The Last Threshold tns-4

by R. A. Salvatore

  He thought back to the previous day, when he had watched the Shifter approach Draygo’s residence with an elderly Toril man in tow. He had thought then that the visit concerned the panther, and this seemed to confirm it.

  “A druid,” he muttered under his breath, considering again the dress of the human accompanying the Shifter.

  He looked at the empty cage. So what, exactly, had this druid done?

  Effron realized then that he had to move quickly. Draygo Quick would learn of his visit, obviously, and the withered old warlock wasn’t known for his merciful tendencies. The tiefling was out of the castle in short order, not even bothering to hide from any of the other residents he passed along the way. When he crossed the courtyard and exited the great gates surrounding Castle Quick, Effron couldn’t deny the wave of relief that washed over him. He had called this place his home for many years, but now it brought him only dread.

  But where to go? He thought that perhaps he should just head to Toril, out of the realm of shadows, and begin the hunt, though he had certainly counted upon having the panther as a bargaining tool. Should he just try anyway, without the cat, and pretend as if none of this mattered?

  As with his choices regarding the two approaching warlocks in the hallway, and because of that very encounter, it came clear to him that the decision had already been made.

  Draygo Quick would find him, wherever he chose to go.

  Information alone would save him, Effron decided, so he set out with all speed to find that most elusive of Shadovar.

  She was waiting for him, sitting on a bench set out in front of her modest home, amid her black-petal roses and dull flox. A small fountain sat off to the side of her, the water playing a rather entrancing tune.

  Effron didn’t ever remember hearing the water song before and wondered if this was an added guard or deception put forth by the Shifter.

  He looked at her-at the image of her that was probably not her-as he approached.

  “It took you longer than I expected,” she greeted him. “Draygo Quick’s home is not so far, after all.”

  “Draygo Quick’s home?”

  “You just came from there,” the Shifter answered smugly.

  Effron started to protest, but the woman’s smirk mocked him to silence.

  “Were you going to steal her, or simply try to harm her that you might harm Lord Draygo by extension?”

  “I do not know of what you speak.”

  “And I am sure that you do. So where does that leave us? At the end of our conversation, I expect, so please leave.”

  Effron felt as if the ground was rising up about him to swallow him where he stood. He desperately needed to speak to the Shifter, but her tone had left little room for debate.

  “Where is the panther?” he pressed.

  “I just told you to leave,” came her voice from the side, and the image before him shimmered to nothingness, a not-so-subtle reminder that she could strike at him from any angle she chose.

  Effron brought his good hand to his face, feeling so very small and so very over his head at that terrible moment. He had thought himself clever, and daring even, for going into Draygo Quick’s private residence uninvited, and yet even this person watching from the side had him all figured out. If that was the case, how could he possibly avoid the falling axe of Draygo Quick’s judgment?

  “You are still here,” the Shifter remarked, now from the other side.

  “To steal her,” Effron admitted. A long silence ensued. Effron dared not speak further, and dared not move.

  “Say that again,” the Shifter demanded, and Effron looked up to see her sitting comfortably on the bench once more.

  “To steal her,” he admitted.

  “You would dare to so betray Draygo Quick?”

  “I had no choice,” Effron replied, his voice taking on a tone of desperation. “I have to get to her-do you not understand? — and I cannot hope to fight my way through her growing number of allies!”

  The image of the Shifter looked over to Effron’s left, and he turned his head just in time to see a pouch flying through the air, moving back behind him. He spun with it, to see the Shifter, now appearing behind him, catch the purse. Effron spun back around to see her sitting on the bench once more, jingling the coins.

  “You had every choice,” Draygo Quick remarked, coming out of the brush to the left, first in wraithform, then quickly becoming fully three-dimensional.

  “Master,” Effron breathed and he bowed his head. He thought that he should fall to his knees and beg for mercy then, though it would surely prove futile. He was caught, by his own admission, and there seemed no road to freedom before him.

  “Thank you,” Draygo Quick said to the Shifter.

  “My work is done here?” she asked.

  Draygo nodded.

  “Then please get this broken creature far from my home,” the Shifter said.

  Effron looked at her, his expression revealing that he was truly wounded by her harsh words. For he had hired her and paid her well, after all, even when she had failed him.

  She returned the look with a helpless shrug, then simply vanished.

  “Walk with me,” Draygo Quick bade him, and the old warlock started along the swampy road toward his home.

  Effron fell in line, obediently behind him, until Draygo Quick waved him up.

  “You actually believed that you could walk into my house and steal something as valuable as Guenhwyvar?”

  “Borrow, not steal,” Effron replied.

  “You would trade her to the drow to get him away from Dahlia,” Draygo Quick reasoned.

  “I meant to threaten the drow with her destruction if he did not move aside and remain aside,” Effron replied.

  “Did not the Shifter do exactly that in the tunnel outside of Gauntlgrym?” asked the old warlock. “And to no avail?”

  “It would be different, I expect, if the one holding the cat had the means and intent to kill her before Drizzt Do’Urden’s very eyes.”

  “So that was your plan?”

  Effron nodded and Draygo Quick laughed at him.

  “You do not understand this Drizzt Do’Urden creature.”

  “I have to try.”

  “Guenhwyvar is beside him at this time,” Draygo Quick explained.

  Effron’s eyes went wide. “You gave her back to him? He murdered my father! He and his friends defeated us at Gauntlgrym! And before that, in Neverwinter! They destroyed the sword! You would reward an avowed enemy of the Empire of Netheril?”

  “You presume much.”

  The calm tenor of Draygo Quick’s voice stole Effron’s bluster.

  The old warlock stopped and turned to face his former student directly. “The panther is my spy within Drizzt’s group,” he said. “I should like that to continue. In fact, I insist upon it.”

  “Spy?”

  “I know that you intend to go after Dahlia. I cannot stop that, foolish as it seems, but perhaps I was too hard on you. There are forces at play within your heart that are beyond my comprehension, and so I forgive you this transgression.”

  Effron nearly fell over with relief, and shock.

  “But I tell you this in strictest confidence, and on penalty of a most horrible death should you ever reveal a word of it,” Draygo Quick said. “Drizzt Do’Urden is a curiosity, and perhaps much more than that, and I intend to find out. He among others might well provide us with clues to important events that will affect the whole of the empire, and indeed, of the Shadowfell itself. I offer you one more chance, foolish young warlock. Abandon your quest to find your revenge against Dahlia at this time-perhaps in the future, if she separates from Drizzt Do’Urden, I will even assist you in destroying her. But not now. The issue before us is too important for petty personal struggles.”

  “You gave me permission to hunt her,” Effron quietly protested.

  “I dismissed you out of hand, and cared not,” Draygo Quick replied without hesitation. “And now I have more informatio
n, and so I rescind that dismissal. You are my understudy once more. I should expect some gratitude that I have forgiven you.”

  Effron wanted to scream at him, or just yell out in unfocused frustration. He wanted to deny the old wretch and demand that he would no longer serve in Draygo Quick’s residence.

  He wanted to, but he hadn’t the heart or the courage. In that event, he had little doubt that Draygo Quick would obliterate him then and there.

  Furthering that sense of dread, Draygo Quick stared at him with that intense, withering glare, and Effron bowed his head and said, “Thank you, Master.”

  The warlock chuckled victoriously, each wheezing laugh mocking Effron. “Come back and to your work,” he said. “You have much to do to regain my respect.”

  That alone stung profoundly, but then Draygo Quick grabbed him roughly by the chin and forced Effron to look him directly in the eye-and how wild those eyes looked to Effron!

  “Understand me in no uncertain terms, young and foolish Effron Alegni: If you harm the drow ranger in any way, I will completely and utterly destroy you, and I will do so in such a manner that you will beg me for your death for many tendays before I finally allow it.”

  Effron didn’t begin to try to pull away, as painful as Draygo Quick’s surprisingly strong grip proved, for he could well imagine a plethora of things Draygo Quick might do to make him hurt a lot worse.

  “This is too important for petty personal issues,” the old warlock reiterated. “You do understand me, and are we agreed?”

  “Yes, Master,” Effron squeaked.

  Draygo Quick let him go and began walking again, but when Effron started out beside him, the old warlock held out his arm and pushed Effron back.

  Two steps behind.

  Chapter 3

  MOONLIGHT

  Drizzt held the statuette up before his eyes, staring at it with trepidation. He hadn’t wanted to dismiss Guenhwyvar the previous night, fearing that her arrival had been an anomaly, and one not to be repeated. But the cat had appeared haggard to him, and she had needed rest.

  The sun had not yet risen outside the window of his room in Neverwinter, and he had dismissed the cat long after sundown the previous day.

  But despite the short time, he had to try to call her again.

  “Guenhwyvar,” he whispered.

  On the bed behind him, Dahlia stirred but did not awaken.

  “Guenhwyvar.”

  Even in the darkened room, Drizzt could see the gray mist rising around him, and could feel the presence of Guenhwyvar growing. In the span a few heartbeats, though it seemed like a long while to Drizzt, she was there again, right beside him. The drow wrapped her in a hug, overjoyed. He needed her now, perhaps more than at any time since he’d walked with her out of Menzoberranzan those many decades before.

  He hugged her closer, his head against her flank.

  He noted her ragged breathing.

  Too soon, he realized, and he silently berated himself for his impatience. “Be gone,” he whispered into her ear. “I will call you again soon.”

  The cat obeyed, pacing in a circle and diminishing fast to insubstantial mist, then to nothing at all.

  Drizzt started for the bed where Dahlia lay, but changed his mind and went to the window instead. He took a seat and looked out over the city of Neverwinter, still a shadow of what it had been. But the settlers were industrious and determined to rebuild Neverwinter from the ashes of the cataclysm.

  Drizzt fed off that thought, determined to rebuild his own life. He reflexively glanced at Dahlia as he considered that. Would she be a part of that? She was an elf, and young, and surely would outlive Drizzt unless an enemy’s blade cut her down. Would she walk beside Drizzt for the rest of his days?

  He couldn’t know.

  He turned back to the darkened city and thought of his other three companions, and he couldn’t help but consider them in light of the four friends he once traveled beside.

  Would any of this group measure up to the standards, the character, of any of the Companions of the Hall?

  The question stung the drow. Surely in terms of skill, with blade or fist or even magic, the group around him had proven their capabilities. Were these four to battle the previous four companions he had known, the victor would be long in doubt.

  But that hardly mattered, Drizzt understood, for the more important measurement was one of morality, of purpose.

  In that regard …

  Drizzt sighed and began to rise, thinking to return to his bed and Dahlia’s side. He changed his mind and remained at the window instead. He fell asleep in the chair, staring out at the city of Neverwinter, rising from the ashes, for the sight brought him comfort and hope.

  “Ye best be gettin’ him out o’ the city if ye’re wanting to keep him beside us,” Ambergris told Drizzt later that morning in the common room of the inn. The night had been cold, and the chill had found its way inside, so Ambergris threw another log on the fire.

  “Soon,” Drizzt assured her.

  “Boats’re putting out for the south every day,” Ambergris warned.

  The drow nodded absently as he stared into the flames.

  “Ye got him anxious, though I’m not for knowin’ how, but ye understand that one well enough to know that puttin’ him on the edge isn’t to hold for long, at least not in the direction ye’re hopin’!”

  Drizzt nodded again and wasn’t about to argue with the perceptive dwarf’s reasoning. He had teased Artemis Entreri with the promise of his jeweled dagger, but delays would likely turn intrigue into anger.

  An angry Artemis Entreri was not among the goals of Drizzt Do’Urden. “Today,” he heard himself telling Amber before he even considered the promise. “We’ll head out today.”

  He would forego his planned visit with Arunika, he decided then, for with Guenhwyvar back at his side, he did not need to seek her out. But he could not as easily turn away from the intriguing mystery they had discovered southeast of the city. He pictured the destroyed goblin encampment once more, the marks on one throat Dahlia had attributed to a vampire, the carnage at the tent he believed a trademark of another type of foe. Dahlia had insisted that they go back out in pursuit of the goblin killer, her eagerness for the hunt only increasing as the night had deepened.

  The elf woman entered the common room then, her expression revealing that she had not appreciated waking up alone in her bed.

  “When the others come down, find me in the square outside the market and we’ll set a rendezvous point north of the city,” Drizzt instructed the dwarf. He grabbed a couple of morningfeast buns from the tray set out and met Dahlia before she had crossed half the room.

  “Be quick,” Drizzt said to her. “The merchants are unfolding their wares, and we might find our best bargain if we are first to the kiosks.”

  Dahlia looked at him curiously.

  “Our time grows short,” Drizzt explained. “Let’s find your vampire.”

  Dahlia stood staring at Drizzt with hands on hips. He understood her confusion, for on their return trip to the city the previous night, when she had concocted the idea of purchasing some magical assistance to seek out a vampire, Drizzt had openly doubted her, had even ridiculed her a bit.

  Drizzt merely returned her doubting look with a nod, tossed her a small pouch of coins, and headed out of the inn.

  Within the hour, Andahar the unicorn thundered along the eastern road out of Neverwinter, heading into the rising sun, easily bearing Drizzt and Dahlia.

  At Dahlia’s bidding, Drizzt slowed the pace a bit. He glanced back at the woman, and at the curious, softly-glowing wand she pointed off at the forest to their right.

  “There,” she said, nudging the wand toward the trees.

  “So you trust in the merchant’s words and believe that wand?”

  “I paid good gold for it.”

  “Foolishly,” Drizzt muttered under his breath, but merely to lighten the mood. It had been his coin, after all.

  He turned Anda
har aside and began trotting off across the small field leading to the tree line. The wand, so the merchant had explained, was imbued with a dweomer to detect undead creatures, of which there had been no shortage of late in this area, since Sylora had created the vile Dread Ring.

  Drizzt pulled Andahar to a stop and swung around to regard Dahlia directly, though she hardly seemed to note his glance, so intent was she upon the wand. “Why is this suddenly so important to you?” Drizzt asked.

  A startled Dahlia looked up at him. She paused for a few heartbeats before responding, “You think that letting a vampire run free is the valiant act of a good citizen?”

  “The forest is full of danger, with or without a vampire.”

  “So Drizzt Do’Urden wishes to leave such a stone unturned?” Dahlia quipped. “And here I was under the impression that you were a hero.”

  Drizzt put on a smirk, and was glad that Dahlia was verbally jousting in such a playful manner. There were times when Dahlia hinted that there could be much more between them, times when Drizzt dared hope that he could mold these new companions into a band worthy of his memories.

  Dahlia’s expression changed abruptly.

  “Indulge me,” Dahlia pleaded, in all seriousness.

  “You think it’s your old companion?”

  “Dor’crae?” Dahlia blurted, and her surprise was genuine, Drizzt could tell. “Hardly. I destroyed him, utterly and gladly! Don’t you remember?”

  Drizzt did remember, of course. Dahlia had battled Dor’crae, the dying dwarves beside them. She had driven him from the antechamber, already mortally wounded, only to fly under the deluge of the water elementals re-entering the primordial pit in Gauntlgrym. Under the assault of the rushing, magical waters, the vampire had seemingly been obliterated.

  So it wasn’t the thought of Dor’crae driving Dahlia, he then understood, and he suspected another angle to Dahlia’s desire to see this through. Perhaps she believed that this Effron creature, her son, was behind the attack.

  He found that he couldn’t follow his own thoughts down that road, however, given the reminder of Dor’crae’s last moments-for indeed, how could Drizzt ever forget that awful moment when he had come across the pit and into the antechamber to find his friends dead or dying beside Gauntlgrym’s all-important lever?