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"The sword?"
"Is destroyed," Dahlia interjected
"Ah," said Arunika, and she see different, but no less important," Drizzt assured her
Arunika stared at him for a while, and whispered some words--a spell, he realized--under her breath
"An item, or an epiphany?" the seer asked slyly
"Yes," Drizzt answered
Arunika started to rise and Drizzt reached for his coin purse But the woo to him"
"What do you want?" Artemis Entreri asked from behind the cracked door He was stripped to the waist--and Arunika made certain that he noted her appreciative stare at his muscled torso
"Barrabus," she replied
"That is not ain my name"
"Artereat players aers, or enehted with estion, but she needn’t have bothered For ically disar affect of her spell-enhanced appearance sufficed Entreri stepped back and opened the door, and Arunika happily entered his den
"It’s good that you’ve returned," she said, taking a seat on his ruffled bedding and des It occurred to her that she should abandon Drizzt’s request and convince Entreri to remain in Neverwinter Could shein the network she’d fostered? She knew the exploits of Barrabus the Gray, after all, and he was a er, she decided not long into her conversation with Entreri, not long after looking into his cold eyes Yes, she did remember Barrabus the Gray, and had always understood that he was one of the fewher
Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t be useful to her, and in a number of ways
Despite her protests earlier, the redhead did engage in a bit of overpowering seduction, to indulge herself as much as to please Entreri She didn’t leave his roohten with the dawn, and she left Entreri quite exhausted, indeed fast asleep
She had shown hireat pleasure, and he had reciprocated An added bonus, the succubus thought, for the purpose of her seduction had not been her own pleasure Not this night, though it had come as an added bonus, surely! No, in the , Arunika had placed an enchanterous assassin, a dweomer of clairvoyance And when they were done, collapsed in each other’s ar de quiet encourage him that his best road forward lay beside Drizzt and Dahlia
Her reputation as a seer wasn’t wholly unearned, after all, and now Artemis Entreri, marked by the dweomer of Arunika, would spy for her
Chapter 4: My Friend the Vampire
THE CHANGE IN PERSPECTIVE WAS QUITE DISORIENTING FOR DRAYGO Quick First he was standing in his roo the ether, swirling and spinning, his sensibilities secretly carried along with Guenhwyvar
Soon he was beside the drow ranger and Dahlia on Toril, but low to the ground, stalking He could hear the pair but he couldn’t turn to regard the co, se, out-of-body, and more importantly, out-of-control, experience for the old warlock
An altered reality, actually, for the panther’s eyes did not view the world as a huated, with distances , alrasses and branches and fallen leaves, as if a hundred nified it many times over to completely alter the color of the world
Sounds filled Draygo Quick’s mind--some were soft, like the call of a distant bird, then became suddenly loud as the panther turned her ears In that turn, other sounds weredirectionally, this way or that, aions of sound almost to the exclusion of other areas
She was round and low brush sped by so wildly that Draygo reflexively closed his own eyes to try to block it out But he could not close Guenhwyvar’s eyes and so his actions had no effect He almost broke the connection, but then Guenhwyvar’s prey suddenly cas--Ash up their war scepters, shoving each other aside
A blinding flash ripped the air above hi away
Then the warlock felt as if he were flying, too, as Guenhwyvar leaped He saoman dive aside, another turn and shriek, and he flew past the warrior Draygo Quick felt the iainst the panther’s flank, but o Quick tasted the sweat and flesh as Guenhwyvar bit down His vision failed him The cat had closed her eyes, but he heard, keenly, the tearing of flesh and the crunch of bone, and the smell--oh the smell!--overwhel blood
He felt as if he were flying again, and his vision returned suddenly He saw the drow spinning by, scih the air Dahlia vaulted past and he heard a grunt and a groan and the slapping of her staff against the skull of a wo hi the brush As soon as they landed, Guenhwyvar spun around and sprang away Draygo Quick didn’t even realize that he was pawing and clawing the air reflexively tothe flesh from the man