'I could be,' she told Tazi ruefully, 'and it wouldn't be the first mistake I've ever made.'
'So you're saying that you're open to possibilities?' Tazi said.
The older woman leaned her head back carefully and began to laugh. Buried beneath the arid chuckle, Tazi could hear a lilt to the other woman's voice that was almost beautiful.
I wonder what she looked like when she was younger? Tazi speculated.
'You're staring,' the woman noticed.
'I'm sorry. I'm just curious,' Tazi answered.
'Curiosity can be a curse,' the Calishite said in a parched tone, 'and one often pays enormously for the luxury.'
'Sooner or later,' Tazi replied ominously, 'we all pay, don't we?'
The elder woman regarded Tazi carefully.
'You have learned a few lessons, haven't you?'
'A few in my lifetime, and they've been costly ones,' Tazi told her in a voice absent of bravado.
'It took me an eternity to learn mine,' the Calishite said mostly to herself, 'and I only had to give up the thing I loved best.'
She seemed lost for a moment, and Tazi wasn't sure how to proceed, but the woman soon shook herself from her daydreams.
Or are they nightmares? Tazi pondered.
'So, little girl, have you come for a story, perhaps, or have you come to learn the secrets of the Calim desert?' she crackled.
'I have come for something very important,' Tazi began, 'but I don't know what form it will take.'
'The rules are simple here, gharab,' the Calishite explained. 'You get to buy one treasure. What form that treasure takes depends on you. It can be a map, a gem, a dagger-' she paused and leaned across the spindly table to whisper-'or a secret.'
Tazi thought the elder woman had sand lodged in her throat, the last part was so raspy.
'I'm not sure what it is I need,' Tazi offered lamely.
The woman sat back abruptly and snapped, 'Move along then, little girl. This market is not for tourists but those who come to deal. I don't have time to take you by the hand and lead you to water.'
'Look,' Tazi snapped, 'this is life and death I'm dealing with, and all I want to do is not make a mistake. I want to do the right thing.'
'All of this,' the woman gestured to the room and beyond, 'is about life and death. Sometimes you can make all the right choices and still lose. You'd do well to remember that.
'Now,' she continued rapidly, 'tell me quick: What is it you want?'
'There is a necromancer I believe is from Calimport. You might know of him and you might not. His name is Ciredor.'
Tazi paused to see if the woman showed any sign of recognition. The wrinkled woman's face gave nothing away.
She grew frustrated and blurted out, 'I need to know what he's up to!'
She waited breathlessly, but the woman didn't answer her question.
'You will have to pay for that,' she informed Tazi.
Tazi was once again reminded how dry the woman sounded and looked. It was as though she had weathered a lifetime in the desert. The old woman looked at her expectantly.
Tazi rummaged through the small, outer pocket attached to her leather pants near her thigh. She withdraw a handful of 'suns' and stacked them on the table. The metal made a muffled thud when it struck the wood. Tazi once again marveled how everything about the market sounded hushed. The older woman spilled the column and sifted through Tazi's coins with a withered finger before leaning back in her chair.
'These coins,' she motioned to the pile of gold, 'are not the things you value.'
'It's all I have with me,' Tazi apologized, suddenly fearful that she had traveled this perilous route for naught. 'I don't have anything else to offer.'
'That's where you are wrong,' the old Calishite answered with a glint in her brown eyes. 'The rule is equal treasure for equal treasure. What you ask is invaluable to you, isn't it?'
'I think it's my only hope,' Tazi replied honestly.
'Then you do have one item to barter with,' the older woman told her.
She tapped Tazi's left hand.
'My ring?' Tazi whispered.
'That is all I will accept,' the other woman said. 'It is the only material item of value you possess that I truly desire.'
Tazi looked down at the emerald ring on her hand. Durlan, a moon elf, had given her the ring of protection when she was a small child growing up on the streets of Selgaunt. She had used it once successfully against Ciredor. The pain the ring caused her had been nearly unbearable, but she was certain the band was the only thing that had stopped the dark mage two years past.
How will I stop him now? she thought plaintively.
'Tick tock, tick tock, goes the clock. Time is running out,' the white-haired woman reminded her. 'This night is only so long.'
Tazi clenched and unclenched her left hand a few times. Finally, with a quick movement, she pulled the ring off her finger and laid it on the table, but she kept her fingers on it.
'Well, little girl, are you going to strike a bargain here or not?'
Tazi chewed her lip and said finally, 'I have never parted with this ring but if it's all you'll take, then take it.'
Tazi removed her fingers from the gem.
With a speed that contradicted her advanced years, the elderly woman snatched out with her clawlike hand and pocketed the ring. Tazi already regretted her actions, but it was too late. The older woman looked Tazi directly in the eye and tilted her head like a bird. Tazi was once again bothered by the familiarity of the action but dismissed the thought for later.
'Do we have a deal?' Tazi asked her.
'We most certainly do,' she answered.
Ciredor idly thumbed through one of the Lurker's tomes. The man had generously donated his inner sanctum to the necromancer for his private meditation, and Ciredor secretly suspected that the senior priest was a tiny bit terrified of him and had given him the space because he wanted to escape the mage's company. Whatever the reason, the solitude suited Ciredor perfectly. He used the time to savor his situation.
'It is almost time,' he whispered and idly rubbed a medallion he normally wore under his clothing but had now exposed. The black disc gleamed amethyst at its rim.
There was suddenly a hesitant tap on the door and Ciredor slid the pendant against his skin, enjoying the feel of the cool metal next to his body.
'Enter,' he commanded.
The Mysterious Lurker opened the door slightly and looked at Ciredor.
'Yes?' the mage asked after he realized the priest was going to continue to stare at him indefinitely.
'I have some news for you, Lord,' the Lurker began tentatively.
Ciredor smirked at the title, but was secretly pleased by the priest's submissive behavior.
'And it would be?' he led the conversation helpfully, waving his hand in a circular fashion.
'Two of the Children of Ibrandul are back,' he said with some hesitation, 'and I think they should speak with you.'
'Send them to me now,' Ciredor ordered, starting to frown.
The fact that the Lurker did not want to deliver the information indicated immediately to Ciredor that it wasn't good news.
The Lurker pushed open the study door fully, and Ciredor was able to see that two followers of Ibrandul were
