'So nobody,' he continued, staring hard at Sophraea, who was whispering another request info Volponia's ear, 'need risk her neck by taking it into the City of the Dead. Which means'-he straightened his chin and Sophraea noticed that he actually looked quite heroic- 'no wizard need die trying to close the tomb door for her.'
'But I have a plan,' said Sophraea, with a quick smile of appreciation to Gustin for his oblique offer to help, 'and getting the spellbook will be the easy part.'
It was the rest of her plan that she wasn't too sure about. But she didn't say that out loud.
TWENTY-FOUR
ith a nod from Sophraea, Volponia rang her crystal bell. 'Algozata's spellbook,' the old lady requested.
A dusty and distinctly rank-smelling spellbook appeared immediately in the middle of her pale pink down comforter.
'That's all I can do for you today,' Volponia told her visitors. 'Sophraea, I can't fetch anything more until after dawn tomorrow.'
Sophraea kissed the former pirate queen's cheek in thanks. She stored the spellbook in her wicker basket, paying no real heed to Volponia's grumbles about the marks left behind on the comforter.
'I can't change the bed until tomorrow either,' Volponia said.
'I'll bring you another cover from my room,' Sophraea promised her.
'You had better,' said the old lady and then added, 'so don't do anything foolish and come safely home again.'
Sophraea gave a brisk nod to the two astonished gentlemen staring at this domestic exchange and said, 'Shall we go?'
'What are you going to do?' asked Gustin.
'I'm going back to the City of the Dead. You heard Lord Adarbrent. All we need to do is close the tomb door on this shoe. By the way, my lord, is it the Markarl tomb?'
'Yes,' said the startled nobleman. 'How did you know?'
'We found the shoe directly beneath that monument and Gustin thought that there had been odd magic in its vicinity,' Sophraea explained.
'That's right. I did,' said the wizard, a momentary flash of pleasure relaxing his worried expression. Then, more sternly, he told Sophraea, 'But you can't go back into the City of the Dead. For one thing, the courtyard is a battlefield. For another, reversing the curse is going to kill someone!'
'If I don't, this battle will kill a good many more people,' Sophraea began.
Lord Adarbrent cut off her next sentence.
'I will close the tomb door,' the old nobleman said. 'After all, as Captain Volponia so rightly stated, I began this spell. The only honorable action is to close the tomb door as my final act.'
Sophraea nodded. 'The door has to be closed but does it have to be someone living who does it?'
Lord Adarbrent frowned heavily. 'I don't recall Algozata's ritual mentioning anything about that. In fact, the first two times that she invoked this particular curse, she used an animated corpse to end it. Both times the curse ended as she wished. I don't know what became of the corpses.'
'I thought you said that the curse killed your cousin,' Gustin observed.
The old man's expression grew even more sour. 'The third time that Algozata used this particular ritual, the family discovered what she had done. And she was given no choice but to close the tomb door herself. I was a child then, but, as I recall, it was not a painless death,' he declared.
This dry recital of Adarbrent family justice made Sophraea shiver. The stone face of Gustin's statue had more kindness in it than the old lord's features.
'What do you want to do? Recruit one ofthe corpses from the City of the Dead? I'm willing,' Gustin asked her, 'but I've never had much luck with necromancy.'
'Would a statue work?' — Sophraea asked. 'Suppose you bring the stone man to life, the one my father carved for you. Animating stone is your best magic, or so you keep saying.'
'My statue!' Gustin exclaimed. 'He could really be a hero of Waterdeep!'
'Absolutely,' said Sophraea, ready to lead everyone downstairs.
'My stone men can walk. I never asked one to close a door,' he admitted.
'If he can't do it, we'll think of something else,' Sophraea said. She tried to sound more confident than she felt.
As she passed near the bed, Volponia caught her hand.
'Don't forget that ring you're still wearing. Even a half wish is better than nothing. You might need it before the night is done,' said Volponia. 'There is so much that can go wrong.'
Sophraea gave a curt nod. She rather wished that Gustin hadn't told her so very often that magical items could be undependable and dangerous.
TWENTY-FIVE
The courtyard of Dead End House was awash in rain, fighting bodies, and general chaos. Rampage Stunk's guards were still trying to herd all the Carvers into the center of the courtyard as Sophraea slipped out the front door with Gustin and Lord Adarbrent.
Bentnor and the younger men led the charge against Stunk's men. With heavy mallets, they struck at the bullyblades. The younger Carvers used their hard heads and fists as much as their makeshift weapons. They butted and punched, jabbed and weaved, and even bit an ear or two.
They kicked with hobnailed boots, hooking knees or ankles to send their opponents flying.
If there hadn't been so much water and mud underfoot, the Stunk's bullies might have overcome the Carvers' tricks, certainly they were better armored than Sophraea's relatives. However, the sheer slickness of the cobblestones worked in the Carvers' favor. The young masons and coffinbuilders whipped their large leather- aproned bodies into the heavily armored men and sent them skidding backward to sprawl on the cobblestones. More lost their footing every time the full weight of the Carvers struck them.
Bentnor wrestled one bully into the mud. The iron kettles and brooms of his mother and his aunts kept the screaming man pinned down while Bentnor leaped up to hook another around the neck. Cadriffle followed his brother into the fray, swinging a heavy mallet to protect his twin's back.
'Go on! Fight!' Stunk yelled at his men, as they tried to retreat and regroup. 'What do I pay you for?'
But it was Stunk's shouted orders, 'Don't kill anyone yet! I want to question them!' that actually slowed the battle. His men didn't dare use their swords so were hobbled in their efforts.
By the time Sophraea reached the courtyard, the army of dead from the graves had nearly broken through the family's gate. She saw the hastily mortared bricks and reinforcing boards shatter. Debris was scattered at the base of the wall.
The family was pushing back Stunk's men but they were distracted by cries for help from their fathers, desperately seeking to shore up the defenses of the Dead End gate.
'We need to reach your statue!' Sophraea cried over the din of the fighting.
Gustin nodded, stretching his head this way and that, trying to spot a clear path to the door of Astute Carver's workshop.
The current melee effectively blocked their route.
'Stay here,' Gustin said to Sophraea. 'I will go around them.'
'No,' she replied, catching his hand in her own steady grip. 'We'll go together!'
Lord Adarbrent gave a grim smile and unsheathed his sword cane.
'Allow me to clear the way for you,' he said.
Like a black storm, the old man fell upon Stunk's bullies, striking them from behind, a slash high to the head, a cut low to the knee. Stunk's men howled as the old man's cane lashed across their faces and other vulnerable
