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.Ythnel skirted along the front of the building, keeping her back to the stone, until she reached the side of the grand staircase.Then she drew herself up and moved boldly out into the courtyard toward the gate."It's starting to get crowded in there," she said gruffly as she neared the gate guard."Captain ordered me back to my regular station."Without waiting for a reply, Ythnel jerked the gate open and walked into the street.Citizens still clogged the area, but any celebrations had ceased, and most were craning their necks to catch a brief glimpse of what was happening beyond the gate.Some were whispering to one another in anxious voices about what was going on.They parted easily for Ythnel in her guard disguise as she headed south toward the Temple of Entropy.Walled off on its own but not gated, the Temple of Entropy stood just south of the Karanok palace.The main building was nearly three stories tall, its center rising well above the outer section.Thick, fluted columns formed a portico around the exterior, winding around the squared-off, U-shaped entrance and disappearing around the sides of the structure.An annex was connected to the north end of the temple, and a single outbuilding squatted to the south.The grounds were dark and quiet; no celebrations were going on here.Ythnel strode through the silence like a nocturnal predator stalking its final prey whose scent was so intense and all-consuming, its presence so close that no other thought entered her mind except to take it down.She sprang pastthe short flight of steps and slipped into the shadows of the giant columns.The great bronze doors were closed and locked, so Ythnel rapped the butt of her spear against one of them and waited.Soon she heard the click of a key turning in a lock on the other side, and one of the doors came open enough for a robed figure to emerge.Light from inside the temple flooded out onto the portico, forcing Ythnel to squint in the brightness as her eyes struggled to adjust."Yes, what is it?" The figure's features where hidden in the shadow of a cowl, but Ythnel knew it was a man from his voice.She could also tell he was not pleased with having to answer the door."Someone is setting fires in the city." Ythnel had been rehearsing what she was going to say as she walked to the temple.Her voice was confident but disinterested, as though she were just following orders."Both Lord Naeros's tower and the palace were targets, and the witchweed stored there was burned.I've been sent to check on the stockpile kept here." She waited expectantly for the invitation to come in."Tell your commander that everything's fine.I'm sure we'll be able to handle anyone who tries to break in.Good night." It was obvious from his tone of voice that the temple clergy did not have a high opinion of the city guard.Before Ythnel could protest, the door was closed and locked once more.She stood there for a moment, stunned.Anger and indignation welled up, and she proceeded to hammer the door with her spear shaft until it swung open again."What is going on out—you!" The man who had first answered the door shouted over Ythnel's pounding, his head sticking out past the door."Why are you still—"Ythnel swung the butt of the spear and slammed it against the side of his face.The force of the blow knocked the other side of his head against the closed door, and the man dropped to the ground unconscious.Ythnel grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him out into the shadows, where she stripped the robe off of him and put it on over her armor.She wrested the ring of keys from his hand, entered the temple, and closed the door behind herself.Once the doors had been locked, Ythnel turned her attention to where she was.She stood in a bare nar-thex with walls of flat, white stone.There was a plain, wooden door set opposite the main entrance and three simple, open archways in the left wall that led into the nave of the temple.What rested in the apse at the far end of the nave explained the lack of decoration, for it commanded Ythnel's attention as soon as her eyes crossed it.Floating just above the floor of the dais was a huge globe of absolute blackness more than twenty feet in diameter.It rested there, unmoving, and Ythnel was reminded of a hole
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