The elf's smile comforted him somewhat. She started to rise, but stopped and glanced to the side, her expression drawing Drizzt's eyes that way as well, to a small bird sitting on a stone, chattering at them. As they watched, the bird hopped from its perch and fluttered away.
"Curious," said the elf.
"What is it?"
Innovindil looked at him, but did not reply. Her expression remained somewhat confused, though.
Drizzt looked back to the stone, then scanned the sky for any sign of the bird, which was long gone. With a shrug, he went back to his cleaning.
The mystery didn't take long to unfold, for within an hour, as Drizzt and Innovindil brushed Sunrise and Sunset, they heard a curious voice.
"Drizzit Dudden, hee hee hee."
The two turned to see Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder coming into view, and they both knew at once that the bird had been one of Pikel's spies.
"Well, ain't yerself the fine sight for a tired dwarf's eyes," Ivan greeted, smiling wide as he moved into the camp.
"Well met, yourself," Drizzt replied, stepping forward to clasp the dwarf's offered hand. "And curiously met!"
"Are you not far from the dwarven lines?" Innovindil asked, coming over to similarly greet the brothers. "Or are you, like we two, trapped outside of Mithral Hall?"
"Bah, just come from there," said Ivan. "Ain't no one trapped here - Bruenor busted out to the east and we're holding the ground to the Surbrin."
"Bruenor?" Innovindil asked before Drizzt could.
"Red-bearded dwarf, grumbles a lot?" said Ivan.
"Bruenor fell at Shallows," Drizzt said. "I saw it myself."
"Yeah, he fell, but he bounced," said Ivan. "Priests prayed over him for days and days, but it was Regis that finally woke him up."
"Regis?" Drizzt gasped, and he found it hard to breathe.
"Little one?" Ivan said. "Some call him Rumblebelly."
"Hee hee hee," said Pikel.
"What're ye gone daft, Drizzt?" asked Ivan. "I'm thinking ye're knowing Bruenor and Regis."
Drizzt looked at Innovindil. "This cannot be."
The elf wore a wide smile.
"Ye thought 'em dead, didn't ye?" Ivan asked. "Bah, but where's yer faith then? Nothing dead about them two, I tell ye! Just left them a few days ago." Ivan's face grew suddenly more somber. "But I got some bad news for ye, elf." He looked to the sword and Drizzt's heart sank once more.
"Wulfgar's girl, she took that blade and come out on her own," Ivan explained. "Me and me brother - "
"Me brudder!" Pike! proudly interrupted.
"Me and me brother come out after her, but we found her too late."
"Catti-brie - " Drizzt gasped.
"Nah, not her. Wulfgar's girl. Delly. We found her dead a couple o' days back. Then we spotted yerself flying about on that durned winged horse and so we came to find ye. Bruenor and Regis, Catti-brie and Wulfgar been worrying about ye terribly, ye got to know."
Drizzt stood there transfixed as the weight of the words washed over him.
"Wulfgar and Catti-brie, too?" he asked in a whisper.
Innovindil rushed up beside him and hugged him, and he truly needed the support.
"Ye been out here thinking yer friends all dead?" Ivan asked.
"Shallows was overrun," Drizzt said.
"Well, course it was, but me brother - "
"Me brudder!" Pikel cried on cue.
Ivan snickered. "Me brother there built us a statue to fool them orcs, and with Thibbledorf Pwent beside us, we give them the what's-for! We got 'em all out o' Shallows and run back to Mithral Hall. Been killing orcs ever since. Hunnerds o' the dogs."
"We saw the battlefield north of Keeper's Dale," Innovindil remarked. "And the blasted ridgeline."
"Boom!" cried Pikel.
Drizzt stood there shaking his head, overwhelmed by it all. Could it be true? Could his friends be alive? Bruenor, Wulfgar, and Regis? And Catti-brie? Could it be true? He looked to his partner, to find Innovindil smiling warmly back at him.
"I know not what to say," he admitted.
"Just be happy," she said. "For I am happy for you."
Drizzt crushed her in a hug.
"And they'll be happy to see ye, don't ye doubt," Ivan said to Drizzt. "But there's a few tears to be shed for poor Delly. I don't know what possessed the girl to run off like that."
The words hit Drizzt hard, and he jumped back from Innovindil and turned an angry glower over the sentient sword.
"I do," he said and he cursed Khazid'hea under his breath.
"The sword can dominate its wielder?" Innovindil asked.
Drizzt walked over and grabbed the blade, lifting it before his eyes. He sent his questions telepathically to Khazid'hea, feeling the life