Guenhwyvar paced back and forth around the footprints that she had led Drizzt to.
Drizzt came down on one knee and he took a closer look at one of the prints. To his
surprise they were indeed human footprints roughly around the size of Catti-brie's. The
others unnerved him more than a little. They were so light that any other ranger might not
have spotted them, unless they were drow. These footprints were very narrow and short,
much like the size of Drizzt's own foot. These prints were made with a hard-soled boot
rather than a soft soled one like a surface elf would have worn. There was no doubt in
Drizzt's mind that these were indeed drow prints. On a higher point the prints were only
about a week old. Drizzt pulled up from his crouch and he rubbed Guenhwyvar on the
neck.
"Good job Guen! Let's see if these prints will lead us anywhere." With that last
comment Drizzt began running along following the footprints with Guenhwyvar at his
side.
# # # # # # # #
"You fool! Why in the nine hells did you ever reveal yourself to her! You know
of my plans! If she tells the drow he will chase us to the ends of the realms! She is smart
enough to realize who you associate with!" The dark figure screamed at his drow
associate.
"I was only adding a bit of intrigue to this other wise dull plan." Jarlaxle calmly
added to the man's great irritation.
"You stupid fool! I… I…" the man stammered to a stop. He glared at Jarlaxle but
he didn't try to continue.
"Besides, my dear friend, we are partners are we not?" Jarlaxle asked teasingly to
the man. The shadowy figure just glared at him and stalked away. How his associate had
changed since he found all this power. Jarlaxle mused to himself. Perhaps this should be
corrected with a dose of humility.
# # # # # # # # #
"What should I do now?" The man asked a seemingly empty room. He was
answered telepathically.
"You could do as I told you to begin with and get rid of the girl. You do not need
her."
"The point of getting her was so I could get to Drizzt!" The man angrily shouted
in the room as he began to pace back and forth yet again.
"Who needs revenge when you can have all the power anyone has ever desired!"
the voice in his head replied.
"I want revenge on the damnable drow first!" The man shouted angrier than ever.
He stalked out of the room with his fists balled in rage.
Jarlaxle met him halfway down the hall. He stopped him instantly. He had a
request to make to the man.
"I am going to take the prisoner and question her more and see if she knows the
whereabouts of the drow." The man looked back at him with beady eyes and he grunted
his reply.
"I will take that for a yes." Jarlaxle muttered to himself as he walked towards the
holding quarters.
# # # # # # # #
Drizzt was bounding quickly down the trail following the footprints, happier now
than he had been since the trip began. He was totally unaware he was being followed.
"What is it Guen?" Drizzt asked the panther as he noticed her growling softly. He
looked around and he saw something moving in the brush nearby him. He snapped out
his scimitars as he went over to investigate the noise. To his relief all he found was a
rabbit hopping around. Chuckling at his foolishness he put his scimitars back in place at
his hips.
Behind him a lone figure stalked as quiet as death following him, and waiting for
the perfect moment to attack. The figure's footsteps were light and practiced for covert
missions such as this one.
"Come on Guen. It was just a rabbit nothing more you silly thing." Drizzt said as
he playfully grabbed the panther's mouth. The panther seemed to be a little more ease but
was still tense. What was wrong with his panther friend, Drizzt had to wonder. He
continued on down the path with more attentiveness. His hands were placed protectively
on the hilts of his scimitars.
Unknown to Drizzt the figure crept up slowly behind him without even the tiniest
sound. Soon he was behind Drizzt and he was posed to deal out the killing blow.
Guenhwyvar called out a warning as she leapt to intercept the blow that was about to sink
deep into Drizzt's skull. The figure expecting this much, and pulled a sack from his belt
and threw it in the panther's direction. The panther soon became a mist as she was
returned to the Astral plane. With out missing a beat the assassin continued his attack on
Drizzt.
Drizzt managed to turn around just in time to intercept the second blade that was
aimed at his head. The parry rang out strong and clear. Drizzt looked at his attacker. His
eyes widened as he saw the figure was a drow warrior. The wicked drow smiled evilly at
Drizzt and slashed his other blade low hoping the Drizzt was still paralyzed with shock.
That was indeed not the case.
A red-hot anger surged through Drizzt. His scimitars slashed angrily at his
opponent.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded angrily at his opponent as he came in
again slashing his scimitars to and fro. His opponent said nothing to hint one way or
another.
"What do you want? Do you have Catti-brie?" He demanded as he lost his stoic
composure, which didn't happen very often.
At the mention of Catti-brie's name the evil drow laughed wickedly. He looked at
Drizzt directly in the eyes for the first time.
"You think I would let you know? Nay, stupid fool, I have come here to end your
pitiful life, iblith lover." He sneered in the surface tongue. The word iblith caught
Drizzt's attention. In the drow tongue it meant offal; someone not on the same level as
the drow. In most cases it was used to describe a human, a race drow considered to be
beneath them. This could only mean Catti-brie. How did this drow know of her? Another
thing he noticed is that this drow spoke common, something not many drow could do.
Just then Drizzt heard the telltale click of a hand crossbow being fired. He
instinctively went into a roll to miss the quarrel. He heard the quarrel hit the ground
where he was once standing. Drizzt got up from the roll and took off running. How many
were there, Drizzt wondered.
He kept running down the trail for several minutes. He finally turned his head
around to see if he could see his pursuers. To his surprise, he saw nothing. He quickly
skidded to a stop and looked around. Then he heard yet another click from a hand
crossbow only this time he saw which direction it had come from. After swerving off to
the side Drizzt ran full tilt towards the direction he saw the quarrel come shooting from.
He let out a low growl as he crashed into the branches and into a clearing. He
stopped suddenly and looked all around him. He saw no one until he heard laughter. He
spun around to find himself looking at a colorful drow mercenary, Jarlaxle.
Jarlaxle stopped laughing abruptly and looked straight at Drizzt. Drizzt equally
matched his stare and his hands slowly went to the hilts of Twinkle and Icingdeath.
"There is no need dear friend." Jarlaxle called out to Drizzt from his comfortable
position leaning on a tree.
"What do you want from me, Jarlaxle?" Drizzt asked with his voice dripping with
venom. Jarlaxle laughed again at Drizzt.
"I want nothing from you Drizzt Do'Urden. In fact the irony is, is that you will
want something from me!" Jarlaxle blurted out with another laugh. Drizzt looked at him
with a genuine look of confusion on his face.
"My dear Drizzt, have you no mental capacity to think?" Jarlaxle asked the still
confused Drizzt. Jarlaxle rolled his eyes and sighed rather loudly.
"Think Drizzt Do'Urden, think! The drow you were fighting was indeed one of
my many fellow warriors. One of them said something that got you upset, did it not?"
Drizzt's eyes grew wide as he realized what Jarlaxle was telling him.
"Where is she?" He cried in all desperation. He reached for his scimitars and he
pulled them out in front of him and he stalked menacingly towards Jarlaxle. "I'll ask you
one more time. Where is Catti-brie?"
"Well…" Jarlaxle said biding his time. He calmly and absentmindedly started
picking at one of his nails. Drizzt got up right in his face, but Jarlaxle didn't pay him any
mind.
"Where in the nine hells is she Jarlaxle?" Drizzt demanded again. Jarlaxle finally
looked up at Drizzt with disinterest.
"I know where she is but you will have to agree to be my prisoner to get to her."
Drizzt was about to protest but Jarlaxle held up his hand stopping him as he continued.
"That is the only way you can get in. I know that you are desperate to get to her so you
will have to do it my way." The calculating mercenary deducted.
"How can I trust you? From the sounds of it, it seems you are working for her
captor." Drizzt rounded on the mercenary.
"I figured that much so that is why I brought this along." Quicker than Drizzt's
reflexes, Jarlaxle pulled out a hand bow and fired it at Drizzt. The quarrel hit Drizzt and
the poison quickly spread. He slowly fell to the ground.
"Pick him up." Jarlaxle commanded one of his comrades that stepped out from the
trees. This was going to make for an interesting trip, Jarlaxle mused.
apologies to my readers. I'm sorry about the crappy format for one. I am going to try
uploading in different formats and see if that clears the problem up. A few of you have
mentioned it and honestly I didn't realize it was happening. So sorry about the stupid big
confusing paragraphs. I will try to fix all of the chapters shortly. I also apologize for
taking so long to update, but I hope you enjoyed it never the less. Please review. Thanks!
Wow, long author note…