Theril flies invisibly into Kaiimar in the early afternoon, with Preemptive Strike already in effect. Rondus of course has been installed for four days in the room of a young man in the merchants' quarter whose mother wanted prayers said for his welfare by a priest of Matorath the Warlord. His personal effects include a set of crossbow quarrels -- though he owns no crossbow himself -- prepared for the ritual magic with which he intends to enchant them. Elsewhere in the city, Faxandu is hidden deep in a dark room beneath the ground, still ritually preparing herself for her service to the Dark Lady Nahl, preparing herself to don the robes of night and join perhaps the oldest, least-known priesthood in the world above the ground. Thaqz, Berlokh, Glaxtiks, and Daryan meet one last time in the outer city to make sure they all understand the plan, their points of rendesvous, their backup and emergency plans, discussing everything with each other and a beautiful disembodied voice that is comfortable and familiar to them all, known to Thaqz and Glaxtiks as long as anyone else's in the world except each other's.
They split up shortly; Theril flies, still invisibly, to meet Rondus in his room, while the others head out to find carts of goods in which to smuggle themselves -- with their weapons and equipment and the dog (drugged for the time being, in Berlokh's charge) -- into the merchants' quarter. They choose carts full of bulky objects with bored-looking guards, wait their chances, and slip aboard, then just wait in hiding as the carts carry them slowly toward the merchants' quarter wall, and on into the economic heart of the city. Everything goes smoothly until the cart of furniture and upholstery in which Glaxtiks has stowed away stops at the gate to the merchants' quarter, and stays stopped, and someone begins to remove the cover -- it quickly becomes clear, as the cart's bored guards lounge and wait, that the men at the gate have selected that cart for a thorough random inspection. Glaxtiks is too well-trained to actually curse, even under his breath, and he doesn't waste a moment in responding, but he does reflect, in the back of his mind, "I really don't like this city."
