Dark Sun: Prism Pentad 1 - The Verdent Passage (31 page)

Fearing that she was paralyzed, Sadira opened her eyes. As her vision began to clear, she
saw that the sound of the drums came from outside her head, not inside. Ahead of her lay a
small meadow covered by soft moss, tinted pink by the light of the afternoon sun. At the
edges of the clearing stood a dozen halfling men dressed in breechcloths, their eyes round
and glazed as they beat a feral cadence on tall drums.

In the center of the meadow, a mound rose high into the air. Sadira squinted at the
structure and, despite her blurred vision, saw that it had been built entirely from large
blocks of gray rock. A steep stairway ran up the center, but otherwise the structure was
perfectly smooth, with only tiny seams where the blocks met.

Atop the mound sat a small house of white marble, with a smoking copper brazier outside
the door, Next to the brazier lay the weapons and satchels that Sadira and her friends had
brought into the forest. In front of the pile stood Anezka and a wild-looking halfling
male. He was covered with green paint, and a crown of woven fronds ringed his tangled mass
of hair. In his small hands, the man held Ktandeo's cane.

Sadira's heart sank. After using the cane at Agis's estate, she had realized that it was
far more dangerous than she had suspected. Still, the sorceress did not like seeing it in
the hands of a forest-dwelling savage. She and her companions would need it to battle
Kalak.

Looking to the bottom of the mound, she saw that a single oak tree grew there. The
majestic oak looked oddly misplaced in a meadow surrounded by dancing conifers and frond
trees, but its isolation had not prevented it from growing up straight and strong.

Scattered around the oak's trunk were dozens of halfling men and women, all holding wooden
bowls. Some had adorned their arms or legs with brightly colored feathers, but otherwise
none of them wore anything except loincloths. They all watched the top of the mound with
an air of anticipation.

“You're awake.” The voice came from Sadira's left.

“I
feel
like I'm dead,” Sadira answered shakily, turning her aching head toward Agis.

A few feet away, the noble hung on a stone slab that had been planted upright in the
ground. His hands and feet were lashed into place with leather ropes running through a set
of special holes. At the bottom of the slab was a large, semicircular catch basin, stained
brown with old blood.

“What happened?” Sadira asked. Her head had finally cleared, and she realized that she
hung on a similar stone. The pain in her wrists was caused by her bindings.

Agis told her about their capture. When he explained how she had stumbled into the
tripwire as he tried to save her from the poisoned arrow, he added, “I'm sorry about your
head.”

“She's alive and conscious,” said a woman's voice. “There's nothing to be sorry about in
that.”

Sadira turned her throbbing head to the right and saw that Rikus and Neeva were also
hanging from stone slabs.

“It was Anezka who led us into the ambush, not Agis,” agreed Rikus. “Maybe she did it
because of that business with the spiderÑ”

“And maybe not,” interrupted Neeva. “I doubt we'll ever know, but now isn't the time to
worry about it.” She tilted her chin toward the granite mound. “I think we're finally
about to meet our captor.”

Sadira looked in the direction Neeva indicated. The green-painted halfling stepped off the
mound into midair. Instead of falling, he slowly drifted down toward the sorceress and her
friends. He carried Ktandeo's cane in both hands, like a full-sized man would carry a
fighting cudgel.

Behind him, Anezka climbed down the steep stairs. When she reached the bottom, a
half-dozen halflings with feathered armbands joined her. One of them handed her a wooden
bowl, then they walked toward Sadira and the others.

As the floating halfling settled to the ground in from of Sadira, the slave girl saw that
a large ring of gold hung in his hawkish nose. Bands of hammered silver ringed his ears,
and a large ball of obsidian dangled from a chain around his neck.

The halfling looked at Sadira with an air of indignation. “Where did you get this staff?”
he asked.

“Who wants to know?” Sadira responded.

The halfling stared at her menacingly, obviously shocked at her challenge to his
authority. When Sadira met his gaze evenly, he said, “I am World Tree, whose roots bring
forth fruit so that my people may eat. I am Rain Bird, whose wings shower the land with
water so that my people may drink. I am Time Serpent, whose tail is the past and whose
head is the future, so that my people will live forever. I am Nok, the forest.”

Nok raised the cane. “Now, tell me how you came by this staff.”

“A man named Ktandeo gave it to me.”

Nok narrowed his eyes. “I made this for Ktandeo. He would not have given it to an impudent
young woman.”

“It was his dying act,” Sadira said, regarding the halfling in a new light. Anyone who
could make such an item was no ordinary savage. “He gave me the cane so you would know we
came in his name.”

The halfling's posture grew less menacing, and he closed his eyes. “Now I know why the
moons have been weeping. Ktandeo was a worthy friend of the forest,” he said, touching one
hand to the gold ring in his nose and the other to a silver ear-band. “He brought many
fine offerings.”

Anezka arrived with the six halflings wearing feathered armbands. They stood behind Nok,
patiently holding their bowls in both hands. Rikus and Neeva fixed angry glares on Anezka,
but said nothing. Agis also remained silent, studying Nok with a thoughtful expression.

“Ktandeo sent us for his magical spear,” Sadira said.

“I have been growing a spear,” replied the halfling, meeting Sadira's gaze with warmer
eyes. “I cannot give it to you.”

“Why not?” the sorceress asked. “Isn't it ready?”

Nok glanced over his shoulder at the oak tree “It's ready . . . but you are not worthy of
it.”

Assuming he meant she was not strong enough to throw it, Sadira pointed her chin at Rikus.
“He's the one who will use the spear. Not me.”

Nok regarded the mul with an appraising eye, but shook his head. “There is more than
strength to throwing a spear,” he said. “The aim must be accurate, the heart true. Without
Ktandeo to guide his hand, the hairless one will fail.”

“What do you mean?” Rikus bristled. “The spear hasn't been made that I can't handle.”

“You cannot wield this one!” Nok snapped.

“You haven't seen him fight. How is it that you know this?” Sadira asked.

“Because you hang on the Feast Stones” the halfling replied, tapping the cane against the
basin at Sadira's feet. “If you were worthy of the Heartwood Spear, you would not be
there. Your blood would never yearn to fill these basins.”

“Feast Stones!” Rikus exclaimed, rugging at his bindings. “We came as friends!” Agis
objected. “You'll become pan of the forest. What could be a greater gift for one's
friends?” Nok asked, smiling sincerely. “Anezka didn't bring us here to be eaten!” Neeva
“Of course she did,” Nok said. “You are her offering.”

“Offering!” Rikus cried, looking to Anezka. “That's not why you brought us here, is it?”

Anezka nodded, giving the mul a reassuring smile.

“Nok, my friends and I would be honored to join your forest,” the sorceress lied.
“Unfortunately, Ktandeo sent us for the spear because the need in Tyr is great.”

“What need?” the halfling asked.

“Kalak has a small pyramid made of obsidian,” Agis explained, his eyes fixed on the
halfling's pendant. “He also has many obsidian balls, and a tunnel lined with obsidian
bricks. Do you know what this means?”

Nok's eyes opened wide. “It is too soon,” he said, shaking his head sadly.

Agis went on to tell the halfling about the memory he had seen inside Tithian's mind and
about the king's plans to seal the stadium during the gladiatorial games.

When the noble finished, Sadira asked, “Now will you give us the spear?”

Nok shook his head. “You couldn't even reach me without being captured,” he said. “How can
you hope to stop a dragon?”

“Dragon?” Sadira uttered. Her companions echoed her astonishment. “We're talking about
Kalak, not theÑ” Sadira stopped herself, the implication of Nok question striking her with
the force of a half-giant's club. “Kalak is the Dragon?” she gasped.

“No. There are many dragons throughout the world,” the halfling said. “Kalak is not yet
one of them.”

“But he's about to become one,” Sadira said, her mind racing as she began to understand
the wicked nature of Kalak's plan. “That's what the ziggurat is for.”

“Yes,” Nok agreed. “He needs it for his changing.”

“The time to strike is before he changes?” Neeva exclaimed. “Give us the spear before it's
too late.”

Nok regarded the woman thoughtfully, then shook his head. “I cannot entrust the Heartwood
Spear to someone who is not worthy.”

“We're worthy!” Rikus growled. “I've won more than a hundred matches.”

Nok seemed unmoved. In vain Sadira searched her aching head for another approach that
would make the half-ling listen. The more she learned about Kalak, the more he terrified
her and the more determined she became to stop him.

“If you were willing to help Ktandeo against the sorcerer-king of Tyr,” Agis said, “it
must have been because you feared for your forest”

The halfling nodded. “One dragonÑthe one you foolishly call the Dragon, as if it were the
only oneÑalready claims Tyr, as it does everything from Urik to Balic. When another
appears, one of them will be forced across the Ringing Mountains.”

“And what does that mean to the forest?” Agis pressed. “The same thing it means to Tyr:
annihilation,” Nok answered. “The dragon that passes over these mountains will devour
every living thing it finds: plants, animals, people. It will allow nothing to escape.”
“Why?” Sadira asked.

“Dragons grow more powerful when they kill,” Nok answered. “And dragons covet power above
all else, or they would not be dragons.”

The four companions remained silent for a time. Nok also remained quiet, patiently
studying them as if waiting for them to perform some customary act of obeisance. At last,
Agis looked toward the dome, where the group's possessions were piled, and said, “We
apologize if our previous gifts were unworthy, and we ask for them back. Instead, we offer
our lives in defense of the forest.”

“We
will
stop Kalak before he comes across the mountains,” Sadira added.

Nok considered the offer, then said, “I am still not certain that your gift is worthy of
the Heartwood Spear, but we shall see.”

The chief turned to the halflings gathered behind him and spoke a few words in their own
tongue. With crest-fallen expressions, they set aside their wooden bowls and stepped
around behind the Feast Stones to undo the lashings.

Once the four companions were free, Nok led the way toward the granite mound. The
halflings in the area parted, jabbering to each other in peculiar, nasal words punctuated
by birdlike shrieks and squeals. Nok paid them no attention until he stood at the tree
itself, when he silenced them with a harsh command.

With the meadow quiet, Nok cradled Ktandeo's cane in one arm, then opened his other hand
and touched the oak. He spoke a few phrases in his own language. The tree's boughs
shuddered, and Nok's fingers melded into the bark. Slowly he pushed his hand deeper, until
his arm had disappeared clear to the shoulder.

Nok closed his eyes and stood next to the oak in silence. His lips were tense and turned
down at the ends, giving him a stoic and slightly remorseful expression. He remained
perfectly still. Sadira wondered if he was having second thoughts. At last, the chief
opened his eyes, then looked at the tree and spoke to it in a conciliatory tone.

Another shudder ran through the oak's boughs, and a terrible, sonorous creak sounded from
its core. Leaves began to rain down on the people below. To Sadira it seemed that the bark
paled to a lighter shade of gray. Nok slowly stepped away, pulling his arm from the tree
as he retreated.

In his hand, the halfling held a thick spear colored deepest burgundy. The shaft tapered
to sharp points on both ends, with a grain so fine it was hardly visible. Sadira thought
at first that the weapon pulsated with magical energy, but when she looked directly at it,
the impression faded. It seemed no more than a normal, finely crafted weapon.

Nok stepped away from the oak, sending a few half-lings to fetch the party's belongings.
Motioning for his prisoners to follow, he led the way to a small trail winding into the
gloomy depths of the forest. As they traveled along the path, Sadira realized the
halflings had carried her and her companions a considerable distance from where she and
Agis had fallen. In addition to the dancing conifers and bulb-trunked fronds, the trail
was lined by immense, slanting hardwoods. These trees had waxy, ruby-colored leaves and
ripe, sweet-smelling fruits with the shape of daggers and the color of sapphires. The
constant drone of insects underscored the shrill whistles and chirps of the jungle birds,
and the shadows were so thick that, at times, Sadira felt as though she were walking
through UnderTyr. Presently, the rumble of a nearby river began to drown out the sound of
the insects and birds.

At last they stepped out of the forest. Before them, a narrow suspension bridge spanned a
rocky gorge so wide that Rikus could not have thrown his axe across it. The bridge was
made of flowering vines woven together to form a V-shaped channel. A densely braided cord
of the woody plants served as the walkway, two smaller cords as handrails, and a plethora
of bud-covered vines as netlike walls. A round boulder blocked the other end, so it was
impossible to tell if the trail continued on the other side of the canyon. The whole scene
had an eerie red hue, for the setting sun hung in line with the gorge, bathing it in fiery
light.