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Prologue: The Year of the Reborn Hero (1463 DR)

DAHLIA’S LIPS CURLED INTO A SMILE AS SHE WATCHED THE DARK elf dance Stripped to the waist, Drizzt Do’Urden h his attack and defense routines, so speed His sciracefully, deceptively delicate, then darted with sudden, straightforward power They could strike froles, andat a clever twist or turn

She had fought beside Drizzt on the road to Gauntlgryht she had come to understand the extent of his ht, she could truly appreciate the grace and coordination of his movements and reminded herself that such perfection in battle didn’t come easily

She ht

He was always on the balls of his feet, never on his heels, she noted, and his every turn ended in alignment and balance She noted, too, that Drizzt’s neck did not strain with his sudden stabs and swings So h, above their shoulders, and so their strength seemed to increase in proportion to the decrease of their balance and swiftness

But not Drizzt

His neck was loose, his shoulders ni the sides of his ribs How many opponents, Dahlia wondered, had been comforted by the drow’s slith, only to have their weapons smacked from their hands or cut in half by the power of his blows? His blades hu speed as he fell deeper into his dance, but weight, balance, and strength hid behind every cut and thrust

Dahlia’s hand instinctively went up to her right ear, empty now of diamond studs, and her smile widened further Had she at last found the lover ould end her pain?

Drizzt eating, his dark skin glistening in the ht with both blades in a parallel thrust, but deftly turned his feet opposite the attack and flashed away to the left, using his upper body turn to gain momentum for a somersault, one that landed him back on his feet A mere heartbeat later, he slid down to his knees as if forced low by so sciain, back on his feet so smoothly Dahlia hadn’t even noticed the transition

The elf wo lips

"I can ride him," Dahlia insisted "I’m a skilled horseman"

"Andahar isn’t a horse," Drizzt replied from his seat on the unicorn’s back The drow reached down to offer his hand to Dahlia once more Still she resisted

"Or are you afraid that Andahar will come to prefer me?" she replied

"It wouldn’t matter I have the whistle"

"I could take that whistle"

"You could try" With that, Drizzt retracted his hand, shrugged, and clucked softly, starting Andahar into a slow trot They had only gone a single stride, though, before Dahlia planted the end of her eight-foot staff and vaulted up onto the unicorn’s back behind the drow

"Why do you think I need your hand, drow?" she asked "Why do you believe I need anything frohty steed into a faster canter, tugging Andahar’s flohite h the brush

"We’ll break early for a midday meal, and make the road soon after," Drizzt said

"And then?"

"North," Drizzt answered, "to Port Llast, perhaps Luskan, to learn e may"

Frouo south to Neverwinter Wood, where she could be rid of the Thayan wizard Sylora Salh, Dahlia didn’t object "Luskan, then," she agreed "But with all speed, then just as fast back to the south I’ll let Sylora Salnash her teeth in dis"

"And then we’ll kill her," Drizzt said, as hts?" Dahlia asked

Drizzt steered Andahar toward a copse of trees then, and brought the unicorn back to a slow trot "I said I wouldn’t join you in a quest e"

"Sylora isn’t finished here," Dahlia said "She will seek to again free the pri catastrophe on the North to fuel her Dread Ring--and you think all I seek is revenge?"

Drizzt pulled Andahar to a sudden stop and slowly looked back to stare straight into Dahlia’s blue eyes "I said that if it was no e, I wouldn’t join you"

Dahlia grinned at hi the intricate blue and purple dots of the woad on her face to for cat poised to strike Drizzt couldn’t ue Dahlia tilted her head to the right, then swayed it back left, and the drow blinked in a

And with Drizzt still obviously mesmerized, Dahlia leaned forward and brushed his lips with her own

It took several heartbeats, but that at last seemed to break the spell and the dark elf leaned away fro at her with puzzlement

"Why did you do that?" he asked in a voice that seemed hard to find