assistant doubted his words for a moment, "I will hunt you down and kill you."
The drow's three friends exchanged confused shrugs and concerned glances.
They felt confident that they knew Drizzt to his soul, but so grim was his tone
that even they wondered how much of his promise was an idle threat.
* * *
It took more than an hour for them to twist and wind their way through the
maze that was Calimport, to the dismay of the friends, who wanted nothing more
than to be off the streets and away from the fetid stench. Finally, to their
relief, Sali Dalib turned a final corner, to Rogues Circle, and pointed to the
unremarkable wooden structure at its end: Pasha Pook's guildhouse.
"Dere be de Pook," Sali Dalib said. "Now, Sali Dalib take his camels and be
gone, back to Memnon.
The friends were not so quick to be rid of the wily merchant. "More to me
guessin' that Sali Dalib be heading for Pook to sell some tales o' four
friends," Bruenor growled.
"Well, we've a way beyond that," said Catti-brie. She shot Drizzt a sly
wink, then moved up to the curious and frightened merchant, reaching into her
pack as she went.
Her look went suddenly grim, so wickedly intense that Sali Dalib jerked back
when her hand came up to his forehead. "Hold yer place!" Catti-brie snapped at
him harshly, and he had no resistance to the power of her tone. She had a
powder, a flourlike substance, in her pack. Reciting some gibberish that sounded
like an arcane chant, she traced a scimitar on Sali Dalib's forehead. The
merchant tried to protest but couldn't find his tongue for his terror.
"Now, for the little one," Catti-brie said, turning to Sali Dalib's goblin
assistant. The goblin squeaked and tried to dash away, but Wulfgar caught it in
one hand and held it out to Catti-brie, squeezing tighter and tighter until the
thing stopped wiggling.
Catti-brie performed the ceremony again then turned to Drizzt. "They be
linked to yer spirit now," she said. "Do ye feel them?"
Drizzt, understanding the bluff, nodded grimly and slowly drew his two
scimitars.
Sali Dalib paled and nearly toppled over, but Bruenor, moving closer to
watch his daughter's games, was quick to prop the terrified man up.
"Ah, let them go, then. Me witchin's through," Catti-brie told both Wulfgar
and Bruenor. "The drow'll feel yer presence now," she hissed at Sali Dalib and
his goblin. "He'll know when ye're about and when ye've gone. If ye stay in the
city, and if ye've thoughts o' going to Pook, the drow'll know, and he'll follow
yer feel - hunt ye down." She paused a moment, wanting the two to fully
comprehend the horror they faced.
"And he'll kill ye slow."
"Take yer lumpy horses, then, and be gone!" Bruenor roared. "If I be seein'
yer stinkin' faces again, the drow'll have to get in line for his cuts!"
Before the dwarf had even finished, Sali Dalib and the goblin had collected
their camels and were off, away from Rogues Circle and back toward the northern
end of the city.
"Them two're for the desert," Bruenor laughed when they had gone. "Fine
tricks, me girl."
Drizzt pointed to the sign of an inn, the Spitting Camel, halfway down the
lane. "Get us rooms," he told his friends. "I will follow them to make certain
they do indeed leave the city."
"Wastin' yer time," Bruenor called after him. "The girl's got 'em running,
or I'm a bearded gnome!"
Drizzt had already started padding silently into the maze of Caliport's
streets.
Wulfgar, caught unawares by her uncharacteristic trickery and still not
quite sure what had just happened, eyed Catti-brie carefully. Bruenor didn't
miss his apprehensive look.
"Take note, boy," the dwarf taunted. "Suren the girl's got herself a nasty
streak ye'll not want turned on yerself!"
Playing through for the sake of Bruenor's enjoyment, Catti-brie glared at
the big barbarian and narrowed her eyes, causing Wulfgar to back off a cautious
step. "Witchin' magic," she cackled. "Tells me when yer eyes be filled with the
likings of another woman!" She turned slowly, not releasing him from her stare
until she had taken three steps down the lane toward the inn Drizzt had
indicated.
Bruenor reached high and slapped Wulfgar on the back as he started after
Catti-brie. "Fine lass," he remarked to Wulfgar. "Just don't be gettin' her
mad!"
Wulfgar shook the confusion out of his head and forced out a laugh,
reminding himself that Catti-brie's "magic" had been only a dupe to frighten the
merchant.
But Catti-brie's glare as she had carried out the deception, and the sheer
strength of her intensity, followed him as he walked down Rogues Circle. Both a
shudder and a sweet tingle spread down his spine.
* * *
Half the sun had fallen below the western horizon before Drizzt returned to
Rogues Circle. He had followed Sali Dalib and his assistant far out into the
Calim Desert, though the merchant's frantic pace gave no indications that he had
any intentions of turning back to Calimport. Drizzt simply wouldn't take the
chance; they were too close to finding Regis and too close to Entreri.
Masked as an elf - Drizzt was beginning to realize how easily the disguise
now came to him - he made his way into the Spitting Camel and to the innkeeper's
desk. An incredibly skinny, leather-skinned man, who kept his back always to a
wall and his head darting nervously in every direction, met him.
"Three friends," Drizzt said gruffly. "A dwarf, a woman, and a golden-haired
giant."
"Up the stairs," the man told him. "To the left. Two gold if you mean to
stay the night." He held out his bony hand.
"The dwarf already paid you," Drizzt said grimly, starting away.
"For himself, the girl, and the big . . ." the innkeeper started, grabbing
Drizzt by the shoulder. The look in Drizzt's lavender eyes, though, stopped the
innkeeper cold.
"He paid," the frightened man stuttered. "I remember. He paid."
Drizzt walked away without another word.
He found the two rooms on opposite sides of the corridor at the far end of
the structure. He had meant to go straight in with Wulfgar and Bruenor and grab
a short rest, hoping to be out on the street when night fully fell, when Entreri
would likely be about. Drizzt found, instead, Catti-brie in her doorway,
apparently waiting for him. She motioned him into her chamber and closed the
door behind him.
Drizzt settled on the very edge of one of the two chairs in the center of
the room, his foot tapping the floor in front of him.
Catti-brie studied him as she walked around to the other chair. She had
known Drizzt for years but never had seen him so agitated.
"Ye seem as though ye mean to tear yerself into pieces," she said.
Drizzt gave her a cold look, but Catti-brie laughed it away. "Do ye mean to
strike me, then?"
That prompted the drow to settle back in his chair.
"And don't ye be wearing that silly mask," Catti-brie scolded.
Drizzt reached for the mask but hesitated.
"Take it off!" Catti-brie ordered, and the drow complied before he had time
to reconsider.
"Ye came a bit grim in the street afore ye left," Catti-brie remarked, her
voice softening.
"We had to make certain," Drizzt replied coldly. "I do not trust Sali
Dalib."
"Nor meself," Catti-brie agreed, "but ye're still grim, by me seeing."
"You were the one with the witching magic," Drizzt shot back, his tone
defensive. "It was Catti-brie who showed herself grim then."
Catti-brie shrugged. "A needed act," she said. "An act I dropped when the
merchant had gone. But yerself," she said pointedly, leaning forward and placing
a comforting hand on Drizzt's knee. "Ye're up for a fight."
Drizzt started to jerk away but realized the truth of her observations and
forced himself to relax under her friendly touch. He looked away, for, he found
that he could not soften the sternness of his visage.
"What's it about?" Catti-brie whispered.
Drizzt looked back to her then and remembered all the times he and she had
shared back in Icewind Dale. In her sincere concern for him now, Drizzt recalled
the first time they had met, when the smile of the girl - for she was then but a
girl - had given the displaced and disheartened drow a renewed hope for his life
among the surface dwellers.
Catti-brie knew more about him than anyone alive, about those things that
were important to him, and made his stoic existence bearable. She alone
recognized the fears that lay beneath his black skin, the insecurity masked by
the skill of his sword arm.
"Entreri," he answered softly.
"Ye mean to kill him?"
"I have to."
Catti-brie sat back to consider the words. "If ye be killing Entreri to free
Regis," she said at length, "and to stop him from hurting anyone else, then me
heart says it's a good thing." She leaned forward again, bringing her face close
to Drizzt's, "but if ye're meaning to kill him to prove yerself or to deny what
he is, then me heart cries."
She could have slapped Drizzt and had the same effect. He sat up straight
and cocked his head, his features twisted in angry denial. He let Catti-brie
continue, for he could not dismiss the importance of the observant woman's
perceptions.
"Suren the world's not fair, me friend. Suren by the measure of hearts, ye
been wronged. But are ye after the assassin for yer own anger? Will killing
Entreri cure the wrong?"
Drizzt did not answer, but his look turned stubbornly grim again.
"Look in the mirror, Drizzt Do'Urden," Catti-brie said, "without the mask.
Killin' Entreri won't change the color of his skin - or the color of yer own."
Again Drizzt had been slapped, and this time it brought an undeniable ring
of truth with it. He fell back in his chair, looking upon Catti-brie as he had
never looked upon her before. Where had Bruenor's little girl gone? Before him
loomed a woman, beautiful and sensitive and laying bare his soul with a few
words. They had shared much, it was true, but how could she know him so very
well? And why had she taken the time?
"Ye've truer friends than ever ye'll know," Catti-brie said, "and not for
the way ye twirl a sword. Ye've others who would call themselves friend if only
they could get inside the length of yer arm - if only ye'd learn to look."
Drizzt considered the words. He remembered the Sea Sprite and Captain
Deudermont and the crew, standing behind him even when they knew his heritage.
"And if only ye'd ever learned to love," Catti-brie continued, her voice
barely audible. "Suren ye've let things slip past, Drizzt Do'Urden."
Drizzt studied her intently, weighing the glimmer in her dark, saucerlike
eyes. He tried to fathom what she was getting at, what personal message she was
sending to him.
The door burst open suddenly, and Wulfgar bounded into the room, a smile
stretching the length of his face and the eager look of adventure gleaming in
his pale blue eyes. "Good that you are back," he said to Drizzt. He moved behind
Catti-brie and dropped an arm comfortably across her shoulders. "The night has
come, and a bright moon peeks over the eastern rim. Time for the hunt!"
Catti-brie put her hand on Wulfgar's and flashed him an adoring smile.
Drizzt was glad they had found each other. They would grow together in a blessed
and joyful life, rearing children that would no doubt be the envy of all the
northland.
Catti-brie looked back to Drizzt. "Just for yer thoughts, me friend," she
said quietly, calmly. "Are ye more trapped by the way the world sees ye or by
the way ye see the world seein' ye?"
The tension eased out of Drizzt's muscles. if Catti-brie was right in her
observations, he would have a lot of thinking to do.
"Time to hunt!" Catti-brie cried, satisfied that she had gotten her point
across. She rose beside Wulfgar and headed for the door, but she turned her head
over her shoulder to face Drizzt one final time, giving him a look that told him
that perhaps he should have asked for more from Catti-brie back in Icewind Dale,
before Wulfgar had entered her life.
Drizzt sighed as they left the room and instinctively reached for the
magical mask.
Instinctively? he wondered.
Drizzt dropped the thing suddenly and fell back in the chair in thought,
clasping his hands behind his head. He glanced around, hoping, but the room had
no mirror.
17
Impossible Loyalties
LaValle held his hand within the pouch for a long moment, teasing Pook. They
were alone with the eunuchs, who didn't count, in the central chamber of the top
level. LaValle had promised his master a gift beyond even the news of the ruby
pendant's return, and Pook knew that the wizard would offer such a promise with
great care. It was not wise to disappoint the guildmaster.
