Chapter 3 The Dagger Behind Chapter 1

He pulled the cloak he was wearing tight so that it wrapped tightly around him.In fact, the curtains have been drawn, and there is not much sunlight shining in.Yet this is his way of being: to remain private and alone.A killer's way of life. Artemis Entreri: Artemis Entreri: the famed killer who roamed the western shores of the Forgotten Realms Hired by the Thieves Guild in Calimport, the purpose is to recover the ruby ​​pendant from the halfling Regis.But hiding in the shadows, his staring eyes focused on the narrow road he must pass to complete his latest mission.In this line of work, his level has reached the professional level, and he may even be the best in the entire world.So far, not a single victim has been able to escape, so long as he has sniffed out its prey.So the killer isn't bothered by the empty house he's found in Bryn Shander, head of the Ten-Towns in Icewind Dale.Entreri had been aware that the halfling had slipped out of Ten Towns.But that didn't matter, if the halfling was the same man he'd chased all the way from Calimport, a thousand miles to the south, then he'd made more progress than he'd expected.His target had the advantage of being less than two weeks ahead, and the traces were still fresh.

Entreri walked quietly through the house, looking for clues left by the halfling's life here, allowing him to sketch out what the inevitable encounter between the two would look like in the future.What greeted him in every room was chaos. The halfling left in a hurry, maybe he already knew that the killer was approaching.That was a good sign, Entreri thought, further raising his suspicions that this halfling Regis was the same Regis who had worked for Basher Pook's Thieves Guild all those years ago in a far southern city. . The killer smiled wickedly at the thought that the halfling already knew he was being followed.Entreri was trying to compare his stalking skills with the hiding abilities of his future victims, and the current situation made it even more challenging.But he knew that the results were to be expected, for a frightened man must make fatal mistakes.

The killer found what he was looking for in a desk drawer in the master bedroom.Regis fled hastily, neglecting to conceal his true identity beforehand.Entreri picked up a pinky ring and held it in front of his twinkling eyes. It was clearly inscribed that Regis was a member of Bashar Pook's thieves' guild in Calimport.Entreri held the mark, and a smirk spread across his face. "I've found you, little thief." He laughed into the empty room. "Your fate is doomed, you have nowhere to escape!" His expression turned alert in an instant, as the sound of keys at the mansion's front door echoed in the corridors of the ornate stairwell.He tucked the ring into his fanny pack, and slipped, as silent as death, into the shadow of the top post of the heavy balustrade of the staircase.

Two huge door panels were pushed open, and a man and a young woman entered through the hallway, followed by two dwarves.Entreri knew this man. He was Cassius, Bryn Shander's spokesman.It used to be his home, but he gave it to the town a few months ago after seeing the heroism of Regis during the town's campaign against the evil wizard Akar Kessell and his goblin hordes. halfling. Entreri had seen the other human before, but he hadn't discovered the woman's connection to Regis.Beautiful women are rare in this remote settlement, and this young woman was an exception.The reddish-brown hair danced lively on her shoulders, and the intense sparks in the dark blue eyes were enough to trap any man with their deep ties, and there was no hope of breaking free.

The killer already knew her name—Catti-brie.She lived with the dwarves in the valley north of the city, especially with Bruno, the leader of the dwarf clan.Bruno took her in for twelve years after she was orphaned in a goblin attack. A worthy meeting indeed, Entreri mused.He pressed his ear to the railing to hear the conversation below. "He's been gone for less than a week," argued Catti-brie. "But he didn't leave a word," Cassios read with visibly frustrated expression. "Leaving my beautiful house empty and unguarded. When I came over the other day, the front door was unlocked!"

"You've given him the house," Catti-brie reminded him. "It was lent to him!" Cassius growled, but in fact the house was indeed given to him.The spokesman soon regretted handing Regis the keys to the place (the most luxurious mansion north of Mirabar).In retrospect, Cassius realized that he was overwhelmed by the victory over the goblin army, and he suspected that Regis had used the ruby ​​pendant's famous hypnotic powers to heighten his mood even further. Like others who had been deceived by the eloquent halfling, Cassius had a very different idea of ​​what had happened, one that painted Regis as unkind.

"Whatever you say," relented Catti-brie, "you shouldn't be so quick to think that Regis has abandoned the house." The speaker's face flushed with anger. "Get everything out of here!" he demanded. "You have my list. I want everything that belongs to that halfling out of this house! When I return tomorrow, anything left here will be mine in property! And I warn you that if my I want you to pay for any property damaged or lost!" He turned on his heels and rushed out the gate. "Regis pissed him off," said one of the dwarves, Fender. "I've never seen a person like Regis. Friends always go from being desperate at the beginning to hating at the end!"

Catti-brie nodded in agreement with Fender's observation.She knew that Regis used magic to confuse people, and she could imagine conflicting relationships between those around him and him as an unfortunate side effect of these actions. "Do you think he left with Drizzt and Bruno?" Fender asked.Upstairs, Entreri listened nervously. "There's nothing to doubt," Catti-brie answered. "They've been asking him to join the adventure to Mithril Hall all winter. And sure enough, Wulfgar's presence adds to the pressure." "Then the little thing must have been at least in Luskan We're halfway there," reasoned Fender. "And Cassius was right to want his house back."

"Then let's start packing," Catti-brie said. "You don't need to add Regis' stuff, Cassius' stuff is enough." Entreri leaned back against the railing.He had never heard of Mithril Hall, but he knew the way to Luskan well.He grinned again, wondering if he could catch them before they reached the port capital. But he knew that the immediate priority was that there might be some valuable information here.Catti-brie and the dwarves started packing up the halfling's things.As they passed from room to room, the shadow of Artemis Entreri hung around them as silently as death.It hadn't occurred to them that there was another person here, much less that the soft ripples in the curtains were not caused by the breeze blowing in through the cracks in the window, or that the chair's shadow was longer than it should have been.

He leaned in to hear all their conversations, and Catti-brie and the dwarves rarely talked about anything other than the four adventurers and their journey to Mithril Hall, but Entreri's efforts didn't make him listen. What new news.He had known the famous friends of the halfling for a long time.In the Ten-Towns, everyone talks about them all the time - Drizzt Do'Urden, traitor to the dark elves, who abandoned his dark-skinned kin underground, and often patrols the borders of Ten-Towns to defend against Raiders from the wilds of Icewind Dale; Bruenor Warhammer, the brutish leader of the dwarven clans that dwelt in the valley near the Cairn's Cone; The savage tribes of Icewind Dale helped defend Ten-Towns against the goblin army, and later concluded a peace agreement among all races in Icewind Dale.This agreement saved all local life and ensured their future prosperity.

"Seems like you're putting yourself among difficult companions, halfling." Entreri leaned against a large chair as Catti-brie and the dwarves entered a connecting room. Behind him, he was meditating. "But they can't help you. You're mine!" Katie and the dwarves sorted for about an hour, and filled two large bags, mostly clothes.Catti-brie marveled at how much wealth Regis had amassed after gaining fame for his heroism against Kessell and the goblins, much of which was gifted by grateful townspeople.She knew full well that the halfling liked ease, so she couldn't understand why he'd join the trip.But what surprised her even more was that Regis hadn't even hired any porters to take away any of his belongings.And as she explored the palatial mansion and found more treasures, Regis's hasty departure bothered her even more.It was so unlike what Regis was doing.There must be other reasons for this. "Okay, we have too many things to carry, and it's almost done!" Fender finished speaking, and carried a bag on his shoulders. "Let Cassius check it out himself, I say!" "I wouldn't let Cassius enjoy having someone else's stuff!" Catti-brie retorted. "I'll look again to see if there are any valuable things. You two move the bags back to our hotel room first, and I can do the rest." "Ah, you are too kind to Cassius," Fender complained. "Regis said he was a guy who liked to count what he had." "Speak fair, Fender Marlott," Catti-brie retorted, though the approving smile on her lips showed that she wasn't so stern at heart. "Cassius did a great service to Ten-Towns during the war, and he's been a good leader for the people of Bryn Shander. Regis, you know, has a talent for embellishing things!" Fender chuckled in agreement. "Because he did everything he could to get what he wanted, and this little guy left a trail of exasperated victims!" He patted another dwarf on the shoulder and walked towards the door. "Don't come back too late, girl," he called back to Catti-brie. "We still have to go to the mine, that is tomorrow, it won't be any later!" "You're so restless, Fender Marlott!" laughed Catti-brie. Entreri thought about their last conversation, and a smile crept across his face again.He was well aware of the effects of magical disorientation.Fender's "distraught victims" were like those the Bashar Pook thieves' guild duped in Calimport.People were bewitched by the ruby ​​pendant. The door slammed shut.Catti-brie was alone in the big house, or so she thought. She was still thinking about Regis' uncharacteristic behavior.She always felt like something was wrong, like a missing piece of the puzzle.It also contributed to her feeling that something was wrong with the house too. She was suddenly aware of every noise, every shadow around her.The ticking of the pendulum.The rustle of papers on the desk by the open window.The screeching of curtains.The sound of mice running around inside the wooden wall. Her eyes shot back to the curtain that was trembling slightly for a moment.It might have been caused by the breeze blowing through the cracks of the window, but this alert woman didn't think so.She turned and crouched, reaching for the dagger behind her, and began to advance towards the door a few feet away from the curtain. Entreri moved quickly.He thought he could get more information from Catti-brie, and didn't want to lose the good chance of the two dwarves leaving.So he moved at once to the most favorable attacking position, and waited patiently in the small perch above the door frame, as easily as a cat on a windowsill.He casually drew his short sword out and held it in his hand. As soon as Catti-brie reached the door, she sensed the short sword and saw a black figure falling beside her.But although she reacted immediately, before she could fully draw the dagger out of its sheath, the slender fingers of a cold hand covered her mouth, preventing her from screaming, while a jeweled sword The sharp edge of the dagger made a light mark on her neck. She was petrified.She had never seen a person move so quickly, and Entreri's moves were deadly precise and she was bewildered.The sudden tension in his muscles convinced her that if she continued to draw her short sword she would be dead long before she had a chance to use the weapon.She put down the hilt of her sword, no longer making any resistance movements. The killer lifted her into the chair with ease, and his strength surprised her.He was small, elf-slender, and barely as tall as she was, but every muscle of his tight frame had been tuned to be optimal for fighting.There was an air of strength and unshakable confidence about him that radiated throughout him.This also hit Catti-brie's courage, because it was not the fragile conceit of a young man who was too overflowing, but the cold breath produced by the superiority that had experienced a thousand battles but was never defeated. Catti-brie never took her eyes off his face as he quickly tied her to the chair.His angular features, pronounced cheekbones and strong jawline are only accentuated by his straight-cropped jet-black hair.The shadow of his beard hung over his face, as if no amount of shaving could brighten it up.An undisturbed appearance speaks of the person's self-control in everything.Catti-brie would even think him handsome, except for his eyes. There was no light in the gray eyes.The lifelessness, without any mercy or humanity, shows that this man is just a killing machine. "What do you want from me?" Catti-brie asked bravely. Entreri slapped her as he answered her. "Ruby Pendant!" he demanded suddenly. "Is that halfling still wearing the Ruby Pendant?" Catti-brie fought back the tears that welled up in her eyes.She was disoriented, defenseless, and unable to answer the man's question right away. The jeweled short sword flashed before her eyes, then moved across her face. "I don't have much time," Entreri said in a cold tone. "You must tell me what I want to know. The longer you delay answering, the more pain you will feel." He said calmly and sincerely. Catti-brie, hardened by Bruno, finds herself losing her composure.She had faced and defeated many goblins, and even a fearsome troll once, but this calm killer terrified her.She tried to answer, but her trembling jaw held her back. The short sword flashed again. "Regis wears it," Catti-brie screamed, tears drawing lines on either side of her cheek. Entreri nodded and chuckled. "He was with the dark elf, the dwarf, and the barbarian," he said truthfully. "And they are on their way to Luskan. From there they go to a place called Mithril Hall. Tell me about Mithril Hall, dear girl." He scraped his face with the blade, The sharp blade removed a small piece of mustache cleanly. "Where is it?" Catti-brie realized that if she couldn't answer that question, it might mean the end of her life. "I... I don't know." She worked up her courage and stammered out the words.Although she had slightly recovered the level that Bruno had trained her on, she never took her eyes off the flash of the death sword. "What a pity," Entreri replied, "such a pretty face..." "Please don't!" Catti-brie said as calmly as possible as the dagger approached her. "Nobody knows! Not even Bruno! It's his job to find this place." The blade stopped abruptly, and Entreri turned his head sideways, his eyes narrowed, all his muscles tensed and alert. Catti-brie hadn't heard the doorknob turn, but Fender Marlott's voice echoing in the porch explained the killer's movements. "Um, where are you, girl?" Catti-brie wanted to throw her life away, yelling "Run!".But Entreri's backhand knocked her out and turned her unspoken words into unintelligible grunts. Her head drooped to one side, trying to focus her vision as Fender and Geralo charged in with axes.Entreri faced them steadily, jewel-encrusted dagger in one hand and saber in the other. At that moment, Catti-brie was overjoyed.These two dwarves are well-trained special forces fighters in Ten Towns, and Fender's combat exploits are second only to Bruno in the whole clan. Then she immediately remembered who they were up against.And although they seemed to be in a favorable position on the surface, her hope was instantly shattered by an undeniable conclusion.She had seen the incredible precision of the killer's unseen movements. A nausea rose in her throat, and she couldn't even make a sound to tell the two dwarves to flee. Even the two dwarves knew how frightening the man who stood before them was, but they would not flinch.The rage would make the dwarf warrior think little of his own safety, and when the two of them saw their beloved Catti-brie bound to a chair, they rushed towards Entreri in rage. Fueled by rage, their first strike drew all their strength.Instead, Entreri moved slowly, finding a rhythm that would allow him to fluidly ramp up the power of his attacks.At times it looked like he was barely dodging the onslaught, a few slashing within an inch of him, and this spurred Fender and Gorolo to press even harder. Although it seemed her two friends had the upper hand, Catti-brie knew they were in trouble.Entreri's hands seemed to be talking to each other, and the arc of the dagger and saber was perfected.The synchronized movement of both feet keeps him balanced in the scrimmage.His dodging, blocking, and counter-slashing are like dancing a dance. He himself is a dance of death. Catti-brie had seen such a scene before, and it was the secret technique of the strongest swordsman in Icewind Dale.She inevitably compared him to Drizzt Do'Urden, their graceful movements so similar, every part of their bodies working in perfect harmony. But they are still significantly different.Some kind of spiritual antagonism caused slight differences in the atmosphere of their dancing. That dark elf ranger in battle is like a beautiful instrument for your attention, like a sportsman going straight on his chosen path with unsurpassed enthusiasm.Yet Entreri only gave off a sense of terror, like a ruthless killer dealing with obstacles in his path. The force of the dwarves' initial onslaught began to wane.Both Ge Ruoluo and Fender were surprised to find that the floor hadn't been stained red with the blood of their enemies.But as their movements slowed, Entreri's attacks grew stronger.His blade swung in a flash of light, each blow followed by another, sending the two dwarves staggering back. His movements are composed.His power knows no bounds. Fender and Ge Ruoluo could only maintain a defensive posture.But even as they tried to hold back, everyone in the room knew it was only a matter of time before they were cut in half by the blade. Catti-brie didn't see the fatal blow, but she clearly saw the bright blood line appearing on Ge Ruoluo's neck.The dwarf continued fighting for several seconds, not noticing that he couldn't breathe.Then he fell to the ground in astonishment, clutching his throat with both hands, and gradually walked into the darkness of death. Fender, though exhausted, was still fueled by rage.His ax swung wildly, like a cry of vengeance.Entreri had actually been teasing him all along, playing tricks with him by patting him on the head with the side of his saber. Exasperated, insulted, and knowing he couldn't outwit him, Fender charged forward suicidally, wanting to die with the killer. Entreri smiled, sideways to avoid the desperate blow, and ended the fight.His dagger sank deep into Fender's chest, and as the dwarf fell he delivered a skull-splitting blow with his saber. Catti-brie was too frightened to cry or scream, and she just stared as Entreri pulled the dagger from Fender's chest.She realized that her own death was coming, and when the dagger approached her, she just closed her eyes silently, feeling the metal plate warmed by dwarven blood against her throat. Afterwards, she felt her tender skin scratched by the edge of the mocking knife, as Entreri had turned the blade over. Waiting for something that didn't happen is a pain.The promise of the dance of death. Then it leaves.When Catti-brie opened her eyes, the tiny blade was back in its sheath at the killer's waist.He took a step back. "Look." He gave a curt explanation of his mercy. "I kill only the man who stands against me. Maybe your three friends on the road to Luskan escape my sword. I want only the halfling." Catti-brie refused to face the terror he had deliberately created. Give in?She tried her best to say in a steady and calm voice, "You underestimated them. They will definitely fight you." Entreri replied confidently and calmly, "Then they, too, will die." There's no way Catti-brie could win a battle of guts over a ruthless killer.Her only reply was her contempt.She bit Entreri's face, ignoring the consequences. He answered her with a backhand.Her vision was blurred by the pain and the welling up of tears.Yet seconds before she lost consciousness completely, she could still hear the relentless, cruel laughter fading away, and she knew the killer had left the house. It's a real pain.The promise of the dance of death.