"Don't," she ordered. So they walked by, and Tazi knew the dwarf would have given much to study the pieces longer.
The passageway emptied into another, large chamber. Tazi found herself in a huge banquet hall that far surpassed any she had visited in Selgaunt, and she had been to more than a few in her time. The entire room, with its soaring ceilings, was lit by torchlight and candles. There was even a very large, elaborate chandelier suspended twenty feet above the table. Tazi didn't envy the slave who had to maintain those candles up so high. Tazi wondered why they didn't use spells and thought perhaps, in a country where sorcery was so very commonplace, that would have simply been too gauche.
In the center of the room was a long banquet table, with a glossy, lacquered finish. It was set with the finest place settings and silver cutlery Tazi had ever seen. Several vases of flowers and greenery dotted the table as if to make up for the fact that there was no view in the entire chamber. But, Tazi thought, their perfume seemed oddly out of place. They were almost sickly sweet, and she wondered if the smell was meant to disguise something else. Thick-cut crystal goblets winked in the firelight, creating a warm, friendly scene. Tazi recognized that the table was staged thusly for effect only.
As she and Justikar flanked Naglatha, it was only when the wizard turned to them with a frown did Tazi realize she was put out. When Tazi surveyed the room and saw no one else had entered, she speculated she knew why the woman was mad. She had made a point of being late so as to be "fashionable," as she put it, and now to Naglatha's obvious disappointment, most everyone else had decided to be fashionable as well.
"Where are they?" Naglatha whispered, displeasure evident in her tone.
Tazi wasn't sure what to tell her, but then she heard the sound of voices coming from a different passageway nearby.
"I think they're here now," she said quietly.
"Well," Naglatha told her, "if I can't be last then I may as well be the first. Follow me." And she led the way into the chamber.
Tazi and Justikar trailed behind as Naglatha strode into the chamber and selected a seat in the middle of the table, opposite what was obviously a seat of honor and could only have been meant for the Zulkir of Necromancy. Tazi was uncertain if, as a bodyguard, she was supposed to pull out Naglatha's chair, but the wizard saved Tazi from the potential gaffe by seating herself.
"You may sit to my right," she informed the duergar and she added to Tazi, "and you may sit on my left."
"Shouldn't we remain standing?" Tazi asked.
"It isn't unheard of to have one's bodyguards close at hand at these events," she explained quietly.
The other zulkirs and tharchions slowly filed in and made their seating selections seemingly at random. But Tazi knew there was far more going on below the surface. The process, she thought to herself, was a strange dance of positioning, and she wondered if they really thought they were fooling anyone with the act. She also noticed that many had one or two servants with them and, as Naglatha had said, they had one or both join them at the table.
"The woman to your left is Zulkir Zaphyll," Naglatha whispered to Tazi and nodded toward a bald woman with steel blue eyes.
"She looks like she's even younger than you," Tazi commented, not realizing the unintended insult to Naglatha's vanity.
"Well," Naglatha replied in a huff, "do you see that gaudy amulet she's fiddling with? Tear that from her scrawny neck, and she'd look her true age: a doddering seventy or so."
"She hides it well," Tazi replied.
"The tall zulkir sitting beside her is Lallara Me-diocros. They are the best of friends these days and allied with Szass Tarn. If I can turn either one of them," Naglatha explained, "the other will surely turn as well.
"The men over toward the far right end of the table are also loosely allied. The older man with the gray hair is Zulkir Nevron. He and I have had some interesting conversations," Naglatha told Tazi, and Tazi briefly wondered if the two had been close. "He has an extensive collection of demon spells. And the blond man next to him is-"
"He is Zulkir Lauzoril," Tazi finished for her, recalling the female servants' earlier comments about the handsome man.
The black-eyed wizard gave Tazi a beaming smile. "You have been listening," she said with obvious admiration. Tazi simply tipped her head in the acknowledgement of her skills.
Naglatha pointed out a few others to Tazi, and the thief made a few mental notes for herself. Then a black-haired, brown-eyed woman that Naglatha addressed as Thessaloni drew the wizard into a conversation about some of the ships in her navy, so Tazi continued to simply watch and listen to those around her.
"I've increased the number of darkenbeasts in my stables to nearly cme thousand," bragged a bald man who Tazi did not know. Like most in attendance, he had various tattoos across his smooth pate. But Tazi was familiar with the monstrous creatures he was referring to.
Part bat, part prehistoric bird, Tazi had fought such a creature not long before her father died. Tazi shuddered inwardly at the thought that the man possessed so many of the creatures, and she fervently wished he was exaggerating for appearances sake.
"For myself," the vigorous woman to his left replied, "I prefer the Blooded Ones. Much easier to control."
"But, Azhir," he responded, "how can you afford them? They're terribly overpriced. Or have you and Szass Tarn come to a new arrangement?"
Before the woman could respond, the room began to shake slightly. Everyone grew silent. The plates and goblets rattled, and the chandelier above swayed from side to side. The tremor did not last long, but Tazi could see concern on more than one zulkir's face. Tazi had felt a few minor quakes since they had entered the Thaymount region, but she had written them off as natural occurrences. Judging by the expressions of the Red Wizards all around her, she reconsidered her earlier appraisal.
It took a few moments for the conversations to resume after the tremor tapered off, and when they did, they were more muted. The banter that had been more verbal fencing than anything else stopped.
Tazi looked at the two spaces that were directly opposite Naglatha. They remained empty, and Tazi assumed the one in the middle was meant for Szass Tarn. She didn't know who they other one was for, but supposed it must be someone closely linked to the necromancer. Tazi noticed more than one wizard glance at the vacant seats and whisper to their dinner companion.
A sudden hush fell over the room like a pall, and all eyes turned toward the main passageway of the banquet hall. A tall, handsome man with black hair and a matching beard walked determinedly into the chamber, rightfully commanding everyone's attention. He alone did not wear the red insignia cloak of a Red Wizard. All of the others had dressed in varying degrees of opulence and ornamentation, but they had all worn the cloak that denoted their station. Not this man. He set himself apart.
As he pulled out the center chair and seated himself with unconscious regality, he looked steadily at Tazi for a long moment. She met his black gaze without blinking and felt a charismatic pull. His cheeks had a hint of color that was lacking on so many of the sallow faces she had seen in Thay. It gave him the appearance of ruddy, good health. She had to remind herself that this was a lich, and what she was seeing was surely the work of some illusory spell. Even still, she felt drawn to him, mostly because he cast an aura of self-possession and certainty that Tazi had envied in other people all her life. Her passion was to feel that comfortable in her own skin, and it was a quality she constantly fought for.
"Naglatha," his deep voice broke the silence, "I must compliment you."