Chapter 10--Death On Velvet Paws
Just before Drizzt reached the grinning Orc he heard chanting. He reacted purely on instinct, throwing himself backwards away from the Orc and into a roll.
A greenish bolt hit the ground where Drizzt would have been if he hadn't leaped back. He shuddered when he heard a hissing sound. Acid! he thought.
The Orc smiled, showing blackened, rotted teeth and lunged at Drizzt.
Drizzt drew his scimitars just in time to parry the dagger aside then to his shock the dagger suddenly grew into a short sword. Prepared for a dagger, he jerked his head back. He avoided the worst of the blow , but received a rather painful cut on the cheek. Cursing to himself, he knocked the blade away and leaped back.
The Orc laughed and stalked forward. The chanting started again as the creature approached. The short sword lashed out and was parried aside by Twinkle.
Drizzt was stunned by the force of the blow. It had even knocked him back a pace. He had never known an Orc to be so strong. It was then the next spell hit. Locked in battle, Drizzt couldn't avoid this one. He gritted his teeth as he braced himself for the pain. Blue light flared around him, but to his confusion and shock there was nothing more. The spell must have failed.
The Orc snarled and slashed at his throat, only to have the blow swept aside once again. Behind them, unnoticed, Guenhwyvar opened her eyes. Standing, the panther crouched so low that her belly brushed the grass as she stalked forward like the shadow her name dubbed her. She was almost there when the chanting began once again. She paused to look that way then back at the Orc. Decision made, she moved towards the chanting.
The wizard couldn't believe the Drow had avoided the acid bolt spell and couldn't understand why the lightening bolt had shown no effect, but this spell would work he vowed inwardly. He was blind to all else as he continued the chant.
Guenhwyvar could smell a strange Human by now. After another five minutes she could see him as well. She ran up the vertical trunk of a tree like she was walking on level ground and began working her way over to get above the enemy.
The wizard was almost done with the spell when a low, throaty growl sounded above him and shattered his concentration. He looked up to spy a very large black panther above him just before it leaped on top of him with bared teeth and claws.
A horrible death scream erupted from the trees and both combatants froze at the same instant, glancing towards the sound.
The Orc suddenly blinked and looked around as if he was waking up from a deep sleep. He saw Drizzt and his eyes widened. He dropped the sword, screamed and ran the other direction as if a horde of demons were at his heels.
That was the last thing Drizzt expected, so he didn't even try to follow. He watched the trees and finally saw Guenhwyvar bounding towards him. When she was closer Drizzt noticed she was carrying something in her mouth.
Guenhwyvar stopped in front of him and dropped her gift at his feet…..a severed hand.
"Guenhwyvar !" Drizzt protested, "I didn't need to see this!" He could swear that the panther was laughing. "Very funny, come, let's go back to the others." He started to walk off then stopped to pick up the short sword the Orc had dropped. It might prove to be useful, while he was at it he checked the mage's body for useful items as well then went back to the others.
Shandra looked up with a smile when Drizzt returned to the group who had stopped to fix lunch, but it faded the minute she saw the bleeding cut on his face. "What happened?" she asked. She stood up.
"Relax, Shandra, I'm fine. It's a small cut, that's all," Drizzt said. He put the things he carried at Kylia's feet. "You should test these things. Be careful, I don't know what they do." He walked off to rest foe awhile.
Kylia, Shandra and Tarion looked at each other and shrugged.
I wanted to concentrate on Guen just because I think people forget she's not a house cat, but a silent and deadly predator like any panther. R/R please!