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Do not co"

Entreri merely continued to stare at the man, his expression unreadable

"You wounded Kadran Gordeon," LaValle went on "In pride erous by far"

"Gordeon is a fool," Entreri retorted

"A fool with an aruild is more entrenched in the streets than the Basadonis None have more resources, and all of those resources, I assure you, have been turned upon Artemis Entreri"

"And upon LaValle, perhaps?" Entreri replied with a grin "For speaking with the hunted man?"

LaValle didn’t answer the obvious question other than to continue to stare hard at Arteht ht have just conde they ask of you," Entreri instructed "Honestly Do not try to deceive them for my sake Tell them that I came here, uninvited, to speak with you and that I shoounds for all their efforts"

"You would taunt theed "Does it matter?"

LaValle had no answer to that, and so the assassin, with a bow,one trap with a flick of the wrist and carefullyhis body to avoid the others, slipped out to the wall and dropped silently to the street

He dared to go by the Copper Ante that night, though only quickly and with no effort to actually enter the place Still, he did s To his surprise, a short way down the alley at the side of the building, Dwahvel Tiggerwillies came out a secret door to speak with hie," she warned "Merle Pariso With a reputation unparalleled in Calimport Fear him, Artemis Entreri Run from him Flee the city and all of Calih another barely detectable crack in the wall and was gone

The gravity of her words and tone were not lost on the assassin The ain and everything to lose-how could he repay the favor, after all, if he took her advice and fled the realm?-tipped him off that she had been instructed to so infor no secret of the hunt

So perhaps the wizard was a bit too cocksure, he told hie! A wizard trained specifically in the art of ht to be Entreri had battled, and killed, many wizards, but he understood the desperate truth of his present situation A wizard was not so difficult an ene as the warrior was able to prepare the battlefield favorably That, too, was usually not difficult, since wizards were often, by nature, distracted and unprepared Typically a wizard had to anticipate battle far in advance, at the beginning of the day, that he ht prepare the appropriate spells Wizards, distracted by their continual research, rarely prepared such spells But when a wizard was the hunter and not the hunted he would not be caught off his guard Entreri kneas in trouble He seriously considered taking Dwahvel’s advice

For the first time since he had returned to Cali without allies He considered that in light of his experiences in Menzoberranzan, where unallied rogues could not survive for long

Perhaps Calimport wasn’t so different

He started for his new room, an empty hovel at the back of an alleyway, but stopped and reconsidered It wasn’t likely that the wizard, with such a reputation as a combat spellcaster, would be overly skilled in divination spells as well That hardly mattered, Entreri knew It all ca on behalf of the Basadoni guild If he wanted to rant hio? He didn’t want to remain on the open street where a wizard could strike froh above and rain destructivefor a place to hide, an encaht be upon hiht in mind, Entreri wasn’t overly surprised when he slipped quietly into the supposedly eure appeared right before hie slanced all around, noting the lack of exits in the rooain, when he considered it, it cae with present-day Calio They were ahead of hi a prepared battlefield right with the back to this inhospitable city without first probing, without learning all that he would need to survive

Enough of the doubts and second guesses, he pointedly re hi on the situation at hand He thought of turning back for the door, but kneithout doubt that it would be ically sealed

"Behold the Merle!" the wizard said with a laugh, waving his arms out wide The volu lihts A second wave and his ar at the assassin But Entreri was already lanced back, hoping the bolt h the door, but it was still closed and seeratulated "But really, pitiful assassin, do you desire to er? Why not stand still and be done with it, quickly andand launched into another spellcasting as Entreri charged in, jeweled dagger flashing Merlecal for his face

The dagger stopped as surely as if it had struck a stone wall Entreri wasn’t really surprised-any izard would have prepared such a defense-but what aical missiles, was Pariso’s concentration Entreri had to ad even as the deadly dagger caht before his eyes

Entreri staggered to the side, diving and rolling, anticipating another attack But now Merle Pariso, suprehed at hie taunted "How e?"

Indeed, if he allowed the wizard’s taunts to sink in, Entreri would have found it hard to hold his heart; ht have simply taken the wizard’s advice and surrendered to the seey fell away With his very life on the line all the doubts of his life and his purpose fleay Now he lived co One step at a time, and the first of those steps was to defeat the stoneskin, the ical defense that could turn any blade-but only for a certain nu, the assassin took up a chair and broke free a leg, then rolled about and launched it at the wizard, scoring an ineffective hit

Another burst of ly in his roll and stinging hi A second, then a third chair leg scored two more hits

The fourth followed in rapid succession Then Entreri threw the base of the chair It was a er missile that would hardly have hurt the wizard even without the ical defense, but one that took yet another layer off the stoneskin

Entreri paid for the offensive flurry, though, as Merle Pariso’s next lightning bolt caught hi His shoulder burned, his hair danced on end, and his heart fluttered