The Do'Urden Brothers

Chapter Six

Warning: suicidal thoughts

"He's been moaning and turning and twisting," the guards informed Breunor as he and Regis stood outside the dungeon with General Dagna. Regis listened to the report with interest. He had been curious about this drow prisoner and had come to the dungeon to finally satisfy that curiosity. "And when he's awake, all he does is pace back and forth. He don't eat much of what we give him."

"Has he given us any more information?" Breunor asked in a disinterested tone that made Regis regard the dwarf king with concern. "I'm not for keeping him if he's not proving his worth."

Regis winced inwardly at the callous attitude. Breunor was slipping back into the depression he had been enveloped in since Wulfgar's death and his disregard for the reports of this drow's suffering was disheartening to the Halfling.

"Surely he should be given a chance," Regis spoke up, trying to prompt the dwarf king back to his usual self. "This is Drizzt's brother after all."

"Blood don't mean nothing to those pointy eared dogs," Dagna pointed out, the general standing beside the king looking resolved.

Regis expected such prejudices from Dagna. He had always had a mistrust of anyone who wasn't a dwarf. But when he found Breunor nodding in agreement, the Halfling was disheartened. He understood that the king might be looking for some chance at revenge for the death of the barbarian he considered a son, and even though this particular drow hadn't raised the killing blow; to Breunor, he was just as guilty.

"Maybe I could spend some time with him," Regis suggested openly. "Before you make any decisions about him."

"What do ye think that will get ye, Rumblebelly?" Breunor asked. "Don't ye remember the stories Drizzt told ye about that one? His past deeds speak of his nature."

"But now he's lost everything," Regis argued, waving his fists in the air angrily. He surprised himself by how passionate his argument was. He had come to the dungeon only to satisfy his curiosity, but now found himself even more determined that there must be some good in this drow. Maybe it made him sound naive to the dwarves, maybe it would prove to be a hopeless endeavour in the end, but he had to try.

"Should be put down," Dagna commented. Regis ignored the grumpy general and turned his attention to Breunor, to his friend, to perhaps the only friend he had left if Drizzt and Catti-brie never returned.

"You don't know until you try," he said slowly and deliberately, his gaze unblinking as he held Breunor's gaze. "I believe that Drizzt will come back to us and when he does, he will want to know how we treated his brother. Killing him off before you even give him a chance, that's something a dark elf would do."

Breunor's wince told Regis he'd struck a chord with the comparison. And it was then that Regis realized he wanted to do this, not only to help Drizzt's brother, but to help Breunor. He couldn't let the dwarf king slip so far into his state of depression and grief that he couldn't come back, and brutally murdering a helpless prisoner would be a stain that could never be erased. He refused to let Breunor cross that line.

"Fine, Rumblebelly," Breunor acquiesced. "He's yer charge. I'll give ye a chance, but if there's no helping that one, yer to stand aside and let us be on with it."

With that, Breunor and Dagna turned and headed off. Regis turned to the door and took in a breath. This drow's life was in his hands. He wondered then what he was getting himself into.

**

Dinin craved blood. He needed it, he needed to fight, to kill. He had killed many dwarves but no matter how many he consumed, he still needed more.