Chapter 26 Chapter 21 Timely Injury

"We'll always anchor here for a while," said Captain Bambo Thunderfist, as the Ratfish happened to sit firmly on top of a fallen tree that lay across the river, and the shock nearly knocked Bruno and Raj away. S fell over the side of the boat. "We don't like taking too many supplies at once." explained the loud dwarf. "My brothers and cousins ​​eat too fast!" Drizzt nodded, they did need some food, the main reason was these gluttonous dwarves.He carefully observed the dense woods on both sides of the river.Several times over the course of two days, he and his friends saw creatures stalking them, and on one occasion Regis recognized the stalkers as goblins.Given their tenacious pursuit, and the fact that the goblins seldom pursued for more than a few hours, the friends thought it was Cershennibon calling them again.

"How long does it take to get supplies and come back?" Drow asked. "Oh, not more than an hour," Bambor replied. "Have to cut the time in half again," Bruno urged. "Me and my halfling friend will help." He nodded to Drizzt and Katie, who knew right away what he meant: they had to go out and do a little detective work. It didn't take long for these two experienced hunters to find the traces left by the goblins, and analyzed at least thirty of these vile and weak creatures, not far from here.It looks like the goblins have left the river on purpose.As Drizzt and Katie climbed to the higher ground and looked eastward at the winding, silvery river, they both understood why the goblins were like this.For the past hour the Mousefish had been heading north along the river, and soon she was heading east, then south, then east again.The goblin gang seems to have decided to head east through the open to get around the front of the dwarven ship.

"Ah, so they know the river," said Bamboo, when Drizzt and Katie returned to the boat to report their discovery. "They'll fight somewhere where the river is narrow enough for our ships to avoid attack." Bruenor looked at Drizzt seriously. "Elf, how many do you reckon there are?" he asked. "Twenty," Drizzt said. "Maybe thirty." "Then let's choose a battle location," Bruno said. "If we're going to fight, we're going to fight on the battlefields we choose." Everyone noticed that there was no trace of surprise or discouragement in Bruno's tone.

"They have to wait for the ship to move forward for a while before they can stop it," Bambor said. "If we tether him here, they might come after him." Drizzt started shaking his head before the dwarf had finished speaking. "Our ship will continue to proceed as planned," he explained. "Three of us are missing from the boat, though." He meant Bruno and Katie.Then he untied the pouch containing Cershennibon from his waist and handed it to Regis. "This is on the ship," he said to the halfling. "Keep it safe no matter what." "So they'll go after our ship, and you three will go after them," Regis deduced, and Drizzt nodded.

"Quickly, then, if you will," the halfling added. "What are you talking about, glutton?" Bruno asked with a chuckle. "You just brought so much food onto the ship, and anyone who knows you as well as I do know that there won't be much food left when we get back!" Regis looked at the pouch suspiciously, but when his eyes turned to the ship full of supplies, the expression on his face did suddenly brighten. So they parted temporarily, and Bamber and his crew, along with Regis, untied the rope from the fallen tree that served as a makeshift dock, and returned to the fast current.Before they could go far, Drizzt on the river bank pulled out the onyx statue, lowered it to the ground and called out to his companion, the Panther.Since then, he and his three companions have set off from here and rushed to the east, tracking the goblin gang.

Guenhwyfa walked in the front, hiding his body in the grass, and when he walked by, the trembling of the grass and bushes could not even be seen.Drizzt followed behind, serving as a link between the big cat and the two behind-the-scenes partners who were responsible for the break.At the end of the line, Bruenor carried his tomahawk with ease, and Katie held the taumari bow ready for arrows. "Well, if we were to fight, it would be in this place," Donette said after a while.At this time, the Ratfish had just turned a bend, and the river in this area became very narrow, and the speed of the water flow was faster, and there were still many branches hanging down from the bank.

Regis took one look at the field and groaned, not liking the prospect at all.He noticed the many bushes and hillocks nearby, and realized that goblins could be hiding anywhere.He was also displeased at the indiscretion shown by the dwarves, for he knew that the dwarves were always excited before a fight, without thinking about the outcome. And to make the halfling even more flustered, a seductive voice began to appear in his head, reminding him that he could build a crystal tower—a crystal tower that a thousand goblins could not take— —and only Regis needs to control the Crystal Shard.Regis knew that the goblin wouldn't even try to take the crystal tower, because Crschinibon would order the little ones to serve him.

They simply cannot resist. Drizzt leaned against a tree, looked back at Bruno and Katie who were some distance away, and signaled to Katie not to shoot the arrow for now.Both he and Katie saw a goblin in the tree, which was paying attention to the movement on the river, so it didn't notice the approach of Drizzt and the others.The Ranger didn't think it necessary to tell the whole gang of goblins that danger was approaching, and Katie's mighty bow was clearly going to alert all the goblins. So the drow ranger gripped the scimitar with one hand, and climbed up the tree with the other.With astonishing stealth skills and equal sense of balance, he climbed a branch as tall as the goblin, then quickly rushed five steps, stretched his free hand to the side of the goblin, and passed through the bow and the goblin. The gap between the bowstrings covered the goblin's mouth.Drow then plunged the scimitar into the goblin's back and swung it upwards, slicing through the heart and lungs.

He gave the goblin a hand, sinking it into the utter darkness of death, and gently placed it on a branch, and placed its gnarled bow over its carcass. Drizzt looked around for Guenhwyvar, but did not see the leopard.He had given instructions to the Panther not to move until the war began, and he believed that Guenhuffa would follow the instructions. The battle was about to begin, Drizzt knew, for goblins were everywhere, lurking in the bushes or in the trees by the river's bank.He didn't dare to expect a quick victory in this situation, because the terrain around here is too complicated, there are countless obstacles that can be used as shelters, and there are also countless hiding places.It might take him an hour or more to find all the goblins.

But by this time the Ratfish had appeared at the bend in the river. Drizzt turned his head and signaled to his waiting companions to attack immediately. Bruno roared, and Katie also shot an arrow.The arrow grazed the trunk of Drizzt's tree, passed through a short section of bushes, and hit one of the goblins in the rump, where it fell writhing on the ground. Three other goblins burst out of the same bush, screaming wildly. The screams died away instantly as the drow jumped on their heads with a pair of knives in hand.He impaled one of the goblins with the scimitar, while holding the hilt of the second scimitar against his body, splitting the goblin directly below him in half with the force of the leap.

And in mid-air, he almost bumped into another black figure.Guenhwyvar jumped high, over the falling drow, and onto another goblin hiding in the bushes. Of the original three goblins, the one that had escaped Drizzt's first blow jumped aside, with his back against the trunk of the tree Drizzt had been in, and was about to throw his spear at the drow. It heard a cursed roar and tried to turn around to face the newest foe, but Bruenor was too fast, tensing all his muscles, and thrust the point of his poleaxe at the goblin, Send all the power of inertia to its head. "Damn it!" the dwarf grumbled, realizing that it would take him some time to get his weapon out of the severed head. As the dwarf struggled to draw his weapon, Katie ran past him, then dropped to one knee and fired another arrow.The arrow hit a goblin in a tree.In one fluid motion she dropped her bow and drew her enchanted sword, Khakid, the blade gleaming coldly in her hand, as she continued to run. Bruenor was still yanking his weapon. The goblins around him were all dead, and Drizzt jumped up and ran on, disappearing behind a small patch of woods. While above, Guenhwyvar jumped into a tree, and the two goblins on the lower branches threw him to the ground in fear, trying to escape by leaping to the ground.One of them succeeded, and the other was caught in mid-air and was quickly bitten to death. "Damn it!" Bruno said again, wasting all his time drawing his weapon and missing out on all the fun. "I should use less force!" Of course, he couldn't build a crystal tower on a boat, but he could do it on the shore, or even in a river.Yes, the base of the Pyramid would be submerged, but Cshishnibon would still let him in. "They have throwing spears!" Bambo Thunderfist yelled. "Stand aside! Quick!" The dwarf captain and his three brothers sprawled on the deck, then climbed to the edge of the boat near the river bank where the goblin was.Donat was the first to get there, and he immediately opened a wooden lock.Each dwarf took out a crossbow and quickly loaded the arrow against the sheltered side of the boat. All these movements were finally noticed by Regis, he shook his head vigorously, removing the image of the crystal tower in front of him.He couldn't even believe that he even thought about building this thing.Then he looked--stared, to be exact-- at the dwarves.He looked up to see a gnome holding a spear ready to throw on a branch coming from the shore above the boat. The four dwarves turned at the same time, raised their crossbows and shot an arrow.Every arrow hit its target, and the goblin jumped up and fell into the river. But it had thrown the spear, and it was a good one. Regis screamed and tried to duck, but it was too late.He felt the spear drive into his shoulder blade.The halfling clearly heard the spear point pass through him and hit the deck, making him sick.He fell face down.He heard himself howl, but his voice was no longer controlled by his conscious mind. Then he felt the unevenness of the deck, while the dwarves were pulling him towards the side; and he heard, as if from a great distance, Donaite's cry, "They killed him! They put He killed!" And then, so alone, so cold, he heard the splash of the goblin as it swam toward the boat. The panther leaped gracefully from a tall branch like a high-flying black arrow.It walked past one goblin, smashed the monster's throat with its paws, then pounced on the other two, crushing one of them to kill it, and before the other was able to get up and run away. move towards it. The goblin lay on his back, flailing his arms frantically in an attempt to stop the cat.But Guenhwyvar was too strong, too fast, and soon its claws were around the goblin's throat. Not far away on the other side, Drizzt and Katie were chasing goblins separately, but they met unexpectedly in a small clearing and found that they were surrounded by goblins.Seeing this sudden advantage, the lurking goblins jumped out and surrounded them. "I'd say we needed a bit of luck," Katie said to her friend with a wink.Then they stood in a defensive position, back to back. The goblins called to each other, trying to jointly launch an attack.The opposing sides of them attack simultaneously, while the other two prepare to attack. They don't understand anything. Drizzt and Katie circled back to back, exchanging angles of attack.Drow comes to deal with the goblins rushing towards Kitty, and vice versa.With a flick of Drizzt's two cutlasses, the goblin's spear-hilt was fully inside and pushed the spear away.Then with a delicate twist of his wrist, and one more step forward, the entrails of the two goblins spilled all over the floor. On the other side, Katie ducked to avoid the spear's thrust, and at the same time swung Khakid and chopped off the goblin's leg at the knee.Another goblin nearby tried to thrust the spear down, but Katie grabbed the handle with her free hand and turned it aside, using it as leverage to get herself upright before stabbing again. the goblin's chest. "Come on!" Drizzt yelled, rushing past Katie to pull her up, and pulling her forward together, their strength making all the goblins tremble with fear. The goblins behind did not dare to catch up, except for one, so Drizzt knew that this one had been enchanted by the crystal shard. Within three seconds, it fell to the ground dead. Bruenor was still behind the main field, but he heard the sound of fighting, and it drove him even crazier.He twisted, pulled, and tugged with all his might, until he almost fell.His weapon was drawn—almost almost, and he was disgusted to see that he hadn't pulled the weapon out of the goblin's skull, but pulled the goblin's head off. "Oh, it's really pretty," he said with the utmost disgust.But right away he didn't have time to complain anymore, because two goblins jumped out of the bushes near him.He threw his weapon, and the goblin hit its head on the belly of its kind, knocking it backwards. With the weapon out of his hands, Bruenor was attacked by another goblin, who hit him in the shoulder with a club, which hurt a bit, but not enough to slow him down.He leapt over, banged his forehead into the opponent's face, and snatched the club from its grasp as the opponent staggered back. Before the goblin could recover from his dizziness, the club struck him hard, once, twice, three times, knocking him to the ground, twitching helplessly. Bruenor turned around, the goblin was trying to charge, and Bruenor swung his stick at its underside, tripping it up and eating the shit out of it.Bruenor sprinted past it, and went into the bushes to retrieve his axe. "Enough!" roared the dwarf.Suddenly he had an idea, and he slammed the ax against the tree trunk with great force, smashing the head stuck on the axe to pieces. The goblin got up and turned, and seeing the ferocious dwarf, his axe, and the remnants of the head of the goblin he had killed in the first place, it turned again and fled. "Don't run!" growled the dwarf, and hurled the axe, which spun and hit the goblin in the back, sending it face down in the dust. Bruno ran, trying to pick up the ax on the run, and go full speed to join his companions. It got stuck again, this time on the goblin's spine. A stream of curses came out of Bruno's mouth. Donette gripped Regis's exposed spear handle tightly, so that the spear point inside would not do more damage.Meanwhile, three of his relatives ran frantically to and fro, preventing the goblin from climbing aboard.One of them nearly made it to the deck, but Bambor struck it in the face with his crossbow, shattering both the crossbow and the goblin's jaw. Roaring with joy, the dwarf lifted the stunned goblin over his head, and then threw two goblins who were about to climb up, causing them all three to fall back into the water. His two cousins ​​destroyed the expensive crossbow equally efficiently, but at least none of the goblins climbed aboard, and soon the lumbering pursuers were thrown far away. This allowed Bamboo to pick up Donette's, the only crossbow still in use, and shoot some of the river goblins. Most of the goblins made it to the shore, but enough had been fought—too many, in fact—so they simply fled into the jungle. Bruenor put his feet on the moaning goblin's back, spat into each of his hands, and then grabbed the handle of the ax and pulled hard, pulling the goblin's head and half of its spine off. The dwarf did somersaults backwards and finally sat down on the ground. "Hey, even prettier." He watched the goblin's spine drop onto his outstretched legs.He shook his head, jumped to his feet, and went full speed to join his companions.But when he reached them the battle was over.Drizzt and Katie stood next to the dead goblins, while Gwan Hayfa searched nearby for other escapees. But those goblins whose minds were controlled by the Crystal Shard are dead, and those who still have free will have fled far. "Tell that stupid Crystal Shard to get something stronger next time." Bruno muttered.He glanced at Drizzt as they walked toward the river together. "Are you sure we have to destroy it?" Drizzt just smiled and ran on.A goblin emerged from the river bank, but Guenhwyvar killed it before the companions could reach it. Ahead of them, Bambor had driven the Ratfish to a place by the river where the current was slower and was waiting for them.The three companions laughed the whole time, recounting the battle, and chatting happily about how happy it was to be back in the adventure. Their expressions changed suddenly as they saw Regis lying on the deck, pale and motionless. From a darkened room below the Basadoni guild quarters, Jarlaxle and his mage-cleric assistant watched it all. "It couldn't be simpler," Jarlaxle commented, laughing.He turned to Lakey. "You are now dressed as a human being. The more similar you are to that Cadley, the better. You must also wear the same dress. However, don't want that hat." The mercenary leader added after thinking for a while. "It might have something to do with rank, I believe. Or it might not be quite to Cadley's taste." "But Kim Murray has gone to Baltimazfas," Leckie protested. "And you're going with that doppelganger to Drizzt and his friends," Jarlaxle said. "You pose as a monk at the Monastery of the Flying Spirit in Cadlei. Prepare spells to heal serious wounds." Lackey's eyes widened in surprise. "I have to pray to Lady Rose for a spell to heal a halfling?" he asked incredulously. "And you believe she would grant me this spell for that reason?" Jarlaxle nodded with great confidence. "She would, because casting such a spell would help her drow achieve great goals." He grinned, knowing that the outcome of that battle had made his life a lot easier, and a lot more fun.