The Halfling’s Gem (23 page)

Catti-brie watched eagerly as each new ship came into view, but Bruenor, confident that the magical locket was leading him to the drow, paid them no heed. The dwarf snapped the reins, trying to urge the flaming horses on faster. Somehow—perhaps it was another property of the locket—Bruenor felt that Drizzt was in trouble and that speed was essential.

The dwarf then snapped a stubby finger in front of him. “There!” he cried as soon as the
Sea Sprite
came into view.

Catti-brie did not question his observation. She quickly surveyed the dramatic situation unfolding below her.

Another ball of pitch soared through the air, slapping into the tail of the
Sea Sprite
at water level but catching too little of the ship to do any real damage.

Catti-brie and Bruenor watched the catapult being pulled back for another shot; they watched the brutish crew of the ship in the channel, their swords in hand, awaiting the approach of the
Sea Sprite;
and they watched the third pirate ship, rushing in from behind to close the trap.

Bruenor veered the chariot to the south, toward the bulkiest of the ships. “First for the catapult!” the dwarf cried in rage.

Pinochet, as well as most of the crewmen on the back two pirate ships, watched the fiery craft cutting a streak down from the northern sky, but the captain and crew of the
Sea Sprite
and the other ship were too enmeshed in the desperation of their own situation to worry about events behind them. Drizzt did give the chariot a second look, though, noticing a glistening reflection that might have been a single horn of a broken helmet peeking above the flames, and a form in back of that with flowing hair that seemed more than vaguely familiar.

But perhaps it was just a trick of the light and Drizzt’s own undying hopes. The chariot moved away into a fiery blur and Drizzt let it go, having no time now to give it further thought.

The
Sea Sprite’s
crew lined the foredeck, firing crossbows at the pirate ship, hoping, more than anything else, to keep the wizard too engaged to hit them again.

A second lightning bolt did roar in, but the
Sea Sprite
was rocking wildly in the breakers rolling off the reef, and the wizard’s blast cut only a minor hole in the mainsail.

Deudermont looked hopefully to Wulfgar, tensed and ready for the command.

And then they were crossing beside the pirates, barely fifteen yards from the other ship, and apparently heading on a deadly course into the reef.

“Pull!” Deudermont cried, and Wulfgar heaved, every muscle in his huge body reddening with a sudden influx of blood and adrenaline.

The mainmast groaned in protest, beams creaked and cracked, and the wind-filled sails fought back as Wulfgar looped the rope over his shoulder and drove himself forward. The
Sea Sprite
verily pivoted in the water, its front end lifting over the roll of a wave and lurching at the pirate vessel. Deudermont’s crew, though they had witnessed Wulfgar’s power in the River Chionthar, grabbed desperately at the rail and held on, awestruck.

And the stunned pirates, never suspecting that a ship under full sail could possibly cut so tight a turn, reacted not at all. They watched in blank amazement as the prow of the
Sea Sprite
smashed into their port flank, entangling the two ships in a deadly embrace.

“Take it to them!” Deudermont cried. Grapples soared through the air, further securing the
Sea Sprite’s
hold, and boarding planks were thrown down and fastened into place.

Wulfgar scrambled to his feet and pulled Aegis-fang off his back. Drizzt drew his scimitars but made no immediate move,
instead scanning the deck of the enemy ship. He quickly focused on one man, not dressed like a wizard, but unarmed as far as Drizzt could tell.

The man went through some motions, as if in spellcasting, and the telltale magical sprinkles dusted the air around him.

But Drizzt was quicker. Calling on the innate abilities of his heritage, the drow limned the wizard’s form in harmless purplish flames. The wizard’s corporeal body faded from sight as his invisibility spell took effect.

But the purple outline remained.

“Wizard, Wulfgar!” Drizzt called.

The barbarian rushed to the rail and surveyed the pirate ship, easily spotting the magical outline.

The wizard, realizing his predicament, dived behind some casks.

Wulfgar didn’t hesitate. He sent Aegis-fang hurtling end over end. The mighty warhammer drove through the casks, sending wood and water exploding into the air, and then found its mark on the other side.

The hammer blasted the wizard’s broken body—still visible only by the outline of the drow’s faerie fire—into the air and over the far rail of the pirate ship.

Drizzt and Wulfgar nodded to each other, grimly satisfied. Deudermont slapped a hand across his unbelieving eyes.

Perhaps they did have a chance.

The pirates on the two back ships paused in their duties to consider the flying chariot. As Bruenor swung around the back of the bulky catapult ship and came in from behind, Catti-brie pulled the Taulmaril’s bowstring tight.

“Think o’ yer friends,” Bruenor comforted her, seeing her hesitation. Only a few tendays earlier, Catti-brie had killed a human out of necessity, and the act had not set well with her. Now, as they closed on the ship from above, she could rain death among the exposed sailors.

She huffed a deep breath to steady herself and took a bead on a sailor, standing mouth agape, not even realizing that he was about to die.

There was another wav.

Out of the corner of her eye, Catti-brie spotted a better target. She swung the bow toward the back of the ship and sent a silver arrow streaking down. It blasted into the arm of the catapult, cracking the wood, the arrow’s magical energy scorching a black hole as the silver shaft ripped through.

“Taste me flames!” Bruenor cried, steering the chariot downward. The wild dwarf drove his flaming horses straight through the mainsail, leaving a tattered rag in his wake.

And Catti-brie’s aim was perfect; again and again the silver arrows whistled into the catapult. As the chariot rushed past a second time, the ship’s gunners tried to respond with a ball of burning pitch, but the catapult’s wooden arm had taken too much damage to retain any strength, and the ball of pitch lobbed weakly, a few feet up and a few feet out.

And dropped onto the deck of its own ship!

“One more pass!” Bruenor growled, looking back over his shoulder at the fires now roaring on the mast and the deck.

But Catti-brie’s eyes were forward, to where the
Sea Sprite
had just crashed onto one vessel, and where the second pirate ship would soon join the fray. “No time!” she yelled. “They be needin’us up ahead!”

Steel rang against steel as the crew of the
Sea Sprite
locked against the pirates. One rogue, seeing Wulfgar launch the war-hammer, crossed over to the
Sea Sprite
and made for the unarmed barbarian, thinking him easy prey. He rushed in, thrusting his sword ahead.

Wulfgar easily sidestepped the blow, caught the pirate by the wrist, and slapped his other hand into the man’s crotch. Changing the pirate’s direction slightly but not breaking his momentum, Wulfgar hoisted him into the air and heaved him over the back rail of the
Sea Sprite
. Two other pirates, having the same initial response to the unarmed barbarian as their unfortunate comrade, stopped in their tracks and sought out better armed, but less dangerous, opponents.

Then Aegis-fang magically returned to Wulfgar’s waiting grasp, and it was his turn to charge.

Three of Deudermont’s crew, trying to cross over, were cut down on the central boarding plank, and now the pirates came rushing back across the opening to flood the
Sea Sprite’s
deck.

Drizzt Do’Urden stemmed the tide. Scimitars in hand—Twinkle glowing an angry blue light—the elf sprang lightly onto the wide boarding plank.

The group of pirates, seeing only a single, slender enemy barring the way, expected to bowl right through.

Their momentum slowed considerably when the first rank of three stumbled down in a whirring blur of blades, grasping at slit throats and bellies.

Deudermont and the helmsman, rushing to support Drizzt, slowed and watched the display, Twinkle and its companion scimitar rose and dipped with blinding speed and deadly accuracy. Another pirate went down, and yet another had his sword struck from his hand, so he dived into the water to escape the terrible elven warrior.

The remaining five pirates froze as if paralyzed, their mouths hanging open in silent screams of terror.

Deudermont and the helmsman also jumped back in surprise and confusion, for with Drizzt absorbed in the concentration of battle, the magical mask had played a trick of its own. It had slipped from the drow’s face, revealing his dark heritage to all around.

“Even if ye flame the sails, the ship’ll get in,” Catti-brie observed, noting the short distance between the remaining pirate ship and the tangled ships at the entrance to the channel.

“The sails?” Bruenor laughed. “Suren I mean to get more than that!”

Catti-brie stood back from the dwarf, digesting his meaning. “Ye’re daft!” She gawked as Bruenor brought the chariot down to deck level.

“Bah! I’ll stop the dogs! Hang on, girl!”

“The demons, I will!” Catti-brie shouted back. She patted Bruenor on the head and went with an alternate plan, dropping from the back of the chariot and into the water.

“Smart girl,” Bruenor chuckled, watching her splash safely. Then his eyes went back to the pirates. The crew at the rear of the ship had seen him coming and were diving every which way to get clear.

Pinochet, at the front of the ship, looked back at the unexpected commotion just as Bruenor crashed in.

“Moradin!”

The dwarf’s war cry resounded to the decks of the
Sea Sprite
and the third pirate vessel, above all the din of battle. Pirates and sailors alike on the embattled ships glanced back at the explosion on Pinochet’s flagship, and Pinochet’s crew answered Bruenor’s cry with one of terror.