underground in the sewers.
Lord Adarbrent was very gentle in his handling of the shoe, turning it over with a sigh. 'Such a pretty thing,' he said, 'I remember when I was young, all the ladies wore such finery to the great balls.'
Since neither Sophraea nor Gustin could imagine Lord Adarbrent as a young man, they made no comment.
'My lord, I'm very worried about the disturbances in the City,' said Sophraea. 'Rampage Stunk has ordered two tombs removed for the building of his own monument. And I think… well, I think that the dead are upset. It is possible that the dead are walking. I would go to the Watch or to the Watchful Order, only I really don't know who to speak to.' And, she added silently, I really don't want to explain that my family built an unprotected gate into the City of the Dead several generations ago that everyone has overlooked and that may pose a great danger to Waterdeep.
'There is no reason to involve the City Watch or the Order,' said Lord Adarbrent. 'Rampage Stunk's activities'-he paused and smacked his lips as if trying to clear a bad taste out of his mouth- 'Stunk's plans are known and approved, by the highest authorities, as I have been repeatedly told.'
Looking at the deep and angry lines on the aged nobleman's face, Sophraea fancied whoever had told Lord Adarbrent had had an unpleasant task.
'Stunk holds the deeds to those tombs, sold quite legally to him by the last foolish remnants of two once great and very noble families,' Lord Adarbrent concluded with a scowl. 'If he chooses to make other arrangements with that property, it is well within his rights as a citizen of Waterdeep. Or so it was explained to me.' The last sentence ended on a note perilously close to a snarl.
The old man patted Sophraea's hand where it rested upon the handle of her wicker basket. 'It was very good of you to come to me, dear child, but your father and his brothers already made the same inquiries once they realized where Stunk meant to build his tomb.'
'Oh,' said Sophraea, quite dismayed by this revelation. 'I didn't know.'
'But, do the dead of Waterdeep respect the same laws, my lord?' asked Gustin. 'We certainly saw some signs of magic around those tombs the other day.'
Turning to the wizard. Lord Adarbrent said, 'I think you are somewhat new to our city?'
'I arrived a short time ago.'
'Ah, well, you will learn. Waterdeep is a very old city, with magic sunk into its foundation stones. I doubt there is anywhere that you could walk in this city and not see some mark of a past spell or incantation.'
Lord Adarbrent handed the little tarnished shoe back to Sophraea and she tucked it back into the basket without a thought.
'Thank you for the visit,' he said, showing them out of the room. The servant waited at the already open door leading to the courtyard, making it clear that the visit was at an end.
Sophraea curtsied, Gustin bowed, and Lord Adarbrent waved off these gestures of respect with a murmured, 'No need. Such nice manners, always a pleasure.'
As a further courtesy, the old nobleman escorted them across the courtyard, tutting under his breath at the state of his fountain and muttering something about meaning to have the dwarves take a look at it.
Outside the great door, standing on the stairs leading to the pavement, they saw a group of men clearing the furniture out of a fine but rather dilapidated house a little farther down the street.
'Rampage Stunk,' Lord Adarbrent growled in much stronger tones than he had used inside. 'The dowager isn't dead more than five days and he's already bought the house from her heirs. He will sell it for a fine profit to one of his fancy friends and I'll have more jackanapes pretending to be noblemen living on my street. No manners, no breeding, no sense of tradition…'
Startled, Sophraea saw the old man's hands clench into fists and then deliberately relax.
'Ah well,' muttered Lord Adarbrent, lifting his hand to his nose to hide his expression from them. 'It is his right, as a citizen of Waterdeep. Good day to you.'
The great door swung shut behind him with a definite slam.
'Well,' Sophraea said to Gustin, 'I can see now why some people call him the Angry Lord.'
'Actually, I thought he would be more upset by your news,' mused Gustin. 'I thought a lord of the city would worry that the dead were leaving their graves to haunt the streets. In Cormyr, there would be war wizards stalking about and reporting to the king if such a thing happened.'
'Lord Adarbrent is right, this is Waterdeep. Odd things happen all the time,' explained Sophraea, hooking her arm through Gustin's in a friendly fashion. 'Look, I think it's going to rain. Let's go back to the Andamaar gate and cut through the City of the Dead. It will be faster that way.'
'You just don't like walking down streets whete living people are wandering,' teased Gustin.
'It's not that,' said Sophraea. 'But on the way here, you kept stopping and staring at everything and asking me if this is where that batde was fought or where this wizard made his stand.'
'Aren't you interested in the history of your city?'
'Not nearly as much as I am in getting home before it pours,' she tugged Gustin down Manycats Alley, past the spot where Stunk's servants were loading boxes and bags into a big dray wagon.
'I'm sorry you didn't get the answers you wanted,' Gustin said.
'I'm just fussed, I guess. That's one of Myemaw's expressions,' Sophraea told him. 'After all, spirits appear quite frequently in the City of the Dead, and elsewhere too. And they are mostly harmless. Maybe I shouldn't worry.'
'Oh,' said Gustin, smiling down at her, 'you strike me as the sensible sort. You don't worry without cause. Something odd has been going on around those tombs. And in the tunnel last night, something frightened those thievfcs, long before that one decided to attack us.'
Peculiarly pleased by being called a sensible sort, Sophraea started to reply when they were interrupted by a shout.
'Well, if it isn't the little rude bit from Carver's yard,' Stunk's hairy doorjack strode across the street toward them. His shout brought the other Stunk servants sidling around the dray wagon and into the center of Manycats Alley. The two red-haired louts with their cudgels laughed to see Sophraea pull Gustin back from the hairy doorjack's advance.
Gustin shook off Sophraea's hand. 'I did tell you that I was a wizard, didn't I?' he asked the big man bearing down on them.
'Like I'm afraid of some street charlatan,' the servant replied.
A twist of his arm and his wand appeared in Gustin's left hand. Beneath his long lashes, his green eyes sparkled. 'Didn't ask if you were afraid,' he crowed, grinning. 'Just wanted to make sure you understood what kind of fight you were getting.'
Looking at the growing semicircle of Stunk s men surrounding them, Sophraea took a firm grip on her wicker basket. 'You should let us pass,' she said as calmly as she could. 'You know my family. You don't want to start a fight with the Carvers.'
'Carvers, what are Carvers?' said one of the redheads. 'Bunch of fancy gravediggers.'
'We're Stunk s men,' said the other. 'Nobody crosses us. Nobody hits us with buckets and brooms.'
'When did we?' started Sophraea.
One of Stunk's men slapped the other on the back of the head and said, 'Shut up you fool.'
'It was you!' shouted Sophraea. 'You were the ones breaking into our workshops! Thieves!'
'Shut her up!' yelled the thin nervous servant who always lurked in the back of the group. 'Stunk will kill us if he hears about this!'
'Great balls of flame,' muttered Gustin as he swung his wand above his head. 'Why can't I do enormous balls of fire when I need them!'
Nevertheless, his spell zinged through the air. Half the men shouted and dropped the makeshift weapons they were carrying, lifting their hands to their mouths as if their fingers stung.
Unfortunately, the other half still retained their weapons and charged the wizard. Gustin whipped off Bentnor's oversized cape and enveloped the closest man rushing at him, tripping the bully onto the street.
Sophraea screamed loudly and swung the wicker basket underhand with deadly accuracy at one of the louts intent on hitting Gustin. Not protected by an armored codpiece, this lout went down with a sharp cry of pain.
But more came on, and Sophraea found herself lifted bodily from the street even as Gustin fell with a shout
