"Have at it, then," Drizzt said to the beast and drew his scimitars.

He couldn't really speak to a creature from an elemental plane, of course, but it seemed to Drizzt as if the monster heard him, for as he finished, the elemental rushed forward, its fiery arms sweeping ferociously.

Drizzt ducked the first swing then leaped out to his right just ahead of the second, running up the wall--and feeling that its integrity was diminished by the fires roaring within--and spinning into a back somersault. He came down in a spin, scimitars slashing across, backhand leading forehand, and both sent puffs of flame into the air as they slashed against the life-force that held those flames together into a physical, solid creature.

That second weapon, Icingdeath, sent a surge of hope through Drizzt, for its properties were not only affording him some substantial protection from flames, as it had done against the wizard's fireball, but the frostbrand scimitar took a particular pleasure inflicting cold pain upon creatures with affinity to fire. The fire elemental shook off Twinkle's backhand hit, as it had all but ignored the shots from Taulmaril, but when Icingdeath connected, the creature seemed to burn less bright. The elemental whirled away and seemed to shrink in on itself, spinning around tightly.

Its flames burned brighter, white hot, and the creature came out enraged and huge once more.

Drizzt met its charge with a furious flurry of whirling blade. He shortened Twinkle's every stroke, using that blade to fend off the elemental's barrage of punches. He followed every strike with Icingdeath, knowing that he was hurting the elemental.

But not killing it.

Not anytime soon at least, and despite the protection of Icingdeath, Drizzt felt the heat of the magnificent, deadly beast. More than that, the power of the elemental's swings could fell an ogre even without the fiery accompaniment.

The elemental stomped its foot and a circular gout of flames rushed out from the point of impact, sweeping past Drizzt and making him hop in surprise.

The creature came forward and let fly a sweeping right hook, and Drizzt fell low, barely escaping the hit, which smashed hard into the burning building, crushing through the wooden wall.

From that hole came a blast of fire, and as it retracted, Drizzt leaped for the broken wood. He planted his foot on the bottom rim of the opening and came up flat against the wall, but only for a brief second it took him to swing his momentum and leap away into a backward somersault and turn, and as he came around, climbing higher across the alleyway, he somehow managed to sheathe his blades and catch on to the rim of the opposite building's roof. He ignored the stun of the impact as he crashed against the structure and scrambled, lifting his legs just above another heavy, fiery slug.

As fast as he went, though, the elemental was faster. It didn't climb the wall in any conventional sense, but just fell against it and swirled up over itself, rising as flames would climb a dry tree. Even as Drizzt stood tall on the roof, so did the elemental, and that building, too, was fully involved.

The elemental shot a line of flames at Drizzt, who dived aside, but still got hit--and though Icingdeath helped him avoid the brunt of the burn, he surely felt the sting!

Worse, the roof was burning behind him, and the elemental sent out another line, and another, all designed, Drizzt recognized, to seal off his avenues of escape.

The elemental hadn't done that in the alley, the drow realized as he drew out his scimitars yet again. The creature was smart enough to recognize a web, and knew that such an assault would have freed its intended prey. This creature was not dumb.

"Wonderful," Drizzt muttered.

Captain Deudermont, of Sea Sprite, learns that Arklem Greeth is a lich and vows to take away his power by making him step down as Archmage Arcame. He also wants to rid Luskin of the High Captains and make it an honest city. With Robillard, the wizard, and Lord Brambleberry, a young noble, by his side, they sail into Luskin port and begin attacking the Hosttower of the Arcane with their fleet.

Meanwhile, Drizzt Do'Urden, the dark elf, and Regis, the halfling, head north toward Icewind Dale. They intend to find Wulfgar, their old friend, and see what he has been up to. It has been four years since Wulfgar left and his friends are worried about him. On the way north, they come across Luskin, and being a friend of Deudermont, join the battle.

After the Hosttower of the Arcane if destroyed, Deudermont becomes governor of Luskin. With the help of Robillard and one of the pirate captains, they begin the work of rebuilding the city. One of the pirate captains is old and dies and his son, otherwise known as the Crow, takes over the pirate captian position. He has a plan what will bring Luskin to ruin, kill Deudermont, and make himself Pirate King. With the aid of an unknown ally that always remains in a circle of blackness, he knows that his plan cannot fail.

After the battle in Luskin, Drizzt and Regis head north into Icewind Dale. They find the Tribe of the Elk, but their barbarian friend as not been seen in a year. When Drizzt and Regis do finally find Wulfgar, they are relived and soon head back south, knowing that their friend is happy. The spend the winter in Ten Towns and await the thaw to travel back to Luskin.

Upon arriving at Luskin, Drizzt realizes that the town has suffered though a hard winter. Most of the inhabitants are starving to death. Help is on the way from Waterdeep, but it never makes it to Luskin. With Drizzt by his side, Deudermont is fighting a losing battle with the High Captains and my soon have to flee the city.

The Pirate King is the second book in the Transitions Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore. This Forgotten Realms fantasy tale features R.A. Salvatore's signature character Drizzt Do'Urden, the drow, and Regis, the ever-hungry halfling.

I will start off by saying that Drizzt Do'Urden is my favorite fantasy character. I love how he wields his two scimitar and is almost unstoppable in battle. I always get very excited when I sit down to start a new book by R.A. Salvatore starring Drizzt.

I had some problems with this book. First of all, the font size in incredibly tiny. I realize that Wizards of the Coast may be trying to cut printing cost by squeezing as many words on a page as humanly possible, but the font size is so small that it makes the story difficult to read. I showed a couple of pages to my wife, who is an avid read, and she told me that she was glad that she didn't have to read this book.

Secondly, I thought that The Pirate King was going to be about Drizzt Do'Urden. Well, he is in the story, but not very much. He is on approximately a hundred pages, but that is only about 2/7 of the book. This story seems to more about Deudermont and Luskin. I was disappointed by this. I miss the old days when there was a quest with a lot of fighting. Yes, there are some great battles in this book, but I would rather have a story that focuses on Drizzt and his friends. That is not the case with this book.

I'm not quite sure where R.A. Salvatore is trying to head with the Transitions Trilogy. I love the first Drizzt books that were full of action, suspense, thrills, and roller coaster rides. The fighting was always intense and the storyline was highly interesting. But with The Pirate King, I wasn't as entertained as I should have been. I felt like I was on a rickety ride at the county fair, rather than a high speed, state of the art, roller coaster.

There are a ton of characters in this story, even Maimum who I know from the The Stone of Tymora series, the young adult series written with Geno Salvatore. I found this to be a little weird because this story takes place 15 years before Stone of Tymora and Maimum hates pirates, although that is what he is in this story. Weird, huh? I just wished that the storyline was a little more streamlined a focused on one character. I miss having Bruenor, Catt-brie, Wulfgar, Regis, and Drizzt together. After all, that is what made the early Drizzt books so awesome.

Overall, The Pirate King was not what I was hoping for. With the focus off of Drizzt Do'Urden, I found myself wishing I could get through this book faster than I did so I could move onto another book. Maybe things will get better in the final book in this series, The Ghost King. I certainly hope so.