Starless Night

Chapter 5 OVER THE YEARS

 
Drizzt felt the gazes on him. They were elven eyes, he knew, likely staring down the length of readied arrows. The ranger casually continued his trek through the Moonwood, his weapons tucked away and the hood of his forest green cloak back off his head, revealing his long mane of white hair and his ebon skinned elven features.
The sun made its lazy way through the leafy green trees,  splotching the forest with dots of pale yellow. Drizzt did not avoid these, as much to show the surface elves that he was no ordinary drow as for his honest love of the warmth of sunlight. The trail was wide and smooth, unexpected in a supposedly wild and thick forest. As the minutes turned into an hour and the forest deepened around him, Drizzt began to wonder if he might pass through the Moonwood without incident. He wanted no trouble, certainly,  wanted only to be on with, and be done with, his quest.
He came into a small clearing some time later. Several logs had been arranged into a square around a stone blocked fire pit. This was no ordinary campsite, Drizzt knew, but a designated meeting place, a shared campground for those who would respect the sover  eignty of the forest and the creatures living within its sheltered boughs.
Drizzt walked the camp's perimeter, searching the trees. Look  ing to the moss bed at the base of one huge oak, the drow saw sev  eral markings. Though time had blurred their lines, one appeared to be a rearing bear, another a wild pig. These were the marks of rangers, and with an approving nod, the drow searched the lower boughs of the tree, finally discovering a well concealed hollow. He reached in gingerly and pulled out a pack of dried food, a hatchet,  and a skin filled with fine wine. Drizzt took only a small cup of the wine, but regretted that he could not add anything to the cache,  since he would need all the provisions he could carry, and more, in his long trek through the dangerous Underdark.
He replaced the stores after using the hatchet to split some nearby deadwood, then gently carved his own ranger mark, the uni  corn, in the moss at the base of the trunk and returned to the nearest log to start a fire for his meal.
"You are no ordinary drow, " came a melodic voice from behind him before his meal was even cooked. The language was Elvish, as was the pitch of the voice, more melodic than that of a human.
Drizzt turned slowly, understanding that several bows were probably again trained on him from many different angles. A single elf stood before him. She was a young maiden, younger than even Drizzt, though Drizzt had lived only a tenth of his expected life. She wore forest colors, a green cloak, much like Drizzt's, and a brown tunic and leggings, with a longbow resting easily over one shoulder and a slender sword belted on one hip. Her black hair shone so as to be bluish and her skin was so pale that it reflected that blue hue. Her eyes, too, bright and shining, were blue flecked with gold. She was a silver elf, a moon elf, Drizzt knew.
In his years of living on the surface, Drizzt Do'Urden had encountered few surface elves, and those had been gold elves. He had encountered moon elves only once in his life, on his first trip to the surface in a dark elf raid in which his kin had slaughtered an small elf clan. That horrible memory rushed up at Drizzt as he faced this beautiful and delicate creature. Only one moon elf had survived that encounter, a young child that Drizzt had secretly buried beneath her mother's mutilated body. That act of treachery against the evil drow had brought severe repercussions, costing Drizzt's family the favor of Lloth, and, in the end, costing Zak'nafein,  Drizzt's father, his life.
Drizzt faced a moon elf once more, a maiden perhaps thirty years of age, with sparkling eyes. The ranger felt the blood draining from his face. Was this the region to which he and the drow raiders had come?
"You are no ordinary drow, " the elf said again, still using the Elvish tongue, her eyes flashing dangerously and her tone grim.
Drizzt held his hands out to the side. He realized that he should say something, but simply couldn't think of any words, or couldn't get them past the lump in his throat.
The elf maiden's eyes narrowed; her lower jaw trembled, and her hand instinctively dropped to the hilt of her sword.
"I am no enemy, " Drizzt managed to say, realizing that he must either speak or, likely, fight.
The maiden was on him in the blink of a lavender eye, sword flashing.
Drizzt never even drew his weapons, just stood with his hands out wide, and his expression calm. The elf slid up short of him, her sword raised. Her expression changed suddenly, as though she had noticed something in Drizzt's eyes.
She screamed wildly and started to swing, but Drizzt, too quick for her, leaped forward, caught her weapon arm in one hand, and wrapped his other arm about her, pulling her close and hugging her so tightly that she could not continue the fight. He expected her to claw him, or even bite him, but, to his surprise, she fell limply into his arms and slumped low, her face buried in his chest and her shoulders bobbing with sobs.
Before he could begin to speak words to comfort, Drizzt felt the keen tip of an elven sword against the back of his neck. He let go of the female immediately, his hands out wide once more, and another elf, older and more stern, but with similarly beautiful features, came from the trees to collect the young maiden and help her away.
"I am no enemy, " Drizzt said again.
"Why do you cross the Moonwood?" the unseen elf behind him asked in the Common tongue.
"Your words are correct, " Drizzt replied absently, for his thoughts were still focused on the curious maiden. "I mean only to cross the Moonwood, from the west to the east, and will bring no harm to you or the wood."
"The unicorn, " Drizzt heard another elf say from behind, from near the huge oak tree. He figured that the elf had found his ranger mark in the moss. To his relief, the sword was taken away from his neck.
Drizzt paused a long moment, figuring that it was the elves' turn to speak. Finally, he mustered the nerve to turn about, only to find that the moon elves were gone, disappeared into the brush.
He thought of tracking them, was haunted by the image of that young elven maiden, but realized that it was not his place to disturb them in this, their forest home. He finished his meal quickly, made sure that the area was cleaned and as he had found it, then gathered up his gear and went on his way.
Less than a mile down the trail, he came upon another curious sight. A black and white horse, fully saddled, its bridle lined with tinkling bells, stood quietly and calmly. The animal pawed the ground when it saw the drow coming.
Drizzt spoke softly and made quiet sounds as he eased over to it. The horse visibly calmed, even nuzzled Drizzt when he got near. The animal was fine, the ranger could tell, well muscled and well groomed, though it was not a tall beast. Its coat held black and white splotches, even on its face, with one eye surrounded by white,  the other appearing as though it was under a black mask.
Drizzt searched around, but found no other prints in the ground. He suspected that the horse had been provided by the elves, for him, but he couldn't be sure, and he certainly didn't want to steal someone's mount.
He patted the horse on the neck and started to walk past. He had gone only a few steps when the horse snorted and wheeled about. It galloped around the drow and stood again before him on the path.
Curious, Drizzt repeated the movement, going by the beast, and the horse followed suit to stand before him.
"Did they tell you to do this?" Drizzt asked plainly, stroking the animal's muzzle.
"Did you instruct him so?" Drizzt called loudly to the woods around him. "I ask the elves of Moonwood, was this horse provided for me?"
All that came in response was the protesting chatter of some birds disturbed by Drizzt's shout.
The drow shrugged and figured that he would take the horse to the end of the wood; it wasn't so far anyway. He mounted up and galloped off, making great progress along the wide and flat trail.
He came to the eastern end of Moonwood late that afternoon,  long shadows rolling out from the tall trees. Figuring that the elves had given him the mount only so that he could be gone of their realm more quickly, he brought the horse to a halt, still under the shadows,  meaning to dismount and send it running back into the forest.
A movement across the wide field beyond the forest caught the drow ranger's eye. He spotted an elf atop a tall black stallion, just outside the brush line, looking his way. The elf put his hands to his lips and gave a shrill whistle, and Drizzt's horse leaped out from the shadows and ran across the thick grass.
The elf disappeared immediately into the brush, but Drizzt did not bring his horse up short. He understood then that the elves had chosen to help him, in their distant way, and he accepted their gift and rode on.
Before he set camp that night, Drizzt noticed that the elven rider was paralleling him, some distance to the south. It seemed that there was a limit to their trust.
Catti-brie had little experience with cities. She had been through Luskan, had flown in an enchanted chariot over the splendor of mighty Waterdeep, and had traveled through the great southern city of Calimport. Nothing, though, had ever come close to the sights that awaited her as she walked the wide and curving avenues of Silverymoon. She had been here once before, but at the time, she had been a prisoner of Artemis Entreri and had hardly noticed the graceful spires and free flowing designs of the marvelous city.
Silverymoon was a place for philosophers, for artists, a city known for tolerance. Here an architect could let his imagination soar along with a hundred foot spire. Here a poet could stand on the street corner, spouting his art and earning a fair and honest living on the trinkets that passersby happened to toss his way.
Despite the seriousness of her quest, and the knowledge that she soon might walk into darkness, a wide smile grew on Catti  brie's face. She understood why Drizzt had often gone from Mithril Hall to visit this place; she never guessed that the world could be so varied and wonderful.
On impulse, the young woman moved to the side of one build  ing, a few steps down a dark, though clean, alleyway. She took out the panther figurine and set it on the cobblestones before her.
"Come, Guenhwyvar, " Catti-brie called softly. She didn't know if Drizzt had brought the panther into this city before or not, didn't know whether she was breaking any rules, but she believed that Guenhwyvar should experience this place, and believed, too, for some reason, that, in Silverymoon, she was free to follow her heart.
A gray mist surrounded the figurine, swirled, and gradually took shape. The great panther, six hundred pounds of inky black,  muscled cat, its shoulders higher than Catti-brie's waist, stood before her. Its head turned from side to side as it tried to fathom their location.
"We're in Silverymoon, Guen, " Catti-brie whispered.
The panther tossed its head, as though it had just awakened,  and gave a low, calm growl.
"Keep yerself close, " Catti-brie instructed, "right by me side. I'm not for knowing if ye should be here or not, but I wanted ye to see the place, at least."
They came out of the alley side by side. "Have ye seen the place before, Guen?" Catti-brie asked. "I'm looking for Lady Alustriel. Might ye know where that'd be?"
The panther bumped close to Catti-brie's leg and moved off,  apparently with purpose, and Catti-brie went right behind. Many heads turned to regard the curious couple, the road dirty woman and her unusual companion, but the gazes were innocuous enough,  and not one person screamed or hurried away in fright.
Coming around one sweeping avenue, Guenhwyvar almost ran headfirst into a pair of talking elves. They jumped back instinctively and looked from the panther to the young woman.
"Most marvelous!" one of them said in a singsong voice.
"Incredible, " the other agreed. He reached toward the panther slowly, testing the reaction. "May I?" he asked Catti-brie.
She didn't see the harm and nodded.
The elf's face beamed as he ran his slender fingers along Guen  hwyvar 's muscled neck. He looked to his more hesitant companion,  his smile seeming wide enough to take in his ears.
"Oh, buy the cat!" the other agreed excitedly.
Catti-brie winced, Guenhwyvar's ears flattened, and the pan  ther let out a roar that echoed about the buildings throughout the city.
Catti-brie knew that elves were fast afoot, but these two were out of sight before she could even explain to them their mistake. "Guenhwyvar!" she whispered harshly into the panther's flattened ear.
The cat's ears came up, and the panther turned and rose on its haunches, putting a thick paw atop each of Catti-brie's shoulders. It bumped its head into Catti-brie's face and twisted to rub against her smooth cheek. Catti-brie had to struggle just to keep her balance and it took her a long while to explain to the panther that the apol  ogy was accepted.
As they went on, pointing fingers accompanied the stares, and more than one person slipped across the avenues ahead to get on the opposite side of the street and let the woman and cat pass. Catti  brie knew that they had attracted too much attention; she began to feel foolish for bringing Cuenhwyvar here in the first place. She wanted to dismiss the cat back to the Astral Plane, but she suspected that she couldn't do so without attracting even more attention.
She wasn't surprised a few moments later, when a host of armed soldiers wearing the new silver and light blue uniforms of the city guard, surrounded her at a comfortable distance.
"The panther is with you, " one of them reasoned.
"Guenhwyvar, " Catti-brie replied. "I am Catti-brie, daughter of Bruenor Battlehammer, Eighth King of Mithril Hall."
The man nodded and smiled, and Catti-brie relaxed with a deep sigh.
"It is indeed the drow's cat!" another of the guardsmen blurted. He blushed at his uncalled for outburst, looked to the leader, and promptly lowered his eyes.
"Aye, Guen's the friend of Drizzt Do'Urden, " Catti-brie replied. "Is he about in the city?" she couldn't help asking, though, logically,  she would have preferred to ask the question of Alustriel, who might give her a more complete answer.
"Not that I have heard, " replied the guard leader, "but Silvery  moon is honored by your presence, Princess of Mithril Hall." He dipped a low bow, and Catti-brie blushed, not used to, or comfort  able with, such treatment.
She did well to hide her disappointment about the news,  reminding herself that finding Drizzt was not likely to be easy. Even if Drizzt had come into Silverymoon, he had probably done so secretly.
"I have come to speak with Lady Alustriel, " Catti-brie ex  plained.
"You should have been escorted from the gate, " the guard leader groused, angered by the lack of proper protocol.
Catti-brie understood the man's frustration and realized that she had probably just gotten the unwitting soldiers at the Moon  bridge, the invisible structure spanning the great River Rauvin, in trouble. "They did not know me name, " she added quickly, "or me quest. I thought it best to come through on me own and see what I might."
"They did not question the presence of such a, " He wisely caught himself before saying "pet." "A panther?" he went on.
"Guen was not beside me, " Catti-brie replied without thinking,  then her face crinkled up, realizing the million questions she had probably just inspired.
Fortunately, the guards did not belabor the point. They had heard enough descriptions of the impassioned young woman to be satisfied that this was indeed the daughter of Bruenor Battle  hammer. They escorted Catti-brie and Guenhwyvar (at a respectful distance) through the city, to the western wall and the graceful and enchanting palace of Lady Alustriel.
Left alone in a waiting chamber, Catti-brie decided to keep Guenhwyvar by her side. The panther's presence would give her tale credibility, she decided, and if Drizzt had been about, or still was, Guenhwyvar would sense it.
The minutes slipped by uneventfully, and restless Catti-brie grew bored. She moved to a side door and gently pushed it open,  revealing a decorated powder room, with a wash basin and a small,  gold trimmed table, complete with a large mirror. Atop it was an assortment of combs and brushes, a selection of small vials, and an opened coffer containing many different colored packets of dye.
Curious, the young woman looked over her shoulder to make sure that all was quiet, then moved in and sat down. She took up a brush and roughly ran it through her tangled and thick auburn hair,  thinking she should try to appear her best when standing before the Lady of Silverymoon. She scowled when she noticed dirt on her cheek, and quickly dipped her hand in the water basin and rubbed it roughly over the spot, managing a smile when it was gone.
She peeked out of the anteroom again, to make sure that no one had come. Guenhwyvar, lying comfortably on the floor, looked up and growled.
"Oh, shut yer mouth, " Catti-brie said, and she slipped back into the powder room and inspected the vials. She removed the tight top of one and sniffed, and her blue eyes opened wide in surprise at the powerful aroma. From outside the door, Guenhwyvar growled again and sneezed, and Catti-brie laughed. "I know what ye mean, " she said to the cat.
Catti-brie went through several of the vials, crinkling her nose at some, sneezing at more than one, and finally finding one whose aroma she enjoyed. It reminded her of a field of wildflowers, not overpowering, but subtly beautiful, the background music to a spring day.
She nearly jumped out of her boots, nearly stuffed the vial up her nose, when a hand grasped her shoulder.
Catti-brie spun about, and her breath was stolen away. There stood Alustriel, it had to be!, her hair shining silver and hanging halfway down her back and her eyes sparkling more clearly than any Catti-brie had ever seen, more clearly than any eyes except Wulfgar's sky blue orbs. The memory pained her.
Alustriel was fully half a foot above Catti-brie's five and a half,  and gracefully slender. She wore a purple gown of the finest silk,  with many layers that seemed to hug her womanly curves and hide them alluringly all at once. A high crown of gold and gems sat atop her head.
Guenhwyvar and the lady apparently were not strangers, for the panther lay quietly on its side, eyes closed contentedly.
For some reason that she did not understand, that bothered Catti-brie.
"I have wondered when we would at last meet, " Alustriel said quietly.
Catti-brie fumbled to replace the cap on the vial and replace it on the table, but Alustriel put her long, slender hands over the young woman's (and Catti-brie felt like a young and foolish girl at that moment!) and eased the vial into her belt pouch instead.
"Drizzt has spoken often of you, " Alustriel went on, "and fondly."
That thought, too, bothered Catti-brie. It might have been unin  tentional, she realized, but it seemed to her that Alustriel was being just a bit condescending. And Catti-brie, standing in road dusty traveling clothes, with her hair hardly brushed, certainly was not comfortable beside the fabulous woman.
"Come to my private chambers, " the lady invited. "There we might speak more comfortably." She started out, stepping over the sleeping panther. "Do come along, Guen!" she said, and the cat perked up immediately, shaking away its laziness.
"Guen?" Catti-brie mouthed silently. She had never heard any  one besides herself, and very rarely Drizzt, call the panther so familiarly. She gave a look to the cat, her expression hurt, as she obediently followed Alustriel out of the room.
What had at first seemed to Catti-brie an enchanted palace now made her feel terribly out of place as Alustriel led her along the sweeping corridors and through the fabulous rooms. Catti-brie kept looking to her own trail, wondering fearfully if she might be leaving muddy tracks across the polished floors.
Attendants and other guests, true nobility, the young woman realized, stared as the unlikely caravan passed, and Catti-brie could not return the gazes. She felt small, so very small, as she walked behind the tall and beautiful Alustriel.
Catti-brie was glad when they entered Alustriel's private sitting room and the lady closed the door behind them.
Guenhwyvar padded over and hopped up on a thickly uphol  stered divan, and Catti-brie's eyes widened in shock.
"Get off there!" she whispered harshly at the panther, but Alus  triel only chuckled as she walked past, dropping a hand absently on the comfortable cat's head and motioning for Catti-brie to take a seat.
Again Catti-brie turned an angry gaze on Guenhwyvar, feeling somewhat betrayed. How many times had Guenhwyvar plopped down on that very same couch? she wondered.
"What brings the daughter of King Bruenor to my humble city?" Alustriel asked. "I wish I had known that you would be com  ing. I could have better prepared."
"I seek Drizzt, " Catti-brie answered curtly, then winced and sat back at the sharper than intended tone of her reply.
Alustriel's expression immediately grew curious. "Drizzt?" she echoed. "I have not seen Drizzt in some time. I had hoped that you would tell me that he, too, was in the city, or at least on his way.
Suspicious as she was, thinking that Drizzt would try to avoid her and that Alustriel would undoubtedly go along with his wishes,  Catti-brie found that she believed the woman.
"Ah, well." Alustriel sighed, sincerely and obviously disap  pointed. She perked up immediately. "And how is your father?" she asked politely. "And that handsome Wulfgar?"
Alustriel's expression changed suddenly, as though she had just realized that something must be terribly out of place. "Your wedding?" she asked hesitantly as Catti-brie's lips thinned in a scowl. "I was preparing to visit Mithril Hall..
Alustriel paused and studied Catti-brie for a long while.
Catti-brie sniffed and braced herself. "Wulfgar is dead, " she said evenly, "and me father is not as ye remember him. I've come in search of Drizzt, who has gone out from the halls."
"What has happened?" Alustriel demanded.
Catti-brie rose from her chair. "Guenhwyvar!" she called, rous  ing the panther. "I've not the time for tales, " she said curtly to Alus  triel. "If Drizzt has not come to Silverymoon, then I've taken too much of yer time already, and too much o' me own."
She headed for the door and noticed it briefly glow blue, its wood seeming to expand and tighten in the jam. Catti-brie walked up to it anyway and tugged on the handle, to no avail.
Catti-brie took a few deep breaths, counted to ten, then to twenty, and turned to face Alustriel.
"I've a friend needing me, " she explained, her tone even and dangerous. "Ye'd best be opening the door." In days to come, when she looked back on that moment, Catti-brie would hardly believe that she had threatened Alustriel, the ruler of the northwest's largest and most powerful inland city! She had threatened Alustriel, rep  utably among the most powerful mages in all the north!
At that time, though, the fiery young woman meant every grim word.
"I can help, " Alustriel, obviously worried, offered. "But first you must tell me what has transpired."
"Drizzt hasn't the time, " Catti-brie growled. She tugged futilely on the wizard locked door again, then banged a fist against it and looked over her shoulder to glare at Alustriel, who had risen and was slowly walking her way. Guenhwyvar remained on the divan,  though the cat had lifted its head and was regarding the two intently.
"I have to find him, " Catti-brie said.
"And where will you look?" replied Alustriel, her hands out defenselessly as she stepped before the young woman.
The simple question took the bluster out of Catti-brie's ire. Where indeed? she wondered. Where to even begin? She felt help  less, standing there, in a place she did not belong. Helpless and fool  ish and wanting nothing more than to be back home, beside her father and her friends, beside Wulfgar and Drizzt, with everything the way it had been.. . before the dark elves had come to Mithril Hall.