ready to smash him down.
A flying Guenhwyvar slammed into them sidelong, the panther spinning about with all four paws raking wildly. A fourth taer slipped by the embattled three, seeking the prone halfling and the unconscious dwarven female lying beside him.
It met a growling Bruenor, or more particularly, Bruenor's chopping axe.
Dazed, Regis was glad to see the boots of Bruenor as the sturdy dwarf straddled him.
Now Drizzt and Catti-brie worked side by side, the two friends who had been together, fighting together, for so many years.
Catti-brie caught the club of one taer in her free hand and sent Khazid'hea in a short arc, severing the creature's other arm just below the shoulder. To her surprise and horror, though, the taer continued to press forward, and another creature came in right beside it, on Catti-brie's left. Struggling to keep her grip firm on the first creature's club, and with her sword all the way on the other side, the woman had no practical defense against the newcomer.
She screamed in defiance and slashed again with her sword, angling higher this time, cutting halfway through the neck of the creature she held. As she moved, Catti-brie closed her eyes, not wanting to see the incoming club.
Drizzt's scimitar came across and under Khazid'hea's high cut, the drow lurching violently to get his blade all the way past Catti-brie to intercept the club. The parry was perfect, as a surprised Catti-brie realized when she opened her eyes.
The woman didn't hesitate. Drizzt had to go back to the two taers he was battling, but his desperate parry had given Catti-brie the moment she needed. She twisted wildly to face this second taer, cutting her blade the rest of the way through the dead and falling creature's neck, and then using its momentum as it pulled free to thrust it straight ahead, right into this newest foe's chest.
The taer fell back, but two others took its place.
As the ground around Bruenor filled with piled bodies and severed limbs, the dwarf accepted hit after hit from the taer's clubs, belting the beasts with his mighty axe in exchange.
'Six!' he yelled as his axe dove into the sloped forehead of yet another creature, but his call was shortened as yet another beast slammed him in the back.
That one hurt, truly hurt, but Bruenor knew that he had to ignore the pain. Gasping as he turned, he launched his axe in a two-handed semicircle, chopping it deep into the side of the taer as if the creature were a tree.
The taer flew sidelong as the axe barreled in, then stood twisted over the blade, dying fast.
Bruenor heard the roar behind him and was glad to know that Guenhwyvar had untangled herself once more and was protecting his back.
Then he heard another cry, a call to the barbarian god, as Revjak and his warriors joined up with the companions. Now the ring about Regis and Stumpet was secured; now the defense was sturdy enough for Guenhwyvar to go out into the taer ranks, a muscled black ball of devastation. Drizzt and Catti-brie cut through the first line and then charged into the second.
In a matter of mere minutes, every taer was dead or downed with injuries too grievous for it to continue the battle, even though Crenshinibon's commands went on, unabated in their relentless brainwashing assault.
Stumpet had recovered enough by then to get back to her feet and to stubbornly resume her march.
Drizzt, down on one knee, trying to catch his breath, called to Revjak, and the barbarian immediately ordered two of his strongest men to surround the dwarf and lift her off the ground. Stumpet offered no resistance, just held steady, staring blankly ahead, her feet pumping futilely in the empty air.
The smile Drizzt and Revjak exchanged was cut short, though, by a familiar voice.
'Treason!' roared Berkthgar as he and his warriors, more than twice the number Revjak had brought out, surrounded the group.
'This keeps gettin' better and better,' Catti-brie said dryly.
'The laws, Revjak!' Berkthgar blustered. 'You knew them and you disobeyed!'
'To leave Bruenor and his fellows to die?' Revjak asked incredulously, showing no fear, though it seemed to the companions that battle might soon be joined once more. 'Never would I follow such a command,' Revjak went on confidently. The warriors with him, many of them nursing wounds from the taer fight, were unified in their agreement.
'Some of our people do not forget the friendship shown to us by Bruenor and Catti-brie, by Drizzt Do'Urden and all the others,' the older man finished.
'Some of us do not forget the war with Bruenor's folk and the folk of Ten-Towns,' Berkthgar retorted, and his warriors bristled.
'I've heared enough,' Catti-brie whispered, and before Drizzt could stop her, she stalked across the open ground to stand right before the huge and imposing barbarian.
'Suren, ye've diminished,' Catti-brie said defiantly.
Calls behind the barbarian leader hinted that he should slap the impertinent woman aside. Good sense held Berkthgar in check. For, not only was Catti-brie a formidable opponent, as he had learned personally back in Settlestone when she had defeated him in private combat, but she was backed by Drizzt and by Bruenor, neither of whom the barbarian wanted to face. If he put a hand on Catti-brie, Berkthgar understood that the only thing that would keep the drow ranger off of him would be Bruenor, beating Drizzt to the attack.
'All the respect I once had for ye,' Catti-brie went on, and Berkthgar was surprised by the sudden change in her tone and the direction of her words. 'Ye were the rightful leader after Wulfgar,' she said sincerely. 'By deed and by wisdom. Without yer guidance, the tribe would have been lost so far away in Settlestone.'
'Where we did not belong!' Berkthgar was quick to respond.
'Agreed,' said Catti-brie, again catching the man off guard, cutting inside the direction of his ire. 'Ye did right in returning to the dale and to yer god, but not to the ancient enemies. Think on the truth o' me father, Berkthgar, and on the truth o' Drizzt.'
'Both killers of my kin.'
'Only when yer kin came to kill,' Catti-brie said, not backing down an inch. 'What cowards would they be if they did not defend their home and kin! Do ye begrudge them for fightin' better than yer own?'
Berkthgar's breath came in short, angry puffs. Drizzt saw it and was quick to join Catti-brie. He had heard the quiet conversation, every word, and he knew where to take it up from there.
'I know what you did,' the drow said. Berkthgar stiffened, thinking the words to be an accusation.
'To gain control of the united tribe you had to discredit he who came before you. But I warn you, for the good of all in the dale, do not get caught up in your own half-truths. The name of Berkthgar is spoken of reverently in Mithril Hall, in Silverymoon, in Longsaddle and Nesme, even in Ten-Towns and the dwarven mines. Your exploits in Keeper's Dale will not be
forgotten, though you seem to choose to forget the alliance and the good that Bruenor's folk have done. Look to Revjak now-we owe him our lives-and decide, Berkthgar, what course is best for you and your people.'
Berkthgar was quiet then, and both Catti-brie and Drizzt knew that to be a good thing. He was not a stupid man, though often he let his emotions cloud his judgment. He did look at Revjak, and at the resolute warriors standing behind the older man, a bit battered, certainly outnumbered, and yet showing no fear. The most important point to the huge barbarian was that neither Drizzt nor Catti-brie was denying his claim of leadership. They were willing to work with him, so it seemed, and Catti-brie had even publicly compared him favorably to Wulfgar!
'And let the hammer stay with Bruenor, where it rightfully belongs,' Catti-brie dared to press, as if she was reading Berkthgar's every thought. 'Yer own sword is the weapon of yer tribe now; its legend'll be no less than Aegis-fang's if Berkthgar chooses wisely.'
That was bait that Berkthgar could not ignore. He visibly relaxed, so did the men following his every word, and Drizzt recognized that they had just passed an important test.
'You were wise in following Bruenor and his companions,' Berkthgar said loudly to Revjak, as much an apology as anybody had ever heard the proud barbarian offer.
'And you were wrong in denying our friendship with Bruenor,' Revjak replied. Drizzt and Catti-brie both
