Chapter 27 Chapter 22 Step by Step

The icy wind howled at him from the right, and Wulfgar plodded on, head and shoulders bowed to the constant, cold pressure.He was on an overhanging passage, and although he didn't like being out in the open, this weathered stretch of road was by far the one with the least remaining snow.He knew he was a black speck on a white background, and that enemies might spot him from a mile away, but he also knew that unless they were airborne creatures—and big enough to fight the winter winds— Otherwise, you will never be able to get close to him. All he expected was that his former partners might find him.How else would he find them in such a vast and undulating terrain?Here, the view is always blocked by the nearest mountain, and the distance is always seriously distorted.Sometimes the next hillside might seem like a short stretch, where every tree could be discerned, but in reality there was often an impassable barrier blocking Wulfgar many miles away, a deep and steep ravine , or unclimbable surfaces that would take him days to detour to get there.

How can I hope to find them?The Savage asked himself, not for the first time, not even for the hundredth time.He shook his head at his folly, walking out of Luskan's North Gate on that fateful morning, and continuing on into the mountains after the dreadful storm, when the southward path seemed much easier. "If Drizzt and the others find a shelter, a town where they can spend the winter, am I a fool?" the barbarian asked himself, and laughed out loud. Yes, it was about the most hopeless degree possible, looking for his friends over a vast and desolate field, in such confusion that he might pass within yards of them without noticing .But when the context is considered, the Savage still realizes that he is not stupid, he did what he needed to do, albeit with a low chance of success.

Wulfgar stopped on the vantage point and looked around, at the valley around him, at the peaks looming in front of him, at a grove of cold groves to his right, a deep patch of white on either side of the mountains. Green spots. He decided to go there, heading west under the cover of the trees until he reached the main mountain road that would take him back to Icewind Dale.It would be best if he found his former partners along the way.If not, he would go on to Ten-Towns, and stay there until Drizzt and the others came for him, or, if they hadn't arrived by spring, had the caravan sign him up, all the way back to Waterdeep.

Wulfgar shaded his eyes from the light and windblown snow, picking his way.He had to continue across the open land facing the huge mountains and down the steep west side.At least there were trees on that hillside against which he could rest his weight and slow down the descent.If he tried to walk down the now desolate area and slipped, he'd have to roll a really long way. Wulfgar bowed his head again, leaning forward in the wind, pushing forward. The leaning took its toll, and he stepped on a rock that sloped more to the right than it looked.His fur boots struggled against the icy surface, and the off-balance Wulfgar couldn't correct in time to stop the slip.He flew forward with both feet and landed hard on his hips.He was skating, arms flailing wildly, trying to find a support.

He let go of the huge, clumsy long pheasant knife, tossing the weapon a little to the side so it wouldn't tumble behind him on top of his head.He couldn't slow down, and before long it was bouncing instead of sliding, a forward roll, and hitting a boulder that threw him sideways.The straps on his backpack came loose, one unraveled and the other snapped.It fell behind him, the lid lifted, and as it slid all the way down, his supplies fell out and lined up behind. Wulfgar continued to roll and bounce and fall, leaving the knapsack, the pheasant knife, and the passage at the top far behind.

"He's wounded!" said Captain Deudermont, his voice rising with anxiety as he watched the savage's long and violent roll. He and Robillard were in his private quarters on the Sea Sprite, staring at the enchanted bowl of water that the mage used to tell where the wandering savages were.Robillard didn't like this kind of divination and wasn't very proficient at it, but he had secretly slipped a magic pin into the inner lapel of Wulfgar's silver wolf-skin suit.The pin was attuned to the bowl, and even Robillard could see the man in the distance, though his power lay in summoning, not divination.

"Stupid," Robillard remarked quietly. They watched in silence, Deudermont biting his lip, as Wulfgar scrambled to his feet at the foot of the hill on which he had been gliding.The Savage leaned to one side, indicating a wounded shoulder.As he walked around, apparently trying to find the best path to retrieve the gear, the two noticed his apparent limp. "He couldn't get back up there without help," Deudermont said. "Stupid," said Robillard again. "Look at him!" cried the captain. "He could have turned south, as you predicted, but he didn't. No, he set off for the North, into the frozen mountains, a place few people would go, even in summer, even at If you walk in a group, even fewer dare to go alone.”

"It's the law of nature," said Robillard sarcastically. "Those who try it alone are likely dead. Fools have a way of weeding themselves out of the bloodline." "You want him to go north," the captain pointedly reminded. "You said that too, many times. And not to make him fall dead. You insisted that Wulfgar was a man who deserved friends like Drizzt and Catti-brie, insisted that he go Hunt them down, no matter how small the chances of success." "Now look, my curmudgeon friend," said Deudermont, waving his arms outward toward the water bowl, towards the image of the stubborn Wulfgar.

He was clearly in pain, but just twisted his face away to put the pain away, and the man was climbing inch by inch back up the hill.The savage didn't stop, didn't cry out in anger, didn't throw his fists into the air.He just picks the path and climbs it without complaint. Deudermont looked at Robillard as intently as a mage looks at a divination bowl.At last Robillard looked up. "Perhaps this Wulfgar is a little stronger than I believe," the mage admitted. "Shall we just leave him there to die cold and alone?" Robillard sighed, then growled and rubbed his face vigorously with both hands, making his skinny face look rosy. "He's been nothing but trouble since the day he came to talk to you on the long docks of Waterdeep!" growled Robillard, shaking his head. "No, even before that, in Luskan, when he tried to kill—"

"He didn't!" insisted Deudermont, annoyed that Robillard had opened this old wound. "That's neither Wulfgar, nor the little man called Morik." "Whatever you say." "He suffered without complaint," the captain continued, directing the mage's gaze to the image in the bowl again. "But I think it's likely that Wulfgar once faced torture at the hands of the demon Errtu, and after that, he doesn't even count such storms as misery." "Then there's no problem." "But now?" asked the captain. "Wullfgar wandered aimlessly through the winter mountains, never finding his friends."

Deudermont could tell from the ensuing sigh that Robillard understood him perfectly. "We just spotted a pirate ship yesterday," the mage pointed out, only whispering if Deudermont could hear. "It's likely we'll fight in the morning. You can't afford—" "If we see the corsair again and you haven't returned, or you're not ready to fight, then we'll run from her. We can outrun any ship in pursuit, so we can escape in retreat." "I don't like teleporting into unfamiliar places," Robillard grumbled. "I could show up too high and fall." "Then activate a fly or levitate spell before you leave. "It might be too low, too," said Robillard darkly, for there was always the possibility that any mage who appeared too low on the other side of the teleportation would find himself crushed among the rocks and dirt. Deudermont had no answer to that, just shrugged, but it wasn't a real debate.Anyway, Robillard was just complaining, and he was perfectly willing to go to the injured man. "Wait for my return before engaging any pirate ships," the mage muttered, fumbling from his many pockets for the spell materials he needed to get him safely—as safely as possible—to Wulfgar. . "If I can really come back." "I'm full of confidence." "Of course you are," said Robillard. Robillard walked to a side cabinet. Captain Deudermont stepped back. Robillard opened the cabinet and took out one of Deudermont's personal belongings, a thick woolen blanket.The mage continued to grunt as he cast spells, first one that sent him gently floating off the ground, then another that seemed to tear the very fabric of the air apart.Many colored bubbles surrounded the mage until they blurred him—he was gone, and only the bubbles burst and flowed and coalesced, making the air seem whole again. Deudermont rushed forward and looked towards the water bowl, taking one last look at Wulfgar's image before Robillard's divining magic wore off. He saw another figure coming into the snow-covered realm. Wulfgar began to slip again, and had to fall roaring, finding a small exposed rock and reaching out to grab a corner of it.His powerful arms tugged, sliding himself upward. "If you keep moving at this pace, we'll be here all afternoon." A familiar voice came from above. The barbarian looked up to see Robillard standing above the passage, a thick brown blanket wrapping him over his customary mage robes. "What?" Wulfgar asked startled, but distracted by the startle, he slid back twenty feet or so, hitting hard on the rocky floor. The barbarian stood up, looked up again, and saw Robillard floating down from the hillside with a long pheasant knife in his hand.The mage scooped up some of Wulfgar's other belongings along the way, threw them at Wulfgar, and swooped around, flying around with magic, until he collected all the dropped items.Having done the work, he landed softly beside the tall man. "I did not expect to see you here," Wulfgar said. "Just as I didn't expect to see you," replied Robillard. "I predict you'll take the south route instead of the north one. Your astonishing tenacity even cost me a bet with Denak the oarsman." "Should I make it up to you?" Wulfgar said flatly. Robillard shrugged and nodded again. "Maybe next time. If I don't have to, I don't want to stay in this god-forsaken wilderness at all." "I have supplies, and I'm not badly wounded," Wulfgar said.He squared his strong shoulders and thrust his jaw forward defiantly, not caring that the mage left. "But you have not yet found your friends," the mage explained, "and this would hardly have been possible without my help. Hence I have come." "Because you're my friend?" "Because Captain Deudermont is," Robillard corrected, snorting at the wry grin on the barbarian's ruddy, hairy face. "You have magic to find their location?" Wulfgar asked. "I have magic that allows us to fly above the mountains," Robillard corrected, "and other magic that allows us to move quickly from one place to another. Creatures that walk in an area. We can only hope your friends are among them." "What if they're not there?" "Then I suggest you follow me back to Waterdeep City." "To the Sea Spirit!" "To Waterdeep," repeated Robillard emphatically. Wulfgar shrugged, not wishing to argue the point - he hoped it was moot.He believed that Drizzt and the others had come to find Aegis-fang, and if so, he hoped they were still here, alive and well. He still wasn't sure if he'd made the right choice that day in Luskan, still wasn't sure if he was ready for it if that was what he wanted.How should he react when he sees them?What was he going to say to Bruno?If the dwarf was going to protect Catti-brie after all, if he was going to jump over and strangle him, what could he do?What could he say to Catti-brie?How was it possible to gaze into her blue eyes again after doing this to her? Now, since it seemed that he was indeed going to find his companions, these questions came upon him violently. But he had no answers to these questions, and he knew that he could not have foreseen such a meeting, not even from his own emotions. Wulfgar snapped back from his contemplation to see Robillard staring at him, the mage wearing the closest expression of sympathetic understanding Wulfgar had ever seen. "How did you get here?" asked Robillard. Wulfgar's expression showed that he didn't know. "Step by step," Robillard replied to his own question. "You just have to go on like this. Step by step, Wulfgar will conquer his own demons." Then Robillard made a move that surprised the big man more than ever: he raised his hand and patted Wulfgar on the shoulder.