Page 7 (1/2)

BODY COUNT

Entreri ca froht He was hardly aware of his movements, yet every step was perfect and in complete balance, for the assassin had fallen into a state of pure battle clarity Hisjust below his level of consciousness perfectly in tune hat he instinctively determined he needed to do Entreri ed trail down the steep slope of the northern Galena foothills, a place where even careful hikers ht turn an ankle or trip into a crevice, as if he was running across a grassya muddy trail as another spear flew over his head He started around a boulder in his path, but went quickly up its side instead, then sprang off to the left of the boulder to the top of another large stone A quick glance back showed hi down easier ground in an attempt to cut him off before he reached the main trail

A thin smile showed on Entreri&039;s face as he leaped fro and continuing to veer to the west, his left

The crackle of a thunderbolt back the other way startled hied the ic

Entreri brushed the thought away Jarlaxle was far froainst his most immediate enemies

On his own Exactly the way Arte north down the oblins co in from the side and hot on his heels As he neared the bottoical sword in an arc behind hi an opaque veil of dark ash from its enchanted, blood-red blade As he came around to complete the spin, Entreri fell forward into a so hisa sharp turn behind one boulder He hooked his fingers as he skidded past and caught hiainst the stone and held his breath

A slight gasp told the assassin the exact position of his eneoblin flashed past, he struck, quick and hard, a jab that put the vicious blade through the monster&039;s ribs

The goblin yelped and staggered, lurching and stuht He caht before the swirl of ash

Goblin shins connected on his side, and thewith the previous as they crashed down hard

Entreri scra to his feet with his back to the re, he flipped his powerful sword in his hand and jabbed it out behind hiht in the chest

The assassin turned and retracted his long blade, snapping it across to pick off a thrusting spear as the reoblin pair composed themselves for a coordinated attack

"Getsun innk&039;s arr!" one goblin instructed the other, which Entreri understood as "Circle to his left!"

Entreri, dagger in his right hand, sword in his left, went down in a crouch, weapons out wide to defend against both

"Beenurk!" the goblin cried "Go oblin did as ordered and Entreri started to turn with it, trying to appear afraid He wanted the bigger goblin to focus on his expression, and so it apparently did, for Entreri sneakily flipped the dagger over in his grip then snapped his hand up and out He was still watching the circling goblin when he let fly at the other one, but he knew that he had hit the oblin&039;s next cole

The assassin slashed his sword across, creating another ash field, then leaped back as if er He stopped in e back at the pursuing goblin He rolled right over the goblin&039;s thrusting sword, going out to the huht, a complete somersault that landed Entreri firmly back on his feet in a low crouch As he went, he flipped Charon&039;s Claw froled the blade perfectly so that when he stood, the blade caoblin&039;s ribs

His ht froround at the tip of his fine sword, the creature thrashing as it slid down the blade

Entreri snapped a retraction, then spun fast, bringing the blade across evenly at shoulder level, and when he caoblin&039;s neck so cleanly that its head remained attached only until the creature fell over sideways and hit the ground with a jolt

The assassin leaped away, grabbing at the dagger hilt protruding froave a sudden twist and turn as he yanked the weapon free, ensuring that he had taken the creature&039;s throat out completely By then, the two he had tripped were back up and coh tentatively

Entreri watched their eyes and noted that they were glancing more often to the side than at hi for reinforce hope, for Entreri could hear goblins all across the mountainside Jarlaxle&039;s iht into the middle of a tribe of the creatures They had only seen three at the ca stew But behind that ca

Jarlaxle hadn&039;t heard Entreri&039;s warning, or he hadn&039;t cared, and their sudden assault had brought forth a strea monsters

He was outnuround, and he used it to facilitate a sudden, overpowering attack He ca it out across to the left, and back to the right He heard the ring of ht parried the backhand with its oord, but that hardly interrupted Entreri&039;s flow

He strode forward, sending Charon&039;s Claw in a motion down behind hi-reaching doard swipe, one designed to cleave his eneoblin leap back

To its credit, it caain

But that was exactly what Entreri had anticipated

The goblin&039;s sword stabbed out - and a jeweled dagger went against the weapon&039;s side and turned it out, altering the angle just enough to cause a er up and over the blade, then down and around, twisting as he went to turn the sword out even ht as he did, forcing the other goblin to stay back, and continued his forward rush, again rolling his dagger, turning the sword even farther And yet again, he rolled his blade, walking it right up the goblin&039;s sword He finally disengaged with a flourish, pulling his dagger in close, then striking out three tirunt with each successive hit

Bright blood widening around the three punctures, the goblin staggered back

Confident that it was defeated, Entreri had already turned by that point, his sorking furiously to fend the suddenly ferocious attacks by the other goblin He parried a low thrust, a second heading for his chest, and picked off a third cooblin screaer

The goblin moaned once then went silent Its sword tip drifted toward the ground as its gaze, too, went down to consider the dagger hilt protruding from its chest

It looked back at Entreri Its sword fell to the ground

"My guess is that it hurts," said the assassin

The goblin fell over dead

Entreri kicked the dead creature over onto its back then tugged his dagger free He glanced up the h he saw no new eneoblin that had passed hi in the side, had ht his attention He could only i

Jarlaxle ran to the center of a clearing, goblins closing in all around hiical wards handled the h, and he was quite confident that the crude et through the barriers and actually strike him A dozen spears came out at hi, co, it see

Apparently, the reputation of the dark elves was lost on that particular group of savages

As he had counted on their ical deficiencies to render their spears haroblins&039; intellectual li Jarlaxle revealed a wand, pointed it at his own feet, and spoke a cooblins, and the whole of the clearing and the rocks surrounding it Screae fla his own illusion, Jarlaxle watched with oblins flailed and threw theround The creatures thrashed and slapped at flaony The dark elf noted so very still, for so consuic had created through their own ht have wrought

Jarlaxle had killed nearly half the goblins with a single simple illusion

Well, the drow mused, not a si out this wand through a hundred recharges, to perfect the swirl of fla, though, for he still had half a dozen creatures to deal with They were all distracted, however, and so the drow began to puic of the bracer he wore on his right wrist to suers into his hand They went out in a deadly stream as the drow turned a slow circle

He had just coers into all six of the thrashing goblins - and into three of the others, just toapproach of ical itee, and called forth a globe of absolute darkness Then he used his keen hearing to direct hi off to the side, where he slipped frooblin approach

"Will you just stop running?" Entreri asked under his breath as he continued his dogged pursuit of the last wounded goblin

The blood trail was easy enough to follow and every so often he spotted the creature zigzagging along the broken trail below hioblin showed no sign of slowing Entreri knew that he should just let the creature bleed out, but frustration drove him on

He came upon one sharp bend in the trail but didn&039;t turn He sprang atop the rock wall lining the ravine trail and sprinted over it, leaping across another crevice and barreling on straight down the ht a flash of the running goblin, and veered appropriately, his legsforward and in balance along stones and over dark holes that threatened to s hi an ankle, but never was it a catastrophic fall Hardly sloith each slight stuh the pain and focused on his prey

He crossed the snaking path and resisted the good sense to turn and follow its course, again cutting across it to the open, rocky ain, and a few moments later came up on the fourth bend

Certain he was ahead of his foe, he paused and caught his breath, adjusted his clothing, and wiped the blood frooblin rounded a bend, co into view So intent on the trail behind it, the wretch never even saw Entreri as it ran along

"You could havehis weapons and caloblin&039;s sensibilities as solidly as a stone ould have s form The creature squealed and skidded to an abrupt stop, whined pitifully, and fell to its knees

"Pleases, ue

"Oh, shut up," the killer replied

"Surely you&039;ll not kill a creature that so eloquently begs for its life," came a third voice, one that only surprised Entreri nized the speaker

He had no idea how Jarlaxle otten down that quickly, but he knew better than to be surprised at anything Jarlaxle did Entreri sheathed his sword and grabbed the goblin by a patch of its scraggly hair, yanking its head back violently He let his jeweled dagger slide teasingly across the creature&039;s throat, then oblin&039;s head

"Shall I just take its ears, then?" he asked Jarlaxle, his tone showing that heand to show no such mercy

"Always you think in terms of the immediate," the drow replied, and he moved up to the pair "In those terms, by the e should be fast about our business, for a hundred of this one&039;s co down theblow, but Jarlaxle called out and stopped hi term," the drow bade him

Entreri cast a cynical look Jarlaxle&039;s way

"We are co with a hundred trackers for every ear," the drow explained "How uide us?"

"A scout?" Entreri looked down at the sniveling, treoblin

"Why of course," said Jarlaxle, and he walked over and caloblin&039;s head Then he took hold of Entreri&039;s other hand and gently urged it frooblin&039;s hair He pushed Entreri back a step then bent low before the creature

"What do you say to that?" he asked

The duoblin stared at him

"What is your name?"

"Gools"

"Gools? A fine name What do you say, Gools? Would you care to enter into a partnership with oblin&039;s expression did not change

"Your job will be quite simple, I assure you," said the drow "Show us the way to et out of our way We will ht here It seeoblin see on, finally Jarlaxle tossed hiold

"And oblin stared wide-eyed at the coin for a long while then looked up to Jarlaxle and slowly nodded

"Very well then," said the drow

He caht forth his hand, which was covered in a fine light blue chalky substance The dark elf reached for the goblin&039;s forehead

Gools lurched back at that, but Jarlaxle issued a stern warning, bringing forth a sword in his other hand and putting on an expression that prooblin&039;s forehead again and began drawing there with the chalk, all the while uttering soic student would have known to be incoherent blather

Entreri, who understood the drow language, was also quite certain that it was gibberish

When he finished, Jarlaxle cupped poor Gools&039;s chin and forced the creature to look hiue, so there could be no

"I have cast a curse upon you," he said "If you know anything of my people, the drow, then you understand well that this curse will he the most vicious of all It is quite si will happen to you But if you betray us, either by running away or by leading us to an aic of the curse will take effect Your brains will turn to water and run out your ear, and it will happen slowly, so slowly! You will feel every burn, every sting, every twist You will know agony that no sword blade could ever approach You hine and cry and plea forwill help you And even in death will this curse toric will send your spirit to the altar of the Spider Queen Lolth, the Demon Goddess of Chaos Do you know of her?"

Gools trembled so badly he could hardly shake his head

"You know spiders?" Jarlaxle asked, and he walked his free hand over the goblin&039;s sweaty cheek "Crawly spiders"

Gools shuddered

"They are the tools of Lolth They will devour you for eternity They will bite" - he pinched the goblin sharply - "you a millionof their poison"

He glanced back at Entreri, then looked the terrified goblin in the eye once oblin nodded so quickly that its teeth chattered with the old," said the drow, still in the guttural language of the savage goblins He flipped another gold piece at the creature Gools didn&039;t even h, and the coin hit him in the chest and fell to the dirt

"Betray us and know unending torture"

Jarlaxle stepped back, and the goblin sluh of his wits to reach down and gather the second gold piece

"Tomorrow, at this tian, "Do you think - ?"

He stopped and glanced back up the mountainside at the sudden sound of renewed battle

Entreri and Gools, too, looked up the hill, caught by surprise Horns began to blow, and goblins squealed and howled, and the ring of metal on oblin, poking a finger his way "Now be off, you idiot"

Gools scrambled away on all fours, finally put his feet under him, and ran off

"You really think we&039;ll see that one ever again?" Entreri asked

"I care little," said the drow

"Ears?" reminded Entreri

"You may wish to earn your reputation one ear at a tis the hard way"

Entreri started to respond, but Jarlaxle held up a hand to silence him The drow motioned up the mountainside to the left and started off to see what the commotion was all about

"Now I know that I have walked into a bad dreaainst a rock wall, overlooking a field of rounded stone Down below, goblins ran every which way, scra thes

The di flails, blew horns, and threw darts, veering theirlines that oblins

Froe point, however, Entreri and Jarlaxle could see the precision of the halflings&039;procession of destruction so calculated that it seemed as if the mounted little warriors had all blended to forular, snakelike creatures

"In Menzoberranzan, House Baenre sometimes parades its forces about the streets to show off their discipline and power," Jarlaxle remarked "These little ones are no less precise in their movements"

Entreri had not witnessed such a parade in his short tihterriders, he easily understood his companion&039;s point

It was easy, too, for the pair to deteranEntreri onto the stony field as the last of the goblins was cut down

"Kneebreakers!" the halflings cried in unison, as they lined their war pigs up in perfect ranks A few had been injured, but only one see priests were already hard at work attending to hi stopped short, though, when several of theures, one a drow elf

Weapons raised in the blink of an eye, and shouts of warning told the newcoround

"Inurree waflonk," Jarlaxle said in a language that Entreri did not understand

As he considered the curious expressions of the halflings, however, and reerwillies, and soured out that his friend was speaking the halfling tongue - and, apparently, quite fluently Entreri was not surprised

"Well fought," Jarlaxle translated, offering a wink to Entreri "We watched you frooblins hadn&039;t a chance"

"You do realize that you&039;re a dark elf, correct?" asked one of the halflings, a burly little felloith a brown mustache that curled in circles over his cheeks

Jarlaxle feigned a look of surprise as he held one of his hands up before his sparkling red eyes

"Why, indeed, &039;tis true!" he exclaimed

"You do realize that we&039;re the Kneebreakers, correct?"

"So I heard you proclaim"

"You do realize that we Kneebreakers have a reputation for killing ver that display, I would spread the word myself, I assure you"

"And you do realize that dark elves fall into that category, of course"

"Truly? Why, I had come to believe that the civilized races, which sos can only be thought of as civilized when there is not food to be found - claie others based on their actions and not their heritage Is that not one of the priot a point," another halfling ive hi (relatively speaking), nasty-tipped spear

"You oblins were already dead as you arrived on the scene," Jarlaxle added "It wasn&039;t infighting that slew the the fiends?" asked the first, the apparent leader

"Battling? Slaughtering would be a better term I do believe that you and your little army here have stolen our kills" He did a quick scan and poked his finger repeatedly, as if counting the dead "Forty or fifty lost gold pieces, at least"

The halflings began tothatyour fine force in such brilliantorthy of so reasonable an admission price," Jarlaxle added

He swept one of his tradeantic diatryma feather across the stones

That see ranks a bit

"Your friend, he does not speakleader

"He provides the blades," Jarlaxle replied

"And you the brains, I presu behind you"

The halfling blanched and spun around, along with all the others, weapons turning to bear Of course, there was no monster to be seen, so the whole troupe spun back on a very aet past your fear of h "How else ether?"

"You want us to feed you?"

"Quite the contrary," said the drow He pulled off his traveling pack and brought forth a wand and a s a sh to serve as tables Motioning that way, he said, "Shall we?"

The halflings stared at hih, Jarlaxle reached into his pack again and pulled forth a tablecloth and spread it on the ground before hioblin blood He stepped back, pointed his wand at the cloth, and spoke a comed up frorabbed its edge, and pulled it back, revealing a veritable feast of sweet breads, fruits, berries, and even a rack of la eyes went so wide they seeether

"Being halflings, and civilized ones at that, I assu utensils, plates, and drinking flagons, correct?" said the drow, aptly

Sos forward, but the stubborn leader held up his hand and eyed the droith suspicion

"Oh, come now," said Jarlaxle "Could you envision a better token of my friendship?"

"You came from the wall?"

"From the Vaasan Gate, of course," Jarlaxle answered "Sent out to scout by Coonsbane Peidopare herself"

Entreri tried hard not to wince at the ht his friend was playing a dangerous ga leader

"Do you?" said the drow, and he brightened suddenly as if it all had just fallen in place for hiirdle hihtened and puffed out his chest with pride, all the answer the companions needed

"Then you must dine with us,"said Jarlaxle "You ave Entreri a hard look "We," he corrected, "insist"