wooden table, as though they were separate entities.
'Why can't it be like before?' she whispered plaintively, suddenly shivering again.
She reached for her mug, hoping to drive the chill away, but a strong hand grabbed hers. Without looking to see who it was, Tazi used her free hand to reach for the dagger she kept secreted in her boot. Gripping its worn handle, she drew the small but deadly weapon out in a flash. Her unwanted guest didn't flinch at the blade brandished before him.
'I've faced worse,' he said simply.
Tazi froze at the sound of his voice. She glanced past him and saw that no one seemed to notice him standing before her. Tazi stared up at the hooded man in shock and amazement. She didn't need him to pull back his black hood for her to recognize him, but as though he read her last thoughts, the stranger used his free hand to pull the hood away from his face. Tazi found herself staring into the gray eyes of a man she hadn't seen in two years: Steorf.
His blond hair was a little longer, she noticed, and slightly unkempt. It gave him a wilder look, Tazi thought. Even though his black cloak still obscured most of his body, Tazi could see he was just as muscular as she remembered. She found herself momentarily curious as to how much more powerful his magic had become since they were last together. It didn't take long, however, for her surprise to be quickly replaced with anger. Though she might wonder about him and his abilities, she had neither forgotten nor forgiven his betrayal.
Not lowering her dagger, Tazi replied, 'While you think you might have faced worse, do you really want to find out?'
Steorf didn't even blink at her bravado. He yanked Tazi to her feet. While she stared at him in a stunned fashion, he reached over with his free hand and passed it across her sack and cloak.
'You'll need those,' he said.
Too startled by his actions to speak, Tazi removed her gear from the stool. She noticed that both items were bone dry, and a quick pass of her hand over her vest revealed that all her clothes were dry as well.
'Just what do you want?' she asked the mage.
She wondered what could have possessed him to act in this manner. He took her arm and led her from the taproom into the stormy night.
'There is something you have to see,' he answered enigmatically.
CHAPTER 2
'How?' was the only word Tazi managed to choke out as she stood in the doorway of Ebeian's room.
For the entire march from the Oxblood Quarter to the Lady's Thigh Inn, Steorf had not spoken one word to her. The only thing he had done to acknowledge her presence was to extend the ward that kept him dry to cover her as well. Tazi found herself wondering if he was simply playing at being the silent type for some sort of effect, marching a step ahead of her the whole way. Standing in Ebeian's door, she understood that there would have been no words for him to describe to her what lay in this room. She would not have believed him.
Tazi recalled that she had always teased Ebeian about his almost insane penchant for neatness. He had explained to her once after an evening escapade of theirs that there was a method to his madness.
'It's like this,' he had told her. 'If I keep the room impeccable, it's much harder for someone to nose around through my things without my noticing.' He shot her a pointed look at that before snuggling closer to her and adding, 'By maintaining everything scrupulously precise and to a minimum, there's less of a chance of leaving telltale clues as to my business.'
In fact, it was when Tazi was snooping through his things that he'd caught her in the act. He had, in turn, discovered a few of her secrets that day. Since then, they became slightly more than friends.
Her father, of all people, had once tried to pair her up with the elf 'silver trader' when Ebeian first appeared in Selgaunt. Tazi decided to do a little investigating of her prospective beau. Before Ebeian stopped her, she'd discovered that the elf was a fraud, simply accepting payments from clients in Waterdeep to fund his travels. He was no more than a glorified servant, running errands for the wealthy with no real fortune of his own. But she discovered he was ambitious and was always looking for a deal. Ebeian was made for Selgaunt, or, rather, he had been made for Selgaunt. All that remained of her sometimes lover was scattered about his rented room.
As Tazi stepped across the threshold into the dimly lit chamber, she was almost overcome by the smell of rotting flesh. It took all of her control not to gag on her own rising gorge. Against the far wall was Ebeian's bed and Tazi saw what looked like his head and part of his torso. The rest of him was scattered in between. There were flies buzzing everywhere.
As though moving through a dream, she carefully picked her way around and over what turned out to be chunks of her friend, littering the floor. Tazi had to duck under one of the cross beams because it was festooned with ribbons. She paused to stare at the innocuous sight, so out of place in the chamber of death, and Steorf, who had never left her side since she entered the room, murmured something. His right hand immediately started to glow and he held it up closer to the ribbons. Tazi blanched at what his light revealed.
The ribbons hanging the length of the timber were entrails. She squeezed her eyes shut and swayed slightly, stepping on something decidedly spongy. Steorf grabbed her upper arm, fearing she might stumble. As soon as he did this, Tazi whirled to face him. His touch had galvanized her into action.
'Who did this to him?' she demanded fiercely, her sea-green eyes blazing. Steorf involuntarily took a step back at her vehemence.
'I haven't been able to discover that yet,' he replied, 'but I wanted you to know what had transpired without delay. Considering the nature of your friendship-' he paused, almost tripping on that last word-'what happened to Ebeian could come back to you.'
He looked down at her with his solemn gray eyes.
It took a moment for his words to sink in. When they did, Tazi was indignant.
'Are you saying you or someone else could think I did this to him?'
'Once again, Thazienne Uskevren, you misunderstand me,' he answered gravely. 'When I discovered Ebeian like this, I was concerned there was the possibility that you might be in jeopardy as well.'
Tazi peered up at Steorf closely for a moment, weighing his words a little more carefully. What she said next was somewhat difficult for her to tender.
'Thank you for that. We need to find out who did this to him, though, and why.'
Tazi could see various emotions briefly flicker across the young mage's face. He looked both pleased and sheepish at her words.
The mage said, 'I believe the best way for us to do that is to bring in a cleric of Mystra. He would be able to speak with the dead.
'It is one of the necromancy spells,' he added quietly, 'that I have not yet mastered.'
Ignoring his look of discomfort, Tazi ordered, 'Then do it now, before any more time passes. Judging by the smell and the flies'-she motioned to the clouds of insects-'we've already lost enough of that. I'll pay whatever they ask.'
Steorf looked hard at her.
'Coin,' he said evenly, 'has never been an issue for me. Will you be all right here with him?'
Tazi turned to face Ebeian's bed and nodded briefly. With that, Steorf turned like some great bird of prey and was gone, leaving Tazi alone.
She stood staring at the bed a few paces away, collecting herself. With Steorf gone, the room took on a menacing air. Every creak the floorboards made as Tazi neared the bed she had often shared with the elf was like a scream. Her nerves were stretched to their limits. Death was something she didn't see much of, but when Tazi did, it was always horrific, and this time it had claimed someone close to her.
Tazi reached the bed and could feel the sting of tears behind her eyes. She rubbed at them and forced herself to look closely at what was left of her friend. Carefully, she sat down near his remains and rummaged through her sack. She was surprised to find she had stuffed Alall's rag in there without realizing it.
