Charon's Claw (Neverwinter #3)(73)

Dahlia laughed as if Drizzt’s reasoning were absurd, and most especially at his use of the female pronoun in his warning.

But she did move away from the sword.

A loud rap turned them both in time to see the door swing open and a dirty female dwarf march in.

“Amber Gristle O’Maul, o’ the Adbar O’Mauls,” she said with a bow.

“So you have told us every time you enter,” Dahlia replied dryly.

“Good for ye to hear,” the dwarf answered with a laugh. “Folks know o’ Drizzt Do’Urden, and having me name tied to that one’s good for me own reputation, haha!” She grinned widely in response to Drizzt’s widening smile.

The drow’s smile didn’t hold, though. “How does she fare?” he asked, and both Dahlia and the dwarf knew of whom he was speaking: the woman who had been dragged from the sewers on a litter.

“Better!” Ambergris declared with a toothy grin. “Didn’t think it when first I seen her, still covered in sewer muck and dirty wounds, but she’s to live, don’t ye doubt!”

Drizzt nodded, with obvious relief.

“Got me a platter o’ healin’ spells for yer wound this day, ranger,” Ambergris said with an exaggerated wink. “We’ll get ye on the road soon enough, where’er that road’s to be!”

“I have no wounds, you fool,” Entreri said to the red-haired woman who held a steaming mug of some medicinal tea or other herbal remedy.

“You staggered from the bridge,” Arunika replied. “Herzgo Alegni wounded you greatly with that foul blade of his.”

She presented the mug near to the man and he tried to push it away.

But he might as well have been trying to shove a stone building aside, for Arunika’s arm did not budge in the least.

“Drink it,” she ordered. “Do not act like a child. There is much still to be done.”

“I owe this city nothing.”

“Neverwinter owes you, and we know it,” Arunika replied. “That is why I am here with medicinal tea. That is why the healers come to tend to your friends, and to you, if necessary.”

“Unnecessary.”

The red-haired woman nodded, and nodded again when the stubborn man at last took the mug and began to drink.

“Tell me of your story, Barrabus the Gray,” she prompted. “Truly I was surprised to see you betray Alegni—I had thought you his squire.”

Entreri’s face grew tight.

“His champion, then, if that description less wounds your foolish pride,” Arunika said with a laugh. “But do tell me of your travels and how you became such a champion of a Netherese lord, for you are no shade, though your skin is a shade too gray for your human heritage.”

“Tell you?” Entreri echoed with a laugh. “You bring me tea and think yourself my ally? Did I ask for such allegiance?”

“The best allies are often unexpected and uninvited.”

Entreri considered those words in light of the two companions he found beside him on the bridge against Herzgo Alegni, and he chuckled yet again.

“I need no allies, woman,” he said. “Alegni is gone and I am free for the first time in a long, long while.”

“He was your ally,” the woman protested.

Entreri glared at her.

“What, then?” she asked. “I would know.”

Artemis Entreri suddenly felt a compulsion to tell her all about his relationship with Herzgo Alegni. He almost started, but then recoiled, feeling much as he had on those many occasions when Charon’s Claw had invaded his thoughts.

He looked at Arunika with more scrutiny, as he might consider a sorceress.

“Herzgo Alegni swept into Neverwinter through your actions,” Arunika quickly replied. “He would never have found such a dominion here in the city had not Barrabus the Gray become a hero to the folk.” The timbre of her voice changed abruptly, evoking sympathy and making Entreri feel foolish for his suspicion. “And now Alegni is no more, and I’m tending your wounds at the behest of the leaders of the city,” Arunika went on. “I would be remiss, and betraying my duties to my fellow citizens if I did not ask—and why should we not know?”

“He was my slaver and nothing less,” Entreri replied before he even realized that he was speaking the words. He looked curiously at Arunika, but just for a moment, before concluding that she was a trustworthy and sympathetic listener. “And now he is gone. For most of my life, my ally was me and me alone. I prefer that, and need no alliance with you or anyone else in this town.”

He tried to sound defiant, but really didn’t.

“Then not an ally,” Arunika said. She moved her face before Entreri’s and said in a suggestive tone, “A friend.”

“I need no friends.”

Arunika smiled and moved even closer.

“What do you need, Barrabus the Gray?”

Artemis Entreri wanted to assert that Barrabus the Gray was not his name. He wanted to tell Arunika again that he didn’t need her. He wanted to move away even as she moved forward.

He wanted to do a lot of things.

Drizzt flexed his arm and stretched it upward as he moved to Entreri’s door. The healing salve and the visit by the cleric had helped, no doubt.

Physically, at least.