The masked witches

Aoth snorted and said, In other words, to stake your claim to at least a couple griffons if you possibly can.

Dai Shan turned up his well-tended hands. Sympathetic as I am to the difficulties of our Rashemi hosts, I confess that my motives aren t entirely altruistic, he said. Perhaps, if pressed, even the most valorous of mercenaries might admit the same.

Fair enough, said Aoth. But you re too late to dip your mug in this particular barrel. We don t need you. It s all over but the cleanup.

Then I congratulate you, said Dai Shan. Still, hearing that matters have advanced as far as you say, I find myself puzzled over the particular group of undead I sighted proceeding down a certain passage. From their demeanor no less than their gear, I assumed them to be powerful creatures of high rank. Enemies one would wish to destroy before proclaiming the current menace ended for good and all.

Did you see a big thing that looked stitched together from pieces of different bodies? Cera asked. Or a witch in a tarnished silver mask? She would have been carrying a staff with antlers on the end.

Dai Shan gave a little nod. In fact, wise daughter of the sun, he said, that s exactly whom I saw. Those two and three others.

Aoth s mouth tightened. He didn t much fancy partnering up with such a glib little eel, but he d fought alongside worse in his time. If you lead us to the creatures, maybe we can spare you a griffon or two, he said. Failing that, we ll pay you somehow.

So be it, replied the Shou. And now that we ve negotiated that, may I recommend haste? We wouldn t want the foe to stray too far from the location where I observed them.

One moment, Jhesrhi said. Extinguishing her mantle of flame, she stepped to the wall and placed her fingertips against it. Aoth knew she was talking to the stone all around them, finding out where the other squads were and how they were faring.

Jhesrhi turned back around. Everything seems to be under control, she said.

Good, Aoth replied, looking at Dai Shan. Now we can go.

The Shou led them along a twisting route through vaults and passages that echoed with the cries and clatter of conflict. Watching for signs of trouble, Aoth had to admire the ease with which Dai Shan negotiated the labyrinth, assuming the trader wasn t lost.

With their bells silenced, and their cloven hooves clicking on the floor, eight stag warriors paced in a line behind their human comrades. Aoth wondered how much they understood what was happening and decided he d likely never know. In their mute inscrutability, they seemed emblematic of the entire fey- and spirit-ridden country.

Another turn brought an archway into view and drove such reflections from his mind as he grunted in surprise.

Dai Shan looked back at him. Is something wrong, intrepid captain? he asked.

Not wrong, said Aoth, but interesting. Cera and I saw three notches just like that cut at the top of an arch in the tomb back in the sacred grove.

The same crypts, Dai Shan said, from which, you said, the durthans and werewolves seemingly emerged even though you d established they were empty.

Yes, replied Aoth.

Well, it gratifies me to be in a position to solve that particular puzzle for you, said the Shou. Watch the arch while I recite the words I heard the scarred creature say.

In the name of the Vaunted, the Staff-Bearer, the Lord of the Forsaken Crypt, open.

The space beyond the opening changed. What had been one passage until it doglegged out of sight divided into two. What had been featureless walls suddenly sported intricate carvings like fungus grown in an instant: a bewildering hodgepodge of skulls, skeletons, weeping mourners, flowers, wreaths, sunsets, and souls standing before their gods for judgment. Moreover, a nasty-looking darkness resisted the illumination of Cera s conjured sunlight. It reminded Aoth of Gaedy

The stag men shied at the transformation, and Jhesrhi turned to calm them. Cera gri

Once in a while, he replied, trying to sound vexed so she d enjoy her teasing more. There truly isn t anything that any pair of eyes could see. This was one of those occasions.

If you say so, my love, she said. If you say so.

If my fearless companions are ready, Dai Shan said, I don t imagine the gate will stay open forever.

Probably not, Aoth said. Spear at the ready, he prowled forward, while Dai Shan stepped aside and relinquished the lead. Aoth supposed that was fair enough. The merchant had done his job, and it was time for the soldiers to do theirs.

As soon as he stepped over the threshold, he felt an absence. He d lost contact with Jet just as he had upon entering the Feywild. It was proof that he and his comrades truly were intruding on another level of reality.

Nor was that the only indication. It was colder than it had been outside the arch. Cera murmured a prayer that infused the light that followed her like a faithful hound with warmth. But the surrounding gloom immediately started leeching both the heat and the radiance away. She was going to have to keep investing power in the enchantment if she wanted it to last.

It was one more good reason to find and destroy the enemy leaders quickly. Aoth started forward, then heard a jangle of bells. He turned to see what had agitated the stag warriors.

As Dai Shan had predicted, the arch behind them had changed again. Instead of co

Jhesrhi calmed the stag men once again. They all stalked onward through echoing spaces that proved to be at least as labyrinthine as the ones that truly lay under the fortress. Sarcophagi rested on daises or stood on end in niches. Urns reposed on shelves. The jumbles of mournful carvings on the walls sometimes yielded to more ordered spaces resembling the facades of tombs. Occasionally, the way widened out to accommodate rows of headstones, a freestanding mausoleum, or even an entire graveyard under a vaulted ceiling. The place was like a fever dream of interment.

And its vastness was a problem. Eventually Cera stated what everyone had surely started to realize. There are too many alleys ru

Can you track them? Aoth asked, of her and Jhesrhi, too.

Maybe, Cera said. I can ask the Keeper where they went.

And I can talk to the stone and the air, Jhesrhi said.

Aoth left them to it. Meanwhile, he prowled about, peering and listening, trying to catch any sign of their quarry or of any lurking threat native to the halls. Presumably doing the same, the stag men likewise paced the twilight perimeter where Cera s radiance began to fail.

Dai Shan, however, ventured farther. Aoth remembered the means by which the Shou had made a fool of Folcoerr Dulsaer and decided he was the sort of mage who felt at home in the dark. Yet it wouldn t necessarily help him if a wraith or demon pounced out at him from cover.

But nothing did. Dai Shan turned and came trotting back. For once, his imperturbable face betrayed a hint of excitement. Brave captain, he said, come and see.

Aoth glanced back at Cera and Jhesrhi, each still intent on her labors, making sure they were all right. He followed Dai Shan into the gloom.

The Shou led him around a corner to an arch flanked by black marble statues of sphinxes sitting on their haunches. Incised on the pointed capstone were three grooves.