Chapter 32 Chapter 25 In Her Palm

Matron Baenre sat slack in the soft chair, her withered fingers tapping impatiently on the hard stone railing.Opposite her was a similar chair, which was also the only other piece of furniture in this reception room, and the person sitting in that chair was the extraordinary mercenary captain. Jarlaxle had just returned from Mithril Hall, and Matron Baenre needed his report on the overall situation urgently. "Drizzt Do'Urden is still free." Her voice was faint.To Jarlaxle's surprise, the news did not seem to offend the wily Matron.What is the Banrui family going to do now?The mercenary captain thought to himself.

"I condemn Verna," Jarlaxle said calmly. "She underestimated her brother's tricks." The mercenary captain smiled slyly. "She also paid for it with her life." "I condemn you," Matron Baenre raised her voice suddenly, "what will you give?" Jarlaxle's smile faded quickly, replaced by a cold stare.He knew Matron Baenre well, and understood what she meant.Like a beast, she can smell fear, which often guides her next move. Mistress Banrui looked at the cold eyes on the other side, and continued to tap her fingers slowly. "The dwarves organized to attack us much sooner than we expected," the mercenary continued to report after a moment of uneasy silence, "their defenses are very strong, and their will to fight and their defense against Drizzt Do'Urden Loyalty is also indestructible. My plan..." He paused to emphasize his role, "It worked perfectly, and we captured Drizzt Do'Urden without much effort. But Vierna ignored My objection is to allow that human spy to complete the deal they made before we were far enough away from Mithril Hall, who has no idea of ​​the loyalty of Drizzt Do'Urden's friend to the traitorous drow."

"You were ordered to capture Drizzt Do'Urden," Matron Baenre's voice seemed too calm, "Drizzt is not here, so you have failed." Jarlaxle fell silent again. He knew there was no point arguing with Matron Baenre. She didn't need the approval of others.This is Menzoberranzan, and in this city of drow there is no equal to Matron Baenre. But Jarlaxle didn't think the matriarch, who was like a dead leaf in the wind, would kill him.She continued her scolding, and when she finally stopped, her voice was close to eardrum-ripping screams.But Jarlaxle could feel that she was doing it for her own pleasure.After all, the game was still going on, and Drizzt was free, waiting for them to capture him.And Matron Baenre would not take the death of dozens of drow males and Vierna Do'Urden seriously.

Matron Baenre began talking about the countless ways Jarlaxle could be tortured to death, and her favorite was "skin stealing" - a drow skinning method that involved various acids And a specially designed multi-toothed knife, which only peels off an inch of skin at a time. Jarlaxle struggled to hold back the urge to laugh. Matron Baenre suddenly tightened her lips, and the mercenary was afraid that she had discovered that he didn't take her seriously.Jarlaxle knew this would be a fatal mistake.Matron Baenre would not have cared about Vierna and the drow males, and she was obviously more satisfied that Drizzt was still at large, but hurting her dignity would surely lead to a slow, painful death.

Matron Baenre's pause continued indefinitely, her eyes already looking elsewhere.When she turned back and looked at Jarlaxle again, the mercenary finally breathed a sigh of relief.Her expression was relaxed, with a smile on her face, as if she had just thought of something interesting. "I'm upset," she was obviously lying, "but I forgive you for failing this time, and you brought back valuable information." Jarlaxle knew what she meant. "Go." The mistress who lost interest waved her hand. Jarlaxle longed to stay a little longer, to spy on Matron Baenre's plans.But he knew what would happen if he disobeyed her at this sensitive moment.Jarlaxle has lived so freely for centuries because he knows when to leave.

He stood up from his chair, and the moment his broken leg hit the ground, he almost fell into Matron Baenre's lap.The mercenary captain shook his head and picked up his crutch. "Triel didn't complete the healing," Jarlaxle apologized to Matron Baenre. "As you instructed, she healed me, but I don't think she did her best." "I believe you deserve it," Matron Baenre said coldly, waving at Jarlaxle again.Perhaps it was because she admired Jarlaxle's limp that she ordered her daughter to leave the pain on him. Matron Baenre smiled contentedly as the door closed behind the mercenary.She approved the operation to capture Drizzt Do'Urden, but that didn't mean she wanted the operation to succeed.In fact, the result of the current development of things can be said to be in line with the wishes of the wrinkled mistress.

"You're no fool, Jarlaxle, so I'll let you live." She said to the empty room, "Now you must understand that this has nothing to do with Drizzt Do'Urden, he's just a little trouble Just bugs that aren't worth my troubles." "But he's a convenient excuse, too," said Matron Baenre, fingering a wide dwarven tooth set in a ring that hung from her necklace.Matriarch Baenre reached out to undo the necklace, placed the tooth in the palm of her hand, and whispered a spell in Old Dwarven. There are countless dwarves, and the kingdoms are boundless.

The shield reaches the mountains and rivers, the helmet reflects the sun, The hammer swung, the earth trembled, Take advantage of me, King of Sufferers! A spiral of blue smoke appeared at the tip of the dwarf's teeth, and the mist gathered quickly, congealing in seconds.Soon, a small whirlwind appeared on the palm of Matron Baen Rui. Following her spiritual command, the whirlwind began to tilt and stretch outwards, the speed became faster and faster, and the center also faintly glowed.A moment later, the whirlwind completely broke away from the teeth, spinning in the center of the room, bursting out with dazzling blue light.

A figure gradually emerged in the whirlwind: an old gray-bearded dwarf stood erect in the center of the vortex, his hands held high and tightly clasped. The whirlwind and blue light quickly dissipated, leaving only the ghosts of the ancient dwarves.Although it was only a translucent phantom, his reddish gray beard, iron gray eyes, and all the details of his body were clearly displayed. "Gondaron Warhammer," Matron Baenre said quickly by the dwarf's true name, taking his soul under her own prison power.Standing in front of her was the first king of Mithril Hall, the ancestor of the Warhammer family.

The old dwarf looked at his ancient enemy with hatred in his narrowed eyes. "Long time no see." Ban Rui said mockingly. "I would rather endure eternal torture than let you appear there, drow witch!" The ghost's voice was hoarse and severe, "I..." Matron Baenre stopped the angry ghost with a wave of her hand. "I didn't call you here to hear your complaints. I wanted to tell you something that might please you." The ghost held its head high and turned its face away from Baenry's eyes.Gundaron tried his best to appear indifferent, but like most dwarves, the ancient king was not good at hiding his true feelings.

"Be happy, dear Gundaron," Baen Rui said with a sneer in his eyes, "Your life must be very lonely. During the centuries you were imprisoned, have you always wanted to know about your descendants? Woolen cloth?" Gundaron bowed his head in thought for a while, then turned to Mistress Baenre, he hated this withered drow so much!But he couldn't deny that when he heard her mentioning his children and grandchildren, he couldn't help being moved.Bloodlines are the most important thing to any dwarf of renown, even more than gems and precious metals.As the ancestor of the family, Gundaron regards every dwarf who joins the Warhammer tribe as his child. He couldn't hide his worry. "You want me to forget Mithril Hall?" Ban Rui asked him coldly, "It's just been two thousand years, old king." "Two thousand years," Gundaron said disgustedly, "why aren't you dead, old witch." "Soon." Ban Rui nodded unpretentiously, "But I want to finish what I started two thousand years ago." "Do you remember the day that changed your destiny, old king." She saw Gundaron shiver.The dwarf knew she was about to reopen the old wound, leaving him in endless despair. The hall is brand new, the veins are rich, Rocks shine, mithril torrents, The king is young, roaming freely, Relatives sing, share joy and sorrow, Mithril Throne, Gundaron Keeper, Warhammer clan, forever and ever. Under the spell of Matron Baenre, Gundaron Warhammer felt his thoughts go back to the distant past.At that time, Mithril Hall had just been built, and children, children's children, they brought him infinite vision. At that time, he met Eva Riel Barry. ※※※※ Gundaron watched as the busy Warhammer dwarves chipped away chunks of rock from the sloping walls of the great cavern, chiseling out stepped passages for the subterranean city of Mithril Hall.Leading thousands of dwarves to work hard here is Gundaron's third son, the greatest hero of the tribe, Bruenor. "You were right to pass it on to Bruno," began the filthy dwarf standing beside the old king, referring to Gundaron's passing of the throne to Bruno.Unlike many other races, dwarves do not practice primogeniture, and dwarf parents will choose the most suitable offspring to inherit the family's business and honor. Gundaron nodded with satisfaction. He was old, and four centuries of ups and downs made him feel tired.The most important task in his life was to found the Warhammer Clan.To that end, he spent the better part of two centuries searching for a suitable site for statehood.Not long after the Warhammer clan settled in Mithril Hall, Gundaron realized that his time and responsibility were over and that he had fulfilled his ambition.He was also satisfied to find that his sons and the young dwarves had drawn before him a still grander plan, that they would build a great underground city, and build a long bridge across the great chasm at the eastern end of the city, It connects an aboveground city on the south side of the mountain range, making it a trade center for exchanges with surrounding kingdoms. It's all too amazing for Gundaron, but he won't live to see it all come to fruition. Although the old dwarf's hair and sideburns still showed traces of the fiery red, his beard had long since turned gray.Now he was looking gratefully at his close companion.In the past two centuries, Gundaron never dared to ask for a better partner than Krummer Panter, and now, the king who has stepped down from the throne is about to start a new adventure, and he is very happy that his partner is still there. stay with him. Unlike the regal Gondarren, Krummer always looks sloppy.His beard was still black, and he had shaved off his head so that he could fasten his spiked helmet on top of his head. "You can't charge the enemy with your helmet tilted." This is a sentence that Krummer likes to say very much.In fact, rushing into enemy lines and crashing and killing enemies is Krummer's favorite way of fighting. He is a war madman-a kind of dwarf who sees the world with only one brain.Whoever threatened his king, or blasphemed his god, he killed, plain and simple.He will impale his enemies on the spikes on the top of his helmet, hit them with iron gloves and spikes at the joints, and bite off their ears and tongues.If possible, he will also bite off the enemy's head. In addition to scratching, hitting, kicking, and biting, he will even spit on the enemy.Still, the thing he did most was win. Gundaron, who has been born and died countless times in this world, thinks that Krummer is more important than all other members of the tribe, even his beloved and loyal children.But the rest of the clan often didn't see it that way, and there were some dwarves, strong as bulls, who couldn't stand Krummer's disgusting voice, and the harsh sound of his nails on slate from his ring mail. sound. Two centuries of walking together, two centuries of fighting side by side.The hostile environment that narrowly escaped death, and those unpleasant problems on Krummer's body can't be compared with all these. "Come, my friend," said the old dwarf, having bid farewell to his children, and Bruenor was officially king of Mithril Hall and all the clan.Now it's time to travel again, and with Krummer by his side, it's as if he's gone all those years ago. "I am going to expand the borders of Mithril Hall," Gundaron declared to everyone not long ago, "to find more wealth for my people." On that day, all the dwarves cheered enthusiastically, but all the eye sockets There were also tears, and everyone knew that Gundaron was leaving them. "Surely we'll have another good battle or two to fight?" Krummer asked eagerly of his beloved king, his ring armor making a loud noise with every step he took. The greybearded dwarf just let out a fit of laughter. The two dwarves spent many days exploring the western tunnel below Mithril Hall. They did not find much precious Mithril here, and there was no sign that there was a huge ore vein comparable to the Mithril Hall mining area.The two intrepid adventurers extended their quest into lower tunnels, into places that would have seemed foreign even to experienced dwarves like themselves.Here thousands of tons of rock pushed the crystals out of the crevices and arranged them in a spiral before them, and the tunnels shone with magnificent multicolored light, eerie rays of light from strange moss. They entered the Underdark. The torches ran out, the lamp oil ran out, and a long time later Krummer Panter waited for his first fight. At the beginning, the myriad colors that appeared in the dwarf's infrared vision suddenly became blurred and gray, and then disappeared completely in the inky blackness. "My lord!" Krummer yelled, "I can't see anything!" "Me too!" Gundaron told Zhankuang, as expected, he heard Krummer's growl and heavy footsteps, Zhankuang had already started looking for enemies that could be inserted into the spikes. Guided by the loud noise, Gundaron ran towards the war madness. He had seen a lot of magic, and he knew that the darkness in front of him must be the result of a spell cast by a wizard or priest, and more direct attacks would follow. The sound of Krummer's panting and bumping saved Gundaron from being injured a lot when he ran out of the dark barrier. He saw their enemies before the second dark barrier came. "Drow, Krummer!" Gondarren shouted, his voice was full of horror, even the most powerful surface creatures would be suspicious of the cruel and vicious dark elves. "I saw them." Krummer was equally surprised. "We should kill fifty of these skinny guys and skin them. Dry them for curtains!" Gundaron understands that the appearance of drow and dark magic means that he and Zhankuang are in danger, but his friend's strong confidence gives him comfort and strength, and smiles bloom on the faces of the two dwarves at the same time. They jumped out of the second dark barrier, and a third surrounded them, followed by the slight sound of hand crossbow firing. "You know how to do this?" Krummer yelled at the mysterious enemy. "How can I... oh! What are you dirty things doing! How can I fuck you if I can't see you?" They rushed through the third dark barrier and entered a wide tunnel densely covered with stalagmites and stalactites. Gundaron saw Krummer draw a short arrow from the side of his neck. The two dwarves stopped, no dark ward fell around them, and the drow was gone.But the two seasoned fighters knew that the complex terrain here provided countless hiding places for their enemies. "Is there any poison on the arrow?" Gundaron asked worriedly, everyone knows the viciousness of drow's hidden weapons. "Well," Panter said, throwing the short arrow aside. "Our enemies are not far from us," Gundaron looked around carefully. "Bah, they might have run away a long time ago." Krummer laughed loudly, "It's too bad, my helmet is almost rusted, I should clean it with the blood of those elves. Hey!" Zhan Kuang suddenly With a loud roar, he grabbed a new crossbow bolt, and the arrow pierced his shoulder.Gundaron discovered from the angle of the crossbow bolts that the drow elves were not hiding in the stalagmites, they were floating among those stalactites! "Scatter!" Zhan Kuang roared and pushed Gundaren away.Normally, dwarves would stick together and fight back to back, but Gundaron understood and agreed with Krummer's intentions.When Krummer was truly in a battle frenzy, more than one dwarf had been struck by his nails. Holding swords in their hands, several dark elves slid down from midair.Krummer Panter immediately entered the standard battle mad state, he jumped up, no matter it was an elf or a stalagmite, he lowered his head and slammed into it.One drow was pierced through the stomach by his helm spike, but the spike was lodged in the dying drow's body.Krummer, who was bent over, was cut in the back a few times. He roared angrily, turned around, and rushed towards the enemy with the impaled drow. Krummer's berserk attack contained most of the enemies and put Gundaron under little pressure in the beginning.There were two drow women standing in front of him. The old dwarf was quite shocked by the beauty of this evil creature. Their bodies were slender but not thin, their hair was much more radiant and lustrous than the beards of well-maintained dwarf women, and their bright eyes Impressive.But this perception did not weaken Gundaron's determination to cut off their heads. He swung his battle axe, smashed the shields blocking, sealed the incoming weapons, and forced the two women to retreat step by step. Gundaron's face suddenly distorted due to severe pain. Three times in total, some kind of invisible arrow shot into his back, and the magical energy cut through his armor and bit his skin.A moment later, the gray-bearded old dwarf heard Krummer growl and curse, "Damn wizard!" He knew that his friend had also been attacked in the same way. Although the dead drow on the helmet blocked his view, Krummer still saw the caster, "I hate wizards," he roared, and rushed towards the drow in the distance. The wizard was talking about something, and Krummer didn't understand the language he was using. He saw the six dark elves who were fighting with him suddenly jump to the sides, leaving the space between him and the wizard. Only then did Zhankuang roughly understand what he was facing. danger. But now Krummer has lost all his sanity, and the rage of fighting and bloodthirsty rage completely controlled his mind.He rushed forward at full speed, thinking only of impaling the wizard in one fell swoop, the dead drow shaking violently on his helm.Zhan Kuang didn't notice the wizard's chanting, nor did he notice the short metal staff held tightly in the opponent's hand. Krummer flew up, a sudden flash of light blinded him, and his body was knocked backward by the energy of the lightning.He landed hard on a stalagmite and slid to the ground. "I hate wizards," the dwarf muttered a second time, and he swung the dead drow from his helm, jumped up, and charged again, covered in smoke. He lowered his head, aimed his helm spikes at the enemy, and lunged forward, his ring mail scraping loudly.The dark elves who were fighting him jumped to his side one after another, slashing his body with long swords and magic hammers, Zhan Kuang knocked out the drow's chaotic attacks, and blood gushed out from multiple wounds. Krummer's yelling continued uninterrupted, and even if he felt hurt, he would never show it.The anger and hatred for the drow wizard in front of him controlled all his actions. Realizing that his soldiers were no match for the mad creature, the wizard used his innate magical abilities to float off the ground to put distance between himself and the flightless horror. Gundaron listened to the scuffle behind him, shivering every time Krummer yelled in pain.But the gray-bearded dwarf couldn't help his friend. The two Zhuoer women in front of him had amazing combat skills. Their tacit cooperation not only blocked every attack of the dwarf, but even launched counterattacks from time to time.One of them wields a long sharp sword, the other wields a gleaming hammer.Gundaron has been injured in more than one place all over his body. Fortunately, all the wounds are not serious. When the fierce battle was in full swing, the woman who made the hammer suddenly withdrew from the battle group and began to chant a spell. "I can't let you succeed." Gundarun murmured, quickly intensifying the pressure on the sword wielding woman, forcing her to be overwhelmed.The slender drow was no match for the dwarf's tyrannical strength, and Gundaron repeatedly pushed her back, causing her to crash into her companion, disrupting the spell's execution. The first king of Mithril Hall charged forward without stopping, beating the two drow with his shield, and the bubbling beer mug representing the Warhammer family hit the dark elf hard. At the other end of the corridor, Krummer jumped onto a stalagmite, jumped high, and the spike of the helmet plunged into the wizard's knee in midair, shattering his kneecap and protruding from the socket. The wizard screamed in pain, his levitation ability suspended them both in mid-air, and the intense pain had blurred drow's thinking, making it impossible for him to think of casting the spell.They hung grotesquely, the wizard clutching his wounded leg, his fingers weak with pain.Krummer shook his body violently, allowing the spikes to fully stir in the wound, and at the same time punched upwards with his fists. Finally, he inserted all the nails on the iron glove into Drow's thigh, his face showing Wild smile. A warm rain of blood fell on Zhan Kuang, making him even more violent. There was a pain in Zhan Kuang's feet, and he realized that because he was too close to the ground, the drow below was attacking his feet. He crossed his legs, but his whole body was convulsed by a violent pain. Knowing that this would be his last battle, a drow pierced his kidney with a spear. Making the drow woman with the hammer fall into a corner, Gundaron quickly closed in on the foe with the sword.Like the previous few times, he put on a posture to charge with a shield.But the cunning old dwarf stopped suddenly when he rushed in front of the enemy, leaned over and slashed, and the ax blade cut off the drow woman's two ankles continuously.Afterwards, Gundaron immediately threw himself on her body, fended off the stabbing long sword, and smashed the opponent's head with an axe. As soon as he looked up, he just saw the magic hammer appearing in front of him, and then he was hit on the face moderately.Gundaron moved his tongue, showing a tooth.He stared at the young drow woman in disbelief—she was young indeed. "You are joking," said the old dwarf.He didn't notice that the drow woman had completed the second spell, and quietly put the tooth in her long-open palm. The magic hammer continued to attack, hitting the head of the dwarf who was getting up. "You're dead," Gundaron promised her with a grim smile.But a scream ripped through the air and took all his smile away.Gundaron has experienced countless fierce battles, he knows what a dying cry looks like, and he also knows that the cry just now can only come from a dwarf. He took a moment to steady himself, reminding himself that he and old Krummer had expected that this would be their last trip.When the dwarf pulled himself together again, he noticed that the young drow woman had retreated farther around the corner, spells passing from her lips.Gundaron knew that other dark elves would attack his back soon, but he decided to kill the drow woman first.The stubborn dwarf rushed forward, not caring what kind of magic the drow woman had in store for him. As the dwarf rounded the corner, the drow woman appeared defenseless, her eyes closed and her hands dropped at her sides.The forward dwarf was suddenly interrupted by a whirlwind, a vortex of magic surrounding him and pinning him in place. "What are you going to do?" Gondarren roared, he frantically resisted the magic imprisonment, but he never made any progress, and he couldn't even lift his feet. At this time, Gundaron felt a fear deep in his heart, he could no longer feel the whirlwind, but it was still blowing around him, as if the wind could penetrate his skin.And his soul seemed to be sucked by the whirlwind, being pulled out of his body. "You want..." he asked again, but he couldn't control his lips.In fact, he had lost control of his entire body.He floated helplessly towards that drow, towards a strange thing in her palm, what was that?What is she holding in her hand? his teeth. At this time, there was only absolute blankness left around, and Gundaron could still hear the conversation of the dark elves from a very far away place. He turned his head and saw the last picture in his life.A body—his body! ——Lying lifelessly on the ground, surrounded by several dark elves. his body... ※※※※ The ghost of the dwarf, who had just escaped from the dream, seemed tottering. It was the nightmare that had been planted for him by the cruel Evarel Baenre, the once young drow woman, and now forced him into the nightmare again.Baenre knew that these memories were the worst torture she could inflict on the tenacious dwarf, and she often did. Gundaron stared at her now with nothing but hatred, for two thousand years.All the dwarves have is an absolutely empty prison and a memory of horror from which they cannot escape. "When you left Mithril Hall, you gave the throne to your son." Baenre forced his tortured prisoners to tell this story many centuries ago, "The name of the new king of Mithril Hall is Bruno, that's your son's name, isn't it?" The ghost remained motionless, his eyes firm and determined. Mistress Baenre smiled at him, "You have the road to Mithril Hall and the defenses there in your memory. If I understand the dwarves' style correctly, from then until now, none of this will happen. Much has changed. Isn't it ironic that the great Gondaron, founder of Mithril Hall, father of the Warhammer clan, would do his part to destroy this hall and this clan." The dwarf king yelled angrily, his body growing rapidly, and a pair of giant hands stretched out to Baenre's wrinkled and shriveled throat.The mistress sneered, took out the tooth, and the whirlwind appeared according to her will, engulfing Gundaren and bringing him back to the blank prison. "Also, Drizzt Do'Urden also escaped," Matron Baenre let out a "hehe" laugh without any sign of displeasure. "He's lucky, but he won't be lucky forever!" Baenre sat comfortably in the ottoman, with an evil grin on his face, it was Drizzt Do'Urden who got her the alliance she needed, and a coincidence of fate was putting enough terms and means on her In the palm of her hand, she can accomplish the conquest she has longed for two thousand years.