popular parks of Calimport, it is, in actuality, the home for many, many mass burials.'
'It is also a cemetery?' Steorf remarked.
'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 Crypt 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 of her 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 further,' 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.
