Chapter 3
It was late in the evening when Aliyah, Deidra, and Ophila arrived at the gates of Mithral Hall. They were greeted by two dwarven guards, who quickly went inside to alert Drizzt of the visitors.
Aliyah brushed back her blond hair. "I can't wait to get home and get into a nice bath," she said with a smile. She looked over at her halfling friend, who placed the Obsidian Steed figurines back in her pocket.
"I told Shadimir these steeds would be a good investment," the halfling said with a smile, and then tied up her brown hair in a bun.
Ophila, an olive skinned elf, stretched out her arms and legs. "The night air is beautiful," she said in her angelic voice. She then turned at the structure of Mithral Hall. "That's impressive," she said after a low whistle.
Aliyah nodded, her hazel colored right eye looking at the entrance to the dwarven keep. Her left eye, which was magical, moved back and forth, scanning the area. "I wish we could stay here for a little while, instead of just leaving after we check up on Drizzt. The people of this place are nice, and homely...well except for one."
"You mean Catti-brie?" Deidra asked, referring to the adopted daughter of King Bruenor Battlehammer. "She probably isn't too fond of you after the fight you two had."
"What fight?" Ophila asked, holding her maul.
The blond haired ranger shook her head. "She started it." She turned to Ophila and sighed. "After Shadimir and my sister's wedding, I brought Drizzt home. I kissed him on the cheek, and she just happened to see it. She then walked up to me and slapped me across the face. I slapped her back, and next thing I know, we're rolling on the ground, pummeling each other. I managed to get out of it without a scratch."
Aliyah stopped talking, her left eye spotted movement at a corner, near the entrance of Mithral Hall. "Ladies, it looks like this discussion is no longer private.
Ophila and Deidra watched as Aliyah drew her scimitars and walked over to where she spotted the movement. They heard blond haired ranger's left eye zip left, and watched as she extended her scimitar forward. "Good evening Drizzt. We were just talking about you."
Drizzt DoUrden, a dark elf ranger, stepped forward from the shadows and into the small space of light provided by magical torch that hung from the ceiling. His lavender eyes stared at Aliyah. The chain mail he wore beneath his green cloak began to rattle as he reached for his own pair of scimitars. "From what I heard, you were talking about your fight with Catti-brie. You failed to mention that you separated her shoulder, gave her a black eye, and then punched me in the face when I tried to pull you off of her."
Aliyah rolled both of her eyes. " I did say I was sorry after I hit you." She smiled at the drow, who flashed a smile of his own. "Shadimir sent us here to make sure you were doing all right," she said in a polite voice.
Drizzt looked over at the elf who stood next to the halfling. Never seeing her before, he wondered who the she was. Looking at the hide armor she wore over her body, he guessed she was a either ranger, or a druid. Drizzt then heard Aliyah's words. "Help?" he asked. "Help with what?"
Several loud growls came from behind them. Aliyah turned, seeing seven werewolves walking towards her and her friends. The burly werewolf in front, looked directly over at Drizzt. "Drizzit DoUrden, your mother sends her regards," he growled. "She wishes she could be here for your demise, but I, Graibec, son of Obould, will now destroy you!"
Drizzt drew both of his scimitars while Deidra drew her daggers. Aliyah, who had already had her weapons drawn, moved up to a stout brown haired werewolf and stabbed both of her blades deeply into the werewolf's chest. She pulled out her scimitars, and watched as the werewolf fell dead to the ground. Another werewolf came up from behind Aliyah and bit her hard in the forearm.
Aliyah cursed as she felt the werewolf's teeth rip into her flesh. She quickly pulled her arm away, then let out a scream of rage as she swung the scimitar in her right hand across the werewolf's neck. The sharp blade sliced through the creature, causing his head to fall off of his body.
A few feet away from Aliyah, the halfling sidestepped a werewolf's claw attack, and then countered it with a hard slash with her daggers across the werewolf's midsection. She then made a quick lunge and drove the tips of her daggers into the werewolf's gut.
The werewolf growled and attempted to rake his claws across Deidra's neck. The halfling blocked the werewolf's right claw, but his left claw scratched hard across her lips. In retaliation, Deidra snapped her left hand forward. Her dagger's sharp tip, plunged deeply into the throat of the werewolf.
Ophila bashed her maul across the head of one of two female werewolves, crushing her skull. Brushing back her raven black hair, the elven druid channeled her energy to summon an ally.
Two werewolves, one of them female, and the other male, noticed a large white haired ram materialize in front of the elf. The female werewolf growled to scare the ram, but the animal answered the growl with a fierce head butt into the werewolf's chest. Behind the ram, Ophila channeled the power of nature to cast her Thorn Spray spell.
After the ram attacked the werewolf, he stepped to the side and watched as thorns shot out from the druid's arms. Dozens of thorns hit the necks of both of werewolves, leaving them gasping for air until they hit the ground.
A few feet away from where Ophila had summoned the ram, Drizzt and Graibec were dueling.
Drizzt parried the werewolf's sharp claws with his scimitars. He then stabbed his scimitar named Twinkle into Graibec's side. Graibec quickly raked Drizzt hard across the chest, then bit him hard on the shoulder.
The drow ranger began to feel sick. He placed Twinkle back in its sheath, and grabbed his shoulder. "The lycanthrope disease will work into your system Drizzt DoUrden," the werewolf said with glee. He was ready to attack Drizzt once more, but then he felt a sharp pain in his back. The werewolf turned to see Aliyah standing there with a wicked look in her eye.
"I should kill your father for spawning a pitiful creature such as yourself," the blond haired ranger spat. Graibec raised his claws to rip through the arrogant woman's flesh, but Aliyah's hands moved with lightning speed. She made a hard slash with her scimitars across the werewolf's neck. Graibec let out a soft gasp before his head fell from his shoulders.
When Graibec's headless body fell to the ground, Aliyah stepped next to Drizzt. "I could have handled him," the drow ranger said with a growl. He then looked at Aliyah with pain in his eyes.
"I know," she answered. "But you need to get to a healer and get some Wolfsbane Tea to stop the lycanthrope from affecting you."
The drow ranger nodded, then stared at her forearm. "How come you're not affected?"
The blond haired ranger shook her head. "I've been bitten by werewolves many times, and have developed a strong resistance to the disease. You'll be fine once you drink the tea."
Drizzt nodded, and began to walk towards Mithral Hall. He then turned to Aliyah. "Graibec said that my mother sent him. Is this true?"
Aliyah sighed, trying to hurry the drow along. "Once you get some tea, we'll talk."
The drow ranger nodded once more, cursing himself for not bringing with companion Guenhwyvar. Aliyah watched as Drizzt went back into Mithral Hall, then turned to Ophila and Deidra.
Deidra was cutting off the heads of the dead werewolves while Ophila was feeding the white haired ram she had summoned. A moment later, the ram faded away. The druid's eyes looked up at Aliyah. "We're leaving now?"
Aliyah nodded. "Yes. Its too dangerous to take Drizzt with us. The Wolfsbane Tea will cure him, but he is going to have a stomach sickness for a couple of days."
The halfling smiled as she reached into her pocket and drew the magical obsidian figurines. "Right, and the last thing I want to hear as we ride into the night, is a drow vomiting on the road."