"So far, so good," she told them, voice low. "We appear to have arrived undetected." As she spoke, she wondered where the deep gnomes were. They'd been told to return that night, as soon as the full moon appeared on the underground sea's surface. But the Promenade's battlemistress hadn't been clear on how the svirfneblin would arrive. Over the Moondeep, by boat? Or from the tunnels?

Several moments passed. The Protectors stood patiently, waiting for Cavatina's orders, but the mages and Nightshadows were getting restless.

Where were those svirfneblin?

A sending came from the priestess Cavatina had ordered into the tunnel. I'm two hundred and fifty paces in, Halav reported. All clear so far.

A moment later, Karas climbed back to where Cavatina stood. "I've just found a svirfneblin in the water," he said in a low voice. "Dead."

"Show me."

She followed him down the rockfall, a handful of the others trailing behind her. As they approached, she spotted a ripple in the water, a few paces out on the Moondeep: a small animal, swimming. It looked like a rat. As if sensing her presence, the rat dived beneath the surface and vanished.

Karas squatted beside the water. There, he signed, pointing to a water-filled crevice between the rocks.

Cavatina kneeled beside him. It was a deep gnome, all right, little bigger than a child, but with a stocky body that bulged with muscle. Cavatina reached into the water, gently pulled the body out, and set it on the rocks at her feet. The head was missing, and by the ragged look of the neck it had been yanked or chewed off. Whether that had happened before or after the deep gnome died was impossible to tell. There weren't any other visible wounds. The svirfneblin's clothing-plain leather trousers and a sleeveless shirt-was also undamaged. His feet were bare; perhaps he'd been swimming when he died.

"Eilistraee's mercy," she whispered.

The others crowded close, staring down at the corpse. Q'arlynd squatted next to it. He lifted a limp hand and studied it a moment, then let it fall.

Daffir passed a hand over the body, not quite touching it. His other hand tightened on his staff. "A bad omen."

Cavatina didn't need magic to tell her that.

"Is this our guide?" the female wizard asked.

Karas stared grimly down at it. "Not anymore."

Another sending from Halav: I'm five hundred paces in. No sign of the svirfneblin, aside from a prospector's pick. Looks like it was dropped here. No telling when.

The svirfneblin's gray flesh had a waxy, bloated look. Despite its immersion in cold water, the body was starting to smell.

"If this is our guide, he arrived several days early." Cavatina stood and glanced at the reflection of Selune and the scattering of Tears that trailed the moon's reflection as it slid slowly across the Moondeep. "We'll continue to wait. We'll give it until moonset."

"Waiting is a waste of time." Karas said. "No guide's going to show. Not after what happened to this fellow."

"We don't know that," Cavatina said. "If we leave now, we'll have to guess which way to go once we've reached the limits of our map, which will mean an even greater waste of time." She nodded to the wizards. "That won't sit well with the masters of your colleges."

Several of the mages nodded.

The sun elf, however, shook his head. "I see no point in waiting," Khorl said. "When we reach the end of the mapped region, my magic will show us the way. Unlike the rest of you, I can still cast divinations, despite the Faerzress that surrounds us."

Cavatina shook her head firmly. "Kiaransalee's priestesses may be crazed, but they aren't fools. They'll have warded their cavern with protections similar to those of the Promenade. Your divinations may find the path-or they may not. In case they can't, we stick to the original plan. We wait."

She pointed at the corpse. "In the meantime, do any of you know what should be done? What the svirfneblin customs are when dealing with the dead? When our guide shows up, we don't want to offend him."

"I do," Q'arlynd said. "I had a… an ally, years ago, who was svirfneblin. He told me about the god the deep gnomes venerate-Callarduran Smoothhands, master of stone. When a deep gnome dies, it's appropriate for him to be 'returned to Smoothhands's embrace.'" Q'arlynd paused and stroked his chin. "With your permission, Lady Cavatina, 1 have a spell that can do just that."

Cavatina nodded. "Use it."

Another sending came from Halav. Seven hundred and fifty paces in. Still clear.

Q'arlynd motioned the others back. He reached into a pocket of his piwafwi, pulled out a pinch of something, and tossed it onto the stones beside the body. As he chanted, the rocks beneath the corpse slumped and became as soft as mud. Q'arlynd gently pushed the body into them, submerging it. That done, he washed the mud from his hands and spoke a second arcane word. The mud solidified, stone once more.

As they climbed back to the tunnel mouth, Cavatina leaned close to Q'arlynd. "Well done. Your friend would have been proud."

"My ally," Q'arlynd corrected.

"As you wish."

Those who had followed Cavatina down to the water returned to the tunnel's mouth. Once again they stood about. Waiting. Cavatina wondered if the svirfneblin would show. Perhaps the corpse Q'arlynd had just buried had been their guide.

The human diviner was leaning against his staff, watching. Suddenly he tensed. "Something's coming."

"What is it?" Cavatina asked, instantly alert.

"Something… big." Daffir turned and stared out across the underground sea.

"A boat?" one of the Protectors guessed.

"As big as a boat, but… not a boat. A… creature. Whatever it is, it means us ill."

Cavatina scanned the Moondeep, but the surface of the water was unbroken. Nothing moved on it-not even a rat. She glanced at Daffir but couldn't see his eyes behind those dark lenses.

The others drew weapons or readied spell components. The Nightshadows faded back into the tunnel.

"Where is it now, Daffir?" Cavatina demanded.

Daffir shook his head. "That, Lady, I cannot tell. Only where it… will be."

"We should move away from the water," the wizard in the gold skullcap said. "Up the tunnel."

"Agreed," Karas said. "Before whatever killed the svirfneblin realizes we're here."

"No," Cavatina countered. "We stay here. Conceal ourselves and watch the lake." She did, however, call back the Protector and the Nightshadow who were down at the lake's edge. No sense taking chances.

Another sending came: One thousand paces in. With a chuckle in her voice, Halav added. Still nothing-except for a pair of boots, this time.

Cavatina frowned. Boots? She glanced down at where the svirfneblin's body lay. How large are they?

Small. Child-sized.

The Nightshadow whom Karas had sent down the tunnel reappeared and signaled that the way was clear.

"That's it," Karas said. "We're going." His forefinger flicked a signal to the other Nightshadows. Move out.

"Hold it right there," Cavatina barked.

The Nightshadows hesitated. They glanced between Karas and Cavatina.

She rounded on Karas. "We're having this out, here and now," she said in a low voice. "Qilue put me in charge of this expedition, not you. Eilistraee deemed it should be so. Do you dare risk displeasing her by disobeying me?"

Without waiting for his answer, she turned to the others. "My priestess just found a pair of boots in the tunnel." She pointed down at the dead svirfneblin. "Gnome-sized boots. If they're his, maybe he was forced to run before he could put them on. Whatever killed him might still be lurking in the tunnel."

"You heard Daffir's prophecy," Karas countered. "Whatever's going to attack us is out there. Submerged in the Moondeep."

"'Attack us?'" Cavatina echoed. She shook her head at Karas. She was fed up with this. "Tell you what. I'll call my priestess back. You, personally, can take her place. That way, if something does rise out of the Moondeep, you'll be in a nice, safe place where nothing's going to-"