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CHASING IT TO THE ENDS OF REALITY

There!" Rorick cried, pointing at the sky high above theRorick’s gaze, they saw the Ghost King as it glided across the starry canopy

"Over our hoan to run With every tenth step, though, Ivan called for a halt Finally, the others slowed, gasping for breath

"We stay together or we’re suren dead," the yellow-bearded dwarf scolded "I can’no’ run with ye, girl!"

"And I cannot watch from afar as my home is attacked," Hanaleisa countered

"And ye can’no’ get there," said Ivan "Half a day andYe mean to run for hours, do ye?"

"If I - " Hanaleisa started to retort, but she went quiet at Pikel’s "Shh!" All eyes focused on the green-bearded dwarf as he hopped about, pointing into the dark forest

Aof h the underbrush As one, the group braced for an attack, but they quickly realized that those creatures,for the flat out to the west, up the hillsides toward Spirit Soaring Their enemies swarmed to the distant battle

"Quick, then, but not running," Ivan ordered "And stay close, all o’ ye!"

Hanaleisa spearheaded the charge, and at a swift pace With her intensive training in stealth and staraceful manner of her movements, she was sure that she could indeed run all the way hoh the path was mostly uphill But she couldn’t abandon the others, surrounded by ene with every step

"Mother and Father are surrounded by a hundred capable es and priests," Temberle tried to reassure her - and reassure himself, she sensed from the tone of his voice "They will defeat this threat"

Soon after, with nearly a roup had to slow, both from exhaustion and because the forest around them teemed with shadowy creatures On more than one occasion, Hanaleisa held up her hand to stop those behind her and fell low behind a tree trunk or a bush, expecting a fight Every ti ahead or to the sides seeular purpose, and that purpose had nothing to do with the little band of Carradden refugees

Gradually, Hanaleisa began to press on even when enemies sounded very near - a part of her hoped that soainst the they killed out in the wilds would be one less attacker at the gates of Spirit Soaring

But then Hanaleisa sensed so different, some movement that seemed intent upon them She slid behind a broad tree and motioned for the others to stop, then held her breath as so approached very near, opposite her on the other side of the tree

She jumped out as her opponent did the same, and launched a series of blows that would have leveled a skilled warrior

But every strike was intercepted by an open hand that slapped her attacks aside It took Hanaleisa only a nize her opponent as the woman who had trained her all her life

"Mother!" she cried, and Danica fell over her in the tightest hug she had ever known

Rorick and Te with Ivan and Pikel, rushed up to embrace Danica

Tears of profound relief and sheer joy filled Danica’s eyes as she crushed each of her children close to her, and as she fell over Pikel And those tears streaked a face full of confusion when she looked upon Ivan

"I saw you die," she said "I was on the cliff, outside the cave, when the dracolich crushed you"

"Crushed the didn’t even knoas standing above a hole - son, but a tunnel for meself!"

"But " Danica started She just shook her head and kissed Ivan on his hairy cheek

"You found a way," she said "We’ll find a way"

"Where’s Father?" Hanaleisa asked

"He relanced nervously up the "

"He’s surrounded by an army of wizards and warrior priests," Rorick insisted, but Danica shook her head

"He’s with a sroup of powerful allies," Danica corrected, and she looked at Ivan and Pikel "King Bruenor and one of his battleragers, and Drizzt Do’Urden"

"Bruenor," Ivan gasped "Me king, come to us in our time o’ need"

"Drizzit Dudden," Pikel added with a signature giggle

"Lead on, Milady," Ivan bade Danica "Might that we’ll get there when there’s still so didn’t open wide its wings to break out of the stoop Down it ca, jaide At the very lastsnapped its head up and flipped its wings out, altering nothing but its angle of descent It hit the ground and plowed through the turf, digging a trench as it skidded at its prey And if that alone were not enough to put a fast end to the fool ould challenge a god, the Ghost King breathed forth its fla all in its path, reaching to the very doorway of Spirit Soaring The flesh of dead crawlers bubbled and burst and disintegrated beneath the conflagration, grass charred and obliterated

"Drizzt!" Bruenor, Cadderly, and Jarlaxle yelled together fro their friend was surely consuht have continued er, for it see by a droho should have been buried in that assault s’s face

Jolted, stunned that Drizzt had been quick enough to get out of the way, the Ghost King tried to turn its fury upon hiical power, snapped the dracolich’s head to the side yet again

The Ghost King hopped up to its hind legs, towering over the drow even though it stood in a trench deeper than two tall ht of its cometlike impact

Barely had it stood when the beast bit down at the drow, spearlike teeth snapping loudly, and in Spirit Soaring’s doorway, Bruenor gasped, thinking his friend taken whole

But again Drizzt ain the drow, so intent on the ie of his wounded bride, so perfect in his focus and so adroit his reflexes, dived at precisely the right angle, forward and inside the reach of the Ghost King As he caht hi, where his scimitars bit deep

Yet the power of Cadderly’s ic and the fury of Drizzt Do’Urden could not do to that godlike being what he had done in dise and fury and focus, Drizzt never lost one si alone

And so he was ain the dragon snapped its killing fangs at hied and ran, at a full sprint away fro

Instinctively, Drizzt swerved out wide and dived again, and felt the heat at his back as the Ghost King breathed forth its murderous fires once more Drizzt crossed that blackened line back the other way theh the double doors just ahead of the Ghost King and called out for Cadderly, for there was nowhere to turn

And as he kneould happen, the Ghost King’s fires followed hi hionfire

Cadderly groaned in pain as roiling flaic that sustained the priest and his creation He held his radiant hands out before hi he had reacted quickly enough