Page 7 (1/2)

But where would that leave hiht, the young warlock glanced around for so and bending corridor with few side rooms, all private cha back the way he had come would cost him too much time

His indecisionto scah ahead to reht The warlocks were too close

So he stepped out and openly approached the were amiss

They both nodded and continued their conversation, one pausing in his discussion to reo is not in residence"

"Ah," Effron replied "Do you knohen he will return?"

The two looked to each other and shrugged in unison

"I will leave him a note," Effron said "If you see him, pray tell him that I wish to speak with him"

They nodded and continued on their way, and Effron breathed a sigh of relief Obviously, Draygo Quick had not inforo’s dise

His relief was short-lived, though, for his instructions to the young apprentices would of course reveal to Draygo Quick that he had been in the residence He could likely talk his way out of that indiscretion if Draygo Quick confronted hi, after all, and now that plan seemed perfectly suicidal

He pressed on anyway, trying to sort it out as he went, rushing through the main room of the keep, a vast foyer with a checkerboard black-and-white tiled floor He crossed from there into the main library, a room of potions and an alchemical workbench and a distillery, and fro the castle’s main tower

Many steps later, Effron paused at Draygo Quick’s private door He knew the password to get safely beyond the o Quick had bothered to change that password, the glyphs would alical defenses Effron had erected upon hiainst the bared power of Draygo Quick!

He alrowled out the expected password and stubbornly pushed through the door

He didn’t melt

Surprised, relieved, shocked even, Effron collected his thoughts and closed the door behind hio Quick’s vaunted e was in place upon the pedestal, under the silken cloth, as he had expected, but the bars were not gloith power and the cage was empty

Effron bent low and peered around the bars, unable to coht before him Had the panther escaped? How could that be?

And who e?

Effron held his breath and stood up fast, spinning, his broken arale He expected to see a six-hundred-pound, angry black panther standing right behind hi the roo the shadows, before he was able to relax in the confidence that he was indeed alone He erly opened it, brushing aside thethe many bottles on the shelves within Each contained a tiny representation of some powerful monster, which were, in fact, the bodies of those actual creatures in miniaturized stasis Effron himself had sorted these iteo Quick, and so he recognized i was amiss and no new additions had been made

He closed the cabinet and turned back to the ehts around this unexpected turn Where had the cat gone? A h Effron’s mind, but only two seemed plausible: Either the panther had been handed back to Drizzt Do’Urden in soo Quick, or the cat had been slain, or had died of its own accord, perhaps due to the severance of the connection to the Astral Plane

It took hiainst the implications of both of those possibilities Either way, he had likely forever lost a valuable tool in his quest to confront and kill his ht back to the previous day, when he had watched the Shifter approach Draygo’s residence with an elderly Toril ht then that the visit concerned the panther, and this seemed to confirm it

"A druid," he ain the dress of the hu the Shifter

He looked at the ee So what, exactly, had this druid done?

Effron realized then that he had to o Quick would learn of his visit, obviously, and the withered old warlock wasn’t known for hiswas out of the castle in short order, not even bothering to hide fro the way When he crossed the courtyard and exited the great gates surrounding Castle Quick, Effron couldn’t deny the wave of relief that washed over him He had called this place his hoht hiht that perhaps he should just head to Toril, out of the realh he had certainly counted upon having the panther as a bargaining tool Should he just try anyithout the cat, and pretend as if none of thisthe two approaching warlocks in the hallway, and because of that very encounter, it came clear to hio Quick would find hio

Information alone would save him, Effron decided, so he set out with all speed to find thatfor hi on a bench set out in front of her modest home, amid her black-petal roses and dull flox A s a rather entrancing tune

Effron didn’t ever re before and wondered if this was an added guard or deception put forth by the Shifter

He looked at her--at the ie of her that was probably not her--as he approached

"It took you longer than I expected," she greeted hio Quick’s hoo Quick’s home?"

"You just caly

Effron started to protest, but the wo to steal her, or sio by extension?"

"I do not knohat you speak"

"And I am sure that you do So where does that leave us? At the end of our conversation, I expect, so please leave"

Effron felt as if the ground was rising up about him to s him where he stood He desperately needed to speak to the Shifter, but her tone had left little room for debate