Chapter 20 Chapter Sixteen Menzoberranzan City

A small boat glides across Lake Tonigaton.It is a small, dark lake at the eastern end of Menzoberranzan.Drizzt sat in the bow, watching westward as the cavern gradually opened up before him, though the vision was strangely blurry to his night vision.Drizzt thought it was a warm current in the lake at first and ignored it.He was absorbed in looking at the past instead of the present, swinging in the gradually waking memories. The orc sailor rowed the boat behind him, and he finally had time to organize his thoughts. The ranger closed his eyes, trying to change his thermal night vision into normal light vision.He remembered the grandeur of the stalactite and stalagmite buildings of Menzoberranzan, their elaborate designs illuminated by flickering faerie fires of purple or blue or red.

He was completely unprepared for what he saw when he opened his eyes.The city was brightly lit!Not just faerie fire, but yellow and white dots of light, torch lights and bright magic lights.For a split second, Drizzt convinced himself that the presence of the lights heralded a change in the dark ways of the drow.He has always associated the endless darkness of the Underdark with the shadowy ways of the drow, or at least believed that the dark environment matched the shadowy ways of his brethren. Why are there lights?Drizzt hadn't been cocky enough to think that the lighting of the lights would have anything to do with the hunt for him.He didn't think he was that important to the drow, but rather the sneergnomes were right to surmise that things had gone wrong (he hadn't thought they were planning an all-out assault on the surface).He wanted to ask the other drow—especially the female drow, who probably knew something—but how would he try without revealing that he was an outsider?

Precisely at this moment, she sat beside him, very close, uncomfortably close. "The days on the island of Los Beasts are very long." She flirted coquettishly, her bright red eyes flashed with temptation. "I'll never get used to the lights," Drizzt replied, looking back at the city and changing the subject.He kept his eyes on normal vision, hoping the words would elicit her comment on the matter, "Blinding." "Of course," she muttered, moving closer, even hooking a hand into Drizzt's arm. "But you'll get used to it in time." By the time?when?Drizzt guessed from the tone of her tone that she was referring to something in particular, and couldn't help but ask further.He didn't know what to ask, but as she drew closer he realized he had more pressing questions.

In the customs of the drow, men are the ones who obey, and refusing a woman's request will bring big trouble. "My name is Carissa." She whispered into his ear, "Tell me you'd like to be my slave." Drizzt jumped to his feet, drew his knives, and turned away from Karissa, pretending to keep his eyes on the lake, to convince her he wasn't threatening her. "What's wrong?" asked the startled female elf. "There is movement under the water." Drizzt lied, "It's a light undercurrent, it seems that something big has passed under our boat." Carissa frowned, but still stood up and looked towards the dark lake.In Menzoberranzan, it's common knowledge that there are beasts beneath the usually calm surface of Lake Tonigadon.A game often played by slavers was to swim goblins and orcs from the island to the shore to see who would be dragged down by the dreaded Reaper.

There was silence for a while, the only sound being the constant monotonous chant of the orcs as they rowed. A drow approached Drizzt and Karissa at the bow, staring at Drizzt's gleaming blue scimitar.You are marking our position to all enemies around you.He whispered silently with both hands. Drizzt put away his knives, his eyes turned to night vision.If our enemy is underwater, the movement of the ship will indicate our position more than any light.He answered in sign language. "There are no enemies," Carissa added, gesturing the approaching drow to return to his post.After he was gone, she looked at Drizzt lewdly. "Are you a fighter?" she asked, carefully studying the purple-eyed man. "Maybe a patrol striker?"

Drizzt nodded. It was not a lie: he had indeed been a patrol striker before. "Very well," Carissa said, "I like men who are worth the trouble." She looked ahead and found that they were already approaching the island of Loth Beast. "We'll talk later." She turned and flitted away, her hand brushing back her robe, which was raised to reveal her shapely legs. Drizzt stepped back as if he'd been slapped.The last thing on Carissa's mind was to talk to him.He did not deny that she was beautiful, with a well-crafted face, thick and long hair carefully groomed, and a bouncy body.However, in the years of living with the drow, Drizzt Do'Urden had learned not to be seduced by physical beauty and sensuality.Drizzt did not separate the fight of the body from the trial of the mind.The reason why he became an outstanding fighter is precisely because he is relying on his soul to guide himself in fighting. If he is once obsessed with pure physical actions, it is just fighting for the sake of fighting. "Later," Carissa repeated, casting a glance over her delicate shoulders.

"When the maggots are eating your bones." Drizzt whispered after a fake smile.Somehow he thought of Catti-brie, and the warm image drove away the coldness of the horny drow woman. ※※※※ Blingdenstone captivated Catti-brie, and despite her embarrassing situation, the gnomes didn't recognize her as an old friend.Stripped of her weapons, armor, jewelry, and even her boots, she was ushered into the city in only her close-fitting clothing.The dwarf guards hadn't abused her, but they hadn't been kind to her either.They bound her arms at the elbows and pushed her down the narrow stone-strewn passages to the city's fortified reception rooms.

When the tiara was removed from her head, the slygwarts easily guessed its purpose, and returned the treasure to Catti-brie as soon as they walked through the antechamber.Drizzt had told her about this place, where the swarms were born to blend in with their surroundings, but she had never expected him to describe the sight so well.Dwarves are some of the best miners in the world, but swarms are far more than that description.They seemed to be part of the rock, beings who had become one with the stone.Their houses look like loose stones cast aside by a volcanic eruption long ago, and their corridors are the meanderings of ancient rivers.

A hundred pairs of eyes followed Catti-brie's every move.She realized that she might be the first human being seen by the gnome, but she didn't care about those eyes, because she was equally curious about the gnomes.They looked as gray as the passages in the field, but softer.She wanted to know what they looked like when they smiled, and she wanted to see a smiling face.These were Drizzt's friends, she kept reminding herself, and she trusted the drow ranger's judgment. She was taken into a small circular stone chamber.The guard motioned her to sit down on one of the three stone chairs.Catti-brie hesitated, remembering how Drizzt had told her how quickly the Svirbli's chair had snapped him into its seat.

That doesn't happen today.After a while, an unusual sbrunk came in, holding a magic locket with Drizzt's portrait in his "hand" in the shape of a mithril pickaxe. "Belwar." Catti-brie recognized him, for there couldn't be another sneerfly that better fit Drizzt's description of his dear Snebli friend. The Captain of the Honor stopped, staring at Catti-brie curiously, disarmed by her words. "Drizzt... Belwar." Catti-brie folded her arms in front of her again in a hug. "Catti-brie... Drizzt." She repeated the embrace. They knew no more than two words of each other's language.However, with gestures and body language, Catti-brie was able to communicate with the mining team leader very quickly, and even explained to him that she was here to find Drizzt.

She didn't like Belwar's sudden solemn look, and what she said afterwards.A common name, the name of some drow city, made her uneasy: Drizzt had gone to Menzoberranzan. She ate a stew of mushrooms, and some other similar plants she didn't recognize.Her equipment was then returned, including the locket and the onyx statue, but the magic mask was not returned to her. Then she was left alone for a few hours.Sitting in the starlit darkness, she silently blessed Alustriel for the precious tiara, thinking how miserable her journey would have been without the cat's-eye tiara.She wouldn't even get a chance to see Belwar recognize him! She was thinking about him when Belwar finally came back.He had come in with two other dwarves, who wore soft robes instead of the solid, plated leather garments common to this race.Catti-brie thought these two must be important people, perhaps elders or something. "Fob." Belwar introduced, pointing to the one who didn't look very happy.Catti-brie knew after a while why he looked unhappy.Belwar pointed at her, then at Furb, then at the door, and said a long sentence, the only word Catti-brie understood was—"Menzoberranzan." Forb beckoned her to follow him, evidently eager to get on the road.While Catti-brie was happy to stay in Blingdenstone and get to know these interesting stalks, she was all for leaving as soon as possible.Drizzt was already far ahead of her.She rose to go, but was held back by Belwar's pickaxe. She turned to look at the head of the prospecting team. He hooked the magic mask from his belt and handed it to her. "Drizzt." His hammer finger pointed at her face, "Drizzt." Catti-brie nodded, knowing the prospector thought she'd be wiser to walk out as a drow.She turned around, looked back suddenly impulsively, and pecked a kiss on Belwar's cheek.Smiling gratefully, the young girl walked out of the house and followed Fob out of Blingdenstone. "How did you get Fobo to agree to take her to the drow city?" After they left, another dwarf councilor who was still in the room asked the head of the prospecting team. "Bifrup!" Belwar yelled.When his mithril hands collided, sparks immediately splashed out, and an arc of energy flashed on the two hands made of precision work.He looked teasingly at the Senator, who was laughing shrillly in the way that only deep gnomes can.Poor Ferb. ※※※※ Drizzt was happy to escort a party of orcs back to land from the island, just to keep him from the impatient Karissa.She watched him move away from the shore with an expression on her face that ranged from disapproval to expectation, as if to say that Drizzt might be able to escape her, but only temporarily. Leaving the island behind, Drizzt put Carissa out of his mind entirely.His mission, and the crisis, lay ahead, in the city, and he had no idea where to start looking for answers.He fears that it will all end in his surrender, that he will have to sacrifice himself to protect his friends. He thought of his father and friend Zak Nafein, who was sacrificed to the evil Spider Queen in his place.He thought of his old friend Wulfgar, and memories of the young barbarian strengthened Drizzt's resolve. He made no explanation to the astonished slaves waiting on the ship ashore.The "leave me alone" look on his face as he walked across the camp to leave East Negaton Lake kept them from asking. Before long he was walking the winding streets of Menzoberranzan with ease and alertness.He brushed past a few dark elves, and walked under the vigilant eyes of many family guards, who were standing behind the parapet outside the hollow stalactite.Drizzt was always worried that he might have been recognized, and then told himself again and again that he had been away from Menzoberranzan for more than thirty years, and that Drizzt Do'Urden himself, and even the Do'Urden family, were only It's just part of the history of Menzoberranzan. But if that was true, why was he here, where he didn't want to be? Drizzt wished he had a felcloak, the black cloak the drow used to wear.His forest-green cloak is thick and warm, better suited to the surface world, and it will make him visible to onlookers hiding in shadows.He put on his hat, lowered the brim and hurried forward.He knew it was the right way to move quickly through the city, familiarizing himself with the winding streets and dark ways of doing things again. A flash of light behind a bend caught his thermal vision eyes and startled him.He clung to a stalagmite, one hand grasping the gleaming hilt beneath his cloak. A team of four came out of the bend, talking and laughing, not noticing Drizzt at all.They were wearing the crest of House Baenry, Drizzt recognized the pattern when he turned his vision back to normal vision, and one of the four was holding a torch! Drizzt had never seen anything so out of place in his life.Why?He kept asking himself, feeling that all of this had something to do with him.Are the drow preparing an attack on the surface? This threw a boulder into Drizzt's heart lake.The soldiers of House Baenre carried torches, accommodating their Underdark eyes to the light. ※※※※ Catti-brie had never seen anything so incredible and majestic.Her vision was filled with starlight, but the shimmering lights on the stalagmite towers and hanging stalactites seemed even more beautiful.The faerie fire in Menzoberranzan illuminated thousands of beautiful carvings, some defined shapes (almost all spiders), others flowing patterns, abstract and ornate.Wish I could have come to this city under different circumstances, Catti-brie thought.She wished she had been an explorer in the empty city of Menzoberranzan, so that she could concentrate on admiring the breathtaking relics of drow art. Because, while Catti-brie was shocked by the magnificence of the drow city, she was also really frightened.Twenty thousand drow, twenty thousand fearsome enemies, all surrounded her. Fighting against her fear, the young woman clutched Alustriel's locket, thinking of the portrait of Drizzt Do'Urden inside.She believed he was here, somewhere nearby, and her suspicions were confirmed by the fleeting warmth of the magic box. It's getting cold again.Catti-brie turned and turned north, toward the secret tunnel that Fober had taken her into the city.The box is still cold.She twisted to the right to face west, where there were wide stairs to the plateau if you crossed the deep pit called the Claw Rift.Then she turned to the south, which, judging from the finely carved glittering patterns, was the tallest and most magnificent area in the city.But the box is still cold.Then, as she continued to turn, looking from the nearest stalagmite peak to the less complicated east, the box gradually became warmer. Drizzt was there, to the east.Catti-brie took deep breaths and breaths, calmed herself, and mustered up the courage to step out of the tunnel that could protect her completely.She looked at her hands and flowing robes again, relieved by the perfect drow guise.She hoped that Guenhyvar would be by her side—she remembered how the panther ambled with her through the streets in Silvermoon—but she didn't know if the big cat's presence in Menzoberranzan would be acceptable, yes. My own worries are secondary. She immediately pulled down the hood of the robe quietly, and walked forward, holding the magic box tightly to guide the direction and encourage herself at the same time.She tried her best to avoid the watchful eyes of the sentinels of the various families, and raised her vigilance every time someone approached her. She walked to the edge of the stalagmite field, saw the moss beds and clumps, and even the lake beyond.At this time, two drow elves suddenly appeared from the shadows to stop her, but neither of their weapons were drawn. One of them asked her a question, but of course she couldn't understand it at all.Noticing that they were looking into her eyes, she backed away automatically.her eyes!Of course, as the gnomes had told her, her eyes didn't have the red light that night vision had.The male drow repeated the question, beginning to sound a little forceful, and glanced over his shoulder at the moss bed and the lake. Catti-brie guessed the two were members of the patrol and wanted to know what she was doing this side of town.She noticed the humility with which they spoke to her, and remembered what Drizzt had told her about the customs of the drow. She's a woman, and they're just men. Catti-brie let out a yelp when the question she didn't understand was asked again.A male hung his hands to the hilts of the two swords, and Catti-brie immediately pointed at them and let out another shout of displeasure. The two men looked at each other, puzzled.They originally thought that the woman was blind, or at least unable to use night vision, and the lights in the city were not very bright, so she should not be able to see clearly the movement of touching the sword.But judging by the fingers she poked, she clearly saw it all. Catti-brie yelled at them and waved them away.To her surprise, and to her great relief, the men backed away.Although they stared at her suspiciously, they did not make any confrontational moves. She bent to hide her face under the hood, but changed her mind.This is Menzoberranzan, full of insolent drow and scheming plots, where knowing—or pretending to know—what your opponents don't is what keeps you alive. Catti-brie took off her hood and stood up straight, shaking her head and fluffing her bushy hair.She glared at the two men maliciously and started laughing out loud. They fled immediately. She almost went limp from the rapid slackening.Taking another deep breath, she clenched the magic box tightly and walked towards the lake.