Page 27 (1/2)
Despite his obvious anger and disappointment at the course of the battle thus far and the resiliency of Shallows’s defenders, Obould had brought several hundred one about the caverns of the Spine of the World with news of the entrap of Mithral Hall, hter
"The town is softened, and their dead lay thick about our own," Urlgen argued, his voice rising
Obould shot Urlgen a threatening glare, then led his son’s gaze to the three large orcs standing together off to the side, each a chief of his respective tribe
"We think the wizard is dead," Urlgen went on "Arock hit the top of his tower and he did nothing at the end of the battle"
"Then why did you run away?"
"Too en echoed sarcastically
Obould’s eyes narrowed into that particular look the orc king had, which told all standing near to hih The young, strong upstart puffed out his chest
"The toill not stand against the next attack," Urlgen insisted "And noith more warriors, we can finish the with every word of the seely obvious assessment, but then he replied, "Not now"
"They are ripe!"
"Too iants to knock down their walls with rocks Use the giants to topple the tower We chase the to hide behind Then we kill theen informed his father
Obould’s bloodshot eyes widened, his jaw going tight with tre a scout froen quickly added
"Half!"
"A dangerous scout," said Urlgen "One who holds a black panther as a coen’s face eased almost immediately Ad’non had warned theiants Given everything the drow had told the orc king about this unusual dark elf, it seeht not be so bad a trade off
"Tell the giants who re stones And send arrows of fire into the town Burn it and bash it! Stohten the ranks around the eneen’s tusky sreement The two orcs both looked back at the battered toith supreme confidence that Shalloould fall and that all within would soon enough be dead
A boulder clipped the stone above hi him with chips of broken stone
Drizzt ducked his head against the stinging shower and doggedly went back to his work, tightening a belt around a twisted ankle That done, he stood gingerly and shifted his weight to the wounded foot, nodding griht
Still, where to go?
The pursuit had been dogged, a handful of giants chasing hiht He had used every trick he knew-backtracking and setting strategic globes of darkness, clihs to another and another, co off in a coiants hounded hi theiant caht hiuess as to who-or at least what-that soht be
As dawn broke over the eastern horizon, and with the unerring pursuit close behind, Drizzt realized that his greatest advantage was fast di He understood, too, that his companion needed to be sent away to her rest
"Guen," he called softly
A reat panther leaped across the narrow channel above Drizzt, settling on a stone at his shoulder height, a few feet away
"Rest easy and rest quickly," Drizzt bade the panther, willing her away "I will need you again, and soon I fear"
The cat gave a lol that bleay on the wind, as Guenhwyvar see less than substantial, becoible at all
Loud voices fro He took soiants away from the battle at Shallows, and indeed, he had taken theround Every once in a while, the drow cae that offered him a view of the distant, battered town, and each time he could only clutch at the hope that his friends were all right, that they had held strong, or perhaps even that they had found a way to slip out and make a run to the south
A boulder skipped into the narrow channel then, followed by the roar of the giants, and Drizzt had no further time for contemplation He darted off as quickly as his twisted ankle would allow,on all fours at times as he scaled the steep inclines
He was tiring, though, and he knew it, and he knew, too, that giants did not tire as quickly as the ser, if the pursuit reed, nor could he hope to turn and face his pursuers If it was one giant, perhaps, or even two, he ht try, but not this ainst a handful of iants
He needed another solution, a different escape route, and he found it in the forainst one rocky cliff facing At first he thought the cave within to be nothing more than the sheltered and darkened area formed by the for at the back of the alcove, a crack in the ground barely wide enough for hih He fell to his belly and peered in, breathed in His Underdark senses told hi large and deep
Drizzt crawled back out and surveyed the area Did he want to end the chase then and there? Could his friends afford for hiiants of their pursuit, when the behe positions?
But what choice did he really have? This pursuit was going to end soon either way, he knew
With a reluctant sigh, the drow slipped into the cave and moved a bit deeper into the darkness, then sat and listened, and let his eyes adjust to the draht
Withinaround outside, and their gruone The light in the cave increased slightly as the boulder tu, including a suggestion that they go and get sonized that as a drow name-to pursue the drow into the cave, the hole was blocked by a giant’s face How Drizzt wished he had Catti-brie’s bow in hand!
More roars of protest and gru ensued, but only briefly, and the cave went perfectly dark The ground shook beneath Drizzt, as the giants piled stones over the opening, sealing him in
"Wonderful," Drizzt whispered
He wasn’t really worried for hih, for he could tell from the feel of the air that he would find another way out of the cave How long that uess
He feared that by the tiot out and circled back to Shallows, there would be no town standing
His left arm was all but useless He knew that the bone had been shattered under the worg’s tre on the unhealthy color of a dire infection, but he couldn’t worry about that
Regis pressed the charh he feared that he was pushing his luckWith the li had soed to convince the orc that he knehere they could find big treasure, and a horde of weapons for the other orcs, and so the di into subis’s shattered ar creature to take a second rider on its broad back
It certainly hadn’t been a co, s feet to the sides of the worg’s neck-within nipping distance, he found out, whenever the great wolf slowed
As they left the battlefield far behind that night and pressed on through the rowing He used his enchanted,it but rather teain, with techniques the sneaky halfling had perfected on the streets of Caliee of disaster The worg could not be so te flesh would te Even worse, several tiht he would si lines of burning, overwhelht of his friends, and he knew that he could not falter, not for hiis could think to do was to keep the fast to the south and hope that some opportunity opened before him where he could kill the pair, or at least where he could slip away And despite his trepidation, the halfling understood well that he could never have covered asWhen the dawn brightened the ground the next , they found that the mountains to the south, across the eastern stretches of Fell Pass, were much closer than those they had left behind
The orc wanted to sleep, so was sure that as soon as the brute closed its eyes, the ould make a meal of him
"Into thecoe "We ca, the orc pressed the overburdened worg on
As they cae, looking desperately for a place where he could make his escape A small cliff face, perhaps, where he could quietly slip over and disappear into the brush below, or a river that h away from these tretched co spots but let them pass by, too afraid to make such a break He tried to bolster his resolve by re himself of the predica that offeredhope
Still, frois understood that he would have to do soonna cais’s eyes ide and he looked around desperately for a way out His darting eyes looked down to his sht of taking it out then and there and set his hand to ic, for he knew beyond doubt that he would have to be perfect, and that the bloould have to fell the creature, which he sincerely doubted it would Even without the wound to his ar, and he knew it He couldn’t begin to hurt the thing before those snapping jaws found his throat
The only thing keeping hi’snearly fell over when the orc stopped thethe ’s back only when the snarling creature turned and nipped at his foot He ran to the side and the worg turned and darted at hi it in the ru retreated across the way, looking back at Regis with its hateful eyes, a stare that told hireat ould have him dead
He found his solution in the fact that this particular clearing was surrounded by trees Deathly exhausted and afraid, and terribly sore frois moved to an appropriate tree and started to cli?" the orc deis replied
"The dog atch" The orc indicated the worg, which looked at Regis and bared its filthy fangs
"As will I!" the halfling insisted
He scrambled up the tree as fast as his broken ar well out of the orc’s reach as quickly as he could ainst the trunk, his legs stretched out over a branch, and tried to secure hio down and prod the orc into , but in truth, he knew that they all needed rest, particularly the worg-though if the thing fell over dead of exhaustion, the halfling wouldn’t shed a tear
Every few seconds, Regis glanced back to the north, toward distant Shallows, and thought of his friends
He could only hope they were still alive
"Three buildings burning strong," Dagnabbit inforil at Bruenor’s bedside
They had set up the infirroo’s tower, a series of connecting passageways that allowed for inspections at key points of the tower’s supporting base structure This was actually the strongest section of the town, even stronger than the tower above, for the dwarves Withegroo had hired to build his tower had fashioned the tunnels first, reinforcing theainst weather and ene the months of the tower’s construction
Still, the cramped tunnels were hardly suited for their present purposes as est roohtly be called a rooht He had to belly crawl through a ten-foot passageway to get in
"The buildings are stone," Catti-brie argued
"With a lot of wood support," said the dwarf He moved beside Bruenor and sat down "Giants threw a few firepots, and the rocks are coroup," said Wulfgar
"Aye," Dagnabbit agreed, "and they’re blocking all the south We got no way out" He looked at Bruenor, so pale and weak, his broad chest barely rising with each breath "Exceptin’ that way"
Bruenor surprised the to turn his head toward Dagnabbit
"Then ye take a bunch o’ stinkin’ orcs along for yer ride," the dwarf said, and he sank back into his bed
Catti-brie was there in an instant, hovering over him, but after a quick inspection she realized that he had slipped off into that seain
"Where’s Rockbotto to the one cleric who had reroup of dwarves when the expeditionary force had split
"Tending Withegroo, though I’nabbit answered "Rockbottom says he’s done all he can for Bruenor for now, and he’s thinking like I’onna be needin’ that wizard to have any chance o’ getting outta here"
Catti-brie bit back her urge to screaly callous attitude toward Bruenor, he was as torn up as she was about the dwarf king’s predicah He was the commander of Mithral Hall’s forces, and always followed the road that promised the best chance of positive result, whatever the ery and frustrated as she at their helplessness, at having to sit there and watch the life ebb out of Bruenor
Dagnabbit ently lifted the signature one-horned hel it about in his hands
"Even if we find a way outta here, L don’t knoe can take hiar was up in an instant, towering over Dagnabbit despite his necessary crouch
"You would leave hinabbit didn’t shrink from the barbarian’s wild stare He looked fro
"If bringing hi by thethat"
"Get Rockbottom back in here to tend to hi for hinabbit "Daer priest than Rockbottoht be even that he’ll be needin’ a whole bunch o’ priests"