“What is that?” she asked as they passed one grill stall.
“Snake,” said Geth. He pointed at the bread. “That’s made out of a flour pounded from a kind of marsh reed called ashi.”
“When it’s cooked, it’s the same color as Ashi’s hair.”
Geth grunted at the observation. “Let’s buy some and ask her about it, shall we?”
They followed a different route to the docks than the one that they had taken the night before and approached Lightning on Water from a distance. Singe had suggested they would find Vennet’s crew busy unloading the ship-the half-elf might be a treacherous serpent, but he was also a Lyrandar captain and clearly took his business seriously. To Dandra’s surprise though, they could see as they approached that activity on the ship was subdued. Most of the crew seemed to be hanging over the side, watching as crowds surged around on the dock below. Geth held both her and Singe back while he scanned the dock and the ship thoroughly for any sign of Vennet or Ashi. Finally, he shook his head.
“I don’t see either of them,” he reported.
“What do you think’s happening on the dock?” asked Dandra.
“Let’s find out.”
Dandra tilted her hat slightly toward the ship as they passed, trying to conceal her distinctively dark skin from the sailors above. Although it didn’t seem likely that any of the crew shared their captain’s vile faith, even a casual greeting could give them away. Once they were among the crowd, it was a little easier to hide and she relaxed a bit-at least until she realized that the attention of the shifting, gawking crowd was focused on the narrow alley down which she, Geth, and Singe had made their escape. The three of them pushed their way carefully to the front of the crowd.
A long, thick stain of dried blood painted the wall to one side of the alley mouth. At the top of the stain was a deep ragged hole, as if a spike had driven into the wood. The hole was also bloodstained.
Beside the stain, two words had been scratched into the wood: blue doors.
“Rat!” breathed Geth. He nudged the man who stood next to him. “Do you know what happened here?”
“Dagga. Word is that the ship over there”-the man gestured to Lightning on Water-“was transporting a mad woman. I hear she got loose, kidnapped someone from his cabin, and even tried to set fire to the ship. When that didn’t work, she came down here, hacked off her prisoner’s hand, pinned it up to the wall, and ran off with the rest of him!”
“It was more than his hand!” chimed in a half-orc woman on his other side. “It was a whole arm. My boy saw it hanging there before the watch and took it away!” She held up one hand and made a circle over it with the finger and thumb of her other hand. “Big ruby ring on it too! The woman would have to be mad to leave that behind.”
Natrac’s ring, Dandra realized. Her hand sought out Singe’s and squeezed it tight. If they’d come back last night, they could have stopped this.
The wizard must have realized the same thing. He looked slightly pale. “The watch,” he said, “will they investigate? Will they look for the man whose hand or arm it was?”
The half-orc woman laughed. “Not unless someone wants to come forward and pay the fee!”
“Or unless this mad woman starts cutting off more parts,” said the man darkly with a glance at the woman. “Only the cult does that and not even the watch will stand for their type in the city!”
“Any idea what ‘blue doors’ means?” asked Geth.
The man and woman shook their heads, but Dandra seized Geth’s hand as well as Singe’s and pulled both men out of the crowd and down the dock. When they were out of sight of Lightning on Water, she stopped and looked at them. “I know what ‘blue doors’ means.” She took a deep breath. “When Tetkashtai, Virikhad, and Medalashana came to Zarash’ak, they met Dah’mir in a house with blue doors.”
“Are you sure?” asked Singe.
She nodded. “It’s all a message for us,” she said. “Do you remember what Natrac said after the fight with Ashi? The cult of the Dragon Below kidnapped his cousin and left parts of him in the canals. Vennet and Ashi left Natrac’s hand and ring as a message to say that they had him. They left the words to show where they’ve taken him, knowing I’d understand but not anyone else.”
Singe’s eyes narrowed. “But how could Vennet know about this house?”
“The crystal band,” Dandra told him grimly. “Vennet has used it to contact Dah’mir and Medalashana. One of them must have told him what to do.”
“Twelve bloody moons,” cursed Singe. He looked at Dandra. “Suppose Dah’mir wants to come to Zarash’ak. How long do you think it will take?”
“More than a week,” Dandra answered. “Even if he left the Bonetree mound as soon as Ashi told Medalashana we were coming to Zarash’ak, he’d still be days away from here.”
“And you can find this house with blue doors again?”
She nodded.
A growl rumbled up out of Geth. “It’s going to be a trap-and after all that last night about not going back because we’d deliver you right to them …”
“I know,” Dandra answered.
Tetkashtai’s presence shook inside her. Dandra, this is too much! We don’t even know that Natrac’s still alive. Light of il-Yannah, he’s had a hand cut off!
Then we have to go to make sure he’s dead, Dandra said. I won’t leave him to the cult of the Dragon Below.
Dah’mir and Medalashana will know we’re in Zarash’ak for certain now.
The suggestion sent a tremor through Dandra’s belly, but she forced it away. All the more reason to confront Vennet and Ashi and get the crystal band back. She glanced up at Singe and Geth. “When should we go?”
“I don’t think we have anything to gain by waiting.” Geth tapped a fist against his right arm. Hidden under a loose sleeve, the metal of his great gauntlet rang solidly. “Let’s go now.”
Dandra looked to Singe. The wizard nodded. Dandra steeled herself. “All right then,” she said. “This way.”
The ship that Tetkashtai and the other kalashtar had taken from Sharn had made port at another part of Zarash’ak’s dock.
Dandra led Geth and Singe along the waterfront until she found the point where the ship had berthed. Dredging her memory, she began pacing through the city, following landmarks and tracing the route that the kalashtar had taken those months ago. At one intersection, though, she had to stop. To the right, the plank street broadened into a wide and busy thoroughfare lined with fine, large homes.
To the left, it became narrow and crooked, leading away into an older, more rundown part of the city.
It would have made more sense for the house with blue doors to be to the right-it was big and very pleasant and would have fit that neighborhood. Memory, however, suggested that the kalashtar had turned left at this spot.
Tetkashtai, she asked, which way?
The frightened presence confirmed her memory. Left. Dandra moved on, turning where memory prompted her. The district, however, was nothing like she remembered. Empty windows gaped like black eyes form the faces of dilapidated houses. Occasionally, feet scampered on the wood ahead as figures scrambled back into the shadows.