City of the Dead

TWENTY-FOUR

ith a nod from Sophraea, Volponia rang her crystal bell. "Algozata's spellbook," the old lady requested.

A dusty and distinctly rank-smelling spellbook appeared immediately in the middle of her pale pink down comforter.

"That's all I can do for you today," Volponia told her visitors. "Sophraea, I can't fetch anything more until after dawn tomorrow."

Sophraea kissed the former pirate queen's cheek in thanks. She stored the spellbook in her wicker basket, paying no real heed to Volponia's grumbles about the marks left behind on the comforter.

"I can't change the bed until tomorrow either," Volponia said.

"I'll bring you another cover from my room," Sophraea promised her.

"You had better," said the old lady and then added, "so don't do anything foolish and come safely home again."

Sophraea gave a brisk nod to the two astonished gentlemen staring at this domestic exchange and said, "Shall we go?"

"What are you going to do?" asked Gustin.

"I'm going back to the City of the Dead. You heard Lord Adarbrent. All we need to do is close the tomb door on this shoe. By the way, my lord, is it the Markarl tomb?"

"Yes," said the startled nobleman. "How did you know?"

"We found the shoe directly beneath that monument and Gustin thought that there had been odd magic in its vicinity," Sophraea explained.

"That's right. I did," said the wizard, a momentary flash of pleasure relaxing his worried expression. Then, more sternly, he told Sophraea, "But you can't go back into the City of the Dead. For one thing, the courtyard is a battlefield. For another, reversing the curse is going to kill someone!"

"If I don't, this battle will kill a good many more people," Sophraea began.

Lord Adarbrent cut off her next sentence.

"I will close the tomb door," the old nobleman said. "After all, as Captain Volponia so rightly stated, I began this spell. The only honorable action is to close the tomb door as my final act."

Sophraea nodded. "The door has to be closed but does it have to be someone living who does it?"

Lord Adarbrent frowned heavily. "I don't recall Algozata's ritual mentioning anything about that. In fact, the first two times that she invoked this particular curse, she used an animated corpse to end it. Both times the curse ended as she wished. I don't know what became of the corpses."

"I thought you said that the curse killed your cousin," Gustin observed.

The old man's expression grew even more sour. "The third time that Algozata used this particular ritual, the family discovered what she had done. And she was given no choice but to close the tomb door herself. I was a child then, but, as I recall, it was not a painless death," he declared.

This dry recital of Adarbrent family justice made Sophraea shiver. The stone face of Gustin's statue had more kindness in it than the old lord's features.

"What do you want to do? Recruit one ofthe corpses from the City of the Dead? I'm willing," Gustin asked her, "but I've never had much luck with necromancy."

"Would a statue work?" — Sophraea asked. "Suppose you bring the stone man to life, the one my father carved for you. Animating stone is your best magic, or so you keep saying."

"My statue!" Gustin exclaimed. "He could really be a hero of Waterdeep!"

"Absolutely," said Sophraea, ready to lead everyone downstairs.

"My stone men can walk. I never asked one to close a door," he admitted.

"If he can't do it, we'll think of something else," Sophraea said. She tried to sound more confident than she felt.

As she passed near the bed, Volponia caught her hand.

"Don't forget that ring you're still wearing. Even a half wish is better than nothing. You might need it before the night is done," said Volponia. "There is so much that can go wrong."

Sophraea gave a curt nod. She rather wished that Gustin hadn't told her so very often that magical items could be undependable and dangerous.