'You have come out a fair distance without an escort,' Drizzt remarked when the barbarian did not appear.
Catti-brie crossed her arms over her chest and leaned on one foot, tapping impatiently with the other. 'And ye're beginning to sound more like me father than me friend,' she replied. 'I see no escort walking the trails beside Drizzt Do'Urden.'
'Well spoken,' the drow ranger admitted, his tone respectful and not the least bit sarcastic. The young woman's scolding had pointedly reminded Drizzt that Catti-brie could take care of herself. She carried with her a short sword of dwarven make and wore fine armor under her furred cloak, as fine as the suit of chain mail that Bruenor had given to Drizzt! Taulmaril the Heartseeker, the magical bow of Anariel, rested easily over Catti-brie's shoulder. Drizzt had never seen a mightier weapon. And, even beyond the powerful tools she carried, Catti-brie had been raised among the sturdy dwarves, by Bruenor himself, as tough as the mountain stone.
'Is it often that ye watch the rising sun?' Catti-brie asked, noticing Drizzt s east-facing stance.
Drizzt found a flat rock to sit upon and bade Catti-brie to join him. 'I have watched the dawn since my first days on the surface,' he explained, throwing his thick forest-green cloak back over his shoulders. 'Though back then, it surely stung my eyes, a reminder of where I came from, I suppose. Now, though, to my relief, I find that I can tolerate the brightness.'
'And well that is,' Catti-brie replied. She locked the draw's marvelous eyes with her intense gaze, forced him to look at her, at the same innocent smile he had seen those many years before on a windswept slope in Icewind Dale.
The smile of his first female friend.
''Tis sure that ye belong under the sunlight, Drizzt Do'Urden,' Catti-brie continued, 'as much as any person of any race, by me own measure.'
Drizzt looked back to the dawn and did not answer. Catti-brie went silent, too, and they sat together for a long while, watching the awakening world.
'I came out to see ye,' Catti-brie said suddenly. Drizzt regarded her curiously, not understanding.
'Now, I mean,' the young woman explained. 'We'd word that ye'd returned to Settlestone, and that ye'd be coming back to Mithril Hall in a few days. I've been out here every day since.'
Drizzt's expression did not change. 'You wish to talk with me privately?' he asked, to prompt a reply.
Catti-brie's deliberate nod as she turned back to the eastern horizon revealed to Drizzt that something was wrong.
'I'll not forgive ye if ye miss the wedding,' Catti-brie said softly. She bit down on her bottom lip as she finished, Drizzt noted, and sniffled, though she tried hard to make it seem like the beginnings of a cold.
Drizzt draped an arm across the beautiful woman's strong shoulders, 'Can you believe for an instant, even if all the trolls of the Evermoors stood between me and the ceremony hall, that I would not attend?'
Catti-brie turned to him-fell into his gaze-and smiled widely, knowing the answer. She threw her arms around Drizzt for a tight hug, then leaped to her feet, pulling him up beside her.
Drizzt tried to equal her relief, or at least to make her believe that he had. Catti-brie had known all along that he would not miss her wedding to Wulfgar, two of his dearest friends. Why, then, the tears, the sniffle that was not from any budding cold? the perceptive ranger wondered. Why had Catti-brie felt the need to come out and find him only a few hours from the entrance to Mithril Hall?
He didn't ask her about it, but it bothered him more than a little. Anytime moisture gathered in Catti-brie's deep blue eyes, it bothered Drizzt Do'Urden more than a little.
Jarlaxle's black boots clacked loudly on the stone as he made his solitary way along a winding tunnel outside of Menzoberranzan. Most drow out alone from the great city, in the wilds of the Underdark, would have taken great care, but the mercenary knew what to expect in the tunnels, knew every creature in this particular section.
Information was Jarlaxle's forte. The scouting network of Bregan D'aerthe, the band Jarlaxle had founded and taken to greatness, was more intricate than that of any drow house. Jarlaxle knew everything that happened, or would soon happen, in and around the city, and, armed with that information, he had survived for centuries as a houseless rogue. So long had Jarlaxle been a part of Menzoberranzan's intrigue that none in the city, with the possible exception of First Matron Mother Baenre, even knew the sly mercenary's origins.
He was wearing his shimmering cape now, its magical colors cascading up and down his graceful form, and his wide-brimmed hat, hugely plumed with the feathers of a dialryma, a great flightless Underdark bird, adorned his clean-shaven head. A slender
sword dancing beside one hip and a long dirk on the other were his only visible weapons, but those who knew the sly mercenary realized that he possessed many more than that, concealed on his person, but easily retrieved if the need arose.
Pulled by curiosity, Jarlaxle picked up his pace. As soon as he realized the length of his strides, he forced himself to slow down, reminding himself that he wanted to do fashionably late for this unorthodox meeting that crazy Vierna had arranged.
Crazy Vierna.
Jarlaxle considered the thought for a long while, even stopped his walk and leaned against the tunnel wall to recount the high priestess's many claims over the last few weeks. What had seemed initially to be a desperate, fleeting hope of a broken noble, with no chance at all of success, was fast becoming a solid plan. Jarlaxle had gone along with Vierna more out of amusement and curiosity than any real beliefs that they would kill, or even locate, the long-gone Drizzt.
But something apparently was guiding Vierna-Jarlaxle had to believe it was Lloth, or one of the Spider Queen's powerful minions. Vierna's clerical powers had returned in full, it seemed, and she had delivered much valuable information, and even a perfect spy, to their cause. They were fairly sure now where Drizzt Do'Urden was, and Jarlaxle was beginning to believe that killing the traitorous drow would not be such a difficult thing.
The mercenary's boots heralded his approach as he clicked around a final bend in the tunnel, coming into a wide, low-roofed chamber. Vierna was there, with Dinin, and it struck Jarlaxle as curious (another note made in the calculating mercenary's mind) that Vierna seemed more comfortable out here in the wilds than did her brother. Dinin had spent many years in these tunnels, leading patrol groups, but Vierna, as a sheltered noble priestess, had rarely been out of the city.
If she truly believed that she walked with Lloth's blessings, however, then the priestess would have nothing to fear.
'You have delivered our gift to the human?' Vierna asked immediately, urgently. Everything in Vierna's life, it seemed to Jarlaxle, had become urgent.
The sudden question, not prefaced by any greeting or even a remark that he was late, caught the mercenary off guard for a moment, and he looked to Dinin, who responded with only a helpless shrug. While hungry fires burned in Vierna's eyes, defeated resignation lay in Dinin's.
'The human has the earring,' Jarlaxle replied.
Vierna held out a flat, disc-shaped object, covered in designs to match the precious earring. 'It is cool,' she explained as she rubbed her hand across the disc's metallic surface, 'thus our spy has already moved far from Menzoberranzan.'
'Far away with a valuable gift,' Jarlaxle remarked, traces of sarcasm edging his voice.
'It was necessary, and will further our cause,' Vierna snapped at him.
'If the human proves to be as valuable an informant as you believe,' Jarlaxle added evenly.
'Do you doubt him?' Vierna's words echoed through the tunnels, causing Dinin further distress and sounding clearly as a threat to the mercenary.
'It was Lloth who guided me to him,' Vierna continued with an open sneer, 'Lloth who showed me the way to regain my family's honor. Do you doubt…'
'I doubt nothing where our deity is concerned,' Jarlaxle promptly interrupted. 'The earring, your beacon, has been delivered as you instructed, and the human is well on his way.' The mercenary swept into a respectfully low bow, tipping his wide-brimmed hat.
Vierna calmed and seemed appeased. Her red eyes flashed eagerly, and a devious smile widened across her face. 'And the goblins?' she asked, her voice thick with anticipation.
'They will soon make contact with the greedy dwarves,' Jarlaxle replied, 'to their dismay, no doubt. My scouts are in place around the goblin ranks. If your brother makes an appearance in the inevitable battle, we will
