I Read What?!

So last time, we had a very short "epilogue" of "Book One" of the Halfling's Gem. So this new chapter is the start of "Book Two".



So this time, we rejoin Bruenor Battlehammer. If you recall, he was not in fact dead (thanks to Drizzt's nifty magic scimitar), and had fought his way out of Mithril Hall. He'd lost consciousness at the top of a chimney. Safe, for now.

Anyway, Bruenor's waking up and he's noticing a sudden lack of wind. He's warm, comfortable and indoors. He's got a quilt wrapped around him, and he can hear the crackling fire of a hearth. When he opens his eyes, he sees his equipment neatly stacked alongside of it. He belatedly realizes that he's wearing only a silken nightshirt and feels rather understandably vulnerable.

He gets dizzy when he tries to get up, which catches the attention of his host. A tall, beautiful woman with gleaming silver hair.

You know, it always bugs me when, in fantasy books, everyone's appreciation of beauty seems exactly the same. Would Gimli REALLY think Arwen and Galadriel are so beautiful when dwarven women would undoubtedly look very different. Well, okay, maybe Mr. "Sure, I'll come with you to elven paradise, Legolas" would, but OTHER dwarves might have more conventional tastes!

Why don't halflings consider human women ungainly and tall? Why don't dwarves think elfish ladies are spindly? Why don't drow ever insult their paler cousins by comparing them to illithids or fungus?

I'm just saying.

Anyway, the elven woman notes that spider's poison would have killed anyone but a dwarf. He passes out before they can talk more.

The next time he wakes up, he's stronger and more alert. He tries to surreptitiously survey his surroundings. He's in a small one-roomed structure, and his host is standing by the door. He notes that it is indeed silver, but "not silver with the graying of age; this lustrous mane glowed with vibrant life".

Of course it does.

Anyway, Bruenor gets her attention and asks for food. This amazes the lady. Presumably, she hadn't expected dwarven constitution. Bruenor thinks he knows her, but can't place her name. He says as much and she waves it off as unimportant.

...you know, that's the sort of thing that only happens in these sorts of books. If this lady is friendly (and she is), then what's the point of keeping her name a secret (especially since Bruenor will remember it in a few pages)? If she didn't want to be recognized, she should have worn a disguise.

Seriously though, if my nextdoor neighbor keeled over and I was helping, and he said "Sorry, I don't remember your name," I would just tell him my name. It's not that complicated.

Anyway, Bruenor asks how long it's been. His host can't tell him how long he was laying on the grate, but she's been taking care of him for three days. She goes to fetch some food. She explains that they're in a temporary construct she'd made in a clearing not far from the gate. She was afraid to move him.

The mention of magic jogs Bruenor's memory. He recognizes her as DUN DUN DUN Lady Alustriel! From the last book! Elven lady who had a Moment with Drizzt! She bows politely and offers her greeting to the "noble king".

Bruenor scoffs at that, then asks after his friends. Especially Catti-brie, "the joy of his life". Aw. Alustriel, happily, doesn't waste time here. She reassures him that everyone's escaped.

She also explains how she found him:

Your friends think you dead, to their ultimate grief. But I am a wizard of some talent, and can speak to worlds that oft bring surprising revelations. When the specter of Morkai, an old associate who passed from this world a few years ago, imparted to me an image of a fallen dwarf, half out of a hole on the side of a mountain, I knew the truth of the fate of Bruenor Battlehammer. I only hoped that I would not be too late."

YAY, MORKAI!

If you don't remember Morkai, he was the wizard Akar Kessel killed at the beginning of Crystal Shard, who had then been enslaved as a ghost by Dendybar, the evil wizard. He wasn't exactly friendly to our heroes (for one thing, he couldn't interact with them), but he was able to sabotage Dendybar some, and got his revenge by the end.

Apparently Morkai decided to do Bruenor a solid. Aw. I like that dude.

For a bit of comic relief, we're told that Bruenor feels a pain in the backside. At some point during his escape, he was shot with a bolt. He's embarrassed at the thought of Alustriel taking it out for him, and she changes the subject.

I'm not really sure why that was even necessary? But I can tell you that at no point in the umpteen hundred books in this series, does Drizzt Do'Urden ever get into such an undignified situation. Hmph.

Anyway, Alustriel promises that in the morning she'll take Bruenor to Longsaddle to see Catti-brie.

When it comes to morning, Bruenor gets to watch Alustriel's constructed shelter fade around them. Then she does more nifty magic:

She clenched her hands and brought them to her mouth, whispering the enchantment into them. Then she flung the captured light out before her, crying out the final words of the dweomer, "Equine aflame!" A glowing ball of red struck the stone and burst into a shower of fire, forming almost instantly into a flaming chariot and two horses. Their images danced with the fire that gave them shape, but they did not burn the ground.

Bruenor notes that he's not really big on magic, but he can't deny its usefulness. He gets his stuff and gets aboard. Then the chariot shoots off into the sky. Bruenor gets to watch the landscape as they go, even managing to spit a curse as they soar over the town of Nesme, which had been less-than-hospitable toward them (...well, Drizzt). Then they get to Longsaddle.

Harkle is pretty stunned, somewhat understandably. He babbles a bit, then leads Bruenor to Catti-brie. And awww:

They intercepted Catti-brie, barely out of bed and wearing a fluffy robe, shuffling down a long hall. The young woman's eyes popped wide when she spotted Bruenor rushing at her, and she dropped the towel she was holding, her arms falling limply to her side. Bruenor buried his face into her, hugging her around the waist so tightly that he forced the air from her lungs. As soon as she recovered from her shock, she returned the hug tenfold.

"Me prayers," she stammered, her voice quaking with sobs. "By the gods, I'd thought ye dead!"

Embarrassed Bruenor yanks open a door and boots out a half-dressed Harpell so he and Catti-brie can have a tearful father-daughter reunion. (The poor wizard just kind of shrugs and goes on his way.)

This is a bit amusing:

"Suren I know not why I lived," the dwarf replied. "None o' the fire found me skin." He shuddered at the memories of his weeks alone in the mines of Mithril Hall. "No more talk o' the place," he begged. "Behind me it is. Behind me to stay!"

Catti-brie, knowing of the approach of armies to reclaim the dwarven homeland, started to shake her head, but Bruenor didn't catch the motion.

Kids.

So Catti-brie fills him in: Drizzt and Entreri are alive. Entreri grabbed Regis and Guenhwyvar, and Drizzt and Wulfgar are chasing after them.

"A long run," Bruenor muttered. He looked to Catti-brie, confused. "But I'd have thought ye'd be with them."

"I have me own course," Catti-brie replied, her face suddenly stern. "A debt for repaying."

Translation: Catti-brie is only allowed to have screentime when she's in distress.

Bruenor reads it differently, realizing that she intended to return to Mithril Hall and avenge him. And I like this bit:

"Ye're bats, girl!" Bruenor said. "And the drow would let ye go alone?"

"Alone?" Catti-brie echoed. It was time for the rightful king to know. "Nay, nor would I so foolishly end me life. A hundred kin make their way from the north and west," she explained. "And a fair number of Wulfgar's folk beside 'em."

"Not enough," Bruenor replied. "An army of duergar scum holds the halls."

"And eight-thousand more from Citadel Adbar to the north and east," Catti-brie continued grimly, not slowing a beat. "King Harbromme of the dwarves of Adbar says he'll see the halls free again! Even the Harpells have promised their aid."

Okay, Salvatore. I acknowledge that this is pretty badass. I still think you could have maybe cut a chapter or two of Drizzt and Wulfgar's pre-sailing adventure to show us. Maybe Agatha? Maybe Malchor could have just given them the stupid mask.

But I do like this badass boast:

"They wouldn't beat me," Catti-brie growled. "I meant to see yer face carved in the Hall of Kings, and meant to put yer name in its proper place o' glory!"

Bruenor grabbed her close and squeezed with all his strength. Of all the mantles and laurels he had found in the years gone by, or might find in the years ahead, none fit as well or blessed him as much as "Father."

Later, Bruenor looks out broodingly at the sky. He's worried. He knows Drizzt and Wulfgar will be fine ("Drizzt was always okay"), but he's worried about Regis. He'd always figured Regis's lifestyle would probably get him in trouble, but that doesn't make it any better.

Bruenor thinks about how Mithril Hall had been his dream for almost two-hundred years:

Bruenor's lifelong dream was to return, but how hollow it seemed to him now, with his friends caught in a desperate chase across the southland.

The last light left the sky, and the stars blinked to life. Nighttime, Bruenor thought with a bit of comfort.

The time of the drow.

The first hints of his smile dissipated, though, as soon as they began, as Bruenor suddenly came to view the deepening gloom in a different perspective. "Nighttime," he whispered aloud.

The time of the assassin.

With this dramatic note, the chapter ends.