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He popped the cork off the jug and stepped back as s his vision His first indication that his powerful brother had succeeded was the sound of jostling, as Entreri and Dahlia, flesh onceto extract thele

Entreri cried out, "No!" and Dahlia merely cried out, and fro in a defensive crouch, one arm up to shield his eyes, the other cocked to strike

"Be at ease,up the jug as the fog began to dissipate "The battle is won"

"You!" Entreri cried, clearly horrified and outraged, and launched himself at Jarlaxle

"Artemis!" Dahlia interrupted, and interrupted, too, Entreri’s charge, blocking his way

"You are quite welcome," Jarlaxle said dryly

"Who are you?" Dahlia demanded

"Jarlaxle!" Entreri answered before the drow could

"At your service," Jarlaxle agreed, sweeping low in a bow "Indeed, already at your service," he added, and he snapped his finger, breaking another ical ceramic torch He dropped it to the floor as it flared to life, revealing the stuck ainst the stone buttress, one oo-covered head

"You would ask for gratitude," Entreri spat at him

"Call us even, then," Jarlaxle replied "Or leave our squabble for another tio and his minions"

Dahlia looked back at him, clearly alarmed, as did Afafrenfere

"Coo You have been here a long tilancing all around at the unfamiliar catacomb "We were in the room, the checkerboard floor Drizzt and Effron fell--"

"They are well," Jarlaxle assured her "They have already escaped back to Luskan"

"How long?" Afafrenfere asked

"The three of you have served as decorations for Castle Draygo for many months," Jarlaxle explained "Forof 1466 on Toril"

Three stunned expressions came back at him, for even Entreri seemed sobered by the news

"Quickly," Jarlaxle bade theo finds us" He started away at a brisk clip, the other three falling in line

Afafrenfere and Dahlia both gasped when they came back into the checkerboard entry hall, to see a tower construct blocking the far wall, but loudest of all, and h offered by Arteh to not need any detailed explanations

"Inside you go," Jarlaxle explained, stepping aside and uard "He will show you to the gate, and the gate will show you to Luskan"

"Aris!" Afafrenfere said "I will not leave without her!"

"Your gallant dwarf friend was the one who led me here, of course," Jarlaxle replied

"Effron and Drizzt?" Dahlia deris by now, and yes, back in the City of Sails Now, be gone, I beg"

Afafrenfere and Dahlia both looked to Entreri

"Trust him," the assassin admitted "For what choice do we have? And indeed," he added, staring hard at the most-hated Jarlaxle, "only because we have no other choice"

The monk and Dahlia started for the tower, but Entreri held back, and paced to stand right before Jarlaxle "I have not forgotten what you did to me," he said "Nor the years of torment I suffered because of your cowardice"

"There is more to the story," Jarlaxle assured him "Someday, perhaps, you will hear the tale in full"

"I doubt that," Entreri replied with a snarl and he started after his colanced back a couple of ti out warily for Jarlaxle, as if expecting the drow to stab him in the back--literally this tio He had hoped that his daring, and expensive, rescuewith the man once more, but he had always known that hope to be rooted more in his heart than in his reason

Arteni’s slave, and Jarlaxle had little argu had been his fault

Artenal flash in the tower’s second floor showed Jarlaxle that the trio and the reical portal back to Toril

With a quick chant, the drow dismissed the tohich reverted to a o rained down frorand balcony crashed down in ruins When the ru ended, Jarlaxle realized that he was not alone, and indeed it was Ki to scoop up Gromph’s toy

"Are you quite finished?" Ki the cube to Jarlaxle

"You have brought Lord Draygo to an understanding?"

"He desperately desires the answers that I a in my commune with the illithids," Ki to supply those answers?"

"In the tu days, ill find a valuable ally in Lord Draygo Quick, and in his peers"

Jarlaxle looked around at the ruined entry hall and laughed at the absurdity

"Allies, then," he said with a snicker "Now pray open a gate that I ht be out of this place"