Charon's Claw (Neverwinter #3)(136)

Drizzt staggered under the weight of that magical burden. He eyes blurred as if he was looking at the world suddenly through a haze of fire.

And in his mind, he heard the elemental’s confusion, its anger, its desire to destroy and consume, and a sense of particular hatred . . . for him.

“Keep shooting!” Dahlia prompted, and Entreri did, one after another, each missile being eaten by the magical staff. She kept thrusting it forth; she had to, or the magical energy would throw her aside.

The staff ate an arrow, then a second as she jabbed at the beast. But the beast turned and ran away.

The staff ate a third. Dahlia tried to call out for Entreri to stop, but the lightning energy had her jaw clenched so tightly, she couldn’t speak.

The staff ate a fourth.

A fifth.

She had to slam it down and release the blast, but the beast was getting away.

The beast was charging Drizzt!

Dahlia threw Kozah’s Needle like a spear. It hit the elemental with a tremendous explosion, jolting the whole of the corridor with such power that it lifted Dahlia right into the air, to fall back down and stumble.

And the elemental swung back and charged, and hardly seemed hurt. “Oh, by the gods,” Entreri mumbled, thinking that he and Dahlia were surely doomed. He put up Taulmaril and pulled back for one last shot, one last desperate and angry act of defiance.

And he saw a form in the air behind the elemental: a leaping ranger, cape flying behind him, one scimitar grasped in both hands, up high over his head.

Drizzt slammed into the beast, plunging Icingdeath through its back, the magical, fire-hating blade diving deep into the creature’s core being, the very magical energy that gave it form.

How it thrashed and swung around, Drizzt holding on desperately, legs flying wildly.

But he held on, and Icingdeath feasted.

The elemental spun and thrashed in frenzy.

And then it died and melted in on itself, a pile of smoking rock and lava in the middle of the corridor.

“Well, that was fun,” Dahlia remarked as Drizzt pulled himself off the pile and staggered back a couple of steps.





FAMILY REUNION





The drow wizard groaned and growled, clutching the stump of his halved left hand.

“Where does it lead?” Drizzt asked him. The ranger crouched before the wizard, looking him in the eye. “Where does it lead?”

The wizard spat at him.

“Your life depends on this,” Drizzt said. “Where does your tunnel lead? Where did you come from?”

Artemis Entreri pushed Drizzt aside and roughly grabbed the wizard by the hair, yanking his head back and putting a dagger to his throat.

“It goes to the primordial?” Entreri demanded in perfect Drow inflection.

“Leave it alone!” the drow wizard yelled at him.

Entreri smiled and looked back at his companions. “Take that as a yes,” he said.

“What are we to do with . . . ?” Drizzt started to ask, but he stopped with a gasp as Artemis Entreri drove his dagger through the front of the drow’s throat, angling up and into the mage’s brain. The drow stiffened, legs popping straight out, and began to tremble.

Entreri yanked the blade out, wiped it on the wizard’s robe, and stood up, turning to face the incredulous stare of Drizzt and the amused expression of Dahlia.

“You didn’t think I would leave a drow wizard alive behind us, did you?” Entreri said to Drizzt with a snort, and he started past.

Drizzt stood there staring at the slain drow. Blood flowed heavily from the wound under his chin. His hands had fallen to his sides, giving Drizzt a clear view of the one he had cut in half. From a tactical level, Drizzt could understand Entreri’s brutality, of course, but still, the callousness with which he had executed the mage had jarred Drizzt.

Would his old friends have treated a helpless prisoner in such a manner?

He wasn’t sure, given the desperation of their current situation, but still, the casual brutality of Artemis Entreri had once again shocked him.

“Come on,” Dahlia said, moving to Drizzt’s side and taking his arm affectionately. “We haven’t much time.”

Drizzt looked at her, angrily at first. But that couldn’t hold against Dahlia’s responding look, one that reflected great understanding toward him—surprisingly so, Drizzt realized, since Dahlia hadn’t been nearly as shocked as he when Entreri had struck.

“The world’s an ugly place,” she said quietly. “If we’re not ugly enough to defeat it, we will be dead.”

The cynical truth stung Drizzt profoundly, but Dahlia’s insistent tug reminded him that they didn’t really have the luxury of standing around and debating the issue. Drizzt retrieved his bow and quiver, and they caught up to Entreri just before the intersection. He crouched on one knee, staring across to the other tunnel, motioning them to hold still and get down.

As they crept up, Entreri slipped off to the left into the perpendicular tunnel, and Drizzt and Dahlia moved right. By the time they put their backs to the wall across that main corridor and right beside the one the wizard’s elemental had burrowed, they understood the assassin’s sudden caution, for they heard the approach of several Shadovar.

Drizzt looked across to Entreri, who motioned for him to hold his ground. With a nod, the assassin turned around and disappeared into the lava tunnel.