Dark Sun: Prism Pentad 1 - The Verdent Passage (27 page)

“Is that so?” Rikus asked, raising an eyebrow at the senator.

Sadira smiled coyly and let the mul's question drop. “Rikus escaped Tithian's slave pits
to warn me about Caro,” she said, turning to the senator.

“That was very courageous,” Agis offered, uncertain as to whether he should greet the
gladiator with the traditional double handclasp of the higher classes or dispense with it
as would have been appropriate with any other slave. He decided instead to wait for the
mul to take the initiative. “You needn't have troubled yourself, Rikus. We're already
aware of Caro's treachery, and your escape comes at a most unfortunate time.”

The mul bared his teeth. “What do you mean by that?” “Nothing, I assure you,” Agis said,
raising his hands reassuringly. “It's just that Sadira is safe with me, and you would have
been more use to us where you were.”

Rikus reached out and grabbed the sorceress's arm. “Well, now she's safe with me,” he
said. “I warn you, if you try to follow us, I'll kill you.”

Sadira pulled free of the mul's grasp. “Rikus, where do you think you're taking me?”

The gladiator frowned. “We're escaping,” he said. “You're coming with Neeva and Anezka and
me to the mountains.”

“I don't need to escape!” the half-elf said. “Agis set me free. Besides, there's someplace
he and I have to go.” Rikus's face showed his disappointment. “Free?” the mul echoed,
half-dazed. “He set you free, and you're still with him?”

Sadira squeezed the mul's hand and rose onto her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “It's not
forever, Rikus,” she said. “I told you, he and I have someplace to go.”

Rikus studied Agis, then returned his attention to Sadira. “We'll come with you.”

“Thanks for offering, but we can get along fine ourselves,” Agis said.

“I wasn't asking permission,” the mul insisted.
“W
e're going with you.”

“Rikus has a right to go along,” Sadira said, giving Agis an imploring smile.

“We're going to have enough problems without Tithian's slavehunters chasing us alongside
his templars,” Agis said.

Sadira shook her head. “What's the difference?” she asked. “Being hunted is being hunted.
Besides, it won't hurt to have three gladiators along, and I wouldn't be surprised if
Anezka could take us to Nok, whoever he is.”

The two women escorting Caro arrived at the gathering, putting an end to the debate. The
blond, who Agis guessed to be Rikus's well-known partner Neeva, glanced at Sadira's grip
on the mul's hand and sighed.

Without commenting on the affectionate hold, she turned her attention to Agis. “This
belongs to you, I think,” she said, shoving the aged dwarf at him. At the same time, the
halfling held out a square crystal of green olivine, and Neeva added, “He's a thief as
well as a traitor. Anezka caught him trying to slip this into his pocket.”

Agis took the green crystal from the halfling. “This doesn't belong to me,” he said,
examining it closely.

The noble was startled by the sound of Tithian's voice in his ears. “How many times must I
tell you to hold the crystal away from your eyes?”

Raising an eyebrow, Agis obeyed the command. A tiny image of Tithian's face appeared
inside the crystal. As me high templar's sharp features came into focus, his jaw
slackened. “Agis?”

The noble nodded. “Yes, Tithian. It's me.”

“How did you get Caro's crystal?” Tithian asked. “You're supposed to be trapped inside the
temple of the ancients!”

“We escaped, no thanks to you,” Agis said bitterly. In his peripheral vision, he could see
everyone except Caro staring at him as if he were mad.

“Didn't I warn you that I wasn't proposing a truce?” Tithian demanded defensively. “If
you'll recall, I
did
tell you to watch yourself.”

Though Agis had to agree, he was far from pleased with his friend. “I suppose that
justifies using me to hunt for the Alliance?”

“You're the one who involved himself in the revolt,” Tithian countered. “Don't blame me if
that causes you trouble.”

“I suppose what you showed me about the obsidian balls and pyramid was just bait?” the
senator asked.

“No. It was real enough,” the high templar said. Though it was difficult to read facial
expressions on the tiny image in the crystal, Agis thought Tithian appeared frightened.
“Tell me, how did the Veiled Ones receive the news?”

“Why should I tell you anything?” Agis demanded.

“Because my offer still stands,” Tithian replied.

“Forgive me if I seem skeptical.”

“You can't afford to dismiss me lightly!” the high templar said. “You have no idea what
I've done on your behalf. Kalak knows about your adventures with the Veiled Alliance. If I
hadn't used you, you'd be dead by now!”

“I'm gratified by your thoughtfulness,” Agis noted sarcastically.

“If you have Caro's crystal, you must know that Rikus and Neev3 escaped and went to your
estate to look for Sadira.” Tithian raised a single finger into view. “This is how many
days it would take me to track them down. As you can see, they're still free. I've kept
their absence a secret and didn't send out any trackers or cilops. I even had the guards
who found their empty cell killed.”

This last detail convinced Agis that his old friend was telling the truth, for it seemed
exactly the sort of ruthless thing the high templar would do to protect a secret.

“Whatever the Veiled Alliance wants with my gladiators is still possible,” Tithian
continued. “No one knows they're gone except me and my most trusted subordinate.”

“That's all very nice,” Agis replied, truly relieved that no slavehunters would be
hounding them into the mountains. “But you're still hunting down the Alliance with all
your resources. Where
do
you stand?”

“Wherever my footing is the most solid at a given moment,” Tithian answered frankly. “I'm
trapped in the middle. If I don't make progress against the king's foes, Kalak will kill
me. At the same time, I'm terrified of whatever he has planned for the ziggurat games.”

“So you'd be willing to assassinate him?” Agis asked, deciding to see just how far his
friend would go.

“It can't be done,” Tithian countered.

“If it could?” Agis pressed.

Inside the crystal, Tithian closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he
said, “I wouldn't prevent someone from trying.”

Agis smiled. “That's all I need to know,” he said, moving his hand over the crystal.

“Wait!” Tithian shouted. The senator removed his hand, and the high templar smiled. “For
me to play along with you until this attack on Kalak succeeds, I need to know the location
of the third and final bone amulet inside the ziggurat.”

“I
knew we couldn't trust you,” Agis sighed.

“That's hardly true” Tithian noted. “You can trust me to take care of myself. Just be
certain that your side always offers me what I seek.” The high templar paused and tapped
his chin in thought. “You'd best have Sadira let Those Who Wear the Veil know that it is
in their best interest to reveal the location of the amulet. You'll figure out how to get
the information to me somehow.”

Without offering a reply, Agis closed his fist over the green gem. The noble explained
what had just passed between him and Tithian, then returned the stone to Caro. “It might
be best to let Tithian know about the amulets,” Sadira ventured. “I know where the three
were hidden. Could you tell the high templar, Caro?” When the dwarf nodded, she quickly
told him where the magical amulets had been secreted. “They weren't very powerful anyway,”
she concluded with a shrug. “Just a few wards to stall the king's works.”

At last Agis turned to his servant. “How long have you been Tithian's spy?” he asked
gently.

The dwarf looked away, his withered lips quivering with fear or regretÑAgis could not tell
which. “Not long, only since your slaves were confiscated” Caro said. “The high templar
sent me back to you. He promised to give me my freedom after the games.”

“And your focus?” Agis asked. “It never changed?”

Caro shook his head. “No. Until the moment I broke it, it was to serve you and the
Asticles family.”

“Why did you give that up?” Neeva asked.

Caro met the woman's gaze evenly. “I would have died on the ziggurat, and I didn't want my
life to end without a taste of freedom.”

“I can't tell you how sorry I am, Caro,” Agis said, a deep sense of regret welling inside
his breast. “If I had realized how much your freedom meant, I would have granted it
gladly.”

Caro looked at Agis. “I don't need your sympathy,” he said bitterly. “Just kill me and be
done with it.”

“If I were you, I wouldn't be so anxious to die,” Rikus said. “Won't you come back as a
banshee?”

The old dwarf looked at Agis, then a crooked grin crossed his lips. “That's right,” he
said, his black eyes sparkling with bitterness. “I'll come back to haunt the Asticles
estateÑthe site of my failure.”

“Then it will be quite some time before we meet again, I hope,” Agis said.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Rikus asked.

“Every man is born with a desire for freedom in his breast, just as he is born with a
desire for food and drink. Anyone who has ever kept slaves knows this.”

“As does any slave,” Rikus said.

“Depriving a man of freedom is like depriving him of food and water,” Agis said, his gaze
still fixed on Caro's withered face. “If a man has no food or water, his body dies a
lingering death. If he has no freedom, it is his spirit that dies.”

“So?” Rikus demanded. “What noble cares about his slave's spirit or his life?”

“I do!” Agis replied hotly, thumping his own chest “I've never taken a slave's life!”

“Then you are a rare slaveholder,” Sadira said.

Agis looked to the half-elf. “Perhaps, but no better than the others. Now I see that my
philosophy merely made me a hypocrite. That's why the wraith wouldn't allow me into the
Crimson Shrine.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Sadira asked, her pale eyes fixed on his.

Agis turned to the ancient dwarf. “Caro, I have no right to ask anything of you,” he said,
unfastening the purse attached to his belt. “Still, I would like you to perform one last
service for the Asticles house. Go to the slaves that remain in my pens. Tell them they're
free to go or stay as they please.” The dwarf's face showed his surprise. “And me?”

“Go and enjoy your freedom.”

Taking the purse Agis offered, the dwarf walked away without a word to his former master.
As he watched Caro trudge along under the blistering sun, Agis realized how little his
gesture must have meant to one who had lost his whole life to servitude. Perhaps there
would be others like Caro he could save from a slave's life; Agis let that hope assuage
his stinging conscience, but only for a little while.

The Verdant Passage

“Get up!” Rikus called, fixing his stern gaze on Agis. “It's not time to rest!”

The handsome noble looked up at the gladiator for a moment, then spoke in an even voice.
“I don't need your permission to sit,” he said, once more propping his head in his hands.
“Or to do anything else.”

They were high in the Flinging Mountains, struggling up a narrow stone terrace. On one
side, a cone-shaped spire of granite loomed thousands of feet overhead, and on the other a
sheer precipice plunged more than a mile straight down. Below the cliff lay the Tyr
Valley. Then-goal lay hidden before them: the magical spear Ktandeo had mentioned to
Sadira. It, of all the weapons on Athas, offered them the power to strike against the
sorcerer-king.

“We're moving too slowly,” Rikus said, shivering in the cold mountain wind. He was wearing
only his customary breechcloth and a pair of sturdy sandals, having refused Agis's
gentlemanly offer to loan him something warmer. In his hand, the mul carried the one item
he had condescended to borrow, a bone axe with twin blades set side by side.

Rikus pointed ahead to where the stone terrace ended at the edge of a deep chasm. “Where's
Anezka?” he asked. “If we lose her now, we'll never find Nok or Sadira's damned spear.”

“She'll be back,” Agis said, rubbing his temples. Though he was dressed in what Rikus
considered a foppish mannerÑcalf-high walking boots, leather breeches, and a rust-colored
corselet with a matching fleece capeÑ the mul had to admit that at least the noble's
outfit appeared warm.

Agis looked toward Sadira and Neeva, then added, “The women need to rest.”

Rikus followed his gaze and saw that Sadira was a few yards behind the noble, dressed in
leather pants and a fleece shawl. Somewhere in Agis's house, she had also found a
crownlike hat with a pair of stylish straps that descended along her nose and crossed
beneath her cheeks like a mask. The mul had seen noblewomen dressed in similar hats, and
it bothered him to see Sadira proudly imitating their inane fashions.

Behind the half-elf came Neeva, struggling up the mountainside at a plodding but steady
pace. Of course, the only clothing Agis had been able to provide for a woman of her
proportions had come from his slave pens. Still, she looked comfortable enough in a pair
of hemp pants and a coarse wool cloak, and seemed completely at ease with the steel-bladed
trikal in her hand. She had been absolutely delighted when Agis gave it to her as a gift,
and that bothered the mul even more than Sadira's love for her new hat. This Agis of
Asticles was working too hard to make himself popular with a group of escaped slaves.

“The women look like they're doing better than you,” Rikus said, sneering at the noble's
weakness. “At least they're still moving.”

Despite his callous attitude, Rikus knew what Agis felt. When they had first started
climbing, the companions had all noticed a certain shortness of breath and unusual
weariness. As Anezka had led them higher into the mountains, this feeling had continually
grown worse. Their heads throbbed with blinding pain, the mere effort of breathing racked
their lungs with searing torment, and the muscles of their legs were numb with fatigue.
The difference between Agis and his companions was that the noble was unaccustomed to
prolonged deprivation and hardship, whereas the others had known it all their lives.
Ignoring the mul's barb, Agis reached into his satchel and withdrew his waterskin. It was
half-empty, for the group had not come across any fresh water since entering the mountains
three days ago.