Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and places belong to R. A. Salvatore and Wizard of The Coast, except for the plot and all original characters, which belong to me.
Prologue: Path of the dark elf
Drizzt Do'Urden is waken up by the sounds of the early birds. No, in fact, Drizzt has been almost awake throughout the whole night.
A lot has happened since he slew Obould Many-Arrows, who was blessed by no other than the orc god, Gruumsh himself. Yes, for that, Drizzt was content for helping his friends at Mithral Hall. Even at this very moment, his friends may already be awake and have found him missing. His lavender eyes hint at a feeling of longing and when he almost turns back towards the direction of Mithral Hall, he quickly dismisses the thought though. "This had to be done..." And the dawn hunter turns his head away...
The sounds of the footsteps echo through the empty hallway as Regis walks ever so fast towards the chamber where Bruenor Battlehammer resides. As he nears the dwarf's room, Regis hear nothing and almost decides to come back later when Bruenor's awake. No, this matter must brought to Bruenor, as the ruler of Mithral Hall and as one of his closest friends... Indeed, this cannot be delayed. The red-bearded dwarven king leaps up as Regis barges in.
"Oh...what in the..." Bruenor starts.
Regis interrupts just when Bruenor is starting to complain about the sudden interruption, especially one so early.
"Drizzt is missing!"
Startled, the dwarven king is almost fully awake, but disappoints Regis when he slumps back. "Oh, he must be out hunting, now if ye' can excuse ye'self..." Afraid that he might lose Bruenor's attention, Regis quickly adds, "But he packed most of his belongings! And without telling us?"
Bruenor grumbles but does not reply. For a moment, Regis thinks that he's asleep, but suddenly he leaps from his bed, now fully awake.
"Rumblebelly, ye' better have a good reason to this, I'm telling ye." Bruenor exclaims irritably, but the look of concern is clearly displayed on his face.
While Bruenor's dressing, Regis storms out of the room. He still has to inform another two companions.
Bruenor grumbles again, while Wulfgar paces the room. The barbarian human is feeling angry, but is also concerned about Drizzt's sudden departure. Although the wicked orc king Obould is slain there are still quite a number of orcs out there for reasons unknown to any of his companion. There's a great chance Drizzt is going out to investigate the matters.
Standing near the pacing Wulfgar, Cattie-brie is feeling the same, although she's not stomping around. In fact, the beautiful auburn-haired woman might be the one who feares most. Although she is well aware about the consequences of loving Drizzt, she cannot ignore the feelings she has towards the drow.
"Now what is he thinking!" Wulfgar exclaims for the fourth time.
"He's not hunting with all his belongings with him," Cattie whispers, so soft that Wulfgar almost misses it, but Regis seem to have heard what she said although he's standing far away.
"That means he's leaving for a longer period, which also means he's either decided to live outside or return to Menzoberranzan, the Underdark." Regis deduces.
The two humans in the room shudder at the thought of Drizzt returning to Menzoberranzan, and living in the city of drow again.
"No, he doesn't have a good reason to do that...not yet." Bruenor's loud voice suddenly chimes in. "Regis, remember what we talked about how the orcs are not retreating despise Obould's death? I think he might be out there handling this matter...or, at the very worst, finding out whether Obould still lives."
Sighing heavily, Wulfgar continues pacing. No one speaks for a while, then the dwarven king slumps into one of the chairs saying, "If what we deducted is true, then he won't be back in a long while...and we're not getting any part in his plan."
"It's all up to him. We can only wait..." Cattie-brie whispers ever so softly.