The Crystal Shard(The Icewind Dale Trilogy 1)(14)

"What do ye mean to do then?" the dwarf asked at length.

"I mean to warn them," Drizzt replied. "You underestimate your neighbors, Bruenor. They're made of tougher stuff than you believe."

"Agreed," said the dwarf, "but my questions are of their character. Every day we see fightin' on the lakes, an' always over the damned fish. The people cling to their own towns an' goblins take the others, for all they care! Now they've to show me an' mine that they've the will to fight together!"

Drizzt had to admit the truth of Bruenor's observations. The fishermen had grown more competitive over the last couple of years as the knucklehead trout took to the deeper waters of the lakes and became harder to catch. Cooperation among the towns was at a low point as each town tried to gain an economic advantage over the rival towns on its lake.

"There is a council in Bryn Shander in two days," Drizzt continued. "I believe that we still have some time before the barbarians come. Though I fear for any delays, I do not believe that we would be able to bring the spokesmen together any sooner. It will take me that long to properly instruct Regis on the course of action that he must take with his peers, for he must carry the tidings of the coming invasion."

"Rumblebelly?" snorted Bruenor, using the name he had tagged on Regis for the halfling's insatiable appetite. "He sits on the council for no better reason than t' keep his stomach well-stocked! They'll hear 'im less than they'd hear yerself, elf."

"You underestimate the halfling, moreso even than you underestimate the people of Ten-Towns," answered Drizzt. "Remember always that he carries the stone."

"Bah! A fine-cut gem, but no more!" Bruenor insisted. "I've seen it meself, an' it holds no spell on me."

"The magic is too subtle for the eyes of a dwarf, and perhaps not strong enough to penetrate your thick skull," laughed Drizzt. "But it is there - I see it clearly and know the legend of such a stone. Regis may be able to influence the council more than you would believe - and certainly more than I could. Let us hope so, for you know as well as I that some of the spokesmen might be reluctant to pursue any plan of unity, whether in their arrogant independence, or in their belief that a barbarian raid upon some of their less protected rivals might actually help their own selfish ambitions. Bryn Shander remains the key, but the principle city will only be spurred to action if the major fishing towns, Targos in particular, join in."

"Ye know that Easthaven'll help," said Bruenor. "They're ever ones for bringing all o' the towns together."

"And Lonelywood, too, with Regis speaking for them. But Kemp of Targos surely believes that his walled city is powerful enough to stand alone, whereas its rival, Termalaine, would be hardpressed to hold back the horde."

"He's not likely to join anythin' that includes Termalaine. An' yer in for more trouble then, drow, for without Kemp ye'll never get Konig and Dineval to shut up!"

"But that is where Regis comes in," Drizzt explained. "The ruby he possesses can do wondrous things, I assure you."

"Again ye speak of the power o' the stone," grumbled Bruenor. "But Rumblebelly claims that his master o' old had twelve o' the things," he reasoned. "Mighty magics don't come in dozens!"

"Regis said that his master had twelve similar stones," Drizzt corrected. "In truth, the halfling had no way of knowing if all twelve, or any of the others, were magical."

"Then why would the man have given the only one o' power to Rumblebelly?"

Drizzt left the question unanswered, but his silence soon led Bruenor to the same inescapable conclusion. Regis had a way of collecting things that didn't belong to him, and though the halfling had explained the stone as a gift...




Bryn Shander was unlike any of the other communities of Ten-Towns. Its proud pennant flew high from the top of a hill in the middle of the dry tundra between the three lakes, just south of the southern tip of the dwarven valley. No ships flew the flags of this city, and it had no docks on any of the lakes, yet there was little argument that it was not only the geographical hub of the region but the center of activity as well.

This was where the major merchant caravans from Luskan put in, where the dwarves came to trade, and where the vast majority of craftsman, scrimshanders, and scrimshaw evaluators, were housed. Proximity to Bryn Shander was second only to the quantity of fish hooked in determining the success and size of the fishing towns. Thus, Termalaine and Targos on the southeastern banks of Maer Dualdon, and Caer-Konig and Caer-Dineval on the western shores of Lac Dinneshere, four towns less than a day's journey from the principle city, were the dominant towns on the lakes.

High walls surrounded Bryn Shander, as much protection from the biting wind as from invading goblins or barbarians. Inside, the buildings were similar to those of the other towns: low, wooden structures, except that in Bryn Shander they were more tightly packed together and often subdivided to house several families. Congested as it was, though, there was a measure of comfort and security in the city, the largest taste of civilization a person could find for four hundred long and desolate miles.

Regis always enjoyed the sounds and smells that greeted him when he walked through the iron-bound wooden gates on the northern wall of the principle city. Though on a smaller scale than the great cities of the south, the bustle and shouts of Bryn Shander's open markets and plentiful street vendors reminded him of his days back in Calimport. And, as in Calimport, the people of Bryn Shander's streets were a cross-section of every heritage that the Realms had to offer. Tall, dark-skinned desert folk mingled among fair-skinned travelers from the Moonshaes. The loud boasts of swarthy southerners and robust mountain men trading fanciful tales of love and battle in one of the many taverns echoed on nearly every street corner.