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Drizzt walked back around the stalagmite, back to the body of Masoj Hun’ett He had had no choice but to kill his adversary; Masoj had drawn the battle lines
That fact did little to dispel the guilt in Drizzt as he looked upon the corpse He had killed another drow, had taken the life of one of his own people Was he trapped, as Zaknafein had been trapped for so very many years, in a cycle of vio-lence that would know no end?
"Never again" Drizzt vowed to the corpse "Never again will I kill a drow elf"
He turned away, disgusted, and knew as soon as heiooked back to the silent, sinisterin Menzoberranzan if he held to that promise
A thousand possibilities whirled in Drizzt’sways of Menzoberran-zan He pushed the thoughts aside, stopped theeneral now in Narbondel; the drow day was beginning, and activity had started from every corner of the city In the world of the surface-dwellers, the day was the safer tiht exposed as-sassins In Menzoberranzan’s eternal darkness, the daytiht Drizzt picked his way carefully, rolling wide from the mushroom fence of the noblest houses, wherein lay House Hun’ett He encountered no more adversaries and made the safety of the Do’Urden coate and by the surprised soldiers with-out a word of explanation and shoved aside the guards be-low the balcony
The house was strangely quiet; Drizzt would have ex-pected theave the eerie stillness no ym and Zaknafein’s private quarters
Drizzt paused outside the gyhtly clenched on the handle of the portal What would he propose to his father? That they leave? He and Zaknafein on the perilous trails of the Underdark, fighting when they uilt of their existence under drow rule? Drizzt liked the thought, but he wasn’t so certain now, standing before the door, that he could con-vince Zak to follow such a course Zak could have left be-fore, at any ti the centuries of his life, but when Drizzt had asked him why he had remained, the heat had drained from the weapon master’s face Were they indeed trapped in the life offered to theri to hiym was as quiet as the rest of the house Tho quiet Drizzt hadn’t expected Zak to be there, but so more than his father was absent The father’s pres-ence, too, was gone
Drizzt knew that so, and each step he took toward Zak’s private door quickened until he was in full flight He burst in withouta knock, not surprised to find the bed empty
"Malice must have sent him out in search of me" Drizzt reasoned "Damn, I have caused hiht his eye and held him in the room-Zak’s sword belt
Never would the weapon master have left his room, not even for functions within the safety of House Do’Urden, without his swords "Your weapon is your most trusted companion" Zak had told Drizzt a thousand times "Keep it ever at your side!"
"House Hun’ett?" Drizzt whispered, wondering if the rival house hadAlton and Masoj The coh, was se rene; surely the soldiers would have known if anything like that had occurred
Drizzt picked up the belt for inspection No blood, and the clasp neatly unbuckled No enemy had torn this from Zak
The weapon master’s pouch lay beside it, also intact
"What, then?" Drizzt asked aloud He replaced the sword belt beside the bed, but slung the pouch across his neck, and turned, not knohere he should go next
He had to see about the rest of the fah the door Perhaps then this riddle about Zak would becoht as Drizzt headed down the long and decorated corridor to the chapel anterooht Zak harical to Drizzt, but it i nagged hi hin of anyone
The anterooically and si-lently, even as Drizzt raised his hand to knock on thely on her throne at the rear of the roo
Drizzt’s discomfort did not diminish when he entered
The whole family was there: Briza, Vierna, and Maya to the sides of theirbeside the left wall The whole family Except for Zak
Matron Malice studied her son carefully, noting his many wounds "I instructed you not to leave the house" she said to Drizzt, but she was not scolding him "Where did your trav-els take you?"
"Where is Zaknafein?" Drizzt asked in reply
"Answer the matron mother!" Briza yelled at him, her snake whip prolared at her and she recoiled, feeling the same bit-ter chill that Zaknafein had cast over her earlier in the night
"I instructed you not to leave the house" Malice said again, still holding calm "Why did you disobey ent matters I did not wish to bother you with them"
"War is upon us, my son" Matron Malice explained "You are vulnerable out in the city by yourself House Do’Urden cannot afford to lose you now"
"My business had to be handled alone" Drizzt answered
"Is it completed?"
"It is"
"Then I trust that you will not disobey ain" The words came calm and even, but Drizzt understood at once the severity of the threat behind them
"To other matters, then" Malice went on
"Where is Zaknafein?" Drizzt dared to ask again
Briza mumbled some curse under her breath and pulled the whip from her belt Matron Malice threw an out-stretched hand in her direction to stay her They needed tact, not brutality, to bring Drizzt under control at this criti-cal time There would be ample opportunities for punish-ment after House Hun’ett was properly defeated
"Concern yourself not with the fate of the weapon ood of House Do’Urden even as we speak-on a personal mission"
Drizzt didn’t believe a word of it Zak would never have left without his weapons The truth hovered about Drizzt’s thoughts, but he wouldn’t let it in
"Our concern is House Hun’ett" Malice went on, addressing them all "The war’s first strikes may fall this day"
"The first strikes already have fallen" Drizzt interrupted
All eyes came back to him, to his wounds He wanted to con-tinue the discussion about Zak but knew that he would only get himself, and Zak, if Zak was still alive, into further trou-ble Perhaps the conversation would bring him more clues
"You have seen battle?" Malice asked
"You know of the Faceless One?" Drizzt asked
"Master of the Academy" Dinin answered, "of Sorcere have dealt with him often"
"He has been of use to us in the past" said Malice, "but no more, I believe He is a Hun’ett, Gelroos Hun’ett"
"No" Drizzt replied "Once he may have been, but Alton DeVir is his narowled, suddenly coht of House DeVir’s fall!