looked doubtfully at the flask.
The assassin followed her gaze and nodded. "Do it!" he com manded, knowing that they would never get Drizzt out of the Baenre compound in this condition.
Catti-brie shoved the flask against Drizzt's lips and forced his head back, compelled him to take a huge swallow. He sputtered and spat, and for a moment, the young woman feared that she had poi soned or drowned her dearest friend.
"How are you here?" Drizzt asked, both eyes suddenly wide, as the strength began to flow through his body Still, the drow could not support himself and his breath was dangerously shallow.
Catti-brie ran over to the wall and came back with several more flasks, sniffing them first to make sure that they smelled the same, then pouring them down Drizzt's throat. In just a few minutes, the ranger was standing solidly, looking more than a little amazed to see his dearest friend and his worst enemy standing before him side by side.
"Your equipment, " Entreri remarked, roughly turning Drizzt about to see the pile.
Drizzt looked more to Entreri than to the pile, wondering what macabre game the evil assassin was playing. When Entreri noticed the expression, the two enemies locked unblinking stares.
"We've not the time!" Catti-brie called harshly
"I thought you dead, " Drizzt said.
"You thought wrong, " Entreri answered evenly Never blinking, he stepped past Drizzt and lifted the suit of chain, holding it out for the following drow.
"Watch the corridor, " Entreri said to Catti-brie. The young woman turned that way just as the iron bound door swung in.
Turned that way to look down the length of Vendes Baenre's wand.
Part 5 EYE OF A WARRIOR Courage.
In any language, the word has a special ring to it, as much, I suspect, from the reverent way in which it is spoken as from the actual sounds of the letters. Courage. The word evokes images of great deeds and great character: the grim set of the faces of men defending their town's walls from raiding goblins; the resilience of a mother caring for young children when all the world has seemingly turned hostile. In many of the larger cities of the Realms, young waifs stalk the streets, without parents, without homes. Theirs is a unique courage, a braving of hardships both physical and emotional.
I suspect that Artemis Ent reri fought such a battle in the mud filled lanes of Calim port. On one level, he certainly won, certainly overcame any physical obstacles and rose to a rank of incredible power and respect.
On another level, Artemis Entreri surely lost. What might he have been, I often wonder, ~f his heart had not been so tainted? But I do not mis take my curiosity for pity. Entreri's odds were no greater than my own. He could have won out over his struggles, in body and in heart.
I thought myself courageous, altruistic, when I left Mithril Hall deter mined to end the threat to my friends. I thought I was offering the supreme sacr~fice for the good of those dear to me.
When Catti-brie entered my cell in House Baenre, when, through half closed eyes, I glimpsed her fair and deceivingly delicate features, I learned the truth. I did not understand my own motivations when I walked from Mithril Hall. I was too full of unknown grief to recognize my own resigna tion. I was not courageous when I walked into the Underdark, because, in the deepest corner of my heart, I felt as if I had nothing to lose. I had not allowed myself to grieve for Wulfgar, and that emptiness stole my will and my trust that things could be put aright.
Courageous people do not surrender hope.
Similarly, Artemis Entreri was not courageous when he came with Catti-brie to rescue me. His actions were wrought of sheer desperation, for if he remained in Menzoberranzan, he was surely doomed. Entreri's goals, as always, were purely selfish. By his rescue attempt he made a conscious choice that coming after me was his best chance for survival. The rescue was an act of calculation, not of courage.
By the time Catti-brie had run out of Mithril Hall in pursuit of her foolish drow friend, she had honestly overcome her grief for Wulfgar. The grieving process had come full circle for Catti-brie, and her actions were motivated only by loyalty. She had everything to lose, yet had gone alone into the savage Underdark for the sake of a friend.
I came to understand this when first I looked into her eyes