Chapter 10 Chapter 7 The Silence in the Darkness

Even with flaming torches lining the walls and the paths cleared and marked, it took Drizzt and Regis nearly three hours to cross the miles-wide Mithril Hall into the New Area Tunnel.Along the way, they passed magical, cascaded underground cities.There are layers of dwarf residences here, like extremely magnificent steps, distributed on both sides of the giant hole.From these dwellings overlooked the central working area at the bottom of the cave, where an industrious race was constantly busy.This is the center of the Mithril Hall complex, where most of Bruenor's people live and work.All day long the great furnace roars, and the dwarven hammers sing incessantly.Although the mine has only been dug for two months, thousands of finished products have been produced—everything from well-wrought weapons to beautifully carved goblets.They fill countless carts and line the walls neatly, and when the trading season comes, they will become the most sought-after commodities in all of Faerûn.

Drizzt and Regis entered from the eastern end of the top-floor residence, walked through the cave along a high hanging bridge, walked down many winding steps, left the city from the lowest level, and entered Mithril Hall westward Deepest mine.The torches on the walls here burn slowly and dimly, and gradually become rarer, and the distance between adjacent torches is getting wider and wider.However, the search and rescue team can still meet the dwarven working group from time to time, and the precious mithril is also being transported out continuously. Finally, they entered the outer tunnel, where there were neither torches nor dwarves.Drizzt dragged his pack over, intending to light a torch, but he noticed that the halfling's infrared eyes were glowing like red coals.

"I like the light with some torches," Regis hurriedly put forward his opinion when he saw Drow put his backpack back intact. "We should save resources," Drizzt replied, "We don't know how long we will stay in the new district." Regis shrugged, and took out the small hammer that should not be underestimated.Although they haven't left the security range of the new district yet.But Regis' actions still reassured Drizzt. They took a short break and moved on.After walking two or three miles forward.Regis began to complain, as expected, about the pain in the sole of his foot, but the voice of a dwarf from somewhere above quieted him quickly.

After turning a few turns, they saw a narrow staircase disappearing into the outermost guardhouse of the area.Four dwarves were playing bone dice inside, each throw accompanied by a whine.No one paid attention to the iron-bolted stone gate that blocked the new area. "Hello," said Drizzt, interrupting the dwarf's game. "A few of our clansmen haven't come back." Seeing that it was Drizzt, a thick brown-bearded dwarf quickly replied, "Did King Bruno send you to look for them in person?" "It's us," Juanjis reminded him. Drizzt nodded, "Let's remind those dwarves who came back late to pay attention to time when looking for Mithril." He tried his best to make this meeting look relaxed, and now is not the time to express his doubts about the new area.

Two dwarves took up their weapons, and the other two went down and removed the iron bolts that blocked the stone door. "Knock three times on the door when you come back, and then knock twice," the brown-bearded dwarf explained to them. "We will never open the door if the signal is wrong!" "Three, then two," Drizzt repeated. The iron bolt fell, and the door opened inward with a loud friction sound, revealing an empty dark corridor in front of everyone. "Relax, kid." Drizzt comforted him softly, seeing a sudden flicker in the halfling's eyes.They had just been here two weeks ago, fighting the goblins, and although they had witnessed the eradication of the goblins, the silent tunnel did not give people much sense of security.

"Come on," said the brown-bearded dwarf to them, obviously unwilling to leave the door open. Drizzt lit a torch and led the way into the darkness, Regis at his heels.As soon as the two of them walked through the gate, the dwarf closed the stone door again, and Drizzt and Regis heard the clang of the iron bolts knocking against the rock as they fell back into place. Drizzt handed the torch to Regis and drew his twin scimitars, flashing soft blue light. "We should step up and call Guenhuffa over here and let him lead us." Regis put down the hammer and torch, went to his bag to find the piece of black onyx, and placed it on the ground in front of him, then he picked up the hammer and torch, looked up at Drizzt, only to find that the dark elf had already walked a few meters ahead steps away.

"You can summon her out." Drizzt said and looked back, only to find that the halfling was waiting for him there, and he couldn't help but feel strange.Regis' curiosity gave him a special bond with the big cat.Guenhwyvar is a magical creature whose home is the Astral Plane, and she can come at the summons of the statue bearer.Bruenor was always a little awkward around her (dwarves are generally averse to magic, save for magic weapons), but Regis and Guenhwyvar had long been good friends.Guenhwyvar also rescued Regis from a collapsing tower, taking him straight to the Astral Plane.

Now, Regis was standing next to the statue, torch and hammer in hand, but he obviously didn't know what to do. Drizzt walked back to the kid, "What happened?" "I... I think it's up to you to summon Guenhwyvar," the halfling replied. "After all, she's your companion, and she loves your voice the most." "You can also call Guenhwyvar." Drizzt patted the halfling on the shoulder.But he didn't want to waste time on this kind of argument, and Drow called out his partner's name softly.A few seconds later, a mist that looked blacker than midnight gathered around the statue, gradually congealing into the form of a panther, and every slight change in the mist was clearly visible.But when Guan Haifa's toned body finally took shape, no one could imagine how she came out of a dense mist.The panther's ears pricked up as soon as the panther emerged—Regis was walking cautiously behind her, and Drizzt grabbed his best friend's chin playfully twice.

"Several dwarves have gone missing," Drizzt explained to the cat.Regis knew that Guenhwyvar understood every word. "Smell their scent and lead me to them." Guenhwyvar studied the area for a long time, then turned to stare at Regis and let out a low growl. "Hurry up." Drizzt ordered the big cat.With smooth muscles flowing all over his body, Guenhlva lightly jumped into the darkness in front of the torch. Drizzt and Regis followed slowly, Drow making sure his companions would not leave them behind, Regis looking around nervously the whole time.They passed the crossroads where the bones of the two-headed giant, the first one Bruenor had killed, lay.After a while they entered the low cave where the goblin lord had been slain, and Guenhwyvar returned to them.

Aside from the dwindling goblin corpses and the blood-stained mass in the center of the cave, the latest battle left no traces.Huge, ten-foot-long worms swarm here, sensing their surroundings with their slender tentacles, and feasting on the rotting carcasses. "Come near me," Drizzt warned Regis, and the halfling never needed the drow to repeat the words. "These are scavengers," the drow ranger explained to the halfling, "the vultures of the Underdark. With so much food here, they'll probably ignore us. But they're dangerous foes, and the poison in those tentacles Needles take the power out of your body."

"Do you think the dwarves are getting too close to them?" Regis prowled furtively in the dim light, to see if he could find any corpses that weren't goblins. Drizzt shook his head, "The dwarves are familiar with these worms, in fact, they hope that these creatures will get rid of the smelly goblin corpses as soon as possible. I find it hard to believe that seven experienced dwarves will die in the mouths of these worms. " Drizzt tried to step down the sloping ledge, but the halfling grabbed his cloak. "There's a dead two-headed giant down here with a lot of meat." Drizzt looked at the quick-witted halfling in some amazement, perhaps Bruenor had done the right thing in sending the little fellow with him.They went around the raised part of the slab and went down the other side.Sure enough, there were several worms lying on the body of the two-headed giant. If Drizzt went down from the position just now, he would definitely fall within the attack range of these beasts. A few seconds later, they entered the empty tunnel again, and Guenhwyvar walked silently in the shadows ahead, guiding them. The torch quickly dimmed, and Drizzt reached for another, and Regis shook his head at him, reminding Drizzt to keep the light source. They walked on in the soundless darkness, their steps reflected only by the flashes of cold fire.Drow seems to have returned to the days of wandering in the Underdark with the panther.All his senses were fully expanded, for he knew that mortal danger might lie just around the bend ahead. ※※※※ "Is the plate hot?" Jarlaxle couldn't help asking when he saw Verna rubbing her delicate fingers against the metal surface with pleasure.The priest sat on the back of the lizard, and her mount's swollen face remained expressionless and never blinked. "My brother is not far away from us." After she finished speaking, she closed her eyes and fell into meditation. The mercenary captain leaned against the wall, staring idly at the goblin corpses strewn across the tunnel as his killer army moved silently past them. "Is Drizzt here?" the mercenary captain asked cautiously. He never wanted the moody Verna to think that he had doubts about her vision. The priest's mount was always reminding others of the consequences of angering her. . "He's here." Verna replied calmly. "Are you sure our friend won't kill him before we find him?" the mercenary captain asked again. "That's a trustworthy ally." Werner remained calm all the time, and her voice undoubtedly comforted the restless mercenary leader. "That's what Rose told me." This sentence ends all discussion.But Jarlaxle knew it was hard for him to trust any human being, especially what Vierna said.He looked back at the tunnel he came from, and continued to monitor the mercenary team that was advancing cautiously. Jarlaxle trusted his soldiers, all drow, no less than any army in the dark elf world.If Drizzt Do'Urden was indeed lurking in these tunnels, the fine killers of Dayet's Mercenaries would never let him go. "Should I let Ban Rui's army disperse?" the mercenary captain asked Verna. Vierna considered it for a moment, her indecision telling Jarlaxle that she wasn't actually as sure of her brother's whereabouts as she said she was. "Keep them together," she ordered. "When we find my brother, they will be the first to go into battle." Jarlaxle was very happy, and even if Drizzt was really here, they had no idea how many friends would be around him.Using fifty drow to attack first, the mercenary captain felt that there was nothing to worry about. Still, he wondered what Triel Baenry would think when she learned that her soldiers were all used to stuff the wounds, even though they were all men. ※※※※ "Are these tunnels really endless?" Regis groaned, and they walked for another two hours.After numerous turns in goblin-fortified natural passages, Drizzt finally agreed to stop for dinner, and even lit a torch.Two friends sat in a small cave surrounded by low-hanging stalactites and gargoyles of rock. Drizzt knew that the halfling's unintentional complaints were telling the truth, that they had gone miles and miles underground.The tunnels here are intricate, connecting countless large and small caves, and each cave is a place where more than a dozen tunnels converge.Regis had been to the dwarven mines before, but he had never ventured into the lower regions.This is the Underdark of the Dead, where the drow live, where Drizzt Do'Urden was born. The stuffy air and the weight of thousands of tons of rock overhead made the Dark Elf inevitably think of his past life.The days he lived in Menzoberranzan, the time he and Guenhwyvar wandered through the seemingly endless underworld of Toril. "We're going astray, like the dwarves," Regis muttered, chewing on a biscuit.He bites a little at a time and chews it a thousand times until he absorbs all the flavors and not a single crumb that falls out of his mouth. Drizzt's smile didn't seem to comfort him, but the ranger was confident he knew where they were, and Guenhwyvar certainly knew better than he did.They are making a circular movement around the main battlefield to eliminate goblins.He pointed behind Regis, and the halfling turned in the direction of his finger. "If we go back down this tunnel and take the first right branch, we'll be in the hole where Bruenor beat the goblin in a few minutes," Drizzt explained to him. It's not far to Cooper's place." "It looks far away." Regis murmured. Drizzt didn't argue with him again, the halfling was in a pretty bad mood right now.Drizzt thought of something else, though. During the weeks that Regis had been in Mithril Hall, the drow had rarely seen him.In fact, few saw him very often, except perhaps the dwarven cooks in the communal dining room. "Why did you come back?" Drizzt's abrupt question made Regis almost have a biscuit stuck in his throat, and the halfling stared at the dark elf strangely. "We're glad you're back," Drizzt hastened to clarify to the halfling. "We all wish you could stay here. Just, why? Friend?" "Wedding..." Regis stuttered. "A good reason, but hardly the only reason." Drizzt smiled knowingly, "When we were together last time, you had become a guild leader, and the cause of the entire Calimport It's all in your hands." Regis turned his face away, ran his fingers through his curly brown hair, turned the ring on his other hand a few more times, and finally fiddled with his earring. "This is the life Regis most yearns for." Drizzt reminded him. "Then, perhaps you really don't understand Regis," the halfling replied. "Maybe, but it's more than that. I know you don't like fighting very much. But you stayed with me when I was killing the goblins." "Where else is safer than Drizzt Do'Urden's side?" "Above, in the big dining room." Drow replied without hesitation, Drizzt's smile was full of friendship, and the light in the lavender eyes had no negative emotions.Though he knew, Regis might not be telling him the truth. "No matter what your reason for coming, please believe that we are all happy for your coming, and Bruno may be more happy than anyone else." Drizzt said sincerely, "But if you encounter any trouble, what Danger, you'd better tell us. Haven't we been fighting side by side? We are your friends and will be with you, and we won't blame you. Whatever the enemy, we can fight him together, according to me With experience, knowing who the enemy is, he will not be scary." "I lost the guild," Regis finally said, "just two weeks after you left Calimport." The news didn't surprise Drizzt. "Artemis Entreri." Regis' voice was a little cold, he raised his cute little face, stared at Drizzt, carefully scrutinizing his every move. "Entreri took the guild?" Drizzt asked. Regis nodded, "He didn't put in a lot of effort, and even my most trusted accomplice has turned to him." "You should have expected the killer to do that." Drizzt chuckled, and Regis' eyes widened in surprise. "You think this is funny?" "The guild will prosper in Entreri's hands." Drizzt's answer only surprised the halfling even more. "He's a perfect fit for poor Calimport's duplicity." "I thought you... I mean, you didn't want to go..." "Kill Entreri?" Drizzt chuckled twice, "My battle with that killer is over." Seeing Regis nodding eagerly, he confirmed his guess. "Entreri may not think so." Drizzt shrugged, though he noticed that his indifference seemed to disturb the halfling. "As long as Entreri stays in the south, he won't care about me." Drizzt knew that Regis didn't think Entreri would stay in the south.Maybe that's why Regis didn't stay on the upper floors of Mithril Hall during the Goblin Wars.Perhaps Regis was afraid that Entreri would infiltrate Mithral Hall, and if the assassin found Drizzt and Regis at the same time, he would definitely deal with Drizzt first. "You hurt him, you know that, and he won't let it go." Drizzt's face turned gray suddenly, and Regis stepped back, away from the burning purple eyes. "You think he followed you north?" Drizzt asked frankly. Regis shook his head vigorously, "I pretended to be killed. Besides, Entreri knows the location of Mithril Hall, so he can find you without following me." "But he won't," Regis went on, "from what I've heard. He's lost an arm and an eye, and he can't be your enemy anymore." "It was the loss of his mind that stole his fighting ability." This sentence, Drizzt said to himself.Although he didn't care about it anymore, Drizzt still couldn't easily erase the period when he and the master murderer were enemies.Entreri was the exact opposite of him in many ways, ruthless and indifferent, but his combat skills were as good as Drizzt's.Entreri's philosophy insists that a true warrior must be a ruthless, pure and efficient killing machine.Drizzt believed in the exact opposite.When the drow was young, almost all the relatives around him held the same views as Entreri, but he believed that the passion of dedicating himself to justice was the source of a warrior's strength.Drizzt's father, Zaknafein, had no rivals in Menzoberranzan.Because his sword is always drawn for justice, because when he fights, he sincerely believes that he has no guilt. "There is no need to doubt, he will always hate you." Regis' cold words broke Drizzt's contemplation. Drizzt noticed a spark in the halfling's eye, which he took to mean that Regis hated Entreri, too.Did Regis want to go back to Calimport and make a deal with Entreri?Drow couldn't find an answer to this question.Does Regis want to get rid of the killer leader and help him take back the thieves' guild? "He hates me because his life is nothing compared to my life." Drizzt said firmly but calmly.The drow will not return to Calimport, nor will they resume war with Artemis Entreri for any reason.Doing so would make him identical to the assassin, which was the single thing in this world that the drow, who had turned his back on his own sinful kin, feared the most. Regis turned his face away, he had clearly understood Drizzt's feelings, and the disappointment was evident on his face.Drizzt believed that Regis did wish he could use his swords to help him take back his cherished guild, and he knew from the halfling's words that Entreri couldn't be expected not to come north.If the assassin, or at least his men, hadn't gone north, why would Regis be at his side as he fought the goblins? "Come on," Drow stood up before his anger got over him. "We have a long way to go before we go to bed. We'll be sending Gwanhayfar back to the Astral Realm soon, and with her, we can Make sure to find those dwarves." Regis stuffed the rest of the food back into his little knapsack, extinguished the torch, and hastily followed the drow.Drizzt often looked back at him, a little surprised and a little disappointed.For he could see that anger was illuminating the two red spots on the halfling's face.