They probably had not. Drizzt spotted a couple of rothe, small Underdark cattle, milling nearby, and he realized that this group probably was out of the city in search of the missing creatures. On such trips, slaves were given little or nothing to eat, though they carried quite a bit of supplies. The accompanying drow guards, though, ate handsomely, usually right in front of their starving slaves.
The crack of a whip brought the goblins back to their feet and shuffling back from the pool's edge. Two drow soldiers, one male, one female, came into Drizzt's view. They talked casually, the female every so often cracking her whip.
Another drow called out some commands from the other side of the cavern, and the goblins began to fall into a rough line, more of an elongated huddle than any organized formation.
Drizzt knew that the most opportune moment was upon him. Slavers were among the least organized and least regimented of Menzoberranzan's extracity bands. Any slaver contingent usually comprised dark elves from several different houses and a comple ment of young drow students from each of the Academy's three schools.
Drizzt quietly slipped down from the ledge and walked around the jutting wall, flashing the customary hand signal greetings (though his fingers felt awkward going through the intricate rou tine) to the drow in the cavern.
The female pushed her male escort forward and stepped to the side behind him. Immediately the male's hand came up, holding one of the typical drow hand crossbows, its dart coated, most likely, with a powerful sleeping potion.
Who are you? the female's hand asked over the male's shoulder.
"All that is left of a patrol group that ventured near Blingden stone, " Drizzt answered.
"You should go in near Tier Breche, then, " the female answered aloud. Hearing her voice, so typical of drow females, voices that could be incredibly melodic or incredibly shrill, sent Drizzt's thoughts cascading back to those long years past. He realized then, fully, that he was just a few hundred yards from Menzoberranzan.
"I do not wish to 'go in' at all, " Drizzt answered. "At least, not announced." The reasoning made perfect sense, Drizzt knew. If he had indeed been the only survivor of a lost patrol, he would have been vigorously interrogated at the drow Academy, probably even tortured until the masters were certain that he played no treacher ous role in the patrol's fate, or until he died, whichever came first.
"Who is the first house?" the female asked, her eyes locked on Drizzt's lavender glowing orbs.
"Baenre, " Drizzt answered immediately, expecting the test. Spying dark elves from rival cities were not unknown in Menzober ranzan.
"Their youngest son?" the female asked slyly. She curled her lips up in a lewd and hungry smile, Drizzt realized as she continued to stare deeply into his unusual eyes.
By fortunate coincidence, Drizzt had attended the Academy in the same class as House Baenre's youngest son, as long as ancient Matron Baenre had not reared another child in the three decades Drizzt had been gone.
"Berg'inyon, " he answered confidently, dropping his hands in a cocky cross at his belt (and putting them near his scimitars).
"Who are you?" the female asked again, and she licked her lips, obviously intrigued.
"No one who matters, " Drizzt replied, and he matched her smile and the intensity of her stare.
The female patted her blocking male on the shoulder and her fingers mOtioned for him to go.
Am Ito be off this miserable duty? he responded silently with his hands, a hopeful expression on his face.
"The bol will take your place this day, " the female purred, labeling Drizzt with the drow word that described something mysterious or intriguing.
The male smiled widely and moved to put his hand crossbow away. Noticing that it was cocked and ready, and looking up to take note that a whole herd of goblins stood nearby, he widened his smile instead and lifted the weapon to fire.
Drizzt offered no reaction, though it pained him to see even goblins treated so miserably.
"No, " the female said, putting her hand over the male's wrist. She reached up and removed the dart from the hand crossbow, then replaced it with another. "Yours would put the creature to sleep, " she explained, and she cackled in laughter.
The male considered her for just a moment, then apparently caught on. He took aim at a goblin loitering near the water's edge