Maestro by R. A. Salvatore Read Free Book Online Page B

all gathered to hear. We’re four clans in one here, aye?”
    “Aye,” said Shuggle Grunions of Mirabar, who led the Mirabarran members of Bruenor’s new kingdom. The others all nodded, as did Catti-brie’s companions. They had to know, after all, and better if they knew before they began emptying the halls of Mirabar, Adbar, Felbarr, and Mithral Hall as more and more flocked to the Delzoun homeland of Gauntlgrym.
    “We intend to rebuild the Hosttower of the Arcane in Luskan,” Cattibrie stated.
    “Aye, ye been whisperin’ as much,” Bruenor replied.
    “Archmage Gromph has agreed to aid us,” Jarlaxle added.
    Bruenor didn’t seem overly pleased by that. “Yer city,” he said. “Do what ye will. But be warned, drow, if ye’re thinking o’ rebuilding the tower as part o’ some plan to make me beholden . . .”
    “We’re rebuilding it to save Gauntlgrym,” Catti-brie blurted. “Only for that.”
    “Eh?” Bruenor and several others all said together.
    “The power of the Hosttower brings forth the water elementals,” the woman explained. “Only their combined power keeps the beast in its pit.”
    “Aye, and they’re swirling thick in there,” Bruenor replied.
    “The residual magic is strong,” Catti-brie explained. “But it is only that, residual. And already it is thinning.”
    “What’re ye saying?” Ragged Dain asked breathlessly.
    Catti-brie took a deep breath and was glad indeed when Drizzt squeezed her hand. “If we canno’ rebuild the Hosttower and bring forth its magic once more, ye’re not to have many years in Gauntlgrym. The magic will diminish and the water elementals will sweep away.”
    “And then the beast is free,” said Drizzt. “And we have seen that before.”
    Bruenor grumbled indecipherably. He looked as if he was chewing on a pile of sharp rocks.
    “How many years?” he finally asked, and all eyes turned to Catti-brie.
    “I do’no know,” she replied. “Less than yer life, to be sure, and suren less than me own.”
    “And ye know this?”
    “Aye.”
    “Because the beast telled ye?”
    “More than just that, but aye.”
    “And so ye’ll fix the durned tower,” Ragged Dain stated more than asked.
    Catti-brie kept looking at Bruenor.
    “Well?” the king of Gauntlgrym finally asked her.
    “We are going to try, good King Bruenor,” Jarlaxle unexpectedly interjected. “Between your daughter and the Harpells, and all the forces I can muster, we will try.”
    “And what’s yer play in this?” Bruenor demanded.
    “You know my stake in Luskan. I have not hidden that from you.”
    “So ye’re thinkin’ the volcano’d blow that way, are ye?”
    “I have no idea, and suspect that Luskan is far enough out of its reach in any event,” Jarlaxle replied. “And no, I’ll not deny that rebuilding the Hosttower will be of great benefit to me, and in part because it will keep you here in Gauntlgrym, and that, good dwarf king, I prefer.”
    Bruenor looked for a moment as if he would question that claim, but he rocked back on his heels and let it go with a nod.
    “But to do this, we will need your help,” Jarlaxle added. “Send a thousand of your best builders to the City of Sails, I beg, that we can put them to use in physically reconstructing the Hosttower.”
    “A thousand?” Bruenor balked.
    “We got walls to build here,” Oretheo Spikes protested.
    “Aye, and tunnels yet to secure,” added Ragged Dain.
    “And to what point might we be doin’ that if the damned volcano’s to blow?” Mallabritches Fellhammer said above them all, and indeed, that quieted the ruckus before it could gather momentum.
    “Ye’re askin’ me to walk a thousand o’ me boys into a city o’ pirates and drow?” Bruenor said.
    “I will guarantee their safety, of course. Indeed, I will build barracks and all accommodations right there on Cutlass Island, which cannot be reached by land except by going through Closeguard Island, upon which sits the fortress of High