him to a sitting position. He looked at his two friends, obviously worried.
'I'm not sure I can do this,' he finally admitted.
'Yes, you can,' Tazi encouraged him. 'You were almost finished before you were injured. You can do this now.'
Tazi could see how worried he looked. She suspected that since his physical strength had failed him, he was frightened that his sorcerous abilities would, too.
'Fannah needs your help.' She lowered her voice so only he would hear her. 'I can't translate these papers, and we need to find Ciredor.'
'You're right,' he said finally. 'Give me a moment.'
He handed the parchments back to Tazi. She gripped the papers and watched Steorf expectantly.
Steorf closed his eyes and concentrated. For a brief time, Tazi thought he was going to fall short again, but his hands started to glow with a white intensity he had failed to reach on his first attempt after the worm was vanquished. Tazi found she was holding her breath and was wrinkling the parchments in her fists.
'Please…' she whispered.
Steorf broke into a sweat, and Tazi recognized what a conundrum he was in. Exhausted from the poison, he was straining what meager reserves he had left to heal himself. Tazi shook her head with the realization that they were using themselves up, one by one.
Slowly, his hands turned brown, and Tazi realized he had nowhere to expel the toxin. She dropped the book and grabbed his hands. Tazi could feel some numbness at the point of contact and even saw her skin discolor, but before any more venom drained away, Steorf opened his eyes and realized what was happening. He yanked his hands free.
'What were you thinking?' he demanded of Tazi, but she smiled when she saw his color was somewhat improved.
'What I have to do,' she answered. 'Just like you, I'm doing what I have to for us.
'I'll be fine,' she assured him as she handed him back Ciredor's writings.
Steorf gave her an unreadable look and started to sift through the dark works. Tazi could see that his eyes were clearer and he was no longer confused. Both she and Fannah kneeled beside him in the sand, their presence the only support they could offer him. Rather than feeling that same lingering frustration, Tazi thought she could actually sense Steorf drawing on their quiet strength.
After some minutes, Steorf said, 'Either I'm still out of my head, or this bit here is starting to make sense.'
'What does it say?' Fannah asked.
'Most of this is really a treatise to his goddess. In fact, he goes on at some length about her and her virtues.'
'Shar is a goddess of darkness, though,' Tazi said.
'That is partially correct,' Fannah replied. 'Darkness is her element, but she rules over hidden pains and buried jealousies.'
'Why would anyone follow her?' Tazi asked.
'Who can say what drives the soul or why anyone would do anything?' Fannah cryptically answered. 'But I do know that she can bring relief and soothe deep pains.'
'She takes away pain?' Steorf asked curiously.
'No,' Fannah corrected him, 'that's not quite accurate. It is more like she dulls the pain, and her followers simply live with it as a way of life. Sort of a perverse acceptance, really. She hates light and hope, I think, most of all.'
'Perhaps it is my pain that has helped me to finally understand Ciredor's writings better,' Steorf murmured. 'It has brought me closer to him.'
'How do you know so much about her?' Tazi wondered.
'Remember,' Fannah explained, 'Sharess was once under her influence before she broke free. Our church was careful to school us in Shar's ways so that we can always recognize the dark one and never fall victim to her touch again.'
Tazi nodded at that.
'Perhaps that's what makes you so special to Ciredor,' she considered. 'You are the ultimate representation of something Shar lost. A gift of loss to the very goddess of loss herself. I hate to admit it, but in his own perverse way he has probably found the only gift of value anyone could offer her.'
Fannah remained silent, and Steorf gave Tazi a cold look. She felt suddenly guilty. She had gotten caught up in Ciredor's thinking. It was the first time Tazi had spoken so objectively of Fannah's worth, as though she had forgotten what was at stake for her Calishite friend. The moment stretched out awkwardly, and Steorf buried his attention back in the writings.
'There's more,' he announced triumphantly. 'He goes on about Shar for a stretch,'-he pointed to the marks on the vellum he had read-'and here is where he mentions discovering the perfect location for his heart. This has to be about the minarets.'
'What does it say?' Tazi asked, eager to have broken the strained silence.
When she glanced at Fannah, Tazi could see her friend had never taken offence. You truly do see the person behind the words, she thought.
Steorf squinted at the text and wiped at his forehead, distracted. Tazi scrutinized him and realized he was still far from well.
'He says that the towers are perfect jewels within the desert and goes on about the views that he has. It seems he sees Spinning Keeps and rubble and somehow this is all so romantic to him.'
'What was that last part?' Fannah asked, instantly alert.
'It said something about a Spinning Keep,' Tazi told her.
' 'And from the west I can almost see the Spinning Keep of Siri'wadjen, and from the east I can still imagine the former grandeur of Teshyll though it is all rubble now,'' Steorf recited.
'I know where he is,' Fannah said. 'It makes perfect sense.'
'Where?' Tazi asked.
'Ciredor has claimed the minarets in the very heart of both the Teshyll Wastes and the Calim itself, not all that far from where we are,' she told them.
'Then this is it,' Tazi pronounced. 'Now to decide the best way to proceed.'
She pondered the question, considering both Steorf and Fannah.
'I have a suggestion,' Fannah offered.
'Please,' Tazi urged.
'The only path that makes any sense now is to take the Trade Way. It is mostly intact from here, and that will help us immensely.'
'And announce ourselves to Ciredor,' Steorf added.
Before Fannah could say anything more, Tazi told him, 'I think he has always known where we were. When that worm attacked us, I was struck by the feeling that time and time again it turned to you.'
She fixed Steorf with a hard look.
'What do you mean?' he asked.
'The creature had more than one opportunity to kill Fannah or me, but it didn't. There wasn't a single time that thing used lethal force against us, but the same cannot be said for you.
'Ciredor sent that thing,' she concluded. 'Obviously, he views you as the greatest threat, perhaps because of your sorcery.'
Steorf lowered his eyes.
'Yes,' he said sarcastically, 'my all-powerful abilities.'
'Maybe there's something in this-'she held up some of the parchments-'that he didn't want us to find out. Well never know for certain, but I do know he wanted you eliminated. If he didn't have our exact location, he knew enough. He wanted me to bring Fannah to him,' she said, disgusted. 'He couldn't even be bothered to take her himself.'
'So?' Steorf asked.
'So,' Tazi replied with a steely resolve, 'nothing has changed. Like I said before, let's bring this to him, and
