Chapter 30 Chapter 24 Standing out from the encirclement

Drizzt returned to the cell to find Catti-brie still lying on the flagstones, clutching the spider mask, panting, trying to keep her breath.Behind her, Entreri swayed from side to side with one hand glued to the wall in embarrassment. "That'll get him down," Catti-brie said, throwing the mask at Drizzt. Drizzt caught the mask without moving. There were far more important things to know than to free the assassin. "Regis told me you were here," Catti-brie defended the halfling, though it was obvious, "I forced him to tell me." "You came alone?"

Catti-brie shook her head, and Drizzt nearly collapsed, thinking another friend was in danger, or worse, dead.However, Catti-brie was pointing at Guenhwyvar, and the ranger was relieved. "You fool," Drizzt replied, speaking out of sheer concern and disappointment.He frowned, hoping Catti-brie understood how upset he was. "You're not much better." The young woman replied with a smile.The smile smoothed Drizzt's furrowed brow.He couldn't deny the joy in seeing Catty-brie as a child again, even in this perilous situation. "Are you going to discuss this now?" Catti-brie was still smiling, "Or do we have to wait until we return to Mithril Hall?"

Drizzt didn't answer, just shook his head, running a hand through his thick, long hair.He looked at the spider mask, then at Entreri, and frowned again. "We made a deal," Katie-brie interrupted immediately. "He brought me to you, promised to get us both out, and then we'll take him back to the surface." "What about after getting there?" Drizzt had to ask. "He goes his way, we go our way," said Catti-brie firmly, as if to affirm her choice with the strength of her voice. Drizzt looked suspiciously at the mask again, and at the assassin again, and returning Artemis Entreri to the surface was no easy feat for the noble ranger.How many people would be unfortunate with Drizzt's choice now?How many would fear the shadow of Artemis Entreri again?

"I promised him." Seeing Drizzt's hesitant look, Catti-brie reminded him. Drizzt was still weighing the pros and cons.It was undeniable that Entreri's presence would make the journey safer, especially in the face of the battle to break out of Baenre's house.Drizzt had fought alongside Entreri in similar circumstances. Even so, but still... "I always, keep my word." Entreri's words faltered and trembled, and he tried to control his teeth, "I saved... I... saved that man." All his hands twitched as if Tried to point at Catti-brie, but suddenly convulsed, banging hard against the wall.

"I'll make you keep your word." Drizzt walked towards him.He wanted to go one step further and make Entreri promise to end his life of evil, but even Entreri said yes.Once on the surface, the killer will still face trial for his dark past.Entreri saw this, and interrupted Drizzt immediately.The ignited anger allowed him to temporarily take control of his uncoordinated muscles. "Don't even think about it!" he roared. "I promise only what I promised her!" Drizzt looked back at Catti-brie momentarily, who was standing up to pick up her bow. "I promised him." She replied, her tone more serious, against his puzzled stare.

"We've got... no... no time," Entreri added. The ranger took two quick steps, and snapped the mask onto Entreri's face.Entreri's hand slipped from the glue and he fell to the ground.But couldn't bring myself to stand up.Drizzt produced two vials of potion, hoping this would restore control to the assassin.He still didn't think it was appropriate to put the killer back on the surface, but he also knew that he couldn't wait to think about it.He would let Entreri go, and the three of them would slip out of the courtyard with Guenhwyvar and escape the city.Other issues will be addressed later.

It would work out, after all, Drizzt and Catti-brie wouldn't go out with this drag if the potion didn't work. But before the first bottle was finished, Entreri straightened up again.The poisonous effect of the short dart was only temporary and faded quickly, and the recovery potion accelerated the recovery speed. Drizzt shared another potion with Catti-brie.After donning the mail, Drizzt put two of the remaining six potions in his belt, and divided the rest between his two companions. "We'll have to go back the way we came to Baenry's compound," Entreri said, getting ready to go. "It goes without saying that the ceremony is still going on. But once the dead minotaur upstairs is found, there will probably be a bunch of guards waiting for us."

"Unless Fenders is self-righteous and lets her down alone," Drizzt replied.His tone, and the glare the assassin responded with, indicated that neither of them thought this was possible. "Run out," Catti-brie suggested.Yet both companions looked at her.Xin did not understand. "The way of the dwarves," she explained. "When there is no way back, you lower your head and rush out." Drizzt glanced at Guenhwyvar, at Catti-brie and the bow, at Entreri and his knife, and at his own pair of scimitars—Dendra wanted to make peace with the trapped Drizzt. In the first battle, all the equipment of Ranger was placed so close to him!

"They cornered us," Drizzt had to admit, "but I doubt they know who they cornered!" Matron Baenre, Maze Barisendango, and Matron Keyo Ozan stood in a tight triangle on the central altar of the spacious shrine of Baenre's house.The other five mistresses from the fourth to eighth families stood in a circle around the trio.This elite group, the ruling council of Menzoberranzan, often met in the small back room of the council chamber, but had not met in prayer in this way for centuries. Matron Baenre truly felt that she was at the apex of power.She lured them one by one, gathered them together, united the eight ruling families into an alliance, and ordered all the people in Menzoberranzan to obey her leadership and attack Mithril Hall.

Early before the ceremony.Kyo agreed to the expedition without warning, and Maze Barisendango—she did not want the Matriarch of the House after her to be favored by Matron Baenre—did at once. made the same decision. Goddess Rose was with her.Matron Baenre believed so with all her heart.The mistresses of other families also believed that the goddess Rose was on her side, so a strong alliance relationship was established. Matron Baenre did a good job of hiding her smile as she thought about the next step in the ceremony.She waited as patiently as possible for Vanders to return.She had sent her daughter to bring Drizzt here, and Vanders knew all about drow rituals well enough to know that the traitor might not make it through, anyway.Matron Baenry wouldn't scold Fenders if she was giving the traitor a little punishment now.Matron Baenre had no intention of sacrificing Drizzt at this ceremony.She still has a lot of games for this guy to play, such as giving Dendro a chance to stand out among all the martial arts masters in Menzoberranzan.But Matron Baenre knew that these plans were family matters, and if circumstances demanded that Drizzt be dedicated to Goddess Lolth, she would gladly take up the sacrificial dagger.

The idea doesn't look bad. ※※※※ In front of the rotunda, just to the side of the gate, Danzhuo and Boyinyong found themselves facing a dilemma.A guard slipped in and whispered what had happened in Stonehenge. Several minotaurs had been killed, and Fenders and her guards had descended to the cells below. Dan Zhuo glanced down at the dark elves sitting in rows, and then looked at the raised platform in the middle.The other sisters were up there, as was his brother Gromph (although he had no doubt that Gromph was happy to find an excuse to stay away from these women-controlled places).The high-level family ceremony is a crazy ceremony that makes people's emotions fluctuate between the peak and the deep valley. The mistresses of the ruling council are turning faster and faster on the altar, clapping their hands together and singing hymns loudly. The atmosphere is at its peak rising. Danzhuo saw Bo Yinyong's expectant eyes, and the young son of Baan Rui was obviously a little confused about what was about to happen. The master of martial arts walked out of the hall with Bo Yinyong and his guards.Behind them, accompanied by more and more frequent cheers, came the louder and louder singing. Check around.Danzhuo gestured to Bo Yinyong.Because speaking in this environment, you have to yell at the other party to hear it.Check if the surrounding is safe. Bo Yinyong nodded in agreement, walked down the curved corridor, and entered a secret side door, where he kept his lizard mount. Dendro quickly checked his equipment.Fenders had probably got the situation under control—if something had happened—but in his heart, Dandra hoped she hadn't, hoped that his chance to fight Drizzt would come his way.He found his magic sword agreeing with his thoughts, felt a wave of bloodthirsty desire coming from it. Danzhuo thought so as he walked all the way.He would bring the rebellious corpse to the mother who was presiding at the service, and she and the other matrons (and Yodjante Ango in the audience) would witness his power for themselves. It doesn't seem like a bad idea. ※※※※ "Run out," Catti-brie whispered as the group ascended the steps in the marble columns.Gwenhyfer crouched in front of her ready to jump out, and Drizzt and Entreri, weapons in hand, stood beside the cat, one to the left and the other to the right.Catti-brie drew the Tamari bow. When the marble-columned door slid open, a high-ranking drow warrior woman stood in the doorway.She widened her red eyes and raised her hands. Catti-brie's arrow went right into the gap in the female warrior's defense and hit the target.Also knocked out another dark elf standing right behind her.Guenhwyvar leaped out following the arrow, leaping over the fallen two into a group of drow that scattered them across the rotunda. Drizzt and Entreri rushed out, swords brandishing.They were back in Catti-brie's sight almost immediately, their blades spattered with blood. Catti-brie shot another arrow right between the two, opening a hole in the dark elf's wall of flesh blocking the exit, and she jumped out to stand between her companions.Drizzt and Entreri wielded equal ornate sword skills to her left and right.Again she nailed a drow emerging from the side door of the house; Entreri's dagger sank deep into the heart of a drow; Drizzt's cutlass parried an opponent's attack, Turn right and cut a clean X at the opponent's throat. Yet this is Guenhuffa's show.What in the world could cause greater disaster and panic in a crowded room than a six-hundred-pound, nimble, scratching beast of prey?Guenhive dashed from side to side, bumping one's back, biting another's foot, and hurried across the room into the hallway.The cat didn't actually kill a single drow along the way, but it wounded a lot of people.It also scared a lot of people away. Catti-brie was the first to enter the corridor. "Shoot that damned door!" Entreri yelled at her, but she didn't even need to prompt, and even fired two arrows before the assassin had even finished speaking.Then sparks flew everywhere, and she could barely see the door—but she could tell it was still a block of rock. "Open, oh, open!" the young woman yelled, thinking they were going to be trapped in the hallway.Once the chaos in the room behind them subsides, the enemy will defeat them for good.As if to heighten Catti-brie's fear, the corridor suddenly plunged into darkness. Luck saved them, when Catti-brie's next arrow hit a trap on the door, and the door slid upward.Running blindly, Catti-brie stumbled out of Baenry's courtyard, followed by Drizzt first, then Entreri, then Guenhwyvar. They saw the bright stripes of the house sigil, the heat marks left by a few lizardriders after the riot.The group had to make up their minds immediately, as crossbow arrows flew from behind the stones around them.Entreri took the lead.At first he wanted to go to the cobweb fence, but he suddenly remembered that there were three of them, but only one spider mask, and there was no time to climb over the fence.He ran to the right, around the side of the giant rock peak.The walls were not smooth, for the building was tightly surrounded by several giant stalagmites, with Catti-brie and Drizzt following closely behind.But Guan Haifa lingered outside the door, and rushed back to disperse the approaching dark elf pursuers. Entreri worked his mind fast, trying to remember the layout of the vast plain, how many guards there were and where they were usually located.The vast family courtyard was half a mile long and a quarter mile wide, and if Entreri had chosen the right path, there were many guards who would never fight at all. But it looked like all the elves in the house were surrounding them now, and they were multiplying in every direction. "There's no way to go!" Catti-brie yelled.A javelin grazed the stone driven into the side of her head, and she turned somersault, the arrow already being wound.The dark elf who had attacked her was out of sight, behind a pinnacle near the fence, but she sent the arrow anyway.The magic arrow passed the stone and hit the cobweb fence, bursting into a rain of silver and purple sparks.For a moment, Catti-brie dared to hope that good luck would show her a clear way through the spider fence, but when the rain of sparks dissipated, she found that there was not a scrape on the strong silk . Catti-brie hesitated for a moment, wondering if there was anything unusual about the arrow, but Drizzt slapped her on the back and told her to keep running. The assassin turned another corner, only to find that there were also a lot of drow oncoming.The enemy was already very close, and it would be suicidal to run aside into the courtyard, but the current position was in a dilemma.Entreri took a few steps forward, turned suddenly to the right, and leaped up a narrow walkway on the stalagmite peak.This walk is usually used by the goblin slaves of House Baenre as they carve the outer walls of Stalagmite Peak. Walking on such a footpath is not difficult for an Assassin. He used to be active on the narrow and high eaves of the big southern cities.This is not difficult for Drizzt, his movements have always been light and flexible, and he has a good sense of balance.But if Catti-brie had had an iota of time to consider her own experience, she wouldn't have jumped up with them.The group of them ran up the trail that was only one foot wide, with cliffs that got deeper and deeper on one side, and intermittent cliffs on the other.But the dark elves were not far behind them, and the fugitives had no time to make a choice.Catti-brie followed closely, and shot an arrow or two into the courtyard below from time to time, making the pursuers busy dodging and buying themselves time. Entreri thought he was going to be in trouble when he turned a corner and saw a pair of dumbfounded goblin slaves.But the terrified goblin had no intention of meeting them, and instead jumped sideways on the edge of the walkway, rolling down the uneven surface of the stalagmite peak. At the next bend is a spacious and beautifully decorated observation deck that extends five feet away from the trail.Entreri jumped up, and saw a more elaborately carved staircase leading up.As soon as he hit the ground, two dark elves rushed out from behind the door behind the viewing platform.A flash of silver met the first one, knocking her down with an arrow, while Entreri took down the other before Drizzt and Catti-brie had even jumped onto the platform. Guan Haifa suddenly appeared at this time, and the big cat jumped over the three companions and ran up the stairs first. The group of people climbed higher and higher, fifty feet, one hundred feet, two hundred feet, far away from the ground.The panting group had no choice but to continue running forward.Finally, when I reached a thousand feet, the huge stalagmites beside me turned into stalactites.The corridor has also become a horizontal walkway, connecting many huge stones hanging over the Banrui family courtyard. A group of drow rushed from the opposite side of the trail, cutting off the group's path.Guan Haifa pursed his ears, and went forward, while the dark elves ran, they repeatedly snapped their crossbows at the big cat.The short dart stabbed the big cat to release the toxin, but Guenhayva's pace didn't stop.Seeing this, the group of pursuers turned around and fled in a hurry, but those who rushed too close to the big cat were forced to turn over the fence of the trail and float in mid-air with their natural buoyancy. Catti-brie immediately shot an elf floating in mid-air. The powerful impact caused the dying drow to bend into a weird upside-down position, circling circles in mid-air, spattering blood The wires rained down on the ground hundreds of feet below in a rain of blood.The other drow elves floating in the air immediately understood their dangerous situation, and quickly fell out of sight of the group. Guenhwyvar buried the remaining dark elves on the walkway.Entreri followed, the wounded who had fallen to the claws of the ferocious panther for the rest of their lives.He turned back and shouted to his companions, indicating that the way ahead had been cleared. Catti-brie responded mildly, while Drizzt remained silent.He knew better than anyone else how badly they got into it.Many of the drow in House Baenre could levitate, and Drizzt had somehow lost it after spending some time on the surface.Baenre's soldiers will soon be flying up to surround the walkway, hiding behind stalactites with crossbows in hand. The trail leads to another stalactite.It divides into two paths around it.Guenhyvar went to the left, but Entreri went to the right. Guessing that there would be an ambush, the assassin ran a few steps and slid across the corner on his knees.Sure enough, a drow was waiting for him.She drew her crossbow as soon as she saw the assassin, but she missed and Entreri's sword caught her in the side.The assassin straightened up amidst the dazzling sword moves, and Entreri used the longsword as leverage to lift the dark elf off the fence because he had no intention of fighting. Drizzt and Catti-brie only heard a roar, and saw a drow on the left who was knocked down the fence by the black panther.Catti-brie was just about to follow when she heard a scream behind her, and she turned to look back, only to see Drizzt's tattered forest-green cloak waving by.She lowered her head reflexively, and when she stood up again, she saw a short dart wrapped in Drizzt's cloak, and the short dart was aimed at her head. Drizzt lowered his cloak and jumped beside Catti-brie, giving her a clear view of the line of pursuers that were closing in on them as soon as he moved out of the way. There is no weapon better suited to the narrow walk than the taumari bow. The silver light of the swift arrows flickered, and the drow who were chasing them were either killed or injured.Catti-brie thought she could delay the pursuit until all the pursuers were gone, but Drizzt suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away, putting her back against the stalactites while he blocked Protect her outside. A bolt of lightning struck the stone pillar and landed right where they were standing just now, and colorful sparks flew one after another. "Damn mage!" shouted an enraged Catti-brie.She knelt on one knee and shot an arrow down, thinking that she had locked onto the mage.The arrow sprinted toward the advancing line, but collided with some sort of magical barrier and exploded in the air. "Damn mage!" Catti-brie yelled again, before being pushed away by Drizzt. The trail leading up to the stalactites was cleared away, and when the chasing dark elves were still carefully guarding whether there was an ambush near the stone pillar, Drizzt and his party had already left them far away.The intricate walks were a maze over the vast courtyard, and there were not a few Baenry elves anywhere but themselves.Once again they look like they have plenty of room to run, but, where can they go?The whole cavern in which Menzoberranzan stood opened before them, at their feet.In either direction, however, the walkway became a dead end a long way from the edge of the Banreu family compound.There are only a few stalactites hanging low enough to reach the stalagmites below, perhaps giving them a way back to the surface. Gwannhivar, apparently also perplexed by the way out, retreated, and Entreri was again in charge of leading the team.The assassin looked at the criss-crossing walkways, turned to Drizzt and waited for him to point the way, but he just shrugged.Both experienced fighters understood that the siege was fast closing on them. They reached another stalactite and circled up the trail outside the facet.The stalactite was hollow, and they found a door, which they opened only to find an empty room—not even a place to hide.At the top of the winding walkway, the suspended walkway extends in two directions.Entreri walked to the left, then stopped suddenly and fell back. A javelin narrowly missed him and landed on the stalactite in front of Catti-brie's eyes.Catti-brie watched as the writhing black tentacles slid from the quivering gun tail to the rock, snapping and biting at the rock face.Katie, Brie imagined the pain that such a terrible magic would cause. "Lizard riders," Drizzt whispered in her ear, pulling her away again.Catti-brie looked around for the direction from which the javelin had come, and heard only the lizard ride scurrying across the roof of the cave.But the magic tiara gave her only a dim gleam, and she couldn't find a clear target. "Drizzt Do'Urden!" shouted a voice from the lower parallel walk.Drizzt stopped and looked around, and saw Boyinyon Baenre hanging by the side of the walk on a lizard, holding a javelin in his hand.The young son of Baenre had a good throw, but the blow missed, at such a distance and at such a strange angle. Catti-brie answered the short dart sent by the cavalry under the stone bridge with an arrow, and the arrow flew over the stone face and fell to the ground far below. "That's a Baenry," Drizzt explained to her. "A very dangerous elf!" "It used to be." Catti-brie replied calmly, raising her bow and firing another arrow, this time aiming at the middle of a lower stone bridge.The magic arrow pierced the rock, and from there came a horrific scream. Bo Yinyong fell from the stone bridge, and his dead mount rolled and fell after him.Since the sight of the two disappeared, the young nobleman turned around in the air by mobilizing his buoyancy force, and slowly descended to the bottom of the cave. Drizzt kissed Catti-brie on the cheek, praising her for the brilliant shot.After rounding the next stalactite, the two saw Entreri and the cat take out another dark elf. Everything seemed hopeless, with no way out.They could rack up one small victory after another for hours on end, but it was impossible to exhaust the Baen Shwe's forces.To make matters worse, sooner or later the entire courtyard will organize itself.Matron and High Priest.Maybe a few more powerful mages will come out of the Dome Temple to participate in this hunt. They climbed a walkway that circled another stalactite to the steps that led to the highest carved part of the entire cavern.Knowing that there were drows overhead, they rode lizards and hid in the shadows, carefully waiting for the moment to fire their arrows. Guenhive stopped abruptly, leaped into the air, and disappeared into a clump of overhanging boulders twenty feet above the walkway.The big, muscular cat reappeared scratching and raking a lizard.The two giants crashed into the stone walk, rolled together and bit each other, and for a moment Drizzt thought Guenhwyvar was about to fall over the side. Entreri jumped away from the two beasts that were fighting, and the ranger ran past him, drawing his knives on the entangled lizard. Catti-brie watched above warily, the taumaribow waiting for a drow as it slowly emerged from the stone.The elf plucked the crossbow but it missed, and the crossbow flew across the stone bridge at Catti-brie's feet, and Catti-brie's arrow shot back at him and snapped the tip of a stone spur, hitting him in the side. waist. The opponent immediately realized that he couldn't win the magic bow in Catti-brie's hand.He climbed out of the rocks, kicked off and flew to the top of the cave.Another arrow exploded among the rocks, not far behind him.Just as he was reaching out to grab a stone edge hanging in front of him, a swift arrow flew over and shattered it in front of his eyes. The drow, floating in mid-air, lost their cover and hung twenty feet above the walkway, no more than a dozen feet from the side of the walkway.He should have released the buoyancy force to find a foothold, and then recalled the magic power in a place far away from Catti-brie.But he flew up, trying to find a safe hiding spot on the uneven roof of the cave. Catti-brie shot the fatal arrow.The silver light pierced him, thundering from the ceiling above, sinking into the rock.After a while, there was another explosion in the sky, which came from the depths farther from the top of the cave. Catti-brie stared there curiously, wondering why the second blast had come.