Page 27 (1/2)

"Dahlia is poisoned," Drizzt went on "I need the antidote to the jeweler’s trap, and I need it now, or she will surely perish I go now to that shop" He started to climb the wall, for now a shout went up from the street behind him "Come to h captain one day," Drizzt said as he neared the roof "You’ll want allies"

"You ask o asked incredulously, but Drizzt was already gone froh, as he found another perch and watched Beniago

A gang of pirates finally prodded through the darkness globe, then cao arded his allies with a disgusted shake of his head and roughly shouldered past them

A semi-conscious Dahlia thrashed as Ben the Brewer’s hot knife cut deeply into her foot The farot a knee in the face for her efforts

"Ah, but it’s an ugly thing," she said as green and white pus flowed from the wound "Viper juice?"

"Aye, and we’ve all seen the withering o’ that bite"

"Then she’s a dead one"

"Should be already, but not a lot went in," Ben the Brewer replied He cut again, drawing an X on Dahlia’s foot, and "

Dahlia cried out, perhaps in pain, but it wasn’t a response to his knife, they both knew She was lost in her fevered drea to be a pleasant experience

Ben the Brewer reached up to Dahlia’s thigh and pulled tighter on the slip-knot he’d set there "I’d take her leg," he said "The foot at least But I’"

"She’s doomed anyway," the farmer woman replied, and she looked to the wide-bladed axe and the long serrated knife he’d brought

"If High Captain Kurth learns of this …" Beniago started to say, holding his hand out to Drizzt

Drizzt took the phial "He’ll thank you when Dahlia and I offer hio "If Kurth is still high captain e ain, I mean," the drow added, a clear iht find a way to rise to that seat of power

As he heard the words leave his h born in Menzoberranzan, Drizzt was hardly a e, hardly a player in the realms of shadow and murder When before would he have even considered such an interaction with a o? When before would he have even considered any alliance with one of the high captains of Luskan? Drizzt wasn’t arner the antidote, he was actually thinking that he and Dahlia o There was, after all, a practical side of the matter: He had the antidote in hand!

A shout came from one of the nearby alleyways

"Ship Rethnor has awakened to your presence," Beniago warned

"And Ship Kurth?"

"Possibly, but I can stand theainst the rage of Ship Rethnor"

Drizzt lifted the whistle on the end of the chain and blew into it, and with great running strides, Andahar cah the di past hi Andahar’s flowingup atop the steed "If this is the antidote, know you have made a friend If not, then knoithout doubt that , Drizzt Do’Urden was gone, Andahar galloping across theon the cobblestones A shout came up from a rooftop and Drizzt turned the unicorn sharply down an alleyway He dodged a crate, leaped another, and swerved hard at the last instant to avoid soallop, Andahar came out onto the next street over, and cries went up and faces appeared in darkened s Drizzt heard the shouts along the rooftops, trying to track his progress, no doubt in an attempt to ready some archers or soain, and again, street by street, alley by alley Galloping hard, he took out Taul

Moveht his attention, so he put up the bow and drew back His legs cla hihtning arrows streaking for the roof’s facing, blasting holes in the wood and shale, and brightening the night in a shower oflow over Andahar’s strong neck, whispering encouragement into the unicorn’s ear He knew that ene him He knew that if he failed, Dahlia was surely doohtest fear in his would stop him He couldn’t believe that, or fear that, not at this moment, not in this …

Exhilaration

That was the word for it, the only word for it He was alive, his every sense honed and sharp-edged, relying on his warrior instincts

Exhilaration Drizzt had no ti the drow’s thoughts, and ran on harder, plowing along the lanes and alleyways in the zigzag ate

An arrow reached out fro missile that revealed the archer, who proe pirate rushed out of a doorway, spear in hand, and ai unicorn

Drizzt’s arrow threw the fool back through the door before he’d even cocked his arm

Unicorn and rider thundered down a decline and turned a sharp corner, heading up another street, this one leading straight to the opened west gate Arrow after arrow reached out froainst the walls of the guard tower or slashing into the cobblestones at the feet of the wide-eyed guards They shouted warnings and they called to each other for help

And Drizzt kept shooting, arrows sla beams with licks of flauards--he wasn’t trying to cut any of the for help, too confused and surprised to organize a valid counter, or even to shut the gates

Andahar never slowed, thundering up the road, and finally, a sentry found his wits enough to rush to one of the gates