The catwalks above Skullport were eerily quiet, and free of people.
Liriel made her way silently along, and behind her came the very perturbed
ranger, muttering every now again about the justice-or lack thereof-in this
wretched city, muttering about the stench and filth of it, and cursing
explosively when he nearly stepped into a pile of waste-though what
creature had left behind the foul gift, exactly, was questionable. (And
anyone that knew Drizzt Do'Urden knew that he was normally unflappable,
stoic, and generally able to take whatever life threw at him. Still, one
should understand that the ranger was not only extremely worried about
Catti-brie, but was also completely out of his element, in every way,
shape, and form, in this place, and that produced an irritated, even
nervous, state).
"What's the matter? You're a ranger, aren't you? Aren't you used to dodging deer manure?" Liriel asked pleasantly over her shoulder.
The icy look he shot her would have frozen a white dragon in its place. Deciding, wisely, not to further bait the miserable ranger, the wizardess continued on her merry way, though she grinned widely as she did. She reveled in exasperating people-it was a challenge... though, admittedly, Drizzt wasn't much of a challenge in his foul mood. Too easy to bait... far too easy.
"That's Dalagor's Fortress," she said suddenly, stopping. "Full of zombies, ghouls, skeletons, and vampires."
"Definitely sounds like a fun place," Drizzt replied sarcastically. He glanced at the decaying, run-down stone fortress with only mild interest. "And what about Shobolar?"
"Over there," she replied, pointing to a catwalk-and the stone building beyond it-opposite of the fortress.
"Having a neighbor like Dalagor must bring down the value of one's house," the ranger noted dryly. Liriel turned to him in surprise-it was really the first light-hearted thing he had said since their impromptu meeting-and then she laughed.
"I bet it does," she agreed, and started along another catwalk, moving pointedly away from Dalagor's wretched home. Drizzt fell easily into step beside her.
"We really have to watch out for tra-" Liriel started to warn.
There was a snapping sound, like a rope brought to the breaking point, and before Liriel could even finish her ironic warning-though she, of course, hadn't meant it ironically-the two drow were swept off their feet and found themselves tangled together, caught in a very thin netting that swung easily on a metal arm attached to some mechanism just above. Liriel and Drizzt, having shouted in surprise when caught in the trap, froze, for the net had swung away from the catwalk, and left them dangling several hundred feet above the floor of Skullport... with only a very thin netting below them that was even now beginning to strain in protest of even their slight weights.
"You know," Liriel mused philosophically, "being tangled up with Drizzt Do'Urden in tight confines might be considered very pleasant for some people I know. I bet I could find a lot of females who would kill to be in my place right now."
"Yes, well, I would really like to be wherever they are right about now myself," he said through gritted teeth. The rope was giving way underneath him, and any moment now they were going to go plunging down, and short of Liriel pulling a wizardly miracle out of the sack on her belt, the two of them would soon become decorative stains on the sidewalk below.
It could only be an improvement in this place, Drizzt thought with dark humor.
"You know, you're on top-" the ranger started absently, his eyes focused on the catwalk nearby.
"Oh, yes, I know," she interrupted, and leered down at him. Despite the situation, despite Catti-brie and Fyodor and worry over them, despite the misery of Skullport... Drizzt had the urge to laugh. At least if they were going to lose their lives... she knew how to find the upside of every situation.
"-And since you are," he continued, though he did smile at her, "when the rope snaps, you can probably push off of me and grab hold of the catwalk-"
"Aye. And leave you to plummet to your death," she noted calmly.
"I trust you to come to my rescue, Princess, with your awesome wizardly powers."
"Yes, Drizzt Do'Urden, do hold your breath on the way down," she answered sarcastically. At that moment, there came a soft flash of light from the catwalk, and the drow companions looked up to see their quarry-and tormentor-standing calmly there, grinning at them.
"How can you two be so stupid... so utterly stupid as to have walked into a trap not even meant for you but for conventional thieves... and still have dodged the greatest powers of Menzoberranzan, of Lloth herself?" he asked rhetorically. Liriel answered anyway.
"Tymora's luck?" she asked innocently, golden eyes wide.
"It would have to be," Mat'irel Shobolar said, nodding. "And so you see now how depending on anyone but glorious Mother Lloth is pure folly."
"Poor, insane, fanatical slave of Lloth," Drizzt sighed, shaking his head in mock sympathy. The wizard's dark face twisted with rage. "I will enjoy torturing you!" he screamed and whirled away to stomp back towards his house. He snapped his fingers, too... and Liriel and Drizzt were enveloped in a bright silver light and experienced a moment of weightlessness... then gravity came back into play and they went crashing down some five feet to land heavily on the marble floor of some small room. Drizzt landed with a heavy oof and a groan as he broke Liriel's fall.
"I knew you were good for something besides complaining," the wizardess said brightly, rolling off of him and bouncing quickly to her feet. Drizzt, now with a backache as well as a headache, had a brief, satisfying vision of strangling Liriel Baenre and thus silencing her sassy mouth. Then the ranger slowly pulled himself to a sitting position.
"Drizzt!" came a cry, and both drow looked up to see an auburn- haired, lovely young woman sitting up in her cot, blue eyes wide in surprise. "Drizzt, I was so worried ye might o' been dead!"
Catti-brie slid from the cot and raced to his side as he rose, embracing him deeply in her relief, and he, too, embraced her, glad that his fair Catti-brie was unharmed.
"I thought for certain that damned wizard would hurt you," Drizzt murmured, not wishing to let her go. How he loved this woman, she who had been his true friend for so long!
Nearby, another reunion was taking place as well. Liriel could have cried from the relief of hugging her beloved Fyodor, for the handsome young warrior was indeed there, safe and sound. He swept the small drow female into his arms, his own fears that she had been harmed or killed allayed.
"How touching," came a sarcastic voice, and all four prisoners looked up to see Mat'irel Shobolar standing on the other side of the bars of their cell, looking utterly disgusted.
"How can it be that dark elves-such beautiful and wonderful creatures that we are-could possibly lower themselves to feeling anything for these wretched, pitiful, creatures called humans?" the wizard asked.
"I pity you, Mat'irel. You do not understand the concept of love," Drizzt told him. "And from the looks of it... you never will understand. How empty your life must be."
"Fah! Such a thing as you describe is weakness! Look at you... you could be free and well, and yet, in the name of this thing you call love... here you are, trapped in my home, soon to be tortured and eventually to be sacrificed for the glory of Lloth," the wizard snorted.
"Lloth will never possess me," Drizzt replied.
"Such arrogance!" Shobolar snapped, red eyes narrowing in anger. "I will enjoy torturing it out of you."
"Do as you will... in the end, you can only lose," the ranger answered. His utter certainty enraged the wizard beyond anything imaginable. But he wasn't so far gone into his rage that he did not know exactly where to strike the ranger where it hurt.
"And when you are gone... I will be sure to enjoy every gold coin I make off of selling your dear Catti-brie as a slave," he said. It was the only thing that could have broken that stoic shell. Drizzt's lavender eyes suddenly filled with unbridled fury, and for a moment it seemed he would explode into a berserker rage. The enemy wizard smiled coldly.
"Sit tight, my prizes... I have to contact my matron mother... and let her know my job is completed. Fools that you are, Drizzt Do'Urden and Liriel Baenre... your weak feelings have brought about your destruction." With that final parting shot, he turned and was gone. Liriel, previously seated on the cot, leaped lithely to her feet.
"Well, that was fun. Now, I think introductions are in order. Drizzt, this is Fyodor of Rashemen, Fyodor... this is Drizzt Do'Urden... who thus far has done nothing but complain."
"Liriel, this is Catti-brie of Clan Battlehammer. Catti-brie... this is Liriel Baenre... who thus far has attempted to kill me at least once and who nearly got me killed by walking into a trap," Drizzt replied. Liriel laughed and greeted the young woman, who looked from one drow to the other curiously, wondering at their relationship. Drizzt, in turn, greeted the dark-haired young warrior.
"Not to overstate the obvious, but it appears we have a problem," Liriel announced when the four were seated in pairs across from each other.
"I haven't a clue why House Shobolar would be chasing me... unless it is merely to gain the favor of Lloth," Drizzt said absently.
"That would be it," Liriel said, nodding grimly. "I'd say the same, but I also have a personal tie to Shobolar... they raised me and taught me to be a wizard... and in the end forced me to attack my teacher. But I imagine the hunt for me was decreed by Lloth, too."
"I would imagine that the goddess is angry... by your betrayal of her, while on Ruathym," Fyodor said. Liriel nodded grimly. Since Drizzt and Catti-brie looked puzzled, she quickly explained how she had forsaken Lloth in the midst of a battle.
"A traitor to the priestesshood? You have my respect more than ever, Liriel Baenre," Drizzt said when she was done. "I did not think anyone could survive such a thing."
"Well, you see where it got me," Liriel replied grimly, motioning to their bare cell.
"But there is still a way out. Mat'irel has erred... and quite seriously, too," Drizzt said. The other three looked at him curiously.
"How so?" the berserker warrior finally asked.
"Liriel and I still have all our possessions... Liriel has all her wizardly needs, I have my blades, and more importantly... I carry with me a companion that will aid our cause greatly."
"Guenhwyvar!" Catti-brie cried happily. "Stupid wizard!"
"What's a guen-whatever?" Liriel asked, blinking.
"Guenhwyvar is a friend," Drizzt explained. "But first... we have to find a way out of this cell."
"No doors... no locks," Liriel noted.
"That is hardly a problem for a wizard." Liriel considered this, then nodded and rose.
"I only have one such spell, and that will only get two of us through," she replied. She grinned at her fellow drow, seeing the eager fires suddenly burning in his lavender eyes.
"If yer thinkin' yer going off alone, ye've got another thing coming, Drizzt Do'Urden," Catti-brie warned. Before he could reply, the drow girl interrupted.
"Do you have a better idea? Because if you do, I'm listening. And if you don't, then you and Fyodor sit tight... this is our battle anyway. Shobolar came after us... you and Fyodor were just the bait," she pointed out.
"I hate to admit it, but she has a point, Catti-brie," Fyodor said calmly... though he felt anything but calm. His worry for his beloved shone in his dark eyes as he turned to her. "Tread carefully, Little Raven... it would be a dark day on Faerun if your smile was lost forever." Catti-brie took Drizzt's hand in her own, her bright blue eyes looking up at him worriedly. A moment of silent communication passed between them, then she let him go.
Liriel and Drizzt moved closer to the bars of the cell, even as she began to softly intone the words of magic. The warrior reached into a pouch at his belt and held the onyx figurine of a panther tightly in his hand.
A moment later the dark elves felt a momentary sensation of displacement, followed by a bright flash of light, and then... a scorching jolt of agony ripped through both. Liriel and Drizzt screamed in pain as the energy tore through them... then released them as suddenly as it had come, allowing them to collapse to the cold stone floor. The panther figurine clattered away from nerveless dark hands.
"Fools! Did you think it would be that easy!" Mat'irel Shobolar roared, appearing in the doorway. "Do you not think I would have anticipated an escape attempt? For your arrogance, and in the name of Lloth, I will kill you both now, slowly!"
"Guenhwyvar, come to me," Drizzt whispered, even as the wizard advanced on them, quietly intoning some deadly spell. The shocking energy field they had inadvertently walked right into had left the two drow stunned. By all rights, Mat'irel Shobolar should have had his favor in the eyes of Lloth right then and there.
Except that six hundred pounds of fur and claws were suddenly leaping at him with a mighty roar. In the middle of his spellcasting, Shobolar interrupted himself with a scream and a sudden, and intelligent, decision to leave the room. The great panther chased after him effortlessly.
"Now that is a useful little toy," Liriel noted calmly. Slowly, feeling was coming back into her body, and she forced herself to rise.
"Hardly a toy," Drizzt muttered, also managing to rise and all the while picking up the precious figurine. "Liriel, why didn't you check for any restraining magic around here?"
"I did. But he is a Shobolar, Drizzt... they are good... very good," she replied. She grinned then. "Not good enough, though. Shall we? After you." She nodded at the door through which the wizard-and the panther-had disappeared.
"Brains before beauty, of course," the ranger replied light- heartedly, motioning her to precede him. Liriel chuckled and did so, trotting out the door after a wink at Fyodor and Catti-brie, who gazed after them in concern from the cell.
"What? Drizzt Do'Urden actually has a sense of humor?" the wizard asked.
"Occasionally," the ranger allowed. "Come... I hear Guenhwyvar growling."
"What's the matter? You're a ranger, aren't you? Aren't you used to dodging deer manure?" Liriel asked pleasantly over her shoulder.
The icy look he shot her would have frozen a white dragon in its place. Deciding, wisely, not to further bait the miserable ranger, the wizardess continued on her merry way, though she grinned widely as she did. She reveled in exasperating people-it was a challenge... though, admittedly, Drizzt wasn't much of a challenge in his foul mood. Too easy to bait... far too easy.
"That's Dalagor's Fortress," she said suddenly, stopping. "Full of zombies, ghouls, skeletons, and vampires."
"Definitely sounds like a fun place," Drizzt replied sarcastically. He glanced at the decaying, run-down stone fortress with only mild interest. "And what about Shobolar?"
"Over there," she replied, pointing to a catwalk-and the stone building beyond it-opposite of the fortress.
"Having a neighbor like Dalagor must bring down the value of one's house," the ranger noted dryly. Liriel turned to him in surprise-it was really the first light-hearted thing he had said since their impromptu meeting-and then she laughed.
"I bet it does," she agreed, and started along another catwalk, moving pointedly away from Dalagor's wretched home. Drizzt fell easily into step beside her.
"We really have to watch out for tra-" Liriel started to warn.
There was a snapping sound, like a rope brought to the breaking point, and before Liriel could even finish her ironic warning-though she, of course, hadn't meant it ironically-the two drow were swept off their feet and found themselves tangled together, caught in a very thin netting that swung easily on a metal arm attached to some mechanism just above. Liriel and Drizzt, having shouted in surprise when caught in the trap, froze, for the net had swung away from the catwalk, and left them dangling several hundred feet above the floor of Skullport... with only a very thin netting below them that was even now beginning to strain in protest of even their slight weights.
"You know," Liriel mused philosophically, "being tangled up with Drizzt Do'Urden in tight confines might be considered very pleasant for some people I know. I bet I could find a lot of females who would kill to be in my place right now."
"Yes, well, I would really like to be wherever they are right about now myself," he said through gritted teeth. The rope was giving way underneath him, and any moment now they were going to go plunging down, and short of Liriel pulling a wizardly miracle out of the sack on her belt, the two of them would soon become decorative stains on the sidewalk below.
It could only be an improvement in this place, Drizzt thought with dark humor.
"You know, you're on top-" the ranger started absently, his eyes focused on the catwalk nearby.
"Oh, yes, I know," she interrupted, and leered down at him. Despite the situation, despite Catti-brie and Fyodor and worry over them, despite the misery of Skullport... Drizzt had the urge to laugh. At least if they were going to lose their lives... she knew how to find the upside of every situation.
"-And since you are," he continued, though he did smile at her, "when the rope snaps, you can probably push off of me and grab hold of the catwalk-"
"Aye. And leave you to plummet to your death," she noted calmly.
"I trust you to come to my rescue, Princess, with your awesome wizardly powers."
"Yes, Drizzt Do'Urden, do hold your breath on the way down," she answered sarcastically. At that moment, there came a soft flash of light from the catwalk, and the drow companions looked up to see their quarry-and tormentor-standing calmly there, grinning at them.
"How can you two be so stupid... so utterly stupid as to have walked into a trap not even meant for you but for conventional thieves... and still have dodged the greatest powers of Menzoberranzan, of Lloth herself?" he asked rhetorically. Liriel answered anyway.
"Tymora's luck?" she asked innocently, golden eyes wide.
"It would have to be," Mat'irel Shobolar said, nodding. "And so you see now how depending on anyone but glorious Mother Lloth is pure folly."
"Poor, insane, fanatical slave of Lloth," Drizzt sighed, shaking his head in mock sympathy. The wizard's dark face twisted with rage. "I will enjoy torturing you!" he screamed and whirled away to stomp back towards his house. He snapped his fingers, too... and Liriel and Drizzt were enveloped in a bright silver light and experienced a moment of weightlessness... then gravity came back into play and they went crashing down some five feet to land heavily on the marble floor of some small room. Drizzt landed with a heavy oof and a groan as he broke Liriel's fall.
"I knew you were good for something besides complaining," the wizardess said brightly, rolling off of him and bouncing quickly to her feet. Drizzt, now with a backache as well as a headache, had a brief, satisfying vision of strangling Liriel Baenre and thus silencing her sassy mouth. Then the ranger slowly pulled himself to a sitting position.
"Drizzt!" came a cry, and both drow looked up to see an auburn- haired, lovely young woman sitting up in her cot, blue eyes wide in surprise. "Drizzt, I was so worried ye might o' been dead!"
Catti-brie slid from the cot and raced to his side as he rose, embracing him deeply in her relief, and he, too, embraced her, glad that his fair Catti-brie was unharmed.
"I thought for certain that damned wizard would hurt you," Drizzt murmured, not wishing to let her go. How he loved this woman, she who had been his true friend for so long!
Nearby, another reunion was taking place as well. Liriel could have cried from the relief of hugging her beloved Fyodor, for the handsome young warrior was indeed there, safe and sound. He swept the small drow female into his arms, his own fears that she had been harmed or killed allayed.
"How touching," came a sarcastic voice, and all four prisoners looked up to see Mat'irel Shobolar standing on the other side of the bars of their cell, looking utterly disgusted.
"How can it be that dark elves-such beautiful and wonderful creatures that we are-could possibly lower themselves to feeling anything for these wretched, pitiful, creatures called humans?" the wizard asked.
"I pity you, Mat'irel. You do not understand the concept of love," Drizzt told him. "And from the looks of it... you never will understand. How empty your life must be."
"Fah! Such a thing as you describe is weakness! Look at you... you could be free and well, and yet, in the name of this thing you call love... here you are, trapped in my home, soon to be tortured and eventually to be sacrificed for the glory of Lloth," the wizard snorted.
"Lloth will never possess me," Drizzt replied.
"Such arrogance!" Shobolar snapped, red eyes narrowing in anger. "I will enjoy torturing it out of you."
"Do as you will... in the end, you can only lose," the ranger answered. His utter certainty enraged the wizard beyond anything imaginable. But he wasn't so far gone into his rage that he did not know exactly where to strike the ranger where it hurt.
"And when you are gone... I will be sure to enjoy every gold coin I make off of selling your dear Catti-brie as a slave," he said. It was the only thing that could have broken that stoic shell. Drizzt's lavender eyes suddenly filled with unbridled fury, and for a moment it seemed he would explode into a berserker rage. The enemy wizard smiled coldly.
"Sit tight, my prizes... I have to contact my matron mother... and let her know my job is completed. Fools that you are, Drizzt Do'Urden and Liriel Baenre... your weak feelings have brought about your destruction." With that final parting shot, he turned and was gone. Liriel, previously seated on the cot, leaped lithely to her feet.
"Well, that was fun. Now, I think introductions are in order. Drizzt, this is Fyodor of Rashemen, Fyodor... this is Drizzt Do'Urden... who thus far has done nothing but complain."
"Liriel, this is Catti-brie of Clan Battlehammer. Catti-brie... this is Liriel Baenre... who thus far has attempted to kill me at least once and who nearly got me killed by walking into a trap," Drizzt replied. Liriel laughed and greeted the young woman, who looked from one drow to the other curiously, wondering at their relationship. Drizzt, in turn, greeted the dark-haired young warrior.
"Not to overstate the obvious, but it appears we have a problem," Liriel announced when the four were seated in pairs across from each other.
"I haven't a clue why House Shobolar would be chasing me... unless it is merely to gain the favor of Lloth," Drizzt said absently.
"That would be it," Liriel said, nodding grimly. "I'd say the same, but I also have a personal tie to Shobolar... they raised me and taught me to be a wizard... and in the end forced me to attack my teacher. But I imagine the hunt for me was decreed by Lloth, too."
"I would imagine that the goddess is angry... by your betrayal of her, while on Ruathym," Fyodor said. Liriel nodded grimly. Since Drizzt and Catti-brie looked puzzled, she quickly explained how she had forsaken Lloth in the midst of a battle.
"A traitor to the priestesshood? You have my respect more than ever, Liriel Baenre," Drizzt said when she was done. "I did not think anyone could survive such a thing."
"Well, you see where it got me," Liriel replied grimly, motioning to their bare cell.
"But there is still a way out. Mat'irel has erred... and quite seriously, too," Drizzt said. The other three looked at him curiously.
"How so?" the berserker warrior finally asked.
"Liriel and I still have all our possessions... Liriel has all her wizardly needs, I have my blades, and more importantly... I carry with me a companion that will aid our cause greatly."
"Guenhwyvar!" Catti-brie cried happily. "Stupid wizard!"
"What's a guen-whatever?" Liriel asked, blinking.
"Guenhwyvar is a friend," Drizzt explained. "But first... we have to find a way out of this cell."
"No doors... no locks," Liriel noted.
"That is hardly a problem for a wizard." Liriel considered this, then nodded and rose.
"I only have one such spell, and that will only get two of us through," she replied. She grinned at her fellow drow, seeing the eager fires suddenly burning in his lavender eyes.
"If yer thinkin' yer going off alone, ye've got another thing coming, Drizzt Do'Urden," Catti-brie warned. Before he could reply, the drow girl interrupted.
"Do you have a better idea? Because if you do, I'm listening. And if you don't, then you and Fyodor sit tight... this is our battle anyway. Shobolar came after us... you and Fyodor were just the bait," she pointed out.
"I hate to admit it, but she has a point, Catti-brie," Fyodor said calmly... though he felt anything but calm. His worry for his beloved shone in his dark eyes as he turned to her. "Tread carefully, Little Raven... it would be a dark day on Faerun if your smile was lost forever." Catti-brie took Drizzt's hand in her own, her bright blue eyes looking up at him worriedly. A moment of silent communication passed between them, then she let him go.
Liriel and Drizzt moved closer to the bars of the cell, even as she began to softly intone the words of magic. The warrior reached into a pouch at his belt and held the onyx figurine of a panther tightly in his hand.
A moment later the dark elves felt a momentary sensation of displacement, followed by a bright flash of light, and then... a scorching jolt of agony ripped through both. Liriel and Drizzt screamed in pain as the energy tore through them... then released them as suddenly as it had come, allowing them to collapse to the cold stone floor. The panther figurine clattered away from nerveless dark hands.
"Fools! Did you think it would be that easy!" Mat'irel Shobolar roared, appearing in the doorway. "Do you not think I would have anticipated an escape attempt? For your arrogance, and in the name of Lloth, I will kill you both now, slowly!"
"Guenhwyvar, come to me," Drizzt whispered, even as the wizard advanced on them, quietly intoning some deadly spell. The shocking energy field they had inadvertently walked right into had left the two drow stunned. By all rights, Mat'irel Shobolar should have had his favor in the eyes of Lloth right then and there.
Except that six hundred pounds of fur and claws were suddenly leaping at him with a mighty roar. In the middle of his spellcasting, Shobolar interrupted himself with a scream and a sudden, and intelligent, decision to leave the room. The great panther chased after him effortlessly.
"Now that is a useful little toy," Liriel noted calmly. Slowly, feeling was coming back into her body, and she forced herself to rise.
"Hardly a toy," Drizzt muttered, also managing to rise and all the while picking up the precious figurine. "Liriel, why didn't you check for any restraining magic around here?"
"I did. But he is a Shobolar, Drizzt... they are good... very good," she replied. She grinned then. "Not good enough, though. Shall we? After you." She nodded at the door through which the wizard-and the panther-had disappeared.
"Brains before beauty, of course," the ranger replied light- heartedly, motioning her to precede him. Liriel chuckled and did so, trotting out the door after a wink at Fyodor and Catti-brie, who gazed after them in concern from the cell.
"What? Drizzt Do'Urden actually has a sense of humor?" the wizard asked.
"Occasionally," the ranger allowed. "Come... I hear Guenhwyvar growling."
