"Where are we boys?" Pwent asked his groggy group of Gutbusters. Pwent looked around. All round him the land was littered with bodies of kobolds. Some had arrows sticking out of them; some he noticed had fine slashes to their throats. This was the work of Bruenor and the gang. The question was where were they?
"How long have we been out?" Pwent asked the others as he pulled himself up from the ground. The rest of his brigade was also lying on the ground. He looked down at his side where an irritating stinging pain was shooting from. He pulled out a small quarrel.
"Drow." Was the only word he muttered. He threw the quarrel down and spat. Of all the luck. Drow! He angrily thought to himself. He knew that if it was indeed drow than Bruenor and his group was in a lot of trouble especially Drizzt. He yelled to his troops and they hurriedly began to search for Bruenor and his friends.
Catti-brie sat staring off into space. The impact of Drizzt's death was still hitting her. It couldn't be! How could one of such skill be downed so easily by some kobold? Given the odds they had been against it could be possible. Her heart ached for him. A single tear found its way down her cheek, but she didn't seem to notice. She found, in the midst of her mind, she was regretting not having spent more time with him. Where would they have been if they had become husband and wife? What could have been? How ironic it seemed to her. It didn't seem to help her current situation any. Across the room the man stirred.
"Well, I must go to finish some business, I won't be long, dear." He said. She grimaced visibly, but said nothing. He walked towards the door and muttered some words and he passed through the door. From somewhere outside the door she heard him say something about not being able to open the door without the magical password. What did she care? She sighed and let her despair wash over her again.
"Let's go boys!" Pwent yelled loudly to his troops as they began to frantically search for any tracks left by either Bruenor or the enemy that they could follow.
"Yer king needs ye!" Pwent shouted again making the Gutbusters search all the faster. He too joined in the search as was coming up with nothing. He was still tired from the drow poison and all he wanted to do was collapse but he couldn't let his king down. He said a quick prayer to Moradin and hoped he wasn't to late for Bruenor and his group.
"Drizzt! I'm so glad yer awake!" Bruenor said as happily as any dwarf could. Drizzt smiled weekly.
"How long have I been out?" He managed to ask. Bruenor turned to Wulfgar and Regis who both shrugged their shoulders. How he wished Catti-brie was here to tell him he was going to be all right. His gaze went from Bruenor all the way to Regis. They were still quite blurry and there seemed to be three of each of them. His thoughts drifted back to Catti-brie. He had to go find her!
Drizzt let the waves of nausea wash over him before he tried to stand upright. Wulfgar was just about to push him down but Drizzt waved him away.
"What are we waiting for? We have to find her. I saw those quarrels that were shot at Pwent as did you Bruenor. They were the same as any drow dart I have ever seen. If she got captured by the drow, judging what they did to me, I would never forgive myself." Drizzt said with a tone of finality. Bruenor looked at Wulfgar and shrugged his shoulders. They both knew their friend well. Once he had his mind set on something he was going to stick to it no matter the odds.
Drizzt began walking back to where he last remembered being so he could try to find any traces of where Catti-brie got dragged off to, if that was the case. He walked slowly to where they last had a conversation. He looked all around looking for traces when something caught his eye.
"This way!" He shouted to his companions. He half staggered half ran over to what he was looking at. His heart almost stopped at what he saw. It was Catti-brie's bow and sword stuck in a tree! He ran his good hand over it, as almost to make sure it was real. He grasped the sword firmly in his hand and he pulled on it with all of his might to get it out of the tree.
When he got it free something fell to the ground. He bent over and picked it up. It was some sort of message but before he had a chance to read it Bruenor quickly ripped it hard out of his hand. While Bruenor read the note quietly to himself, Drizzt rolled the sword over in his hand. There was blood on its fine edge. It wasn't kobold blood, that much Drizzt knew. It looked like human blood. Was it Catti-brie's? His mind reeled at the possibilities. Combined with his loss of blood and this new news Drizzt crumbled to the ground in a heap.
"Drizzt!" Regis called out to him as he leapt just in time to save Drizzt from hitting his head the ground. Drizzt's lavender eyes seemed to roll back into his head completely. Regis shook Drizzt and slapped his cheeks in an attempt to wake him up. Drizzt woke up and blinked a few times to try to clear his vision. His head throbbed and he couldn't seem to see any clearer.
"Are you all right?" Wulfgar asked with concern. Drizzt regarded him and nodded his head in response. He tried to get up again but Regis grabbed him. Regis gently slid Drizzt down to the ground as he began to pilfer through his supplies looking for his other flask of healing potion. He pulled it out triumphantly with a big smile on his face. He placed the flask on Drizzt's lips and he gently poured the liquid down his throat. Drizzt coughed as the potion started to take effect.
He could almost instantly feel his head stop its terrible throbbing. He opened his eyes and the ground was no longer spinning around him. His hand reached up to the wound on his shoulder, only to find that it had scabbed over.
"That is gonna leave a nasty scar." Bruenor commented. Drizzt nodded with a smile. "Are ye fit enough to continue on?" Bruenor asked Drizzt after he had reoriented himself. Drizzt nodded. "First I think ye should read this." Bruenor said as he held out the note that was held fast by Catti-brie's sword in the tree. Drizzt sat up and took the note.
"As the day grows long and comes to an end, Catti-brie must wonder if she shall ever see the sun again. The time of her death draws near. Do you know fear Drizzt Do'Urden?" Drizzt read the message and rage shook him to his very core. How could he lose the one he had come to love so much so fast! He closed his eyes and tried to take deep steady breaths.
He had to be calm so he could think, for Catti-brie's sake, but the only thing he could think of was that his evil heritage had caught up with him again. He took another deep breath to calm himself down. He opened his eyes again and looked at the message again. For some reason or another the handwriting looked awfully familiar to him but he couldn't place it. He finally calmed down enough so he could talk to Bruenor.
"Let's go get her!" He said defiantly with a hint of anger in his voice. He looked from Bruenor to Regis and Wulfgar who was starting a fire. Regis in turn looked at him and nodded his head in agreement. Wulfgar had his back turned towards the fire and he was prodding it with a stick.
"Let us make camp here tonight and get rested in order to go out tomorrow. Especially you Drizzt, you should not rush headlong in to something like that right after your head injury." Wulfgar said to Drizzt convincing him to rest. Regis nodded his head in agreement and started to prepare a meal for the group.
"If only I knew where to start." Drizzt muttered to himself as he wandered over to the campsite.
"Where are you Catti-brie? Where are you?" Drizzt asked the cloudless night sky.
Hmmm. So what is going to happen now? Hope you enjoyed. Please r/r. I would also like to say thank you to all of my reviewers. That means a lot to me. Thanks! Sorry about the bad editing jobs. ff.net doesn't seem to like to follow my setup... Sorry.