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Which only aided Drizzt’s aim

Arrows flew at the creature in rapid succession A second skull exploded, the round

Effron shifted hisdown fro creature

"Now, Aed to yell between assaults Back at the caain the na force of the skull lord destroyed, to even greater effect So powerful was the dwarf’s call that several ghouls before her were reduced to dust, and even the wights could not stand in the face of her divine call

Before Effron, the skull lord crumbled to the muck

More explosions turned hihouls Only then did Effron truly see the beauty of Drizzt’s dance, for the drow dropped his bow and drew his blades so quickly that Effron could barely follow thethe ghoul before him, then tore his blades out to the side, reversedacross to decapitate the creature Hardly slowing, the drow flipped his grip on the hilts and stabbed out to either side with devastating backhanded thrusts, skewering a pair of ghouls simultaneously He retracted almost as fast as he had stabbed, and back-flipped into a fast retreat, but landed leaning forward and in a sudden rush that brought hi barrage

Hardly slowing, the drow leaped upon the felled warrior wight, blades pounding away, ensuring that it would not rise again

Seeing the battle ended, the warlock rushed to clai hands He wouldn’t dare wield it, or wear it, until further study, of course, but he took no such precautions with the staff, eagerly scooping it into his grasp It was as tall as he, fashioned of three leg bones fused as one, and with a tiny huone now, but the young warlock easily recovered it, finding a ical communion with the powerful item, and by the tiun anew, flickering from the eyes of the staff’s skull-headed top

Drizzt looked at hiood nor evil," Effron explained in response to that curious expression "It merely is"

Drizzt’s expression didn’t shiftand followed Effron back to the others The fight there had ended as well, bodies piled before the four coris tended to his wounded shoulder and bloodied hands

"Well fought," Drizzt said

"Better if one of us hadn’t run off," Dahlia scolded, staring at hihed and shook his head, owing no apologies, and even Artemis Entreri chuckled at the absurdity of Dahlia’s reainst us?" Entreri asked "By Draygo Quick?"

Effron shook his head "Such roving bands are not uncoh this one was particularly powerful" He looked at his neeapon as he spoke, and s the powers contained within the bone staff

If undead ain the next day, he knew,on his side

Chapter 17: The Chosen

ATHROGATE PLOPPED HIS HAIRY FEET DOWN ON THE LARGE PILLOW BEFORE the Bedine serving girl, who i her thumbs into the pressure points on his wide, flat soles

"Meself, ha! I’ettin’ used to this life," he said for the tenth time that day, which e of the reuests of a Netherese lord in Shade Enclave was not a difficult job, the dwarf and Jarlaxle had learned A century before, this region had been a huge and inhospitable desert, but it had not been totally barren Sparsely inhabited, indeed, but inhabited nonetheless The Spellplague had changed all that, the great desert of Anauroch, itself a ical construct, had been transformed And here, the Empire of Netheril had created their principle city on Toril

For the indigenous people of Anauroch, the nomadic Bedine, the transformation had proved neither fruitful nor favorable, for they were now the servants of the Netherese, particularly in the region i some of the farther reaches of Anauroch, Bedine tribes held fast to their old desert nomad ways, but these people had not prospered The tribes held few alliances outside of Anauroch and they were no hty Empire of Netheril, and thus, ladiators

For Jarlaxle and Athrogate, their extended stay in the House of Ulfbinder had been a journey in pleasure and luxury, their every need attended by a horde of servants For his part, the dwarf had never looked better His beard had been tri tips at the end of his beard braids had been replaced by strings of shining opals His dirty traveling clothes and armor had beenitthe thick and soft robes Lord Parise Ulfbinder had provided

"It will grow tedious soon enough," Jarlaxle replied to the dwarf, as he usually did when Athrogate fell into his swoon of luxury Jarlaxle was, of course, no stranger to the finer things in life "There is a world of adventure out there," he added

"Bah!" Athrogate shot back, and he bit off the expression and winced as the Bedine girl found a particularly sensitive spot on his foot "Felt pain a hunnerd tiht his breath "But it ain’t e’er felt so good! Bwahahaha!"

Jarlaxle just laughed and sipped his wine

"The pleasure’s great, the food’s so fine, don’t ye ate half-said, half-sung, ending with another great "Bwahahaha!"