Chapter 11

The Final Round

Fire, ice, and lightning. The cavern became filled with it.

After what seemed an hour to Drizzt, Druia, and Entreri, who watched from a neutral position in the ring, the casting ceased, and the collected mages peered through the smoke to see what remained.

Even the weakest fighters present had magical protection, though some were better equipped than others. The troll that had been banished at dinner, along with two other trolls, were vaporized. Seven other lower-level creatures such as orcs and ogres had been thrown far from the gathering, and only four of the original seven stirred. Others, human and elven, lay on the ground writhing in pain or not moving at all.

The initial attack had cut the effectiveness of Styne's army in half, but the first strike advantage was over, and the mages could now only cast mass damage spells at the risk of injuring themselves. The remaining fighters were quite formidable too.

There was a barbarian, a look-a-like for Wulfgar, though he carried a mace and was dressed as a druid, likely the reason he was unaffected by the elemental attacks. Warrick and Cayne had both seemed to shrug off the magical blasts, Cayne likely offering protection to both of them. Gunthor was singed, but his magical skin had held up well. Three dwarves were now hairless but twice as enraged.

They all charged.

The dwarves, barbarian, and Gunthor went for the Tanar'ri, who greeted them warmly, killing two of the dwarves instantly. Gunthor, with the Thunder Blade swinging freely, attacked one of the demons, while the Barbarian parried a few strikes from another, dealing his own damage in turn.

Warrick hung back as Styne and Cayne, two battle mages, initiated attacks against the apprentices. Protections were brought down, and offensive spells struck home, sending the mages in retreat. Warrick jumped in after a while, cleaning up what Styne and Cayne left behind.

Deltrophan looked on from above with interest. "This is different," Yeltriz said, hovering over his shoulder. The mage cast the familiar a sarcastic look but didn't say anything. He didn't like it.

The demon fighting Gunthor was stumbling in retreat, more in shock than injury. The Tanar'ri's back came up against the cavern wall directly beneath Deltrophan's observation perch, and he could no longer backpedal. He lashed out, but Gunthor parried and returned the favor. He took off an arm. It was the first time the demon had fought against someone that might actually be stronger than he was. It was also the last time he would fight against someone that might actually be stronger than he was - or anyone at all, for that matter.

Gunthor took the creature's head and then turned to backstab the demon fighting the barbarian. The druid was sorely pressed, but as Gunthor cut deep into the back of the Tanar'ri's knee, the creature buckled, and the barbarian leaped forward, crushing bones with his mace. As the last demon finished off the remaining dwarf, he turned to face Gunthor, the druid, and half a dozen more fighters behind them.

The lesser creatures that had been hurled from the primary fight by the initial strike had all sense knocked out of them and charged to fight the first enemies that presented themselves. The trio in the ring was as good as any. "On guard," Entreri suddenly cried when he saw the orcs and ogres coming at them.

The other two fighters turned as well, Drizzt being the lucky one to take on two of the four creatures. He batted aside two axe attacks with one blade in a quick crossing parry and dropped into a crouch to lash out at an exposed knee. He ended up having to use his second weapon to parry as the exposed legs kicked at him.

His parry cut deep into an orc's leg, and Drizzt popped back up, sidestepping to put the injured orc between him and his other adversary. Even not hobbled, the pathetic creature didn't have much of a chance. It reared back with its axe, and Drizzt cut him down before the attack could even start.

The orc fell, and the much bigger ogre stepped over him. Drizzt caught his attack with both weapons and watched as a dirk slipped in under the parry and opened a gash in the ogre's chest. Drizzt turned long enough to see that Entreri's first foe was lying in a pool of blood and then turned back to the ogre to work on making another such pool.

Though plenty strong, the ogre couldn't stand up against the four blades of Drizzt and Entreri, who attacked in perfect harmony. As he fell, they both turned to find Druia. She was just pulling her bloodied pike from the ogre that had attacked her. "We need to get out of here," she said.

Entreri turned to look at the scene Druia saw and concurred. The apprentices had lost two of their numbers so far and were huddled beneath a similar spell to the one that normally protected the arena. It defended them from physical attack, but it could be cast through. The apprentices were doing plenty of that. Their hold spells were useless against the fighters whose minds were far too honed for that. Styne and Cayne were countering their damage spells. Eventually, they resorted to summoning spells. Gates began to open up all over the cavern, and the most horrid creatures started to pour out of them. The third Tanar'ri was just being finished off by a swarm of fighters as these new horrors invaded the fight.

Styne stood in the middle, trying to give orders to his fighters as the hoards swarmed around them. Deltrophan eyed him hatefully. He cast again. Another gate to the abyss opened up, and while his apprentices were summoning lower denizens, Deltrophan brought forth a balor. The creature stepped into the cavern right behind Styne, holding its vorpal greatsword tight in its muscled arms.

Styne felt the heat of his enemy one moment before his life would have ended. He drew his own broadsword for the first time, turning and parrying. Though tall, the battlemage wasn't a third as big as his opponent and should have been crushed by the blow, parry or not. Instead, Styne pushed back, sparks flying from his weapon.

The balor stumbled back, and Styne fell inside himself with a spell. A column of lightning fell on him like some beefed-up priest spell, but this strike wasn't doing damage. Quite the opposite, the strike brought a primal scream from the battlemage, and his size doubled. The lighting vanished as the balor stepped back in, but Styne was now 10 feet tall, his sword a match in size to the balor's, and lighting coursed through everything.

The balor hesitated and then died. Styne's sword spat out lighting like a weapon arcing water in a rainstorm. His first attack bashed the vorpal greatsword out of the way, and the second blasted a hole in balor's chest large enough for a horse to ride through.

Styne was on a blood lust spell, and as his eyes scanned the cavern, he saw only one target he cared about. With a great leap, Styne flew through the air and landed on the ledge next to Deltrophan. The ancient mage regarded his former student casually as his electric blade came slashing down from 10 feet up. The sword hit an invisible barrier, and the shock threw Styne across the small hollowed area, crashing into the cavern wall.

Yeltriz thought that this would be an excellent time to make himself scarce. He should have winked out of the cavern, but the fight was far too entertaining to leave. Instead, he flew high up into an empty corner of the cavern and dropped an invisibility spell on himself.

"We need to go," Druia repeated.

The other two had nodded in agreement the first time she had said it, but then they had just stood, staring in awe at the carnage around them. Cayne had taken over the army in Styne's absence, and it looked pretty even. For every fighter that fell, two or three of the summoned creatures did likewise. More and more attention was being directed toward the mages, and it wouldn't be long before their protections fell and it got real messy.

"Guys?" Druia said again. "We need to go."

"Yes," Entreri agreed. He turned to Drizzt expectantly.

The drow finally regarded the other two, pulling his eyes away from the battle that was going on around them. It took him a while to realize they were waiting on him and then even longer to remember what they had just said. "No," he said.

"What?" Druia and Entreri said in unison.

"We need to stay." He remembered why Thelania had asked him to come. His presence here was supposed to bring about the end of this tournament and bring to ruin its awful reign of evil. "We need to see this end."

"I agree it is entertaining," Entreri replied, "but we have no need to stay."

"Then we leave him," Druia said to Entreri.

"You two know how to sail a ship by yourselves?" Drizzt asked as they started to leave. "I don't know another way home. I've spent the past three years on a ship and feel confident I can get us off the island. If you want to escape, you better make sure I get out of here in one piece."

Druia and Entreri looked at each other briefly and then shrugged. "You can start with them," Drizzt said, motioning behind them. Entreri and Druia turned to see two hellcats jump up into the arena. Drizzt looked back to the ledge.

Styne picked himself up, noticing with regret that the blow had ended his blood lust spell, and he was back to his normal stature. Either way, he towered over Deltrophan and felt he still had a chance. He walked toward his former master with his sword ready, inviting Deltrophan to initiate the attack. The older mage obliged, summoning forth half a dozen Mordenkainen's swords and a couple of bows. The magically animated blades swarmed Styne, sending the battle mage into a flurry of action, swinging his broadsword in every direction at once. The bows turned their attention to the hoards below.

As the arrows came raining down, Drizzt recalled the arrow in his boot. "Do either of you have a bow?"

Entreri and Druia had dispatched the hellcats, but mephits had taken their place. As Druia knocked one of them to the ground senseless, she turned to look at the drow. "What?"

"I need a bow," he said again, holding Styne's magical arrow aloft.

Druia sighed and shrunk her pike to about half its usual size. She removed a gold chain from her neck and uncurled it. The chain was about three and a half feet long, with a small hoop at each end. She quickly looped each end of the necklace over the tips of her pike and then elongated it again.

For a second, Drizzt thought the chain would break as it snapped tight, but instead, the magical pike bowed under the pull of the chain. "Nice weapon," Drizzt admired as she held the transformed pike. He motioned for it, but Druia shook her head. Instead, she motioned for the arrow. Drizzt conceded and tossed her the shaft.

"A little help," Entreri called. Zombies had replaced the mephits. Drizzt leaped past Druia and engaged the half dozen creatures with Entreri.

"But who do I shoot?" Druia asked.

"Just hold on," Drizzt said, turning the tide of the battle with Entreri at his side.

Around the mages below, their shield of protection finally fell, and the fighters came in hard. The apprentices were powerful, but they did not spend their days practicing melee spells. Deltrophan had them spend most of their time in meditation and enlightenment, studying the life around them and discerning its power. Now the life around them was trying to take theirs away, and there was no doubt about its power.

"Master!"

The cry came from more than one mage as the group dropped stone skins over themselves and began to lash out with short-range damage spells. Deltrophan took a moment to turn from the entertaining fight with Styne to answer the call. "Must I do everything," he muttered to himself. With a spin of his wrist, he summoned an opal sphere and hurled it across the cavern. It exploded against the far wall, opening a new corridor. A brief moment passed, and then hundreds of goblins came pouring out of the opening, screaming and waving their weapons.

"Mother of . . ." Entreri muttered. "Need some more help," he called out almost casually over his shoulder.

Druia turned with her bow ready, but Drizzt stopped her. "No, not at them."

The sea of goblins was seconds from crashing over them. "If not them, then who?" Entreri asked, bracing his feet on the dirt floor of the ring.

"Deltrophan," Drizzt responded, "but it has to be just right."

Druia quickly unformed her bow, stowed the arrow, and stood beside her companions to meet the charge. Her long weapon swung ahead, causing the lead goblins to rear up briefly, but its 500 friends behind didn't get the memo and crashed ahead. A growing pile formed in front of the trio, and the three of them stepped into the small clearing it formed, like a river flowing around a rock.

The majority of the goblins were focused on the rest of the combatants anyway. Though each of the remaining fighters was easily ten times the skill of any goblin, those were about what the odds were, and the fighters had a difficult choice as to whom they were going to turn their backs on. Fortunately for them, the goblins could not tell friend from foe, and the apprentices had just as much to be worried about.

Deltrophan looked at the chaos below him and smiled. This was highly entertaining. If it got out of hand, he could call down a few meteor showers and decimate the goblin hoard so he could pick off each individual fighter, but for now, he enjoyed the action. He turned his eyes back to Styne, who had finally wised up to the fact that the animated weapons were immune to physical damage. He dropped a couple of fireballs at his feet, and soon the swords were lying in a charred pile beside him.

Styne was exhausted and looked up at his former master. "Don't cut out on me now," Deltrophan mocked.

Styne exploded into motion. Lighting shot out from his weapon as he slashed about at the stationary mage. His blade moved back and forth, his arms pumping in and out, and he rained down his fury on the immortal mage. None of the strikes came close. The barrier around Deltrophan wasn't going anywhere. It would not disappear after a certain number of hits. The power to sustain it came from within him, so Styne could no easier dispel it than he could dispel all of Deltrophan's power. The mage was invulnerable.

Down below, Drizzt, Druia, and Entreri worked in perfect harmony. The two males had never fought with the woman before, but she adjusted her style to match theirs, separating her pike into two pieces and fending off the goblins around her as the trio stood with their backs in.

Soon the flood of goblins ceased, and the herd started to thin as they spread about the cavern. Druia cleared a path and allowed Drizzt and Entreri to fill her void as she transformed her weapon into a bow again. She eyed up the target Drizzt had given her and prepared to fire. Before she let go, she watched as Styne hammered away at the impenetrable shield around the mage and then as Deltrophan tossed him like a rag doll across the alcove.

"This is supposed to do damage?" Druia asked above the constant sound of steel on steel around them.

"Styne told me it would be able to break through Deltrophan's protections," the drow replied as he dispatched two goblins.

"Well, Styne doesn't seem to be doing too good of a job of that now."

Drizzt suddenly broke away from the fight bringing a startled reaction from Entreri, "What?" The assassin was suddenly set against all five of the goblins they had been facing.

Drizzt turned to look at the ledge and Styne's inept attempt to battle the powerful mage. Behind him, a goblin lunged for a backstab, but Entreri reacted first, thrusting out with his dirk. He was too distant for a direct strike, so he flung it as he stabbed, impaling the far goblin but leaving him with one weapon against four foes. It still wasn't fair.

Entreri ducked one blow and then moved to the right as the two goblins at his left lunged in. He stabbed out beneath the far-right goblin's attack, catching him under the ribs. Entreri fed off the jolt of energy from his life stealing dagger, and his empty left hand snaked out for the missed attack of one of the goblins on the left. He locked wrists with the doomed creature and turned its short sword back on itself. The human shoved the blade back so hard under its chin that the tip of the blade poked out the back of its skull.

Entreri heaved the dead goblin around, catching the other left goblin with the protruding tip right in its temple. The first goblin, whose attack Entreri had initially ducked, was bowled over by the two dead goblins, and as Entreri pulled his dagger from his first victim, he quickly finished the fourth.

Two more goblins came in from the side, thinking to spread Entreri's attention and catch his unaware companions in the back. The assassin leaped over to his thrown weapon, pulled it free, and stabbed out on either side with his arms spread eagle. The goblins were used to sparing with each other and were unprepared for the length of Entreri's reach.

Two other goblins felt lucky, and seeing the assassin's weapons sheathed in their companions and his arms out wide, they attacked head-on. Entreri's foot came up fast, catching one under the chin, breaking its neck, and then swept his dirk in from the left, taking the other goblin's head.

"You guys plan on help . . ." Entreri started to say over his shoulder, but three more goblins came in swinging.

Drizzt didn't pay the assassin any mind, confident he could handle himself and feeling his attention needed to be elsewhere. He watched as Styne was turned away time and again. "He said this arrow will pass through Deltrophan's protections," Drizzt said, but Druia could tell he didn't believe it.

"And even if it could," Druia argued unnecessarily, "don't you think he would feel it coming and would have half a dozen spells that will keep it from ever getting near him.

"But Styne is counting on this arrow to be effective," Drizzt said, not really arguing with her but trying to figure out what to do.

"If it is keyed to work against his magic, then maybe it will be more effective against one of the apprentices." Druia turned her bow to the battle below and beside them, picking out the apprentices' leader.

"No," Drizzt said, lightly grabbing her arm, careful not to make her fire prematurely. "It has to be directed at Deltropahan."

"But . . ." Druia started, stopping when she saw a light go on in the drow's eyes.

"We can attack him indirectly," he said. Another light went on in the elf's eyes, but this one had a reddish hue to it as he switched over to his night vision. "There," he pointed up at a corner in the cavern ceiling.

"What," Druia asked, not seeing anything.

Drizzt called forth magical fairie fire, and soon a tiny glowing outline was visible. Yeltriz had been enjoying the fight so far. From his vantage point, he could see everything. Well, almost everything. He overlooked Drizzt and Druia pointing at him. He didn't notice the arrow streaking toward him. And since he was dead a half-second later, he didn't really have time to see the arrow cleaving his skull in two. The imp had been protected by powerful magic, but like Styne had promised, the arrow passed right through.

A shockwave filled the cavern as the imp fell to the ground. It wasn't a physical disturbance but a spiritual one. Everyone in the cavern suddenly had the eerie sensation of walking through a graveyard. Deltrophan sustained the island. Everything about the island was centered around his life-giving immortality. And now death coursed through the mage's soul.

The link between mage and familiar is far more intimate than most mages would have you know. That union leaves the mages very vulnerable. A familiar's life is a portal into the soul of the mage. Just as a familiar gains incredible power through the life of a mage, a mage can lose astonishing power through the death of their familiar.

Deltrophan stumbled and clutched his chest. His face went pale, and the glow of power around him flickered. Styne was slowly pulling himself from the ground after being hurled into the cavern wall once more as he noticed the change. He glanced toward the ring and saw Druia lowering her bow and just caught a glimpse of a purple outline crashing to the ground.

"Very clever," he muttered to himself. Deltrophan was vulnerable now, but like with any wound, the powerful mage would recover. Even now, two seconds after the killing blow, Styne might be too late. The battlemage didn't wait any longer and leaped up from the ground with renewed strength. Deltrophan was just catching his breath when Styne struck.

The broadsword hit the barrier around the mage, and as lightning flashed and sparked from the collision, the magical shield shuddered and then collapsed. The jagged edge of Styne's weapon bit hard into his former master. He pulled it free and then took his turn flinging the mage into the alcove wall.

As Deltrophan landed, Styne could see no blood on his robe, and the gash was already starting to close. Deltrophan was weak, but he would not die easily. The battlemage raced over to him, impaling him on his massive sword and then spinning around and hurling him into the opposite wall. His cloak was now charred with lightning, but there was still no blood, and the hole in his chest which should have taken his heart was closing fast. Styne was going to need help.

He looked down at the fight below and smiled. The apprentices had gotten used to feeding off the life force of the island, but as that was waning now, their spells began to misfire, and the fighters and goblins around them were turning the tide. Styne spotted Cayne, the other battle mage, and summoned him to join in the fight against the mage who had banished him to quarter millennia of torture. Within seconds, the other battlemage stood over Deltrophan, taking his vengeance.

Before Styne turned to join him, he took another long look at the battle below. At least eight good fighters would survive this battle, as well as several scores of goblins. This was his army. He had rescued them from Deltrophan's banishment. They owed him allegiance. They would continue to be his army. Spying out the exits from the main cavern, he quickly closed all but one with lightning strikes and then gave mental instructions to Gunthor to guard the remaining one. "No one shall leave!"

"We have to leave," Druia said.

Finally, Drizzt agreed. "Yes, we need to go."

The goblins were about as intelligent as the stone wall they had been summoned from, but even a stone wall knew to stay clear of Drizzt and Entreri. After the pair had dispatched two dozen of the creatures, the rest of the goblins left them alone for the most part. There was still the hellspawn summoned creatures the apprentice mages had brought into the cavern, but they were thinning, and with the mages' attention elsewhere, they were not being replaced.

As volatile as the fighting around them had become, there was a far more pressing matter that spurned the trio out of the ring and onto the stone floor, running toward the exit: the cavern was collapsing. Drizzt had lived half his life underground and had learned to sense these things. He didn't have the same connection with the stone as a svirfnebli, but the drastic change in the stability did not require that level of attention.

Monks had trained Druia always to be aware of her surroundings and feel the power of nature. She could feel that power now and could sense the crumbling stone around them. The life of Deltrophan had supported the island, and as it faded, so did the island.

Entreri had no such upbringing or training. He could not so easily sense the impending doom of the cavern. He did, however, have eyes, and as he watched cracks form in the walls and rocks fall from the ceiling, he could reason what his companions could feel.

The cavern floor was littered with bodies. Half of them were still fighting, while the other half were lying in piles preparing for what would shortly become the largest mass grave any of them had ever seen. Drizzt and Entreri led the way, hacking apart the goblins that didn't get out of their path fast enough. Drizzt ran with speed enhanced by the magical bracers he wore on his feet. Entreri moved with the agility acquired from navigating Calimport's alleys and rooftops at night. Druia moved fluidly through the mess like a bird finding the eye of the storm during a hurricane. It still seemed an eternity to all of them.

Several of the more clever goblins thought like the trio. They were creatures who lived in caves, and even though they were magically created by Deltrophan, like everything else on the island, as the mage's power faded, they returned to their primitive nature. Drizzt was leading the way, and six goblins joined him for the last 20 feet of the sprint. Unlike Drizzt, the goblins did not stop in time to avoid the massive strike that cleaved them into pieces. Gunthor stood at the entry to the passage, his girth blocking the door.

"Looks like Styne doesn't want us to leave just yet," Entreri said, pulling up short behind the drow.

"One of us was going to have to face him anyway," Druia said, joining her companions as they all stared at the massive guardian. He looked very much like a golem now, minding only those who violated his space and then destroying those who did. "I guess this way, we have the best chance."

Beside the exit, a few pebbles slid down the wall as a crack formed and a slight tremor shook the floor. "We better make this quick," Drizzt said. The drow stepped forward, and Gunthor reacted.

Up on the ledge, things were not looking good for either side. Deltrophan was losing, but he had not yet lost. His spell repertoire was limited to quick release. He attempted a few massive summoning spells or mind magic, but the incessant attacks from his adversaries interrupted him. Still, his magic missiles and fireballs drove Styne and Cayne back enough for the mage to compose himself and recoup from the attacks.

The two battle mages briefly countered with spells of their own before realizing that they were playing into Deltrophan's strength and then resumed their physical attacks. They just weren't doing enough damage. His wounds healed too quickly, and he could still enact several protections against the blows.

The three were oblivious to what was going around them, whether the collapsing cavern or the fight going on below. They did not have time to pay attention to anything other than the fight at hand. Any extra time would allow the other to formulate too much strategy. It was all hack and slash now.

It was like bailing a sinking ship. You had to keep bailing. You couldn't stop. You might have the tools to fix the leak, but it would take too long, and in that time, the ship would submerge. The only way to stay above water was to keep bailing until a better solution presented itself.

Styne was sure he had a spell or two that could remove Deltrophan's protections, but the time necessary to prepare it would also give his opponent too much time to react. The longer they broke, the more the two of them would be returning to a level playing field. And while Styne felt he held the upper hand now, he knew that all things being equal, Deltrophan was still his superior.

Deltrophan felt likewise. He had spells he could cast to sentence his attackers to several unimaginable torments, but if he neglected his healing spells or withdrew his attention from fending off their attacks, he would be hacked to pieces.

The fight needed an interruption. It got one. A stalagmite fell. All three were aware enough to avoid the fall, but Cayne was too close to the edge and didn't have much room to dodge. The shattering limestone lacerated his face and eyes, and he dropped his weapons in pain.

Deltrophan recovered first and recognized the battle mage's vulnerable condition. Cayne's mind was still too honed after his years in the maze to be susceptible to any form of magical banishment, but Deltrophan went a different path. The jaws of a massive elemental beast rose from the rock beneath the crippled battle mage. Deltrophan did not bother bringing forth the entire creature, for he did not have the time or the need.

Cayne realized what was happening too late to react, and he never really did see what brought about his demise. But as the jaws closed around him and began to chew, slowly sinking back into the stone, Cayne's lack of awareness was the last thing on his mind, literally.

This was not only Deltrophan's first real victory of the skirmish but also his first and last defeat. He reveled at the sight of the disappearing elemental a bit too long before turning to Styne. The electrically enchanted broadsword was in mid-swing when Deltrophan saw it. He was hurled against the alcove's wall and, unlike before, was unable to call forth a spell to repel Styne before the remaining battle mage closed in on him.

Deltrophan stood, and Styne impaled him. There would be no escape from this attack, for Styne drove the jagged broadsword through his former master and into the stone wall behind him. The blow was final, but the wound was not. There was still magic protecting the impaled mage. He was immune to electricity, had a spell of clay form in effect, regenerative powers were at work, pain nullifiers cleared his mind, and as Styne gazed deep into his eyes, he found others. He went to work.

Styne had solved the riddle that was Deltrophan. He had worked hard to understand the mage's magic, and now, as he had his former master pinned against the wall, a massive shaft of steel piercing his lungs requiring Deltrophan's every conscious effort to be devoted to keeping his mind from the pain, Styne slowly peeled away the protections like an onion.

It seemed like days but was only minutes. Soon the two of them stood as if naked, stripped of their life's devotion. The magic was gone.

Now it was time for the real magic to take place.

Drizzt stepped forward, and Gunthor brought his sword down hard. Drizzt nimbly jumped back, allowing the tremendous blade to pass in front of him, and then hopped back in, his two scimitars leading. Gunthor incredibly stopped his swing and brought the hilt back in hard. Drizzt ducked and then flattened himself on the ground as Gunthor adjusted his swing to compensate for his short opponent. The drow was in no position to strike and had to roll over and away as the brute tried to stomp the life out of him.

The cavern exit was too narrow for Drizzt, Entreri, and Druia to fight side-by-side, so the elf stepped back to draw Gunthor into the open. The animated golem didn't take the bait and stayed where he was.

Druia and Entreri were poised on either side of the drow, ready to join the fray, but all three paused in confusion when Gunthor didn't pursue. "Come on, you mindless monster!" Druia cried. "Attack!"

Nothing.

Another small shower of rocks rolled down the side of the cavern wall next to the exit, reminding the trio that they didn't have time for this game of cat and mouse. "We need to move him out of there," Druia said, stating the obvious for the other two. They gave her sarcastic and frustrated looks.

Another shudder went through the cavern wall in front of them, the stress of the collapsing stone bringing cracks into the sides of the exit. With Drizzt and Entreri looking at each other, an idea came to both of them.

They each took two quick steps forward and tried to squeeze through on either side of the golem. The exit wasn't that narrow at six feet, but Gunthor wasn't narrow either. The mammoth fighter slammed his hip into one side of the opening in front of Drizzt, bringing another small shower of rocks and shutting off the gap the drow was trying to slip through. He swung the Thunder Blade hard into the rock in front of Entreri, bringing a much larger shower of stones.

Entreri stopped short and dropped down to roll under the blade. As Gunthor tried to drag the sword down through the rock, he also kicked out to close the gap. Entreri bounced off the colossal foot and rolled back as the Thunder Blade came down from above.

Gunthor shifted his weight to Entreri's side, seeing that the much smaller and elusive human would eventually be able to find a gap, but that gave Drizzt an opening. It was only open for as long as it took Gunthor to bring his weapon back across his body and slam into the other wall.

Drizzt and Entreri worked the giant back and forth like this for several seconds before Druia realized their strategy. The width of the opening, thanks to Gunthor's mighty sword, had widened to almost eight feet. The brute was now dancing back and forth, having to swing harder and faster to keep his enemies in front of him, widening the opening even more as his sword crashed into the weakening walls.

There was no extra room for the woman to join on either side, but there was a narrow 2-foot gap over the golem's head. She took a few running steps forward and leaped for the opening. Gunthor saw her at the last second and ignored his other two pests for a moment to bring his blade up vertically to block her.

Druia held her pike horizontally in front of her, bracing herself for the collision. Gunthor stopped her but didn't have time to properly throw her back because Drizzt and Entreri were slipping past him. Drizzt, with his enchanted bracers, made it past as Gunthor spread his legs wide to try and block the drow with his knee, but the golem's right hand was able to snag Entreri's trailing cape. Before Gunthor could haul the assassin in, Druia dropped to the ground, rolled through her enemy's widespread legs, and used the sharp end of her pike to cut Entreri free.

Gunthor spun around to see the three fighters racing up the corridor. The golem remembered his master's charge to let no one escape, and the chase was on.

Life.

It is craved by all but genuinely understood by none. Its simple complexity (if such a concept is comprehensible) ridicules any notion that it could have come about by chance, evolving at the whims of chaos. Yet, to the untrained eye, that is precisely what it seemed to be: chaos.

The idea of cells, DNA, amino acids, and reproduction are standard terms among advanced civilizations, but even those enlightened citizens fall drastically short of comprehending their functions. Commonplace evidence of rudimentary actions belittles the complexity wrapped up beneath them.

Everyone understands the five senses, and while scientists can recreate the essential functions, does a camera know what it sees, or does a speaker understand what it says? These questions are best left unasked and unanswered. Perhaps the only thing more extraordinary than the complexity of life is the complete lack of necessity to understand it for survival. A man can live a long and healthy life without ever understanding how his body works. He can raise crops, hunt for food, and raise a family without ever understanding photosynthesis or the science behind reproduction.

A mage cannot cast a spell he knows nothing about. A worker cannot operate a mill without understanding how it works. These things need to be designed, built, and sustained. Life sustains itself. It does not need to be understood and does not need to be maintained.

Unless you want to make it eternal.

Deltrophan's life did not stem from himself. It was magically created and sustained. Unlike the spell cast upon tournament winners, his eternal life was not dependent on a beating heart or breathing lungs. Styne understood that spell, and as the two of them faced off, the battlemage dove into the magic – the magic of life. His strike had lifted Deltrophan off the ground, so the two of them looked eye to eye.

Styne's consciousness soared through the complexities of nature, spiraling around as he followed the helical pathways of life. On the surface, Deltrophan seemed impenetrable. His heart was crushed, and his lungs impaled. The wound in his chest grew as Styne slowly turned his blade, but the mage's life energy seemed as strong as ever. On the surface, Deltrophan seemed impenetrable, but Styne did not stay on the surface.

Styne dove in.

The escaping trio outdistanced Gunthor easily, but they all knew he had to be dealt with. The stone corridor did not last much longer before it exited into the palatial home of the host mage. Inside, the palace would be crawling with apprentices, most of who must be alerted to what was going on. There they would not have time to deal with Gunthor.

While they did not know what he was, they could tell there was something unnatural and magical about him. The way he had guarded the corridor was as if he had been magically commanded. If that were the case, he would not give up his chase of them until that spell was dispelled or the three of them were killed.

Drizzt paused as his senses told him they were only a few hundred feet from the exit of the cavern. "We need to do something about our pursuer."

The other two nodded. "If I stun him, can you take him out?" Druia asked. Her weapon was not designed to take on someone of Gunthor's caliber. Drizzt and Entreri understood that as well, but that only puzzled them as to how she planned on stunning their mammoth enemy.

She smiled at them disarmingly. "I have an idea," she said.

A little bit further ahead, the corridor opened up considerably in all directions. It was a good ambush site, and as Drizzt and Entreri took up positions on either side, Druia placed herself above. The ceiling opened up before expanding to the sides, and Druia leaped high into the opening, extending her pike to full length so the pointed ends dug into the sides of the wall.

Druia held on to her weapon like a trapeze artist, her toes five feet off the ground. Working up her momentum, she swung herself up into a handstand. She reversed her hands, so she was facing the other way, and waited.

With her eyes closed, Druia fell into a deep meditation. Soon the handstand felt as natural and balanced as standing on her feet. Her hands held her pike gently, feeling the vibrations of the cavern through her weapon. The cavern was definitely decaying, but she could feel distinct footfalls coming ever closer amidst the cracking and creaking. Hiding in the ceiling alcove, Druia was invisible to anyone coming up the corridor. Likewise, she could not see Gunthor coming either.

Drizzt and Entreri exchanged glances from opposite sides of the corridor, waiting patiently and hoping their new friend knew what she was doing. As Druia felt Gunthor draw within a few running steps, she relaxed her body entirely and swung down. She accelerated far beyond the pull of gravity, and her knees and ankles snapped like a whip, her feet a blur of motion. And while her moccasins look soft, they were fashioned from a magical white buffalo's hide and could assume any form or texture she desired.

Gunthor ran straight into the attack, taking the blow to his chest as if he was hit by a sledgehammer swung by . . . well . . . swung by himself. Gunthor stumbled. It wouldn't seem like much to some, but Drizzt and Entreri understood the magnitude of the blow Druia had just delivered if it made this behemoth stumble. They didn't waste their time.

With his weight on his heels and his arms up, trying to regain his balance, Gunthor was defenseless. Drizzt and Entreri attacked his legs. They rendered blows that should have cleaved the legs off anyone else, but instead, their enchanted weapons bit only a few inches into his skin. Entreri sank his jeweled dagger into a thigh, and then the fight took a turn.

Styne had breathed life into the golem so it could act and think on its own, but now Entreri was sucking that life away, and as a result, Gunthor's reactions became less acute and aware. Drizzt saw there was something unnatural going on and could tell from the lack of blood on his weapons that this was some sort of magical construct. But if it had been constructed, it could be destructed.

Just as Gunthor started to regain his balance, Drizzt raked Twinkle hard along the back of his knee. The blade bit deep, severing tendons and muscles. Balance was again an issue for the giant, and he leaned heavily against the corridor on his left shoulder. The drow used the collapsing knee as a step and attacked the sword-wielding arm. Gunthor quickly lost the ability to fight as Entreri took his life away, and his strike faltered as Drizzt's blades tore into his shoulder and elbow.

His arm went limp, and as Entreri deconstructed the knee in front of him, the golem toppled to the ground. The two fighters leaped on top of their enemy, gouging out eyes and tearing apart limbs.

"I think he's dead," Druia said, interrupting the pair. Her pike was collapsed and stored on her side.

"I'm not so sure he was ever really alive," Drizzt responded.

Druia walked over to the Thunder Blade, where it lay on the ground next to Gunthor's head. She lifted the pommel of the weapon, straining under the weight and realizing she could never carry it, but that wasn't her intention. Closing her eyes and falling into another trance, she slowly lifted the greatsword with both hands, bringing the weapon over her head till the sword was parallel with the ground. Her body suddenly snapped forward, the blade arcing over her toward the ground and severing Gunthor's head. All three of them admired their kill for a few moments before continuing up the corridor.

The hallway emptied into the main foyer that Drizzt had admired when he had arrived. It was filled with spiraling staircases and random balconies. It also held a dozen apprentices waiting for them. The two groups faced each other, clearly realizing who had the upper hand.

"Time to die," one of the mages said, and they all cast.

As Styne dove in, he was almost overwhelmed by the flood of energy. And that's what it was really: a flood – no – a sea of energy. Deltrophan was engulfed in the ocean of life. He was a ship resting in the middle of the sea with no land in sight.

Styne studied this ship, trying to find its weak points, seeing if it could be capsized or punctured. It was impenetrable. It was a beast of a ship. Its massive girth contradicted the fact that it should float, but it did. It not only floated but was anchored to the ocean floor, never to be moved.

Styne studied the anchor. It wasn't going anywhere. It had been there so long that the ocean floor had almost covered it, but it too was a massive thing, cast iron and as large as a whale. It had grown into the ocean floor. And there was no weak link in its chain. Styne followed it back up to the ship, examining each link, desperate to find some chink in his enemy's armor.

There had to be a weak link somewhere. Eternal life was unnatural. It was an abomination and an affront to all things. Deltrophan could disguise this anomaly as well as his ability allowed, but there had to be a weakness somewhere. All of the pieces could not fit together smoothly. Nature would not allow it.

But the chain securing the boat to the ocean floor was flawless. The chain was anchored to the ship almost as aggressively as it was at the other end. The crank and handle were equally unmovable, secured to the floor in the recesses of the boat with four mammoth bolts, tightened down so they-

Styne paused as he looked at the bolts. One of them didn't sit quite flush. He looked closer. There was something wedged under the head of the bolt. It was nothing really, just a spec. It was the tiniest grain, but it was a grain of reality, and it wasn't going away. It was the only imperfection, but it had to be there to show that what existed here was not natural.

Styne tested the bolt. It wasn't exactly loose, but the spec of reality holding it up gave it the slightest bit of play. Styne leaned on it with all of his considerable magical energy, and it began to turn. Slowly at first, but as the Styne worked it around, the bolt started to spin faster.

The spec grew.

The rift of reality in this fabricated existence expanded as the bolt rose and lifted free. The anchor crank creaked. The free corner slowly lifted as if the weight of all infinity was tugging back on the anchor chain. The hardened steel began to fold like paper, with cracks and rips slowly working through the structure. The other bolt heads sheared off, and the crank was pulled from the ship and tossed into the suddenly turbulent ocean.

The spec had filled the ship, leaning it to one side. The previously sturdy vessel was now as topsy-turvy as top ending its spin. The ocean, too, was no longer calm and tossed the ship about as if it suddenly realized that it was there and wanted nothing to do with it. Styne distanced himself as he watched the ocean rip the boat apart, its destruction escalating quickly, ending in a tumultuous finale that wiped the ship from view and left the ocean's surface suddenly calm.

Styne blinked himself back to reality inside the cavern and watched the light fade from Deltrophan's eyes. Blood finally gushed from his wounds, and breath left his lungs. The powerful mage croaked out a hollow rattle, and he was dead.

A shudder went through the cavern, and all of the combat on the floor ceased. Only a few mages were left, and they all turned to look up to the ledge where their master lay dead, crumpled against the wall. Styne demanded their attention, standing tall and strong. There was a bit of an aura about him too. He radiated power, and even the few goblins remaining cowered before him.

Half a dozen fighters were left as well, and they sheathed their weapons, realizing that the battle for the cavern was won. Styne smiled at them all. This was his army, and he planned on flourishing. Gunthor had done an excellent job of keeping everyone inside the cavern. He would have to . . . He paused. Gunthor wasn't guarding the exit anymore.

Druia, Entreri, and Drizzt each bolted in separate directions. The mages were coordinated too. The floor beneath the fighters instantly turned to ice as three other mages fired lightning bolts while three more tried hold spells. Right now, mind magic was not the strongest with magical disruptions from the war down below, and the hold attempts failed, but the other spells were very effective.

Druia had gone straight up, leaping 15 feet into the air. The bolt aimed at her missed initially but bounced off the ice-coated floor and wall, striking her in the legs. Her moccasins protected her somewhat, but as she grabbed hold of a balcony railing and hoisted herself up and over, her legs were spasming and weak.

Entreri went to the right, leaping just before the ice hit. His dagger was out in a flash as he angled himself to land on his hands. The steel weapon bit into the ice, giving the assassin leverage to roll forward and off the slick surface. The bolt aimed at him missed completely, bouncing off the floor and wall but then into a wooden staircase right in front of him, showering him with splinters.

Drizzt's bracers gave him a distinct advantage, moving him away from the target zone quicker than his companions, but as the ice hit, his fast-moving feet slipped completely out from under him, and he went down hard. This saved him as the bouncing bolt aimed his way passed just over his head. The drow was prone now, though. He quickly rolled to the side, got up, and sprinted across the open room, magical attacks trailing at his heels.

Just as the mages got smart enough to lead the drow, Drizzt leaped into the air, touched off briefly on a spiral banister, and shot in the opposite direction to catch a chandelier and swing to a nearby balcony.

Meanwhile, Entreri shrugged off the scratches and cuts from the exploding splinters and quickly swung around from underneath the staircase and ran up it. Five magic missiles were sent in pursuit, and even though the seasoned fighter knew they were magically guided, he dodged anyway, stopping short on the staircase. He watched as the glowing orbs turned sharply from where he would have been to where he was, splashing painfully into his chest.

Ordinary men would have been stunned badly, some losing consciousness. Entreri would have normally been stopped in his tracks too, a sitting duck for a few seconds, but having so recently fed off Gunthor's magical life through his dagger, this attack merely brought him back to a normal adrenaline level.

His enemies didn't have to know that, and he acted as if he were bad off, struggling for balance and grabbing hold of a support rope. Just as the mages cast to finish him off, Entreri cut through the taunt rope, launching him into the air just above the fireballs and acid arrows below.

The other end of the rope supported the chandelier to which Drizzt had leaped. Drizzt had wanted to swing to a neighboring balcony, but as he plummeted down, it was Entreri who was pulled toward the balcony. Drizzt let go of the massive brass ring just as it crashed into a collection of mages. The ranger rolled with the fall, coming up in front of two other startled apprentices. He made short work of them, as they hadn't thought to raise melee protection spells, and then ran for cover as the floor exploded with another magical attack.

Entreri alighted only briefly on the balcony, watching below him as the chandelier sent four mages scrambling. He dropped from his perch just as more offensive firepower was sent his way. He flipped to the ground, cut up two of the four mages, and then rolled out of the way as the assaulted balcony he had just been on came crashing down on the group.

Of the twelve mages waiting for them, only six remained who could cast. The four Entreri had disposed of were still alive but in no position to concentrate on spells. As far as the trio's casualties, Drizzt had a slightly sprained ankle and a bruised arm. Entreri had cuts on his face, and up on a balcony, hidden from view, the feeling was just returning to Druia's legs.

She peeked over the edge of the wooden railing, appreciating the effective diversion. The remaining mages stood in two areas. Druia eyed the larger of the two groups while they prepared to lash out again at the two dancing fighters down below. However, she could also tell that two of them were bracing themselves for melee. She had to get them before they dropped protections on themselves.

It was a monstrous leap, but with a few short seconds of meditation, the monk-trained fighter leaped high through the air, flipping toward her enemies. More impressive than the distance of her jump was the soft landing, made softer by the fact she landed on one of the four mages. Her pike was out quickly, dispatching the second and sweeping towards the other two. They turned to meet the attack with massive damage spells at their fingertips. They wisely held them in check at this close range but could not dodge Druia's weapon.

The sharp tip of the pike cut deep through their robes, drawing a line of blood on their chests. They stumbled back and then over as both Drizzt and Entreri buried a dagger in their backs from halfway across the room.

The three turned to look toward the remaining two apprentices, having noted earlier that they were near the exit of the large foyer and wouldn't be surprised to find them retreating. The exact opposite was the case. They were reinforced.

Close to 20 students quickly filled the area in front of the exit. All the other doors led to rooms or deeper into the palace. The three fighters were standing out in the open and short of breath, nowhere to hide. The group in front of them smiled and prepared to cast.

At that moment, back in the cavern below, Deltrophan died.

The whole house shuddered, and a few apprentices fell to their knees. Though they weren't going to be able to cast for a few moments, they still blocked the exit . . . at least the traditional one. Drizzt led the trio toward one of the elaborate stained glass windows, hoping in mid-leap that panes weren't held in place with metalworking. They weren't.

As the three fighters crashed through the glass and landed in the suddenly dying and decaying forest surrounding the palace, fireballs and lightning bolts nipped at their heels. The attacks were a blessing in disguise, for with the trees around them suddenly assuming their actual age instead of the suspended life Deltrophan had kept them in, they caught fire as if they had been soaking in oil for the past millennia. The fire stayed behind them, shutting off any chance of pursuit.

Drizzt hacked through the collapsing forest around them till they found the now rotted boardwalk leading back to the beach. The boards could barely support their weight as they ran toward the coast. Drizzt used his elven grace and weight to his advantage, keeping himself from crashing through the rotted wood, while Druia and Entreri used common sense, keeping their footfalls over the studs supporting the planks.

The forest fire was quickly growing out of control all around them. With Icingdeath on his hip, Drizzt didn't fear the flames, but Druia and Entreri quickened their already hurried pace. The trio escaped just ahead of the fire as they emptied onto the beach. They all stopped. As distressing as the collapsing dock was, their more significant concern was that only the crow's nest of the rotted and sunken ship was visible above the waves.

Inside the bowels of the island, Styne tried to gain control of the situation. His army had seemed subjective to him after Deltrophan had died, but that was before the cavern had started to cave in. Styne quickly erected a stone skin around himself as a few rocks began to pelt him. He had to stop the decay. He needed to reinstall life into this dying island. It had been easy to do to himself and easy to do with Gunthor, but trying to wrestle with an entire island was a bit more challenging.

As with most islands, in the middle of nowhere, this one was an extinct volcano, and as the rest of the land died, the volcano was coming to life. Styne reached out to the screaming island to try and soothe its pain. As enormous as it seemed, the explosive power of an awakening volcano paled in comparison to that of life itself from which Styne drew his strength.

As Styne threw himself into the task, he paused as he felt a rock hit him in the head. The protection he had just erected had already been dispelled by the constant peppering of stones from the unstable ceiling. He erected a double stone skin and then went back to work to try and fix the unstable cavern.

Through a portal in the abyss, Errtu watched all the events unfold within the cavern. He was not happy. His ticket back to the physical realm hinged on Gunthor winning the tournament. Not only was Gunthor dead, but the tournament was gone too. Now he was watching Styne grow in power every second. He watched as he slowly wrestled the island back under control and knew that the powerful mage would never honor their arrangement now. Styne would be far more inclined to kill the demon than to end his banishment should he show himself on the island.

Errtu didn't like being cheated or lied to, but he also realized confronting Styne right now would not be the smartest thing he could do. The mage was wrestling with a volcano and winning. Instead, he reached through the portal, and using his minor telekinetic powers, tugged a bit at the unstable ceiling over Styne's head.

Back in the cavern, the rumbling quieted. The scrambling goblins and fighters slowly stopped their frenzied race for the exit and looked up at their new master. Styne slowly opened his eyes with his arms stretched out, absorbing the strength of the new life around him. He had done it! Against all odds, he had defeated the most powerful mage in the realms and taken his place of power. The whole world would now bow to him. He would have to answer to no-

A small pebble landed in his upturned hand. Styne regarded it contemplatively, realizing that his stoneskin spell must have expired. No matter. With Deltrophan's extensive spell library open to him now, he would be able to protect himself beyond his wildest dre-

A small shower of dirt and pebbles struck him in the head. As he brushed them out of his hair, he looked up just in time to see a chunk of rock the size of a building crush him to a pulp. Looking through his portal, Errtu laughed.

With Styne dead, the island exploded.

From the beach, the sight was spectacular. The island was already burning, and smoke filled the air, but when the top blew, the shock wave cleared the sky, and a vivid jet of lava rocketed into the atmosphere.

Drizzt, Entreri, and Druia were launched back into the water, their ears ringing from the explosion. The three of them watched in horror as the lava, ash, and debris arched high into the air, realizing with dread that it would have to come down soon.

"Quickly," Drizzt said, pulling Icingdeath from his sheath, "grab hold of my weapon; it will protect you from fire."

Entreri and Druia didn't move. Nothing was going to protect them from the destruction in front of them. Nothing short of a miracle. Drizzt's enthusiasm dissipated as he two realized his weapon wasn't going to help him.

In front of them, the trees burned and then were quickly extinguished as a flood of lava rolled over them. Glancing up at the sky, it would be a race to see which wave of destruction would hit them first. The trio slowly waded back into the water, hoping for minor protection from the coming onslaught.

"This is it," Entreri said soberly, as the sky darkened above and rocks began to splash down around them. The heat was intense, the sky burned, the water churned, and Drizzt couldn't watch. He fell backward into the water with his eyes closed, the sound of splashes all around him. This was not how it was supposed to end. This isn't what Thelania had hinted at. He was supposed to do great things yet with his life. Now his life had come to simply waiting for the end to wash over him.

It never did.

The sounds faded away around him as his mind began to drift. He was lying in the water a few inches from the bottom, gently rocking with the waves, oblivious to the commotion around him. It seemed as if he could hold his breath forever lying there comfortably. Soon it all disappeared, the water, the waves, the heat, everything. Outside, the sun finally dipped below the horizon. Soon it was only Drizzt and the peaceful calm.

Drizzt opened his eyes slowly. He lay there for quite a while before it even dawned on him that he should be trying to figure out where he was. He was in bed, his bed. He was in his cabin aboard the Sea Sprite. He sat up slowly and gently, his head a bit foggy. How did he get here? Where had he been?

"How do you feel?"

Coming from the darkness of his room, the voice would have scared most, but it was calm and lovely, not in the least bit startling. Thelania materialized at the foot of his bed. "How much do you remember?"

Drizzt paused in thought, staring at his sheets. "It all feels like a dream," he looked up, "but I suppose it wasn't." Thelania smiled, shaking her head. "And the others?"

"They are all waking up in their respective beds, wondering if what they remember was real or just a dream."

"Only they don't have their sponsors to confirm their memories," Drizzt reasoned. Drizzt sincerely hoped he would never meet Entreri again, but if he did, he wondered if this instance would ever come up. "What of the tournament?"

"It is over. You three were the only ones to escape from the island. That evil has been vanquished." She paused to make sure Drizzt knew she spoke the following line with full meaning. "Thank you, Drizzt Do'Urden."

Drizzt smiled. He appreciated praise and thanks, not because his ego demanded it, but because it let him know that his deeds and actions had meaning and influenced people's lives. No one would know what he had done here. Even those involved that escaped might not realize what happened. But Drizzt knew that Thelania knew, and that meant Mielikki knew. That was all that was important.

"Get some sleep," the ghaele said gently. "You deserve it."

As she disappeared, Drizzt lay down, rolled over, and drifted off to sleep.

The END

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