'Huh?'
It got hit five more times—and didn't feel any of them— before Entreri could get to Catti-brie and tell her that the fight was over.
'We are fortunate that there were no drow about,' the assassin explained, looking nervously to the twelve doors and alcoves lining this circular room. He felt for the locket in his pouch, then turned to the floor-to-ceiling central pillar.
Without a word of explanation, the assassin ran to the pillar. Sensitive fingers rubbed against its smooth surface.
'What do ye know?' Catti-brie asked when Entreri's hands stopped moving and he turned and smiled her way. She asked again and, in response, the assassin pushed on the stone, and a portion of the marble slid away, revealing that this pillar was hollow. Entreri went in, pulling Catti-brie along with him, and the door closed of its own accord behind them.
'What is it?' Catti-brie demanded, thinking that they had just gone into a closet. She looked to the hole in the ceiling to her left, and the one in the floor to her right.
Entreri didn't answer. Following the lockef s pull, he inched over to the hole in the floor, then crouched to one knee and peered down it.
Catti-brie slid down beside him, looking to him curiously when she saw no ladder. Then she looked around the unremarkable marble room, searching for some place to set a rope.
'Perhaps there is a foothold,' Entreri remarked, and he slid over the edge, easing himself down the shaft. His expression became incredulous as he felt the weight lifted from his body, felt himself floating in midair.
'What is it?' Catti-brie asked impatiently, seeing the amazed look.
Entreri lifted his hands from the floor, held them wide, and smiled smugly as he gently descended. Catti-brie was into the hole right behind him, floating freely, gently descending through the darkness. Catti-brie noticed Entreri below her, replacing the magical mask of disguise now, and concentrating.
'You are my prisoner,' the assassin said coldly, and for an instant, Catti-brie did not understand, thought that Entreri had double-crossed her. As she came down to the floor beside him, the assassin motioned for Taulmaril, and she recognized his intentions.
'The bow,' Entreri said impatiently.
Catti-brie stubbornly shook her head, and the assassin knew her better than to argue the point. He moved to the closest wall and began feeling about, and soon had the door to this level open. Two drow males were waiting for them, hand-crossbows up and ready, and Catti-brie wondered if she had been wise in holding fast to her bow.
How quickly those crossbows (and two drow jaws) dropped when the guards saw Triel Baenre standing before them!
Entreri roughly grabbed Catti-brie and pulled her forward.
'Drizzt Do'Urden!' he cried in Triel's voice.
The guards wanted no argument with the eldest Baenre daughter. Their orders said nothing about escorting Triel, or anyone other than Matron Baenre, to the valuable Drizzt, but their orders had mentioned nothing about any human female prisoners. One scrambled ahead, while the other rushed to grab Catti-brie.
The young woman slumped, dropping her bow, and forcing one of the dark elves and Entreri to support her, one under each arm. The other drow quickly retrieved Taulmaril, and Catti-brie couldn't help a slight wince in seeing the magnificent weapon in the hands of an evil creature.
They walked along a dark corridor, past several ironbound doors. The drow in front stopped before one of these and took out a tiny rod. He rubbed it down a metal plate beside the door handle, then tapped the plate twice. The door popped open.
The leading drow started to turn, smiling as though he was grateful to please Triel. Entreri's hand slapped across his mouth, jerking his head back and to the side, and the assassin's dagger hand followed swiftly, the blade plunging through the stunned draw's throat.
Catti-brie's assault was not as skilled, but even more brutal. She pivoted on one foot, her other leg flying high to slam the drow in the belly as they crashed against the wall. Catti-brie hopped back half a step and snapped her head forward, her forehead splattering the draw's delicate nose.
A flurry of punches followed, another knee to the belly, and Catti-brie wrestled her opponent into the room. She came up behind the drow, lifting him from the floor, with her arms wrapped under the draw's armpits and her fingers clenched tightly behind his neck.
The drow thrashed wildly but could not break the hold. Entreri was in by then, and had dropped the corpse to the side.
'No mercy!' Catti-brie growled through clenched teeth.
Entreri calmly walked over. The drow kicked out, banging his foot off Entreri's blocking forearm.
'Triel!' the confused soldier cried.
Entreri stepped back, smiled, and took off the mask, and as an expression of horror widened over the helpless draw's face, Entreri whipped a dagger into his heart.
Catti-brie felt the dark elf jerk, then go limp. A sick feeling washed over her, but it did not take hold as she glanced to the side and saw Drizzt, beaten and chained. He hung from the wall, groaning and trying futilely to curl up into a ball. Catti-brie dropped the dead drow to the floor and ran to her dear friend, immediately noticing the small but obviously wicked dart protruding from his stomach.
'I've got to take it!' she said to Drizzt, hoping that he would agree. He was beyond reason, though; she didn't think he even realized that she was in the room.
Entreri came up beside her. He gave only a slight glance at the dart, more concerned with the bindings holding Drizzt.
With a quick puff of steadying breath, Catti-brie took hold of the nasty dart and tugged it free.
Drizzt curled and gave a sharp cry of pain, then fell limp, unconscious.
'There are no locks to pick!' Entreri snarled, seeing that the shackles were solid rings.
'Move away,' came Catti-brie's instructions as she ran out from the wall. When Entreri turned to regard her, he saw the woman lifting her deadly bow and promptly skittered to the side.
Two shots took out the chains, and Drizzt fell, to be caught by Entreri. The wounded ranger somehow managed to open one swollen eye. He could hardly comprehend what was happening, didn't know if these were friends or foes.
'The flasks,' he begged.
Catti-brie looked about and spotted the rows of bottles resting against the wall. She rushed over, found a full one, and brought it to Drizzt.
'He should not be alive,' Entreri reasoned when she came up with the foul-smelling liquid. 'His scars are too many. Something has sustained him.'
Catti-brie looked doubtfully at the flask.
The assassin followed her gaze and nodded. 'Do it!' he commanded, knowing that they would never get Drizzt out of the Baenre compound in this condition.
Catti-brie shoved the flask against Drizzt's lips and forced his head back, compelled him to take a huge swallow. He sputtered and spat, and for a moment, the young woman feared that she had poisoned or drowned her dearest friend.
'How are you here?' Drizzt asked, both eyes suddenly wide, as the strength began to flow through his body. Still, the drow could not support himself and his breath was dangerously shallow.
Catti-brie ran over to the wall and came back with several more flasks, sniffing them first to make sure that they smelled the same, then pouring them down Drizzt's throat. In just a few minutes, the ranger was standing solidly, looking more than a little amazed to see his dearest friend and his worst enemy standing before him side by side.
'Your equipment,' Entreri remarked, roughly turning Drizzt about to see the pile.
Drizzt looked more to Entreri than to the pile, wondering what macabre game the evil assassin was playing. When Entreri noticed the expression, the two enemies locked unblinking stares.
'We've not the time!' Catti-brie called harshly.
'I thought you dead,' Drizzt said.
