Disclaimer: The recognizable characters in this story are not mine, they belong to R.A. Salvatore and Wizards of the Coast.

Author's Note: When talking about Entreri in a character's point of view I try to decide if that character would think of him as Artemis or Entreri. I would also like to say that this story is about a month after my story Moonwood. You will understand a lot of what I talk about better if you read "The Third Level", "That Curious Sword", and "Empty Joys" by Salvatore as well as "Moonwood" by me..

Summary of what's happened: Entreri gets the strange urge to head to the Moonwood. This is where Jarlaxle discovers the man knew a friend of his. The companions are led to the Moonwood by a black panther who gives them two horses. When the two companions go to the elven village they meet Callahan. This is a few tendays after that.

1

Sahide watched the sleeping form of Entreri, and Jarlaxle watched Sahide. The mutual staring had been going on for quite some time now. The drow held no trust for the black panther.

Sahide didn't care. The panther watched every intake and outtake of Artemis's breath. If it were to become disturbingly slow or fast he would try to wake Artemis or try to heal any injuries. Occasionally, he would feel Artemis's pulse to make sure it was at a normal speed. Sahide never took his eyes off of Artemis.

Jarlaxle watched the panther with obvious distrust. Long ago, Aramil had told him of Sahide, and therefore the amount of attention the assassin-panther was paying to Artemis was disturbing. It was like this every night.

"Aramil," Jarlaxle whispered under his breath. Just uttering the elf's name made his mind jump down several paths. One was the fact that Entreri clearly had known the elf. Jarlaxle hadn't pressed the issue because he didn't want Artemis to know about his own relationship with Aramil. Another path was of that relationship. Aramil had been the only elf to walk into a drow city and walk out. The final path was a simple question: what had happened to Aramil? Looking at Entreri, Jarlaxle realized that the human might know.

11

A man looked at the half-elf who lay on the floor in front of him. His eyes glowing red.

A whip made entirely of fire appeared in his hand. He whipped the half-elf again and again.

A scream rang through the air of Memnon.

111

Hundreds of miles away, that same scream was uttered by Artemis Entreri as well. He didn't even realize he was screaming until he saw Jarlaxle and Sahide beside him. Callahan had awoken as well.

For the first time in decades, Artemis Entreri blushed.

"Are you okay?" Jarlaxle asked. Sahide just looked at him.

"Yeah," Entreri said. He didn't sound like he believed it.

1111

Across Faerun, in two vastly different directions, two other people sensed the scream also.

Nova Von Houchie jolted awake. Her heart was beating faster than normal. She wasn't sure from who or why, but she had just felt quite a bit of fear, anger, and embarrassment. As she lay back in bed, she began to wonder if, all those years ago, Aramil indeed had completed his task.

Elsewhere, another person jolted awake. He smiled, his dark gray eyes shining in joy. That was the signal from Shar that it was time for him to begin the Freeing. Of course, he wasn't going to use his life-force and blood.

Smiling, Ali Entreri went to prepare.

Author's Note: Houchie is pronounced Who-shay. (I don't do pronunciations, but you should understand it from that.) Also, Ali is an Arabic name that, if I remember correctly, means Little God, the Highest