- a recent one, where someone or something had plodded along, much as Bruenor was doing now.
"Hold!" the drow called. Even as he spoke, Drizzt noted another curious sight, that of smoke up ahead, some distance away, rising in a thin line as if from a chimney. He considered it for just a moment, then glanced back to the trail, which seemed to be going in that general direction. He wondered if the two were somehow connected. A trapper's house, perhaps, or a hermit.
Figuring that the friends could all use a bit of rest, Drizzt 'made good speed for the trail. They had been out from Luskan for nearly a tenday, finding good shelter only twice, once with a farmer the first night and another night spent in a cave.
Drizzt wasn't as hopeful for shelter when he arrived at the line in the snow and saw footprints more than twice the size of his own.
"What'd'ye got, elf?" Bruenor called.
Drizzt motioned for the group to be quiet and for them to come and join him.
"Big orcs, perhaps," he remarked when they were all there. "Or small ogres."
"Or barbarians," Bruenor remarked. "Them folk got the biggest feet I ever seen on a human."
Drizzt examined one clear print more carefully, bending over to put his eyes only a few inches from it. He shook his head. "These are too heavy, and those who made them wore hard boots, not the doeskin Wulfgar's people would wear," he explained.
"Ogres, then," said Catti-brie. "Or big orcs."
"Plenty of those in these mountains," Regis put in.
"And heading for that line of smoke," Drizzt explained, pointing ahead to the thin plume.
"Might be their kinfolk making the smoke," Bruenor reasoned. With a wry grin, the dwarf turned to Regis. "Get to it, Rumblebelly."
Regis branched, thinking then that perhaps he had done too well with that last orc camp, when he and Bruenor were making their way to Luskan. The halfling wasn't going to shy from his responsibilities, but if these were ogres, he'd be sorely overmatched. And Regis knew that ogres favored halfling as one of their most desired meals.
When Regis came out of his contemplation, he noted that Drizzt was looking at him, smiling knowingly, as if he'd read the halfling's every thought.
"This is no job for Regis," the dark elf said.
"He done it on the way to Luskan," Bruenor protested. "Done it well, too."
"But not in this snow," Drizzt replied. "No thief would be able to find appropriate shadows in this white-out. No, let us go in together to see what friends or enemies we might find."
"And if they are ogres?" Catti-brie asked. "Ye thinking we're overdue for a fight?"
Drizzt's expression showed clearly that the notion was not an unpleasant one, but he shook his head. "If they do not concern us, then better that we do not concern them," he said. "But let us learn what we might - it may be that we will find shelter and good food for the night."
Drizzt moved off to the side and a little ahead, and Bruenor led the way along the carved trail. The dwarf brought out his large axe, slapping its handle across his shield hand, and set his one-horned helmet firmly on his head, more than ready for a fight. Behind him, Catti-brie set an arrow to Taulmaril and tested the pull.
If these were ogres or orcs and they happened to have a decent shelter constructed, then Catti-brie fully expected to be occupying that shelter long before nightfall. She knew Bruenor Battle-hammer too well to think that the dwarf would ever walk away from a fight with either of those beasts.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Yer turn to get the firewood," Donbago snarled at his younger brother, Jeddith. He pushed the young man toward the tower door. "We'll all be frozen by morning if ye don't bring it!"
"Yeah, I know," the younger soldier grumbled, running a hand through his greasy hair and scratching at some lice. "Damn weather. Shouldn't be this cold yet."
The other two soldiers in the stone tower grumbled their agreement. Winter had come early, and with vigor, to the Spine of the World, sweeping down on an icy wind that cut right through the stones of the simple tower fortress to bite at the soldiers. They did have a fire burning in the hearth, but it was getting thin, and they didn't have enough wood to get through the night. There was plenty to be found,