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right, and Captain Deudermont assured me that we had the bulk of the morning to
wait."
Bruenor plopped down on the bed. "Better," he said at length. "Gives me more
time to speak with the little one."
"You fear for Regis," observed Drizzt.
"Ayuh," Bruenor admitted. "The little one's done well by me." He pointed to
the onyx statuette on the dressing table. "And by yerself. Rumblebelly said it
himself: There's wealth to be taken here. Pook's gone, and it's to be
grab-as-grab-can. And that Entreri's about - that's not to me likin'. And more
of them ratmen, not to doubt, looking to pay the little one back for their pain.
And that wizard! Rumblebelly says he's got him by the gemstones, if ye get me
meaning, but it seems off to me that a wizard's caught by such a charm."
"To me, as well," Drizzt agreed.
"I don't like him, and I don't trust him!" Bruenor declared. "Rumblebelly's
got him standing right by his side."
"Perhaps you and I should pay LaValle a visit this morning," Drizzt offered,
"that we might judge where he stands."
* * *
Bruenor's knocking technique shifted subtly when they arrived at the
wizard's door, from the gentle tapping he had laid on Drizzt's door, to a
battering-ram crescendo of heavy slugs. LaValle jumped from his bed and rushed
to see what was the matter, and who was beating upon his brand new door.
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"Morning, wizard," Bruenor grumbled, pushing into the room as soon as the
door cracked open.
"So I guessed," muttered LaValle, looking to the hearth and beside it to the
pile of kindling that was once his old door.
"Greetings, good dwarf," he said as politely as he could muster. "And Master
Do'Urden," he added quickly when he noticed Drizzt slipping in behind. "Were you
not to be gone by this late hour?"
"We have time," said Drizzt.
"And we're not for leaving till we've seen to the safety of Rumblebelly,"
Bruenor explained.
"Rumblebelly?" echoed LaValle.
"The halfling!" roared Bruenor. "Yer master."
"Ah, yes, Master Regis," said LaValle wistfully, his hands going together
over his chest and his eyes taking on a distant, glossy look.
Drizzt shut the door and glared, suspicious, at him.
LaValle's faraway trance faded back to normal when he considered the
unblinking drow. He scratched his chin, looking for somewhere to run. He
couldn't fool the drow, he realized. The dwarf, perhaps, the halfling,
certainly, but not this one. Those lavender eyes burned holes right through his
facade. "You do not believe that your little friend has cast his enchantment
over me," he said.
"Wizards avoid wizards' traps," Drizzt replied.
"Fair enough," said LaValle, slipping into a chair.
"Bah! Then ye're a liar, too!" growled Bruenor, his hand going to the axe on
his belt. Drizzt stopped him.
"If you doubt the enchantment," said LaValle, "do not doubt my loyalty. I am
a practical man who has served many masters in my long life. Pook was the
greatest of these, but Pook is gone. LaValle lives on to serve again."
"Or mighten be that he sees a chance to make the top," Bruenor remarked,
expecting an, angry response from LaValle.
Instead, the wizard laughed heartily. "I have my craft," he said. "It is all
that I care for. I live in comfort and am free to go as I please. I need not the
challenges and dangers of a guildmaster." He looked to Drizzt as the more
reasonable of the two. "I will serve the halfling, and if Regis is thrown down,
I will serve he that takes the halfling's place."
The logic satisfied Drizzt, and convinced him of the wizard's loyalty beyond
any enchantment the ruby could have induced. "Let us take our leave," he said to
Bruenor, and he started out the door.
Bruenor could trust Drizzt's judgment, but he couldn't resist one final
threat. "Ye crossed me, wizard," he growled from the doorway. "Ye nearen killed
me girl. If me friend comes to a bad end, ye'll pay with yer head."
LaValle nodded but said nothing.
"Keep him well," the dwarf finished with a wink, and he slammed the door
with a bang.
"He hates my door," the wizard lamented.
* * *
The troupe gathered inside the guildhouse's main entrance an hour later,
Drizzt, Bruenor, Wulfgar, and Catti-brie outfitted again in their adventuring
gear, and Drizzt with the magical mask hanging loose around his neck.
Regis, with attendants in tow, joined them. He would make the trip to the
Sea Sprite beside his formidable friends. Let his enemies see his allies in all
their splendor, the sly new guildmaster figured, particularly a drow elf!
"A final offer before we go," Regis proclaimed.
"We're not for staying," Bruenor retorted.
"Not to you," Regis said. He turned squarely to Drizzt. "To you."
Drizzt waited patiently for the pitch as the halfling rubbed his eager hands
together.
"Fifty thousand gold pieces," Regis said at length, "for your cat."
Drizzt's eyes widened to double their size.
"Guenhwyvar will be well cared for, I assure-"
Catti-brie slapped Regis on the back of the head. "Find yer shame," she
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scolded. "Ye know the drow better than that!"
Drizzt calmed her with a smile. "A treasure for a treasure?" he said to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]