Drizzt found his way back to his room and sat down on the bed. There was a fruit and vegetable tray on a side table next to the lone chair, but the thought of food did not appeal to him right now. He paused. When was the last time he had eaten?

Drizzt chuckled to himself. Time had so little meaning here that the concept was becoming more and more foreign to him, and the question was difficult to ask, much less answer. There were no clocks or timepieces of any kind. It was eternally dusk outside, but Drizzt hadn't even been out since the tournament had started.

The drow got up and walked over to the food. He looked at it and wasn't surprised to find it in superb condition, but that didn't change the fact that he wasn't hungry. He turned away from the tray.

"No, please, try some fruit."

Drizzt was startled as Thelania walked out of a corner of the room. He was sure she hadn't been there when he had come in. "I'm not hungry," Drizzt replied, sitting back on his bed.

"Of course, you're not hungry," she agreed. "You are on the Island of Dusk. You are on the island of eternal life. All of your life energy is being sustained by magic, but that doesn't mean a little nutrition won't help." She picked up an orange and tossed it to him. "Folic acid."

Drizzt's puzzled expression didn't need words.

"Folic acid," she repeated. "You do know that insufficient amounts of folate have been associated with genomic hypomethylation, right?"

Drizzt's expression did not improve. It got worse.

Thelania sighed. "What exactly is the curriculum at Melee Magthere? Didn't they teach you anything?" Drizzt wasn't going to dignify the sarcastic (he hoped it was sarcastic) comment with a response. "DNA methylation has a pretty significant impact on the aging process. Hypo- or hypermethylation creates cell instability and leads ultimately to decay."

Drizzt's blank stare didn't ask for more, but that is what he got.

"Methylation is an enzyme-mediated chemical modification that adds methyl groups at selected sites on proteins, DNA and RNA. DNA methylation is the only known natural modification of DNA in humans, elves, dwarves, and most other mammals. DNA methylation evolved primarily as a defense mechanism against invading 'parasitic' DNA sequences in the genome, such as retroviral elements, i.e., things that can kill you. DNA methylation patterns are reset early in embryogenesis and reestablished early during development. After that, they are thought to be relatively stable. This allows you to fight the aging process, which sets in as your cells succumb to the infinite amount of viral and otherwise harmful microorganisms that exist everywhere.

"Classical models propose that once established during development, DNA methylation patterns are fixed and perpetuated through the maintenance activity of a DNA-methyltransferase enzyme which recognizes newly synthesized DNA as hemimethylated and rapidly converts it to fully methylated. Of course, the classic model doesn't take time into account. Time is the killer of everything. You can't see time in a snapshot of a test tube or under a microscope. Today's priests, mages, and scientists who do this work still haven't been able to comprehend that."

"And why, pray tell, do I need to know this?" Drizzt asked, now holding the orange as if it were some lethal weapon that, if mishandled, retroviral elements would suddenly attack from all sides.

"Life, Drizzt Do'Urden. More specifically: eternal life. How do you think one comes upon it? It is not a simple spell. It requires intimate knowledge of how life works - of how all of nature works. Understanding fire or ice or wind is simple. You are talking about rudimentary physics, but life is more complex. The priest who casts a healing spell has no idea the power he is dealing with. He didn't write the spell. He found it on a scroll and memorized it. He has no idea what went into the creation of that spell. Those who come by their power too easily, without properly recognizing its source, live a dangerous life."

Drizzt understood what she said. He'd heard stories of fighters, not much more than children, who stumble across a magical weapon of extreme power and suddenly feel they are invincible. They enter battles they have no business entering and are eventually killed. Someone who has trained all their life and has earned the skill they possess and understands the strengths of their weapons also understands their limitations, and they are not as quick to run off into battle.

Drizzt wore magical bracers on his ankles that he had taken from Dantrag. The former weapon master of the first house of Menzoberranzan had been a great fighter, but much of his skill came from magical items he did not understand. Drizzt had earned every ounce of fighting skill he possessed, and he had understood that speed alone did not produce skill. He had been able to use this against Dantrag and had defeated him.

But Drizzt had no intention of writing a spell for eternal life. He was about to say as much when Thelania spoke.

"One needs to understand these things before they embark on a quest for ultimate knowledge, isn't that right?"

Drizzt could tell this last comment was not directed at him and turned to look toward his doorway. Styne leaned casually against the door frame. "You are correct, my dear," he replied smiling. He then directed his attention to Drizzt, "May I come in?"

"Whether you may or not is irrelevant; you can't."

"Oh really?" He pushed himself upright and walked freely into Drizzt's room. "Did you not hear anything I told you? I have spent a lifetime studying Deltrophan and his tricks. His simple spells are not going to get in my way."

Drizzt threw glances between Thelania and Styne, realization slowly dawning on him. "You have it all figured out, don't you? When Enrique died, and the spell was released, you were able to follow it."

Styne nodded. "I know everything."

"Now you are ready to face off against Deltrophan?"

Styne frowned and shook his head. "He is a slow learner, isn't he?" The question was directed at Thelania.

"Forgive him. He is young."

Drizzt was growing frustrated by the situation but was composed enough to keep his calm for now. Styne explained before the drow exploded. "You think I'm like Dantrag, don't you?" Drizzt tried to hide his amazement at how easily the mage had read his mind but failed. "You think that since I suddenly have newfound power and knowledge, I am going to run off and get in over my head. I have earned this knowledge, and because of that, I understand how it was acquired and what it means."

Styne had been standing in the entryway but now walked over to the wall opposite Drizzt and leaned against it. "I have spent over two centuries studying and researching. I have perfected my skills and tried to unravel the mystery that Deltrophan had uncovered eons ago and has since only hinted at to his apprentices. The only conclusion I was able to come to was that there was no way I would be able to do it on my own. That is a humbling realization, but I was forced to embrace it.

"Did that mean I gave up? Obviously not. I showed flexibility and diversity. There is more than one way to solve a problem. I needed to be shown the intricacies of the spell, and there was only one way to achieve that. That is why I am here. Even though I could not acquire the knowledge on my own, I have still earned it.

"If you ask an experienced mage to open a locked chest that has been enchanted against spells, he won't be able to do it. If you ask a simple ruffian to complete the task, he will pick up a rock and bash the lock off, opening the chest in a few seconds. Which of these two is more powerful?

"I know now more than ever that Deltrophan is my superior. He was able to unravel in complete what I could not even approach. But that knowledge is what gives me strength. I can defeat him, but I will need a rock to bash with."

"Why are you telling me this?" Drizzt asked.

"Because you are the rock." Styne reached into his cloak and pulled out a simple arrow. He walked over to the bed and handed it to the drow. "This arrow has been enchanted to pierce any magical protection conceivable. I have specifically designed it to thwart Deltrophan's spells. I trust you will know when the right time to use it is."

Drizzt held the arrow carefully, putting the orange aside for now. "How do you know I will go along with your plan?"

Styne looked at Thelania and shrugged. "Because that is why you are here, is it not? Are you not here to kill Deltrophan and put an end to this tournament?"

Drizzt looked between the two people standing in front of him, a horrid thought creeping into his head. "Are you two working together?"

"Absolutely not!" Thelania cried. "A true servant of Mielikki would never ally with one such as this. However . . ." but she couldn't bring herself to continue.

"Ghale's have a unique gift of premonition," Styne said. "I'm sure she has demonstrated these talents for you already."

Thelania nodded. "I sensed that your presence at this tournament would likely bring an end to the destruction it has caused. I assumed that to mean you would win. This development is also a possibility."

"So, you know I will be successful?" Drizzt asked.

Thelania shook her head. "I know only vague ideas of what is possible. Specifics of important events involving powerful magics and fates are rarely available."

Drizzt nodded, understanding that the future was not written for him. He regarded the arrow a moment more and then stored it in his boot under his pants. "I trust that you have noticed I am not carrying a bow of any sort," Drizzt commented when he looked back up.

"Minor detail," Styne smiled as he walked to the door. "I'm sure you will be able to improvise when the time comes." Then he was gone.

Drizzt turned to look at Thelania; she was smiling. "Have you sorted everything out yet?"

Drizzt nodded slowly and began peeling his orange. "So, if I eat this orange, I will have eternal life?"

Thelania sighed and rolled her eyes but decided to play along. "Something like that."

Drizzt smiled and took a juicy bite. "Sounds like a plan."

XXX

Drizzt walked up slowly behind Entreri. The human was looking stoically into the empty arena. The collection of apprentices that usually attended the fights was assembling. Styne and Gunthor stood against the wall patiently.

Entreri recognized Drizzt's presence silently. The two both thought they would probably fight next. Drizzt turned to the human to start to say something but held his question in check. He looked puzzled, was about to speak again, but didn't.

"What is it?" Entreri finally asked. "What moral lesson do you wish to impart?"

Drizzt frowned. "It's not that," he said. "It's . . ." he paused again. "Do you know what DNA is?"

The assassin didn't get a chance to respond as an apprentice walked up to them. "Drizzt Do'Urden, you are wanted in the arena."

Drizzt and Entreri both noted with interest that only one of them was summoned. Drizzt walked slowly up to the edge of the ring and looked over at Styne and Gunthor, but neither moved. But if he wasn't going to fight Gunthor . . . Drizzt watched as Druia entered from the far side of the cavern.

"No!" The drow ran over to stop the woman from entering this fight. When he was still 100 feet from her, he was thrown violently back. Drizzt shook the cobwebs from his head and propped himself up with his hands against the dirt floor. Dirt floor! He was in the ring! He had foolishly run into the arena, and now he was committed to the fight, having just been thrown to the ground by the force shield. But he still had a chance to keep Druia from entering.

The female fighter slowly walked up the two steps on the side of the ring. "Druia, think about this," Drizzt said, standing and pushing up against the inside of the dome. "You do not want to step in here."

"No?" she asked. There was a look in her eye. Drizzt could see it clearly. It gave him hope.

"Think about this. Turn around, refuse the fight. You will be sent back home with no knowledge this ever took place. You can live the rest of your life in relative peace."

Druia did think about it. After her fight with Enrique, she had proven to herself all that she needed to know. She could fight against the best and hold her own. If pride was what had brought her to the tournament, then she had fulfilled that need. Now, what was the point in continuing? If Drizzt had not accidentally run into the ring, and she had stepped in first, he probably would have declined. Did she owe him that same respect?

Drizzt could see her mind working it all out. "Yes. Look down deep. You know this isn't what you want. To die here is not the way your life should end."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I would die here?" she asked quizzically, Drizzt not picking up on her slight change in demeanor.

"If not against me, then against Entreri or Gunthor. Look down deep. Do you really think you can win?"

The change that came over her was pretty obvious now. "Step back." Her voice was cold and final.

"Druia, please-" but his comment was cut short as her pike came out and elongated in a flash. He leaped backward and ducked, rolling under the swipe. Druia calmly stepped through the one-way barrier. The ring was locked now. The only way they would get out on their own was for one of them to kill the other.

Drizzt stood slowly and backed further into the center of the ring. Druia held her pike calmly in front of her, ready to go. "Why?" Drizzt asked, a pleading look in his eyes.

"Because," Druia replied and attacked.

Drizzt had not yet drawn either of his blades and did not do so now. Instead, he ducked and dodged, kicking and punching where he could. Without weapons in them, his arms didn't have the reach to score any hits on the powerful young woman as long as she held her pike.

Druia went through a series of repeated thrusts trying to get the drow to back-pedal. It worked, and Drizzt sensed he was nearing the edge of the ring. He had seen too many people already crash into the invisible barrier to fall for the same trick. Instead, he braced his heel against the dome and dove forward under the next attack.

Druia spun to cover her vulnerable back, but Drizzt had rolled much further than she had expected. When the drow came up, his scimitars were out. Though there was a light in his lavender eyes, Twinkle was unusually dim. The blade usually glowed brightly in the heat of battle, but it did not do so now. Though Druia surely intended to kill Drizzt, the elf did not yet see her as an enemy. Instead, it was time for a lesson.

Druia relaxed her stance when she saw that Drizzt was waiting for her. She slowly adjusted her grip on her pike and separated it into two pieces. She held each spike as if they were swords. Drizzt didn't know how effective they would be, though. They had no blades, only a sharp point at the end, and there was no hilt either, meaning he could slide each strike down the length of the weapon and cut into her hands. As if on cue, the shafts magically opened just above the handles and formed rudimentary but functional cross pieces.

Drizzt nodded at her respectfully and then attacked.

When Matron Malice had sacrificed Zaknafein many years ago, she had promoted Drizzt to weapons master of House Do'Urden. Drizzt had never served his house one day in that capacity. It wasn't because of lack of skill or desire to teach, but because he did not want to live the life of a drow warrior. He despised everything about that lifestyle.

Now, though, he was a weapon master. He had trained Catti-brie briefly but as good as the woman was, Drizzt could never spar at full speed with her, and she only used one weapon. Druia was fast and strong. Her weapons moved in a blur that should have been impossible to follow. But Drizzt was in his element. He parried the strikes smoothly and efficiently. He was a weapon master, and Druia would learn more than one lesson today. The question was: Would she live long enough to use them?

Druia thought she was being original as she wove her spikes about in a dizzying array of skill and speed, but Drizzt had seen it all before a thousand times. The drow was yet to go on the offensive, but he wanted to wait. He wanted to wait to make the transition until Druia realized she would not hit him.

It wasn't as if Druia could never beat him. She had thrown him into a table earlier, but when the two of them were ready and poised for battle; when neither was pulling a sneak attack on the other and everything was straight up; in other words, when everything was equal, they were not.

Drizzt saw the frustrated look on Druia's face and smiled. He took a block high and rolled over the round weapon, getting inside and poking toward her chest. Druia's other weapon came up hard and fast to deflect it and then had to hop back as Drizzt's other weapon sought out her side.

As quick as you could blink, Drizzt was now on the offensive. Unlike the well-trained drow, Druia had not seen it all. She had learned fighting weaponless against monks and then with weapons against thugs and mercenaries, hardly comparable with spending ten years in Melee Magthere.

Drizzt taught her traditional drow attack patterns, which seemed childish to him, partly because that was when he had learned them, but Druia back-pedaled furiously. With the magical bracers on his ankles, Drizzt kept up with her just fine. When she was composed, she could use her monk-like abilities to move side to side instantly, but Drizzt was always ready for her. He was dictating the flow of battle, and he knew where there were openings and where there were not.

Drizzt decided to give her the advanced course. He moved her weapons high with a series of quick attacks and then struck down in the quintessential move: the double thrust low. Druia had no way to know the correct parry for that strike and had to leap suddenly back. Drizzt swung his blades back up at an angle as he stepped in hard.

Druia's weapons were knocked wide, leaving her chest open. Drizzt rushed in, striking out with his hilts, but Druia was too fast for that and ducked and rolled backward. She quickly came out of the roll and leaped high and back out of the way, resetting the battle.

"You're quick," Drizzt observed.

"You're good," Druia admitted.

"Thanks." The drow bowed. "Shall we continue?"

Druia said nothing but walked back in. She joined her pike back together to initiate the attack with the longer weapon and then, after establishing herself on offense, quickly separated them again. Drizzt accepted the defensive role wanting to see her reaction to the last session. Drizzt felt he had obviously overpowered her, and if he had to guess, she was being fueled on pride right now.

Drizzt wasn't surprised to see many of his attacks mirrored in her routine. And as her strikes took an upward angle, he wasn't at all surprised to see the spikes come down hard in an adequate facsimile of the double thrust low. Drizzt not only knew the traditional parry but also knew the proper variation of it.

His scimitars snapped down in an "X,” his arms straining against the strong young woman to pull her weapons apart. They were locked in that position for a second before Drizzt kicked out with his boot. Druia was too close to escape and took the heel hard in the gut. Her wind was momentarily knocked out of her as Drizzt dropped and spun, attempting to cut her legs out from under her.

She was stumbling but managed to leap over the attack. Drizzt counted on it and angled his attack up, cutting into her leg. She was off-balance as it was, and when her injured leg failed to give her the support she had counted on when she landed, she fell hard to her back.

Drizzt moved in a blur, knocking her weapon aside and securing her wrists. He smiled at her as Twinkle started to glow at her throat. "Lesson number one: You cannot beat anyone you want."

"What do you mean?" she spat back.

"You walk into each encounter always expecting to win. You won't. No one in all the realms is that good. There is no such thing as 'The Best Fighter.' We are all vulnerable."

Deltrophan and the rest of the audience could not hear Drizzt's words and leaned in anxiously, wondering what was taking so long for the killing blow to strike. "Finish it!" The mage finally shouted.

Drizzt didn't even bother to look at the mage. Instead, he sheathed his weapons and extended a hand to Druia. She didn't take it right away. "What are you doing?"

"Helping you up."

"But the contest . . . the rules . . . the tournament. One of us has to kill the other."

"Lesson number two: There are no rules. No one can tell you what to do. We live our lives as we see fit. If you feel others will hold fast to fair play, then you won't live very long."

"If you don't finish this fight . . ." she grabbed his offered hand, "then I will." She pulled hard as she stood, swinging with her free arm. The punch caught Drizzt in the face, spinning him completely around. His hands came up instead of dropping to his weapons, but she was too fast. She punched him twice more in the face, feinting his blocks out of the way, and slugged him hard in the gut. She finally leveled a spinning kick to his head, and he was down in the dirt.

She stood over him quickly, her retrieved spike leveled at his throat before he could get up. Drizzt was smiling, and Druia paused. There should have been blood on his teeth. As hard as she had hit him in the face, the inside of his cheeks should be lacerated. He should at least have a split lip . . . unless he had rolled with the punches.

"You took a dive," she accused.

Drizzt nodded.

"I can kill you right now; you know that?"

"Yes, you can."

Druia's arm shook as she tried to hold her spike steady. How could she claim victory when she knew she was not the better fighter? "Lesson number three?"

Drizzt nodded.

Deltrophan was still standing in front of his chair. "Finish it!" he cried again.

Druia did look back at him and then at Entreri and then Gunthor. Deltrophan would probably have her fight both of them instead of letting her take the winner of the two. If Entreri were equal to Drizzt, she would lose. It was humbling to know she was vulnerable, but somehow it also felt nice to be at peace with her pride finally. She tossed her spike aside and offered Drizzt a hand.

"You must fight!" Deltrophan hollered. He was already standing and moved to the edge of his elevated platform. "You will fight!"

Both Druia and Drizzt turned to look at the enraged wizard. They didn't say anything but stood placidly in opposition to Deltrophan's fury. "I will not tolerate this insubordination!"

To Drizzt and Druia, the sound in the chamber changed suddenly. A faint humming ceased. Drizzt had lived the past few years on a boat, and the gentle rocking of the Sea Sprite had become so commonplace that only when they docked did he notice that the ground beneath his feet was not supposed to sway. It was like that now. The humming was far more noticeable in its absence than its presence. Neither Drizzt nor Druia liked the sound of it. The shield had been taken down.

Deltrophan motioned dramatically with his hands as he cast, something he rarely did. A grotesque green wave of energy flew from his palms and splashed into nothing a dozen feet in front of the prone fighters. "What?" Deltrophan looked confused. The shield had popped back into place. He lowered the dome once more, cast again, and got the same result. The shield jumped back into existence just as the spell approached. Styne looked on with a sly grin from a dark corner of the cavern. It was too easy.

Almost anyone with some dexterity could juggle three balls. It was a relatively simple pattern and rhythm. Adding a 4th or 5th was what separated the novices from the experts. And, once you added the 5th, adding a 6th or 7th wasn't as hard. That was how it was for Styne now. He had been able to juggle his rudimentary magic that just about any mage who put the time in could do, but now that he had jumped to the next level, he was finding it easier and easier to unravel Deltrophan's magical barriers.

The spell the host mage was trying to cast was considerable, and even though his spell list was far in excess of any other living mage, it was not infinite. Before he wasted another attack, he was going to figure out what was going on. Styne knew this and decided to get the confrontation underway. He thought he would be nervous when this time came, but he seemed as calm as ever. He dropped a few protection spells over himself and stepped out to face his nemesis.

Deltrophan noticed the movement below and saw that Styne's gaze on him was wrought from more than just curiosity. "Are you responsible for this?" he asked, not willing to believe it. He had paid the battle mage no attention at all before now, trusting his apprentices who had let him onto this island. If he genuinely needed to be here for Gunthor's sake, then so be it. He had hosted fighters with odder requirements.

"Don't tell me you don't recognize me?" Styne answered with a hurt voice. "Though, it has been a lifetime, hasn't it?"

Deltrophan was tired of games. He did not recognize him and would not. He cast a clairvoyance spell, and everything became clear. "You should not have come back, Garristyne." The older mage saw his attire and massive broadsword. "You will find that your insistence of dividing your efforts has made you weak. A mage's strength is in his mind, not his arm."

Yeltriz was hovering next to Deltrophan and smiled at the old apprentice. "Kill him, master."

Styne just smiled in return. "Though your body might not have aged, your mind has grown weak with time, Deltrophan. I have not come unprepared." With that, Styne hurled a sphere of energy at his feet.

The cavern shook as the sphere exploded in a blue shockwave. The circumference of the blast filled the cavern in an instant and passed through the walls, shaking the island to its core. All those present could feel the earth tremble as the shockwave filled the island, and then, like an arrow at the peak of its climb about to fall back down, the energy slowed, hesitated, and then came rushing back in. It exploded into a plume of light, wiping away any shadow.

Everyone stood silent, expecting some effect to take place. Druia and Drizzt waited patiently, protected within the arena. Entreri had moved to stand next to the ring as well. The sponsors had all fled while Gunthor stood emotionlessly along the wall. Deltrophan was about to laugh at the feeble attempt to scare him when spiraling swirls of blue energy began to wisp about in the cavern.

Figures hunkered and weary began to materialize on the stone floor amidst the swirls. There were four, then eight, then a dozen, then two dozen. "Who are they?" Druia asked. "What are they?"

Drizzt didn't know either until he spotted a familiar troll. Deltrophan had banished the creature at the dinner they had all attended at the beginning of the tournament. "Styne must have cast a freedom spell, freeing all the fighters Deltrophan had banished over the years."

"But they were banished in the dining hall?" Druia said, knowing a bit about how the spell should work.

"Styne's spell must have gathered them all here," Drizzt replied.

"What about the ones that were banished here?"

Drizzt turned around slowly. Behind them, energy swirls were just spiraling into dissipation, leaving behind three figures. All three were human, and their attire showed traces of wizardry. Drizzt remembered Enrique's tale of his fight with Cayne and figured they had all been banished for using magic in the arena. Two were hunched over, their minds severely disorganized and frayed. The third was not so bad off.

"Where is he?" Cayne spoke clearly. His eyes were bright, and his speech clear. He seemed to require no time to adjust to his new surroundings as if he had been waiting for this moment for 250 years. "Where is the demon spawn that exiled me? Where is Deltrophan?"

At the name of the hated mage, the other two fighters seemed to gain some coherence and turned to Cayne as a leader. Drizzt didn't know what 250 years in an infinite maze would do to his mind, but it had made Cayne as sharp as a tack. His eyes searched his surroundings and found Deltrophan standing atop his platform and eyeing up the collection of fighters Styne had brought back to haunt him.

"We are trapped within a force shield," Drizzt said quickly before Cayne could react to Deltrophan's presence.

"That is easily taken care of," he responded. He turned to the other two fighters that had come with him, both of which had started to drool. He loosed a lightning bolt of devastating power on one, disintegrating him instantly, and as the other charged, he drew both his rapiers and hacked him to pieces. Since the shield had only sensed Druia and Drizzt enter the arena, it had only needed one life force to end. That being satisfied, the remaining three fighters inside were once again exposed to the outside elements.

The outside was turning more chaotic each moment. A few of the fighters summoned had retained their sanity, but the rest were mindless creatures lashing out at everything around them. Their tattered psyches made them immune to all forms of mind magic, but Styne tried to work with them anyway. Instead of trying to control them or attack them, he played with their memories, reminding them who had sent them there.

The few apprentices who stood guard in the cavern had taken a defensive position at the base of their master's platform and around the arena, all facing the collection of fighters. Their fingertips were sparking with contained energy, but they understood their place and waited for their signal.

Once all of the fighters had recognized Deltrophan and turned their attention toward him, the elevated mage laughed. "Good play. Now let's have some fun." Deltrophan had set the entire cavern up as one giant summoning circle, and he used it now, calling three high-level demons into existence, each as quickly as a conjurer might produce a coin. The Tanar'ri stood between Deltrophan and the fighters.

The two armies regarded each other for a few tense moments. Deltrophan stood behind half a dozen apprentice mages, each an apprentice only in name, for they had been chosen for their advanced skill and could control cities back on the realm if it be their desire. The three demons also stood poised, claws snapping and mouths agape. Deltrophan had called on their service more than once, and each time he had, it was more than worth it to respond to the summoning.

Styne's army was less formidable but three times the size and just as determined as the foes they faced. Each fighter was at the top of his craft. A few had been banished for being worthless cretins, but most had been used as examples for others at the tournament. Those who had managed to cope with the torturous maze were of a single mind. The images they had toyed with over the past centuries of cutting apart their source of agony were now within reach.

Styne had also brought Gunthor to life. The battlemage did want to have to be burdened with the responsibility of controlling the massive golem while he conducted this battle, so he had simply breathed life into him. He understood the spell for eternal life, and by combining it with the school of necromancy, creating life was not that difficult. The golem still had no brain, but it did have a purpose: kill.

Entreri had wisely jumped up into the ring with Druia and Drizzt. Cayne had left the arena to stand next to Warrick, the champion that had preceded Enrique and had been banished at the beginning of the last tournament on a whim. Both fighters were fresh and focused. The tension in the cavern was getting thick.

"Kill them!" Deltrophan finally commanded. "Kill them all."

And then . . . all hell broke loose.