The Halfling’s Gem Read Online Free PDF

replaced the dagger in its sheath and leaped up in a rush. “Enjoy the night, little thief. Bask in the cold ocean wind; relish all the sensations of this trip as a man staring death in the face, for Calimport surely spells your doom—and the doom of your friends!” He swept out of the room, banging the door behind him.
    He hadn’t locked it, Regis noted. He never locked the door! But he didn’t have to, Regis admitted in anger. Terror was the assassin’s chain, as tangible as iron shackles. Nowhere to run; nowhere to hide.
    Regis dropped his head into his hands. He became aware of the sway of the ship, of the rhythmic, monotonous creaking of old boards, his body irresistibly keeping time.
    He felt his insides churning.
    Halflings weren’t normally fond of the sea, and Regis was timid even by the measures of his kind. Entreri could not have found a greater torment to Regis than passage south on a ship, on the Sea of Swords.
    “Not again,” Regis groaned, dragging himself to the small portal in the cabin. He pulled the window open and stuck his head out into the refreshing chill of the night air.

    Entreri walked across the empty deck, his cloak tight about him. Above him, the sails swelled as they filled with wind; the early winter gales pushed the ship along its southern route. A billion stars dotted the sky, twinkling in the empty darkness to horizons bordered only by the flat line of the sea.
    Entreri took out the ruby pendant again and let its magic catch the starlight. He watched it spin and studied its swirl, meaning to know it well before his journey’s end.
    Pasha Pook would be thrilled to get the pendant back. It had given him such power! More power, Entreri now realized, than others had assumed. With the pendant, Pook had made friends of enemies and slaves of friends.
    “Even me?” Entreri mused, enthralled by the little stars in the red wash of the gem. “Have I been a victim? Or shall I be?” He wouldn’t have believed that he, Artemis Entreri, could ever be caught by a magic charm, but the insistence of the ruby pendant was undeniable.
    Entreri laughed aloud. The helmsman, the only other person on the deck, cast him a curious glance but thought no more about it.
    “No,” Entreri whispered to the ruby. “You shan’t have me again. I know your tricks, and I’ll learn them better still! I will run the path of your tempting descent and find my way back out again!” Laughing, he fastened the pendant’s golden chain around his neck and tucked the ruby under his leather jerkin.
    Then he felt in his pouch, grasped the figurine of the panther, and turned his gaze back to the north. “Are you watching, Drizzt Do’Urden?” he asked into the night.
    He knew the answer. Somewhere far behind, in Waterdeep orLongsaddle or somewhere in between, the drow’s lavender eyes were turned southward.
    They were destined to meet again; they both knew. They had battled once, in Mithral Hall, but neither could claim victory.
    There had to be a winner.
    Never before had Entreri encountered anyone with reflexes to match his own or as deadly with a blade as he, and memories of his clash with Drizzt Do’Urden haunted his every thought. They were so akin, their movements cut from the same dance. And yet, the drow, compassionate and caring, possessed a basic humanity that Entreri had long ago discarded. Such emotions, such weaknesses, had no place in the cold void of a pure fighter’s heart, he believed.
    Entreri’s hands twitched with eagerness as he thought of the drow. His breath puffed out angrily in the chill air. “Come, Drizzt Do’Urden,” he said through his clenched teeth. “Let us learn who is the stronger!”
    His voice reflected deadly determination, with a subtle, almost imperceptive, hint of anxiety. This would be the truest challenge of both their lives, the test of the differing tenets that had guided their every actions. For Entreri, there could be no draw. He had sold his soul for his skill, and