Delly was shaking her head even as he started that predictable response.
"Yer place is with me and our girl when yer life permits. Yer place is on the road with Bruenor and Drizzt and Catti-brie and Regis. I'm knowing that, and it makes me love ye all the more!"
'Their road is a dangerous one," Wulfgar reminded.
"Then more the reason for ye to help them along it."
"They're dwarfs!" Nikwillig exclaimed, his voice breaking with excitement and relief.
Tred, who had not climbed the last part of the steep boulder tumble and so could not see the huge caravan rolling along the flat ground to the south, leaned back against a rock and put his head in his hands. His left leg was swollen and would not bend. He hadn't realized how badly it had been torn during their respite in the small village, and he knew that he would not be able to go on for much longer without some proper tending, maybe even some divine intervention, courtesy of a cleric.
Of course, Tred hadn't complained at all and had fought with every ounce of his strength to keep up with Nikwillig in their flight. It had been a strong and valiant run, but both dwarves knew they were nearing the end of their endurance. They needed a break, and apparently, one had found them.
"We can catch them if we angle out to the southeast," Nikwillig explained. "Ye up for one more run?"
"We need to make the run, we make the run," Tred said. "Ain't come this far to lay down and die."
Nikwillig nodded and turned around, gingerly beginning the steep descent. He stopped, though, freezing in place, his eyes locked across the way. Tred noted that look and followed that gaze to see a huge panther, black as the night sky, crouched on a ledge not so far away-not far enough away!
"Don't ye move," Nikwillig whispered.
Tred didn't even bother to answer, thinking exactly the same thing, though he understood that the great cat knew exactly where they were. He pondered what he might do if the cat sprang his way. How could he even begin to hurt that mass of muscle and claws?
Well, he decided, if it comes on, it goes away bloody.
The seconds slipped past, neither the cat nor the dwarves moving an inch.
With a growl that seemed a challenge, Tred pushed out from the wall to stand straight and strong and put his heavy axe up at the ready beside him.
The great panther looked his way but not threateningly. In fact, the cat seemed almost bored.
"Please don't throw that at her," came a voice from below and to the side, and the two dwarves glanced down to see a brown-haired halfling moving out onto an open, flat stone. "When Guenhwyvar gets an invitation to play, it's hard to stop her."
"That yer cat?" Tred asked.
"Not mine, no," the halfling answered. "She a friend and mastered by a friend, if you get my meaning."
Tred nodded. "Well, who are ye then?"
"I could be asking you the same question," the halfling answered. "In fact, I believe that I will."
"And ye'll be getting yer answer after we're getting ours."
The halfling bowed low. "Regis of Mithral Hall," he said. "Friend to King Bruenor Battlehammer, and scout for the caravan your friend sees below. Returning from Icewind Dale."
Tred relaxed, and so did Nikwillig.
"The King o' Mithral Hall keeps strange company," Tred remarked.
"Stranger than you would ever believe," Regis was quick to answer.
He glanced to the side, and so did both dwarves, to see a second dark figure, this one not feline, but a drow elf.
Tred nearly fell over. Above him, Nikwillig did slip a bit, barely catching a hold before he tumbled from the climb.
"You still have not told me your name," Regis reminded, "and I am guessing that you're not from around here if you've not heard of Drizzt Do'Urden and his panther Guenhwyvar."
"Wait, I heared o' him!" Nikwillig said from above Tred, and Tred looked up. "Bruenor's friend drow. Yeah, we heared o' that!"
"And pray tell us where you were when you heard," Drizzt prompted.
Nikwillig moved down fast, dropping beside Tred, and both dwarves set themselves more presentably, with Nikwillig brushing some of the road dust from his weathered tunic.
"Tred McKnuckles's me name," Tred announced, "and this's me friend Nikwillig, outta Citadel Felbarr and the kingdom o* Emerus Warcrown."
"Long way from home," Drizzt observed.
"Longer than ye're thinking," Tred answered. "Been a road o' orcs and giants, and one