the thing. Entreri wanted no evidence linking him to the disaster of the night
before.
"It will be good to get home," the assassin chided Regis as they made their
way along the extensive docks of the lower city. He led Regis's eye to a large
merchant ship docked at one of the outer piers. "Do you remember the pennant?"
Regis looked to the flag flying atop the vessel, a gold field cut by slanted
blue lines, the standard of Calimport. "Calimshan merchants never take
passengers aboard," he reminded the assassin, hoping to diffuse Entreri's cocky
attitude.
"They will make an exception," Entreri replied. He pulled the ruby pendant
out from under his leather jacket and displayed it beside his wicked smile.
Regis fell silent once more. He knew well the power of the ruby and could
not dispute the assassin's claim.
With sure and direct strides revealing that he had often before been in
Baldur's Gate, Entreri led Regis to the harbormaster's office, a small shack
just off the piers. Regis followed obediently, though his thoughts were hardly
focused on the events of the present. He was still caught in the nightmare of
the tragedy of the night before, trying to resolve his own part in the deaths of
twenty-six men. He hardly noticed the harbormaster and didn't even catch the
man's name.
But after only a few seconds of conversation, Regis realized that Entreri
had fully captured the man under the hypnotic spell of the ruby pendant. The
halfling faded out of the meeting altogether, disgusted with how well Entreri
had mastered the powers of the pendant. His thoughts drifted again to his
friends and his home, though now he looked back with lament, not hope. Had
Drizzt and Wulfgar escaped the horrors of Mithril Hall, and were they now in
pursuit? Watching Entreri in action and knowing that he would soon be back
within the borders of Pook's realm, Regis almost hoped that they wouldn't come
after him. How much more blood could stain his little hands?
Gradually Regis faded back in, half-listening to the words of the
conversation and telling himself that there might be some important knowledge to
be gained.
"When do they sail?" Entreri was saying.
Regis perked up his ears. Time was important. Perhaps his friends could get
to him here, still a thousand miles from the stronghold of Pasha Pook.
"A week," replied the harbormaster, his eyes never blinking nor turning from
the spectacle of the spinning gemstone.
"Too long," Entreri muttered under his breath. Then to the harbormaster, "I
wish a meeting with the captain."
"Can be arranged."
"This very night . . . here."
The harbormaster shrugged his accord.
"And one more favor, my friend," Entreri said with a mock smile. "You track
every ship that comes into port?"
"That is my job," said the dazed man.
"And surely you have eyes at the gates as well?" Entreri inquired with a
wink.
"I have many friends," the harbormaster replied. "Nothing happens in
Baldur's Gate without my knowledge."
Entreri looked to Regis. "Give it to him," he ordered.
Regis, not understanding, responded to the command with a blank stare.
"The pouch," the assassin explained, using the same lighthearted tone that
had marked his casual conversation with the duped harbormaster.
Regis narrowed his eyes and did not move, as defiant an act as he had ever
dared to show his captor.
"The pouch," Entreri reiterated, his tone now deadly serious. "Our gift for
your friends." Regis hesitated for just a second, then threw the tiny pouch to
the harbormaster.
"Enquire of every ship and every rider that comes through Baldur's Gate,"
Entreri explained to the harbormaster. "Seek out a band of travelers - two at
the least, one an elf, likely to be cloaked in secrecy, and the other a giant,
yellow-haired barbarian. Seek them out, my friend. Find the adventurer who calls
himself Drizzt Do'Urden. That gift is for his eyes alone. Tell him that I await
his arrival in Calimport." He sent a wicked glance over at Regis. "With more
gifts."
The harbormaster slipped the tiny pouch into his pocket and gave Entreri his
assurances that he would not fail the task.
"I must be going," Entreri said, pulling Regis to his feet. "We meet
tonight," he reminded the harbormaster. "An hour after the sun is down."
* * *
Regis knew that Pasha Pook had connections in Baldur's Gate, but he was
amazed at how well the assassin seemed to know his way around. In less than an
hour, Entreri had secured their room and enlisted the services of two thugs to
stand guard over Regis while the assassin went on some errands.
"Time for your second trick?" he asked Regis slyly just before leaving. He
looked at the two thugs leaning against the far wall of the room, engrossed in
some less-than-intellectual debate about the reputed virtues of a local "lady."
"You might get by them," Entreri whispered.
Regis turned away, not enjoying the assassin's macabre sense of humor.
"But, remember, my little thief, once outside, you are on the streets in the
shadow of the alleyways, where you will find no friends, and where I shall be
waiting." He spun away with an evil chuckle and swept through the door.
Regis looked at the two thugs, now locked in a heated argument. He probably
could have walked out the door at that very moment.
He dropped back on his bed with a resigned sigh and awkwardly locked his
hands behind his head, the sting in one hand pointedly reminding him of the
price of bravery.
* * *
Baldur's Gate was divided into two districts: the lower city of the docks
and the upper city beyond the inner wall, where the more important citizens
resided. The city had literally burst its bounds with the wild growth of trade
along the Sword Coast. Its old wall set a convenient boundary between the
transient sailors and adventurers who invariably made their way in and the
long-standing houses of the land. "Halfway to everywhere" was a common phrase
there, referring to the city's roughly equal proximity to Waterdeep in the North
and Calimport in the South, the two greatest cities of the Sword Coast.
In light of the constant bustle and commotion that followed such a title,
Entreri attracted little attention as he slipped through the lanes toward the
inner city. He had an ally, a powerful wizard named Oberon, there who was also
an associate of Pasha Pook's. Oberon's true loyalty, Entreri knew, lay with
Pook, and the wizard would no doubt promptly contact the guildmaster in
Calimport with news of the recovered pendant, and of Entreri's imminent return.
But Entreri cared little whether Pook knew he was coming or not. His intent
was behind him, to Drizzt Do'Urden, not in front, to Pook, and the wizard could
prove of great value to him in learning more of the whereabouts of his pursuers.
After a meeting that lasted throughout the remainder of the day, Entreri
left Oberon's tower and made his way back to the harbormaster's for the arranged
rendezvous with the captain of the Calimport merchant ship. Entreri's visage had
regained its determined confidence; he had put the unfortunate incident of the
night before behind him, and everything was going smoothly again. He fingered
the ruby pendant as he approached the shack.
A week was too long a delay.
* * *
Regis was hardly surprised later that night when Entreri returned to the
room and announced that he had "persuaded" the captain of the Calimport vessel
to change his schedule.
They would leave in three days.
Epilogue
Wulfgar heaved and strained on the ropes, trying to keep the mainsail full
of the scant ocean wind as the crew of the Sea Sprite looked on in amazement.
The currents of the Chionthar pushed against the ship, and a sensible captain
would normally have dropped anchor to wait for a more favorable breeze to get
them in. But Wulfgar, under the tutelage of an old sea dog named Mirky, was
doing a masterful job. The individual docks of Baldur's Gate were in sight, and
the Sea Sprite, to the cheers of several dozen sailors watching the monumental
pull, would soon put in.
"I could use ten of him on my crew," Captain Deudermont remarked to Drizzt.
The drow smiled, ever amazed at the strength of his young friend. "He seems
to be enjoying himself. I would never have put him as a sailor."
"Nor I," replied Deudermont. "I only hoped to profit from his strength if we
engaged with pirates. But Wulfgar found his sea legs early on."
"And he enjoys the challenge," Drizzt added. "The open ocean, the pull of
the water, and of the wind, tests him in ways different than he has ever known."
"He does better than many," Deudermont replied. The experienced captain
looked back downriver to where the open ocean waited. "You and your friend have
been on but one short journey, skirting a coastline. You cannot yet appreciate
the vastness, and the power, of the open sea."
Drizzt looked at Deudermont with sincere admiration and even a measure of
envy. The captain was a proud man, but he tempered his pride with a practical
rationale. Deudermont respected the sea and accepted it as his superior. And
that acceptance, that profound understanding of his own place in the world, gave
the captain as much of an advantage as any man could gain over the untamed
ocean. Drizzt followed the captain's longing stare and wondered about this
mysterious allure the open waters seemed to hold over so many.
He considered Deudermont's last words. "One day, perhaps," he said quietly.
They were close enough now, and Wulfgar released his hold and slumped,
exhausted, to the deck. The crew worked furiously to complete the docking, but
each stopped at least once to slap the huge barbarian across the shoulder.
Wulfgar was too tired to even respond.
"We will be in for two days," Deudermont told Drizzt. "It was to be a week,
but I am aware of your haste. I spoke with the crew last night, and they agreed
- to a man - to put right back out again."
"Our thanks to them, and to you," Drizzt replied sincerely.
Just then, a wiry, finely dressed man hopped down to the pier. "What ho, Sea
Sprite?" he called. "Is Deudermont at your reins?"
"Penman, the harbormaster," the captain explained to Drizzt. "He is!" he
called to the man. "And glad to see Pellman, as well!"
"Well met, Captain," Pellman called. "And as fine a pull as I've ever seen!
How long are you in port?"
"Two days," Deudermont replied. "Then off to the sea and the south."
The harbormaster paused for a moment, as if trying to remember something.
Then he asked, as he had asked to every ship that had put in over the last few
days, the question Entreri had planted in his mind. "I seek two adventurers," he
called to Deudermont. "Might you have seen them?"
Deudermont looked to Drizzt, somehow guessing, as had the drow, that this
inquiry was more than a coincidence.
"Drizzt Do'Urden and Wulfgar, by name," Pellman explained. "Though they may
be using others. One's small and mysterious elflike - and the other's a giant
and as strong as any man alive!"
"Trouble?" Deudermont called.
"Not so," answered Pellman. "A message."
Wulfgar had moved up to Drizzt and heard the latter part of the
conversation. Deudermont looked to Drizzt for instructions. "Your decision."
Drizzt didn't figure that Entreri would lay any serious traps for them; he
knew that the assassin meant to fight with them, or at least with him,
personally. "We will speak with the man," he answered.
"They are with me," Deudermont called to Pellman. "'Twas Wulfgar," he looked
at the barbarian and winked, then echoed Pellman's own description, "as strong
as any man alive, who made the pull!"
Deudermont led them to the rail. "If there is trouble, I shall do what I can
to retrieve you," he said quietly. "And we can wait in port for as long as two
weeks if the need arises."
"Again, our thanks," Drizzt replied. "Surely Orlpar of Waterdeep set us
aright."
"Leave that dog's name unspoken," Deudermont replied. "Rarely have I had
such fortunate outcomes to my dealings with him! Farewell, then. You may take
sleep on the ship if you desire."
Drizzt and Wulfgar moved cautiously toward the harbormaster, Wulfgar in the
lead. Drizzt searched for any signs of ambush.
"We are the two you seek," Wulfgar said sternly, towering over the wiry man.
"Greetings," Pellman said with a disarming smile. He fished in his pocket.
"I have met with an associate of yours," he explained, "a dark man with a
halfling lackey."
Drizzt moved beside Wulfgar, and the two exchanged concerned glances.
"He left this," Pellman continued, handing the tiny pouch to Wulfgar. "And
bade me to tell you that he will await your arrival in Calimport."
Wulfgar held the pouch tentatively, as if expecting it to explode in his
