"A true god damn you all!" he cried as he slammed the ball to the stone floor. He snapped his eyes shut as the pebble within the ball, enchanted by a powerful light-emanating dweomer, exploded into the room and erupted into his kin’s sensitive eyes. "And damn that Spider Queen as well!"
Malice reeled backward, taking her great throne right over in a heavy crash to the hard stone. Cries of agony and rage came from every corner of the room as the sudden light bored into the stunned drow. Finally Vierna managed to launch a countering spell and returned the room to its customary gloom.
"Get him!" Malice growled, still trying to shake off the heavy fall. "I want him dead!"
The others had hardly recovered enough to heed to her commands, and Drizzt was already out of the house.
Carried on the silent winds of the Astral Plane, the call came. The entity of the panther stood up, ignoring its pains, and took note of the voice, a familiar, comforting voice.
The cat was off, then, running with all its heart and strength to answer the summons of its new master.
A short while later, Drizzt crept out of a little tunnel, Guenhwyvar at his side, and moved through the courtyard of the Academy to look down upon Menzoberranzan for the last time.
"What place is this." Drizzt asked the cat quietly, "that I call home? These are my people, by skin and by heritage, but I am no kin to them. They are lost and ever will be.
"How many others are like me, I wonder?" Drizzt whispered, taking one final look. "Doomed souls, as was Zaknafein, poor Zak. I do this for him, Guenhwyvar I leave as he could not. His life has been my lesson, a dark scroll etched by the heavy price exacted by Matron Malice’s evil promises.
"Goodbye, Zak!" he cried, his voice rising in final defiance. "My father. "Take heart, as do I, that when we meet again, in a life after this, it will surely not be in the hellfire our kin are doomed to endure!"
Drizzt motioned the cat back into the tunnel, the entrance to the untamed Underdark. Watching the cat’s easy movements, Drizzt realized again how fortunate he was to have found a companion of like spirit, a true friend. The way would not be easy for him and Guenhwyvar beyond the guarded borders of Menzoberranzan. They would be unprotected and alone, though better off, by Drizzt’s estimation, more than they ever could be amid the evilness of the drow.
Drizzt stepped into the tunnel behind Guenhwyvar and left Menzoberranzan behind.