"I am imbued with the blessing of Gruumsh," he said. "Did you truly believe that you could kill me?"
Kaer'lic gasped, her arms flailing wildly and uncontrollably, blood pouring from her torn throat, and bubbling from the air escaping her lungs.
Obould threw her to the ground and let her die slowly.
He scanned the region, and noted some movement on a distant ridge. It wasn't Tsinka, he knew, for he had seen her broken body on the stones as he climbed back up the mountainside.
He'd need to find a new shaman, a new consort who treated him as a god. He'd need to move quickly to reconsolidate his power, to cut short the rumors of his demise. The orcs would be fast to flee, he knew, and only he, imbued with the power of Gruumsh, could stop the retreat.
"Dark Arrows," he said with determination. "My home."
* * * * *
The weather broke, leaving the air fresh and clean, and with a warm south wind blowing. Bruenor and his friends would not stay inside, spending their days along the northern mountain spur, staring off into the north.
Pikel Bouldershoulder's bird scouts were the first to report a pair of winged horses, making all speed for Mithral Hall, and so it was not a surprise, but such a tremendous relief nonetheless, when the distinctive forms finally came into view.
Bruenor and Wulfgar moved a couple of paces out in front of the others, Regis, the Bouldershoulders, Cordio, Stumpet, and Pwent behind them, and Catti-brie in back, leaning heavily on a wooden cane and on the side of the tower.
Sunset set down on the stone before the dwarf king, Innovindil lifted her leg over before her and dropping quickly, turning as she went to support poor Fender through the move. Without that support, the dwarf would surely have tumbled off.
Wulfgar stepped forward and gently hoisted the dwarf from the pegasus, then handed him to Cordio and Stumpet, who hustled him away.
"Obould is gone," Innovindil reported. "The orcs will not hold, and all the northland will be free again."
As she finished, Sunrise landed on the stone.
"A sight for an old dwarf's sore eyes," Bruenor said.
Drizzt slipped down to the ground. He glanced at Bruenor, but his stare remained straight ahead, cutting through the ranks, which parted as surely as if he had shouldered his way through, leaving the line of sight open between the drow and Catti-brie.
"Welcome home," Regis said.
"We never doubted your return," offered Wulfgar.
Drizzt nodded at each, though he never stopped staring ahead. He patted Bruenor as he walked past. He tousled Regis's hair and he grabbed and squeezed Wulfgar's strong forearm.
But he never stopped moving and never stopped staring.
He hit Catti-brie with a great hug, pressing up against her, kissing her and crushing her, lifting her right from the ground.
And he kept walking, carrying her along.
"That is what it is to be an elf, Drizzt Do'Urden," Innovindil whispered as the two moved to, and through, Mithral Hall's new eastern door.
"Well I'll be a bearded gnome," said Bruenor.
"Hee hee hee," said Pikel, and Regis giggled, embarrassed.
They all were fairly amused, it seemed, but Bruenor's mirth disappeared when he glanced across at Wulfgar.
The big man stared at the path Drizzt and Catti-brie had taken, and there was a wince of profound pain to be found behind his mask of stoicism.
EPILOGUE
"She will understand," Drizzt said to Catti-brie, the two of them sitting on the edge of their bed early one morning, nearly two tendays after the drow's return to Mithral Hall.
"She won't, because she'll not have to," Catti-brie argued. "You told her that you would go, and so you shall. On your word."
"Innovindil will understand…" Drizzt started to argue, but his voice trailed off under Catti-brie's wilting stare. They had been over it several times already.
"You need to close that chapter of your life," Catti-brie said to him quietly, taking his hands in her own and lifting them up to her lips to kiss them. "Your scimitar cut into your own heart as deeply as it cut into Ellifain. You do not return to her for Innovindil. You owe Innovindil and her people nothing, so yes, they will understand. It's yourself that you owe. You need to return. To put Ellifain to rest and to put Drizzt at peace."
"How can I leave you now?"
"How can you not?" Catti-brie grinned at him. "I do not doubt that you'll return to me, even if your companion on your journey is a beautiful elf.
"Besides," the woman went on, "I'll not be here in any case. I have promised Wulfgar that I will journey with him to Silverymoon and beyond, if necessary."
Drizzt nodded his agreement with that last part. According to the dwarf ferry pilot, Delly Curtie did come near his craft before it set off for the eastern bank with the refugees from the north, and he did recall seeing the woman hand something, perhaps a baby, over to one of the other human women. He couldn't be certain who—they all looked alike to him, so he declared.
Wulfgar wasn't about to wait until spring to set off in pursuit of Colson, and Catti-brie wasn't about to let him go alone.
"You cannot go with us," Catti-brie said. "Your presence will cause too much a stir in those gossiping towns, and will tell whoever has the child that we're in pursuit. So you've your task to perform, and I've mine."
Drizzt didn't argue any longer.
"Regis is staying with Bruenor?" Drizzt asked.
"Someone's got to. He's all out of sorts since word that Obould, or an orc acting in Obould's stead, continues to hold our enemies in cohesion. Bruenor thought they would have begun their retreat by now, but all reports from the north show them continuing their work unabated."
"The Kingdom of Dark Arrows…." Drizzt mouthed, shaking his head. "And Alustriel and all the others will not go against it."
Catti-brie squeezed his hand tighter. "We'll find a way."
Sitting so close to her, Drizzt couldn't believe anything else, couldn't believe that every problem could not be solved.
Drizzt found Bruenor in his audience hall a short while later, Regis sitting beside him and the Bouldershoulder brothers, packed for the road, standing before him.
"Well met again, ye dark one," Ivan greeted the drow. "Me and me brother …" Ivan paused.
"Me brudder!" said Pikel.
"Yeah, we're off for home to see if Cadderly can do something about me … about Pikel's arm. Won't be much fighting to be found up here for a few tendays, at least. We're thinking to come back and kill a few more orcs." Ivan turned to Bruenor. "If ye'll have us, King Bruenor."
"Would any ruler be so foolish as to refuse the help of the Bouldershoulders?" Bruenor asked graciously, though Drizzt could hear the simmering anger behind Bruenor's every sound.
"Boom!" shouted Pikel.
"Yeah, boom," said Ivan. "Come on, ye green-bearded cousin o' Cadderly's pet squirrel. Get me home—and no small roots, ye hear?"
"Hee hee hee."
Drizzt watched the pair depart the hall, then turned to Bruenor and asked, "Will your kingdom ever be the same?"
"Good enough folk, them two," said Bruenor. "Green-bearded one scares me, though."
"Boom!" said Regis.
Bruenor eyed him threateningly. "First time ye say 'hee hee hee, I'm pulling yer eyebrows out."
"The folk o' the towns're going to let them stay, elf," the dwarf said, turning back to Drizzt. "Durned fools're to let the stinking orcs have what they took."
"They see no way around it, and no reason to find one."
"And that's their folly. Obould, or whatever smelly pig-face that's taking his place, ain't to sit there and argue trade routes."
"I do not disagree."
"Can't let them stay."
"Nor can we hope to dislodge them without allies," Drizzt reminded the dwarf.