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Ben the Brewer dropped the blade back to the floor
"I just realized that I don’t even know your nas later They stood outside the house It was his first ti the antidote The elf rested easily, at last, her fever broken, the swelling in her foot and leg at last receding
"Meg," she answered
"Meg?"
"Just Meg I had , and Ma tomore"
"We owe you much," Drizzt said
"You owe h
Drizzt senerosity …"
"I did what any person would do, or ought to do, or once upon a ti replied, her voice sharp
"Still, I would like to show my appreciation, to you and to Ben the Brewer"
"I want nothing froone from my house, not to return"
The chill in the woht perhaps their ti, apparently
"Firewood, at least," said Drizzt "Or perhaps I can hunt a boar for your table" She involuntarily licked her lips, and he s he’d teet your lady elf and be gone," Meg said flatly "She’ll be fine to travel this day, so you’re going, both of you, and don’t you coh captains will hear," came Dahlia’s voice fros
Drizzt looked at Meg, but her expression didn’t change
"Call your steed," Meg said "You’ve a road worth riding" She turned away and walked past Dahlia, and shut the door behind her
Drizzt stared after her, even started after her, but Dahlia grabbed him by the arm and held him back
"Summon Andahar," she said quietly "It will be best"
"They saved you"
"You saved reatly!"
"They tried to cut my foot off"
"Only to save you"
"Better to die, then"
The way she said it struck Drizzt profoundly, because he knew she meant it He wanted to chastise her, wanted to tell her to never speak like that
But then he thought of his ht ride, of his exhilaration, of his sense of control, of confidence, of his sense of sheer joy in the adventure, whatever the stakes It was a feeling Drizzt Do’Urden had not known in a long, long time
He blew the whistle for Andahar, and he set the bells of the barding to ringing as they charged away, down the southern road
Part II: The Ene has it occurred to me that I am a creature of action, of battle and of adventure In times of peace and cal for the open road, where bandits rule and wild orcs roa to the battle and the adventure I ad Bruenor decided to quietly abdicate and go on his search for legendary Gauntlgrym
For in that quest, we found the open road, the wilderness, the adventure, and indeed, the battles
But so I couldn’t quite place it, couldn’t quite articulate it, but for a long while now, indeed back to the early days of King Bruenor’s reign of reclai, a necessary edge scrapinge of a cliff understands this One can bask in the views, and with such a wide panora a part of sorander, much like the manner in which the stars pull a soul heavenward to join with the incomprehensible vastness of the universe
But arandeur, it is the feel of the wind that cousting breeze For then coreatest affirnition of how fleeting this entire existence can be
When I stand on the edge of that cliff, on the precipice of disaster, and I lean against that wind, I anas the wind swirls; if I wish to stay on my perch, indeed to stay alive, I have to remain quicker than the whiht the battles and the adventures, and ever turned erous road, but it was not until very recently that I ca: the thrill of the risk
The thrill of the risk The edge of that high precipice Not the risk itself, for that was ever there, but the thrill of that risk … In truth, it was not untilI’d beenthat thrill
When first I left Dahlia, I was afraid for her, but that fear dissipated almost immediately, replaced by a sense of invincibility that I have not known in decades, in a century perhaps! I knew that I would get over Luskan’s guarded wall, that I would find Beniago, and that I would bend him to my need I knew that I would win out I knew that I would be quicker than the gusting wind
Why?