of Rothe, " she said coyly, obvious attraction reflected in her red glowing eyes.
"1 will never get used to the light, " Drizzt replied, changing the subject and looking back toward the city. He kept his eyes operating in the normal spectrum and hoped that his leading statements might prompt some conversation on the matter. "It stings my eyes."
"Of course it does, " the female purred, moving closer, even Putting a hand inside Drizzt's elbow. "But you will get used to it in time."
In time? In time for what? Drizzt wanted to ask, for he suspected from her tone that she was referring to some specific event. He had no idea of how to begin the question, though, and, as the female moved ever closer, he found that he had more pressing problems.
In drow culture, males were subservient, and to refuse the advances of a female could invite serious trouble. "1 am Khareesa, " she whispered in his ear. "Tell me that you wish to be my slave."
Drizzt jumped up suddenly and snapped his scimitars from their sheaths. He turned away from Khareesa, focused his attention on the lake to make sure that she understood he meant no threat against her.
"What is it?" the surprised female demanded.
"A movement in the water, " Drizzt lied. "A subtle undercur rent, as though something large just passed under our craft." Kha reesa scowled but stood and peered into the gloomy lake. It was common knowledge in Menzoberranzan that dark things resided under the usually still waters of Donigarten. One of the games the slavers played was to make the goblins and orcs swim from the isle to the shore, to see if any of them would be pulled down to terrible deaths.
A few moments passed quietly, the only sound the continual moaning chants of the orcs lining the sides of the raft.
A third drow joined Drizzt and Khareesa on the prow, eyeing Drizzt's blue flaring scimitar. You mark us for every enemy in the area, his hands flashed in the silent code.
Drizzt slid the scimitars away and let his eyes drift back into infravision. If our enemies are beneath the waters, then the motion of our craft marks us more than any light, his hands answered.
"There are no enemies, " Khareesa added, motioning for the third drow to go back to his station. When he left, she turned a lewd look upon Drizzt. "A warrior?" she asked, carefully regarding the purple eyed male. "A patrol leader, perhaps?"
Drizzt nodded and it was no lie; he had indeed been a patrol leader.
"Good, " Khareesa remarked. "I like males who are worth the trouble." She looked up then, took note that they were fast approach ing the Isle of Rothe. "We will speak later, perhaps." Then she turned and swept away, brushing her hands behind her so that her robes rode high on her shapely legs.
Drizzt winced as though slapped. The last thing Khareesa had on her mind was speaking. He couldn't deny that she was beautiful, with sculpted features, a thick mane of well groomed hair, and a finely toned body But in his years among the drow, Drizzt Do'Urden had learned to look beyond physical beauty and physical attraction. Drizzt did not separate the physical from the emotional. He was a superb fighter because he fought with his heart and would no sooner battle merely for the sake of battle than he would mate for the sake of the physical act.
"Later, " Khareesa said once more, glancing back over her deli cate, perfectly squared shoulder.
"When worms eat your bones, " Drizzt whispered through a phony smile. For some reason, he thought of Catti-brie then, and the warmth of that image pushed away the chill of this hungry drow female.
Blingdenstone charmed Catti-brie, despite her obvious predica ment and the fact that the svirfnebli did not treat her as a long lost friend. Stripped of her weapons, armor, jewelry, and even her boots, she was taken into the city in just her basic clothes. The gnome escorts did not abuse her, but neither were they gentle. They tightly clasped her arms at the elbows and hoisted her and pulled her around the narrow, rocky ways of the city's defensible anterooms.
When they had taken the circlet from the woman's head, the gnomes had easily come to guess its function, and as soon as the anterooms were past, they gave the precious item back to Catti-brie. Drizzt had told her