Tales of Faerun

Bard Tales (400 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Regis [The Legend of Drizzt Series], Bruenor Battlehammer, Wulfgar son of Beornegar
Additional Tags: Slice of Life
Summary:

As they travel, they hear tales

Bard Tales

The party of four, one with his hood riding low and pulled tight, had settled as far from the fire as they could. Given the fur trim on all of their clothes, and the striking statue of the one with a hammer, it was easy enough to surmise they were in off of the tundra to the north. They seemed an odd lot, even discounting the hidden one, as the other two were a dwarf and a halfling.

A bard was idly strumming his guitar, and slowly telling a speaking-song, a tale of the region.

"…and evil doers need beware, as the tortured soul of an elf is known to haunt the 'fare. Black as night and driven by thirst, vengeance his for those as laid the curse. Aye, go not by night with evil in your heart, or you too will share the death that is his to impart."

The halfling giggled slightly, looking at the hidden member of the party. "They think you're a ghost? And cursed as well?"

"I think they must speak of another; I've been gone from these parts for years," the hidden one answered, but he was amused. If only they knew his truth.

---

"… tell you I seen the drow, gone on a dozen years or so. His cloak was magic, hiding him until he meant to be seen, boots that let him walk in silence. His swords blazed with the magic of their speed and keen edges," a man was telling he group fixated on him.

"The second tavern we've taken meals in and heard tells of you," the big man said to his well-covered companion.

"It cannot be me; I carry little in the way of magic."

The halfling rolled his eyes. "Sure. But you do look and act magical, you know!"

---

"…like a banshee, but silent, they say. To see the avenger is to find death," the story-teller was saying. "There are rumors that he is no drow, but an elf trapped in the form of his cursed enemies, and he seeks the one that did him wrong. All who get in his path — "

"Fireside tales and lies," the dwarf harumphed loudly. "I tell ye now ye should judge by deeds, not supposed powers and fearful nonsense! Heard ye of any goodly folk killed at his hands?"

The covered one seemed to fall further back into shadow as the bard tales were refuted.

A World Shaken Whole (6,053 words) by ilyena_sylph & senmut
Fandom: Forgotten Realms/Legend of Drizzt
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Philomena (Canon-Inspired OC), Drizzt Do'Urden, Ellifain Tuuserail, Catti-brie Battlehammer, Regis, Alustriel Silverhand, Ensemble Cast
Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Female Friendship, Reunions, Trauma, Background Relationships
Series: Part 8 of Sisters in Spirit
Summary:

A child learns what the drow was thinking, and open negotiations of a future begin

A World Shaken Whole

The small group wound up in an office to informally discuss the findings in the Hall, with Dhaeln having joined them. Once that was seen to, Dhaeln took Regis with her to get him a place to stay, Catti-brie having already stated she would stay in her ranger's room -- she knew he wasn't near as steady as he looked.

She never realized his world could be upset even more than whatever he and his sister had discussed first.

A young elf, moon if Catti remembered her lessons, came inside the office, already speaking before she'd really taken in that Vierna was not alone.

"Mama, I ne--"

The words broke off as she made eye contact with Drizzt sitting beside Catti, and Catti felt every muscle cord up in Drizzt's arm where it touched hers on seeing the elf go so pale.

"Purple eyes," the young elf whispered, not seeing anything but the image of a face from her mostly repressed nightmares.

Vierna rose from her chair and went to her daughter, putting her body between her daughter and her brother, taking sight of him from her daughter for the moment, even as she very carefully pulled her in against her chest. That accomplished, she turned her halfway, so she could look at her brother without putting Ellifain's back to her nightmare. "Easy, sweetheart," she murmured softly, "easy. You're safe, I'm here. Nothing is going to hurt you while I'm here."

"He has purple eyes," Ellifain said again, keeping her face tucked into her mother's chest.

"You -- she -- " Drizzt was helpless under the onslaught of fresh guilt for a thirty year old crime committed against the faerie. Catti slid closer to him, getting an arm around him.

"Yes, he does," Vierna agreed softly, entirely focused on her daughter for the moment. She heard Drizzt, but he was going to have to wait. "He is also my brother, and Ravenna and Dhaeln brought him here. They wouldn't bring anyone here that would hurt you, right?"

She freed one hand from her daughter's back and held up a hand in 'wait', then mentally called herself an idiot, held on to her daughter with her elbows and started signing. 'You said you 'did something' to earn Lloth's disfavor. Was it saving a faerie child?'

Drizzt gave an emphatic nod, then gave up and pulled Catti into his arms so he could hold her and hide his face, willing to wait, but shaken to his core. Despite Catti being of a size with him, she went, and just stroked his hair while he hid in her comfort.

"Your brother?" Ellifain asked, looking up to her mother.

"My brother," Vierna repeated, nodding as she looked at her daughter. "He grew up in the same awful place I did, and ran away like I did... but he didn't get a chance to run away until he was sent to the Surface. He saved you, deliberately, just like we always thought." She paused for a long moment, thinking, then asked, "Do you want to go home, and I'll listen to his story and come tell you? Or do you want to hear it yourself?"

Catti-brie had to admire the woman's calm and gentleness, even as she kept hold of Drizzt and stroked his hair, waiting. This... this was something her ranger had never talked about, and now he was face to face with it?

Ellifain, a child by elven standards, and encouraged to be that way by all of her people here, weighed it, then made the choice to pull back and look at the man.

He... he was upset too. She could tell that. And the human was holding him, sitting in the same space as him, being gentle with him, like Mama with her.

Were they both hurt by that night, herself and the man?

"I want to hear him say it." She did not, however, move from Vierna's immediate space.

"I... you deserve more than just the words I can say," Drizzt managed to say, looking up past Catti.

Vierna kissed her daughter's hair, more proud of her than she could possibly say, and then moved both of them to another chair, seating herself and bringing her daughter down into her lap.

"Drizzt, would you tell us -- tell Ellie -- how that raid came to happen, and why you did as you did?"

Drizzt drew in a deep breath, looking at the moon elf briefly, then focusing on his sister's shoulder.

"When I graduated school, I was assigned to stay on patrols, with Dinin still leading us. We were then given a raid, in recognition of how we handled patrols." He shook his head for the way drow society handled that. "I still half-thought, maybe the faerie were evil, just like I was taught, even as I was realizing that drow were evil.

"We came above, and the surface was everything I had been yearning for without even knowing it." He had to look down, arms tightening on Catti unconsciously. "Then I heard the music, the singing, and it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever known to that point.

"Only... it made everyone else worse, more violent, uglier in every aspect of how they were. And... we got close enough. I froze, didn't think to make a noise, something that would have given a chance to the dancers!"

Vierna made a quiet, sympathetic noise, nodding her understanding. "...even if you had," she said softly, "it would have made little difference, Drizzt, with a full raiding party."

"I... could not have killed them all, and Dinin was my brother even if we were nothing alike," Drizzt said softly. "When I saw the child, though, I saw a chance, a chance to protect one person.

"I am sorry that was all I could do."

Catti-brie carefully shifted, still letting Drizzt hold her, but looked at the ... to her eyes a young woman, but elves were different. "Me ranger means it. He gives his everything tae protectin' others. E'en when they donnae give him naught but trouble. For a child, he would've tried hardest."

Vierna smiled at that gentle, but fierce reinforcement, and hugged Ellifain a little closer against her. "We knew, from that Ellie was only stunned, not hurt, that someone had to have chosen to save her... but we had no idea who. I thought it must be someone questioning... and now we know that is truth.

"Thank you, little brother, for my daughter's life. And for telling us."

He nodded, falling back to the silence he'd held as a shield against his family, except for his father, to gather himself.

"How old were you, if you had just left school?" Ellifain asked.

That made him have to talk, and he looked at her, briefly, to answer. "Thirty. I wasn't yet thirty-one when I left the city."

"Younger than I am now," she said, her gentle nature aching as she saw that yes, that night had hurt them both in deep ways.

"We've done our best to let you be a child, though, Ellie," Vierna said, "while he was forced to take on adult responsibilities far too young."

"Aye," Catti-brie said, shaking her head as she tucked herself against her ranger a little more closely, "thirty's tae young even for a dwarf -- so many fights as I've had with me Da, tae make him understand I'm grown -- let alone an elf."

She'd never really known how young her ranger was, but if this elf was still a child, then...

Drizzt squeezed Catti for that, while dragging all of his control -- shattered by too many emotions in a single day -- back around him. "I am very relieved, joyful even, to know you did survive that awful night. I have worried all these years that... you had not."

Ellifain peered at him, then nodded, before tucking into her mother. This was so much, and she had answers, and the man was really a good one.

Vierna's heart ached for her brother, and for her daughter. She brought her pendant out from inside her tunic, laid her fingers on it, and began to sing a song of calming and rest, to help bring their turbulent and painful emotions back under their control, exerting her will to ensure it would have the effect she desired.

It worked, very well on Ellifain, but she noticed, like Ravenna had, it took more effort to help it reach her brother. He did calm, and eventually let Catti shift into her own space again.

"You're my uncle," Ellie finally said, making up her mind. "And I think you have to have learned how to be good already. So... welcome to Spirit Sanctuary," she managed to say. "Mama, I am going to go lie down a bit."

"Of course, sweetheart," Vierna answered, letting her daughter out of her embrace. "Do you want me to come sing you to sleep, love?"

"Yes?"

Ellifain wanted that, and also it was a small test of if her uncle would be more than her in her mama's heart, without even seeing it quite that way.

"Rest well. Vierna, Catti and I are also going to go rest," Drizzt said, but he did not stand yet, not wanting to seem a threat at all. "I remember the way to the quarters you pointed out."

"All right," Vierna said as she rose to take her daughter and stay with her until she knew she was sleeping well. "Rest well, my brother, Catti-brie."

"Thank you," Drizzt said. Once they had left, he did rise, and walked with his friend to the quarters they had been shown. He did not lie down, though, choosing instead to drop on the floor after removing what he needed to for comfort, and settled to do the deep breathing exercises Montolio had taught him. "I'm sorry you had to hear that, Catti-brie.

"It is the worst thing I have ever been a part of."

Catti-brie snorted at him and dropped onto the floor with him, laying her head on his stomach and turning a little on her side to face him. "'Twas a terrible thing, aye," she agreed quietly, "but I'm nae sorry tae have heard how long ye've done the best ye could do tae protect others, me ranger."

He brought his hand to her hair, stroking gently. "I ... thank you, Catti. For supporting me, for believing in me," he told her softly. "I think, now that I have faced that, I might begin believing a little more in who I am."

Catti leaned into his hand, smiling up at him. "That's good, then. I'm glad of it... though I think 'twas nae knowin' if the lass had lived or died as tormented ye most, me ranger. Aye?"

He took a deep breath, then made an affirmative noise. "I saw how broken Belwar was in his spirit, after my attempt at mercy. It left me worried for the child. And... if my father had to die because of it, I needed her to have survived!"

Catti twisted to hug him, arms around his shoulders and under his neck, half draped over him, as she said quietly, "Ach, Drizzt... that was a hard thing for ye, aye, an' tae not ken...." She shook her head. "Now ye know, an' 'tis what ye'd have wished. She's safe, an' well, an' yer sister counts her as daughter. So... yer da got a gran'babe from it, aye?"

Drizzt half-smiled. "So he did. I think he'd be startled, but accept it."

Catti stretched up and kissed his forehead, squeezed him again, and then wriggled back down to her previous position. "Aye, I think as much. ...why are we on this floor, me ranger."

"Because I was going to do some breathing exercises and let you sprawl on the bed without me taking up space," he said in a mild tone. "But you, as ever, have calmed me. So we can both lie down."

Catti nodded and got up, putting her hands down to pull him to his feet so they could go and rest.

He let her, pulling her in to hug her a long moment, before joining her on the bed to rest for a time.

It had been a momentous day, after all.

---

Vierna's sending of 'we have met Ellie's rescuer and he is my brother' had elicited a yelp and immediate promise to arrive on the morrow. Mena came, wearing her moon-elf persona of Marith, so as to not be quite so imposing, and arrived as the new drow was practicing in the 'courtyard', really just one of the fields easily reached from the main village, with a human Mena did not know.

Vierna was watching, and several fighters, many of whom were openly talking about the technique on display.

"Sister," Mena called, smiling, though her eyes stayed on the odd pair... and that was a halfling on the other side of the circle, sitting with Dhaeln!

Vierna turned gladly, smiling as she called, "Marith!" in return as she came towards her to hug her friend. "Obviously, that is my brother out there, with his student Catti-brie Battlehammer. The halfling with Dhaeln is Regis, a friend of theirs."

"And your brother's name?" Marith asked, slightly teasing, as she settled with an arm around Vierna's waist, turning to watch. "He's teaching her? He's good, and she shows signs of being good at it too."

The pair being talked about weren't paying any attention, as Drizzt needed the activity of training to settle in his skin, and Catti-brie was determined to hone her skills as a fighter, even more than before.

"Drizzt," Vierna said quietly, "Drizzt Do'Urden. My full brother, not half."

"Son of the Weapon Master, then? My my, no wonder he might be your peer," Marith answered that. "Catch me up on everything?"

"Yes," Vierna agreed, and took her hand to find somewhere to sit. "The first I knew of matters," she said, "was your mother arriving by phantom steed to ask for my help," she began, and summarized through to having shepherded Ellie off to bed.

Marith was more than impressed, by all of it, but she was also worried. "Vierna, my soul's sister, I fear that the gods are meddling, for so many things to tie events together like this."

"I know someone is," Vierna said unhappily. "He's hard to heal, hard to calm, and we've never been able to scry him. Eilistraee's never heard him, for all that he blazes of goodness like a paladin."

Marith chuckled. "Even knowing you, I find the idea of a drow paladin amusing," she pointed out. "So he should see Mother, and let her discern if there is a spell at work? A fate charm or such. Except Mother turned him away, for the city's sake. However, I can sneak him directly into the palace."

"...I think I can convince him to accept that, because whatever is interfering could be a danger to us," Vierna said after contemplating it for a few moments.

"And the girl needs to go anyway, to make allies for her father. So, yes. Tomorrow. I'll reach out to Mother to warn her, make certain it won't cause harm." Marith smiled brightly.

Vierna laughed at her smug look and hugged her again, glad that there would be someone as wise and experienced as Mena's mother to look at whatever was interfering between her goddess and her brother.

---

Having spent the day getting to know Drizzt and his friends, Mena settled in her room and put the sending anklet on, tuning to just her mother.

~I am in Spirit Sanctuary, there is magic affecting Drizzt Do'Urden. I want to know if I can bring them directly to the palace.~ That was far more concise than she'd expected to get it to, but Mother could reply and kick a new sending off if needed.

She felt her mother's surprise and relief, as well as an... anticipation, almost, before Alustriel answered, ~Don't be seen, things are still... difficult. But yes. I will help as much as I can. All my love, dear one.~

Mena sat back, then nodded to herself. She could cast invisibility on Drizzt, and it would seem she only had Catti-brie and Regis with her. If they went to her room to wait, that would be best.

Once they were tucked in there, she would go arrange the official appointment for Catti-brie as Bruenor's designated voice.

---

Catti-brie was watching intently as Mena -- not Marith, and she needed to learn about shape-changing people -- opened the door to let the Lady of Silverymoon in. She had caught the tension in her Da about the woman, heard the teasing from Wulfgar, and seen the strangeness in Drizzt when the woman was mentioned.

And the Lady was an impressive woman to behold, as tall as Mena was right now, all silver hair and pale skin and wearing blues that made the silver stand out. She looked over at Drizzt --

-- he was transfixed by her, absolutely watching only her, barely aware of the others. Catti looked at Regis, who winked outrageously about Drizzt being like that.

Alustriel had carefully ensured that her eyes stayed on her daughter until she had greeted her and kissed her cheek, until the door of the room shut and she could look to her hidden guest. "Welcome to Silverymoon, Drizzt Do'Urden," she told him, so very glad to see that he had come through whatever troubles had followed him in good health, unable to look away from him in this so much better light for a long moment. Forcibly, she looked to her daughter again. "Mena, introduce me to our other guests?"

"This is Catti-brie Battlehammer, heart-daughter of Bruenor Battlehammer, chieftain of the clan, and this is Regis, once of Lonelywood of the Ten-Towns," Mena said smoothly, no matter how much she was startled by seeing her mother actually speechless for a moment.

"Greetings, Lady Alustriel," Drizzt said with all of his manners on display.

"Greetings, Lady, and may my stay here be better this time than last time," Catti said, uncertain how she felt about Drizzt was reacting. "Regis and I are here tae speak on behalf o' me Da and clan."

"Mena already told us, last night, that we should seek the Rockcrusher clan," Regis said helpfully, "but we do need to deal with the power in the region that we're told can be fair." He said it guilelessly, but the turning away still nettled, no matter how Drizzt seemed at peace.

Alustriel had turned her full attention to Catti-brie at her words. "Your first stay? I heard nothing from any of my people that a princess of one of my old allies had come to my gates. Will you tell me what occurred?"

That question asked, she shifted her gaze to Regis, her unhappy expression at the woman's words lightening as she spoke to him. "I attempt fairness in all my dealings... but I may never place my personal wishes over the security of my people. My sisters have been at work in the city, soothing the fears stirred by Nesme, but if you can help me calm the merchants over tales of a dangerous drow, I will be profoundly grateful."

Regis dimpled a little. "I would gladly do so, while I am here," he said.

"Aye, and 'tis fair enough tae protect yer people such as that," Catti-brie said, "but yet an assassin with a wizard bent on evil deeds c'n stay within yer walls, holdin' me hostage." She took a deep breath. "Is o'er and done, but methinks that yer people need lessons in weighing deeds, not words."

"The assassin, the wizard, her guard, and the construct with them are all dead or destroyed," Drizzt said. "The latter three were seeking me due to my involvement in terrible events. The assassin was from Regis's past, and we should focus on the future or the now, not that."

Alustriel's eyes flashed silver for a moment as she took a deep breath at hearing such a thing had happened. "Let me guess," she said bitterly to Catti-brie's take, "they were all human. And yes... often as I try to make that plain, it is difficult for people to see past fear. I am pleased to hear that they are no longer a problem, but horrified that it happened at all."

"All human, aye," Catti-brie conceded.

"Artemis Entreri has been a danger for hire for at least fifteen years," Regis offered. "Drizzt did the Realms a large favor by removing him from them."

Drizzt half-shrugged.

"Mena said," Catti-brie said, realizing that Drizzt really didn't want to dwell on killing, "that I'm tae meet you proper later, but that ye might wish a report o' what happened with me Da's quest ahead of that."

"I would very much appreciate that, yes," Alustriel replied, moving to take one of the empty seats, "if you would be so kind."

Catti-brie nodded, and began the tale, letting Regis pipe up at times, and looking to Drizzt to add as he would, especially about the shades and the dragon scale. It took time, but they made it all the way through, with Drizzt stating the last of it.

"The cleric who aided us agrees with me that it is either a deep dragon or a shadow dragon, with the latter more likely."

"Certainly not someone I want to continue having as a neighbor," Alustriel said with a shake of her head, her mouth tightening. "Luckily, I have several experienced sons -- and, I think, a daughter -- who will want to be involved in ridding our region of such a danger?"

She raised a brow at her daughter even as she smiled.

"Of course I will help. Vierna plans to, though we still have to work out how to protect her clerics from perceptions." Mena gave a smile for that. "I could borrow some rings maybe? Aunt has several for her people to trade in Waterdeep."

"If it were only me clan," Catti-brie said, "there'd be nae need for such. We know our elf, an' we'd welcome his sister's folk. But I've heard enow o' the other clans down here tae know there'd need tae be summat, aye. We have tae leave that to ye mages, I suppose." She paused for a moment, then raised a brow. "Several sons, Lady?"

"A dozen of them, though some of them have gone a... long way, and may have a bit of difficulty making it back. One of them in particular would be very angry with me if I tried to keep him from coming to learn about a new species of dragon," she said with an amused curve of her lips. "I think your aunt would be willing to lend them for this, I'll ask her later."

"Thank you, Mother," Mena said warmly. "Though, given I've known her longer..." she teased, letting it trail off.

"Only House Baenre had near that in daughters," Drizzt said, surprised. "And she's said to be at least a thousand, maybe two."

"Elves," Regis said, but there was a tinge of wistful for the fact that Drizzt would all too soon lose the friends he'd made, strictly because they lived on different time-lines.

"Well, I'm not quite that old," Alustriel said, looking again at the ranger who had already had such an effect on her, "and I tend towards having twins -- or in one memorable and exhausting case, triplets. That speeds things up a bit."

He shook his head. "I do not want to think of what drow society -- the kind I grew up in -- would do with a litter born to one woman. I do not think it would be kind at all."

Catti-brie winced, just from some of the offhanded comments he had made about his city through their years together. "Best not tae think on it, me ranger. Ye've the softest heart for children as it is."

"The Tall Ones!" Regis exclaimed. "You're the mother of the Tall Ones!"

Alustriel felt herself pale just a little, and she shook her head. "No," she agreed. "That's not worth thinking about at all, from the stories I have heard. And yes," she added, turning her eyes to Regis as she found a smile somewhere for the recognition of her sons. "I am. They prefer not to make too much noise about that outside of Silverymoon -- where a large part of the elven population at least remembers them as children -- but they are mine."

"I saw one, once, from a great distance," Regis said. "And as I traveled I heard about them!" He looked at Drizzt. "You getting to meet one of them should be really good. Supposedly they all ride pegasi, and I just know the pegasi would like you!"

Mena contemplated her sworn-sister's brother a long moment. "I feel, from the stories about you so far, and how careful you were with Ellie, that your friend is right. The pegasi always know who is truly good, and they will be curious about you, once you meet my brothers."

"I have spent many an hour, when I was still in the hills south of here, watching them fly over, but never thought to meet one," Drizzt said, a little awed at the idea.

"Ghael's partner Ruakerym might be... fractious, but he is a rather temperamental stud who doesn't care for anyone but Ghael... and his own foals," Alustriel said. "The others, though, I believe Mena is quite right about."

"Oh I forgot he friended one of that line -- isn't Del's one of Rua's throws?" Mena asked. "No, never mind. We should probably tell you the other part of why I brought them all here, before you have to go so you can think on it.

"Drizzt can't hear Eilistraee, and She can't perceive him, and the clerics had a harder time healing and calming him," Mena explained. "We're hoping you might be better able to perceive why. Because I just don't think Mielikki would have been that careless in granting protections."

"No," Alustriel replied, "I cannot believe that She would, either. If I cannot learn anything, I will send to the Ladyservant and ask her to come and give her opinion. But let me see what I can see." She paused for a moment, and decided she probably should give warning. "My eyes may turn silver, and silver sparks flicker from my hair and fingertips. It's a... side effect of what I will likely have to do to gain an answer, and not a danger to anyone here."

"Thank ye for the warning; I'm not much used tae magic," Catti-brie said, though she still itched to move closer to her ranger.

Drizzt relaxed as fully as he knew how, trying to be willfully cooperative with this search.

One sword, something in his pouch, the amulet he wore... all of it came back strongly magical, with divinity in the last of the three. But under, more subtle than all of that yet glaring in the nature of it, was a shroud of magic, one that had a sticky impression, once Alustriel had gone deep enough in studying him.

Alustriel frowned a little, peering at the sticky shroud with eyes beginning to slide to silver-glow, her head tipping slightly to the side. What was... oh, ugh. Sticky, spidery webbing -- there could only be one source for that.

She slid sideways into the silverfire, into communion with her Mother, and tugged, drawing Mystra's attention to what was before her. :Mother... what has Lolth done here?:

Mystra peered at what Her daughter had found, and then came more fully to the anchor that Alustriel was, seeing a clue, perhaps, in the shadow on the horizon.

:What does that eight-legged nuisance think She is doing, weaving such a mess around one that could never be Hers?: was muttered, even as the Mistress of the Weave studied it and determined the best way to deal with it. "Philomena," Mystra said aloud, speaking through Alustriel, "hold a coin or a stone on your palm for me."

Startled, having firmly wished to never have to deal with her Grandmother directly, Mena pulled out a nicely sized opal she'd been holding onto for experimenting, and watched as it began to hover, then spin over her palm.

Alustriel was still there, watching in satisfaction as the nasty mess wrapped all around this generous, kindhearted, forgiving soul was slowly pulled away, spun off into the opal and lodged there until the whole mess was removed and the opal fell back into her daughter's hand. Mystra left her, then, as gently as She could... but Alustriel still slumped back against the chair, winded, starving, thirsty, and a little dazed.

"Go put... that thing... in my workroom, in the lead lock-box," she told her daughter, her eyes closed.

"Yes, Mother," Mena said, after a quick look to Drizzt -- who was moving to pour water from the decanter. The magical effort had barely done more than make his skin feel a pressure, as the evil was pulled free enough to let him actually discern it.

"Here, Lady," Drizzt said, once he had the water and had moved to her, Mena having departed. "Drink." He held the glass near her hand, his concern evident to both of his friends.

Alustriel felt the cool of the water and the glass next to her hand, and moved just enough to take it and bring it to her lips without opening her eyes, letting the water refresh her. After a few careful sips, she felt enough better to open her eyes and find his openly concerned gaze. "Thank you," she said, breathing a little easier. "Do you have anything very sweet, or very high protein?"

Drizzt nodded, and moved to his pack, coming back with smoked caribou, as well as one of the honey and berry nuggets he'd made for quick energy. "Both," he said, smiling as he offered them to her.

She took the honeyed fruit first, with a grateful smile, and felt the energy hitting her in a welcome rush. The jerky, though, looked entirely appealing and she bit off a piece of it as well, tucking it back against her cheek to soften. "My apologies," she said, "but it is... draining... to be a goddess, even One who loves you."

Drizzt nodded. "I am thankful, as whatever that was, once it was separated from me felt entirely too wrong," he told her, settling beside her chair, looking up at her from a cross-legged position, in case she needed more. "Once you have recovered some, if you would, I wish to know what it was."

"As do we," Catti-brie said, not happy, for more reasons than she could fully spell out even to herself.

"Of course," Alustriel agreed as she chewed the bit of jerky, drank some more water, and chewed another bite before she felt capable of explaining entirely coherently. Her Mother had left the explanation of what it was, and a guess at how long it had been there, behind when She left. "To quote Mystra, lady of magic," she said, "'What does that eight-legged nuisance think She is doing, weaving such a mess around one that could never be Hers?' There was a shroud around you -- which would have been a breach of the terms of the end of the War of the Seldarine, if Lolth had not crafted it to obscure you from Her clerics as well. It kept you from being noted by any of Them, and apparently interfered with Their spells as well."

Drizzt frowned, his agile mind pouring over that. He thought about the state of the city after he left, then what probably happened once he defeated his mother with the effigy of his father.

"Why would She do that?" Regis asked, and Drizzt sighed.

"My House, when I left was Ninth, one off the ruling council, and under attack from the Fifth House. That they survived to send a hunter after me ten years later implies Fifth was defeated, which would have placed them on the council.

"Only, given the magic involved in that hunt, I am almost certain my House fell when I defeated the hunter." Drizzt shook his head. "Briza never would have held it for long, given that I understand now zealots are only useful as puppets, unless they have charisma and she did not.

"So, the city of my birth, would have had a minor upheaval at the upper level, spreading chaos down the ranks, all because a good-natured male was hidden from their view."

"Causing chaos, and therefore satisfying that One's nature," Alustriel said with a quiet sigh. "Or at least, that's what She'd likely claim. Lying trickster that She is. Well, I am glad to have been able to remove that filth from you. Perhaps my last-born sister can put it to some use giving Vhaeraun's folk in Skullport trouble."

Mena slipped back inside, took in the arrangement, and decided to go sit next to Regis.

"I am still... digesting that She is not the only deity of the drow," Drizzt said wryly. "I should have guessed that was a lie, but honestly, with Her stench all over us, who would expect another deity to stay?"

Alustriel chuckled softly, and switched which hand the glass was in so she could reach down to him, offering her hand. "Not an unreasonable position," she said softly. "But Eilistraee is as stubborn as Her people tend to be."

He gave his hand to her, marveling at how quick to touch him she was, at the way it rested so peacefully in his soul to be touched by her. What was this connection between them?

Catti-brie noted it, and wondered too, but it was not for her to say something now. Later, yes.

"I look forward to learning more, once I have seen my friend into his proper home," Drizzt said. "My sister has invited me to stay with them, for a time."

"I am glad of that," she said, "I like Vierna, and have several reasons to be grateful her people guard my northwestern border."

"I am grateful, Lady, that you chose to inform her of my friends and I," Drizzt said. "The help they gave was immeasurable."

"That's what Vierna does, once she knows of a need," Mena said. "As you likely guessed after meeting Ellie." Mena looked at her mother. "We solved the mystery of who spared Vierna's daughter.

"It was Drizzt. Which is part of why we were so concerned at how tangled everything was growing, when he is Vierna's full brother, had spared Ellie, and then wound up back in the region."

Alustriel's hand tightened slightly as she looked down at Drizzt again, her heart aching for the child she'd been told about and the man beside her, whose eyes had gone haunted at the mention. "I see why," she agreed. "Those are several coincidences all at once."

"Add in that he's been seen by Aunt Dove when he was first up here, I thought it needed looked into," Mena said happily.

Drizzt returned the squeeze, and gave Alustriel a soft smile for the concern. "I do not wish to be within the gods' games, but Mielikki and I came to an understanding. Any others needing my skills will have to meet my standards as She does."

Regis could not help but laugh. "Yes, Lady, this is how he is."

Alustriel laughed, her eyes brightening with amusement. "Well, it is good for Them to have a challenge now and then. I have never not been a part of divine events, but I certainly understand your opinion! I've had moments I've wished to be less a part of it all."

Drizzt inclined his head, privately aware of a growing wish to face the future near this woman, and uncertain of what he was thinking -- or feeling.

Mena turned the conversation to the topic of the Rockcrushers then, while filing away this thing she saw growing between her mother and the ranger.

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

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

Tales of the Companions (932 words) by senmut
Chapters: 1/1
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Canon-typical violence and behavior
Characters: Catti-brie, Bruenor Battlehammer, Drizzt Do'Urden, Wulfgar son of Beornegar,Bruenorson son of Wulfgar
Additional Tags: Drabble/Ficlet collection
Summary:

A collection of the Companions in various moments

Five ficlets under cut

Bruenor Battlehammer had taken his dwarves to the fight because it had been right… and goblins were always good to smash.

Now, though, he had a pickle of a situation, having found a girl among the bodies that was still alive.

Sure, there was more of Ten Towns with all their humans. Mayhaps the girl would find a place among them.

He looked down at the bairn in his arms, axe leaned against a smoldering wood pile for the moment.

Did he want that for her? No. She'd just lost her kin, her home, and seen it happen. He might only be able to remember the flight from the Hall in his nightmares, mostly, but he knew what she was going through.

It couldn't be that much harder raising a human girl, could it?

She should have other survivors, ones as had lost things pieces of their own lives. He couldn't condemn her to being little more than a servant to greedy men fleeing their own pasts because of wicked deeds.

No, he'd keep her.

That decided, Bruenor shifted her into one arm, tucked tight to himself, grabbed the axe, and headed back to his own caverns with his people.

---

"Wish there was a yeti. Or a frost giant," Bruenor griped. He irritably swiped his weapon sideways, cleaving a drift and making snow dump on the nearly cleared track they followed.

"You, my friend, merely wish an excuse to not go to the Towns' meet." The dark-skinned, cloaked ranger looked at the dwarf in amusement. "You're still in uproar over the delegation, aren't you?"

For answer, Bruenor muttered dark imprecations over the breeding habits of humans and the ancestry of one in particular.

"Me daughter's no trading asset!" the dwarf roared. His voice was answered by a resounding yowl and roar from the nearby hills, making the dwarf light up.

"It seems we have your wish," Drizzt said, as the pair of friends changed direction to go deal with the unseen monster.

---

"Watch yer blank, not the hammer! If'n ye don't know where the hammer'll land, you've got no right to be forgin'," Bruenor snapped at the barbarian youth. "Ye keep eyes on the metal, so you see the stresses and the impurities, should there be any."

"This is not the work of my people," Wulfgar muttered darkly… and felt the smack of a hand on the back of his head. His only consolation was that the dwarf had to stand on a stool to oversee the work and reach like that.

"Maybe if'n it was, yer people wouldna come up against Ten Towns with such piss poor weapons," Bruenor told him.

Instead of retorting, Wulfgar thought on that. It was true that Ten Towns' militia-folk were outfitted better than many towns could hope, though they traded dear for it. Bruenor's people were not charitable where trade was concerned, and knew how to get fair price.

"Maybe you have a point," he conceded.

Bruenor hid his smile in his beard; the lad was learning, and maybe when the boy's apprenticeship was up, there would be good to come of it.

Then again, maybe Bruenor was getting too rosy-eyed in his old age.

---

"Ye best be thinking something else," Catti-brie warned with mock ferocity.

Regis looked at her sheepishly, then shrugged. "I'd not even be able to hold it steady to fit an arrow to the string," he admitted. "So of what use would it be to me?"

"Bribe to a drow, mayhaps?" she asked, just to watch him flush brightly, his reddened cheeks matching ears and nose now. She came and crouched in front of him. "Regis, if it is true a dark elf seeks ye, trust in your friends, not stealing, to keep you safe."

He nodded, chastened and reassured again.

---

Lavender eyes gleamed with the impossible odds, as this band had him surrounded, complete with two winter wolves baying for his blood.

Drizzt had come to escape losses, and forgotten the first rule of the Far North, that the winds could deceive even his sensitive ears in these passes.

The verbeeg were aware that numbers and terrain favored them. As the first one advanced, a familiar blur of motion slammed into that one's chest, before vanishing back to the hand of the one that wielded it.

"Go, or die. The ranger is under protection of the Tribe of the Elk," a strong voice boomed, not quite the sound of one Drizzt had known.

A flicker of attention back, and Drizzt saw five warriors of that tribe, one with Aegis-fang in hand now.

A winter wolf lunged, and the battle commenced, but with much more even odds. Drizzt fought alongside the Uthgardt, until not a giant-kind nor a winter wolf breathed. Then, he could truly see his rescuers.

"Bruenorson, son of Wulfgar," the wielder of Aegis-Fang introduced. "And you are Drizzt Do'Urden, friend of my father."

"Well-met, King Bruenorson," Drizzt said. "I leave the spoils to your people."

"Come to stay with us in our hunting camp, for you are known to us, and we remember those that made it possible for my father's blood to rule," the king said, even as he flicked a hand for the others to pick over the corpses.

"I would like that, and to hear of Wulfgar's line," Drizzt agreed, moving to the wolves. Their pelts could be his project, while he remained in the Far North, unless the tribesmen wished them.

"We have much to share, for my father was a bold man all the way to his death."

"How could he be otherwise?"