Tales of Faerun

Battle in the Hills (6,045 words) by ilyena_sylph & senmut
Fandom: Forgotten Realms/Legend of Drizzt
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Characters: Bruenor Battlhammer, Wulfgar son of Beornegar, Regis, Catti-brie Battlehammer, Drizzt Do'Urden, Artemis Entreri, Ensemble Cast
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Canon typical violence, Minor Character deaths
Series: Part 6 of Sisters in Spirit
Summary:

The party of hunters come to battle with the Companions and allies

Battle in the Hills

Entreri's nerves had been itching, but it did make some logical sense that the drow would remain with the halfling as the dwarves and barbarian advanced. The sun was bright, and the halfling was the weakest member of the party. Both would be perfectly capable of making up ground in the evening, once the other three made camp.

As soon as the drow showed himself again, with the halfling at his side, Entreri thought to wait and see, something about the way the drow had moved so his hands nor front could be seen making him suspicious. He opened his mouth --

-- and the damned wizard was already commanding the construct to rush the pair. He drew his sword and dagger, knowing her haste had set the fight in motion.

Three arrows streaked in, faster than even Entreri would have thought possible, as the drow spun at the first sound. Two went straight into the creature, and the third punched through Sydney's left shoulder as if she were no more than a practice target. Entreri was mildly impressed at how quickly the drow had changed target and to such effect.

Micken had frozen at the first sound of the bow's thrum, and he looked back towards them. The huge, fleshy monster looked both obscene and completely unconcerned with the two heavy shafts in it, which was not a good sign.

Now there were a woman's screams in the air, unpleasant but not enough to bother him when they'd been being trailed. Anything that didn't care about arrows in it was going to require a whole lot of killing, he thought, and he lifted the whistle to his lips and blew his call on it. No sound filled their ears, but anyone with a ring from the Sanctuary would hear and know he needed help.

Drizzt had moved his third arrow both for the mage having been visible and after realizing the construct was nothing truly living, and it would not go down to his bow. He discarded the longbow, drawing both swords.

"Now, Regis," he told his friend, who was carrying the figure of wondrous power so as to let Drizzt continue forward to meet the attackers.

"Guenhwyvar, Drizzt needs you!" Regis told the figure, waiting for it to appear... taking the vacated place Drizzt had been as he rushed the trailing party.

Beside Micken, Wulfgar had turned, hammer coming to his hand rather than being unhooked from its place upon his back. Likewise, Bruenor shifted his axe from the handle hold to the haft, and turned to follow his friends into battle.

Jierdan made a startled noise at the sudden appearance of a tiger-sized, onyx-black cat charging towards them along with the drow, but he held his ground. Without Sydney's magic, they were going to be in trouble with four fighters and the cat -- and him having to keep their prisoner from escaping or joining the fight.

He considered the options for a long moment, then shifted his grip on his sword, snapped it up, and knocked Catti-brie squarely in the temple.

She had not seen it coming fast enough, and slumped unconscious at his feet, freeing him to go tend Sydney while the damned assassin held his ground.

Drizzt noted the construct was trying to angle for him and Regis both, ignoring the cry to his gods from Wulfgar. The assassin -- as the swordsman must be, given his complexion was similar in hue to Regis -- was avoiding its path but also intent on Regis.

Drizzt threw his will toward his shadow, his Companion, the great cat that had saved his life countless times, toward the wizard he'd shot. He gave his attention to the assassin, trusting his student.

The construct took the full impact of Aegis-fang to a knee, showing that Wulfgar knew to apply his wits to the fight. It stumbled, but tried to regain itself to obey the command to get the prey.

Jierdan dropped to a knee beside the wizard, saying only, "Sorry," before he grasped the fletching in one hand, the shaft in the other, and focused his strength on breaking the fletching off. It had punched straight through her shoulder, he was going to have to pull it the rest of the way through -- and it was best to do that without the fletching.

She shrieked again, nearly kicking him in sheer reaction from the pain, but she did know what he was about. "No need," she gritted out, and gave him a sharp nod of 'get on with it'. He switched his grip to the bloody part on the far side of her shoulder, other hand on her, and yanked.

Guenhwyvar knew what her drow needed her to do and ran at full speed for the wizard, growling as she saw there was another helping her. Well, she could kill two. The wizard was still on the ground, at the moment, so the other first. Only another few strides.

Regis was absolutely terrified, seeing Artemis Entreri coming for him -- Entreri never worked with people! -- but he ran -- not for his friends, but for the nearest tree, halfling feet working as well as his hands to get up. He'd give Entreri some trouble that way, at least, without endangering his friends any more.

Bruenor was running hard, and under full steam, he was damned fast for his size and speed, but he was not going to reach the swordsmen before they engaged. The construct, though, that he could hack down to size. It might be a horrific abomination, but he had experience cutting things to pieces, as long as he'd lived near giant-kind!

Aegis-fang came back to Wulfgar's hand with the barbarian halfway back to where the construct was. Like Bruenor, he knew that it was their duty in this fight. The name of his god was on his lips, eager to rid the realms of this crime against all things natural.

Entreri paid little heed to the halfling. Regis could not run far; once he had dealt with the drow, he'd have his paycheck in a sack. Then the drow was there, and the first crossing of scimitars on his own blades fired something new within him, something almost like an emotion, because this drow was at his own level!

Regis got himself settled high enough and securely enough that he could use his mace if Entreri came up the tree after him, and looked out to see what was going on. Drizzt was keeping pace with Entreri -- no surprise to him -- in the clash of blades, Bruenor, Micken, and Wulfgar were attacking the terrifying creature that was... turning back towards Drizzt despite being chopped at? No! Drizzt couldn't fight them both!

Guen was... disappearing behind an upthrust rock, about where the wizard had been? Regis only heard a man's scream for a moment, then silence. A moment later, though, he heard Guen cry out in distress, and -- cursing himself all the while, he climbed back down from the tree and started to run to where she was.

Micken cursed a stream of obscenities as his axe bloody bounced off the filthy, stinking, monster-creature's body. At least Wulfgar's hammer was doing some good, he thought, as that knee -- after a third hit -- failed to hold the creature's weight up.

Entreri half-saw the halfling going around them, but honestly he could not have disengaged and knew it. The drow was too fast, and had reach with both blades, keeping his dagger away from any meaningful strikes. He narrowly avoided a gut slice, moved into the opening, and took a minor wound across his bicep as the drow moved in riposte.

There was a raw hunger growing, a need to destroy this effigy of himself who was weaker, had to be weaker, surrounding himself with friends!

Bruenor grunted as the construct's hand tried to sweep him out of the way, but he slammed his axe into the flesh, wrenching hard to try and tear connective tissues apart. It coincided with Micken's next chop, before Wulfgar brought Aegis-fang up with all his might, breaking part of the thing's head open.

Regis made it to where Guen was, and gasped in horror at seeing her crouched over Catti-brie, washing the girl's still face with her tongue. "Guen," he said, "Guen, I'll take care of Catti, go help them kill the monster before it gets to Drizzt!"

Further up the mountain, on the road down from Settlestone, two dwarves and a drow wearing a wood-elf illusion were racing down the road, following the tug of their rings and the sounds of battle to one of their own.

Guen made a noise, but agreed with that order. The enemy wizard was dead, the soldier was dead; Regis and the cub -- Catti-brie -- would be safe, as long as Guen helped end the big threat. She knew why her targets had been chosen that way, that she could not have attacked the big thing first without fouling Wulfgar's line of sight. Now, with them all on top of the thing, she could go and start tearing it apart too.

Entreri needed to disengage. The analytical part of his mind knew that. It also knew the chances of actually breaking free and escaping had dissolved the moment that hammer had been flung with such force and then gone back to the barbarian.

His eyes narrowed, pushing the fight tighter, to try and get rid of one of those curving blades and at least kill this noble mockery of his own skill!

"Get a torch, Micken! Get one lit for this!" Bruenor called to his kinsman, as the construct just kept striving, no matter how many holes Wulfgar managed to put in it. Even his own axe, a masterwork passed down to him, was struggling to get a bite out of the creature.

Hells, Micken thought, but it was a good idea. Fire often did damage to things immune to weapons. He broke away from the fighting and ran for the trees to make a torch, grateful so many of them were pines and would be thick with pitch.

Drizzt had thought for nothing but the fight on his hands. Not since that awful day above the acid had he fought like this... but it was not even like that, for there was nothing but blank efficiency (no passion, no heart, not even hate) in the human he fought.

Regis crossed the rest of the distance to Catti-brie and knelt down beside her, anxiously feeling for her pulse, watching her chest with his heart in his throat until he saw it rise and fall. She was alive, oh, thank all the gods, she was alive. He pulled the small knife from his boot and started cutting through her bonds, muttering curses under his breath.

Wulfgar brought Aegis-fang down with all his power on the other knee to smash it, hoping to immobilize the creature. As he did, a roar of challenge sounded, before Guenhwyvar was on the upper part of the thing, claws and fangs shredding the magical skin in ways that no blade ever could.

Entreri twisted his next attack, and was able to draw blood along Drizzt's forearm, but only with the sword. He had not had to fight at this level in some time, which meant this might boil down to endurance.

Catti-brie groaned slightly as Regis had to move her to get at the last binding, but she was still out, the bruise turning livid at her temple.

Once he was finished working on the bonds, he moved to start trying to wake Catti, taking her shoulders and shaking her slightly. The bruise at her temple worried him, but if they had to run from the monster, she had to be able to run with them. "Catti, Catti, please wake up..."

Micken got a torch together -- it was a pathetic torch, but it would be enough he hoped -- and ran back to near the fighting, waiting to light the smeared pitch and pine-knots bound into it until he was close, so as not to waste any of the fuel. Once he had it lit, he dove towards the broken knee to jam the burning torch inside.

The thing went berserk, flailing and smashing at them and Micken threw himself backwards -- but it was no longer trying to make it closer to the deadly clash of blades a few feet from them.

The noise and motion did nothing to break Entreri's concentration, slipping the grip on his dagger to a reversed hold as he spotted a potential pattern to exploit in this deadly dance. He weighed the chance the drow had a counter for his next move, discarded the possibility as it relied on forfeiting the length of the sword to only use the short blade, and committed.

Wulfgar snatched Bruenor by the collar at the first jerk of the construct, and got them out of the range, stumbling down onto his butt as the adrenaline-fueled strikes left him primed for forward motion, not retreating. Bruenor thumped down to a knee, just as off-balance with his own momentum, but he shoved up to turn and see how he could aid his friend --

Guen yowled and leapt free of the thrashing monster, and was still thrown by a blow of one arm, but she was thrown towards her drow and the human attacking him. She rolled as she hit, getting still closer to the fight, and lunged forward at the human's side, slamming into his ribs with her jaws wide open.

No skill, no amount of training, could defy the force of a tiger-sized maw combined with the inertia of six hundred pounds of feline. Drizzt spun fully away, knowing the assassin was done for, looking to see how he might aid another, never mind his breathing being harsh in his own ears from the exertion. His stamina had been severely tested in recent weeks, and this fight a more severe one than he'd known in twenty years.

"Regis!" Drizzt called as he saw the creature was thrashing but steadily catching fire.

Catti-brie opened her eyes, unseeing at first, but realizing she was being held by familiar hands. She heard the shout, trying to make out the word in it, but her mind was still addled.

"Hi Catti," Regis said, "it's me, don't hit me, you're okay. They're dead," before he lifted his voice and shouted back, "Here, Drizzt!"

Guenhwyvar felt a blade sink into her, snarled -- her mouth was too full to roar -- and raked one paw across the face and throat of the human that had hurt her drow. Blood poured out, and she shook her head hard before releasing the body under her. It twitched -- really? -- and she leaned down and bit the throat out fully.

The creature was still thrashing around in rage, and Micken ran several strides away, pulling it with him before it veered back towards his king and the barbarian.

Drizzt looked at the creature then, and all of his revulsion at its unnatural state, that it wasn't even a proper undead creature, coming up to swell into anger, anger that pushed away his fatigue from the fight.

"Bruenor and Micken, get a couple of saplings down for Wulfgar. Get that thing staked through its wounds so it can burn in place," he called, all authority as that thing was despoiling the very wilds he was meant to protect. He started moving toward Regis, wary in case the halfling was being used as a hostage behind that slight rise.

Catti-brie leaned her head into Regis's chest, fighting not to cry, not to lose it now it was all said and done. Her Da was out there -- she'd have to tell him -- and Wulfgar, and even now her ranger was coming to them.

Regis wrapped his arms around her close as he could, rocking her, not knowing what to do or say and frantic with worry that she hadn't spoken.

Micken nodded -- not that the ranger was going to see it -- and went to put his axe to use. Bruenor started to follow Drizzt's instructions, but wheeled back when he heard it lumbering towards his student.

Breathing. That was what Drizzt always said to focus on when things got overwhelming, and she started the way he'd taught her... just as he got there. He took in the sight of Regis holding the human that was most precious to him, and the anger fueling him took new levels. Guen had gone to keep the construct contained, and reacted to that rage with a particular vicious rip and tear that pulled more flesh off the leg not burning yet.

Wulfgar started throwing his hammer, using it to knock the construct back, rather than engage it directly. He aimed high, the cat stayed low... and they just had to hold on for it to either fall apart, or the flames to take full hold of it.

Regis looked up at Drizzt helplessly, keeping his arms close around Catti, and just waited.

Micken came back dragging three saplings, half again as tall as he was, inch-thick and cut down to points one one end, and dodged out of the way of the rampaging monster -- it had taken to ripping at the ground and rocks, the grip of its hands pulverizing rock to gravel -- to get to Wulfgar. "Knock the bloody thing down again?"

He wasn't entirely certain it would burn completely, it looked as though the fire was stopping where one chunk of corpse-flesh was stitched to the second, but it was definitely worth the try!

As he and Wulfgar managed to get a stake through the shattered knee, his ears picked up the sound of running feet and clanking armor, and he turned his head to see a very welcome sight. Halan, Dhaeln, and -- he wasn't sure which of their clerics that was, under the ring -- coming to them. "Hail, me kin!" he shouted in glad welcome. "Litlle help here?!"

"I'm not close enough yet!" the cleric shouted back -- and that was Ravenna, who'd come from the Promenade.

"Have some patience, lad; we're running hard!" Halan called to him, but -- that was the Foaming Mug! On the other dwarf, and as red of beard as Dhaeln had described their king to them!

"Catti-brie," Drizzt called very softly, as he knew he could not actually help destroy the thing.

She pulled her head up to look at him, biting at her lower lip, before locking eyes, drawing strength from him. Slowly, she stood, after a gentle squeeze of Regis for comforting her, and glanced once at the bodies. She did not regret it... but it was all so stupid and a waste.

"Me friends," she managed to say, before she looked at all the noise.

Regis got up alongside her, and peered at the two dead in confusion -- he knew neither of them, not by sight or clothing, and why would Entreri have worked with anyone? He never did that! He patted Catti's back gently, at her words, before he went around the rock to see what the shouting was about.

Ravenna slid her hand to her pendant as she got into range, stopped running, forced her breath to steady, and pointed at the creature with a hiss of the dispel magic prayer.

In front of her, all the stitches and staples that held the monstrosity together glowed a brilliant silver-white... and disappeared. A moment later, each section hit the ground separately, and a hideous stench rose from them.

"Ugh," Wulfgar said, turning away from the mess and foul odor. "But, it seems magic can be useful."

Guen stalked off a bit, then scratched dirt up and at the pieces before bounding to her ranger and friends. She slipped right up to Catti, encouraging the woman to use her for support.

Drizzt did not rush to Catti-brie, but he did come up on the other side of her, fingers lightly resting on her forearm, before he took full note of the elf and dwarves that had joined them. He steeled himself for the reaction he usually invoked and they went to join the others.

"ME GIRL?!" Bruenor bellowed, even knowing he had kinsmen to meet.

"Aye," Micken said, "so it does." The shout from his king made him twist around, and he blinked at seeing a human young woman, not a dwarf lass, but... that was definitely an angry father's voice. He moved away from the stinking mess towards Dhaeln and Halan, as Ravenna made a face at the disgusting, rotting mess.

"I don't have anything on hand to deal with that," the cleric said unhappily, "I wish I did. How disgusting."

Regis' shoulders slumped at Bruenor's shout, bracing for whatever came next.

"If everyone will start for the trees, I will see this cleaned up," Drizzt said mildly, hating that Catti felt the need to squeeze his arm to comfort him. He gave her a small push to meet Bruenor, even as Wulfgar nodded.

"My teacher will see it done," he said in his low voice of challenging anyone to nay-say that.

"C'mon, Guen, let's go," Regis said, not sparing Entreri a single look.

Catti managed to walk, not run, to her father, despite herself, and bit her tongue on what needed to be said until they were away from the battlefield.

Ravenna blinked, having heard the words -- both from the very large human and the other drow -- and said, "An unusual gift, but a welcome one," before she turned to get back to the shade. The illusion of wood-elf did nothing to help protect her eyes from the sun.

Once they were all close together, Micken said, "Me King, these be Dhaeln Cragmaw and Halan Thrake, and this be Ravenna, one o' the clerics o' me folk."

"Aye, and well-met, but words will wait for the trees," Bruenor said, too busy checking his girl over. "Och, lass," he said in a soft tone, taking in the bruise at her temple, her road-worn look, and the haunting in her eyes. "Let's get tae a place tae take care o' ye," he said then, unhappy, but not willing to bluster through it. His anger was for Regis, but that too would wait.

Drizzt waited until they had moved on -- to gain his composure from the calm way the cleric had reacted -- then sent a heartfelt plea to the wilds to send its cleaners, the carrion crows and other scavengers.

All of his own tangled emotions, and the love of his Goddess for him, had them coming swiftly, to attend the fetid, putrid mess.

Ravenna felt a ripple in the world, and looked over her shoulder to see scavenger-birds that loved decay coming on on swift wings, and reached her hand to Micken's whistle, contacting it to stop the call to the rings with the connection. She dipped her head to the dwarven king, and followed along until they had found a place under the trees wide enough for all of them to sit down. She moved to kneel in front of the human girl, extending both her hands. "May I aid you? That looks painful."

"I... Aye, Lady. My eyes are blurred and it's hard tae think," she said, her accent as strong as the dwarf's that Ravenna did not know yet.

Drizzt felt a satisfaction for that, and released the remaining anger. He did a sweep of all three human corpses, retrieved his bow, then jogged to catch up with the group. Luskan, it seemed, had been the source of the other two, but why?

She nodded, and laid her hands very gently on the girl's temple and one rope-burned wrist, murmuring a quiet healing prayer as she turned one of her higher spells into the healing. She watched as the lump and bruising faded away, as did the abrasions at her wrists. "Micken, are you hurt? You others?"

"I donnae thin -- och," Micken stopped in mid-word as pains from being swatted at by the creature made themselves known. "Mayhap a bit, but see tae me king an' his companions first, aye?"

Ravenna rolled her eyes exasperatedly and turned to the oversized human and the dwarf. "Saers?"

"Wounds taken in battle -- " Wulfgar began.

"--will slow ye down, an' I say you let the wise woman do as needed," Bruenor growled at him. Wulfgar chose not to dig his heels in, and went to kneel in front of the elf. Once he was done, Bruenor looked at Micken. "A chief doesnae take respite a'fore his clan," he said firmly.

Ravenna turned and flashed a bright, cheerful smile at the king for that, and extended her hands to Micken to deal with his variety of bruises. "A bit?" she muttered at him, feeling the spell take hold, before she looked to the -- Goddess Above, he was young!! -- male coming towards them all. "Cousin," she said mildly, "come let me see to those wounds I see."

"They are -- "

"Goin' tae be dealt with!" Bruenor informed him, and Wulfgar grinned as his teacher meekly obeyed.

Yet, when Ravenna touched the young drow ranger, the effort to affect healing within him was higher than with the others, as if something resisted.

She frowned, and exerted herself while trying to remain gentle. Perhaps he was -- oh, Goddess, she'd forgotten... "My healing should not cause one like you pain, cousin," she said gently. "Don't fight me, let me help."

"I am not fighting it," Drizzt said, confused, "but... it will not hurt?" A distant memory of the potion he'd drank, after that ambush on his pursuers. He willed himself to let down any inner defenses he'd been holding, not wanting to make life harder for any faerie that was willing to help -- even touch! -- him.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Not a bit."

As she saw him relax, she tried again, throwing herself at the healing -- and this time, it took better, closing the cuts on his exposed skin.

Drizzt inclined his head to her, then went to sit where Guen could love on him, away from the others a bit. She rubbed her head into his chest, then flopped with her head over a thigh while he started cleaning his blades, much as Wulfgar was working on his hammer.

Now, Ravenna put out her hands for Bruenor, waiting for him to come closer so that she could heal him. So many healings so close together had depleted her spells a fair amount, but she wasn't particularly concerned by that. She had her three around her, now, and apparently more allies.

She raised an eyebrow at Micken and tapped her thumbnail against the glamour ring, wanting to know if all of these would be all right with a second drow, or if she should retain her illusion.

He shrugged, uncertain. Then he decided, if she was asking, to be dwarf-blunt. "Me people, they're not as all seems," he began. "But ye already know drow can be good."

Drizzt looked over at him, then Ravenna. "I admit I am curious about how well you have handled my presence, given other reactions on this quest."

Ravenna looked from face to face, decided to trust Micken, and pulled the ring from her finger, reverting to her own appearance. "A ring of glamour," she said, "the only one we possess, and a great treasure for that it allows one of us to trade or help others without being attacked. I am Ravenna, priestess of Eilistraee."

Bruenor stared at her, stared at Drizzt, stared at her again. "In all me years, I'd nae heard of a single goodly drow, an' now, two o' ye?"

Drizzt was startled more than any of the others; he had lived twenty years without seeing a single other drow, let alone hearing of a good one from all the people he had been able to trust in those years.

"You... there are others? Not just me?" slipped out before he could wrap his stoic nature around him like a shield.

Catti-brie's heart ached all over again for him, knowing how alone he had felt even with the friends he'd won from her clan.

"There are," Ravenna told him, her chest aching for him, for the shock in his purple eyes and the youth in his voice. She put her hands out for him again, wanting to comfort him. "We are few... terribly few... out of all the drow who exist, but you are not alone. We have sought for you for almost all your time on the Surface, after word came to us from a friend of Dove Falconhand. But you cannot be scried out, and you traveled quickly. We would not have left you alone so long, cousin, if we could have helped it."

"Cannot be scried..." he murmured, letting her have his hand. Guen decided to lick her for that, pleased, even as she stayed close to her drow. "Mielikki, possibly, guarding me from drow who would harm me?"

"Whatever it is, me elf, ye have others now. But yer still bound tae me quest, ye hear?" Bruenor said, with a hint of bluster now.

Drizzt chuckled, having needed that. "Indeed, my friend."

He called on Mielikki? Of the nature gods, Ravenna supposed she was preferable, having an elven aspect and holding their nearest major city as her stronghold. She kept hold of Drizzt's hand, squeezing it gently before she turned her head to look at the dwarven king.

"Maybe so," she said, before continuing on. "King Bruenor, as we will be neighbors, and it is the desire of my dwarven friends to know what drove them from their home... unless you object, I will accompany you at least back to the ruins?"

Dhaeln snorted, but she'd save arguing with her king for if he decided to be a fool, not before. "Tis more than good tae see ye again, Bruenor, tae know ye an' more o' our folk live. Who're these wi' ye, me king?"

"Ye be welcome, cleric, as we've had none of our own for many a year," Bruenor decided, as his elf had decided to trust her, given the lack of protest at being touched. "This be me girl, Catti-brie. That one there is Wulfgar, son of Beornegar, an' a finer lad ye cannae find."

Wulfgar straightened a little at that praise.

"Regis Rumblebelly -- stop fidgeting, an' know I'm angry, but ye be my friend, and ye had reasons in that head o' yers." He then gestured to Drizzt. "Me elf there is Drizzt Do'Urden, and the durn cat -- ye did good, cat -- is Guen."

Dhaeln nodded to each of them, corner of her mouth quirked at the repeated 'me elf' -- that was so very much like the dwarrow she remembered, blunt, gruff, and protective. "Greetings tae all of ye. What caused all this, though -- monster like that thing be nae cheap -- tae come after ye?"

Regis sighed, raking his hand through his hair. "I don't know. I mean. I know Entreri -- the human you killed, Drizzt -- was after me, but he never worked with anyone else! Ever! So where the monster and the wizard and the other one came from, I don't know!"

"Luskan," Drizzt said softly. "And given the wizard, that creature... I think I was the target."

"Ye were, me ranger," Catti-brie said. "I was there when the mage in the High Tower sicced the pair on ye, because of the battle last year."

That got a nod. "I feared as much, once I found the Luskan coins in their pouches."

Wulfgar frowned at that. "It is a problem, then, to leave that thing buried where it fell?"

"Possibly. Probably, even, but I have no allies to trust in this."

Ravenna and Dhaeln exchanged a look, but decided not to pry -- something that had sent a creature like that so far was something that was worth being secretive over, and they were newly met.

"How came ye tae be in Luskan, me girl?" Bruenor asked, still entirely confused on that part.

Catti-brie looked away, then looked at Regis. He flinched, and her eyes grew misty, realizing he was going to feel the guilt of this for years.

"I'd gone tae claim Regis's belongings. The assassin caught me, questioned me, and ... Da. Fender, Grollo... they came for me that day."

"What?" Bruenor asked, his jaw dropping a bit and concern for his clan surging up in him. "I -- nae, me girl, I --" He almost turned on Regis in a rage, but made himself breathe instead, only glaring.

Dhaeln gave a high, sharp keen, remembering both of those dwarrow as the friends of her youth, now lost only months before they could be restored to her, and Halan made a similar sound of mourning and loss.

Micken, though, looked to Ravenna. "Sister, do you think...?"

"I'd be willing," she agreed, "so long as their bodies still exist. It would be their choice, though, and you dwarves are unpredictable about such things."

"We keep the bones, and with them, as our clan was preparing tae march in hopes of Da's success, they'd be wrapped, to bring home," Catti-brie made herself say, holding her father. Regis had started to move away, but Wulfgar caught him, dragging him down beside him.

"I will quest for what you need, if they choose it," Drizzt said firmly. "We are on the verge of finding their home, and Bruenor will need them. They will choose duty."

"Well, then," Ravenna said, nodding. "When they come, I will talk to them, or one of my sisters will if I am unavailable. What I will need is diamond, quite a bit of it, but we can talk about the details later."

Drizzt nodded, looked at Wulfgar who half-shrugged; he would gladly adventure with his teacher.

"He left me there, Da, after the killing," Catti said, glossing over the slaughter it had actually been. "But I knew ye needed tae be warned! So I came... with the caravan rolling out. But... he caught me, killed the tradesman on the wagon I was with.

"Been unable to find a way to escape since."

There. She had managed to lock up the worst of it -- and Drizzt caught her eyes. He was worried, but would not press around strangers.

"Oh, me girl," Bruenor said, getting his strength together again, wondering at the cleric who offered to exert herself so for his folk's sake. "Brave of ye, me girl. Elf, it's a right good thing ye an' the cat did for him, for me clan's sake."

Guen rumbled softly. Drizzt just nodded.

"They laid in wait for ye at the city, Silverymoon," Catti-brie said. "None too pleased tae be thwarted there."

Drizzt snorted.

"The ruler there turned Drizzt away, and we refused to enter without him," Wulfgar said. "Though our teacher seems to have made kindly with her on the road, while we slept." He made sure his voice had a slide indicating personal asides, to tease.

That made Drizzt duck his head. "She was protecting her people," he redirected. "And gave us all the aid we needed."

"Turned out well enow," Catti-brie said. "That one, I think, would have used the crowd to knife ye in the back afore ye knew he was there, had ye been in the walls."

Ravenna shrugged slightly, not about to debate politics or try to defend a stranger. "Any that would use a monster like that flesh construct are better food for carrion than living, in any case. Whatever they intended, it is done now. ...are all of you hungry, or do you wish to reach the ruins before a meal? It is not from us."

"Ruins first," Bruenor said. "Then we can sit and eat, a'fore I take the memory potion the Lady has given us."

"Agreed." Drizzt stood gracefully, and the swords were sheathed with effortless skill and speed. "Up, my student! You are dawdling!"

"Not all of us are made of springs, my teacher," Wulfgar rejoined, a smile as he slipped Aegis-fang on its strap at his back so they could begin their journey again.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX
* Links will work as parts are revealed

Legacy of Vierna (5,900 words) by senmut
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms (Legend of Drizzt)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: ANIMAL DEATH
Relationship: Drizzt Do'Urden & Vierna Do'Urden
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Drizzt Do'Urden, Artemis Entreri
Additional Tags: Canon Divergences
Summary:

Vhaeraun's Priestess wants to find her brother. So does an assassin.

---

Legacy of Vierna

When Vierna had failed to get her teacher and her brother out of the city before everything went to the Abyss in a spiderweb, she had raged. Protecting her brother's escape had been the best she could do, 'missing' him with a web spell.

If she could have stolen her teacher's — her father's! — body before making her own escape, she would have, but only Matron Malice could open that part of the family vault. As it was, her escape route had made it impossible to pick up her brother's trail, and she had abided by her true god's wishes in where to go.

Several years of teaching what she knew of Lloth's ways, to find weaknesses, and learning more than Vhaeraun could teach her through the dreams He'd sent to her, had brought a level of skill that left her a very, very dangerous woman to cross.

That made her the perfect candidate to go and be present in another stronghold for Vhaeraun, one that might, in time, reward her personally.

~Skullport. Go with the next shipment to Skullport. Seek Natoth, and tell him I sent you,~ Vhaeraun insinuated into His stolen priestess's thoughts during her prayers to Him for her spells.

~I will, but is there more to it, my Lord?~ she asked, as willing to live one place as another, even after years of study here. He delighted in the fact she was no blindly obedient servant, having a will all her own that just happened to marry closely to His own wishes.

~They have a problem, and Natoth will tell more. It is also near My Sister's people, which might… hold interest to you?~

He felt the thrill race through her, knew she had never solved the mystery of her brother's location, only knowing the strange one was not dead.

Her gratitude for that hope was sincere, and Vhaeraun basked in it. He did not mind all of His schemers and plotters, but there was something refreshing to having cultivated Vierna from childhood to share mutual respect.

---

Skullport, being above the faerzress line, was a terrible place in some ways, and it offered Vierna many lessons, including new spells to learn and pray for, yet still, the presence of her brother was not to be found.

Had he been spirited off-plane? Vierna would have to grow even stronger, then, to manage to find him.

In the meanwhile, she and Natoth did what they could to undermine the stronger mercantile and mercenary company that followed Vhaeraun, while also monitoring that the Dancers didn't get ideas of resisting them.

She traced out her own plans, solidified alliances as she was able... and if that meant keeping a thread of an alliance with the small faction of Bregan D'aerthe she had found... so be it.

---

The seething frustration of five years of watching for her brother among the Dancers came to a head when word reached her from above that a drow, a barbarian, a dwarf, and a human had been seen departing the docks swiftly.

The drow had been noted as carrying two curved swords.

Investigating the sighting only added to her anger; it had been far too many days to give chase in that absolutely torturous world that existed above. At least in Skullport things were in perpetual half-shadow at the very least!

She attempted to use a sending, knowing he had been near, knowing he lived! Yet, it could not reach him, much as every other attempt over the years had done. Was it because he had been changed too much, that he was no longer the alien brother she had raised, making his mind a stranger?

Or did he have protections against the family interfering with her?

Well. She'd have to learn why he'd been on a ship, and maybe that would lead her to a clue as to how to find him now.

---

The informant that had been found for Vierna was... human. He'd been in bad enough shape that her agents had been able to make him a deal that was not easily declined. Bringing him to Skullport, giving him time to recover his health had eaten more precious time, but her agents assured her he was more than willing to cooperate and get her information on Drizzt Do'Urden.

He was, per her agents, now in a shape to meet her, and Vierna decided that would happen here, in the seat of her power. It was imperative that the human understand she would not tolerate failure to secure her brother's whereabouts, so that she could finally see and speak to the strange child she had raised.

She settled on the raised dais, her robes the ones she had chosen to mark her as a cleric who also fought with their strategically reinforced panels, the maces she prided herself on her skill clearly visible, even as she arranged herself to be as visibly dismissive of a human as she could manage.

They brought him in ten minutes later, guiding him through the utter darkness of the temple, before leaving him standing in front of her. With a smile, she drew faerie fire up to grant the pitiful human the ability to see.

"Greetings, Artemis Entreri," she called in Common. "I am told that you have information on the whereabouts of Drizzt Do'Urden."

He took her in once his eyes adjusted, a faint rising of an eyebrow as he appraised her, before he casually dusted off one sleeve where the agents had touched him.

"A dangerous adversary to track, when he is on the other side of the continent, no doubt," the man said in his Calimshite accent.

"Yes, but I can't see his basic nature having changed in the last few decades," Vierna said with every ounce of haughtiness in her voice she could bring to bear. "Such honor and principle." She did not have to feign the scorn; she truly could not believe her brother had hung on to those through his years at school.

The human watched her with cold, unfeeling eyes, his body temperature staying steady without any betrayals of emotion. "I want Do'Urden to face me, prove which of us is actually the better."

It will be my brother, in many ways, Vierna immediately thought, sizing him up. He carried himself with the same precision and control she associated with their father, but he lacked passion, even in declaring that he wished this fight.

"I am under the impression," she began, studying her fingernails, "that where he goes, there are others that are quite interfering. Three pirate ships destroyed or captured? An entire power base disrupted?

"It seems, he is resourceful, perhaps moreso than one person can take on to arrange such a fight."

The human half-shrugged. "Which is why you have come to me?"

Oh, he might actually be a useful asset in the long run. Vierna doubted it, though; if the feud with her brother was too deep, she would kill him herself, as Drizzt's welfare... mattered to her.

Despite his alignment, that actually pleased her god, who saw it as proof of her loyalty to His ideals.

"I can provide the resources to cut him away from his friends," Vierna said, that word dripping with disdain. "You get your fight, away from any interferences. I get access to the entirely too ... good ... drow."

"What's to stop me from just dealing with him directly, once he's cut away?" the human challenged.

"Oh, I think you're smarter than that," Vierna said with ice and venom alike in her words. "I found you in the first place; I can keep doing so. And death need not even end the torments I would visit upon you if you take Drizzt Do'Urden out of my reach."

He smirked, the arrogant little human, and her eyes narrowed.

"I think we have a deal, Priestess." He tipped his head. "Do you have a name?"

"I do." She paused for his nod. "I am Vierna ... Do'Urden. And your prey in this hunt is my brother."

Let him think this was a vendetta, a family cleaning spree. That was how he seemed to take it, and Vierna decided this should work in her favor completely.

---

Vierna had been, to say the least, concerned when Entreri showed her where they were in comparison to where Drizzt was. If he was living in a dwarven hall that had been accessed by a shadow dragon, and her concept of where Menzoberranzan should be was correct — he was at risk!

The House was dead; she knew that well through Bregan D'aerthe. That did not, however, mean that Lloth was through with her brother, or herself if the abominable goddess of lies ever realized hurting Drizzt would be a blow against Vierna.

Vierna wasn't certain she cared for feeling that vulnerable, yet she did truly wish to know how her brother fared, and to have closure over their shared past. Or, possibly, an opening to a future, she reminded herself.

"Go. Learn his habits. Determine a plan that allows for capture," she told the assassin. "Using the sending stone when you have the plan, and I will give you the support needed to follow through. We'll bring him back here, so no one can interfere."

Entreri nodded. She did not trust him to not try and engineer an escape from her wrath if this failed, or Drizzt came to harm, but it was the best chance she had, when there was no end in sight to the block her brother had against scries and sendings.

---

The first check-in with Entreri, after giving him time to reach the correct region, had made it clear that the assassin was well-aware of her reach. He was gathering information, using the mask that Drizzt had abandoned to stay hidden, and focusing on the deal.

It was soon discovered, despite the cold settling into the region, that Drizzt Do'Urden did not remain in one place at all times. His travel took him back and forth between Mithral Hall, the place Entreri knew well, and Silverymoon, a city he preferred not to set foot in.

Fortunately, the outlying small settlements on that path were trusting fools who accepted the idea of a half-elf that had gotten separated from his party by injuries. Entreri took his rest in such fools' homes, and listened, relaying the information to Vierna in small bursts of words to sift through on their brief sendings.

Vierna wondered why he'd chosen half-elf, but then reasoned out that the man's speed and grace was more easily explained with faerie blood. She scried for him, to verify his words, after every other conversation with the man.

~I mean to haunt the road between the city and the Hall; he moves often enough that I have a feel for it,~ Entreri told her on their next conversation, and now Vierna readied other spells. Mephits she had long since convinced to do her bidding, and a shadow-fiend to transport her brother and assassin to her were prepared. She forced herself not to scry too often.

Entreri's curses blistering along the sending stone and a nebulous get-here feeling upended the careful planning, as she focused on the very clear, very intent image of her brother down beneath a gigantic black cat that looked dimly familiar to her.

She teleported, spells for defense on her tongue. The cat's astral origins were vivid to her, and banishment was never far from someone escaping Lloth's minions. Vierna only barely noticed the two large bodies as the cat yowled when it was sent far from the scene, while the disguised Entreri was finishing off an injured horse.

Vierna expected Entreri had created the injuries it had suffered from, but she was glad for the cessation of noise from it even as she got to her brother. Blood soaking the cloth under his armor, skin turning ashen… and when she laid hands on him she felt far worse inside him.

"I've got his bow and quiver off the horse, and the cat's figure; he seems to have held onto the pack under his cloak," Entreri said after she had managed the first major healing spell for her brother. "We need to be away, before the patrols come for the noises!"

She almost hissed at him, but she'd held onto multiple teleports for days now, just in case. The sunlight through the trees was not helping her calm any, but she was able to lift her brother, seeing he had managed to sheathe his swords — one of them was violently casting blue light at her — before he collapsed.

Had Entreri aided with that?

Well, Drizzt would be in her care now, and that just might help her set a better stage with him.

"Hand on my shoulder," she snapped at the assassin, before using the shadow slide technique, to get them out of the light, and also to remind the assassin of where her power came from, as a favored of Vhaeraun.

Let the prissy Dancers of Eilistraee use their moon bridges; she welcomed the caress of the shadows, the threats hidden among them, as she took her brother to safety.

---

Clawing Drizzt back from the brink of death was hard. His nature fought the second spell of healing, and the salve she made was not as efficient as Malice's had been, being crafted with sub-par ingredients.

She burned a hard-earned favor with Natoth to check her brother over, and while he was able to finish the task of stopping Drizzt's body from killing him, the head cleric had also noted how difficult it was to pull divine favor down on the fighter's behalf.

~He does not exist where I can perceive him,~ Vhaeraun told His clerics, frustration making the pronouncement ring in both of their heads.

"This is most unusual," Natoth said, "but your plan has already met with our Lord's approval. He may remain, but you are responsible for the repercussions he creates, Redeemed Shade."

"I accept that," Vierna said coolly, before inclining her head to him in respect. "He will heed me."

"He better."

Once Natoth had left them, Vierna saw to putting cooling cloths on her brother's forehead and chest, to ease the last of the fever that had hit with the blood pooling in his guts.

"You will listen," she whispered to his unconscious form.

---

Her little brother was not so accustomed to darkness all around him, Vierna decided, as the heat signature changed for a moment before being yanked under control with steady breathing.

"It's too late, Drizzt; I know you're fully conscious," Vierna said, watching him, as he only had a modesty kilt in place, to allow her to treat the injuries with her salves as he slept.

That he would have died in that place had crossed her mind and angered her. She could not resurrect him if she could barely even heal him!

He did not answer her words, and the fact his skin had cooled dramatically was concerning. Had he passed out again —

— and she only barely managed to catch and hold him as he came off the bed in a desperate lunge to knock her away to get to freedom.

"Drizzt! In the name of our father, calm down and listen to me!" she said with urgency, hoping he had not undone any of the internal healing with that foolhardy stunt. How had he cooled himself like that?

Then she got a good look at his eyes, pinpoint pupils when they should be blown wide to catch all of the heat signs in the room, noted the breathing was still impossibly even.

"Drizzt. Drizzt, my little brother," she called to him, even as she managed to wrangle him into a hold that blunted any further tricks. He was not in his right mind at all.

She risked freeing a hand, snapping fingers at the mephit present to watch over him, and pointed at the figure that Entreri had very deliberately not wanted to hold onto. It brought the onyx statuette over obediently.

"Drizzt, take the statue from the mephit," she entreated, the only true measure she had in this moment to try and win over cooperation.

Shockingly, the quieter, gentle words, and what they offered did penetrate, and the moment Drizzt's hands curled around it, the coiled readiness melted away, replaced by tension… wariness and pain both, she thought.

"Let me help you back onto the bed, little brother."

"Vehna?"

She was almost certain the deliberate slurring of her name was a test; she had missed hearing it, but had chided him for it once he should have been speaking clearly as a boy.

"I'll tell you everything you can ask, if you let me help you back into the bed," she said, pressing her cheek against his hair, something she had not been able to do since he was too small to really be anything but a burden.

"Yes… but I am so confused."

"Well, it's about time you get to be the one confused by my actions," she teased him lightly, smiling as she said it, and he was startled into a half-chuckle. Gently, she got him back to the bed, noting the death-grip on the figure, as if it were an anchor to sanity.

Maybe it was. How long had it taken him to find a safe place? She still had nightmares about her trek to Rilauven.

With him settled, Vierna brought her faerie fire up, the soothing blue giving another edge of comfort to her brother by pushing the Underdark's blackness from his memory. That also let him see his weapon's belt, quiver, bow, pack, and cloak all neatly arranged in the open wardrobe nearby.

Though the glowing sword had had its hilt wrapped in light absorbing cloth, Vierna thought with pleasure. That sword was not sentient, yet managed to nick her fingers twice as she cleaned both blades for her brother.

"See, little brother? Your things are here, and you are safe."

He turned those purple eyes her way, wariness at war with hope. "My steed?"

"I arrived too late to do anything for the beast," she said, which was a truth. Entreri had already been dealing with it, after all.

He closed his eyes, and she was relieved to see his body temperature pulse and change in reaction to his grief for the creature. How had he brought himself to such a state earlier? Was the unseeing madness a form of shock, cooling the extremities rapidly?

"Did you set those strange giant-kind on me?" he asked her next.

She snorted. "No. I was seeking you, but my agent found you after you killed them, it seemed. I wish it had been before you took such injury, little brother, truly."

"You'll have to forgive me if I find the timing suspicious," Drizzt answered with a touch of dark sarcasm to the words.

It surprised her… and made her feel something like pride that he could be cutting and wary all in one.

"Oh I understand, but I am certain my agent was not able to call down such, and he seemed angry that you were in such a state. After all, he wishes a fight with you."

He searched her face a moment, then scowled. "There was someone approaching, sword and dirk in hand," he said. "Artemis Entreri?"

"Oh you have not gotten any dimmer in that brilliant mind, even if you never could figure out how to keep your mouth shut around questions," she praised him. "Yes.

"I'd had word, too late, that you'd been seen disembarking a ship in the city above." She watched the realization of how far from his allies he was settle in. "My informants backtracked the ship, and found him.

"I promised him he'd get that fight, but I do not ask you to make it to the death unless you feel the need to do so."

That made his eyes open wide as he focused on her fully.

"I do not care if he lives or dies, even if he is merely a human. But you, little brother, must live. We have much to discuss, after all."

"Am I your prisoner?" he asked her.

"No." She reached out to rest a hand along his cheek. "If you choose to leave, that is something I will have to accept." The words burned with bitter gall, but she had to handle him carefully, to get what she wanted.

It shook him, and he pressed into her hand, unconsciously, as he digested it.

"I will remain. And if Entreri insists, then I will give him his fight, though I thought I'd proven myself the last time we clashed."

"Humans tend to stubborn in ways worse than yours, Drizzt," Vierna said, before standing. "The mephit will come for me if you need me, or defend you, should any intrude. But I have duties, and you need rest."

"Yes, Vierna," he said softly, rolling onto his side to try and do just that.

---

There was discussion of how Vierna had come to be here — and the damnable fact that Vierna's plans had failed to come to fruition on saving him and Zaknafein — while Drizzt healed. He shared his own experiences with her, and when he told of their father's final demise, she surprised him with an angry tirade on Malice before collapsing into his arms so they could both truly grieve.

"I admit, I'd hoped to have Dinin determine what happened to his body when the House fell," Vierna said softly, "as the leader of Bregan D'aerthe was father's ally. But now, I know it was not there. Which complicates the idea of resurrection immensely."

"I did not think it possible," Drizzt admitted. "Not without something of the body."

"It would require a great cost in materials, and to convince an archmage to aid us, but it could still be done." Vierna drew in a deep breath. "I suppose I will have to begin grooming a wizard to be our ally."

Drizzt was quiet a long moment. "You can perform the resurrection?"

"Not quite yet, but soon, I think," Vierna told him. "Vhaeraun favors me, and I do all I can to keep it."

He leaned into her. "I will see if I can handle the wizard side of this. I have… allies."

She looked at him, saw the stubborn resolved stamped in his features, and nodded. "Alright. Yours are less likely to be treacherous, after all."

---

Vierna watched as Entreri sauntered into the courtyard, as they were holding the fight in the daylight outside. Drizzt stood calmly, wearing his mithral chain shirt and both swords, his body language screaming resignation to Vierna's eyes.

"Do you really want to do this, Entreri?"

"More than ever," Entreri assured him.

"Careful, or someone might think you can actually feel an emotion, even if it is foolish pride, stung by the idea that one doesn't need to be a killer to be skillful," Drizzt told him, taking a place in the center of the courtyard.

Vierna shifted under her canopy to have a good view of it all, magic at the ready should her brother's skill fail him… or the human tried to cheat his way to victory.

Entreri rolled his neck to loosen it up, then approached, sword and dagger both still sheathed, but prominently visible.

"You should have left while I recovered," Drizzt told him, not yet drawing his swords.

"You should have let the girl take the shot when you proved to have no heart for the kill," Entreri countered, sizing the drow up. "Perhaps I should abduct her again, and teach her how to be merciless?"

"She needs no further lessons from you or I, assassin."

If the threat to this 'girl' were meant to break Drizzt's repose, Vierna could see the assassin had failed fully. Still her brother left his swords in their sheathes, just watching the human.

"Oh, that's right. A wedding, placing her under the thumb of that oaf you had at your side." Entreri sidled to the right, and Drizzt merely remained still, holding composure and readiness. "How will it feel, ranger, when his society breaks her spirit?"

Obviously, Vierna needed to learn more about the girl in question, as she saw a minute tightening of one hand on her brother before he stilled it. The assassin obviously thought she was an emotional keystone.

"You say I feel nothing, and I say you feel too much," Entreri boasted. "You cannot bring yourself to kill, to take the strongest approach to protecting those pitiful few that you have made to hold pity for you."

"I do not kill for anything but necessity, or duty," Drizzt corrected, and Vierna wished she dared sigh at his nobility. Why — and how — was he so damned good?!

"Draw your blades," Entreri said, "and let us see how that holds up now!"

"Draw your own, assassin, and show me you are worth the effort," Drizzt said in the coldest tone Vierna had heard from him yet.

The change in inflection was not lost on the human, and there was a brief hesitation, Vierna could see, before Entreri did draw — damn but he was fast! — to begin the dance.

Only, there was no dance. Entreri feinted convincingly, but Drizzt's own swords appeared, and while one scimitar held the sword at bay, the tip of the other went into the wrist of the dagger hand as Drizzt stepped gracefully to the side.

The dagger clattered to the ground.

Given the relative lack of blood following, Vierna sucked in a very interested breath, leaning forward. Had her brother literally just cut the nerve that allowed the hand to grasp?

"Step away," Drizzt encouraged Entreri, but that single strike, the almost casual manner of motion, seemed to kindle a deep rage in the human. Vierna watched, though, and saw that while her brother was not so much toying with Entreri, he was letting the fight go on, proving the point of which of them was better by simply not… letting an attack land.

Entreri did not stop. Vierna was almost convinced that the human could not, that he had looked into the abyss of his own nature, and clung to the idea he was without peer. Yet Drizzt's very existence mocked that notion, leaving him teetering on the brink of self-destruction.

Less than two minutes later, though, Drizzt chose to end it. His stepping forward, into the path of a strike had Vierna ready to throw hold person, yet a glimmer of an attack from their father, one that had always left her weaponless, intruded on memory.

And just like that, Entreri's sword flew from his hand as Drizzt used both swords in the tighter space he'd made to take it, before following with the clash of his forehead to Entreri's nose, sending him sprawling with a cut across the bridge from Drizzt's face-guard.

"We are done," Drizzt said, that tone still like ice, before turning away. He'd made it two steps, and Vierna was already beginning the spell she needed, as Entreri refused to be beaten, going for a knife with the hand that worked.

Drizzt swatted the knife from the air, and Vierna's spell landed, summoning the shadow fiend she worked with. Entreri's scream as he was dragged off the material plane was satisfying, and her fiend would be happy for a time.

"You could have killed him at any time," she pointed out.

"And proven myself no better than a paid gladiator, a fighter for sport? That's not much better than what Menzoberranzan demanded of me," Drizzt told her. He then pointed at the dagger, dropped so early in the match. "That's vampiric; I'll leave it to you or one you choose to gift it to."

She shook her head at him, but let him go to his rooms, aware that he had not rebuked her actions, or shown any regret, for Entreri's fate.

---

Vierna looked up as one of the temple guards dared intrude while she was trying to make a strong case for Drizzt moving here, prying at the edges of his entrenched insistence he had to return to the Silver Marches.

Not, she'd noticed, to the Hall of the dwarves, but that region, which meant something in the city truly had a draw on her wild-child of a brother.

"Redeemed Shade, there is trouble," the woman said, scowling unrepentantly at Drizzt.

Had the goodly little Dancers learned of him and actually started something they were in no shape to finish, Vierna wondered.

"Tell us then."

"Four half-humans, wearing swords and wizard robes," the guard answered. "Demanding we give them Drizzt Do'Urden, or they will level the temple.

"They are protected from missiles," she finished.

Drizzt snorted, drawing Vierna's attention his way.

"You'd better let me go speak to them, sister, because they actually can tear this place apart, between them."

Oh now that just added to Vierna's intrigue at the life her brother was living. She had not gotten the impression he ran close to such powers… but then, he seemed to understate everything, didn't he?

"Lead us to the gate they are at," Vierna decreed, rising and moving to Drizzt's side. They walked together, and Vierna was certain even an idiot could see the strong resemblance between them as they came out into the entirely too bright courtyard. She really did need to see about increasing the shade found here.

"My friends," Drizzt called, once they were in sight of the party of four facing off a squadron of nine.

Vierna thought they were all rather pretty, if pale, despite being taller than Briza. The human blood, she supposed, elongating their bodies as it distorted their ears and eyes.

One moved slightly ahead of the others, and Vierna thought it interesting that this one had robes that blended in more with the lands Entreri had come from, with the ripples of various shades of tan and beige.

"Drizzt?"

"I am completely unharmed, save the loss of my mare," Drizzt answered them. "And while my business here began somewhat precipitously, I am remaining on my own wishes, to conclude the matter of family affairs."

The forward one flicked his attention to Vierna then, and seemed to dig in his heels.

"You really expect us to believe that, when we found two athach bodies near your mare?" he challenged.

"I could have left him there to finish dying," Vierna said, amused when it made Drizzt put a hand on her arm. "But he is my brother, all but a son to me, actually.

"I prefer he draw breath and continue, like myself, to be a thorn in the eight-legged abomination's side."

"How much longer," one of the others began, "do you anticipate needing? We can take up lodging, so you don't do something like trek across the world in the winter."

Drizzt chuckled. "I do know I can ask for aid in the surface city here," he said, smiling brightly. "But — " he looked at his sister, conveying questions with quick flicks of his fingers.

She answered, not pleased, but understanding in her own way, and he turned back to the four.

"Give me another night here."

"We'll return at sundown, tomorrow," the first of the four said firmly.

"The Dimmed Lantern," the other speaker said, "is where we'll be staying, Ranger, if you have need to leave earlier."

"Thank you, saers," Drizzt answered. "Until tomorrow."

The wizard-fighters withdrew, and the siblings went back inside, easing the slight headache Vierna had felt coming on. The guards would see to strengthening the defenses no matter what.

"Who were they?"

Vierna had waited until they were in her audience chamber again, with Drizzt sprawling on the steps to her dais and her sitting on the top one.

"Sons of the ruler of Silverymoon. Not the meeting I could have wished for with them," he said cheerfully.

Vierna stared at him. "You… did not know them?"

"I know of them," Drizzt answered. "I know the one who stepped forward first was Ghael; he was wearing clothing from Calimshan, and that's where he tends to stay. I think the second speaker was Andy; he's eldest after all, and the beads in his braid indicate a lord's status.

"The other two were probably the one that keeps an eye on Waterdeep, and one of her youngest ones, I think, as there was no insignia marking out a specialty in his robes, while the one I think is local had scroll-work embroidered in his fighting robes, indicating a teacher."

"And I am back to the fact that you did not physically know them, yet they came here and threatened my temple?! Drizzt, what in the names of the Abyssal Planes are you doing that such a party would do that?" Vierna demanded.

He did not answer, but the very interesting flush of heat in his cheeks gave Vierna an indication that this was treading on personal —

"You? Really?"

Now Vierna was amused, for a moment. "A ruler of a city." She then grew serious, protective even. "If she has taken choice from you, suborned you in any fashion — "

"No! Vierna, it was freely chosen, not like… not like that."

Vierna drew in a deep breath, remembering how terribly hard the ceremony had fallen on Drizzt, and it made her accept his word that this was a love match. Likely on both sides, Vierna decided, if the woman had sent her sons for Drizzt.

"She'd best not hurt you, you better not come to harm because of her, and alright." Vierna reached over and petted his hair. "Let's go have a spar, then food, and a soak, since our time is so limited now.

"And, there is the matter of the sending stones, as I do not want to lose contact."

"Nor do I, sister, strange as that feels."

---

Life felt quieter, once Drizzt had been gone a few hours. There was a small ache that Vierna clamped down on, ruthlessly, as she did have duties, but… it was there.

~In Waterdeep now, will be leaving … sometime in the next few days. I wish you well, my sister.~

The sending came after her nightly prayers, and it was full of the emotion that had made Vierna cling to the search for him.

Love.

He loved her, now they had open honesty and peace between them. And she loved him, as a sister, as a parent even.

~Until the next quarter moon, then, little brother, and we speak again, be well.~

They would survive, where their House had not. Someday, even, they would have their father back, to enjoy this new life they had carved for themselves.

Vierna was pleased on all levels at that idea, and knew it pleased Vhaeraun, who would have access to Zaknafein's abilities, through her, for His purposes.

It was all just a matter of plans coming to a head.