The lich stared at her unblemished, rosy face. Indeed,he thought, she is worthy of passing the centuries at my side. He reached abony hand to her face and caressed her smooth cheek.
"What brings you here so late?" His deepvoice echoed hauntingly in the room.
"I was at the market today, the slave pens,"she began. "I was looking over the stock when I discovered a man askingabout you and the goings-on in the keep."
The lich nodded for her to continue.
"He was an unusual little man who wore only onetattoo: an odd-looking triangle filled with gray swirls."
"A worshiper of Leira," the lich mused.
"A priest of the goddess of deception andillusions, in fact," Frodyne added. "In any event, I followed him.When he was alone I cast a simple spell that put him under my control. I had toknow why he was asking so many questions."
The lich's pinpoint eyes softened, and with hisskeletal finger, he traced one of the tattoos on Frodyne's head.
"And what did you learn?"
"Much, Master. Eventually. The priest had astrong will. But before he died he revealed he was worried about one of yourarmies, the one patrolling Delhumide. There is a ruin in that dead city that afew worshipers of Leira are particularly interested in. The priest believedthat deep inside a crumbling temple rests a powerful relic. When your armypassed nearby, he feared you had learned of the thing and had sent your army toretrieve it. But when your skeletons did not enter the temple, he was uncertainhow much you knew. He came to the city asking about your plans andforces."
The lich gazed into Frodyne's eyes and said, "Myskeletons were patrolling. Nothing more. But, tell me, Frodyne … why didn'tthe priest simply enter the temple and take the relic for himself?"
"I wondered that, too, Master." The youngapprentice beamed. "I pressed him on the matter. He admitted that while hecoveted the relic, he coveted his life more. It seems the Goddess of Liars hasguardians and great magic protecting her prize."
The lich stood and drew Frodyne up with him.
"And just what is this relic of Leira?" heasked.
"A crown. The priest said a great energy isharnessed in the crown's gems," Frodyne answered. She smiled thinly andstroked Szass Tam's decaying chin. "And we shall share that crown andenergy, just as I shared the priest's tale with you."
The lich stepped back and shook his head slowly.
"I shall send my skeletal army into the heart ofthe temple and claim the relic as my own."
"Yours, Master?"
"Aye, Frodyne."
"But you would not know of its existence withoutme." She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "This istreachery, Szass Tam. I could have claimed the bauble for myself, with you nonethe wiser. But I chose to share the news with you."
"And in so doing, you chose to abandon your claimto it," the lich replied icily. "The relic will be mine alone. Youhave done well, my apprentice. I shall have another bauble to add to myhoard."
The comely apprentice strode indignantly to the door,then glanced over her shoulder at the lich.
"But what of Leira, Szass Tam? What if you angerthe Patroness of Illusionists and Liars by breaching her temple and stealingsomething of hers?"
Szass Tam laughed and said, "I have little regardfor the goddess of treachery, dear Frodyne. Get some rest. I shall tell you inthe morning what my skeletons find in Delhumide."
The lich listened to her footfalls retreat down thehall. Soon she would not need sleep. Or food. Soon she would need none of thethings that made men weak, allowing her to one day sit at his side as he ruledall of Thay.
The lich sat straight in his chair and pushed Frodynefrom his thoughts. He concentrated on his army of skeletons in Delhumide,stretching his mind across the miles until he made contact with his undeadgeneral and directed him to march to Leira's temple. The miles melted awaybeneath the soldiers' bony feet as they neared the ruined temple of Leira. In an untiring cadence, they approached the temple steps. Then Szass Tam lost contactwith them.
The lich cursed and cast himself upon the Thayan windsto fly to Delhumide. As he soared, his form changed. His skin took on a ruddytint. His cheeks became puffy, and his body thickened to fill out the red silkrobes that only moments before had hung on his frame in voluminous folds. Hiseyes became black, almost human, and his white hair grew thicker and longer,then darkened to match the color of the night sky. The lich added a thinmustache for effect. Few in Thay knew Szass Tam was one of the dead. Outsidethe confines of his keep he assumed the image of a living man.
The ground passed below him in a blur, the darknessobscuring most of the terrain, but the lich didn't falter in his course. Heknew the way to the dead city. He'd been born there.
It was near dawn when he reached the ruined temple. Hedescended to the rough ground and glared at the crumbling stonework. His eyessmoldered in the gloom and surveyed the carnage. He knew then why he'd lostcontact with his army. Strewn about the shattered pillars were more thana hundred skeletal warriors. Their broken bones and crushed skulls gleamedfaintly. Near them lay more dead-figures with tattered gray flesh and rottingclothes, things that stank of the grave. The lich knelt near a one-armed zombieand slowly turned the body over. It had little flesh left on its frame. Most ofit had been burned away by fire. Szass Tam ran his fingers through the grassaround the corpse. Not a blade was singed. Magical fire had killed the army,the lich realized, fire meant for undead.
The hunt for Leira's relic had become very costly. Itwould take many, many months and considerable effort to raise enough dead toreplace those fallen soldiers. Szass Tam stood, silently vowed retribution forthe slaughter of his minions, and carefully picked his way toward the crumblingtemple stairway. At the base of the steps, the lich spied a twitching form, anundead creature with pasty white flesh, hollow eyes, and protruding brokenribs. The ghoul, lone survivor of the lich's force, tried futilely to rise atthe approach of its master.
"Speak to me," the lich commanded in asonorous voice. "Tell me what happened here."
"Followed your orders," the ghoul rasped."Tried to breach the temple. Tried to get what you wanted. But theystopped us."
"How many?"
"Three," the ghoul replied. "They worethe robes of Red Wizards."
Szass Tam growled deep in his throat and looked up thestairs. If only three had been able to conquer his force, they must bepowerful. He took a last look at his beaten army and padded by the gaspingghoul to carefully select a path up the crumbling steps. Leira's temple lay inruins like the rest of Delhumide. A once-great city, it was now populated bymonsters and was laden with incredible traps-the remaining wards of the noblesand wizards who had once lived there. Creatures roamed freely across thecountryside-goblins, darkenbeasts, trolls, and dragons-and they presentedenough of a threat to keep the living away.
Szass Tam searched for the magical energies that protectedthe fallen temple, and he made his way around them to reach the comfort of theshadows inside. The damp coolness of the ruins reminded the lich of a tomb.This was his element. Focusing his eyes, he separated stonework from thedarkness. He saw before him a crumbling old hallway that extended deep intothe temple and sensed other presences within. He glided toward them.
Eventually the hallway ended, and the lich studied thewalls, searching. Nothing. No moving stonework. He scrutinized the bricks byrunning his fingers over the cool surface to his left and right until he feltno resistance. The bricks before him were not real. Then he heard footfalls,soft and distant. The sound was regular, as of someone walking, and it wascoming from far beneath him. He took a step forward and passed through theillusionary wall.