concealment, whipped the dagger into the back of the trailing giant's knee, and
scooted around the other side of the beam. The wounded giant howled in pain, but
by the time it or its companions had turned back around, the drow was nowhere to
be seen.
Wulfgar rounded a bend and slipped against the wall, easily guessing what had
stopped the pursuit. The pack had turned back when they found that there was
another intruder nearer the exit.
A giant leaped through the supports and stood with its legs wide apart and
its club ready, its eyes going from door to door as it tried to figure out which
route the unseen assailant had taken. Behind it and off to the side, Drizzt
pulled a small knife out of each of his boots and wondered how the giants could
be stupid enough to fall for the same trick twice in a span of ten seconds. Not
about to argue with good fortune, the elf scrambled out behind his next victim
and, before its companions still in the tunnel could shout a call of warning,
drove one of the knives deep into the giant's thigh, severing the hamstring. The
giant lurched over to the side and Drizzt, hopping by, marveled at how wonderful
a target the thick veins in a verbeeg's neck make when the monster's jaw is
clenched in pain.
But the drow had no tine to pause and ponder the fortunes of battle. The rest
of the pack - five angry giants - had already thrown aside their wounded
companion in the tunnel and were only a few strides behind. He put the second
knife deep into the verbeeg's neck and headed for the door leading deeper into
the lair. He would have made it, except that the first giant coming back into
the room happened to be carrying a stone. As a rule, verbeeg are quite adept at
rock throwing, and this one was better than most. The drow's unhelmeted head was
its target, and its throw was true.
Wulfgar's throw was on target, too. Aegis-fang shattered the backbone of the
trailing giant as it passed its wounded companion in the tunnel. The injured
verbeeg, working to get Drizzt's dagger out of its knee, stared in disbelief at
its suddenly dead companion and at the berserk death charge of the ferocious
barbarian.
Out of the corner of his eye, Drizzt saw the stone coming. He managed to duck
enough to avoid getting his head caved in, but the heavy missile caught him in
the shoulder and sent him flying to the floor. The world spun around him as
though he was its axis. He fought to reorient himself, for in the back of his
mind he understood that the giant was coming to finish him off. But everything
seemed a blur. Then something lying close to his face managed to hold his
attention. He fixed his eyes on it, straining to find a focus and force
everything else to stop spinning.
A verbeeg finger.
The drow was back. Quickly, he reached for his weapon.
He knew that he was too late when he saw the giant, club raised for a death
blow, towering above him.
The wounded giant stepped into the middle of the tunnel to meet the
barbarian's charge. The monster's leg had gone numb, and it could not plant its
feet firmly. Wulfgar, Aegis-fang comfortably back in his hands, swatted it aside
and continued into the room. Two of the giants were waiting for him.
Guenhwyvar wove between a giant's legs as it turned and launched itself as
high and far as its sleek muscles could take it. Just as the verbeeg standing
over Drizzt started to swing its club at the prone elf, Drizzt saw a shade of
