mite mounds.
"Let them come to us” Drizzt signaled in the silent hand
and facial expression code. He crouched in battle readiness.
"Let them fight each other to weariness. Patience is our
ally!"
Kelnozz relaxed, thinking he had made a good choice in
Drizzt.
Their patience was not tested severely, though, for a mo-
ment later, a tall and aggressive student burst into their de-
fensive position, wielding a long spear-shaped pole. He
came right in on Drizzt, slapping with the butt of his
weapon, then spinning it over full in a brutal thrust de-
signed for a quick kill, a strong move perfectly executed.
Drizzt, though, it seemed the most basic of attack
routines-too basic, almost, for Drizzt hardly believed that
a trained student would attack another skilled fighter in
such a straightforward manner. Drizzt convinced himself in
time that this was indeed the chosen method of attack, and
no feint, and he launched the proper parry. His scimitar
poles spun counterclockwise in front of him, striking the
thrusting spear in succession and driving the weapon's tip
harmlessly above the striking line of its wielder's shoulder.
The aggressive attacker, stunned by the advanced parry,
found himself open and off balance. Barely a split second
later, before the attacker could even begin to recover,
Drizzt's counter poked one, then the other scimitar pole
into his chest.
A soft blue light appeared on the stunned student's face,
and he and Drizzt followed its line up to see a wand-
wielding master looking down at them from the catwalk.
"You are defeated” the master said to the tall student. "Fall
where you stand!"
The student shot an angry glare at Drizzt and obediently
dropped to the stone.
"Come” Drizzt said to Kelnozz, casting a glance up at the
master's revealing light. "Any others in the area will know
of our position now. We must seek a new defensible area”
Kelnozz paused a moment to watch the graceful hunting
strides of his comrade. He had indeed made a good choice in
selecting Drizzt, but he knew already, after only a single
quick encounter, that if he and this skilled swordsman were
the last two standing-a distinct possibility-he would have
no chance at all of claiming victory.
Together they rushed around a blind corner, right into
two opponents. Kelnozz chased after one, who fled in
fright, and Drizzt faced off against the other, who wielded
sword and dirk poles.
A wide smile of growing confidence crossed Drizzt's face
as his opponent took the offensive, launching routines simi-
larly basic to those of the spear wielder that Drizzt had eas-
ily dispatched.
A few deft twists and turns of his scimitars, a few slaps on
the inside edges of his opponent's weapons, had the sword
and dirk flying wide. Drizzt's attack came right up the mid-
dle, where he executed another double-poke into his oppo-
nent's chest.
The expected blue light appeared. "You are defeated”
came the master's call. "Fall where you stand”
Outraged, the stubborn student chopped viciously at
Drizzt. Drizzt blocked with one weapon and snapped the
other against his attacker's wrist, sending the sword pole
flying to the floor.
The attacker clenched his bruised wrist, but that was the
least of his troubles. A blinding flash of lightning exploded
from the observing master's wand, catching him full in the
chest and hurtling him ten feet backward to crash into a
stalagmite mound. He crumpled to the floor, groaning in ag-
ony, and a line of glowing heat rose from his scorched body,
which lay against the cool gray stone.
"You are defeated!" the master said again.
Drizzt started to the fallen drow's aid, but the master is-
sued an emphatic, "No!"
Then Kelnozz was back at Drizzt's side. "He got away”
Kelnozz began, but he broke into a laugh when he saw the
downed student. "If a master calls you out, then you are
out!" Kelnozz repeated into Drizzt's blank stare.
"Come” Kelnozz continued. "The battle is in full now. Let
us find some fun! "
Drizzt thought his companion quite cocky for one who
had yet to lift his weapons. He only shrugged and followed.
Their next encounter was not so easy. They came into a
double passage turning in and out of several rock forma-
tions and found themselves faced off against a group of
three-nobles from leading houses, both Drizzt and
Kelnozz realized.
Drizzt rushed the two on his left, both of whom wielded
single swords, while Kelnozz worked to fend off the third.
Drizzt had little experience against multiple opponents, but
Zak had taught him the techniques of such a battle quite
well. His movements were solely defensive at first, then he
settled into a comfortable rhythm and allowed his oppo-
nents to tire themselves out, and to make the critical mis-
takes.
These were cunning foes, though, and familiar with each
other's movements. Their attacks complemented each
other, slicing in at Drizzt from widely opposing angles.
"Thro-hands” Zak had once called Drizzt, and now he lived
up to the title. His scimitars worked independently, yet in
perfect harmony, foiling every attack.
From a nearby perch on the catwalk, Masters Hatch'net
and Dinin looked on, Hatch'net more than a little impressed,
and Dinin swelling with pride.
Drizzt saw the frustration mounting on his opponents'
faces, and he knew that his opportunity to strike would
soon be at hand. Then they crossed up, coming in together
with identical thrusts, their sword poles barely inches
apart.
Drizzt spun to the side and launched a blinding uppercut
slice with his left scimitar, deflecting both attacks. Then he
reversed his body's momentum, dropped to one knee, back
in line with his opponents, and thrust in low with two snaps
of his free right arm. His jabbing scimitar pole caught the
first, and then the second, squarely in the groin.
They dropped their weapons in unison, clutched their
bruised parts, and slumped to their knees. Drizzt leaped up
before them, trying to find the words for an apology.
Hatch'net nodded his approval at Dinin as the two mas-
ters set their lights on the two losers.
"Help me!" Kelnozz cried from beyond the dividing wall of
stalagmites.
Drizzt dove into a roll through a break in the wall, came
up quickly, and downed a fourth opponent, who was con-
cealed for a back-stab surprise, with a backhand chop to the
chest. Drizzt stopped to consider his latest victim. He hadn't
even consciously known that the drow was there, but his
aim had been perfect!
Hatch'net blew a low whistle as he shifted his light to the
most recent loser's face. "He is good!" the master breathed.
Drizzt saw Kelnozz a short distance away, practically
forced down to his back by his opponent's skilled maneu-
vers. Drizzt leaped between the two and deflected an attack
that surely would have finished Kelnozz.
This newest opponent, wielding two sword poles, proved
Drizzt's toughest challenge yet. He came at Drizzt with com-
plicated feints and twists, forcing him on his heels more
than once.
"Berg'inyon of House Baenre” Hatch'net whispered to
Dinin. Dinin understood the significance and hoped that his
young brother was up to the test.
Berg'inyon was not a disappointment to his distinguished
kin. His moves came skilled and measured, and he and
Drizzt danced about for many minutes with neither finding
any advantage. The daring Berg'inyon then came in with
the attack routine perhaps most familiar to Drizzt: the
double-thrust low.
Drizzt executed the cross-down to perfection, the appro-
priate parry as Zaknafein had so pointedly proved to him.
Never satisfied, though, Drizzt then reacted on an impulse,
agilely snapping a foot up between the hilts of his crossed
blades and into his opponent's face. The stunned son of
House Baenre fell back against the wall.
"I knew the parry was wrong!" Drizzt cried, already sa-
voring the next time he would get the opportunity to foil the
double-thrust low in a session against Zak.
"He is good” Hatch'net gasped again to his glowing com-
panion.
Dazed, Berg'inyon could not fight his way out of the disad-
vantage. He put a globe of darkness around himself, but
Drizzt waded right in, more than willing to fight blindly.
Drizzt put the son of House Baenre through a quick series
of attacks, ending with one of Drizzt's scimitar poles against
Berg'inyon's exposed neck.
"I am defeated” the young Baenre conceded, feeling the
pole. Hearing the call, Master Hatch'net dispelled the dark-
ness. Berg'inyon set both his weapons on the stone and
slumped down, and the blue light appeared on his face.
Drizzt couldn't hold back the widening grin. Were there
any here that he could not defeat? he wondered.
Drizzt then felt an explosion on the back of his head that
dropped him to his knees. He managed to look back in time
to see Kelnozz walking away.
"A fool” Hatch'net chuckled, putting his light on Drizzt,
then turning his gaze upon Dinin. " A good fool”
Dinin crossed his arms in front of his chest, his face glow-
ing brightly now in a flush of embarrassment and anger.
Drizzt felt the cool stone against his cheek, but his only
thoughts at that moment were rooted in the past, locked
onto Zaknafein's sarcastic, but painfully accurate, state-
ment: "It is our way!"
Chapter 13
The Price of Winning
"You deceived me” Drizzt said to Kelnozz that night in the
barracks. The room was black around them and no other Stu-
dents stirred in their cots, exhausted from the day's fighting
and from their endless duties serving the older students.
Kelnozz fully expected this encounter. He had guessed
Drizzt's naivete early on, when Drizzt had actually queried
him about the rules of engagement. An experienced drow
warrior, particularly a noble, should have known better,
should have understood that the only rule of his existence
was the pursuit of victory. Now, Kelnozz knew I this foolish
young Do'Urden would not strike at him for his earlier
actions-vengeance fueled by anger was not one of Drizzt's
traits.
"Why?" Drizzt pressed, finding no answer forthcoming
from the smug commoner of House Kenafin.
The volume of Drizzt's voice caused Kelnozz to glance
around nervously. They were supposed to be sleeping; if a
master heard them arguing. . .
"What is the mystery?" Kelnozz signaled back in the hand
code, the warmth of his fingers glowing clearly to Drizzt's
heat-sensing eyes. "I acted as I had to act, though I now be-
lieve I should have held off a bit longer. Perhaps, if you had
defeated a few more, I might have finished higher than
third in the class”
"If we had worked together, as we had agreed, you might
have won, or finished second at the least” Drizzt signaled
back, the sharp movements of his hands reflecting his anger.
"Most assuredly second” Kelnozz replied. "I knew from
the beginning that I would be no match for you. You are the
finest swordsman I have ever seen”
"Not by the masters' standing” Drizzt grumbled aloud.
Eighth is not so low” Kelnozz whispered back.
Berg'inyon is only ranked tenth, and he is from the ruling
house of Menzoberranzan. You should be glad that your
standing is not to be envied by your classmates” A shuffle
outside the room's door sent Kelnozz back into the silent
mode. "Holding a higher rank means only that I have more
fighters eyeing my back as a convenient place to rest their
daggers”
Drizzt let the implications of Kelnozz's statement slip by;
he refused to consider such treachery in the Academy.
"Berg'inyon was the finest fighter I saw in the grand melee”
he signaled. "He had you beaten until I interceded on your
behalf “
Kelnozz smiled the thought away. "Let Berg'inyon serve as
cook in some lowly house for alii care” he whispered even
more quietly than before-for the son of House Baenre's
bunk was only a few yards away. "He is tenth, yet I, Kelnozz
of Kenafin, am third!"
"I am eighth” said Drizzt, an uncharacteristic edge on his
voice, more anger than jealousy, "but I could defeat you
with any weapon”
Kelnozz shrugged, a strangely blurring movement to on-
lookers seeing in the infrared spectrum. "You did not” he
signaled. "I won our encounter”
"Encounter?" Drizzt gasped. "You deceived me, that is all!"
"Who was left standing?" Kelnozz pointedly reminded
him. "Who wore the blue light of a master's wand?"
"Honor demands that there be rules of engagement”
growled Drizzt.
"There is a rule” Kelnozz snapped back at him. "You may
do whatever you can get away with. I won our encounter,
Drizzt Do'Urden, and I hold the higher rank! That is all that
matters!"
In the heat of the argument, their voices had grown too
loud. The door to the room swung wide, and a master
stepped onto the threshold, his form vividly outlined by the
hallway's blue lights. Both students promptly rolled over
and closed their eyes-and their mouths.
The finality of Kelnozz's last statement rocked Drizzt to
some prudent observations. He realized then that his
friendship with Kelnozz had come to an end-and, perhaps,
that he and Kelnozz had never been friends at all.
"You have seen him?" Alton asked, his fingers tapping anx-
iously on the small table in the highest chamber of his pri-
