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."That the world was so.big," Haarn whispered."Big?" Druz asked."How big did you think Faerûn was? Or Toril for that matter?"Haarn shook his head as if dazed."I don't know.We aren't taught about the world outside our corner of it.I'd heard stories from merchants and sellswords, but I thought some of them were merely fantasies." He looked at Druz."How big.how big is Turmish compared to the rest of the world?""Compared only to Faerûn," Druz said softly, "Turmish is small.There are a number of nations around the Sea of Fallen Stars that are much larger and more densely populated.When you get out to the west, to the Sword Coast, the cities are even bigger.The world goes there to study and trade."Haarn tried to take it all in, but it was nearly too much.He gazed at the ships, knowing that what the woman said—as unbelievable as it sounded—had to be the truth.Townspeople passed by them, giving Broadfoot plenty of room.The bear growled occasionally, letting Haarn know he was uncomfortable with the city as well.The bear wanted to get back to the forest and the life he knew best.Haarn felt that way too, but there was something inside him, perhaps something left to him by his mother's blood, that called him out toward the sea.The druid stared out into the deepening night creeping in from the east.The ocean seemed to lift and flow outward from Alaghôn, bending over the horizon.He was intensely curious about what lay out there."The idea of seeing more of the world excites you, doesn't it?" Druz asked, interrupting his thoughts.Haarn didn't say anything."That's why your father never brought you to the city, and why he spoke so harshly against them.He knew you, with your curious mind, would be tempted to go."Shaking bis head, Haarn said, "I can't."It would be a dishonor to his father and there was allhis work to consider—work Silvanus had given him to do."Perhaps one day youll change your mind," Druz suggested."Come on.Ettrian is waiting for us again, and I don't want him to get the idea that standing here gawking was my idea."She started off at once, but Haarn hesitated, trying to work through everything he was seeing and everything that had been said.He wanted to tell her he wouldn't be tempted, but he couldn't.Broadfoot growled impatiently then nuzzled his wide head into Haarn's side, butting him in a bored fashion that suggested they start moving or start eating.With nothing more than a handful of scraps in his pouch, Haarn wisely considered that stopping to eat would be a mistake.He followed, staying a safe distance back from Druz so she wouldn't be asking any more questions and he could look at the city in relative peace.Bells pealed, a rancorous clanging that set Haarn's teeth on edge."A ship!" someone shouted.T see a ship!"Glancing out toward the harbor, Haarn saw the tips of the sails come into view over the harbor.The ship sailed strongly, making good time."It's Borran Kiosk!" another man yelled."He's brung a ship full of dead men with him! Hurry! Someone get the watch!""The watch already knows, you damned fool!" someone else growled."Who do you think is standing guard duty out there in them towers in the harbor?"Further down the street, Ettrian broke into a run, making for the docks.Dozens of other citizens did the same.Wagons thundered across the cobblestone streets as drivers cracked whips above the heads of the pulling teams.Haarn ran, urging Broadfoot to follow.The druid's scimitar was already in hand."There are two ships!" someone shouted."Borran Kiosk has done brought two ships back with him!"Borran Kiosk stood on the flying deck of Mistress Talia as storm winds blew them into Alaghôn's harbor.His rapacious tongue flicked out, tasting fear in the air.Hundreds of lanterns and torches lined the dockyards.Men armed with bows occupied positions on top of the buildings.The men ringing the bells kept up their awful racket."It would have been better," Allis said, "if you had not let them see you coming.""Sneaking back to Alaghôn like some thief in the night is not how I wanted to return in my moment of glory and triumph," Borran Kiosk said, gazing at the sight of the frightened people taking a stance against him to save their city.He drank in their intoxicating fear."All those years ago, they thought they had beaten me.They needed to know before I got back that they had failed."The bells continued to ring, and the cacophony of harsh noise drew Borran Kiosk's ire.Using the powers granted to him by the Glove of Malar, as he'd come to think of the device, he reached into the minds of some of the men aboard Mistress Talia.Two dozen corpses leaped from the ship's side and hit the dark water.They disappeared without a trace, swimming deep.The warning towers stood in the harbor, as they had when Borran Kiosk preyed on Alaghôn in his human life.Crafted of mortised stone, the three towers stood as narrow pinnacles with lookouts for the harbor patrol and the watch stationed atop them.With the military district so close by onshore, there was seldom any trouble in the harbor.Commerce was the primary interest in Alaghôn, and nothing was allowed to interfere with that.Allis stood at Borran Kiosk's side.Her features altered as she shifted into the half-humanIhalf-spider shape.She wasn't like the rest of the dark troops the mohrg had gathered—she still feared death.Borran Kiosk enjoyed that savory tidbit from her, and it only whetted his appetite for what awaited him on shore and deeper into Alaghôn.One of the warning tower bells started ringing in a haphazard manner, no longer bonging sonorously.Turning his attention to the suddenly silent tower, Borran Kiosk spied the drowned ones that had seized the two men manning the tower.The men screamed in terror, but it didn't last long.The sea zombies easily overpowered both men.One of the drowned ones swung a man by his heels and smashed his head against the stone structure.Blood, the color of black bile, ran down the masonry.The drowned one tossed the dead man into the harbor
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