would prove a distraction to his crew. And at this time, with the ships fouled,
they had important work to complete.
"What do you mean to do with us?" Wulfgar demanded when Deudermont shut the
cabin door. "We fought for-"
Deudermont stopped the growing tirade with a calming smile. "You certainly
did," he acknowledged. "I only wish that I had such mighty sailors on every
voyage south. Surely then the pirates would flee whenever the Sea Sprite broke
the horizon!"
Wulfgar eased back from his defensive posture.
"My deception was not intended to bring harm," Drizzt said somberly. "And
only my appearance was a lie. I require passage to the south to rescue a friend
- that much remains true."
Deudermont nodded, but before he could answer, a knock came on the door and
a sailor peeked in. "Beggin' yer pardon," he began.
"What is it?" asked Deudermont.
"We follow yer every step, Captain, ye know that," the sailor stammered.
"But we thought we should let ye know our feeling's on the elf."
Deudermont considered the sailor, and then Drizzt, for a moment. He had
always been proud of his crew; most of the men had been together for many years,
but he seriously wondered how they would come through this dilemma.
"Go on," he prompted, stubbornly holding his trust in his men.
"Well, we know he's a drow," the sailor began, "and we know what that
means." He paused, weighing his next words carefully. Drizzt held his breath in
anticipation; he had been down this route before.
"But them two, they pulled us through a bad jam there," the sailor blurted
all of a sudden. "We wouldn't a gotten through without 'em!"
"So you want them to remain aboard?" Deudermont asked, a smile growing
across his face. His crew had come through once again.
"Aye!" the sailor replied heartily. "To a man! And we're proud to have 'em!"
Another sailor, the one who had challenged Drizzt at the plank just a few
minutes before, poked his head in. "I was scared, that's all," he apologized to
Drizzt.
Overwhelmed, Drizzt hadn't found his breath yet. He nodded his acceptance of
the apology.
"See ye on deck, then," said the second sailor, and he disappeared out the
door.
"We just thought ye should know," the first sailor told Deudermont, and then
he, too, was gone.
"They are a fine crew," Deudermont said to Drizzt and Wulfgar when the door
had closed.
"And what are your thoughts?" Wulfgar had to ask.
"I judge a man - elf - by his character, not his appearance," Deudermont
declared. "And on that subject, keep the mask off, Drizzt Do'Urden. You are a
far handsomer sort without it!"
"Not many would share that observation," Drizzt replied.
"On the Sea Sprite, they would!" roared the captain. "Now, the battle is
won, but there is much to be done. I suspect that your strength would be
appreciated at the prow, mighty barbarian. We have to get these ships unfouled
and moving before that third pirate comes back with more of his friends!
"And you," he said to Drizzt with a sneaky smile. "I would think that no one
could keep a shipload of prisoners in line better than you."
Drizzt pulled the mask off his head and tucked it in his pack. "There are
advantages to the color of my skin," he agreed, shaking the gnarls out of his
white locks. He turned with Wulfgar to leave, but the door burst in before them.
"Nice blade, elf!" said Bruenor Battlehammer, standing in a puddle of
seawater. He tossed the magical scimitar to Drizzt. "Find a name for it, will
ye? Blade like that be needing' a name. Good for a cook at a pig roastin'!"
"Or a dwarf hunting dragons," Drizzt remarked. He held the scimitar
reverently, remembering again the first time he had seen it, lying in the dead
dragon's horde. Then he gave it a new home in the scabbard that had held his
normal blade, thinking his old one a fitting companion for Twinkle.
Bruenor walked up to his drow friend and clasped his wrist firmly. "When I
saw yer eyes lookin' out at me from the gorge," the dwarf began softly, fighting
back a choke that threatened to break his voice apart, "suren then I knew that
me other friends would be safe."
"But they are not," Drizzt replied. "Regis is in dire peril."
Bruenor winked. "We'll get him back, elf! No stinkin' assassin's going to
put an end to Rumblebelly!" He clenched the drow's arm tightly one final time
and turned to Wulfgar, the lad he had ushered into manhood.
Wulfgar wanted to speak but could find no path for the words beyond the lump
in his throat. Unlike Drizzt, the barbarian had no idea that Bruenor might still
be alive, and seeing his dear mentor, the dwarf who had become as a father to
him, back from the grave and standing before him was simply too much for him to
digest. He grabbed Bruenor by the shoulders just as the dwarf was about to say
something, and hoisted him up, locking him in a great bear hug.
It took Bruenor a few seconds of wiggling to get loose enough to draw
breath. "If ye'd squeezed the dragon like that," the dwarf coughed, "I
wouldn't've had to ride it down the gorge!"
Catti-brie walked through the door, soaking wet, with her auburn hair matted
to her neck and shoulders. Behind her came Pinochet, drenched and humbled.
Her eyes first found the gaze of Drizzt, locking the drow in a silent moment
of emotion that went deeper than simple friendship. "Well met," she whispered.
"Good it is to look upon Drizzt Do'Urden again. Me heart's been with ye all
along."
Drizzt cast her a casual smile and turned his lavender eyes away. "Somehow I
knew that you would join our quest before it was through," he said. "Well met,
then, and welcome along."
Catti-brie's gaze drifted past the drow to Wulfgar. Twice she had been
separated from the man, and both times when they again had met, Catti-brie was
reminded how much she had come to love him.
Wulfgar saw her, too. Droplets of seawater sparkled on her face, but they
paled next to the shine of her smile. The barbarian, his stare never leaving
Catti-brie, eased Bruenor back to the floor.
Only the embarrassment of youthful love kept them apart at that moment, with
Drizzt and Bruenor looking on.
"Captain Deudermont," said Drizzt, "I give you Bruenor Battlehammer and
Catti-brie, two dear friends and fine allies."
"And we brought ye a present," Bruenor chuckled. "Seeing as we got no money
to pay ye for passage." Bruenor walked over, grabbed Pinochet by the sleeve, and
pulled the man front and center. "Captain o' the ship I burned, by me guess."
"Welcome to both of you," Deudermont replied. "And I assure you that you
have more than earned your passage." The captain moved to confront Pinochet,
suspecting the man's importance.
"Do you know who I am?" the pirate said in a huff, thinking that he now had
a more reasonable person to deal with than the surly dwarf.
"You are a pirate," Deudermont replied calmly.
Pinochet cocked his head to study the captain. A sly smile crossed his face.
"You have perhaps heard of Pinochet?"
Deudermont had thought, and feared, that he had recognized the man when
Pinochet had first entered the cabin. The captain of the Sea Sprite had indeed
heard of Pinochet - every merchant along the Sword Coast had heard of Pinochet.
"I demand that you release me and my men!" the pirate blustered.
"In time," Deudermont replied. Drizzt, Bruenor, Wulfgar, and Catti-brie, not
understanding the extent of the influence of the pirates, all looked at
Deudermont in disbelief.
"I warn you that the consequences of your actions will be dire!" Pinochet
continued, suddenly gaining the upper hand in the confrontation. "I am not a
forgiving man, nor are my allies."
Drizzt, whose own people commonly bent the tenets of justice to fit rules
of, station, understood the captain's dilemma at once. "Let him go," he said.
Both of his magical scimitars came out in his hands, Twinkle glowing
dangerously. "Let him go and give him a blade. Neither am I forgiving."
Seeing the horrified look the pirate gave the drow, Bruenor was quick to
join in. "Ayuh, Captain, let the dog free," the dwarf scowled. "I only kept his
head on his shoulders to give ye a livin' gift. If ye don't want him, . . ."
Bruenor pulled his axe from his belt and swung it easily at the end of his arm.
Wulfgar didn't miss the point. "Bare hands and up the mast!" the barbarian
roared, flexing his muscles so they seemed they would burst. "The pirate and me!
Let the winner know the glory of victory. And let the loser drop to his death!"
Pinochet looked at the three crazed warriors. Then, almost pleading for
help, he turned back to Deudermont.
"Ah, ye're all missing the fun." Catti-brie grinned, not to be left out.
"Where's the sport in one of ye tearin' the pirate apart? Give him the little
boat and set him off." Her spritely face turned suddenly grim, and she cast a
wicked glare at Pinochet. "Give him a boat," she reiterated, "and let him dodge
me silver arrows!"
"Very well, Captain Pinochet," Deudermont began, barely hiding a chuckle. "I
would not invoke the rage of the pirates. You are a free man and may go when you
choose."
Pinochet snapped around, face to face with Deudermont.
"Or," continued the captain of the Sea Sprite, "you and your crew can remain
in my hold, under my personal protection, until we reach port."
"You cannot control your crew?" the pirate spat.
"They are not my crew," Deudermont replied. "And if these four chose to kill
you, I daresay that I could do little to deter them."
"It is not the way of my people to let our enemies live!" Drizzt interjected
in a tone so callous that it sent shivers through the spines of even his closest
friends. "Yet I need you, Captain Deudermont, and your ship." He sheathed his
blades in a lightning-quick movement. "I will let the pirate live in exchange
for the completion of our arrangements."
"The hold, Captain Pinochet?" Deudermont asked, waving two of his crewmen in
to escort the pirate leader.
Pinochet's eyes were back on Drizzt. "If you ever sail this way again, . .
." the stubborn pirate began ominously.
Bruenor kicked him in the behind. "Wag yer tongue again dog," the dwarf
roared, "and suren I'll cut it out!"
Pinochet left quietly with Deudermont's crewmen.
* * *
Later that day, while the crew of the Sea Sprite continued its repairs, the
reunited friends retired to Drizzt and Wulfgar's cabin to hear of Bruenor's
adventures in Mithril Hall. Stars twinkled in the evening sky and still the
dwarf went on, talking of the riches he had seen, of the ancient and holy places
he had come across in his homeland, of his many skirmishes with duergar patrols,
and of his final, daring escape through the great undercity.
Catti-brie sat directly across from Bruenor, watching the dwarf through the
swaying flame of the single candle burning on the table. She had heard his story
before, but Bruenor could spin a tale as well as any, and she leaned forward in
her chair, mesmerized once again. Wulfgar, with his long arms draped comfortably
over her shoulders, had pulled his chair up behind her.
Drizzt stood by the window and gazed at the dreamy sky. How like the old
times it all seemed, as if they had somehow brought a piece of Icewind Dale
along with them. Many were the nights that the friends had gathered to swap
tales of their pasts or to just enjoy the quiet of the evening together. Of
course, a fifth member had been with the group then and always with an
outlandish tale that outdid all the others.
Drizzt looked at his friends and then back to the night sky, thinking -
hoping - of a day when the five friends would be rejoined.
A knock on the door made the three at the table jump, so engrossed were they
- even Bruenor - in the dwarf's story. Drizzt opened the door, and Captain
Deudermont walked in.
"Greetings," he said politely. "I would not interrupt, but I have some
news."
"Just getting to the good part," Bruenor grumbled, "but it'll get better
with a bit o' waiting!"
"I have spoken with Pinochet once again," said Deudermont. "He is a very
prominent man in this land, and it does not fit well that he set up three ships
to stop us. He was after something."
"Us," Drizzt reasoned.
"He said nothing directly," replied Deudermont, "but I believe that to be
the case. Please understand that I cannot press him too far."
"Bah! I'll get the dog a barkin'!" Bruenor huffed.
"No need," said Drizzt. "The pirates had to be looking for us."
"But how would they know?" Deudermont asked.
"Balls of fire over Baldur's Gate," Wulfgar reasoned.
