anyone for leaving the amphora. I came to Sigil to deliver it to her. Don't you remember?'
The tiefling's jaw dropped, then she took a sharp breath and allowed her eyes to roll up. 'Yes… I forget!'
'Be that as it may, Thrasson,' said Karfhud, still speaking from behind them, 'it surprises me to hear you lying. You and I both know the amphora was-'
'That's enough!' The Amnesian Hero released Jayk and turned to glare at the fiend. 'Jayk's right No matter what happened to the amphora, I have no one to blame but myself.'
A deep chuckle rumbled from Karfhud's throat. 'Come now, Thrasson. You know it is no good to swallow your feelings! The amphora was your best hope of learning who you are, and now you feel betrayed because your companions abandoned it.'
'Zoombee! This is true?' Jayk's pupils were elongating into diamonds, and her fangs were folding down from the roof of her mouth. 'When you reach the One Death, you will have no use for memories!'
'Calm yourself, Jayk,' said the Amnesian Hero.
He began to back away, casting an angry glance past the tiefling toward Karfhud, who was laughing so hard that his face had melted into an undulating mass of wrinkles.
'There is a difference between sentiment and reason,' the Thrasson continued. 'I am disappointed, but…'
Jayk leapt, fangs bared and hands clawing at his face.
The Thrasson sidestepped her rush, at the same time curling his hands into fists. He was spared the necessity of knocking the tiefling unconscious when Karfhud caught her from behind.
'That is enough, Little Shadow!' The fiend lifted her off the ground, still cackling in delight. 'I cannot let you bite the Thrasson! He and I have sworn an oath of blood.'
Instantly, Jayk went as still as a statue-save for her trembling muscles and her quivering lip.
'There,' said Karfhud. 'It always helps to understand the situation completely, does it not?'
Saying nothing more, the tanar'ri put Jayk down and returned to his maps.
The tiefling remained very still until her pupils had become round again, then fixed an angry glare on the Thrasson's face. 'What were you thinking, Zoombee, to lead a tanar'ri back to us?' She jerked her chin back over her shoulder, though she was careful to avoid actually looking in the fiend's direction. 'You will discover what he wants before he finds it, yes?'
'What I want is to save your friends.' Karfhud's parchment rattled as he rolled it up. 'And, at the moment, the reason is not so important as the need to hurry. If Sheba-'
'Who?' the Amnesian Hero asked.
'The queen of the labyrinth-the one who attacked you and your companions,' Karfhud said. 'If Sheba took the amphora-'
'No, I told you!' Jayk whirled around. 'It was the Lady who came for it!'
The Amnesian Hero turned to see Karfhud stuffing the rolled parchment down among the many dozens in his satchel. The tanar'ri had apparently resigned himself to letting the pair in on his secret, for he showed no irritation at having the contents viewed – which worried the Thrasson more than any fiendish glowering would have. The tanar'ri would not take them into his confidence unless he meant to kill them later.
If Karfhud was aware of the Thrasson's thoughts, his disfigured face did not betray it as he fixed his attention on Jayk. 'It may have been the Lady who chased you and the others away from the amphora, but it was someone much larger who took it' The fiend pulled the satchel drawstrings tight and, with a clumsy flutter of his blight- gnarled talons, knotted them closed. 'We found a pair of large depressions where someone had kneeled to pick up the amphora – and, as I'm sure you know, the Lady of Pain leaves no sign of her passing.'
When Jayk made no further protests, Karfhud hoisted his satchel onto his back and began buckling the straps. 'If I am guessing correctly, this Silverwind intends to follow the Great Way down to the alley of the ash window-'
'Ash window?' asked the Thrasson.
'Surely, you remember it? You had to go through it to reach the maze of ash I'
The Amnesian Hero nodded. 'Silverwind called it a conjunction.'
'That is a peculiar way to describe it.' Karfhud's folded brow dipped in the middle, then he shook his head. 'But it matters not; it is more important that they are likely to meet Sheba coming the other way. You must catch up to them before she does-then stop her.'
'Why us?' Jayk demanded. The prospect of confronting the monster again seemed to make her less afraid of the fiend. 'What about you?'
The tanar'ri bared a long row of fangs. 'I will be behind her.' He pointed up the short alley toward the broad avenue. 'When you reach the Great Way, you must see it as a straight line. Ignore the corners, whichever way they turn, and count only the intersections. Go down twenty-eight alleys, counting only those on your right, and turn into the twenty-ninth-which will be on your left. Go down this lane until you reach a 'T' and turn to the left, then go eleven more intersections, counting only those on the left, and turn into the twelfth, which will be on the right. The fourth window on the left leads to the ash maze, but by then you will meet either Sheba or me.'
'What if we lose our way?' asked Jayk.
'Then I will be very angry-but you may always summon me by speaking my name.' The tanar'ri looked to the Amnesian Hero. 'Repeat my directions.'
'Count twenty-eight alleys on the right and enter the twenty-ninth, which will be on the left. Follow it to a 'T' and turn left, then count eleven passages on the left and turn into the twelfth, which will be on the right. The fourth window on the left leads to the ash maze, but we don't really need to know that. By then, we will either be dead or reunited with you.'
Karfhud nodded approvingly. 'For a man who cannot recall his own name, you have a most excellent
