Streams of Silver - Chapter Twenty-Four and Epilogue

[kalinara]

So last time on Streams of Silver - we had our climax. Bruenor faced a Goth My Little Pony and won, sort of, with a cost. Artemis Enteri sprung his trap. So now what?



So we have a burning dragon plummeting to its doom with a Dwarf King on top. Drizzt finally makes it over the ledge and rejoins Catti-brie and Wulfgar. Catti-brie is holding Bruenor's helm in her hands. They're shocked to see Drizzt: "Even the appearance of Artemis Entreri had not prepared Wulfgar and Catti-brie for the sight of Drizzt".

...wait, if they saw Entreri grab Regis, why didn't they stop him?

Actually, Entreri isn't even gone. He's across the gorge, right next to the lever hooked to the bridge. He's got Regis by the throat, and the pendant is swinging around his neck.

Um, Catti-brie? Cat? You have a BOW AND ARROW? Wulfgar? You have a THROWING HAMMER?

Anyway, Entreri pulls the lever and laugh as the stone bridge shudders and breaks apart, tumbling into the darkness below.

WHAT? WHY DID THE DWARVES BUILD THAT SWITCH?!?! WHAT PRACTICAL USE DOES IT HAVE???

Drizzt is boggled, because he'd assumed that Entreri had captured Regis as a challenge to Drizzt. So why would he have destroyed the bridge and trapped them there. Fair question. We're told that "Angered by his confusion, [Drizzt] reacted quickly."

Really? THAT's what angers you? Not the abduction of your friend, but the fact that the villain's motives confuse you? And just to reinforce how useless Catti-brie is, Drizzt grabs Taulmaril from her and readies an arrow.

...why couldn't Catti-brie shoot her own bow?

Anyway, Entreri sees Drizzt do this, and scoops Regis up by an ankle and holds him by one hand over the ledge. Okay, hold up, I call shenanigans here.

Regis is the size of a human child. Meaning he's probably about 70-80 lbs. Artemis Entreri is a small man known for agility and speed over strength. I absolutely believe he can lift Regis, but by ONE hand? REALLY?

Wulfgar and Catti-brie continue to be useless at everything:

Wulfgar and Catti-brie sensed the strange bond between Drizzt and the assassin and knew that Drizzt was better able to deal with this situation. They moved back a step and held each other close.

Are you fucking kidding me? Yes, I appreciate the homoerotic vibes between them too, but hey, more than one ranged attack might have been helpful before Entreri dangled Regis. Why the fuck did it take so long for Drizzt to shoot? The arrow should have been in the air, as soon as Entreri moved?!

So Entreri taunts Drizzt:

Entreri shook Regis dangerously and laughed again. "The road to Calimport is long indeed, drow. You shall have your chance to catch up with me."

"You have blocked our escape," Drizzt retorted.

"A necessary inconvenience," explained Entreri. "Surely you will find your way through this, even if your other friends do not. And I will be waiting!"

"I will come," Drizzt promised. "You do not need the halfling to make me want to hunt you down, foul assassin."

"'Tis true," said Entreri. He reached into his pouch, pulled out a small item, and tossed it into the air. It twirled up above him then dropped. He caught it just before it passed beyond his reach and would have fallen into the gorge. He tossed it again. Something small, something black.
Entreri tossed it a third time, teasingly, the smile widening across his face as Drizzt lowered the bow.

Guenhwyvar.

"I do not need the halfling," Entreri stated flatly and he held Regis farther out over the chasm.

Honestly, Entreri's actions are the only ones that actually make sense this chapter. And yay! Drizzt can get Guen back.

So Entreri ends up pulling Regis back off of the ledge, because his master wants to kill Regis himself. He taunts Drizzt, telling them him to abandon his friends since "the hounds draw near". He spins away into the final tunnel.

Catti-brie notes that Entreri's made it out, because Bruenor had said that was the exit and really? You couldn't have shot at him at all as he was taking Regis across the bridge? Really?

I mean, look, I can buy the excuse that the bridge is too narrow and precarious and she didn't want to risk Entreri taking Regis with him. But for that excuse to work, I need to see her think it.

Anyway, Catti-brie informs him that Bruenor had noted another exit: a ledge, but it requires hours of walking.

"Then run," replied Drizzt, his eyes still fixed upon the tunnel across the gorge.

Oh, the drama. It'd be much stronger, if anyone but Drizzt were allowed to be competent.

So Drizzt leads the way, and he notes that the gorge is open before him and the fires burn below, "a grim reminder of the fate of his bearded friend. Perhaps it was, fitting that Bruenor died here, in the home of his ancestors, he thought. Perhaps the dwarf had finally satisfied the yearning that had dictated so much of his life.<

The loss remained intolerable to Drizzt, though. His years with Bruenor had shown him a compassionate and respected friend, a friend he could rely upon at any time, in any circumstance. Drizzt could tell himself over and over that Bruenor was satisfied, that the dwarf had climbed his mountain and won his personal battle, but in the terrible immediacy of his death, those thoughts did little to dispel the drow's grief.

Meanwhile, Catti-brie is blinking back tears, since Bruenor's her adopted father. "To Catti-brie, Bruenor was father and friend, who taught her toughness and touched her with tenderness. All of the constants of her world, her family and home, lay burning far below, on the back of a hell-spawned dragon."

Wulfgar is numb, thinking about how fragile life is. "Drizzt had returned to him, but now Bruenor was gone. Above any emotions of joy or grief came a wave of instability, a tragic rewriting of heroic images and bard-sung legends that he had not expected.

Yeah, that's kind of the problem here. The impact of Bruenor's death has considerably less impact after the overblown grief for Drizzt that we saw a chapter ago. And this is a shame, because the quiet numbness of this scene is far better written.

So they finally make it to the other side. They get spotted as they enter into the wider area. The Duergar on the other side of gorge shout and curse at them, but have no way to get across. Drizzt and Wulfgar start to leave, though Catti-brie hesitates until Drizzt calls her away, then:

Catti-brie's eyes narrowed and the muscles in her jaw clenched tightly as she fitted an arrow to her bow and fired. The silver streak whistled into the crowd of Duergar and blasted one from life, sending the others scurrying for cover. "Nothing now," Catti-brie replied grimly, "but I'll be comin' back! Let the gray dogs know it for truth.

"I'll be back!"

Hey, remember how utterly shocked and horrified Catti-brie was to take her first HUMAN life, but she mowed down a bunch of duergar in the same scene?

Funny how that works

So now we lead into the epilogue, as Drizzt, Wulfgar and Catti-brie make it to Longsaddle. Harkle greets them warmly and invite them to stay, but thankfully, they're about as enthusiastic as I am about THAT prospect, and we're told "other roads summoned them".

Drizzt and Wulfgar are leaving together, with fresh horses provided by the Harpells. And as much as I hate the Harpells on general principle, I still wonder if Drizzt and Wulfgar ever paid for the horses they got before, or now. They seem to be taking advantage of the wizards' generosity, a lot. Drizzt asks Catti-brie if she'll come, and but she's got her own plans.

Basically, Drizzt and Wulfgar are off to rescue Regis. For her part, Catti-brie is waiting for the dwarves. The Harpells have sent word to Bruenor's clan, and they're coming, with many allies from Ten Towns. Harbromm of Citadel Adbar, who they never ended up visiting, has promised to send eight thousand dwarves. The Harpells are helping too. They're going to retake Mithril Hall.

Drizzt can't not be a killjoy in his heart:

Drizzt thought of the undercity he had viewed in his passage of the lower levels, and of the bustle of thousands of gray dwarves, all outfitted in shining mithril. Even with all of Clan Battlehammer and their friends from the dale, eight thousand battle-seasoned dwarves from Adbar, and the magical powers of the Harpells, the victory would be hard won if won at all.

Wulfgar is torn, because he understands that Catti-brie is trying something really epic (and by the way, Salvatore, I'm going to be PISSED OFF if you use this to sideline her next book!), but:

Catti-brie sensed his torment. She walked up to him and kissed him suddenly, passionately, then jumped back. "Get yer business done and over, Wulfgar, son of Beornegar," she said. "And get ye back to me!"

...this has not remotely been earned by the narrative, and you know it, Mr. Salvatore.

Anyway, Catti-brie reminds Wulfgar that he has a friend alive that needs him. (...apparently not her though. I kind of love how little she seems to care about Regis.) She begs Drizzt, "a most-trusted hero" to keep Wulfgar safe for her. Drizzt nods, and she runs off.

...um, hey, Mr. Salvatore. When Drizzt was dead, didn't you tell us suddenly that he and Catti-brie were tremendously close and she was maybe the one who understood him best, et cetera or so forth? Don't you think they ought to have more interaction here to show that?

Wulfgar has a pretty great moment though, telling Drizzt: "For the halfling and the cat"

Aw. Remember when Wulfgar distrusted Guen, because he disliked all magic? I love that Wulfgar actually experiences character growth. Drizzt seems to appreciate it less:

Sudden fires glowed in the drow's lavender eyes, and Wulfgar took an involuntary step back. "And for other reasons," Drizzt said grimly, looking out over the wide southland that held the monster he might have become. It was his destiny to meet Entreri in battle again, he knew, the test of his own worth to defeat the killer.

"For other reasons."

Seriously, Salvatore, you really didn't earn this whole "there but for the grace of god, go I" dynamic. Entreri's end of the feud makes sense and is well established with his character interactions. Drizzt's is not. And it's a shame because the idea that Drizzt could have become Entreri with the right provocation is a far more interesting story than Drizzt the victim of a racism allegory that doesn't hold up in the light of day OR even thematically given Catti-brie's happy slaughter of Duergar.

Finally, we join Dendybar. The specter, Morkai, is showing him visions of Mithril Hall. Interestingly, Dendybar actually seems a little upset to see Sydney's corpse (His "breath came hard to him" as he sees her), and he's enraged to see his headless golem in the rubble at the bottom of the gorge.

Dendybar demands to know where the drow is, but Morkai laughs at him, telling him to find his own answers and that his service has ended. He disappears.

Dendybar is pissed off, he leaps out of his magic circle and kicks over his brazier, shouting threats. Then he casts a spell, teleporting himself to Garumn's Gorge directly. He looks down at his creation, which gets to his feet. This delights Dendybar who begins planning how to restore it.

But then, things go awry, as Bok crowds Dendybar against the wall, grabs him by his throat and starts strangling him. Above his headless body, a ball of fire turns into Morkai's face. Dendybar realizes his mistake: he'd never actually dismissed Morkai, and now that he's left his magic circle, Morkai can retaliate. And he does: snapping his neck.

The scene, and book ends with a look at where the burning dragon is half buried under debris. A rock shifts and rolls away and we end.

Stay tuned for my verdict!