Chapter 31 Chapter 24 The Long Way Home

"Good job." The sudden voice made Drizzt's nerves tense again. Although Verna was dead, the battle was not over yet.Drizzt jumped to the edge of the stone wall, his swords in a defensive position. He lowered his weapon, keeping his eyes on Jarlaxle.The mercenary captain leaned against the opposite wall and sat on the ground with one leg bent at a strange angle. "That black panther," the mercenary captain spoke fluently in Common Tongue, as if he had lived on the surface all his life, "I thought I was going to die, but that black panther completely crushed me," Jarlaxle shrugged. Shrugging, "Maybe it was my lightning that hurt it."

That bolt of lightning reminded Drizzt of Jarlaxle's staff, and reminded Drizzt that Jarlaxle was still a very dangerous opponent. Jarlaxle flinched in pain, then stretched out an empty hand, signaling the ranger not to be nervous. "That stick is useless, I didn't want to use it, I thought you were hopeless then, as you think of me now." "You want to kill me." Drizzt replied coldly. The mercenary captain shrugged again and laughed. "If Verna wins and I don't help her, she will kill me. Even if you are very skilled in martial arts, I still think she will win."

This explanation seemed reasonable, but Drizzt was also aware of the tricks of the dark elves. "If I die now, Rose will still reward you." "I am not a slave to the Spider Queen," Jarlaxle replied, "I am an opportunist." "So, you'll kill me when you get the chance?" The mercenary laughed heartily, then shivered from the twitching of his injured leg. Bruenor rushed into the hole, taking one look at Drizzt before turning his attention to Jarlaxle, his rage still burning fiercely. "Don't!" Drizzt said to stop Bruno who wanted to kill him.

Bruenor stopped and stared at Drizzt with an icy gaze that made the dwarf's battered face look even more menacing.His right eye had fallen out of its orbit, and a groove of blood ran from the top of his forehead to the bottom of his left cheek. "We don't need prisoners." Drizzt heard the resentment in Bruenor's voice, and noticed that he had never heard from Wulfgar, "Where are the others?" "I'm here," Katie said as she walked into the cave. Drizzt looked at her bloodied face and grim expression, and began to understand more about the facts. "Wo..." As soon as he started, Katie shook her head seriously, as if she couldn't hear the name at all.She walked up to Drizzt, and the ranger shuddered—a crossbow bolt was still impaled in her jawbone.

Drizzt gently caressed Katie's cheek, pinched the chilling short arrow, gently pulled it out, and quickly supported her shoulders, propping up the girl who became limp from nausea and pain body of. "Hope I didn't hurt the panther," Jarlaxle began. "That's a beautiful beast!" Drizzt turned to look at him, his purple eyes flickering. "He's confusing you," Bruno reminded him, stroking the blood-clotting handle of the tomahawk with his finger. "He didn't say begging for mercy, but he was begging for mercy." Drizzt wasn't sure about that, he knew the horrors of Menzoberranzan and some of the actions the drow took to survive.His father, and his most beloved Drow Zaknafein, had acted as an assassin for Mistress Malice just to survive, maybe this mercenary was in the same situation?

Drizzt wanted to believe that, Vierna had just died at his feet, he had lost the last of his family, the last of his blood, and he wanted to believe that he was not alone in this world. "Kill the dog, or we'll take him back," Bruno growled, his patience exhausted. "Your choice? Drizzt Do'Urden," Jarlaxle asked calmly. Drizzt took Jarlaxle's words seriously again. He was not like Zaknafein.The drow ranger remembered his father's outrage when he heard rumors that he had killed the surface elves.There is an unquestionable difference between Zaknafein and Jarlaxle, Zaknafein only kills those who he thinks deserve their sins, and only those drow who serve Lolth and her evil minions will die by his sword Next, he will never follow Werna to carry out this hunting operation.

The rage at the memory almost sent Drizzt straight for the mercenary, but he fought back the urge.The oppression of Menzoberranzan, the overwhelming influence of the ubiquitous evil, made the rare few drow who were different had to bow their heads.Zaknafein had once admitted to Drizzt that he had almost lost himself in Rose's way many times.Losing himself was also one of Drizzt's greatest fears as he struggled to survive in the Underdark himself. How could he have the power to judge this dark elf?The machete slipped into the sheath silently. "He killed my child!" Bruenor growled unwillingly, obviously understanding Drizzt's intentions.

Drizzt shook his head resolutely. "Forgiveness is a strange thing, Drizzt Do'Urden," Jarlaxle said. "Is that a strength? Or a weakness?" "Power." Drizzt gave the answer without thinking. "It can save your soul," Jarlaxle nodded, "or destroy your body." He tipped the brim of his sombrero, saluted Drizzt, and shrugged suddenly, arms wrapped around his cloak. There was a twitch underneath.A small object fell to the ground in front of Jarlaxle's feet and exploded immediately, filling the cave with turbid gas. "Damn it!" Katie hurriedly shot an arrow, the silver arrow pierced through the mist and hit the opposite stone wall; Bruno rushed over and hacked wildly with his axe, but there was nothing to chop there, and the drow mercenaries had no idea what to do trace.

Bruenor came out of the smoke and saw Drizzt and Katie standing beside Thiberdorf Panter, who was lying on the ground. "Is he dead?" asked the Dwarf King. Drizzt leaned over to look at Warcrazy, recalling the scene when Pante was whipped by Verna's snake whip, "No." He replied, "That whip is not for killing, it's only for paralysis." His keen ears caught Bruno's faint murmur: "Too bad." It took them a while to revive the battle madness, and Pant jumped to his feet, falling to the ground even faster.He struggled to get back to his feet, looking dejected until Drizzt thanked him for his shot in killing the drow reinforcement.

In the main tunnel, they found five dead drow, one of which was still nailed to the ceiling, the dark ward long since dissipated.After hearing Katie's description of the course of action of these drow soldiers, Drizzt couldn't help shivering. "Regis." His breathing became heavy immediately, and the drow ranger swept the tunnel as fast as he could, and came to the side road where the halfling was hiding. Regis sat there with a face full of fear, with a drow corpse on top of him, and the gem-encrusted dagger was tightly held in his palm. "Come on, my friend," Drizzt reassured him with soothing words, "now we go home."

※※※※ The five ordealed companions slowly walked through the tunnel supporting each other, and Drizzt watched the crumbling team from time to time.Bruenor closed one eye; Panter's muscles were not yet fully coordinated; Drizzt's foot wound twitched violently with each step he took, the pain masked by the excitement of fighting getting stronger and stronger. It became clearer, but it wasn't the physical pain that really tore the ranger's heart. Wulfgar's departure brought an unbearable shock to all his comrades who had fought with him. Will Katie be able to bring back that anger, forget the grief that tormented her, and throw herself into the fight again?Bruenor's wounds were so bad that Drizzt wasn't even sure if he was going to make it back to Mithril Hall or not.Can the current dwarf king attack the enemy again? Drizzt had no confidence in these matters at all, and his only consolation was that General Dagna finally appeared before them, followed by many dwarven warriors riding wild boars. Bruenor fell headfirst, and the dwarves carried their wounded king onto the boar without a moment's delay. After getting ready, the dwarven cavalry rushed back to Mithril Hall.Drizzt and Katie, however, did not go with the group. Accompanied by three dwarven riders, including General Dagna, the young woman guided Drizzt to the cave where Wulfgar had died. Drizzt finally gave up the illusion that his friend was still alive when he saw the collapsed boulders. Kitty recounted the details of the entire battle one by one, and when it came to Wulfgar's heroic sacrifice, she paused for a long time before mustering the strength to speak. At last, looking at the pile of rubble, she whispered "Farewell," and walked out of the cave with the three dwarves. Drizzt stood alone for another long time, powerlessly watching everything in front of him.He still couldn't believe that the mighty Wulfgar was buried here, and he felt so unreal, so contradictory to his feelings. But it's true. Drizzt could only feel his own powerlessness. The grief brought by the guilt continued to attack the drow's heart. He was the one who caused his sister's hunt and killed Wulfgar.But he eventually dismissed the idea, so that he no longer sees it that way. Now is the time to say goodbye to his trusted partner and close friend.He still hopes to be with Wulfgar, guarding the young barbarian, comforting him, guiding him, exchanging tacit glances with the barbarian, and boldly facing various mysteries and dangers together. "Farewell, my friend," Drizzt whispered, trying in vain to cohere his voice, "you are going on your journey alone." ※※※※ Returning to Mithril Hall was not a cause for celebration for our exhausted and scarred friends, who could not feel any sense of triumph from what had happened in the lower tunnels.The four companions - Drizzt, Bruenor, Catti-brie and Regis have different feelings about losing Wulfgar, and the barbarian has different representations for them, he is Bruno's son, Katie's Fiancé, Drizzt's comrade-in-arms, Regis' protector. Bruenor suffered the worst physical injuries, the dwarf king lost an eye, and a reddish purple scar that would run from his forehead to his jaw would remain with him for years to come.But physical damage was the least of Bruno's troubles. In the next few days, the strong dwarf suddenly felt that there was a certain arrangement that had not been discussed with the wedding priest, and then he remembered that Cooper would no longer help him with various affairs, Mithril Hall There will be no more weddings this spring. Drizzt could see the marks of great sorrow on the dwarf's face, and for the first time since he had known Bruenor, the ranger felt that he had grown old and weary.Drizzt could hardly bear to look at him, and Katie made his heart hurt even more. She was so young and full of vigor, and the vitality of life filled her body, making her like a goddess of youth that would never age.Now, the world in Katie's eyes is withering like falling flowers. The friends often spent long hours alone, and Drizzt, Bruno, and Katie rarely saw each other, and Regis never saw anyone. They didn't know that the halfling had already left Mithril Hall. He left through the western passage and entered the Valley of the Bomin. At the southern end of a long, narrow valley, Regis climbed little by little to a sword-shaped rock that jutted fifty feet above the stony floor.There he found a limp body, suspended by a tattered cloak from the top of the stone, and the halfling clung to the rock and slowly climbed to its top.He marveled at the slight swaying of the man hanging beneath the cloak as he labored every inch of his progress in the fierce gale. "Alive?" the halfling asked.A wounded Entreri had been hanging here for over a day. "Are you still alive?" Regis was already cautious, and he didn't dare to take it lightly when facing someone like Artemis Entreri.The gem-studded dagger was placed next to the cloak. As long as he moved his wrist, the dangerous killer would fall directly to the rock teeth standing on the ground below at a speed of free fall. Entreri tried to lift his head, moaning weakly, but he still couldn't find the words. "You've got mine," Regis told him. The killer turned his head slightly, trying to see the speaker clearly, his tattered face made Regis, who was trembling all over, unconsciously backed away.One cheekbone was shattered, the skin of his face was flaked, and it was obvious that the eye he turned to Regis could see nothing. Moreover, Regis could also conclude that this killer with broken bones and wounds all over his body didn't know that he was no longer able to see. "The ruby ​​pendant," Regis said louder, seeing the hypnotic gem hanging from a chain just below Entreri's body. Entreri understood what he meant, and reached out to feel for the ruby, but his limp hand dropped halfway. Regis shook his head, still fastening the dagger to the edge of his cloak, and with his other hand reached out for his staff, poking Entreri with the end. The killer didn't respond. Regis poked him hard a few more times, until he was sure the killer was indeed incapacitated.With a happy smile, he put the head of the staff into the chain under the killer's neck, and gently hooked the ruby ​​pendant. "How does it feel?" Regis tapped Entreri on the back of the head with his cane as he put away his prized ruby. "What's it like being a prisoner for no reason, all alone? How many times have you ever put someone else in the position you're enjoying now?" Regis slapped him again. A hundred times?" As Regis swung his club down again, he noticed something else hanging from the killer's belt.It was much harder to get hold of than a ruby, but Regis was a thief, and he was proud of it (in private, of course).He tied a silk rope to the top of the rock, and climbed onto Entreri's back along the rope. The mask was in his hands. The halfling thief reached into the killer's pocket again and found a wallet and a precious gem. Entreri groaned again and began to turn, and in a blink of an eye the startled Regis was back on the rock, the dagger resting on the edge of his cloak. "I can spare you," the halfling looked up at the vulture hovering above his head, "I can ask Bruno and Drizzt to pull you up, maybe you know valuable information." Memories of Entreri were still tormenting Regis' nerves, and he looked at the palm of his hand, where two fingers were missing, where the killer had severed them with the dagger he was holding now.What a beautiful irony, Regis thought. "No," he finally decided, "I don't feel particularly kind today." He looked up again, "I'll just leave you to those vultures." Entreri couldn't react. Regis shook his head. He might be cold-blooded, but he was still much worse than Artemis Entreri. "The magic wings saved you when Drizzt kicked you off, but they're about to be useless!" With a twist of his wrist, Regis cut the last few seams of the cloak, leaving the rest for the killer's weight to tear. When Regis retreated down the Tor, Entreri was still hanging there, but his cloak had been gradually torn away. Artemis Entrelit was exhausted.