'It won't do any harm, either,' she growled back viciously and kicked at a still twitching spider limb.
'Dark and empty,' she yelled accusingly to the cavern ceiling. 'I thought he protected his Children from monsters in the dark.'
Eventually, exhausted from both the battle and her anger, Tazi stormed over to a wall, placed her back against it, and slowly slid to the ground. She sat with her legs bent and her arms propped on her knees, hands dangling limply.
She heard her own ragged breathing, felt her heart trying to burst from her leather vest, and she knew no tirade would do anyone any good. She wouldn't risk undoing all of Steorf's healing efforts. Tazi thumped her head against the wall and silently cursed all the gods.
Not budging from his spot, Steorf said, 'If his own god couldn't save him, perhaps he wasn't meant to be saved.'
Tazi bit off the angry retort hanging on her tongue. She realized that Steorf was just as exhausted as she was, if not more so, and had the added burden of knowing that he might actually have been able to save Asraf.
Tazi stood up as if in a dream and began to walk around the chamber again. She glanced from Asraf to the many bodies of the aranea. Slowly a thought began to grow.
'This isn't right,' she said.
' 'There is no right or wrong in the darkness,' ' Steorf quoted the dead Child of Ibrandul bitterly.
'That's what I mean,' she replied. 'This is exactly the kind of enemy his god was supposed to save him from. Asraf was one of the most dedicated people I've ever come across. You could hear it in the way he talked about his faith.'
She stood in front of Steorf and pointed to Asraf's unmoving form.
'He should have been protected,' she said, 'and he wasn't.'
Seizing on that thread, Tazi rapidly searched the tunnel. She turned over every corpse and discovered they were all aranea-monstrous spiders that could transform themselves into the likeness of drow or other humanoid creatures to confuse and intimidate their prey. These were intelligent creatures that couldn't have just been creeping around in the dark at random, for no reason at all. The whole mission had been puzzling her, and the pieces were falling into place.
'The other two Children of Ibrandul aren't here,' she said slowly.
Steorf stood up and surveyed the room.
'I don't think they even followed us in here,' he said.
Tazi balled up her hand and thumped the wall with the bottom of her fist.
'That's what they were arguing about in the last cavern,' she realized.
'Those scheming bastards were trying to decide which trap to send us down,' Steorf added bitterly.
Tazi's faced blanched.
'And they've got Fannah. They separated us right from the start,' Tazi realized sickly, 'and led us down the wrong path. And we went.'
'We'll get her back,' he vowed, 'even if it has to be over every one of their rotting bodies.'
He started to storm back the way they had come, but Tazi caught him by the arm and pulled him to a stop.
'I don't think they're entirely to blame,' she told him.
'What?' Steorf said, shocked that she could even consider that. 'Are you sure you're fully recovered?'
'Remember Asraf's last words? He said he didn't believe we were evil.'
'So?' he answered, too angry to follow her train of thought.
'That must mean that the others do believe we're evil. Someone got to those Children of Ibrandul and spun a vicious lie for them so he could use them for his own devices,' she explained. 'I know of only one man capable of that: Ciredor.'
'You think he manipulated them?' Steorf asked, cooling somewhat.
'I know it,' she answered with absolute certainty.
Before Steorf could say anything else, a hooded figure dressed entirely in gray robes moved out of the deepest shadows of the cavern. The figure was as tall as Steorf but neither he nor Tazi could distinguish if the figure was even human, let alone male or female. They held their ground as it approached, but Tazi's left hand slid down to the hilt of one of her guardblades.
'Who are you?' she called out to the figure when it was about ten feet away.
'Lady,' the figure began in a deep and resonating voice, 'I have come to call for you.'
The Gray Caller slowly raised one arm draped in smoky hues and pointed at Tazi.
She could tell Steorf was tensing up, at the ready.
'What do you want from me?' she asked, as the Caller had made no overtly threatening moves against them.
'Lady,' the Caller answered, 'in seeing through those things that were deceiving you, you earned my attention as a worthy soul. I have come to offer an invitation and my services.'
'An invitation to what?' she inquired as she took a step away from Steorf.
'I am here to escort you to the Dark Bazaar, if you care to go,' the Gray Caller replied.
'I do very much wish to go,' Tazi answered, after considering the figure's words and trusting her intuition.
As she and Steorf both approached the Caller, the figure made no move to lead them anywhere, and held its ground.
'The invitation is only for you, Lady,' the Caller explained.
Tazi turned to Steorf and clasped his hands.
'Stay here, and I'll be back as quickly as I can,' she told him. 'You should be safe enough. The other Children of Ibrandul have probably left us for dead.'
'How can you trust this thing after what just happened?' he asked her.
'It feels right,' she explained, releasing his hands. 'Trust me.'
Turning to face the Gray Caller she said, 'I'm ready.'
'This way, Lady,' the figure said, and motioned to the far end of the cavern.
As they slowly walked together, Tazi turned to the Caller and remarked, 'There isn't some set road one could follow as the Children of Ibrandul led me to believe. This is the only true way into the Night Market, isn't it?'
The Caller nodded, and she tried to catch a glimpse under the hood but she was unable to see anything other than more shadows.
'Only those who are invited may enter the Dark Bazaar to trade secret for secret. Only those who can see through deception or prove themselves worthy in some other manner are ever invited. Your insight serves you well when you let it.'
Steorf debated with himself for a few moments before he decided to follow them. He broke into a trot and nearly caught up to Tazi and her guide.
'Tazi,' he called out.
When she didn't turn around he reached out to grab her shoulder, but his hand passed through thin air. Both Tazi and the Gray Caller had disappeared.
CHAPTER 9
Tazi couldn't believe her eyes. The Gray Caller had simply rounded a brief corner in the tunnel, and it opened up into an eerie, twilight market. She stopped in her tracks.
