t they following the ar’s in Luskan, then better by far that we’re turning away now," Catti-brie answered for Drizzt "We’re not wanting to find him now"

"What’re ye sayin’?" the flustered dwarf dear walked away from us," Drizzt reminded "Of his own accord Do you believe that three days’ ti?"

"We’re not for knowin’ unless we ask," said Bruenor, but his tone was less arguan to sink in Of course Bruenor, and all of thear and wanted the man to recant his decision to leave But of course that would not happen

"If we find him noe’ll only push hirow angry at first because he will see us as er at last fades, if it ever does, he will be even more ashamed of his actions"

Bruenor snorted and threw his hands up in defeat

They all took a last look at Luskan, hoping that Wulfgar was there, then they walked past the place They headed southeast, flanking the city, then down the southern road with a week’s travel before them to the city of Waterdeep There they hoped to ride with a merchant ship to the south, to Baldur’s Gate, and then up river to the city of Iriaebor There they would take to the open road again, across several hundredRegis had planned the journey, usinghad chosen Waterdeep as their best departure point over the closer Luskan because ships left Waterdeep’s great harbor every day, withto Baldur’s Gate In truth, he wasn’t sure, nor were any of the others, if this was the best course or not The maps available in Icewind Dale were far from complete, and far froroup to have traveled to the Spirit Soaring, had done soof the lay of the land

Still, despite the careful planning the halfling had done, each of thehout that day as they passed the city Those plans had been formed out of a love for the road and adventure, a desire to take in the sights of their grand world, and a supreh, with Wulfgar’s departure, that love and confidence had been severely shaken Perhaps they would be better off going into Luskan to the notable wizards’ guild and hiring a ically contact Cadderly so that the powerful cleric ht alk to them and finish this business quickly Or perhaps the Lords of Waterdeep, renowned throughout the lands for their dedication to justice and their power to carry it out, would take the crystal artifact off the companions’ hands and, as Cadderly had vowed, find the means to destroy it