Page 23 (1/2)

A WARNING

Ivan had at first scoffed at Pikel’s suggestion that they ride the currents of the River Surbrin to Mithral Hall’s eastern gates, but after they set their caht below the away in the dark to collect fallen logs By the ti yawns of reen-bearded brother had fashioned a fair-sized raft of notched, interlocking logs, tied together by vines and rope

Ivan’s first reaction, of course, had been one of doubt

"Ye fool, ye’ll get us both drowned to death!" he said, hands on hips, feet wide-spaced, as if expecting Pikel to take the insult with typical grace and leap upon hihed and launched the raft It bobbed in a shallow ebb pool at the river’s edge in perfect balance and hardly dipped at all when Pikel hopped aboard

With a lot of coaxing and many reminders of sore feet, Ivan finally joined his brother on the craft, "just to give it a test!" Before Ivan announced his final intent, Pikel paddled the raft out into the main currents, where it drifted easily

Ivan’s protests were lost in the sheer colide Pikel had fashioned the raft beautifully, creating a couple of a a small hammock at one end of the craft

Ivan didn’t have to ask where his brother had learned to ic had been involved - obviously so! Some of the wood, like the chair he had taken as his own, see was covered in designs of leaves and trees so intricate that it would have taken a skilled woodcarver a tenday to fashion it Pikel had done it in a single night

They reat tiestion, they continued right through the night What a pleasant experience it was, particularly for Pikel, to be gliding on the easy currents under the canopy of twinkling stars Even Ivan, so ained a bitsu (to himself!) of the elves’ love of stars

The second day, the river edged closer to the towering e of the Spine of the World Shining walls of gray stone, spattered with green foliage and streaks of white, ht bank, and sometimes both sides, as the river wove in and out of the rocky terrain It didn’t seem to bother Pikel in the least, but it uard They had recently battled orcs, after all, and wouldn’t this landscape make for a wonderful ambush?

At Ivan’s insistence, they put up on the riverbank that second night, and in truth, the river was beco a bit too unpredictable and rushed for travel in the dark anyway Besides, the dwarves needed to resupply

Rain found theh it soaked them and made them miserable At least the mountains retreated so away, and the ently up-sloping "Think we’ll find ’em today?" Ivan asked early on "Yup yup," Pikel replied

Both dwarves retreated into thoughts of the real reason for their journey out of the Spirit Soaring cathedral They had co Bruenor’s coronation The prospect of viewing great dwarven halls, soest years, far reat joy in Ivan His ht back to theon metal, the sain the strong, tall colureatest chaendary Mithral Hall would probably exceed even those nificent works by far

Yes, to Ivan’s thinking, as rand to be aain, and in a place fashioned to the tastes of dwarves

He looked over at Pikel as he considered his anticipation and wondered, hoped, that perhaps being in a place like Mithral Hallthe "doo-dad" back to his true heritage If Pikel could fashion such work as this raft out of wood, Ivan had to wonder howwith the true dwarven materials of stone andfantasy would have beento him if, in the middle of his contee and incredibly ugly bird to his upheld forearly detailed conversation with the creature

"Talkin’ to yer own level?" Ivan asked dryly when the vulture fleay

Pikel turned to his brother with a surprisingly serious expression, then pointed to the western bank and began steering the raft that way

Ivan knew better than to argue His often silly brother had proven too arner fro a bit round once more

As soon as they had the boat beached, Pikel grabbed his large sack of supplies, plopped his cooking pot over his head, and leaped away, rushing for the higher ground away froht up to him a short time later, on a rocky mound

Pikel pointed to the southwest, to a cluster of activity against the backdrop of the gray mountains

"Dwarfs," Ivan remarked

He narrowed his eyes and shielded the his own observation They were indeed dwarves, and had to be fro on defensive fortifications

He looked back to his brother but found Pikel already ht line for the construction Side-by-side they ran along the gently sloping ground, first down then up a steep trail

A short ti command, "Halt and be known! Be liked or be skewered!"

The brothers, understanding the seriousness of that tone, skidded to a stop before the closed iron gates set at the front of a stone wall

A burly red-bearded dwarf in full battle-ates

"Well, ye don’t look like orcs and ye don’t sh I’m not for certain what yerself looks and s Pikel

"Doo-dad," Pikel remarked,

"Ivan Bouldershoulder at yer service, and I’ Bruenor This isoutta Carradoon and the Snowflake Mountains, sent by High Priest Cadderly Bonaduce to serve as witnesses to the new king’s coronation"

The soldier nodded, his expression showing that while he ht not have understood all that Ivan had just said, he seeist of it and seemed to think it a perfectly reasonable explanation

"Cadderly’s a friend of that drow elf that runs about with yer soon-to-be king," Ivan explained, drawing a knowing nod from the soldier "He’s still soon-to-be, ain’t he?"

The soldier’s expression turned sour for just a , then widened in understanding

"We ain’t crowned him yet, as he ain’t been in from Icewind Dale" "We feared we’d miss him," Ivan said

"Ye would’ve if he’d’ve coht in," the soldier explained, "but him and his found orcs on the road and’re chasin’ the them back in their filthy holes"

Ivan nodded with sincere ad," he said, and the soldier bea," the soldier explained He turned to the side and"We’re a bit short o’ the ale out here," he explained "Come out fast from the halls to set the ca another"

"Just a small band?" Ivan asked skeptically

"We’re not for taking any chances, Ivan Bouldershoulder," the soldier explained "We been fighting much o’ late, and not too far fro up fro this Carradoon or the, but up here’s a wild land"

"We just got done fighting a few orcs ourselfs," Ivan replied He turned to the river and nodded his bearded chin to the east "Out in the Moonwood Me brother put us a bit outta the way"

"Oo," said Pikel, hardly taking the blaot us up here quick, even if ye did land us in a nest o’ elves!" Ivan admitted, and turned back to the soldier ’’Ores crawling everywhere, are they? Well, then I guess we coht place!"

It was spoken like a true dwarf, and the soldier appreciated the sentih to slap Ivan on the shoulder

"Let ht know a trick or two from the south that ye ain’t neared of here"

"Ye heading out?" came a soft voice, one that Drizzt Do’Urden surely welcomed

He looked up fro for the road to see Catti-brie’s approach The two had said little over the past few days Catti-brie had retreated within herself, for private contemplations that Drizzt wasn’t sure he understood

"Just ensuring that the orcs were indeed chased away," the droered

"Withegroo’s got patrols out"

Drizzt offered a doubting s They’re knowing the ground, at least"

"As I soon will"

"Let et me bow, and I’ll take yer flank," the woht," he said

Looking as if she had just been slapped, Catti-brie also let her gaze h to stare back at Drizzt

"I got me a little headpiece here for just such an occasion," she reht forth the cat’s-eye circlet that she often wore, one that ht

"Not as keen as a drow’s eyes," Drizzt reround is rocky and likely treacherous"