should've known better than to let the two of ye go running off on yer own," a blustering voice greeted loudly as Drizzt and Catti-brie entered the Cutlass in Luskan. Bruenor and Regis sat at the bar, across from Arumn Gardpeck, both looking a bit haggard still from their harrowing journey.
"I didn't think you would come out," Drizzt remarked, pulling a seat up beside his friends. "It is late in the season."
"Later than you think," Regis mumbled, and both Drizzt and Catti-brie turned to Bruenor for clarification.
"Bah, a little storm and nothing to fret about," the dwarf bellowed.
"Little to a mountain giant," Regis muttered quietly, and Bruenor gave a snort.
"Fix up me friend and me girl here with a bit o' the wine," Bruenor called to Arumn, who was already doing just that. As soon as the drinks were delivered and Arumn, with a nod to the pair, started away, the red-bearded dwarfs expression grew very serious.
"So where's me boy?" he asked.
"With Deudermont, sailing on Sea Sprite, as far as we can tell," Catti-brie answered.
"Not in port here," Regis remarked.
"Nor in Waterdeep, though they might put in before winter," Drizzt explained. "That would be Captain Deudermont's normal procedure, to properly stock the ship for the coming cold season."
"Then they'll likely sail south," Catti-brie added. "Not returning to Waterdeep until the spring."
Bruenor snorted again, but with a mouthful of ale, and wound up spitting half of it over Regis, "Then why're ye here?" he demanded. "If me boy's soon to be in Waterdeep, and not back for half a year, why ain't ye there seeing to him?"
"We left word," Drizzt explained.
"Word?" the dwarf echoed incredulously. "What word might that be? Hello? Well met? Keep warm through the winter? Ye durn fool elf, I was counting on ye to bring me boy back to us."
"It is complicated," Drizzt replied.
Only then did Catti-brie note that both Arumn Gardpeck and Josi Puddles were quietly edging closer, each craning an ear the way of the four friends. She didn't scold them, though, for she well understood their stake in all of this.
"We found Delly," she said, turning to regard the two of them in turn. "And the child, Colson."
"How fares my Delly?" asked Arumn, and Catti-brie didn't miss the fact that Josi Puddles was chewing his lip with anticipation. Likely that one was sweet on the girl, Catti-brie recognized.
"She does well, as does the little girl," Drizzt put in. "Though even as we arrived, we found them in peril."
All four of the listeners stared hard at those ominous words.
"Sheila Kree, the pirate, or so we believe," Drizzt explained. "For some reason that I do not yet know, she took it upon herself to send a raiding party to Waterdeep."
"Looking for me boy?" Bruenor asked.
"Or looking to back off Deudermont, who's been chasing her all season," remarked Arumn, who was well versed in such things, listening to much of the gossip from the many sailors who frequented his tavern.
"One or the other, and so we have returned to find out which," Drizzt replied.
"Do we even know that Sea Sprite is still afloat?" Regis asked.
The halfling's eyes went wide and he bit his lip as soon as he heard the words coming out of his mouth, his wince showing clearly that he had realized, too late, that such a possibility as the destruction of the ship would weigh very heavily on the shoulders of Bruenor.
Still, it was an honest question to ask, and one that Drizzt and Catti-brie had planned on asking Arumn long before they arrived in Luskan. Both looked questioningly to the tavern-keeper.
"Heard nothing to say it ain't," Arumn answered. "But if Sheila Kree got Sea Sprite, then it could well be months before we knowed it here. Can't believe she did, though. Word among the docks is that none'd take on Sea Sprite in the open water."
"See what you can find out, I beg you," Drizzt said to him.
The portly tavern-keeper nodded and motioned to Josi to likewise begin an inquiry.
"I strongly doubt that Sheila Kree got anywhere near to Sea Sprite," Drizzt echoed, for Bruenor's benefit, and with conviction. "Or if she did, then likely it was the remnants of her devastated band that staged the raid against Captain Deudermont's house, seeking one last bit of retribution for the destruction of Sheila's ship and the loss of her crew. I sailed with Captain Deudermont for five years, and I can tell you that I never encountered a single ship that could out-duel Sea Sprite,"
"Or her wizard, Robillard," Catti-brie added.
Bruenor continued simply to stare at the two of them hard, the dwarf obviously on the very edge of anxiety for his missing son.
"And so we're to wait?" he asked a few moments later. It was obvious from his tone that he wasn't thrilled with that prospect.
"The winter puts Sea Sprite out of the hunt for Sheila Kree's ship," Drizzt explained, lowering his voice so that only the companions could hear. "And likely it puts Sheila Kree off the cold waters for the season. She has to be docked somewhere."
That seemed to appease Bruenor somewhat. "We'll find her, then," he said determinedly. "And get back me warhammer."
"And hopefully Wulfgar will join us," Catti-brie added. "That he might be holdin' Aegis-fang once again. That he might be finding where he belongs and where the hammer belongs."
Bruenor lifted his mug of ale in a toast to that hopeful sentiment, and all the others joined in, each understanding that Catti-brie's scenario had to be considered the most optimistic and that a far darker road likely awaited them all.
In the subsequent discussion, the companions decided to spend the next few days searching the immediate area around Luskan, including the docks. Arumn and Josi, and Morik the Rogue once they could find him, were to inquire where they might about Sea Sprite and Sheila Kree. The plan would give Wulfgar a chance to catch up with them, perhaps, if he got the news in Waterdeep and that was his intent. It was also possible that Sea Sprite would come through Luskan on its way to Waterdeep. If that was to happen, it would be very soon, Drizzt knew, for the season was getting late.
Drizzt ordered a round for all four, then held back the others before they could begin their drinking. He held his own glass up in a second toast, a reaffirmation of Bruenor's first one.
"The news is brighter than we could have expected when first we left Ten-Towns," he reminded them all. "By all accounts, our friend is alive and with good and reliable company."
"To Wulfgar!" said Regis, as Drizzt paused.
"And to Delly Curtie and to Colson," Catti-brie added with a smile aimed right at Bruenor and even more pointedly at Drizzt. "A fine wife our friend has found, and a child who'll grow strong under Wulfgar's watchful eye."
"He learned to raise a son from a master, I would say," Drizzt remarked, grinning at Bruenor.
"And too bad it is that that one didn't know as much about raising a girl," Catti-brie added, but she waited until precisely the moment that Bruenor began gulping his ale before launching the taunt.
Predictably, the dwarf spat and Regis got soaked again.
Morik the Rogue wore a curious and not displeased expression when he opened the door to his small apartment to find a petite, dark-haired woman waiting for him.
"Perhaps you have found the wrong door," Morik graciously offered, his dark eyes surveying the woman with more than a little interest. She was a comely one, and she held herself with perfect poise and a flicker of intelligence that Morik always found intriguing.
"Many people would call the door of Morik the Rogue the wrong door," the woman answered. "But no, this is where I intended to be." She gave a coy little smile and looked Morik over as thoroughly as he was regarding her. "You have aged well," she said.
The implication that this enticing creature had known Morik in his earlier years piqued the rogue's curiosity. He stared at her hard, trying to place her.
"Perhaps it would help if I cast spells to shake our bed," the woman remarked. "Or multicolored lights to dance about us as we make love."
"Bellany!" Morik cried suddenly. "Bellany Tundash! How many years have passed?"
Indeed, Morik hadn't seen the sorceress in several years, not since she was a minor apprentice in the Hosttower of the Arcane. She had been the wild one! Sneaking out from the wizards' guild nearly every night to come and play along the wilder streets of Luskan. And like so many pretty women who had come out to play, Bellany had inevitably found her way to Morik's side and Morik's bed for a few encounters.
Amazing encounters, Morik recalled.
"Not so many years, Morik," Bellany replied. "And here I thought I was more special than that to you." She gave a little pout, pursing her lips in such a way as to make Morik's knees go weak. "I believed you would recognize me immediately and sweep me into your arms for a great kiss."
"A situation I must correct!" said Morik, coming forward with his arms out wide, a bright and eager expression on his face.
Both Catti-brie and Regis retired early that night, but Drizzt stayed on in the tavern with Bruenor, suspecting that the dwarf needed to talk.
"When this business is finished, you and I must go to Waterdeep," the drow remarked. "It would do my heart good to hear Colson talk of her grandfather."
"Kid's talking?" Bruenor asked.
"No, not yet," Drizzt replied with a laugh. "But soon enough."
Bruenor merely nodded, seeming less than intrigued with it all.
"She has a good mother," Drizzt said after a while. "And we know the character of her father. Colson will be a fine lass."
"Colson," Bruenor muttered, and he downed half his mug of ale. "Stupid name."
"It is Elvish," Drizzt explained. "With two meanings, and seeming perfectly fitting. 'Col' means 'not', and so the name literally translates into 'not-son,' or 'daughter.' Put together, though, the name Colson means 'from the dark town'. A fitting name, I would say, given Delly Curtie's tale of how Wulfgar came by the child."
Bruenor huffed again and finished the mug.
"I would have thought you would be thrilled at the news," the drow dared to say. "You, who knows better than any the joy of finding a wayward child to love as your own."
"Bah," Bruenor snorted.
"And I suspect that Wulfgar will soon enough produce grandchildren for you from his own loins," Drizzt remarked, sliding another ale Bruenor's way.
"Grandchildren?" Bruenor echoed doubtfully, and he turned in his chair to face the drow directly. "Ain't ye assuming that Wulfgar's me own boy?"
"He is."
"Is he?" Bruenor asked. "Ye're thinking that a couple o' years apart mended me heart for his actions on Catti-brie." The dwarf snorted yet again, threw his hand up in disgust, then turned back to the bar, cradling his new drink below him, muttering, "Might be that I'm looking to find him so I can give him a big punch in the mouth for the way he treated me girl."
"Your worry has been obvious and genuine," Drizzt remarked. "You have forgiven Wulfgar, whether you admit it or not.
"As have I," Drizzt quickly added when the dwarf turned back on him, his eyes narrow and threatening. "As has Catti-brie. Wulfgar was in a dark place, but from all I've learned, it would seem that he has begun the climb back to the light."
Those words softened Bruenor's expression somewhat, and his ensuing snort was not as definitive this time.
"You will like Colson," Drizzt said with a laugh. "And Delly Curtie."
"Colson," Bruenor echoed, listening carefully to the name as he spoke it. He looked at Drizzt and shook his head, but if he was trying to continue to show his disapproval, he was failing miserably.
"So now I got a granddaughter from a son who's not me own, and a daughter o' his that's not his own," Bruenor said some time later, he and Drizzt having gone back to their respective drinks for a few reflective moments. "Ye'd think that one of us would've figured out that half the fun's in makin' the damn brats!"
"And will Bruenor one day sire his own son?" Drizzt asked. "A dwarf child?"
The dwarf turned and regarded Drizzt incredulously, but considered the words for a moment and shrugged. "I just might," he said. He looked back at his ale, his face growing more serious and a bit sad, Drizzt noticed. "I'm not a young one, ye know, elf?" he asked. "Seen the centuries come and go, and remember times when Catti-brie and Wulfgar's parents' parents' parents' parents hadn't felt the warming of their first dawn. And I feel old, don't ye doubt! Feel it in me bones."
"Centuries of banging stone will do that," Drizzt said dryly, but his levity couldn't penetrate the dwarfs mood at that moment.
"And I see me girl all grown, and me boy the same, and now he's got a little one .. ." Bruenor's voice trailed off and he gave a great sigh, then drained the rest of his mug, turning as he finished to face Drizzt squarely. "And that little one will grow old and die, and I'll still be here with me aching bones."
Drizzt understood, for he too, as a long-living creature, surely saw Bruenor's dilemma. When elves, dark or light, or dwarves befriended the shorter living races - humans, halflings, and gnomes - there came the expectancy that they would watch their friends grow old and die. Drizzt knew that one of the reasons elves and dwarves remained clannish to their own, whether they wanted to admit it or not, was because of exactly that - both races protecting themselves from the emotional tearing.
"Guess that's why we should be stickin' with our own kind, eh, elf?" Bruenor finished, looking slyly at Drizzt out of the corner of his eye.
Drizzt's expression went from sympathy to curiosity. Had Bruenor just warned him away from Catti-brie? That caught the drow off his guard, indeed! And rocked him right back in his seat, as he sat staring hard at Bruenor. Had he finally let himself see the truth of his feelings for Catti-brie just to encounter this dwarven roadblock? Or was Bruenor right, and was Drizzt being a fool?
The drow took a long, long moment to steady himself and collect his thoughts.
"Or perhaps those of us who hide from the pain will never know the joys that might lead to such profound pain," Drizzt finally said. "Better to - "
"To what?" Bruenor interrupted. "To fall in love with one of them? To marry one, elf?"
Drizzt still didn't know what Bruenor was up to. Was he telling Drizzt to back off, calling the drow a fool for even thinking of falling in love with Catti-brie?
But then Bruenor tipped his hand.
"Yeah, fall in love with one," he said with a derisive snort, but one Drizzt recognized that was equally aimed at himself. "Or maybe take one of 'em in to raise as yer own. Heck, maybe more than one!"
Bruenor glanced over at Drizzt, his toothy smile showing through his brilliant red whiskers. He lifted his mug toward Drizzt in a toast. "To the both of us, then, elf!" he boomed. "A pair o' fools, but smiling fools!"
Drizzt gladly answered that toast with a tap of his own glass. He understood then that Bruenor wasn't subtly trying to (in a dwarf sort of way) ward him off, but rather that the dwarf was merely making sure Drizzt understood the depth of what he had.
They went back to their drinking. Bruenor drained mug after mug, but Drizzt cradled that single glass of fine wine.
Many minutes passed before either spoke again, and it was Bruenor, cracking in a tone that seemed all seriousness, which made it all the funnier, "Hey, elf, me next grandkid won't be striped, will it?"
"As long as it doesn't have a red beard," Drizzt replied without missing a beat.
"I heard you were traveling with a great barbarian warrior named Wulfgar," Bellany said to Morik when the rogue finally woke up long after the following dawn.
"Wulfgar?" Morik echoed, rubbing the sleep from his dark eyes and running his fingers through his matted black hair. "I have not seen Wulfgar in many months."
He didn't catch on to the telling manner in which Bellany was scrutinizing him.
"He went south, to find Deudermont, I think," Morik went on, and he looked at Bellany curiously. "Am I not enough man for you?" he asked.
The dark-haired sorceress smirked in a neutral manner, pointedly not answering the rogue's question. "I ask only for a friend of mine," she said.
Morik's smile was perfectly crude. "Two of you, eh?" he asked. "Am I not man enough?"
Bellany gave a great sigh and rolled to the side of the bed, gathering up the bedclothes about her and dragging them free as she rose.
Only then, upon the back of her naked shoulder, did Morik take note of the curious brand.
"So you have not spoken with Wulfgar in months?" the woman asked, moving to her clothing.
"Why do you ask?"
The suspicious nature of the question had the sorceress turning about to regard Morik, who was still reclining on the bed, lying on his side and-propped up on one elbow.
"A friend wishes to know of him," Bellany said, rather curtly.
"Seems like a lot of people are suddenly wanting to know about him," the rogue remarked. He fell to his back and threw one arm across his eyes.
"People like a dark elf?" Bellany asked.
Morik peeked out at her from under his arm, his expression answering the question clearly.
Wider went his eyes when the sorceress lifted the robe that was lying across one chair, and produced from beneath it a thin, black wand. Bellany didn't point it at him, but the threat was obvious.
"Get dressed, and quickly," Bellany said. "My lady will speak with you."
"Your lady?"
"I've not the time to explain things now," Bellany replied. "We've a long road ahead of us, and though I have spells to speed us along our way, it would be better if we were gone from Luskan within the hour."
Morik scoffed at her. "Gone to where?" he asked. "I have no plans to leave . . ."
His voice trailed off as Bellany came back over to the edge of the bed, placing one knee up on it in a sexy pose, and lowered her face, putting one finger across her pouting lips.
"There are two ways we can do this, Morik," she explained quietly and calmly - too calmly for the sensibilities of the poor, surprised rogue. "One will be quite pleasurable for you, I am sure, and will guarantee your safe return to Luskan, where your friends here will no doubt comment on the wideness and constancy of your smile."
Morik regarded the enticing woman for a few moments. "Don't even bother to tell me the other way," he agreed.
"Arumn Gardpeck has not seen him," Catti-brie reported, "nor have any of the other regulars at the Cutlass - and they see Morik the Rogue almost every day."
Drizzt considered the words carefully. It was possible, of course, that the absence of Morik - he was not at his apartment, nor in any of his familiar haunts - was nothing more than coincidence. A man like Morik was constantly on the move, from one deal to another, from one theft to another.
But more than a day had passed since the four friends had begun their search for the rogue, using all the assets at their disposal, including the Luskan town guard, with no sign of the man. Given what had happened in Waterdeep with the agents of Sheila Kree, and given that Morik was a known associate of Wulfgar, Drizzt was not pleased by this disappearance.
"You put word in at the Hosttower?" Drizzt asked Regis.
"Robbers to a wizard," the halfling replied. "But yes, they will send word to Sea Sprite's wizard, Robillard, as soon as they can locate him. It took more than half a bag of gold to persuade them to do the work."
"I gived ye a whole bag to pay for the task," Bruenor remarked dryly.
"Even with my ruby pendant, it took more than half a bag of gold to persuade them to do the work," Regis clarified.
Bruenor just put his head down and shook it. "Well, that means ye got nearly half a bag o' me gold for safe-keeping, Rumblebelly," he took care to state openly, and before witnesses.
"Did the wizards say anything about the fate of Sea Sprite?" Catti-brie asked. "Do they know if she's still afloat?"
"They said they've seen nothing to indicate anything different," Regis answered. "They have contacts among the docks, including many pirates. If Sea Sprite went down anywhere near Luskan the celebration would be immediate and surely loud."
It wasn't much of a confirmation, really, but the other three took the words with great hope.
"Which brings us back to Morik," Drizzt said. "If the pirate Kree is trying to strike first to chase off Deudermont and Wulfgar, then perhaps Morik became a target."
"What connection would Deudermont hold with that rogue?" Catti-brie asked, a perfectly logical question and one that had Drizzt obviously stumped.
"Perhaps Morik is in league with Sheila Kree," Regis reasoned. "An informant?"
Drizzt was shaking his head before the halfling ever finished. From his brief meeting with Morik, he did not think that the man would do such a thing. Though, he had to admit, Morik was a man whose loyalties didn't seem hard to buy.
"What do we know of Kree?" the drow asked.
"We know she ain't nowhere near to here," Bruenor answered impatiently. "And we know that we're wasting time here, that bein' the case!"
"True enough," Catti-brie agreed.
"But the season is deepening up north," Regis put in. "Perhaps we should begin our search to the south."
"All signs are that Sheila Kree is put in up north," Drizzt was quick to answer. "The rumors we have heard, from Morik and from Josi Puddles, place her somewhere up there."
"Lotta coast between here and the Sea o' Moving Ice," Bruenor put in.
"So we should wait?" Regis quickly followed.
"So we should get moving!" Bruenor retorted just as quickly, and since both Drizzt and Catti-brie agreed with the dwarfs reasoning the four friends departed Luskan later that same day, only hours after Morik and Bellany had left the city. But the latter, moving with the enhancements of many magical spells, and knowing where they were going, were soon enough far, far away.