Page 13 (1/2)

Dahlia went out right behind her She broke fast to the left, away froht at one of the pirates Guenhwyvar had sent flying Half over the railing, the ed to catch himself and co of his sword

At the last instant, Dahlia ed to duck under the blow Inside his reach for thehirunted but kept fighting, retracting his blade for a second strike, but with a deft snap of her wrist, Dahlia sent her left hand up, s the pirate’s wrist hard with the handle of her weapon Theout wide, but not too far Theover the pirate’s arht down, the cord tethering the poles twisting the pirate’s ar

Dahlia went down into a low crouch When the flail flipped back hard, freeing the h into the air and spun in a soaring circle kick Her hard boot crunched against the pirate’s jaw, snapping his head back and to the side, and Dahlia didn’t disengage, extending her leg farther, driving hirab at her, and when that failed, to slash at her But it was too late He dropped the dozen feet to the cobblestones below

Dahlia landed and spun into a defensive crouch, expecting an attack And indeed several came at her, but not from across the porch--not from the porch at all but from the roof A trio of spears flen

Dahlia couldn’t see theing out the door He leaped in front of Dahlia Icingdeath slashed up high to clip a pair of the falling spears, with Twinkle following fast to clip the third, barely deflecting it

The spear thu just beside Dahlia, the shaft vibrating from the force of the strike

Dahlia didn’t pause long enough to thank hiht past Drizzt toward a pair of thugs, her weapons working furiously and seely independently to parry and counter their sword thrusts

Drizzt spied Guenhwyvar leaping to the far railing The droinced as he heard the crunch of splintering wood, but the railing held enough for the panther to spring away, easily clearing the edge of the roof

Drizzt charged out to join Dahlia, but then he saw a motion to his side He dropped his blades and slipped his bow fro it fly in one fluid movement

He didn’t hit the archer on a balcony across the way, but theaside to make an honest return shot

Drizzt let another arrow fly, then heard Dahlia cry out, "Leap aside!"

So he did, trusting her

A pirate crashed down, slah force to splinter a couple of boards He ht

But Dahlia slipped away froh to swipe across with a flail, shattering the poor fool’s cheek and jaw

He dropped face down on the porch

Drizzt ignored the fallen thug in front of him and drew a bead point blank on one of Dahlia’s opponents

The last slanted rays of daylight shone on the pirate’s face, perfectly fra his look of sheer terror

"Run," Drizzt whispered Theback around, letting his arrow fly at the concealed archer on the porch across the way Thea clean hole in its nearest side Drizzt could barely see the opposing archer, just his face behind the bow he held atop the barrel, poised to fire

The twist of his face, reflecting shock and most of all pain, told Drizzt that his arrow had crossed through the barrel and reached its destination

The archer was trying to shoot--Drizzt could see that--but he couldn’t seerimaced and held his pose for a few heartbeats, then just dropped his head atop his dra, thethe arrow clear

Water poured out of the barrel in front of hiht And how could Drizzt let one of the thugs escape? She wasn’t sure which thought ry

Noweapons eluding his defenses left and right, each turn sending a flail s but air for quite so of Dahlia’s weapons took its toll at last The poor fool just slu aside, where he lay groaning, apparently unaware of his surroundings

Dahlia had no ti her weapons to a pair of short staves, and then joined theht-foot staff as she neared the front railing She thrust the staff out in front of her, planted the leading end, and leaped out into the growing twilight

In the alleyway almost directly across from the battle-scarred porch, Therfus Handydoer watched with a wizard in Ship Rethnor, Therfus had served the last four high captains to don the h the current leader, Hartouchen, didn’t possess that particular ite Dahlia flip her flails back into a long staff

So ht of Borlann--he’d liked that high captain the h of course she couldn’t hear hi hi Dahliaher staff, Therfus threw a line of lightning fro the distance to Dahlia, the bolt took the forh point of her vault, it struck with the force of thunder

Drizzt saw Dahlia’s leap out of the corner of his eye He knew her instincts were correct As Dahlia had finished the last of the pirate brawlers, Drizzt had notedthe rooftop of the adjacent building

"Guen!" the drow yelled He raised Taul as they bleay large pieces of the roof’s decorative crest "Guen!" he yelled again "To my missiles!"