I Read What?!

Last time, Drizzt went on patrol, failed to rescue a child, and then had some unpleasant familial revelations thrust in his lap.



So we rejoin Drizzt as he starts his studies in Sorcere. If you recall, fighters, once they finish their curriculum at the fighter school Melee-Magthere, then spend a short amount of time training at the wizards' and then the clerics' school. That makes a lot of sense.

Say what you will about the drow, and I do often, their training regimen seems pretty effective.

So anyway, Drizzt's tutor in wizardry matters is, of course, Masoj. And Masoj is suitably dramatic:

“That skill will be of little use to you here,” the mage went on. “I am to tutor you in the wizardly arts, the dark side of magic, we call them. This is a test of your mind and your heart; meager metal weapons will play no part. Magic is the true power of our people!”

Drizzt accepted the berating without reply. He knew that the traits this young mage was boasting of were also necessary qualities of a true fighter. Physical attributes played only a minor role in Drizzt’s style of battle. Strong will and calculated maneuvers, everything the mage apparently believed only wizards could handle, won the duels that Drizzt fought.

...I mean, yes, I guess. But can you light a fireball with your mind?

I'm not saying fighters can't be brainy, or anything, but what Masoj does is literally impossible. So I think maybe Drizzt could use a bit of humility.

“May I know your name?” Drizzt asked, trying to sound somewhat impressed by the student’s continued stream of self-glorification. Drizzt had already learned quite a lot about wizardry from Zaknafein, mostly of the weaknesses inherent in the profession. Because of magic’s usefulness in situations other than battle, drow wizards were accorded a high position in the society, second to the clerics of Lolth. It was a wizard, after all, who lighted the glowing Narbondel, timeclock of the city, and wizards who lighted faerie fires on the sculptures of the decorated houses.

Zaknafein had little respect for wizards. They could kill quickly and from a distance, he had warned Drizzt, but if one could get in close to them, they had little defense against a sword.

Yeah, see, that's true ONLY if we're using D&D style hitpoint rules. Burning Hands, for example, is a first level spell that allows a wizard to shoot fire out of his hands. In the real world, I don't care how fast you are with a sword, getting fire shot in your face will take you down.

But admittedly, this ISN'T the real world. Still though, Drizzt's arrogance here is a bit irritating. And sure, Masoj is being self-glorifying. But I've read four books with this asshole, and there's a reason I pinpointed Zaknafein as Drizzt's dad due to purple prose. Masoj is just reading HIS narration outloud.

At least Drizzt FINALLY seems to have learned to keep his mouth shut, and we're told, the six months at Sorcere is actually the best time he has.

Drizzt found that he was quite proficient in the ways of magic. Every drow, the fighters included, possessed a degree of magical talent and certain innate abilities. Even drow children could conjure a globe of darkness or edge their opponents in a glowing outline of harmless colored flames. Drizzt handled these tasks easily, and in a few tendays, he could manage several cantrips and a few lesser spells.

With the innate magical talents of the dark elves also came a resistance to magical attacks, and that is where Zaknafein had recognized the wizards’ greatest weakness. A wizard could cast his most powerful spell to perfection, but if his intended victim was a drow elf, the wizard may well have found no results for his efforts. The surety of a well-aimed sword thrust always impressed Zaknafein, and Drizzt, after witnessing the drawbacks of drow magic during those first tendays with Masoj, began to appreciate the course of training he had been given.

Ugh. Of course Drizzt is a natural talent. Of course. But I do appreciate the look at drow magical resistance. That said, it's not a natural immunity or anything, so Drizzt might want to be a little more wary.

But Drizzt is mostly having a good time. He's enjoying seeing the enchanted items in the tower of Sorcere, and getting to play around with a magic sword. And Masoj has his own perspective:

Masoj, too, watched Drizzt carefully through it all, studying the young warrior’s every move, searching for some weakness that he might exploit if House Hun’ett and House Do’Urden ever did fall into the expected conflict. Several times, Masoj saw an opportunity to eliminate Drizzt, and he felt in his heart that it would be a prudent move. Matron SiNafay’s instructions to him, though, had been explicit and unbending.

I still think Masoj is the smartest of this set of villains. We're told that SiNafay pulled strings to get Masoj as Drizzt's tutor but made it VERY clear that this was a scouting mission only. Masoj knows better than to disobey.

Alton on the other hand...well, we'll find out as "Master Faceless One" has invited Drizzt to a private audience.

“How do you perceive magic, young warrior?” Alton asked. “Has Masoj impressed you?”

Drizzt didn’t know how to respond. Truly, magic had not impressed him as a profession, but he did not want to insult a master of the craft. “I find the art beyond my abilities,” he said tactfully. “For others, it seems a powerful course, but I believe my talents are more closely linked to the sword.”

“Could your weapons defeat one of magical power?” Alton snarled. He quickly bit back the sneer, trying not to tip off his intent.

Drizzt shrugged. “Each has its place in battle,” he replied. “Who could say which is the mightier? As with every combat, it would depend upon the individuals engaged.”

Drizzt has, at least, learned diplomacy! Alton reveals that he knows that Drizzt is first in his class, which embarrasses Drizzt and makes him curious.

But of course, Alton is a fucking moron and uses this as an excuse to "challenge" Drizzt. But before he can get too far:

Another bolt roared in, forcing Drizzt to dodge back to his original position. “Does this seem like practice to you, foolish Do’Urden?” Alton growled. “Do you know who I am?”

Alton’s time of revenge had come—damn the orders of Matron SiNafay!

Just as Alton was about to reveal the truth to Drizzt, a dark form slammed into the master’s back, knocking him to the floor. He tried to squirm away but found himself helplessly pinned by a huge black panther.

Drizzt lowered the tips of his blades; he was at a loss to understand any of this.

GWEN!

It's Masoj, of course, saving the day. And for Drizzt, it's love at first sight:

So enchanted was Drizzt with the beast, the graceful flow of its rippling muscles and the intelligence in its saucer eyes, that he paid little attention to the master who had just attacked him, though Alton, unhurt, was back to his feet and obviously upset.

“My pet,” Masoj explained. Drizzt watched in amazement as Masoj dismissed the cat back to its own plane of existence by sending its corporeal form back into the magical onyx statuette he held in his hand.

“Where did you get such a companion?” Drizzt asked.

“Never underestimate the powers of magic,” Masoj replied, dropping the figurine into a deep pocket. His beaming smile became a scowl as he looked to Alton.

Poor Masoj. We know where that panther's going to be soon enough. You can't get in the way of true love.

(Honestly, as a kid, I always thought Drizzt's ideal romantic partner would be if someone taught Guen how to shapeshift into a humanoid form. I'm a shipper, I guess.)

So Drizzt picks up pretty quick that the power dynamics of the situation aren't what they ought to be. Alton is quite sure he's going to pay for his mistake. And Masoj covers well:

“Have you learned your lesson this day?” Masoj asked Drizzt, though Alton realized that the question was also directed his way.

Drizzt shook his head. “I am not certain of the point of all this,” he answered honestly.

“A display of the weakness of magic,” Masoj explained, trying to disguise the truth of the encounter, “to show you the disadvantage caused by the necessary intensity of a casting wizard; to show you the vulnerability of a mage obsessed—” he eyed Alton directly at this point—“with spellcasting. The complete vulnerability when a wizard’s intended prey becomes his overriding concern.”

Drizzt recognized the lie for what it was, but he could not understand the motives behind this day’s events. Why would a master of Sorcere attack him so? Why would Masoj, still just a student, risk so much to come to his defense?

Masoj lures Drizzt away to show off Guen some more. Oh, Masoj, you're just furthering the meet cute.

Never before had Drizzt encountered such a wonderful magical item. He sensed a strength in Guenhwyvar, a dignity, that belied the beast’s enchanted nature. Truly, the cat’s sleek muscles and graceful moves epitomized the hunting qualities drow elves so dearly desired. Just by watching Guenhwyvar’s movements, Drizzt believed, he could improve his own techniques.

Masoj let them play together and spar together for hours, grateful that Guenhwyvar could help him smooth over any damage that foolish Alton had done.

Drizzt had already put his meeting with the faceless master far behind him.

Oh Masoj, seeding your own doom.

I really do like Masoj. He's not a grand epic adversary like Entreri. He's not particularly powerful. He's a counterpoint to Drizzt as a student, not Drizzt as a legend. He's not even a particularly important villain in this book (I think we can all guess that the real villains will have the last name Do'Urden.) But he's clever and resourceful, and we can see exactly how he's defeating himself and it's through short-term cleverness, not stupidity. Guen IS a good distraction for Drizzt. Masoj just doesn't consider Guen as a factor in her own right.

So anyway, Masoj and Alton talk later. Masoj isn't going to tell SiNafay about what Alton tried to do, which puzzles and infuriates Alton, who doesn't want a debt. Masoj explains his thinking:

“What could I gain from telling Matron SiNafay of your foolish actions?” Masoj reasoned. “Likely, she would kill you, and the coming war with House Do’Urden would have no basis. You are the link we need to justify the attack. I desire this battle; I’ll not risk it for the little pleasure I might find in your tortured demise.”

“I was foolish,” Alton admitted, more somberly. “I had not planned to kill Drizzt when I summoned him here, just to watch him and learn of him, so that I might savor more when the time to kill him finally arrived. Seeing him before me, though, seeing a cursed Do’Urden standing unprotected before me …!”

“I understand,” said Masoj sincerely. “I have had those same feelings when looking upon that one.”

“You have no grudge against House Do’Urden.”

“Not the house,” Masoj explained, “that one! I have watched him for nearly a decade, studied his movements and his attitudes.”

I feel you, Masoj. Drizzt is pretty insufferable.

Masoj clarifies:

“He does not belong,” Masoj replied grimly. “After six months by his side, I feel I know him less now than I ever did. He displays no ambition, yet has emerged victorious from his class’s grand melee nine years in a row. It’s unprecedented! His grasp of magic is strong; he could have been a wizard, a very powerful wizard, if he had chosen that course of study.”

Masoj clenched his fist, searching for the words to convey his true emotions about Drizzt. “It is all too easy for him,” he snarled. “There is no sacrifice in Drizzt’s actions, no scars for the great gains he makes in his chosen profession.”

“He is gifted,” Alton remarked, “but he trains as hard as any I have ever seen, by all accounts.”

“That is not the problem,” Masoj groaned in frustration. There was something less tangible about Drizzt Do’Urden’s character that truly irked the young Hun’ett. He couldn’t recognize it now, because he had never witnessed it in any dark elf before, and because it was so very foreign to his own makeup. What bothered Masoj—and many other students and masters—was the fact that Drizzt excelled in all the fighting skills the drow elves most treasured but hadn’t given up his passion in return. Drizzt had not paid the price that the rest of the drow children were made to sacrifice long before they had even entered the Academy.

I mean, Masoj isn't wrong. And it's something that's worth thinking about when we talk about Drizzt as a character. Drizzt is the only "good" drow for a good long time in Forgotten Realms canon. But we see that others have that potential: Zaknafein comes closest, but even Vierna and Dinin have moments. Masoj himself has a moment. Later we'll meet others who skirt the line, like the mercenary Jarlaxle.

As hellish as Drizzt's life in Menzoberranzan is, he's had some protection, some shelter that has allowed him the opportunity to develop skill without sacrificing his morality. Could Vierna have, if she'd been a boy and not destined for Lolth's service? Could Dinin have, if he'd been Zak's son instead of Rizzen's, and thus worthy of special attention? We'll never know.

I'm not blaming Drizzt for this. It's not his fault that he's been lucky, in a sense. But it's interesting to think about what might have been.

Anyway, Masoj intends to continue to keep an eye on Drizzt. Alton asks how: the tutelage is done. But actually, Masoj and Drizzt will both be graduating from their respective academies soon (Sorcere has a longer curriculum), and thus they have an upcoming indenture time where they'll serve on patrols together. And Masoj has ensured that they'll be in the same group.

Basically, he's luring him with Guen. True love, man. The chapter ends here.