the other wall, creeping past boulders and stalagmites and huddling goblins. He noted that the goblins were disappearing sporadically through a crack in the back of the cave and that the leader had already gone in.
Regis waited for a lull in the goblin line, then slipped into the deeper darkness of the inner tunnels.
The fight was over in a short time, for in truth, other than the initial three goblins' charge at Drizzt, it never was much of a fight. Goblins worked harder at running away than at defending themselves from the mighty intruders - some even threw their kinfolk into the path of the charging dwarf or leaping panther.
It ended with Drizzt and Bruenor simultaneously stabbing and chopping a goblin as it tried to exit at the back of the cave.
Bruenor yanked back on his axe, but the embedded blade didn't disengage and he wound up hoisting the limp goblin right over his shoulder.
"Big one got through," the dwarf grumbled, seeming oblivious to the fact that he was holding a dead goblin on the end of his axe. "Ye going after it?"
"Where is Regis?" came Catti-brie's call from the cave entrance.
The pair turned to see the woman crouching just before the entrance slope, lighting a torch.
"Rumblebelly ain't good at following directions," Bruenor griped. "I telled him to do that!"
"I didn't need it with me bow," Catti-brie explained. "But he ran off." She called out loudly, "Regis?"
"He ran away," Bruenor whispered to Drizzt, but that just didn't sound right - to either of them - after the halfling's brave work on the roads outside of Ten-Towns and his surprisingly good performance against the ogres. "I'm thinking them ogres scared the fight outta him."
Drizzt shook his head, slowly turning to scan the perimeter of the cave, fearing more that Regis had been cut down than that he had run off.
They heard their little friend a few moments later, whistling happily as he exited the goblin escape tunnel. He looked at Drizzt and Bruenor, who stared at him in blank amazement, then tossed something to Drizzt.
The drow caught it and regarded it, and his smile widened indeed.
A goblin ear, wearing a golden cuff.
The dwarf and the dark elf looked at the halfling incredulously.
"I heard what he said," Regis answered their stares. "And I do understand goblin." He snapped his little fingers in the air before the stunned pair and started across the cave toward Catti-brie. He stopped a few strides away, though, turned back, and tossed the second ear to Drizzt.
"What's gettin' into him?" Bruenor quietly asked the drow when Regis was far away.
"The adventurous spirit?" Drizzt asked more than stated.
"Ye could be right," said Bruenor. He spat on the ground. "He's gonna get us all killed, or I'm a bearded gnome."
The five, for Guenhwyvar remained throughout the night, waited out the rest of the storm in the goblin cave. They found a pile of kindling at the side of the cave, along with some rancid meat they didn't dare cook, and Bruenor set a blazing fire near the outside opening. Guenhwyvar stood sentry while Drizzt, Catti-brie, and Regis deposited the goblin bodies far down the passageway. They ate, and they huddled around the fire. They took turns on watch that night, sleeping two at a time, though they didn't really expect the cowardly goblins to return anytime soon.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Many miles to the south and east of the companions, another weary traveler didn't have the luxury of comrades who could stand watch while he slept. Still, not expecting that many enemies would be out and about on a stormy night such as this, Wulfgar did settle back against the rear wall of the covered nook he chose as his shelter and closed his eyes.
He had dug out this nook, and so he was flanked left and right by walls of solid snow, with the rock wall behind and a rising snow wall before him. He knew that even if no monsters or wild animals would likely find him, he had to take his sleep in short bursts, for if he didn't regularly clear some of the snow from the front, he ran the risk of being buried alive, and if he didn't occasionally throw another log on the fire, he'd likely freeze to death on this bitter night.
These were only minor inconveniences to the hearty barbarian, who had been raised from a babe on the open tundra of brutal