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VISITING A DROW’S DREAMS

I will find you, drow

The dark elf’s eyes popped open wide, and he quickly attuned his keen senses to his physical surroundings The voice re his moment of quiet Reverie

He knew the voice, for with it cae of catastrophe all too clear in his memories, from perhaps a decade and a half before

He adjusted his eye patch and ran a hand over his bald head, trying to on had been destroyed, and nothing, not even a great red wyrm like Hephaestus, could have survived the intensity of the blast when Crenshinibon had released its power Or even if the beast had somehow lived, why hadn’t it arisen then and there, where its enemies would have been helpless before it?

No, Jarlaxle was certain that Hephaestus had been destroyed But he hadn’t dreamed the intrusion into his Reverie Of that, too, Jarlaxle was certain

I will find you, drow

It had been Hephaestus - the telepathic ie of the great dragon to hiht of that voice It had startled him from his meditation, and he had instinctively retreated from it and forced his

He regretted that alh to hear the contented snoring of his dwarf companion, to ensure that all around him was secure, then he closed his eyes once hts inward, to a place of meditation and solitude

Except, he was not alone

Hephaestus was there waiting for hiry fla and proh Jarlaxle’s thoughts, the son had found him telepathically, but did that mean it knehere he was physically?

A h Jarlaxle, a moment of confusion He reached up and touched his eye patch, wearing it that day over his left eye Its ic should have stopped Hephaestus’s intrusion, should have shielded Jarlaxle fro or unwanted telepathic contact But he was not i it Hephaestus ith hion assured him once more

"Will" find him, so therefore had not yet found hi to consider his current whereabouts in the recognition of why Hephaestus kept repeating his declaration The dragon wanted him to consider his position so the beast could telepathically take the knowledge of his whereabouts froes of the city of Luskan, of Calimport, of the Underdark Jarlaxle’s principal lieutenant in his powerful ht Jarlaxle much in the ways of ht every bit of that knowledge to bear

Hephaestus’s psionically-i from satisfaction to frustration, was on insisted Aren’t you dead? I will find you, drow! Then I will kill you again

Jarlaxle’s e from the beast - as the drow had hoped - and with that eon, which was all Jarlaxle needed

HeHephaestus froht eye, his touch awakening the ite power more acutely

That was the ithto the wider world, to Mystra’s Weave Kiic, for reports of disastrous results fros had become all too coh, and combined with Jarlaxle’s clever tricks and practiced defenses, Hephaestus was thrown far from the drow’s subconscious

Eyes open once ate were north of Mirabar The sun had not yet appeared, but the eastern sky was beginning to leak its pre-dawn glow The two of them were scheduled to meet, clandestinely, with Marchion Elastul of Mirabar that very ree ruler and the coastal city of Luskan Or an D’aerthe, Jarlaxle’s an D’aerthe used the city of Luskan as a conduit to the World Above, trading goods from the Underdark for artifacts fro valuable and exotic baubles to and from the drow city-state of Menzoberranzan

The drow scanned their cae oaks He could see the road, quiet and e song, and a bird cawed as if in answer A rabbit darted through the s with sharp turns and great leaps as if terrified by the weight of Jarlaxle’s gaze

The drow slipped down fro off the heavy liical boots and wove a careful path out of the copse to get a wider view of the area

"And where’re ye goin’, I’m wantin’ to be knowin’?" the dwarf called after hiate, who still lay on his back, wrapped in a tangled bedroll One half-opened eye looked back at hi, dwarf, your snoring or your rhyate "But since I’ the word-song"

Jarlaxle just shook his head and turned to walk away "I’ht it wise to search the grounds before our esteemed visitor arrives," Jarlaxle replied

"He’ll be getting here with half the dwarfs o’ Mirabar’s Shield, not for doubting," said Athrogate

True enough, Jarlaxle knew He heard Athrogate shuffle out of his bedroll and scramble to his feet

"Prudence, my friend," the drow said over his shoulder, and started away

"Nah, it’s ate declared

Jarlaxle laughed helplessly Few in the world knew hih his tactical deflections and assertions, but in the years Athrogate had been at his side, he had indeed let the dwarf get to know sorin to his dirty, bearded friend

"Well?" Athrogate asked "Yer words I’?"

"Shaking?"

Athrogate shrugged "It be what it be, and I see what it be"

"Enough," Jarlaxle bade hi his hands out in surrender

"Ye tell ain," the darned

"Hityou"

Athrogate planted his hands on his hips and stared at the dark elf hard

"I do not yet know," Jarlaxle ad " He reached around and retrieved his enormous, wide-brimmed hat, patted it into shape, and plopped it atop his head

"So?"

"Aye," said the drow "A visitor, perhaps in my dreams, perhaps not"

"Tell me she’s a redhead"

"Red scales, ate’s face crinkled in disgust "Ye need to dream better, elf"

"Indeed"

"My daughter fares well, I trust," Marchion Elastul rereat, comfortable chair at the heavy, ornately decorated table his attendants had brought frorim-faced dwarves of Mirabar’s Shield Across froate, who stuffed his face with bread, eggs, and allin the wilderness, Elastul had demanded some manner of civilized discourse, which, to the dwarf’s ultimate joy, had included a fine breakfast

"Arabeth has adapted well to the changes in Luskan, yes," Jarlaxle answered "She and Kensidan have grown closer, and her position within the city continues to expand in prominence and power"

"Thatto High Captain Kensidan, one of the four high captains who ruled the city He kneell that Kensidan had becoroup

"Kensidan won," Jarlaxle reminded him "He outwitted Arklem Greeth and the Arcane Brotherhood - no sh captains that his course was the best"

"I would have preferred Captain Deudered "This way is more profitable for us all"

"To think that I’ with a drow elf," Elastul lamented "Half of otiate with you"

"That would not be wise"

"Or profitable?"

"Nor healthy"

Elastul snorted, but his daughter Arabeth had told hih about the creature Jarlaxle for him to know that the drow’s quip was only half a joke, and half a deadly serious threat

"If Kensidan the Crow and the other three high captains learn of our little arrangement here, they will not be pleased," Elastul said

"Bregan D’aerthe does not answer to Kensidan and the others"

"But you do have an arrangeh their rows considerably because of the quiet trade with Menzoberranzan," Jarlaxle replied "If I decide it convenient to do soement, thenI am a merchant, after all"

"A dead one, should Kensidan learn of this"

Jarlaxle laughed at the assertion "A weary one, more likely, for what shall I do with a surface city to rule?"

It took a moment for the implications of that boast to sink in to Elastul, and the possibility brought hi that he dealt with dark elves

Very dangerous dark elves

"We have a deal, then?" Jarlaxle asked

"I will open the tunnel to Barkskin’s storehouse," Elastul replied, referring to a secret marketplace in the Undercity of Mirabar, the dwarf section "Kih there alone, and none shall be allowed beyond the entry hall And I expect the pricing exactly as we discussed, since the cost to uards alert for drow presence will be no small matter"

"’Drow presence?’ Surely you do not expect that ill deign to ood ement we have now, I assure you"

"You are a drow, Jarlaxle You are never ’quite content’"

Jarlaxle si and unable to dispute that point He had agreed to personally broker the deal for Kimmuriel, ould oversee the set-up of the operation, since Jarlaxle’s wanderlust had returned and he wanted some time away from Luskan In truth, Jarlaxle had to admit to himself that he wouldn’t really be surprised at all to return to the North after a few reat inroads in the city of Mirabar, perhaps even beco Elastul or whatever other fool he ive hireat hat, then, and rose to leave, signaling Athrogate to follow Snorting like a pig on a truffle, the dwarf kept stuffing his reat black beard, a braided and dung-tipped ry road," Jarlaxle coust The dwarves of Mirabar’s Shield, however, looked on with pure jealousy

Jarlaxle and Athrogate hadlong enough to ask, "So, we’re back for Luskan?"

"No," Jarlaxle replied "Kimmuriel will see to the more mundane details now that I have co way to ride for a short talk and a shorter "

Athrogate rubbed his considerable belly and issued a belch that scared a flock of birds froave a helpless shake of his head

"My tummy hurts," the dwarf explained He rubbed his belly and burped again, several times in rapid succession "So we’re not back to Luskan Where, then?"

That question gave Jarlaxle pause "I am not sure," he said honestly

"I won’t be ate He reached over his shoulder and patted the grip of one of his onally on his back, handles up high, their spiked ball heads bouncing behind his shoulders as he bobbed along the trail "Ain’t used these inabsently into the distance, sio, if even ye’re to know, I’m thinkin’ and talkin’, it’s better ridin’ than walkin’ Bwahaha!" He reached into a belt pouch where he kept a black figurine of a war boar that could suical mount to his side He started to take it out, but Jarlaxle put a hand over his and stopped him

"Not today," the drow explained "Today, we meander"

"Bah, but I’m wantin’ a bumpy road to shake a few belches free, ye damned elf"

"Today alk," Jarlaxle said with finality

Athrogate looked at him with suspicion "So ye’re not for knowin’ where we’re to be goin’"

The drow looked around at the rough terrain and rubbed his slender chin "Soon," he proone back into Mirabar for h, a rare expression indeed for the tough dwarf, for Jarlaxle fixed hilare, one that reminded him in no uncertain terms as the leader and who the sidekick

"Good day for a walk!" Athrogate exclaireat belch

They set their camp only a few miles northeast of the field where they hada line of scraggly, short trees, many dead, others nearly leafless Below them to the west looe, beyond a short rocky field splashed with flat, cut stones, ate to raveyard

"That or a pavilion," Jarlaxle replied, hardly caring

Selune was up, dancing in and out of the low, Athrogate was soon snoring contentedly, but for Jarlaxle, the thought of Reverie was not welcomed

He watched as the shadows under the an to shrink, disappear, then stretch toward the east as the moon passed overhead and started its western descent Weariness crept in upon hi while