Sands of the Soul (12 page)

“Since the Sixth Age of Calimshan,” Fannah replied. “And within that sabban is one of the hidden passageways to the Muzad.”

‘There are no real walls,” Tazi observed, “and I don’t see any of the typical sabban marks we’ve seen in the other drudachs.”

“This ward is unique in that it doesn’t have any true walls and no marks. That’s one of the reasons,” Fannah added, “how the ward came by its name.”

Steorf moved behind Fannah, but Tazi stood a moment longer. Whether it was because she was overwhelmed by the realization that the land contained perhaps thousands of dead or because the vast expanse of green was like an oasis in the midst of the turmoil of humanity, Tazi was awed. She inhaled deeply, watched the setting sun turn the very air pink, and breathed in the smell of dust and grass. Shadows reached across the deep green with greedy fingers, and strange insects hummed softly. She felt as though she was momentarily caught up in someone else’s dream.

“Coming?” Steorf called.

Tazi roused herself and trotted along to catch up with her companions. Fannah had reached one of the few markhouts in view, already obscured by the evening’s growing darkness. She gently trailed her fingers along the sides of the mausoleum with her sensitive touch. When her hands recognized one of the carved phrases, she tilted her head like a curious bird.

“Someone you know?” Tazi asked, concerned that a friend or relative of Fannah’s might be buried there.

Fannah smiled as she corrected her Sembian companion. “Not someone but something I know.”

With a few deft moves of her fingers, Fannah tripped the door and it slowly swung open.

“In here,” Fannah directed them.

Tazi looked around briefly but despite Fannah’s insistence that the Forgotten Ward was a favorite commons, she saw no one nearby. She did have to admit to herself that the long shadows of the evening probably hid more than she could imagine, so she couldn’t be sure just who or what might be watching. She hoped they remained undetected in this strange city.

She nodded to Steorf, and they entered the tomb after Fannah.

Inside, Tazi was surprised to find it empty. She had been prepared for a pocket of stale air laced with decay but found the markhout cool and almost refreshing. As she and Steorf glanced around, they both realized that the small edifice held no other occupants but Fannah.

” Not all of the mausoleums within Cry pt Ward are quite what they seem, which is one of the reasons why the ward has become so popular,” Fannah explained. “This is not the only one that leads to the Muzad,” she continued, “but it is the only one I know of that will take us to the Temple of Ibrandul.”

Fannah turned and keyed open another door. This one was clearly a passageway down into the tunnels beneath Calimport, with its uninviting, dark depths.

Tazi took the lead with Steorf subtly illuminating a few feet around them. She debated about having him quench the light but decided to let it go. She was still unsure how to deal with Steorf at times, and that awkwardness made her hesitant. Part of her wanted and needed to trust him again. However, there was still that voice of doubt in the back of her mind.

Watch and learn, she told herself.

The inner doorway of the mausoleum opened up to a gently

sloping tunnel that was cool, dry, and apparently empty. Once they passed the threshold, Tazi and Steorf discovered that not only was it wide enough for the three to walk abreast but also that his glow spell was unnecessary.

Every ten feet or so Tazi could see naturally occurring recesses in the rock wall, like sconces, that held small, shimmering spheres that did an adequate job illuminating the passage.

“Does this only lead to the temple?” Tazi asked Fannah quietly.

“If memory serves me right,” Fannah replied, “I don’t think there are any major forks until we get to the temple proper. That shouldn’t be more than a short walk.”

“Good,” Tazi answered and firmly planted herself in the lead.

Steorf moved up just beside and slightly behind her, and Fannah trailed just behind the two of them.

Tazi was on guard and looked from side to side. She realized that the farther they traveled down the tunnel, the deeper underground they were descending. Just as the crowded streets of Calimport had gotten to her, the passageway was beginning to play on her nerves. She found herself turning at every noise, real or imagined. She saw from the corner of her eye that Steorf looked at her a few times, and she wasn’t sure of the meaning behind the glances.

Does he know how wound up I am, she wondered, or is he just looking to me for leadership?

The tunnel snaked around to the left, and Tazi no longer had a clear view of what lay ahead. She dropped her hands so that they rested on the hilts of her blades, convinced that the direction of the tunnel was intentionally meant to obscure something. She could see that Steorf also grew sterner and more alert.

“Wait,” Fannah warned them softly.

I knew it, thought Tazi.

Aloud, she whispered, “What is it?”

“I smell something, though it is only a faint trace. I smell something burnt and charred.”

“A torch maybe,” Steorf offered, “or some sort of residual magic, perhaps?”

Fannah disagreed. “I don’t think that it’s any of those things. While this temple has never had one in the past, I have heard that many of Ibrandul’s temples have guardians.”

“What kind of guardians? ” Tazi asked.

“There is a kind of lizard, called an ibrandlin, which makes its lairs out of the temples. These lizards have the ability to breathe fire,” Fannah explained.

“Steorf, keep an eye on Fannah, and I’ll duck ahead to see what I can,” Tazi told Steorf.

“Careful,” he warned her.

She winked at him and replied, “Always.”

Tazi moved away from her friends and slid flat against the side of the tunnel. She took a parting look at Steorf and Fannah before rounding the bend and losing sight other friends. She cautiously stepped around some of the smaller piles of rocks and was careful not to knock a single stone loose. With her breath held, she reached around the second turn in the tunnel and felt a more noticeable breeze on her arm.

It must open up here, she thought.

She peered around the corner just enough to take a quick, glance, but that was more than enough.

Fannah was right, she acknowledged to herself. There is definitely a guard.

Curled in front of a carved double doorway was a lizard, just as Fannah had suspected. From where she was hidden, Tazi estimated that the creature was nearly thirty feet long. Silvery-gray in color, the beast looked as if it was asleep. Folded over itself as it was, Tazi found it hard to be sure, but thought it had four legs as well as a serpentine tail. She could see a glimmer from one of its deadly claws.

And it breathes fire as well, she thought morosely.

Tazi stole one more glance at the beast and confirmed that

there was no obvious way around the creature. If she and her friends wanted to enter the temple, they were going to have to deal with the ibrandlin, one way or the other. She eased her way away from the opening in the tunnel and just as carefully picked her way back to Fannah and Steorf.

When she returned, Steorf asked, “Was it there, like Fannah suspected?”

“That’s the largest lizard I’ve ever seen,” she informed them and detailed the creature’s size further for Steorf.

After hearing the particulars, Steorf said to Tazi, “Between you and me, I think we should be able to kill it.”

“That was my first thought, too, but I took it a little fur-< ther,” she replied.

“What do you mean?” Steorf asked.

“We need to enlist the followers of Ibrandul’s aid. Just how are we going to look to them if we, as strangers, slaughter their watch lizard to get in to see them?”

Steorf was silent for a moment.

“I see what you mean,” he agreed slowly, “but considering the beast’s size, I’m not sure my spells could keep it at bay long enough for you two to get in without someone getting injured.”

Tazi pursed her lips, frustrated by their dilemma.

“Fannah,” she asked, “do you know how smart these lizards are? Could we trick one of them?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know much about the ibrandlin,” she apologized. “From what I’ve heard, they are not supposed to possess much intelligence.”

“That’ll help,” Tazi said.

“They are smart enough to recognize worshipers of Ibrandul and obey their commands,” Fannah added.

“What kinds of colors do the followers of Ibrandul wear?” Steorf asked.

“Typical wear is normally purple and black, though the clothing style is not specific. Higher-ranking members sport purple cloaks with a kind of circular design,” she explained.

“Purple it is,” Steorf stated and reached out to touch both Tazi and Fannah.

Tazi looked down at Steorf’s hand on her shoulder. A purple stain began to spread from under his fingers to seep across the blue-and-white-striped shift she wore over her leathers. Soon the whole outer garment was stained a deep amethyst color. She let out a small gasp as she glanced up and saw that both Steorf and Fannah’s clothing had changed as well to shades of purple and black. On Steorf’s violet cloak, small circles covered the length of the garment.

“It’s not permanent,” he answered Tazi’s unasked question, “but it should last long enough to fool the lizard ahead.”

“This just might do it,” she complimented him. “There’s only one way to be sure, though.”

Tazi led her friends around the sharp turns and stopped just before the tunnel opened up.

“If what you said is right,” Tazi addressed Fannah, “then we should be able to just walk past this thing.”

“That’s what I have heard,” Fannah affirmed.

The three stepped around the corner and started to cross the twenty feet that separated them from what must have been the main entrance to the temple. They hadn’t even gone five feet when the gray lizard’s eyes flew open. It flicked its head from left to right and unfurled its limbs to slowly rise on its tail, nearly twenty feet straight up.

Tazi resisted the urge to draw her blades, but it was a struggle. It was one thing to have a plan to remain passive, and it was entirely another thing to follow that plan when faced with such a fearsome creature.

“Do nothing,” she whispered to Steorf and wondered if the next burnt smell in the chamber would be them.

The ibrandlin swooped down with lightning speed and stuck its large, flat head in Tazi’s face. She held rigidly still as it moved its head from one side other shoulders, over her own head, and down to her other shoulder. All the while, she could feel little hot spikes of air escape the two holes that

was its nose. Tazi even thought she detected a hint of smoke in those puffs.

The ibrandlin followed the same procedure with Steorf and Fannah before crawling aside to clear a path for them through the threshold. Tazi hesitantly stepped forward and marched through the doorway, Fannah immediately behind her, and Steorf bringing up the rear. When they had all passed safely through, Tazi peered back at the ibrandlin. The lizard, however, appeared to have already forgotten them and was curling up once more like some great cat.

She shook her head and let out a sigh. When she turned back to her friends, Tazi saw that the purple colors Steorf had created were dripping off of them to evaporate into the stone floor without a trace. Before she had a chance to compliment him further, several young men appeared from a nearly invisible side chamber and intercepted them. Tazi saw that they all were Calishite humans and they wore the true colors of Ibrandul.

“Who are you?” one of them demanded.

It was not lost on Tazi that the worshipers had surrounded them.

“We have come seeking the aid of Ibrandul,” Fannah told them.

“That may be,” the spokesperson for the acolytes said, “but how did you get in here?”

Steorf took a deep breath, but before he could say anything Tazi squeezed his arm.

“We are here,” Fannah replied easily, “and welcome as all should be who seek protection from those things that dwell in the dark.”

She left it at that.

Good girl, Tazi thought. No need to tip our hand when we don’t have to.

“The Lurker should know of this,” one of the other worshipers muttered. “If you seek the Skulking God’s assistance, then follow me,”

the first worshiper told them and abruptly turned away.

Since the other followers held their ground, Tazi had a feeling that there was no choice in the matter.

“Please bring us before him,” Fannah requested, playing along with the illusion of free choice as well.

The group made a silent march from the small, entry chamber into a much larger room. The entire chamber was hewn from rock, and all the decorations were natural indentations in the stone. The senior priest entered, dressed in robes of deep purple tied off with a black sash. His outer robe was covered in a silver pattern of circles that looked like scales to Tazi. His beard was shot with white, and his skin was leathered. Tazi wondered how he could look so dry and withered in the damp dark.

“What do you seek?” asked the old man.

“We are newly arrived in Calimport, Mysterious Lurker,” Fannah correctly addressed him in the common tongue. “My companions are Thazienne and Steorf”—she motioned to each respectively—”and we have come on a most serious matter. Thazienne is best able to explain,” she finished, startling Tazi by placing her in the forefront once more.

“I can see your companions are new to Calimport,” the Lurker said, “but you are not.” He spoke a few words in Alzhedo.

Fannah simply nodded.

When the ensuing silence stretched out, Tazi finally stepped forward from her companions and the few Children of Ibrandul who had led them there.

“I would like to thank you, Mysterious Lurker, for allowing us entrance,” she began.

“Ibrandul opens his house to any human needing protection from the dark and offers sanctuary,” he intoned benevolently.

“I’m not sure if we need the protection or if you do,” she continued.