Sythemis, Child of the Desert, danced in the sacred pool of Ishtar, her dark hair flying as she spun in increasingly ecstatic arcs. The names of both Ishtar and Set spilled from her lips and the water began to churn and foam far beyond the power of her slim form. Shapes began to appear like queer waves, their crests furrowing to suggest the passage of serpents formed of living water, they curled around the Stygian, sliding over her legs and coiling up around her chest before dropping away in showers rain drops. Her chanting grew more frenetic as the water around her waist surged and foamed and she threw back her head dark eyes wide as she shouted the names of the gods interspersed with the arcane syllables which seemed poorly. The candles which lit the grotto guttered and dimmed, almost extinguishing before bursting into a queer black flame that seemed to fill the chamber with sharp hard edged light.

The water spray froze in the air, hanging like a thousand firestruck gems, glowing with light of the braziers and the dark golden gleam of Sythemis' own eyes.

"Mighty Set," she intoned in a voice of breathless anticipation, "reveal to me that which I seek, turn your gaze upon the thief whom I have sought in your embrace. Again the light flickered wierdly and then in an instant, every drop reflected the face of Amal Ibn-Hakeem.