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Catti-brie sat in the di at Bruenor, her beloved father, as he lay on the cot His face was ashen, and it was no trick of the light, she knew His chest barely ed were already blood-stained yet again

Another rock hit close outside, shaking the ground but not even stirring Catti-brie, for the explosions had been sounding repeatedly The bombardment had increased in tempo and ferocity Every twentiethfire pot that spread lines of devastation, often igniting secondary fires within the town Three blazes had already been put out in the wizard’s tower, and Dagnabbit had warned that the integrity of the structure had been coh, for there was nowhere else to go

Catti-brie sat and stared at her father, res he had done for her, all the adventures they had shared Her ued against that conclusion

In truth, they aiting for Bruenor to die, for when he took his last breath, they-all who remained-would crawl out of their holes and over the battered walls and make their desperate run to the south That was their only hope, slih it was

But Catti-brie could hardly believe she was sitting there waiting for Bruenor to die She could hardly accept that the toughened old dwarf’s chest would soer draw breath She had always thought he would outlive her

She had witnessed his fall once before and had thought hiorge in Mithral Hall She remembered that heartbreak, the unbelievable hole she had felt in her heart, the sense of helplessness and the surreal nature of it all

She was feeling that again, all of it, only this time the end would come before her eyes, undeniably and with no roo hand on her shoulder then and turned to see Wulfgarin beside her He draped his ar chest

"I wish Drizzt would return," Wulfgar reis beside hiether for this"

"For the end of Bruenor’s life?"

"For all of it," Wulfgar explained "For the run to the south, or the last stand here It would be fitting"

They said nothe exact sas

Up above, the rain of boulders continued

"How many orcs are there?" Innovindil asked Tarathiel

The two elves were far froed horses She had to shout to be heard, and even then her voice carried thinly on the night breezes

"Enough so that the security of our own home will surely be compromised," Tarathiel answered with all confidence

They were in the foothills to the north of the town of Shallows, looking back at the hundreds of fires of orc ca sections of the town, most notably the lone tower that so clearly h ridge to better converse

"We cannot help them," Tarathiel said to his more compassionate companion as soon as they set down and he could better sec the look upon her fair face "Even if we could get to the Moonwood and rouse all the clan, we’d not return in time to turn the tide of this battle Nor should we try," he added, seeing her doubting expression "Our first responsibility is to the forest we name as our home, and if this black tide turns to the east and crosses the Surbrin, ill knoar soon enough"

"There is truth in your words," Innovindil adh, and perhaps pull some from the disaster before the darkness closes in over them"

Tarathiel shook his head and painted on an expression that showed no room for debate

"Ore arroould chase us every inch," he argued, "and if they brought down Sunrise and Sunset, what good would we do for anybody? Who would fly to the cast and warn our people?"

He pressed on with the arguh Innovindil didn’t need to hear it She understood her responsibilities, and just as importantly, her limitations She knew that the catastrophe to the south was far beyond the ability of her and her friend, and all their clan, to correct

It pained her, it pained theh the elves of the Moonere no friends to any of the humans in the area, neither were they enemies

They could only watch

It was a difficult cli and soreness in his twisted ankle Hand over hand, Drizzt pulled hi the last flickers of diht

The drow paused, more than halfway up the three hundred foot cliht above was that Drizzt kneas not the day after he had first crawled into the cave, but was the day after that The size of the caverns had truly surprised hiround network, and he had spent nearly two days wandering through it, looking for a way back to the surface Following lighter air, the drow had found s too s to suspect that he had found another, but he continued his climb Still, each foot traversed ht above had shone brilliantly when first he had seen it, a welcomed contrast to the darkness of the caverns, but that had been due to the angle of the sun, the drow realized, and not the width of the opening

He continued up another hundred feet before he knew for certain that he would have to double back, that the opening would admit no more than an arm or perhaps his head