The Crystal Shard(The Icewind Dale Trilogy 1)(46)

Drizzt smiled to himself. He knew. How wondrous the crafting of Bruenor, he thought. And how deeply the dwarf must care for the boy to have given him such a gift!

"A score of verbeeg coming," groaned Wulfgar.

"And another twenty already here," added Drizzt. "Go straight away to Bruenor," he instructed. "These three just came from the lair; I shouldn't have much trouble backtracking and finding out where the rest of them are."

Wulfgar nodded his assent, though he looked upon Drizzt with concern. The uncharacteristic smolder he had seen in the drow's eyes before they attacked the verbeeg had unnerved the barbarian. He wasn't quite sure just how daring the dark elf might be. "What do you mean to do when you find the lair?"

Drizzt said nothing but smiled wryly, adding to the barbarian's apprehension. Finally he eased his friend's worries. "Meet me back at this spot in the morning. I assure you that I shan't begin the fun without you!"

"I shall return before the first light of dawn," Wulfgar replied grimly. He spun on his heel and disappeared into the darkness, making his way as fast as he could under starlight.

Drizzt, too, started away, tracing the trail of the three giants westward across the face of Kelvin's Cairn. Eventually, he heard the baritone voices of giants, and shortly thereafter he saw the hastily constructed wooden doors that marked their lair, cunningly concealed behind some brush halfway up a rocky foothill.

Drizzt waited patiently and soon saw a second patrol of three giants emerge from the lair: And later on, when they returned, a third group came out. The drow was trying to discern if any alarms had gone up due to the absence of the first patrol. But verbeeg were almost always unruly and undependable, and Drizzt was reassured from the small snatches of conversation he was able to hear that the giants assumed their missing companions had either gotten lost or simply deserted. When the drow slipped away a few hours later to set his next plans, he was confident that he still had the element of surprise working for him.

* * *

Wulfgar ran all through the night. He delivered his message to Bruenor and started back to the north without waiting for the clan to be roused. His great strides took him to the flat rock more than an hour before the first light, even before Drizzt had returned from the lair. He went back behind the bluff to wait, his concern for the drow growing with every passing second.

Finally, able to stand the suspense no longer, he sought out the trail of the verbeeg and started tracking it toward the lair, determined to discover what was happening. He hadn't gone twenty feet when a hand cuffed him on the back of the head. Reflexively he spun to meet his attacker, but his astonishment turned to joy when he saw Drizzt standing before him.

Drizzt had returned to the rock shortly after Wulfgar but had remained hidden, watching the barbarian to see if the impulsive young warrior would trust in their pact or decide to take matters into his own hands. "Never doubt an appointed rendezvous until its hour has passed," the drow scolded sternly, touched as he was by the barbarian's concern for his well-being.

Any response that might have been coming from Wulfgar was cut short, for suddenly the two companions heard a gruff shout from a familiar voice. "Get me a pig-squealin' giant to kill!" Bruenor called from the flat stone by the stream behind them. Enraged dwarves can roll along at an incredible speed. In less than an hour, Bruenor's clan had assembled and started after the barbarian, nearly matching his frantic pace.

"Well met," Drizzt called as he moved to join the dwarf. He found Bruenor eyeing the three dead verbeeg with grim satisfaction. Fifty iron-visaged, battle-ready dwarves, more than half the clan, stood around their leader.

"Elf," Bruenor greeted with his customary consideration. "A lair, is it?"

Drizzt nodded. "A mile to the west, but let that be not your first concern. The giants there are not going anywhere, but they are expecting guests this very day.

"The boy told me," said Bruenor. "A score of reinforcements." He swung his axe casually. "Somehow I get the feelin' they're not goin' t' make the lair! Any notion o' where they're to be cumin' in?"

"North and east is the only way." Drizzt reasoned. "Somewhere down Icewind Pass, around the north of Lac Dinneshere. Your people will greet them, then?"

"Of course," replied Bruenor. "They'll be passin' Daledrop for certain." A twinkle edged his eye. "What do ye mean to do?" he asked Drizzt. "An what o' the boy?"

"The boy remains with me," Drizzt insisted. "He needs rest. We'll watch over the lair."

The eager gleam in Drizzt's eye gave Bruenor the impression that the drow had more in mind than watching. "Crazy elf," he said under his breath. "Probably'll take on the whole lot of 'em by himself!" He looked around curiously again at the dead giants. "And win!" Then Bruenor studied the two adventurers, trying to match their weapons with the types of wounds on the verbeeg.

"The boy felled two," Drizzt replied to the dwarf's unspoken question.

A hint of a rare smile found its way onto Bruenor's face. "Two to yer one, eh? Yer slippin', elf."

"Nonsense," Drizzt retorted. "I recognized that he needed the practice!"

Bruenor shook his head, surprised by the extent of the pride he felt toward Wulfgar, though of course he wasn't about to tell the boy and swell his head. "Yer slippin'!" he called again as he moved up to the head of the clan. The dwarves took up a rhythmic chanting, an ancient tune that had once echoed off the silvery halls of their lost homeland.