Chapter 18 end

"She'll understand," Drizzt said to Catti-briel one morning, about two weeks after the drow returned to Mithril Hall, as the two sat by their bed. "She won't understand, because she doesn't need to," argued Catti-brie. "You told her you would go, so you must. Keep your word." "Innovindy will understand." Drizzt insisted, but his voice trailed off under Catti-brie's stern gaze.The debate on this topic has been repeated several times between them. "You need to end this part of your life," Catti-brie looked at him calmly, took his in both hands, brushed her lips and kissed them. "When your machete fell on Ellifain, it cut deep into your own heart. You didn't return to Ellifain for Innovindy. You didn't owe Ellifain anything. What are they, so yes, they will understand, you owe it to yourself, you need to go back, let Alifane rest, and bring Drizzt back to peace."

"How can I leave you now?" "Why can't you?" Catti-brie grinned at him. "I never doubted that you would come back to me, even if your traveling companion was a beautiful elf." "Besides," the woman continued, "it's impossible for me to stay here. I promised Wulfgar that I would go with him to Silvermoon City, or even farther if necessary." Drizzt nodded in agreement with the latter part. According to the pilot of the dwarf ferry, when his boat was carrying refugees from the north to the east coast, Delicoty had indeed approached them, and he also remembered that he saw The woman was carrying something, perhaps a baby, to another human woman, he wasn't sure who it was—these all looked alike to him, as he claimed.

Wulfgar wouldn't wait until spring to find Coulson, and Catti-brie wouldn't let him go alone. "You can't follow us," said Catti-brier, "your visit would cause such a stir in these gossip-filled towns that the person with the child would know that we were after her. Therefore you have have tasks to accomplish, and I have mine." Drizzt did not pursue the argument. "Is Regis staying with Bruenor?" Drizzt asked. "There's always someone to do that, and since hearing that Obard or an orc who inherited Obard's powers continues to hold our enemies together, Bruenor thought until recently that they would start preparing to retreat, But all the reports from the north show that they continue their ways without stopping."

"Dark Arrow Kingdom..." Drizzt muttered, shaking his head, "and neither Alustriel nor anyone else will fight against it." Catti-brie squeezed his hand tighter. "We'll find a way." Next to her, Drizzt couldn't believe there was anything else, couldn't believe there was any difficulty that couldn't be solved. Drizzt found him not long after in Bruenor's lecture hall, Regis sitting next to him and Brother Stoneshoulders, who had packed his bags and stood before him. "Nice to see you again, dark-skinned guy," Ivan greeted Drow, "my brother and I..." Ivan paused.

"My brudder!" said Pike. "Well, we're going to go home and see what Cadderly can do to my... Pike's arm. I'm afraid there won't be any fighting for the next few weeks at least, and we want to come back and kill more Where are the orcs?" Ivan turned to Bruno, "If you still welcome us, King Bruno." "Which ruler would be so foolish as to refuse the Stoneshoulders help?" Bruenor asked kindly, though Drizzt could hear the tingle of exasperation at every sound of Bruenor's voice. "Boom!" Pike yelled. "Yes, boom," Ivan said, "come on, you green-bearded cousin of Cadderly's pet squirrel, take me home—and stop playing with little roots, you understand?"

"whee." Drizzt watched the brothers leave the hall, then turned to Bruenor and asked, "Will your kingdom be the same?" "They're both good guys," Bruno admitted, "though the one with the green beard scares me." "Boom!" Regis said. Bruno eyed him menacingly, "Next time you say 'hee hee,' I'll pluck your eyebrows out." "The townspeople are going to let them stay, elf," said the dwarf, turning to Drizzt. "Damn fools want the stinking orcs to keep what they took." "They didn't find their way there, and they didn't want to."

"That's why they're so stupid. Obard, or some other pig-face calling the shots in his stead, isn't going to sit there and discuss trade routes with us." "Absolutely agree." "They can't be left there." "But we can't hope to fight them off without allies," Drizzt reminded the dwarf. "So we're going to find them!" Bruno announced. "Are you going to go with Eve... Eno... anyway, that damn elf?" "I promised to take her to find Ai Lifen's body, so that Ai Lifen can return to the Moon Forest with dignity."

"Fine, then..." "You know I'll come back to you." Bruenor nodded. "Gauntgrim," he said, catching both Drizzt and Regis off guard. "Gauntgrim," repeated Bruno, "the three of us, and my daughter—if she is ready; my son—if he finds his little girl back, we will Tergrim has our answers." "How do you know this?" Regis asked. "I don't think Moradin will let me come back here and sign any deals with those stinking pig-faced orcs," Bruenor replied, "I know I can't challenge him single-handedly, and I'm not convincing enough Fight with me."

"So you think you can find the answer to your plight in this long-buried dwarf kingdom?" Drizzt asked. "I'm sure it's as good a place to find answers as anywhere else. Banak will take over Mithril Hall while I'm away. Everything is ready. Go to Gauntgrim in spring, elf." Drizzt stared at him curiously, not sure if Bruenor realized something, or if, as usual, it was just a way of saying that the dwarves were looking for adventure so they wouldn't sit around doing nothing all day.Drizzt realized at once, however, that it didn't matter which answer it was, for he was no less determined than Bruenor to set off again in pursuit of the wind that blew across his face.

"Gauntgrim in the spring," he agreed. "We'll let the orcs know what's good or bad," Bruenor promised. by his side.Regis sighed. Never since Toth-an Amugog had left the Menzoberranzan army evacuated from Mithral Hall, he had been so alone and depressed, three of his companions were dead, and he knew that if he stayed in the North Anywhere, Obird would have sent him to join them in no time. That morning he found Collic's body.But everything that was useful to him was taken away.Where should he go? He thought of the tortuous tunnels of the Underdark, and realized that even if he chose to go back, it was unlikely he would be able to return to Menzoberranzan.But he couldn't stay on the surface with the orcs either.

"Gerty," he finally made up his mind after sitting on the same rock where Obard and Drizzt fought fiercely.If he could get to Shanbai, he could find an ally, or a refuge. But that's just assuming he can get there, he slips off the rocks, starts to avoid the wind, and the eyes and ears of Obard spies, and goes down the trail to the lower, he finds the lower trail and follows it Go roughly north. "Don't leave me!" he heard, and stopped. No, Toth-An realized he didn't really hear the call, rather he felt the voice from the depths of his own mind, and the curious drow walked back and forth, extending his awareness around him. "Here!" On your left, next to the stone. Toss-an followed the instructions and quickly came to the source of the sound. When he lifted the mythical sword in his hand, he smiled for the first time in the past few days. "Nice to meet you," the chipper passed the thought to him. "Indeed," Toth-Ann responded, feeling the weapon's extraordinary balance and noting its uncanny sharpness. He looked back to where he had found the sword and saw that he had pulled it from a slit in Obard's seemingly impenetrable armor. "Indeed..." he said again, beginning to think that perhaps his adventure hadn't been for nothing. The cutter didn't complain either, and the sword soon realized that it had finally found a bearer who was not only qualified, but thought like it. On a clean and fresh winter morning, Drizzt and Innovindi set off from Mithril Hall and headed southwest. They planned to pass near Nesme to observe the progress of fortifying the city's defenses, and then cross the northern part of the Eternal Waste. To Longsaddle, the home of the famous mage family Hubbell, as long-time allies of King Bruno, if the war finally comes back, the Hubbell family will undoubtedly join the fight, Bruno has been so desperate to find allies - as long as they are any possible allies —so he'll gladly accept help, even though the odd mages have as many chances of blowing themselves up as they do to destroy their enemies. Drizzt and Innovindi planned to follow the roughly southwest road to the sea, hoping that by then they would be able to take to the skies on their mounts, and then they would turn north, hoping that winter would loosen its icy grip. palm, let them walk across the ravine back to the harbor, where Ariffin lay. That morning, the ferry carried Wulfgar and Catti-brie, two friends determined to find Wulfgar's lost daughter, trudging across the frozen Surbring River. Bruenor and Regis saw off the two traveling companions, and returned to the dwarf king's private quarters to plan their spring journey. "Gauntlgrym, glutton," Bruenor repeated, and Regis began to understand that the dwarf's repeated chanting was to escape the terrible fact that the orcs had invaded, only occasionally thinking that the territory of the Kingdom of Dark Arrow had covered him. The doorstep would also throw Bruno into a terrible panic. It was his way of escaping reality, Regis understood, his way of doing something, everything he could resist. Not since Regis had set out from Icewind Dale to find Mithril Hall many years ago had he seen Bruenor so excited and full of longing. All of them would be there, all five of their friends—six, counting Guenhwyfa, and maybe Ivan and Pike would be back among them and join the adventure before the spring. Bruenor was too absorbed in his map and supply tables to pay attention to other things, so he completely ignored Regis' muttering, "Hee hee."