Tazi crawled over on her hands and knees to where he had propped himself up against the rocks. She looked at the parchment he was studying, and recognized it as one of the few she had stolen from Ciredor two years before.
'From what I can tell,' Steorf told her, 'those minarets are somewhere near a place called Teshyll.'
Tazi studied the words he was translating. The elaborate scrawls meant nothing to her. They were vaguely reminiscent of Alzhedo in their physical beauty, but that's where the similarity ended. From the corner of her eye, she saw that as Steorf pointed out the name of Teshyll to her on one document, all the other pages shimmered. The writings came alive like slender worms and repositioned themselves on the vellum. Every page except the one Steorf held in his hand was a mystery again.
How are we going to defeat him? Tazi wondered morosely.
'Teshyll was a city that provided a centralized farmer's market eight thousand years back when the Teshyll Fields were rich and fertile,' Fannah told them. 'Calim also kept his harem there in a palace that was one of the greatest examples of gravity-defying architecture ever seen.'
Tazi smiled at her friend's keen hearing. Fannah had looked deeply absorbed in preparing a plate of succulent fruit for them all, yet she had been listening closely to their exchange.
'Is there anything left of this city?' Steorf asked and took a bite of a slice of fruit.
'No, there isn't,' she informed him. 'All that remains of the buildings are a few cornerstones.'
Even though she was thirsty, it was hard for Tazi to eat much. She noticed Steorf had the same problem. The overwhelming heat was like a heavy blanket, and putting food in her stomach was the last thing Tazi wanted, but she knew it was necessary for all of them to maintain as much strength as was possible. She forced herself to eat and reminded her friends to do the same.
'Let's close our eyes for an hour or so and pack up,' Tazi told them.
Fannah curled up and went to sleep almost immediately. Tazi realized that while she and Steorf might have been sore, the trek was a thousand times more arduous for their blind friend. While Tazi marveled at her mental calmness, she knew that Fannah's body didn't posses the same stamina.
She watched Fannah's deep breathing for a while and lay back with her arms behind her head. She could see golden lizards no bigger than her hand dart between the cracks in the rocks. The lizards were the only wildlife they'd seen since entering the desert. Not even birds, it appeared, ventured into the Calim.
We should count ourselves fortunate, Tazi rationalized to herself, that those lizards are the only creatures we've come across.
She tried to close her eyes, and though she was tired her mind refused to stop turning. A crinkling to her left caught her attention. When she opened her eyes and rolled onto her left side she saw that Steorf was back studying the parchments.
'I thought we were all going to rest,' she whispered, not wanting to disturb Fannah.
She looked over her shoulder and saw that Fannah's even breathing hadn't changed.
'I can't,' Steorf answered without looking at her. 'There's still so much we need to learn from these pages.'
Tazi scooted closer to him and touched his hand.
'We do need the information, I won't argue that, but we also need to get as much rest as possible.'
Steorf gazed up at Tazi, then at Fannah, and finally at their meager supplies.
'I don't think rest is going to turn the tide for us,' he said quietly.
His words struck deep into Tazi. She had been thinking almost the same since they'd left Calimport. The fact that she had failed to purify herself hounded her ruthlessly, but she couldn't let the others see her worries. Fannah's life depended on her, and she wouldn't let Steorf fall victim to that despair either.
'We've come this far,' she told him with false confidence. 'We've survived every pitfall that has come our way. If Ciredor wasn't frightened of us, I don't think he would've run here. I believe he would have stayed behind in Calimport to kill us. That's worth something.'
'I wish that were true,' he told her kindly. 'I'm afraid he went into the desert because this is where he needs to be to complete his gift to Shar. His time is running out to finish this so he had to come out here. I'd love to believe he was frightened of us, Tazi, but I know he's not.'
Everything he said made complete sense to her, but Tazi refused to accept it. To do so would be to accept defeat.
'He should be,' she said seriously. 'He should be very frightened.
'What else have you figured out?' She added to focus them both on something they could do.
Steorf replied with a faint smile, 'I am getting closer to the exact distance that the minarets are from Calimport, but I don't quite have it yet. Every time I put these papers down, they're all rewritten the next time I look at them '
His voice was heavy with barely concealed frustration,
'I've been wondering something,' Tazi said. 'Why do you think Ciredor even wrote this down if it holds so many clues?'
'I've been wondering that myself. We've probably been less than accurate thinking of him as a mage. I think he must be a nightcloak of Shar's, one of her elite priests.
'As far as I know,' Steorf went on, 'they aren't supposed to take on any special tasks without orders. Ciredor might have been reporting to someone else, and this was the way he did it.
'Or,' he added thoughtfully, 'he might be operating on his own, and this collection is his written record for others to find after he presents his gift to Shar.'
'Something to leave behind for others to find,' Tazi whispered, her mind only beginning to guess at the ramifications of what Ciredor might be attempting.
'That may be why he told the followers of Ibrandul that it was a book from their god,' Steorf agreed slowly. 'He wanted a dedicated group to protect it for… afterward.'
They were both silent for a time. Eventually, Steorf turned to Tazi. 'There is something I would like you to know,' he said.
The tone in his voice made Tazi nervous for some unexplained reason. She drew shapes on their ground-cloth with her finger but didn't look at him.
'What is it?' she asked.
'I don't know how this is going to end for us,' he started.
Tazi looked at him and placed her fingertips over his chapped lips.
'Don't,' she implored.
He gently took her hand away from his mouth and squeezed it briefly.
'I have to,' he told her. 'Neither of us can say what will happen. I just want to make sure that you understand something, and there might not be another chance to tell you.'
'Make sure this is something you're going to be able to live down,' she told him lightly. 'You know I will forever remind you of it when we get back.'
'If we get back,' Steorf corrected her gravely, 'I don't want you to ever forget it.'
'All right,' Tazi answered, no longer flippant.
'I know how much it hurt you when Ciredor told you that I was on Thamalon Uskevren's payroll.'
He watched as Tazi dropped her head. He reached over and cupped her chin in his hand and tilted it up to face him.
'It was true that your father paid me for many years to watch over you as best I could. What you don't know is that I've been watching you far longer than that. I've been watching you since we were children.'
'What?'
'Ever since you saved that baby from the midden and Durlan rewarded you with your ring, I've followed you. The mage, Durlan, was one of my instructors back then, and he shared your exploits with me,' Steorf explained. 'Needless to say, the story made an impression, and I decided one day to see more of you.'
Tazi was surprised, and she had thought she was beyond such things.
'My mother, just like your parents, is very conscious of social allegiances. As the premier mage of Selgaunt, she has to be. My childhood was rather secluded,' he said, and Tazi detected a note of sadness in his voice. It was an aspect of his younger years she had never known before. 'I think I stole out at nights for the same reason as you: freedom. Freedom from duties and obligations and watchful eyes.
