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So he could go in there and slay them in their distraction …

But he didn’t

Effron closed the door, put his back to it, and took a deep and steadying breath

The slanted rays of h the dirty , and fell upon fair Dahlia as she slept

Artemis Entreri watched her

He considered his next moves He hadn’t used the pronoun "us," hadn’t included hiroup that would sail out of Baldur’s Gate on Minnow Skipper by accident, for he intended to do exactly that The boat was going on to Meh Drizzt, Dahlia, and the others didn’t know it, and the closer Entreri could get to Caliured

But why?

What was in Cali dead--he had no more friends there than anywhere else in this miserable world

In truth, he had no friends at all

He looked at Dahlia

And he wondered

Chapter 12: The Desperate Child

EFFRON WAS IN A FOUL MOOD AS HE MOVED TO BALDUR’S GATE’S DOCKS that next ust with hisAnd with Artemis Entreri --Barrabus the Gray, no less--a man Effron had coether under the coni

The man who had leaped in and foiled Effron’s best attereatly in both coin and reputation by stifling Cavus Dun’s ao Quick’s orders as a reerous Netherese lord had enacted around him But every recital came with a sneer

He moved down to the docks and found his informants As always, it see with nize that they weren’t actually accoain, as alith these two

The old gaffer nudged his partner when he noted Effron’s approach

"When?" Effron asked,out there in the open for any length of time After these two had reported to him on the disposition of Drizzt and Dahlia, he had tasked them with a simple question, and so he wanted a simple answer

But both," said the younger man

"Was supposed to be but three, but her Captain Cannavara delayed her," added the older

Effron nodded and tossed a saffer and his partner kept grinning slyly

"What more do you know?" Effron asked

"Ah, but that’s worth gold to ye," said the old gaffer "More than the first ye give us"

"Ah, then to you, it’s probably worth continuing to breathe," Effron replied without the slightest hesitation, for he was in no mood for any nonsense frolare and with a low and even tone slowly repeated, "Whatlaugh, but his partner sed hard and patted hi and obviously understanding that there was nothing overstated in the dangerous young tiefling’s threat

"They’re not back for Luskan," the ed swabby replied

"Who? Minnow Skipper?" Effron asked

"Aye, Memnon’s her next port of call, and then Calimport beyond that, if the season’s not too late Won’t be putting in to Luskan until the first winter winds’re blowing hard from the Spine o’ the World"

The news knocked Effron back a step, his thoughts spinning "How do you know this?" he ot friends on the boat Course we do," said the old gaffer "On all the boats" He continued on to explain that he knew Minnow Skipper’s first mate and had creith thehis way back to Luskan, and was told of the upco, knocked fully off-balance by the surprising turn Memnon? Caliht be, but the one thing that certainly had coh to him was that once Minnow Skipper put out of Baldur’s Gate, his trail to Dahlia row very cold

He absently reached into his pouch and grabbed a handful of coins, soold, so the the wharves and into the city proper

He thought again of Draygo Quick’s warning regarding this band, but the orders didn’t resonate Not then, not with hisaway, perhaps forever

He had wondered if it would come to this, of course He slipped his hand inside his robes and felt the scroll tube he had stolen fro to lose thehout the next few days, and drove him to pay acute attention to every detail of the movements of the companions, particularly, of course, of Dahlia To that end, the warlock spent nearly asin crevices of crackedthe separations in the wooden walls of this inn or that

Dahlia was spending her nights with Drizzt again, but there was a level of unether They shared a bed, but were hardly entwined, sexually or otherwise She hadn’t told him about her encounter with Entreri, obviously, and Effron ht play that particular card if he got into trouble with the drow ranger

Froine Drizzt Do’Urden forgiving such a transgression

He reht not be a wise choice, given Draygo Quick’s insistence, and that divulging his inforainst Dahlia and Entreri

Dahlia wasn’t often in the drow’s roo early in the day Drizzt, on the other hand, spent most of his days in the inn, if not the rooht in Baldur’s Gate, after all, and so Effron could well understand Drizzt’s reluctance to wander around