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"Can you blame them?" Dahlia replied "I’oodly sort ould help with the harvesting, if not the planting," she added sarcastically

Drizzt kept Andahar ht iical unicorn, he bade the steed to enact the , and each subsequent stride filled the air with the tinkling of sweet ?" Dahlia asked

Drizzt veered the unicorn through a break in the weathered fence, then cut a straight line toward the dilapidated porch of the farmhouse On a couple of occasions, both riders noticed rass and once, the brief gli boy

But the drow didn’t react to any of it He just kept his , and kept his eyes straight ahead

At the base of the porch, he dismounted and casually tossed Andahar’s reins back over the unicorn’s strong neck He offered his hand to Dahlia, but she fell away fro backward off Andahar to back flip to her feet on the other side of the steed

"Of course," the drohispered, and lowered his hand He paused and looked all around, noting so with his gaze locked on the eyes of the child under the barn’s entryway He offered a quick s up the porch steps He pulled off his black leather glove and knocked on the door

"They won’t answer, even if anyone is at ho up beside hier, but it is tended," Drizzt replied "And there are animals" He pointed to the side of the barn, to a chicken coop, where a few scraggly chickens walked around, pecking at the dirt

"Soht live in a nearby house and co fro their children to the whied Desperate people were capable ofand bitter experience, even regarding the safety of their children

The elf closed her eyes and fought the o time, a baby in her arms …

"There’s no answer to your call," she said, a sudden urgency in her tone "Let us be gone"

In response, Drizzt pushed open the door and walked into the fare ho up to a loft It had once been a decent abode for the floors were not dirt, but made of wide oak planks, which squeaked when he walked into the entryway A half-burned log lay in the hearth and a metal pot sat on the counter across from a small table Truly the place had fallen into disrepair, but so in farther andfrom doorway to doorway "We’re travelers froood farone," Dahlia said, but Drizzt held up his hand and cocked his head Dahlia followed Drizzt into a side roo floor surely betrayed them, but once in that roohtest hushed intake of breath, as if a youngster fought hard to not screa low and pulling aside the , no more than hay and a blanket He brushed the floor quickly, studying the creases and lines in the wood, then wedged his fingers in one crack and pulled open a secret hatch

Then he stood, even er clicked and a crossbow bolt rose up fro a hold in the ceiling above hihtest hesitation, Drizzt rolled forward, reaching down to snatch the feeble crossbow frorab the boy as well, by the collar With frightening suddenness and speed, the drow plucked both from the hole and set the dirty child down on the floor in front of him

"Quick to shoot," he scolded

The boy, no e, stared wide-eyed at the exotic drow, his jaw hanging open, in awe of the intruder’s white ainst Drizzt’s neck, at the poem-encrusted black ada cat’s head and le star-cut blue sapphire set into its silver Even wider went his eyes when he looked at the drow’s elf coasped and had Drizzt not been quick to guide him aside, he would have fallen back into the hole

"Don’t hurt him!" came a shout froood sir … err, good elf sir, don’t you hurt ood woman?" Drizzt calmly replied

"Because it’s all she knows, you naïve fool," Dahlia said from behind She stepped past Drizzt and offered her hand to the woirl The older woirl shied away

"Take my hand and come out or I’ll fill your hole with hay and toss in a torch," Dahlia warned

Drizzt wasn’t sure if Dahlia was bluffing For an instant, he thought to shove Dahlia aside and reassure the woman in the crawl space, but he didn’t act at all For not the first time, and surely not the last, Drizzt found hiued by his new companion

Whether bluff or honest threat, Dahlia’s words worked, and with surprising strength, she tugged the woman from the crawl space

The wo hair, tired eyes, and weathered skin It occurred to Drizzt that shethe aristocracy of Waterdeep or soe, had taken the luster of her youth, for she was likely but a few years past thirty

"Are those other children outside yours as well?" Dahlia asked, little tenderness in her voice

The woman looked at her with suspicion

"We are not here to har, I promise," said Drizzt "In fact, quite the opposite" He started to reach for a small pouch on his belt, but Dahlia intercepted him with her hand and when he looked at her, she scowled and shook her head

Drizzt didn’t understand, but he could tell fro his charity out of any selfish reasons, so he held back