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Theybreeze, each stepin an alert posture They were ninth-year students working on their last year in Melee-Magthere, and they op-erated as often outside the cavern of Menzoberranzan as within No longer did padded poles adorn their belts; ada-ed

At tih for one dark elf to squeeze through Other tie caverns alls and ceilings beyond their sight They were droarriors, trained to operate in any type of Underdark landscape and learned in the ways of any foe they ht encounter

"Practice patrols" Master Hatch’net had called these drills, though he had warned the students that "practice pa-trols" often met monsters quite real and unfriendly Drizzt, still rated in the top of his class and in the point po sition, led this group, with Master Hatch’net and ten other students following in forinal twenty-five in Drizzt’s class remained One had been dismissed-and subsequently executed-for a foiled assassination atte student, a second had been killed in the practice arena, and a third had died in his bunk of natural causes-for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one’s life

In another tunnel a short distance away, Berg’inyon Baenre, holding the class’s second rank, led Master Dinin and the other half

The class in a similar exercise

Day after day, Driz t and the others had struggled to keep the fine edge of rea iness In tJIree roup had encountered only one monster, a cave fisher, a nasty crablike denizen of the Underdark Even that conflict had provided only brief excitement, and no practical experience, for the cave fisher had slipped out along the high ledges before the drow patrol could even get a strike at it

This day, Drizzt sensed soe on Master Hatch’net’s voice or a tin gling in the stones of the cavern, a subtle vibration that hinted to Drizzt’s subconscious of other creatures in the h to follow his instincts, and he was not surprised when the telltale glow of a heat source flitted down a side passage on the periphery of his vision He signaled for the rest of the patrol to halt, then quickly clie’s exit

When the intruder e backdown on the floor with two scimi tar blades crossed over his neck Drizzt backed away inized his victi down here?" Master Hatch’net de manded of the intruder "You know that the tunnels outside Menzoberranzan are not to be traveled by any but the pa troIs!"

"Your pardon, Master" the student pleaded "I bring news of an alert"

All in the patrol crowded around, but Hatch’net backed thelare and ordered Drizzt to set the" the student went on, "a princess of House Baenre! Monsters have been spotted in the tunnels!"

"What sort ofnoise, like the sound of two stones being clapped together, answered his question

"Hook horrors!" Hatch’net signaled to Drizzt at his side

Drizzt had never seen such beasts, but he had learned enough about them to understand why Master Hatch’net had suddenly reverted to the silent hand code Hook hor-rors hunted through a sense of hearing more acute than that of any other creature in all the Underdark Drizzt inal around to the others, and they held absolutely quiet for instructions from the master This was the situation they had trained to handle for the last nine years of their lives, and only the sweat on their pal droarriors

"Spells of darkness will not foil hook horrors" Hatch’net signaled to his troops "Nor will these" He indicated the pis-tol crossbow in his hand and the poison-tipped dart it held, a common first-strike weapon of the dark elves Hatch’net put the crossboay and drew his slender sword

"You ap in the creature’s bone arh to the flesh" He tapped Drizzt on the shoulder, and they started off together, the other students falling into line behind the off the stone walls of the tunnels, it provided a confusing beacon for the hunting drbw Hatch’net let Drizzt steer their course and was impressed by the way the student soon discerned the pattern of the echo riddle Drizzt’s step calanced about anx-iously unsure of the peril’s direction or distance

Then a singular sound froze theh the din of the clackingthe patrol in the echoingwail It was the screanaled to Drizzt

The master started to order his troops into a battle forma-tion, but Drizzt didn’t wait to watch the coh his spine, and when it sounded again, it lighted angry fires in his lav-ender eyes

Drizzt sprinted off down the tunnel, the cold anized the patrol into quick pursuit He hated the thought of losing a student as skilled as Drizzt, but he considered, too, the benefits of Drizzt’s rash actions If the others watched the finest of their class die in an act of stupidity, it would be a lesson they would not soon forget

Drizzt cut around a sharp corner and down a straight ex-panse of narrow, broken walls He heard no echoes now, just the ravenous clacking of the waiting monsters and the ht sounds of his patrol at his back, and he knew that if he was able to hear them, the hook horrors surely could Drizzt would not relinquish the passion or the ie ten feet above the floor, hoping it would run the length of the corridor- When he slipped around a final bend, he could barely distinguish the heat of thecoolness of their bony exoskeletons, shells nearly equal in te stone

He ainst the stone and guarding the corridor and three others far-ther back, in a little cul-de-sac, toying with so-object

Drizztall the stealth he had ever learned to creep by the sen-tries Then he saw the child princess, lying in a broken heap at the foot of one of the monstrous bipeds The motion of her sobs told Drizzt that she was alive Drizzt had no inten-tion of engaging the ht perhaps slip in and steal the child away

Then the patrol ca Drizzt to action

"Sentries!" he screa the lives of the first four of the group Drizzt’s attention abruptly returned to the wounded child as one of the hook horrors raised its heavy, clawed foot to crush her

The beast stood nearly twice Drizzt’s height and out-weighed him more than five times over It was fully ar-igantic clawed hands and a long and powerful beak Three of the monsters stood between Drizzt and the child

Drizzt couldn’t care about any of those details at that hor-rible, critical hed any concern for the danger loohter trained and outfitted for battle, while the child was helpless and defenseless

Two of the hook horrors rushed at the ledge, just the break Drizzt needed He rose up to his feet and leaped out over the blur onto the side of the rehts of the child as Drizzt’s sci into its facial ar

The hook horror fell back, overwhelmed by its oppo-nent’s fury and unable to catch up to the blades’ blinding, stinging e on this one, but he knew, as well, that two others would soon be at his back He did not relent He slid down from his perch on the monster’s side and rolled around to block its retreat, dropping be-tween its stalag it to the stone

Then he was on top of it, poking furiously as it floundered on its belly

The hook horror desperately tried to respond, but its ar- for it to twist out from under the assault

Drizzt knew his own situation was even more desperate Battle had been joined in the corridor, but Hatch’net and the others couldn’t possibly get through the sentries in ti his back

Prudence dictated that Drizzt relinquish his position over this one and spin away into a defensive posture

The child’s agonized screae burned in Drizzt’s eyes so blatantly that even the stupid hook horror knew its life was soon to end Drizzt put the tips of his scied them down onto the back of the ht crack in the creature’s shell, Drizzt crossed the hilts of his weapons, reversed the points, and split a clear opening in the ether and plunged the blades straight down, through the soft flesh and into the monster’s brain A heavy claw sliced a deep line across Drizzt’s shoulders, tearing his pii and drawing blood He dove forward into a roll and came up with his wounded back to the far wall Only one hook horror moved in at him; the other picked up the child

"No!" Drizzt screamed in protest He started forward, only to be slapped back by the attacking monster Then, par-alyzed, he watched in horror as the other hook horror put an end to the child’s screae replaced determination in Drizzt’s eyes The closest hook horror rushed at hinized its intentions and didn’t even try to dodge out of the way Instead, he reversed his grip on his weapons and locked theainst the wall, above his shoulders

With the ht-hundred-pound bulk carrying it on, even the armor of its shell could not protect the hook horror froainst the wall, but in doing so ih the belly

The creature jule free, but it could not escape the fury of Drizzt Do’Urden Savagely the young droisted the impaled blades He then shoved off froiant monster backward

Two of Drizzt’s enemies were dead, and one of the hook horror sentries in the hallas down, but Drizzt found no relief in those facts The third hook horror towered over hiet his blades free from his latest victim Drizzt had no escape fro’inyon Baenre rushed into the cul-de-sac, along the sae Drizzt had taken The hook horror turned away frohters caash in his back and the cracks he had no doubt suffered in his slender ribs Breathing caasps, but this, too, was of no conse-quence He finally ed at the ht in the middle of the three skilled drow, the hook horror went down in seconds

The corridor was finally cleared, and the dark elves rushed in all around the cul-de-sac They had lost only one student in their battle against the monster sentries

"A princess of House Barrison’del’aro" re at the child’s body

"House Baenre, ere told" said another student, one froroup Drizzt did not ’inyon Baenre rushed over to see if the victiest sister

"Not of my house" he said with obvious relief after a quick inspection He then laughed as further examination re-vealed a few other details about the corpse "Not even a princess!" he declared

Drizzt watched it all curiously, noting the impassive, cal-lous attitude of his co’inyon’s observation "A boy child!" he spouted "But of what house?"

Master Hatch’net moved over to the tiny body and reached down to take the purse from around the child’s neck He e the ehed to his students, tossing the e its contents, "of no consequence"

"A fine fight" Dinin was quick to add, "with only one loss

Go back to Menzoberranzan proud of the work you have accomplished this day"

Drizzt slapped the blades of his sci of protest

Master Hatch’net ignored him "Form up and head back" he told the others "You all perforry student in his tracks

"Except for you!" Hatch’net snarled "I cannot ignore the fact that you downed two of the beasts and helped with a third" Hatch’net scolded, "but you endangered the rest of us with your foolish bravado!"

"I warned of the sentries-" Drizzt stuttered

"Dal" shouted the nored the accepted methods of battle! You led us in here blindly! Look at the corpse of your fallen co to the dead student in the corridor "His blood is on your hands!

"I ued

"We all meant to save the child!" retorted Hatch’net Drizzt was not so certain What would a child be doing out in these corridors all alone? How convenient that a group of hook horrors, a rarely seen beast in the region of Menzoberranzan, just happened by to provide training for this "practice patrol" Tho convenient, Drizzt knew, consid-ering that the passages farther from the city teemed with the true patrols of seasoned warriors, wizards, and even clerics