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Chapter 7

Drizzt

The return back was a silent one. The high that came from battle was still apparent in the drow around Drizzt.

The young dark elf was disgusted with them, he fingered his new necklace with a sick stomach. He was wearing a surface elf's necklace. The owner: a mother that should not have died that night.

None of those elves should have died. Drizzt's other hand clenched the hilt of his scimitar. His knuckles were turning a light gray from squeezing it so tight. To be able to remove this blade from its scabbard and kill all of these drow around him.

Drizzt thought he could do it, no one would ever know that it was him. The bodies would be too far away for anyone to want to investigate. He could rough himself up a bit and claim they were ambushed by hook horrors or something. Drizzt almost did it.

Almost.

With great strain he unclasped his hand from the hilt and forced it to relax. He would not go through with it. For giving in to such an emotion—no matter how justified he felt it was—Drizzt would truly be one of the drow if he did such a thing and he knew it. No matter how good it might feel, no matter how many he would kill—it wouldn't bring back the dead.

As the group marched on, Drizzt cocked his head. He thought he had heard a voice just earlier. If he didn't know any better he would have thought someone told him to stop, right before he decided not to go through with his actions.

With a glance around Drizzt confirmed that no one else had heard it, because no one reacted. No one looked around or loosened their blades. They all walked on as if the voice never spoke.

Drizzt was confused. Had he heard something or not?

It must have been his imagination.

They set up camp in a small pocket off to the side of the tunnel that would help protect their backs. Night shifts were assigned and they each picked an area to sleep, keeping their backs to the wall and a weapon close at hand.

Drizzt, not trusting any of the ones around him to kill him in the night for the necklace (or to take advantage of killing an enemy in general), had summoned Guenhwyvar to help protect him during the night. He lied down, his back against a wall. The panther sprawled herself in front of him, effectively putting him out of sight from the others.

To Drizzt's discomfort, Rilla was approaching the area he was lying down. When she got too close, the panther sensed his discomfort and growled at the priestess. The female was not too happy at being threatened away from her target, but when she tried to get Drizzt to dismiss the panther, he pretended to be asleep.

The female turned away angry. With plans to ambush him in the morning, Drizzt did not doubt.

Peaking an eye open to make sure Rilla wasn't watching, he raised a hand and patted Guen's shoulder that was just above his head. The panther gave a low purr in response, but did not turn to nuzzle him, else she would expose the fact he was conscious.

Drizzt closed his blue eyes again and nodded off to sleep, secure in the knowledge that his companion would keep him safe.

Dream

He was running. Why was he running?

He heard a crash from behind and glanced back. The biggest spider he had ever seen was chasing him through the tunnels of the Underdark, its head barely missing the top.

Oh, yeah... Keep running!

He felt blood running down his back as he dashed forward. He had already been bitten by the creature and the fangs on it left a bite mark in his back, the two holes, one on each shoulder blade, were bleeding profusely. He could feel a numbness spreading from them that went down his back.

The skittering behind him was loud and closing in on him. He had to get away.

He needed to get out of the Underdark. He didn't know how or why, but if he could just get to the surface, he would be safe.

His steps were slow and felt like they were made of lead. He had no weapon on him. Furor? No that was still in the hands of that other drow.

Drizzt needed to get to him. He would be safe from this giant arachnid if he could just ignore the pain and numbness long enough to get to his red-eyed companion. He needed to be faster, but the more he tried, the slower he seemed to get.

The clicking felt like a breath landing on his skin.

Drizzt paniced, his eyes searching for any means to escape. As he turned a corner, he spotted it.

There just ahead was a small hole, big enough for him to crawl through. However he wouldn't have time to crawl. With desperation, the drow dove forward, right through the small opening. Miraculously he made it clean through without snagging on anything. Doing so would have led to his capture.

He landed on his stomach, but quickly scrambled up and away from the entrance. A loud crash could be heard from the other side, making the stalactites above him quiver ominously. The spider, not having enough time to stop its charge, had run right into the wall.

Panting he looked behind him, a long leg was poking through and feeling around for him. Drizzt immediately backed away, spring to his feet in case he needed to run. A moment of safety fell upon Drizzt when the leg pulled back, but then he saw a huge red eye peaking through the hole and looking straight at him.

"There you are." A whispery voice said.

The drow tensed up, he looked around for the voice, but when nothing made itself known, he looked back at the eye, "Why don't you come closer? You belong to me. Running will only delay the inevitable. Don't fight it, just come here, come to your mate."

Drizzt only glared at the eye and made to reply that he would never get close to such a monster, but stopped.

His leg lifted up and he took a step. The drow stared down at his feet in growing horror as he realized that he was walking closer to the spider. He tried to back up, but ended up taking another step forward. He wasn't controlling his legs anymore. His hands grasped around him desperately, scrabbling for the wall, for a stalagmite(1), anything that would stop him.

"Yes my love. Come, join with me. We will be together forever, if you only come closer." That whispery voice made shivers go down Drizzt's spine.

The spider receded a little to allow room for a leg to come through (and still being able to see), reaching for Drizzt's form. Drizzt tried to get away, but, not being able to stop himself and being one more step away from that leg, he could only cry out, "Help!"

As soon as the word left his mouth, he felt a hand grasp his arm and pull him back, just before the claw on the tip snagged his clothing.

Drizzt almost cried from relief. He didn't know what or who that spider was, but he knew that he did not want to be with it. He looked back to his rescuer and saw the red-eyed drow. Before the young dark elf could thank him or express anything, the drow shoved Drizzt behind his body.

The spider seemed to grow confused at the sight of Drizzt's rescuer, "Who are you? Why do you stop what will be? Do you wish for a short painful life that much?" The whispery voice grew thick with anger and indignation as it spoke.

The drow did not speak, his only actions were to pull out Furor and keep Drizzt behind him. The two drow started to back away.

The spider grew livid at the sight of Drizzt going farther and farther away, "Stop! You will bring him back or else you will know my wrath! I will get him no matter what!" It's eye focused on Drizzt's frightened face, "Isn't that right my love? You want to be with me. You need to be with me. Come closer. Come into my arms and you will know happiness that has no end."

Drizzt couldn't help but listen, that voice sending shivers up and down his spine, but this time for a different reason. He could feel the promise in those words, could feel the truth and was about to step around his guardian, before being halted by a black hand.

"Stop."

The want of approaching washed away as soon as Drizzt heard the same voice he had heard back in the cave when he was traveling with his kin. He stared at the drow, "It was you?"

No longer having Drizzt's attention, the spider shrieked. Both drow clenched their ears from the closeness of such volume. Their faces in a grimace.

The spider started to ram itself into the wall, trying to make the hole bigger. Drizzt's rescuer grabbed his hand and started to run down the path away from the livid arachnid. Drizzt, having ran for a while already, could barely keep up, the heaviness that was in his legs before seemed to multiply. He started to stumble as he ran, the numbness from the bite was spreading.

"Wait! Wait, I can't run anymore!" The other didn't listen and proceeded to pull him along. Drizzt knew that if this continued he would fall.

Once he fell, he wouldn't be able to get back up.

Drizzt yanked at his hand, but the other's grip was that of iron. Drizzt kept pulling though. The drow must have had enough, for he stopped completely, Drizzt running into him as a result. The young drow panted, the shrieking of the spider was still loud and very close. Drizzt shuddered. He looked up only to be met with angry red eyes. The grip on his hand seemed to tighten even more, making the drow wince unexpectedly.

"If you do not want to go back to her, if you do not want to belong to her, you will run. You must run. I will not be her slave, nor will I allow you to be, so get your feet moving!"

Drizzt stared opened mouth but was soon being pulled along again. The pounding against the wall was making stalactites fall all around them, causing the drow to have to maneuver around and waste even more time and energy in getting away.

Drizzt panted, the numbness kept spreading, he couldn't feel his legs or his feet, he tripped.

The drow holding his hand stopped and looked at him, cursing when he saw the two holes in the back Drizzt's tunic. The spider had already numbed her prey. With no other choice, the drow lifted Drizzt up, the same way he picked him up before. Drizzt hung limply over his shoulder.

The drow took off, but had to go slower to compinsate for the weight.

The crumbling of rock could be heard followed by a shriek of triumph. Drizzt was just barely conscious, but he knew the spider was after them again. He tried to clasp onto his rescuer, but he was too numb.

They turned a corner and could see light. Drizzt squinted, it was too far to tell, but that did not look like the light from the glowing moss in the Underdark.

That was sunlight.

He cried in happiness, but his joy was killed instantly as soon as he heard a crash behind him. The spider was closing in on them and had just rounded the corner, running into the wall in her haste.

Drizzt's blue eyes widened, "Hurry!"

His carrier, also sensing the danger, put on a burst of speed that seemed as if it would carry them away from the spider, but they hit a snag. The drow had to stop for fear of landing in a pit that breached from one side of the tunnel to the other.

The space between them and the other side was too big to jump and it was far too deep to safely jump down in.

Drizzt stared, why wasn't he levitating to the other side, "Hurry up and levitate!"

The drow grimaced, "I can't!"

Drizzt looked back, the spider was at least 10 meters away, they needed to hurry, "You can't, I can. Hang on to me!"

Drizzt, from his position on the other's shoulder, once more wrapped his hands around the drow. Disregarding the lack of feeling, he didn't let go.

Drizzt focused his energy and drifted a foot in the air. He gasped at how much effort it took, but he had plenty of motivation. He forced them both over the pit and tried to get to the other side as fast as he could. They were a foot from the other side when something went wrong. The lack of feeling spread almost throughout his body. He was losing consciousness.

Drizzt was suddenly going down instead of forward. They were both falling, but had gotten close enough for the drow to grab onto the ledge.

But, the sudden stop caused Drizzt to slip from his shoulder. With a silent cry he fell reaching for the drow. Red eyes glanced back curious from the lack of weight, only to widen at seeing him fall.

Drizzt's companion reached out but it was too late, Drizzt was too far down. As he fell he could see the spider closing in on the other drow. He pointed yelling.

He was too far away to see what happened by then.

End Dream

Drizzt jolted awake, sitting up with a jerk, 'What kind of dream was that!'

The drow panted quietly, glancing around at his fellow travelers, no one stirred from his sudden wake up call. Good he hadn't shouted. After years of being forced awake as a child he learned to wake up from such dreams quietly. But, by the nine hells, he had never had such a dream since he was 16.

'A talking spider, I hear the drow's voice for the first time, I don't ask him for his name (too much excitement going on), and I don't know if he is all right or not. That was one crazy dream."

The drow gingerly lowered himself back down to the ground, he was no longer in the mood for sleep—not after a nightmare like that—but, he also didn't want to have anyone approach him, so he lay there in the darkness that was the Underdark, wondering why that dream was so vivid, and what it could mean for his dream companion.

He was lying on his side and his back was no longer pressed to the wall, so he never felt the tender scar that now resided on his shoulder blades. The scar of a spider bite, with a mouth so big the fangs were over a foot apart.

Lolth

A smile grew on Lolth's face as she returned to her body, "I've marked you Libran. You can't hide anymore."

A/N:

1: for those of you who don't remember a stalagmite rises from the floor, a stalactite is on the ceiling. I had to look it up and figured some others might have to as well. So to save you some trouble I just put the info here.

… I really got into that dream scene, I mean, look how long it is.

Anyway, please give Review some attention? I need to take L.R. to the vet to get declawed. If anyone is willing to baby-sit I will love you forever.