Chapter Two: Fallen Angel
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to RA Salvatore except for the plot and any new characters I might introduce which you should be able to spot. The song is "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" by Andrew Lloyd Webber from the musical 'Phantom of the Opera'. Oh, and *looks around guiltily* I know that elves don't dream but I'm going to use a little poetic license here and say that Drizzt does so you don't have to point it out *when* you review.
A/N: I'd like to thank all the people... okay the two people who reviewed this story first; those reviews meant a lot to me. Ok, this is the chapter where you find out part of what's happened to Drizzt. Oh yeah, this has a few spoilers in it from Sojourn and Passage to Dawn through Spine of the World. The whole story will make more sense if you read all of the books up to and including Servant of the Shard or else be prepared for spoilers. Reviews make me type faster and I'm not just saying that so here goes.
Wishing you were somehow here again
Wishing you were somehow near
Sometimes it seems
If I just dreamed,
Somehow you would be here...
"Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again "by Andrew Lloyd Webber, from "Phantom of the Opera"
______________________
Days became weeks and weeks turned to months and little by little Drizzt began to remember himself and what had driven him to become the Hunter. It was just flashes at first, the sound of Zaknafein's voice, Belwar clapping his makeshift hands together sending sparks leaping into the air... and Guenhwyvar. Once he dreamt of the great panther, felt her warm bulk and the velvet softness of her fur but he had woken up to find himself alone, that it was just a dream and he had not regained the statuette used to summon her that he had lost so long ago.
And the memories kept coming, starting from his childhood in Menzoberranzan and working their way up through his life. He had screamed suddenly as Zak once again walked into the pit of acid and laughed allowed when the memory of Bruenor faking his own death to bring Drizzt with him to find Mithral Hall.
The Hunter was receding, going back to the dim reaches of Drizzt subconscious when the remembered voice of his sister Vierna screamed:
"All your pitiful friends are dead!"
Drizzt fell to his knees, grasping his head and moaning with the agony of keeping the Hunter at bay but it in vain. His eyes grew cold and savage, with not an ounce of feeling contained with in them. Weapons flashed as the sun dance across them. The Hunter looked around in search of an enemy, glorying in the use of its limbs and began to retreat into the thick of the woods, as far away from civilization as it could go and this time it didn't bother to cover the signs of its passing.
_____________________________
After two days of wandering the Hunter had finally dropped in exhaustion among the roots of an enormous oak tree but the savage's exhaustion didn't prevent Drizzt, who was buried deeply in its subconscious, from dreaming and these dreams put the last piece into the puzzle of his past...
*The world was separated between the fire of the great demon Errtu and the ice cavern the company fought him in. Drizzt's black scimitar had left numerous scars across the demon's scaly hide and Wulfgar was in a near berserk rage as he faced his torturer. They themselves had not escaped unscathed though. Bruenor was lightly stunned after being thrown by a blast of power into the nearest wall and all of them had at least one slash or burn where the demon's claws had nicked them and where his fiery breathed had grazed them. Regis was off looking for help, with Guenhwyvar with to protect him, in Ten-Towns, since in a fight of this scale he was only a liability and they needed all the help they could get.
Errtu gave a sudden roar that shook the caverns, dropping icy stalactites perilously close to the companions. Around the cavern a dozen imps sprang up seemingly out of the ground.
"Fall back!" yelled Drizzt, running to take cover and regroup being a huge ice wall. Catti-brie retreated, shooting her silver arrows at the incoming imps as she went. Drizzt looked back over his shoulder to see Bruenor and Wulfgar locked in combat with a half a dozen imps.
"Stop!" bellowed Errtu, pointing to Wulfgar, "This one is mine," he began to advance upon on the furious barbarian. Wulfgar stopped his mad assault and turned and with a cry to Tempus hurled Aegis-fang end over end at the demon.
Errtu watched the oncoming war hammer with an evil smile then, just as it was about to hit him square in the face, he snatched it out of the air. The demon kept coming, as inexorable as an avalanche, until he was towering over the huge barbarian with the mighty hammer still grasped in his fist.
"Aegis-fang!" shouted the barbarian, his hand outstretched to retrieve it but it was secured firmly in Errtu's grasp and could not.
The demon reached down casually and picked up Wulfgar around the waist as if he was no more then a child and held him an inch from his face. "It's a pity that you will no longer be able to supply me with amusement as you did before," he looked over the barbarians shoulder and into Drizzt horror-stricken violet eyes, "This time no more games." And began to tighten his grip on Wulfgar.
*This can't be happening* thought Drizzt, who was frozen in terror for Wulfgar's life *Where's Regis?! He was supposed to get help!*
Wulfgar gave a moan of pain and cried weakly to Aegis-fang but still the war hammer did not appear. Then the sound of snapping bones filled the cavern.
"Aegis fang..." whispered Wulfgar one last time before Errtu's mighty snapped his backbone. Errtu gazed down at the broken corpse in his and a smile of satisfaction spread across his hideous face. Casting the body of Wulfgar at the feet of his friends.
Suddenly Catti-brie began to scream. It reverberated around the cavern, gaining in pitch. She didn't even stop to take a breath just went on screaming and screaming. Bruenor stared at the body of the boy who had been his son in everything but birth, whispering over and over, "Me boy, me boy, me boy..." the chant joining Catti-brie's screams to form a frightening funeral dirge.
But Drizzt was silent. It was because of him Wulfgar died and his mind was already moving past the death and on to the avenging of his friend and former pupil. This time he didn't even pause to become the Hunter but went right on past it until he was the Warrior. He was vaguely aware of the fact that Catti-brie was still screaming but her anguished cries were punctuated by the sound of Taulmaril's arrows exploding into the chests of the imps.
Errtu watched with demonic glee as Drizzt approached. But something in the ranger's face disturbed the demon. His eyes were fierce and at the same time emotionless as if he were untouched by the recent death of his friend and was only focused on the destruction of the demon before him. The whole effect gave Drizzt a look of celestial fury and Errtu knew he had only seen this look before in the eyes of an avenging angel.
Drizzt seem to go from a guarded stationary position to a lighting quick assault in the blink of an eye. Using Twinkle only to parry and doing all of his attacks with the black demon-slaying scimitar he leaped and slashed at Errtu's face leaving to deep gashes in his cheek that revealed the teeth beneath. Before the demon could retaliate Drizzt buried his scimitar up to the hilt in Errtu's stomach, the sound and smell of burning flesh quickly became overpowering, then withdrew the sword in one smooth motion.
Errtu, wielding Wulfgar's hammer, brought it up for a blow that would squash the dark elf flat but when the hammer came whistling down the drow ranger was no longer there.
Drizzt took advantage of the demon's momentary confusion to send a desperate prayer for assistance to Mielikki, hoping his situation was desperate enough for her to grant him the power to destroy Errtu.
Errtu spun around and once again brought swept the hammer down again. Drizzt made a desperate attempt to dodge the powerful blow and was caught as it pinned his cloak to the ground.
Errtu gave a howl of triumph, leering down at the captured elf, "You will die, elf, and once you are dead nothing will stop me from killing everyone you love."
That was the worst thing that Errtu could have possibly said. For even in his present state this declaration reached right into Drizzt core and extracted one last boost of adrenaline. Drizzt exploded into action, slicing off the interfering cloak and with one powerful leap bringing up his scimitars for a slice across Errtu's throat.
Time slowed... Drizzt felt like he was floating as he rose.
In the distance a unicorn whinnied and suddenly the blades burst into pure white flame. Errtu's eye widened in disbelief as the scimitars swept down slicing through the scaly hide, right through the muscles and tendons until they hit bone. They blades went through it like a warm knife through butter.
Time sped up again; Drizzt hit the ground as a fountain of blood spurted up from the stump where the demon's head used to be. The whole blasted couldn't have lasted longer then a candle mark but Drizzt sank slowly to the ground in exhaustion. The remaining imps gave bone-chilling shrieks as they were dragged back down to the Abyss.
Catti-brie and Bruenor ran up to the broken body of Wulfgar. Catti-brie was still sobbing. Even Bruenor wept over the body of his son, the tears disappearing in his beard.
Suddenly everything became warped, Bruenor voice went high then low and the same sob erupted three times from Catti-brie. Drizzt realized he was waking up and struggled to hold on to it, even if it was a dream...a nightmare! He wanted to stay with his friends in a place where he was not a fallen angel and they were all still alive but the dream was slipping away like a fistful of sand...*
Drizzt awoke and he remembered everything. The early years, the fight, their deaths everything even his own fall from grace that had left him at the mercy of his dark side, at the mercy of the Hunter.
But the Hunter was gone now, driven for good out of Drizzt's mind with the returning of the memories. And now there was nothing standing between him and the world. And nothing left to protect him from it.
A/N: Not everything has been revealed yet so I suggest you write a review and give me a reason to finish this fic.
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to RA Salvatore except for the plot and any new characters I might introduce which you should be able to spot. The song is "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" by Andrew Lloyd Webber from the musical 'Phantom of the Opera'. Oh, and *looks around guiltily* I know that elves don't dream but I'm going to use a little poetic license here and say that Drizzt does so you don't have to point it out *when* you review.
A/N: I'd like to thank all the people... okay the two people who reviewed this story first; those reviews meant a lot to me. Ok, this is the chapter where you find out part of what's happened to Drizzt. Oh yeah, this has a few spoilers in it from Sojourn and Passage to Dawn through Spine of the World. The whole story will make more sense if you read all of the books up to and including Servant of the Shard or else be prepared for spoilers. Reviews make me type faster and I'm not just saying that so here goes.
Wishing you were somehow here again
Wishing you were somehow near
Sometimes it seems
If I just dreamed,
Somehow you would be here...
"Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again "by Andrew Lloyd Webber, from "Phantom of the Opera"
______________________
Days became weeks and weeks turned to months and little by little Drizzt began to remember himself and what had driven him to become the Hunter. It was just flashes at first, the sound of Zaknafein's voice, Belwar clapping his makeshift hands together sending sparks leaping into the air... and Guenhwyvar. Once he dreamt of the great panther, felt her warm bulk and the velvet softness of her fur but he had woken up to find himself alone, that it was just a dream and he had not regained the statuette used to summon her that he had lost so long ago.
And the memories kept coming, starting from his childhood in Menzoberranzan and working their way up through his life. He had screamed suddenly as Zak once again walked into the pit of acid and laughed allowed when the memory of Bruenor faking his own death to bring Drizzt with him to find Mithral Hall.
The Hunter was receding, going back to the dim reaches of Drizzt subconscious when the remembered voice of his sister Vierna screamed:
"All your pitiful friends are dead!"
Drizzt fell to his knees, grasping his head and moaning with the agony of keeping the Hunter at bay but it in vain. His eyes grew cold and savage, with not an ounce of feeling contained with in them. Weapons flashed as the sun dance across them. The Hunter looked around in search of an enemy, glorying in the use of its limbs and began to retreat into the thick of the woods, as far away from civilization as it could go and this time it didn't bother to cover the signs of its passing.
_____________________________
After two days of wandering the Hunter had finally dropped in exhaustion among the roots of an enormous oak tree but the savage's exhaustion didn't prevent Drizzt, who was buried deeply in its subconscious, from dreaming and these dreams put the last piece into the puzzle of his past...
*The world was separated between the fire of the great demon Errtu and the ice cavern the company fought him in. Drizzt's black scimitar had left numerous scars across the demon's scaly hide and Wulfgar was in a near berserk rage as he faced his torturer. They themselves had not escaped unscathed though. Bruenor was lightly stunned after being thrown by a blast of power into the nearest wall and all of them had at least one slash or burn where the demon's claws had nicked them and where his fiery breathed had grazed them. Regis was off looking for help, with Guenhwyvar with to protect him, in Ten-Towns, since in a fight of this scale he was only a liability and they needed all the help they could get.
Errtu gave a sudden roar that shook the caverns, dropping icy stalactites perilously close to the companions. Around the cavern a dozen imps sprang up seemingly out of the ground.
"Fall back!" yelled Drizzt, running to take cover and regroup being a huge ice wall. Catti-brie retreated, shooting her silver arrows at the incoming imps as she went. Drizzt looked back over his shoulder to see Bruenor and Wulfgar locked in combat with a half a dozen imps.
"Stop!" bellowed Errtu, pointing to Wulfgar, "This one is mine," he began to advance upon on the furious barbarian. Wulfgar stopped his mad assault and turned and with a cry to Tempus hurled Aegis-fang end over end at the demon.
Errtu watched the oncoming war hammer with an evil smile then, just as it was about to hit him square in the face, he snatched it out of the air. The demon kept coming, as inexorable as an avalanche, until he was towering over the huge barbarian with the mighty hammer still grasped in his fist.
"Aegis-fang!" shouted the barbarian, his hand outstretched to retrieve it but it was secured firmly in Errtu's grasp and could not.
The demon reached down casually and picked up Wulfgar around the waist as if he was no more then a child and held him an inch from his face. "It's a pity that you will no longer be able to supply me with amusement as you did before," he looked over the barbarians shoulder and into Drizzt horror-stricken violet eyes, "This time no more games." And began to tighten his grip on Wulfgar.
*This can't be happening* thought Drizzt, who was frozen in terror for Wulfgar's life *Where's Regis?! He was supposed to get help!*
Wulfgar gave a moan of pain and cried weakly to Aegis-fang but still the war hammer did not appear. Then the sound of snapping bones filled the cavern.
"Aegis fang..." whispered Wulfgar one last time before Errtu's mighty snapped his backbone. Errtu gazed down at the broken corpse in his and a smile of satisfaction spread across his hideous face. Casting the body of Wulfgar at the feet of his friends.
Suddenly Catti-brie began to scream. It reverberated around the cavern, gaining in pitch. She didn't even stop to take a breath just went on screaming and screaming. Bruenor stared at the body of the boy who had been his son in everything but birth, whispering over and over, "Me boy, me boy, me boy..." the chant joining Catti-brie's screams to form a frightening funeral dirge.
But Drizzt was silent. It was because of him Wulfgar died and his mind was already moving past the death and on to the avenging of his friend and former pupil. This time he didn't even pause to become the Hunter but went right on past it until he was the Warrior. He was vaguely aware of the fact that Catti-brie was still screaming but her anguished cries were punctuated by the sound of Taulmaril's arrows exploding into the chests of the imps.
Errtu watched with demonic glee as Drizzt approached. But something in the ranger's face disturbed the demon. His eyes were fierce and at the same time emotionless as if he were untouched by the recent death of his friend and was only focused on the destruction of the demon before him. The whole effect gave Drizzt a look of celestial fury and Errtu knew he had only seen this look before in the eyes of an avenging angel.
Drizzt seem to go from a guarded stationary position to a lighting quick assault in the blink of an eye. Using Twinkle only to parry and doing all of his attacks with the black demon-slaying scimitar he leaped and slashed at Errtu's face leaving to deep gashes in his cheek that revealed the teeth beneath. Before the demon could retaliate Drizzt buried his scimitar up to the hilt in Errtu's stomach, the sound and smell of burning flesh quickly became overpowering, then withdrew the sword in one smooth motion.
Errtu, wielding Wulfgar's hammer, brought it up for a blow that would squash the dark elf flat but when the hammer came whistling down the drow ranger was no longer there.
Drizzt took advantage of the demon's momentary confusion to send a desperate prayer for assistance to Mielikki, hoping his situation was desperate enough for her to grant him the power to destroy Errtu.
Errtu spun around and once again brought swept the hammer down again. Drizzt made a desperate attempt to dodge the powerful blow and was caught as it pinned his cloak to the ground.
Errtu gave a howl of triumph, leering down at the captured elf, "You will die, elf, and once you are dead nothing will stop me from killing everyone you love."
That was the worst thing that Errtu could have possibly said. For even in his present state this declaration reached right into Drizzt core and extracted one last boost of adrenaline. Drizzt exploded into action, slicing off the interfering cloak and with one powerful leap bringing up his scimitars for a slice across Errtu's throat.
Time slowed... Drizzt felt like he was floating as he rose.
In the distance a unicorn whinnied and suddenly the blades burst into pure white flame. Errtu's eye widened in disbelief as the scimitars swept down slicing through the scaly hide, right through the muscles and tendons until they hit bone. They blades went through it like a warm knife through butter.
Time sped up again; Drizzt hit the ground as a fountain of blood spurted up from the stump where the demon's head used to be. The whole blasted couldn't have lasted longer then a candle mark but Drizzt sank slowly to the ground in exhaustion. The remaining imps gave bone-chilling shrieks as they were dragged back down to the Abyss.
Catti-brie and Bruenor ran up to the broken body of Wulfgar. Catti-brie was still sobbing. Even Bruenor wept over the body of his son, the tears disappearing in his beard.
Suddenly everything became warped, Bruenor voice went high then low and the same sob erupted three times from Catti-brie. Drizzt realized he was waking up and struggled to hold on to it, even if it was a dream...a nightmare! He wanted to stay with his friends in a place where he was not a fallen angel and they were all still alive but the dream was slipping away like a fistful of sand...*
Drizzt awoke and he remembered everything. The early years, the fight, their deaths everything even his own fall from grace that had left him at the mercy of his dark side, at the mercy of the Hunter.
But the Hunter was gone now, driven for good out of Drizzt's mind with the returning of the memories. And now there was nothing standing between him and the world. And nothing left to protect him from it.
A/N: Not everything has been revealed yet so I suggest you write a review and give me a reason to finish this fic.