Charon's Claw (Neverwinter #3)(67)

“The Walk of Barrabus,” he whispered aloud.

“The Walk of Barrabus.”

He transformed those four words into his litany, a reminder of the agony Alegni had inflicted upon him, and a reminder of the man he used to be.

Claw screamed protests in his head. He shook with every step.

But Artemis Entreri said, “The Walk of Barrabus,” and stubbornly put one foot in front of the other.

He burst through the ash wall, sword stabbing and slashing with power and abandon, and had Dahlia not guessed perfectly, rolling aside at the last possible second, she surely would have been cut down.

Alegni pursued, creating more visual barriers as he went, laughing at her, mocking her, certain that he was fast cornering her.

Dahlia couldn’t disagree, particularly when she rolled through one ash wall to slam hard into the bridge rail, for she was closer to the edge than she had believed.

Through the cloud of swirling blackness she had left behind, she noted the confident approach of Alegni.

Too close!

She glanced left and right, looking for an out, and on that turn to her left, the woman noted a curious sight. Her gaze apparently tipped off Alegni, as well, for as she rose to her feet, now looking back at the man, she saw that he, too, was glancing that way.

“Barrabus?” he asked, and his voice showed a lack of confidence that Dahlia had not heard before.

The elf leaped to her feet, thinking an opportunity before her, but Alegni turned on her immediately and rushed in.

She couldn’t hope to dive out to the left, nor to the right, nor could Dahlia begin to parry or block the mighty tiefling with her back against the rail.

So Dahlia took the only course remaining: she jumped over the rail.

Alegni charged in and swept his blade across as Dahlia fell away, then growled in anger at his clean miss. The river was low, so late in the autumn season, the fall considerable, the jagged rocks plentiful, and her desperate escape would likely be the end of her, he knew.

But that seemed an empty victory indeed, considering the pain and torture he had intended to inflict on Dahlia. Perhaps his minions might find her alive, he dared hope, and they could nurse her back to health enough for him to play with her.

He dismissed all thoughts of Dahlia at that, and turned on Barrabus. Barrabus!

No, not Barrabus the Gray, but Artemis Entreri, he realized as Claw informed him that the foolish man was somehow resisting.

“Impressive,” he said loudly enough for the man to hear.

Artemis Entreri did not acknowledge the words, but merely kept walking, head and gaze steady, his lips forming some words, some mantra, that Alegni could not quite catch.

Herzgo Alegni reached to his belt and produced the tuning fork. “You should rethink your course,” he warned.

Artemis Entreri roared and leaped forward in a sudden rush.

Alegni banged the fork against the blade, the vibrations sending forth the bared power of Charon’s Claw.

How close Entreri came! Barely a stride away, the wave hit him and stopped him, as if every muscle in his body was suddenly on fire. He staggered, he growled, he managed to spit “The Walk of Barrabus!” one last time before he found himself on his knees.

“Oh, a pity,” Alegni teased, and he snarled and cracked the fork against the metal blade again.

Entreri grimaced, veins standing clear on his forehead as he battled the disrupting energy. He almost fell to the stones—it seemed so much like that time when Alegni had heard of the bridge’s intended name!

But he didn’t fall flat. Not this time. The waves would likely destroy him in his stubbornness, but he didn’t care. He knelt and he even managed to look up at Alegni, to let the man see his hate-filled eyes, to let the man know that he was not Barrabus!

He was Artemis Entreri, and he was a slave no longer!

Herzgo Alegni’s eyes went wide then as he considered the sight before him. Entreri could not break free of the physical pain prison enacted by Claw, perhaps, but the man had resisted the mental entrapment.

The man had resisted.

“Ah, you fool,” Alegni said, deep regret in his voice. “I can never trust in you again. Take heart, for you have found your freedom, and your death.”

Herzgo Alegni knew that he was losing the best associate he had ever commanded, and it pained him greatly, but he knew, too, that Barra—Entreri, had at last found his way through the maze of Claw’s machinations. Indeed, he could never trust this one again.

He stepped forward. Entreri tried to lift a sword against him, but Alegni easily kicked it from his grasp. Then he banged the tuning fork once more and the waves of agony knocked the dagger, too, from Entreri’s hand.

Alegni grabbed Entreri by the hair and roughly pulled his head aside.

Up went Claw.

At the end of the bridge, Drizzt Do’Urden watched it all helplessly. He did not know what had happened to Dahlia, only that she was gone, for his view had been obscured by walls of floating ash. But he could clearly see the end of Artemis Entreri as the red blade went up high.

A strange sensation of deep regret came over Drizzt.

He was alone again?

No, not alone, he realized as Guenhwyvar, battered but still very animated and obviously angry, bounded up to him.

“Go!” he yelled, pushing the cat along, and surely hope sprang anew within him, but when he turned back up the bridge, he knew that it was too late. “Kill the Shadovar!” he ordered. “Kill him, Guen!”