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At the sa her weapon in a circular defense, right to left then back to the right, keeping the other Shadovar at bay

She whip-snapped three tiain, but only the first two connected as the dazed Shadovar tuainst her lone opponent, and just to keep hiain She noted then the recognition on her enemy’s face This Shadovar knew her, knew Dahlia as Sylora’s champion

And so he knew, too, that he was dooing a tune on the one to his left with a backhand block then a forehand, and back and forth

"Dahlia!" he called as he drove farther out that way, past the woht pursued hiht completely by surprise as Dahlia threw her staff out behind her, catching it high along the shaft and stabbing back hard, jabbing the Shadovar squarely in the throat

Drizzt finished his dru forward suddenly as he struck one last ti the Shadovar’s forearrasping its arht, a sweeping backhand slashing out in front of him to bite at the other dazed warrior His forehand followed, right below the level of the first strike, and the drow ranger threw hiain, the backhand led the way, now just below the last strike, then a forehand, lower again And around Drizzt continued to a third double strike

Drizzt leaped back to the left The other Shadovar had recovered his sword To the drow’s right, his last opponent stood very still, arms stretched out wide This Shadovar, too, dropped his weapon, though he was obviously not aware of the motion

Six lines of blood appeared froround

The relanced back at Dahlia and winced at the sight She had that last Shadovar down by then, and drove her staff like a spear against the fallen warrior’s head, again and again

"Dahlia!" Drizzt called He’d never seen her acting so viciously "Dahlia!"

She finally glanced at hi Shadovar rowl

She charged past Drizzt, shouldering hio," Drizzt ie tree, planted her staff, and vaulted up to the branches Drizzt followed her progress by the rustling and shaking leaves, and couldn’t help but be impressed by her arboreal prowess

Then Drizzt spotted the fleeing Shadovar, so often

The Shadovar caht then leaned forward in a sprint, but too late

Dahlia dropped upon hilanced around quickly to confirm that the four Shadovar in the ca for Dahlia to spare that one that theyout as he neared the scene and saw Dahlia bending over, her flails pu furiously By the time he came up beside her, he had to look away She’d beaten her eneore

"Dahlia," he said, loudly but not sharply

A flail hu bone

"Dahlia!" he yelled

She couldn’t hear hiet near to her without getting clipped, and quickly enough so he wouldn’t give her the opportunity to turn on hi weapons Dahlia seemed beyond rational to hirunted and groith every vicious beat

Drizzt truly believed that sheherher rhythm Doent her left arht

Drizzt dived across her back, slipping his right ar his hand behind her neck As he landed on her back, driving her to the side, she instinctively tried to slap back at hiave Drizzt the chance to loop his left hand under her left elbow

He had her trapped, one ar, and as she continued to stagger to her left under the weight of his assault, it was an easy enough task for Drizzt to slip his left foot to the side of Dahlia’s left foot and trip her up He made the fall as easy as he possibly could, but he had to keep his weight upon her as she thrashed and screaainst her insistent chorus of "Let o!"

"He’s dead," Drizzt assured her "They’re all dead"

"I want to kill hihtened his hold, fully iht his lips to her ear and whispered, "Dahlia"

"Let o!"

"They’re dead You killed the while, Dahlia relaxed beneath hirip, inch by inch, then slid off her and ju a hand down in an offer of aid

Still on her belly, Dahlia looked up at him but refused the hand She rolled to the side, twisted, and put her feet under her Then she stalked past Drizzt, back the way they’d coore that had once been a Shadovar head