"Perhaps now you are more in the mood for a bargain," Drizzt dared to say.
Gerti flicked a hateful glance his way then her gaze snapped back to the threatening cat.
"She probably won't be able to kill you," Drizzt said, his freezing jaw hurting with every word. "But oh, will anyone ever look upon Dame Gerti Orelsdottr again and marvel at her beauty? Take out her pretty eye, too, Guenhwyvar," Drizzt added. "But only one, for she must see the expressions on the faces of those who look upon her scarred visage."
"Silence!" Gerti growled at him. "Your cat might wound me, but I can have you killed in an instant."
"And so we must bargain," Drizzt said without the slightest hesitation. "For we both have much to lose."
"You wish to leave."
"I wish to sit by a fire first, that I might dry and warm myself. Drow are not so comfortable in the cold, particularly when we are wet."
Gerti snorted derisively. "My people bathe in that river, winter and summer," she boasted.
"Good! Then one of your warriors can retrieve my other scimitar. I seem to have dropped it under the ice."
"Your blade, your fire, your life, and your freedom," Gerti said. "You ask for four concessions in your bargain."
"And I offer back your eye, your ear, your lips, and your beauty," Drizzt countered.
Guenhwyvar growled, showing Gerti that the mighty panther understood every word, and was ready to strike at any time.
"Four to four," Drizzt went on. "Come now, Gerti, what have you to gain by killing me?"
"You invaded my home, drow."
"After you led the charge against mine."
"So I free you and you find your elf companion, and again you invade my home?" Gerti asked.
Drizzt nearly fell over with relief upon learning that Innovindil had indeed gotten away.
"We will come back at you only if you continue to hold that which belongs to us," said the drow.
"The winged horse."
"Does not belong as a pet in the caves of frost giants."
Gerti snorted at him again, and Guenhwyvar roared and tamped down her hind legs.
"Surrender the pegasus to me and I will be on my way," said Drizzt. "And Guenhwyvar will disappear and none of us will ever bother you again. But keep the pegasus, kill me if you will, and Guenhwyvar will have your face. And I warn you, Gerti Orelsdottr, that the elves of the Moonwood will come back for the winged horse, and the dwarves of Mithral Hall will join them. You will find no rest with your stolen pet."
"Enough!" Gerti shouted at him, and to Drizzt's surprise, the giantess started to laugh.
"Enough, Drizzt Do'Urden," she bade him in quieter tones. "But you have asked me for something more; you have upped my end of the bargain."
"In return—" Drizzt started to reply, but Gerti stopped him with an upraised hand.
"Tell me not of any more body parts your cat will allow me to keep," she said. "No, I have a better bargain in mind. I will get your blade for you and let you warm before a great fire, all the while feasting on as much food as you could possibly eat. And I will allow you to walk out of Shining White—nay, to ride out on your precious winged horse, though it pains me to allow so beautiful a creature to wander away from me. I will do all this for you, and I will do more, Drizzt Do'Urden."
The drow could hardly believe what he was hearing, and that sentiment seemed common in that chamber, where many giants stood with their mouths drooping open in amazement.
"I am not your enemy," said Gerti. "I never was."
"I watched your people bombard a tower with great boulders. My friends were in that tower."
Gerti shrugged as if it did not matter and said, "I, we, did not begin this war. We followed an orc of great stature."
"Obould Many-Arrows."
"Yes, curse his name."
That raised Drizzt's eyebrows.
"You wish to kill him?" Gerti asked.
Drizzt didn't answer. He knew he didn't have to.
"I wish to witness such a battle," Gerti said with a vicious little grin. "Perhaps I can deliver King Obould to you, Drizzt Do'Urden. Would that interest you?"
Drizzt swallowed hard. "Now it would seem that you have upped your own end of the bargain even more," he reasoned.
"Indeed I have, so accept it with two promises. First, you will kill Obould. Then you will broker a truce between Shining White and the surrounding kingdoms. King Bruenor's dwarves will not seek retribution upon my people, nor will Lady Alustriel, nor any other allies of Clan Battlehammer. It will be as if the giants of Shining White never partook in Obould's war."
It took Drizzt a long time to digest the startling words. Why was Gerti doing this? To save her beauty, perhaps, but there was so much more going on than Drizzt could begin to understand. Gerti hated Obould, that much was obvious—could it be that she had come to fear him, as well? Or did she believe that the orc king would falter in the end, with or without her treason, and the result would prove disastrous for her people? Yes, if the dwarves of the three kingdoms joined with the folk of the three human kingdoms, would they stop with the orcs, or would they press on to exact revenge upon the giants as well?
Drizzt glanced around and noted that many of the giants were nodding and grinning, and those whispering amongst themselves all seemed in complete accord with Gerti's proposal. He heard naysayers, but they were not loud and dominant.
It began to make sense to Drizzt as he stood there shivering. If he won, then Gerti would be rid of a rival she surely despised, and if he lost, then Gerti would be no worse off.
"Orchestrate it," Drizzt said to her.
"Pick up your fallen scimitar, then, and dismiss your panther."
Alarms went off in Drizzt's head, suspicion twisting his black face. But Gerti seemed even more relaxed.
"Before all my people, I give you my word, Drizzt Do'Urden. Among the giants of the Spine of the World, our word is the most precious thing we own. If I deceive you now, would any of my people ever believe that I would not do the same to them?"
"I am no frost giant, so I am inferior in your eyes," Drizzt argued.
"Of course you are," Gerti said with a chuckle. "But that changes nothing. Besides, it will amuse me greatly to watch you battle King Obould. Speed against strength, a fighter's tactics against a savage fury. Yes, I will enjoy that. Greatly so." She finished and motioned toward the scimitar again.
Drizzt stared her in the eye for a long moment.
"Be gone, Guenhwyvar," he instructed.
The panther's ears flicked up and she turned to regard Drizzt curiously.
"If she betrays me, the next time you come to the material plane, seek her out and steal her beauty," Drizzt said.
"My word is not to be broken," said Gerti.
"Be gone, Guenhwyvar," Drizzt said again, and he stepped forward and retrieved Icingdeath. "Go home and find your rest, and rest assured that I will call upon you again."
CHAPTER 24 AT THE BEHEST OF OTHERS
Drizzt led Sunrise out of Shining White the next morning, well aware that Gerti's giants were watching his every step. The air was calm and warmer, the sun shining brilliantly against the new-fallen snow.
The drow stretched and adjusted his clothing and cloak, and the belt that held both his scimitars once more. Not twenty steps from the front, he turned and looked back at Shining White, still amazed that Gerti had stayed true to her word, and that she had cut the deal with him in the first place. He took that as a hopeful sign regarding the future of the region, for Gerti Orelsdottr and her frost giant army apparently held no heart for continuing the war, and perhaps equally important, apparently held no bond of friendship with Obould Many-Arrows. Gerti wanted the orc king dead almost as much as Drizzt did, it seemed, and if that was true of the giantess, might it also be true of some of Obould's rival orc chieftains? Would attrition play on the massive army, defeating it where the dwarves could not?