Light in the Darkness
Chapter Seventeen
The guards were usually ready for anything but one thing: the anger of Alustriel, and the escape of a prisoner was enough to get her into that frightening state. For the two guards that were on duty in the prisons during the last night, they were now facing that nightmare.
"Did he break down the bars before knocking you both unconscious!" Lady Alustriel asked, her voice low and even, the tone that usually meant her anger was peaked.
The guard to her right cowered before her, the one to her left only slightly less. "No, my Lady...he...he broke through the wall into the cell next to his and used the open door. He...hit us before we could stop him, fled out the door and...well, he must have escaped through a window and scaled the wall."
Alustriel closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Why was it of late nothing turned out correctly? Everything seemed to turn into a bad situation. Now, the werewolf that had been prisoner, had not only escaped but had been able to flee the city and possibly head straight to his Bloodmaster. With Drizzt off with a small guard and his charges going to Nesme, the other Companions of the Hall gone back to Mithral Hall to fix whatever problem Bruenor had in the mines, and Tarathiel staying with Lyavain in the Healing Ward, there was only her army protecting the town...and that just didn't feel enough at the present time.
"Gather some more men. I want that creature caught and put down as soon as possible," she said demandingly of the two guards that had unintentionally let her, and possibly all the people of Silverymoon, down. The two guards saluted before turning around and leaving her to her thoughts.
Walking over to her chair, she sat with her back hunched, her head held in her hands in a rare show of uncertainty. What was she to do if there were more attacks? With more of her knights gone out of the city now, she was leaving herself and all the people under her protection in more danger than she had since the drow invasion years earlier.
She refused to let her people die. She would hunt down this werewolf until he was dead, and then find a way to make sure that her city was made more safe than it has been in a while.
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The land was different to what he remembered, but of course, last time he had been on this road he had been able to see all the nature about him. Now all he had was his hearing, his sense of smell and his increasingly sharpening sense of touch.
A small sniff beside him roused him completely from the sleep he had just come out of. Tomas, his young charge, must have just woken up himself. The feel of a small hand thudding against his back made him smile. The muttered sorry that followed made him chuckle.
"Tomas, are you up now?" Liliandra, commonly known as Lily and the mother to the small boy, asked.
"Aye. I'm sorry for hitting you, Drizzt," the boy said, his voice still rough with sleep. The boy shifted again, this time getting up out of the warmth of his bedroll and climbing to his feet, before wandering off behind a tree to relieve himself.
The general shuffle of the four guards with him, making sure he kept to the path while on the walk, kept him from going back to sleep. Giving in to his own body's need to move or cramp up, he stretched out his legs and got to his feet. He kept himself busy by packing up his own bedroll and tying it to the top of his pack, pulling out a bit of bread and slowly chewed on the food. He could hear the shuffle about him as Tomas came back, ready for his own breakfast bread and slowly ate what was given to him.
"How long until we get to Nesmé, Ma?" asked the boy, the question asked in such a way that it sounded like he didn't want to ever reach the place, happy with being in the wilds. Tomas reminded Drizzt of himself just that bit more for that. The boy truly would make an excellent ranger, or perhaps even a druid.
"Another day's walk and we should arrive at the town," Lily replied, making Drizzt nod silently. He just hoped he didn't hold the group back when they had to cross the river to get there.
"We are going to see Da's family...his brother is my uncle! Hehe, do you know why they are called Uncle's Drizzt?" Tomas asked loudly, excited at the prospect of seeing family he never had before.
"No, I do not, perhaps it is just the way things are. A lot of things are like that," he replied, smiling at the childish exuberance that he wanted in his own life. An image of Catti-brie holding a child with dark skin and her blue eyes took his breath away. How he still longed for her!
Shaking his head free of the rather comforting, yet odd, thought, Drizzt gathered everyone close to him, before settling down into the last days' walk to the town. He missed this dearly! Being out in the woods, no one but who he was travelling with and the trees and animals to keep him company. If only he could see all that about himthis would have been perfect!
"Drizzt, look what I found!" came the excited voice of Tomas from a bit ahead of the rest of the small group.
"What is it?" he asked, as the boy knew he couldn't see.
"A small lizard! It's yellow, I've never seen a yellow lizard before!" The wonder in that voice made Drizzt fully laugh out loud and he noticed it had been a long time since he had truly been in this good a cheer.
"Put the lizard down now, sweet," Lily said to the boy and after an awkward minute of silence, Tomas made a decision.
"No Ma, I want to keep it. See? It likes me!"
And the boy was right. Using his own gift with animals, something he had not used in quite a while, he could feel that the lizard did indeed like the boy. "Well, all pets and animal companions need a name, Tomas," he stated, making sure that it was alright and that the lizard was safe and harmless for Liliandra's sake.
Silence reigned again for quite a few long minutes until the boy spoke aloud again. "Her name is Ivory."
Drizzt smiled and nodded. He had been able to tell it was a female by the feel of it, but that Tomas could too! Such talent in the young boy! "Ivory. I am sure she likes it." He was more sure by the minute that it was the name the lizard picked for him to use.
Without another word, but with a flurry of running footsteps, the young lad ran towards the guards to introduce his newest friend. Shaking his head and smiling, Drizzt kept walkig along what he hoped to be the right path. Since he wasn't being stopped, he knew he was.
Though he may not be able to see, or at least right that second, he was content that he could continue on with his duties as a Ranger. His thoughts turned then to Montolio and his smile widened. Indeed, he had been well trained.
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The days of waiting for Drizzt to come back grew longer, even as his worry for Lyavain grew. Every day that passed by meant another closer to the full moon, though that was still a good two weeks from now. Lyavain wanted to tell the goodly drow about the magical disease that now would turn her into a wolf on full moons before she had her first transformation.
"How much longer, do you think?" she asked him from her spot across the table from him. Drizzt had been gone for a few days now, and the wait was becoming almost unbearable for the injured elf.
Tarathiel grabbed lightly at one of her hands, sad to see that while the scratches would not heal by magical means, they were healing too fast for a normal elf. They were still raw though, and very much still hurt. Yet, the woman had been unable to lie in bed a moment longer and with her young healers help and permission, she had been moved to a chair outside so she could see the woods she called home.
Garrett, the healer assigned to her, had been helpful the entire time, though he could be quite severe for one as young as he was. Sitting to one side of her, he scowled. "Drizzt should not be moving about so freely while unable to see," Garrett stated.
Tarathiel turned a glare at the human and thought about how good it would feel to hit the young lad over the head, perhaps using the heavy club that Lyavain had taken to carrying everywhere with her. While proficient in quite a few weapons, the club was her favourite. Tarathiel thought that she blamed herself for Colt's death and her own condition because she had not been carrying it when they had been attacked.
"A few days more and he should return. There is still plenty of time, Lyavain. If he is not back within another four days, we will begin to search for him."
Tarathiel meant it too. He would personally scout the area for the drow ranger himself if he did not return within four days. That would give him enough time to get back and perhaps stay the night in Nesmé, if he was allowed.
The wait would not be terrible for himself, but with her awful news, the wait would be hoorrendously long for Lyavain. He hoped that she would be able to stop herself from running madly off into the woods to go find the drow before she was properlly healed.
She was known for making rash decisions.
A/N - Yes, after a very long time, this story is updated. After running into a few problems with my own eyes, in which they are slowly degenerating, I kind of...ran into a block for this story, but since the progress of my eyes degenerating has slowed down a lot, I kind of got back into this story, so yay!
Thanks to all those who are still reading and those who reviewed the last chapter. I am sorry it has been so long between updates.