black cross in front of its face. A jagged tear lined the giant's cheek. Drizzt
understood what had happened when he heard Guenhwyvar's padded paws set down on
the table and propel the cat further across the room. Though a second giant now
joined the first and both had their clubs poised to strike, Drizzt had gained
all the time that he needed. In a lightning movement, he slid one of the
scimitars from its sheath and thrust it into the first giant's groin. The
monster doubled over in agony, a shield for Drizzt, and caught the blow from its
comrade on the back of its head. The drow mumbled "Thank you" as he rolled over
the corpse, landing on his feet and again thrusting upward, this time lifting
his body to follow the blade.
Hesitation had cost another giant its life. For as the stunned verbeeg stared
dumbfoundedly at its friend's brains splattered all over its club, the drow's
curved blade sliced under its rib cage, tearing through lungs and finding its
mark in the monster's heart.
Time moved slowly for the mortally wounded giant. The club it had dropped
seemed to take minutes to reach the floor. With the barely perceptible motion of
a falling tree, the verbeeg slid back from the scimitar. It knew that it was
falling, but the floor never came up to meet it. Never came up...
Wulfgar hoped that he had hit the wounded giant in the tunnel hard enough to
keep it out of the fray for a while - he would be in a tight spot indeed if it
carne up behind him then. He had all that he could handle parrying and
counter-thrusting with the two giants he now faced. He needn't have worried
about his backside, though, for the wounded verbeeg slumped against the wall in
the tunnel, oblivious to its surroundings. And, in the opposite direction,
Drizzt had just finished off the other two giants. Wulfgar laughed aloud when he
saw his friend wiping the blood from his blade and walking back across the room.
One of the verbeeg noticed the dark elf, too, and it jumped out of its fight
with the barbarian to engage this new foe.
"Ay, ye little runt, ye think ye can face me even up an' live to talk about
it?" bellowed the giant.
Feigning desperation, Drizzt glanced all about him. As usual, he found an
easy way to win this fight. Using a stalking belly-crawl, Guenhwyvar had
slithered behind the giant bodies, trying to get into a favorable position.
Drizzt took a small step backward, goading the giant into the great cat's path.
The giant's club crashed into Wulfgar's ribs and pushed him up against the
wooden beam. The barbarian was made of tougher stuff than wood, though, and he
took the blow stoically, returning it two-fold with Aegis-fang. Again the
verbeeg struck, and again Wulfgar countered. The barbarian had been fighting
with hardly a break for over ten minutes, but adrenalin coursed through his
veins, and he barely felt winded. He began to appreciate the endless hours
toiling for Bruenor in the mines, and the miles and miles of running Drizzt had
led him through during their sessions as his blows started to fall with
increasing frequency on his tiring opponent.
The giant advanced on Drizzt. "Arg, hold yer ground, ye miserable rat!" it
growled. "An' none o' yer sneaky tricks! We wants to see how ye does in a fair
fight."
Just as the two carne together, Guenhwyvar darted the remaining few feet and
sank his fangs deep into the back of the verbeeg's ankle. Reflexively, the giant
shot a glance at the rear attacker, but it recovered quickly and shot its eyes
back to the elf . . .
