Chapter 30 Chapter 25 Compromise

"Wulfgar," Regis said again, no response when he first pointed it out. The halfling looked around at the others, trying to read their expressions.Catti-brie's is easy to spot.She looked stunned when she realized Wulfgar was standing in front of her again, a breeze that might have knocked her over. Drizzt appeared much calmer, and it seemed to Regis that the keen drow was consciously watching Wulfgar's every move, trying to get some accurate estimates of who was standing before him. who is it.Was it the Wulfgar they had known in their early years, or the Wulfgar who had beaten Catti-brie.

As for Bruenor, Regis wasn't sure if the dwarf wanted to run up to hug the man, or to strangle him.Bruenor trembled—surprise, anger, or just confusion, the halfling couldn't tell. Wulfgar also seemed to be trying to read a little of the true meaning of Bruenor's expressions and gestures.The barbarian nodded respectfully in the direction of the halfling, his unwavering gaze never leaving the stubborn and sullen-looking Bruenor Warhammer. "We've been looking for you," Drizzt pointed out. "All the way to Waterdeep City, and back again." Wulfgar nodded, keeping his expression the same, as if afraid to change it.

"It's possible that Wulfgar has been looking for Wulfgar, too," Robillard put in.The mage raised an eyebrow as Drizzt looked back at him. "Well, we've found you—or you've found us," Regis said. "You think you've found yourself?" Bruno asked, with great suspicion in his tone. Wulfgar's lips were drawn into a thin line, and his teeth were clenched together.He wanted to shout that he had found it - when in fact he could only pray that he had.He looked at them all in turn, with a wild urge to gather them all in his arms. But he found a wall that flowed and shifted like the smoke in Errtu's abyss, through which his feelings could not penetrate.

"Looks like I'm in debt to you again," the Savage said with difficulty, knowing it was a very clumsy diversion. "Delly told us about your heroism," Robillard added quickly. "Needless to say, we are all grateful. No one has ever stood up to the Deudermonts so boldly before. I assure you, what the criminals have done has aroused the wrath of the Councilors of Waterdeep." This solemn statement was a little weak, because all the audience knew that the councilors of Waterdeep were unlikely to come to the north to search for the missing accomplices.The councilors of Waterdeep, like the lords of nearly every other city, are better at making statements than they are about action.

"Maybe we can replace the councilors of Waterdeep City and carry out revenge instead of Captain Deudermont," Drizzt suggested to Robillard with a sly expression. "We hunted down Sheila Kerry, who carried out the attack on the captain's home." "I have brought Wulfgar to join you in your hunt." Again, all eyes fell on the tall savage, and again, his lips were pursed nervously.Drizzt saw it clearly, knew that now was not the time to let the levee that held Wulfgar, and everyone's emotions, down.The drow stared back at Catti-brie, and the fact that she hadn't blinked for a long time told him a lot about the fragile state of her mind.

"But what about Robillard?" the Dark Elf asked suddenly, trying to divert, or at least delay, the impending flood. "Doesn't his talent help us?" This time he combed it defensively, making his eyes widen. "He's already done it!" he protested, but the weakness of the argument was reflected in his tone. Drizzt nodded, accepting the statement. "He can do more, and it's a breeze." "My position was on the Sea Sprite, with Deudermont, and the Sea Sprite was already hunting pirate ships at sea, and she was actually chasing a pirate ship when I flew off there to find Wulfgar," Robbie said. Rad explained, but the drow's smile only got more pronounced.

"Your magical gifts allow you to search far and wide areas in a short period of time," Drizzt explained. "We knew the general location of the prey, but because of the rolling, snow-covered mountains, they might be just behind the next hillside, and we didn't know anything about it." "My skills are honed for battle on board, Lord Do'Urden," Robillard replied. "All we ask of you is help in locating the band of pirates, if they hold fast on the southwestern side of the mountains, as we expect. If they have put their ships into the wintering harbor, they are of course near the water. Take advantage of the flight How much more area can you scout out with magic like spells? How much better viewpoint can you have?"

Robillard considered the words for a moment, then raised a hand and felt the back of his neck. "The mountains here are vast," he retorted. "We believe we know the general direction," Drizzt replied. Robillard paused a little longer, then nodded. "I'll search a very specific area just for you this afternoon," he said. "Then I must go back to the Sea Sprite and do my duty. We're chasing a pirate ship, and I don't want it to get away." "Fine," Drizzt nodded. "I will take one of you with me," said the mage.He looked around, and his eyes soon fell on Regis, who was by far the lightest in the group. "You," he said, pointing at the halfling. "You search with me, remember what you can, and lead your friends back to the pirates."

Regis agreed without hesitation, and Drizzt and Catti-brie looked at each other with continued surprise. Preparations were going really quickly, and Robillard picked up an empty bag and told Regis to follow him outside.He warned the halfling to put on extra layers of clothing against the wind and high chill, then cast a spell on himself. "Do you know where Drizzt was talking about?" he asked. Regis nodded, and the mage cast a second spell, this one on the halfling, reducing his size considerably.Robillard picked up the halfling, placed him in the open bag, and the two flew away, into bright daylight.

"Quarter?" Bruno asked, giggling. "Looks more like an eighth," Catti-brie replied, and they both laughed. The relaxed atmosphere didn't impress Wulfgar, nor Drizzt. Now that the deal with Robillard was no longer important, he knew it was time for them to deal with a more significant issue. Expectations of success set out together into danger, and this issue must not be ignored. The mage climbed higher and higher into the air, looking for air currents that would swiftly carry them in the general direction they were going, south to the sea, Regis watching the world pass below him like a bird.

At first, Regis thought how vulnerable they were so high up, black spots in the blue sky, but as they continued to fly, he reveled in the experience.He watched the undulating ground as they passed over the ridge of one mountain, and the ground on the other side sank so quickly that the halfling couldn't breathe.He found a herd of deer below, very small figures, which reassured him, for if they were so small, almost indistinguishable black spots, then from the ground he and Robillard must have been so Small.Regis realized how easily they could be mistaken for a bird, especially with the mage's cloak swinging behind him. Of course, the sudden realization of how high they were perched quickly stirred up other fears in Regis, and he clung to the mage's shoulders. "Let go, don't hold on so tight!" Robillard yelled against the wind, and Regis complied a little. Soon the two were flying out onto the cold water, and Robillard lowered them a little, below the height of those hilltops.Below, the white water laps against numerous flickering reefs, and the waves roar to the rocky shore where a war has raged for millions of years.Even though they were lower in the air, Regis unconsciously gripped harder again. A thin wisp of smoke ahead warned them both that there was a campfire, and Robillard immediately flew back to shore, rising behind the nearest peaks, intending to use them as cover from the eyes of any would-be sentry.To the halfling's surprise, and to his relief, the mage landed on a rocky outcrop. "I must renew the fly spell," Robillard explained, "and activate something else." The mage fumbled in his pockets for various materials, and began to cast the spell.After a few seconds, he disappeared. Regis let out a shriek of surprise and panic. "Here I am," explained Robillard's voice. The halfling heard him cast the spell again - Regis recognized it as the same spell - and a moment later, Regis, too, was invisible. "Once I finish renewing the fly spell, you'll have to fumble your way back into my bag," the mage's voice explained, before he began casting the spell again. Soon they were both flying again, and although Regis logically knew it was safer because he was invisible, just because he couldn't see the mage propping him up in flight was far from reassuring.Robillard sent them scurrying across the hills, looking for a lower passage, roughly in the direction of the smoke they'd seen, and Regis clung on with all his strength.Soon, the smoke was back in sight, only this time the two of them approached from the northwest instead of the southwest. As they approached, they found that it was indeed a sentry post.There were two of them, a rough-looking human, and a huge, muscled beast—perhaps a short ogre, or a human-ogre hybrid.High on the ridge, the two huddled around a feeble fire rubbing their hands, paying little heed to their duty of monitoring a winding road in a canyon on the other side of their position. "The prisoners we've captured speak of a ravine," Regis said to the mage, loud enough for the mage to hear. In response, Robillard darted northward, following the ridge to the end of the long canyon.Then he circled back and forth, letting the halfling land in a winding and decreasing canyon.It had apparently once been a riverbed, winding its way out to the sea between two steep rocky walls about two or three hundred feet high.At the widest point at the bottom it is no more than a hundred feet, and as the wall rises the distance in between increases, and in many places it is several hundred feet from the top of the cliff to the top of the opposite cliff. They passed the positions of the two sentries, noticing there were two more on the opposite side, but the mage didn't slow down long enough for Regis to see the second pair clearly. The mage and his unenthusiastic passenger flew on, the poor halfling's head spinning with speed as it skimmed the canyon walls.Robillard spotted another sentry that appeared to be an ogre, but the halfling was too dazed by the flight to even look up to confirm what the mage saw. The canyon snaked for more than a thousand feet, and when they turned the last bend, they saw the sea, whipped by the wind.To the right, the ground crumbles into piles of boulders and outcroppings—a rugged, desolate area.On the left, at the bottom of the canyon, appeared a large hill about four or five hundred feet high.There are a number of openings along its rock face, including a rather large cave in the ground floor. Robillard crossed the hill, out into the sea, and turned sharply left to circle the south side of the hill.Many gigantic rocks dot the seascape and it is a veritable labyrinth of stone and danger for any boat that dares.Here and there along the coast were other hills, more projecting than this one, making it more hidden from the eye of any navigator. And, at sea level to the south, a cavern appeared, large enough for a sailboat to enter. Robillard passed it, continuing to circle while ascending.Then both he and Regis noticed a path that started at sea level at the edge of the cave and went up around the mountain to the east. Climbing over the east-facing surface, the two saw a door, and they could easily imagine that there were other doors along that often-obscured path. Robillard climbed over the east facing surface, continued back north, and cut down into the canyon.To the halfling's surprise and shudder, the mage landed at the bottom of the hill, right next to the mouth of the cave, an entrance large enough for two wagons to pass side by side. The mage grabbed the invisible halfling and dragged him into the cave together.As soon as they entered, they heard the rude banter of the three ogres. "Perhaps you and the drow have a better way to enter this cave complex," the mage suggested softly. The halfling almost jumped into the air when he heard voices speaking right next to him.Regis collected himself quickly so as not to scream and alert the guards. "Stay here," whispered Robillard, and he went away. Regis was alone, and despite being invisible, he really felt small and vulnerable. "You nearly killed me with the first blow of your hammer!" Drizzt reminded, and the drow's words brought a chuckle to Wulfgar's sullen face, and both Drizzt and Catti-brie bared. Smile. They were discussing old times, and Drizzt conjured up some pleasant memories, trying to break the freeze and pull Wulfgar out of his understandably protective shell.This reunion was not a comfortable one, as evidenced by Bruenor's stubborn frown and Wulfgar's obvious nervousness. They were telling the story of Drizzt's first battle with Wulfgar, in the lair of a giant called Bigling.The two have been training together, understanding each other's differences in fighting styles, and in many key moments, their styles have meshed perfectly.But in reality, as Drizzt clearly admits, there are times when luck outweighs cooperation and skill. Though Bruenor remained silent and kept frowning, the drow continued to tell tales of the old days in Icewind Dale, of the many adventures, of the forging of Aegis-fang (to which Bruenor and Wulfgar both visibly taken aback), about the journey to Calimport to rescue Regis, and the journey back north and east to retake Mithril Hall.Even Drizzt was amazed by the number of stories, by the depth of their friendship.He began to speak of the dark elves coming to Mithril Hall, and the tragic encounter that had taken Wulfgar from them, but he paused, reconsidering what he was about to say. "Why is such an alliance so short-lived?" the drow asked frankly. "How can the meddling of a demon tear apart what we've spent so many years building together?" "That's not the demon Errto," Wulfgar said, just as Catti-brie was about to answer. The other three stared at the tall man, for it was the first thing Drizzt had said since he started telling the story. "It was the demon Errtu that was rooted in me," Wulfgar explained.He paused, stepped aside, and faced Catti-brie directly instead of Drizzt.He gently took her hand in his own. "Or, the demon in my heart before..." His voice trailed off, and he looked up, moisture gathering in his crystal blue eyes.Wulfgar blinked away the moisture forcefully, and looked at the woman resolutely again. "All I can say is that I'm sorry," he said, his normally loud voice reduced to a whisper. As he spoke, Catti-brie reached out and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his huge shoulders.Wulfga embraced back a thousand times more passionately, and buried her face in her thick auburn hair. Catti-brie turned her face to the side, facing Drizzt, and the drow was smiling and nodding, as happy as she was, because at first there might have been a long hurdle preventing them from renewing their friendship normally, and now this Barriers have been destroyed. After a moment, Catti-brie stepped back, wiped her eyes, and faced Wulfgar with a warm smile. "You've got a wonderful wife, Delly," she said. "And a beautiful child, though not your own." Wulfgar nodded at both, looking very pleased at the moment, as if he had just taken a giant step in the right direction. Then he was suddenly bumped from the side, and his grunt was part surprise and pain.The heavy blow sent him stumbling to the side.The Savage turned to see an angry Bruno standing there with his hands on his hips. "If you hit my daughter again, I'll make a beautiful necklace out of your teeth, boy! If you want to call yourself my son, don't hit your sister!" The way he expressed it was certainly absurd, but as Bruenor stomped past them outside the cave, the remaining three heard a slight sniffling sound and knew that the dwarf was only coming in the way his proud temperament allowed. React, knowing that he's as happy about the reunion as the rest of them. Then Catti-brie walked over to Drizzt and put her arm on his back in a casual but affectionate way.Wulfgar seemed taken aback at first, at least as surprised as when Bruenor hit him.Gradually, however, this astonishment turned into an expression of complete acceptance and satisfaction, and the barbarian responded with a deep smile. "The road ahead of us is muddy," Drizzt said. "If we are together and contented, do we still need to go to the Fang of Aegis and face those obstacles?" Wulfgar looked at him, as if he didn't believe what he was hearing.But the Savage's expression changed quickly, for he seemed almost to agree with the reasoning. "You're not normal," Catti-brie replied to Drizzt without hesitation. Due to her violent reaction, the drow looked at her in surprise and suspicion. "Don't worry about what I say," the woman said, "Ask him." After she finished speaking, she pointed behind the drow, and he turned to see Bruno stomping back. "What's the matter?" asked the dwarf. "Drizzt thinks we'd better leave the hammer alone for a while," Catti-brie pointed out. Bruenor's eyes widened, and for a moment it looked like he was about to charge at the drow. "How could you...you goddamn stupid elf...why...wh, what's wrong?" he stammered. Drizzt waved his hand in the air, and with a small smile in return, he gestured quietly to the dwarf, beckoning him to look at Wulfgar.Bruenor mumbled on for a while longer before he understood, but then he steadied himself, hands on hips, and turned to the Savage. "How?" growled the dwarf. "What do you think, boy?" Wulfgar took a deep breath as the gazes of his four friends fell on him.They put him completely at the center of events, and he knew he should, because it was his actions that cost him the hammer, and since that was his hammer, his words would be the final say on the path ahead of them. But such a decision bears such a heavy weight. Wulfgar's mind swirled, considering all the possibilities, many of them dire indeed.What if he led his buddies to Sheila Kree only to have a band of pirates wipe them all out?Or worse, he thought, if one or more of his friends died, but he survived.How could he survive on his own and... Spotting the trap, Wulfgar shook his head with a smile. "I lost the Fang of Aegis through my own fault," he admitted, and of course everyone knew that. "Now I understand the mistake—my mistake. So, as soon as I could, I'd go after the hammer, through hail and snow, and fight pirates, and dragons if necessary. But I couldn't let You work with me, none of them. If anyone now turns back to Ten Towns, or goes to one of the little villages in the mountains, I don't blame. I'm going. That's my job, my mission .” "You think we'll let you do it alone?" Catti-brie pointed out, but Wulfgar cut her off. "And I welcome any help you four might offer, even though I don't think I deserve your help at all." "Stupid," Bruno said angrily. "Of course we'll go, you stupid bastard. You got your face in the muddy water, and we're going to pull you out." "Those dangers—" Wulfgar wanted to respond. "Ogres and stupid pirates," Bruno said. "That's no problem. We'll kill some, scare some more, get your hammer back, and be home by spring. If there's a dragon there..." Bruenor paused and gave a smirk. "Okay, we'll let you kill it yourself!" The joke was well-timed, and all the mates seemed to be back to normal, with four friends on a mission. "If you lose the Fang of Aegis again," Bruenor continued to growl, pointing a stubby finger at Wulfgar, "I'll bury you before I get it back!" Bruno's fiery speech looked as if it was going to continue, but a voice from outside silenced him and made everyone turn their heads in that direction. Robillard and Regis entered the small cave. "We've found them," Regis said before the mage had time to speak.The halfling tucked his stubby thumb under the seam of his thick woolen vest in a smug gesture. "We went all the way in, past the ogre guards and—" "We don't know if that's Sheila Kree," Robillard interrupted him, "but it looks like we've found the source of the ogre raiding party—a vast system of tunnels and caves by the sea." "There's a cave in the water, big enough for a ship to go in," Regis added quickly. "You believe it's the Kree?" Drizzt asked, gazing at the mage as he spoke. "I suppose so," replied Robillard, after a very slight hesitation. "The Sea Sprite has chased what we believe to be Kerry's ship into these waters on more than one occasion, then lost her. We have always suspected that she has a hidden harbor, perhaps a cave. The tunnel system at the end of the canyon to the south supports this idea .” "That's where we must go, then," Drizzt pointed out. "I couldn't take all of you," Robillard explained. "Obviously the guy is too big for me to hang on my back while flying." He pointed at Wulfgar. "You know the way?" the drow asked Regis. The halfling stood upright, looking as if he was about to salute the drow. "I can find it," he assured Drizzt and Robillard. The mage nodded. "A day's journey, that's all," he said. "You know your way, then. What if..." He paused, looking at each of them in turn, his gaze finally falling on Wulfgar. "If you don't choose to pursue now, the Sea Sprite will welcome you all in the spring, when we may have a better chance of retrieving that lost item from Sheila Kree." "We go now," Wulfgar said. "There's no Kree to go after in the spring," Bruno snickered, drawing his tomahawk to underscore his point and slapping it across his open palm. Robillard laughed and nodded in agreement. "Good Robillard," Drizzt said, walking over to stand in front of the mage, "if you and the Sea Sprite see the Bloody Keel out in the open sea, say hello before sinking her. Maybe it's just We are the ones bringing the pirates to port." Robillard laughed again, louder. "I don't doubt you," he said to Drizzt, patting the drow on the shoulder. "If we do meet on open water, I hope you and your friends don't sink us!" The good-natured humor was well received, but not for long.Robillard walked past the dark elf and stood before Wulfgar. "I never liked you," he said frankly. Wulfgar snorted—or wanted to, but he checked himself and let the mage continue.Based on his actions, Wulfgar expected to get the reprimand he deserved.The Savage steadied himself, shoulders thrown back, but made no movement to interrupt. "But maybe I never really understood you," Robillard admitted. "Perhaps you have found your true self. If so, and you have indeed found the real Wulfgar, son of Beornegar, come back and sail with us. Even one who has seen too much daylight, smelled A stubborn old mage with too much seawater may change his mind." Robillard turned to wave to the others, but then turned back, casting a sly glance at Wulfgar. "Of course, if that's really important to you," he said, looking joking. "It's important," Wulfgar said with deadly seriousness, in a tone that surprised the mage and his friends with a solemn sourness. A look of shock and pleasure played on Robillard's face. "Good-bye, then, everyone," said the mage, bowing deeply.Finally, he directly began to cast a teleport smoothly, and the air around him bubbled like colored boiling water, blurring his figure. Then he was gone, and there were only five of them left. Just like before.