Calliope was a little irritated that she didn't know a spell that could create clothing. With a little effort she might have wrought armor out of flames, or ice, or glass, but nothing that would be functional streetwear. Instead she waited for Neil to steal clothes from the servants quarters, an act so prosaic it seemed anti-climax. If there were other servants in the building, they had very sensibly made themselves scarce. Calliope probably wouldn't have killed them for lingering. 

So it was the two of them found themselves on the streets of the city, dressed in fine, if not opulent clothing and with no particular plan. The Seven Princes would follow up their attack in time, but it was doubtful they imagined their assassination would fail. Fail it had however, and that left the question of why. There seemed two options, the book, or the map they had found in the desert. While the fame of the book was widespread, it was all but impossible that word of its theft could have reached this far so quickly, given the way the had exited the magelord's collapsing castle, it was likely to be considered lost. There was no way they could know that an itinerant sorceress was in possession of the text. Unless they had some kind of prophetic magic or far seeing of course.

The map was more likely. It was a local artifact, men had been out in the desert looking for it, men whom the Seven Princes might have been watching, waiting to take possession if they were able to recover whatever artifact lay hidden out there in the desert.

"I know what we need to do," Calliope declared.

An hour later they stood outside a mud walled compound on the edge of the city. Its walls sported several tall slender tower of dark red brick, at the top of which flames burned and Calliope could make out the silhouette of watchmen with long curved bows. At intervals iron cags hung from the wall. Men sat cross legged in the cages, their skin dark brown and their faces serene despite bloody gashes on their bodies.

"Who are these people?" Neil asked.

"Besarines," Calliope told him, "Wandering scholars and monks from the east, they are persecuted here."

"Sucks to be them I guess," Neil admitted, "but why are we here?"

"Twenty years ago Sukander Besar was imprisoned here," she explained, "he is rumored to be the most learned man in the world. If we can get to him, he may be able to shed some light on our map."