Dark Sun: Prism Pentad 1 - The Verdent Passage (15 page)

“If there's nothing to do here, why aren't you all in Tyr?” Rikus asked, stepping to the
gate.

Boaz lifted the carafe to his lips, then spat a mouthful of milkwine over Rikus's face.
“Because of youÑyou and Sadira,” the trainer said, taking the precaution of moving out of
arm's reach. Behind him, something stirred in the pen opposite Rikus's. “I'll see to it
that you're punished in the morning.”

“For what?” Rikus demanded, wiping the white froth off his face. Even if he could have
reached Boaz, he doubted that he would have killed the half-elf at that moment. Doing so
would have meant giving up the chance to win his freedom, and he wasn't prepared to do
that over a mouthful of wine.

Boaz lifted the carafe to his lips again. Rikus stepped away from the gate, but this time
the only wine that left the half-elf's mouth was what dribbled down his chin. In a
rambling speech, the trainer told Rikus how Sadira had saved him from the gaj with her
magic, then killed two guards to escape the Break. “Lord Tithian was furious with me and
my fellows,” Boaz finished. “He confined us all to the pits.”

“You're lying,” Rikus said. “Sadira would neverÑ”

“He's not lying,” Neeva interrupted. She stepped to Rikus's side and leaned against the
gate, wrapped in the same cape she had been using as a blanket. “What part don't you
believeÑthat Sadira's a sorceress or that she left you behind?”

“That I was saved by a scullery wench,” Rikus answered.

“She's no ordinary slave girl,” Neeva replied, giving the mul a sarcastic smile. “It's
surprising that I'm the one who has to tell you that.”

Boaz snorted at Neeva's jealousy.

Rikus ignored the trainer. “What happened to her?” he asked. “Where is she now?”

“What does it matter?” Neeva demanded, narrowing her emerald eyes. “You weren't in love
with her, were you?”

“Of course not.” Rikus looked away and noticed that both Yarig and Anezka had also
awakened. The dwarf and his halfling partner were doing their best not involve themselves
in the conversation. “I owe her a debt of honor. That's all.”

“There have been other slave girls and you haven't lied to me yet,” Neeva said, thumping
Rikus in the chest. “Why start now?”

Rikus found that he could not look his fighting partner in the eye. Instead, he cast a
meaningful glance at Boaz and asked, “Do we have to talk about this here?”

“Yes,” Boaz chuckled. “It's best to air these things immediately. Hidden resentments have
ruined many a matched pair.”

“Well?” Neeva asked. “Is Sadira so different from the others?”

Rikus forced himself to meet his partner's gaze. In his own mind, the mul did not know
whether what he felt for Sadira was gratitude or something deeper, and the uncertainty
made him uncomfortable. “Sadira risked her life to save mine. I guess that makes her
different.”

Neeva turned away, tears welling in her eyes.

Rikus grabbed her shoulders. “My feelings for SadiraÑwhatever they areÑhave nothing to do
with us. I just need to know what happened to her.”

Neeva pulled away and stepped into a dark corner of the pen.

“I wish I could help you two lovers,” Boaz sneered.

“Unfortunately, nobody knows what happened to her. My guess is that someday I'll run into
her in the Elven Market. In a brothel, no doubt.”

Rikus thrust an arm through the iron bars, clutching at the half-elf. Boaz watched the
gladiator's fingers close a few inches shy of their target, then clucked at the mul.
“Anezka will pay dearly for that.”

No sooner had the trainer finished his threat than Rikus felt an earthenware mug smash
against his back. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Yarig grab his half-ling partner,
who was just reaching for a wooden bowl to throw. The dwarf shrugged, but made no apology
for her.

Rikus shook his head and faced Boaz again. Before he could say anything, he heard a wispy
voice inside his head.

He lies.

“What?” Rikus demanded, grabbing his ears. He turned to Neeva. “Did you hear that?”

When she ignored him, Yarig asked, “A voice inside your head?” The dwarf still had not
released Anezka.

Rikus nodded.

“No, I didn't hear it just now,” he answered facetiously. “But I have in the last few
days.”

Rikus furrowed his hairless brow and shook his head. “IfÑ”

Boaz laughed at the mul's confusion. “It's the gaj, you buffoon. It was talking to you.”

“Talking to me?” Rikus gasped, half-disgusted and half-frightened. The gaj's stinging
tentacles and the way it had scorched his mind glowed fresh in his memory.

Yes. I am learning to speak well,
the gaj reported.

Boaz looked toward the pen opposite Rikus's. The beast inside had moved in front of its
gate, and the tips of its pincers protruded between the iron bars. Rikus could barely see
the gaj's bulbous white head inside the murky pen.

“We've learned a lot about the gaj over the last couple of days, haven't we?” Boaz said.
“It doesn't eat bodies it eats minds.” He took a step toward its pen.

The beast scuttled back into the shadows.
Boaz knows an elf called Radurak,
the gaj said in Rikus's mind. Radurak has your woman
.

Rikus turned to Yarig. “Did you hear that?”

The dwarf shook his head. “It only talks to one person at a time,” he said.

Boaz will tell Tithian where to find her.

“How do you know?” Rikus asked.

It's in his thoughts,
the gaj replied.

In the corridor, Boaz picked up a loose stone and threw it into the gaj's cage. “How come
you don't talk to me anymore?”

Rikus was stunned. Should he believe the gaj, or was this some sort of trick on Boaz's
part to get him to reveal what he knew of Sadira? Rikus had heard of the Way, of course,
and knew that it could be used to speak telepathically. What he had trouble accepting was
that an overgrown bug like the gaj might be intelligent enough to use it. Still, he had no
choice except to believe what he heard inside his head.

Boaz drained the last of his milkwine, then threw the carafe at the gaj. “Stupid beast!”
He started to stumble out of the animal shed.

“Tell me, Boaz, do you think telling Tithian about Radurak will make the high templar
forgive you?” Rikus called.

Boaz stopped dead. “Where did you hear Radurak's name?”

Any doubts about what the gaj had told him vanished from Rikus's mind. “I don't think
it'll help you,” the mul continued, ignoring the trainer's question. “Lord Tithian will
still blame you for not noticing Sadira's powers, and then for letting her escape.”

Rikus heard Neeva shuffle in the dark corner to which she had retreated. He glanced at her
and saw that, although she still glowered at him, she had dropped the cape from her
shoulders and watched him closely. The mul breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know what
would happen next, but he was happy to see that she would back him up.

Boaz returned and stood in front of Rikus's pen, safely out of reach. “You had better hope
my confinement is lifted,” the trainer said. Though he stank of fermented milk, the
half-elf suddenly appeared almost sober. Rikus feared it would be difficult to lure him
close enough to the gate to strike.

“Life is growing tedious on this estate,” Boaz continued. “When I get bored, I get
irritable. Things could go very hard on you and your friends if Tithian is not in a
forgiving mood.”

“Perhaps I should put in a good word for you with the high templar,” Rikus offered
sarcastically.

Behind Boaz, the gaj, too, moved forward, pushing its pincers through the bars of its cage
in an effort to snag the trainer. The mandibles were too short to reach the half-elf, but
an idea occurred to Rikus that might make it possible to kill Boaz and save Sadira,
without sacrificing his dream of freedom.

The trainer sneered at Rikus's offer of aid. “I doubt that I'll let you live long enough
to speak with lord Tithian.”

Gaj, if you want Boaz, here's what to do, Rikus thought, hoping the beast could hear his
thoughts as it had heard Boaz's. He laid out a simple plan.

He must be alive, came the reply. If he dies before my antennae touch his head, his mind
will be spoiled for me.

Yes,
Rikus agreed. He grabbed the bars of his gate then said to Boaz, “After I'm free, the
first thing I'm going to do is track you into a dark streetÑ”

The mul did not have a chance to finish his threat. Behind the trainer, the gaj threw
itself at its gate. A tremendous crash echoed through the animal shed as the beast's
carapace struck the iron bars, triggering an immediate chorus of alarmed squeals and roars
from the other pens.

As Rikus had hoped, the startled trainer leaped away from the gaj, straight into the mul's
waiting arms. Rikus grabbed Boaz by the collar, pulling the half-elf toward the gate. The
astonished trainer started to cry for help, but Rikus slapped a massive hand over the
man's mouth.

“Rikus!” gasped Neeva. “What are you doing?”

“Repaying Sadira for saving my life,” the mul responded. “Get his keys and unlock our
gate.”

Don't kill him!
the gaj urged, settling back into its pen.

“You'll have him aliveÑmore or less,” Rikus answered, squeezing Boaz's mouth with all his
strength. He felt a series of satisfying pops as the half-elf's front teeth broke away at
the roots.

Boaz groaned in pain, then reached for the dirk at his belt. Rikus grabbed the trainer's
wrist with his free hand. “Wrong move,” he said, pulling the offending arm through the
gate. He pressed the forearm against an iron bar until he heard a sharp crack. A muffled
wail escaped Boaz's covered lips.

“You'll get us killed,” Neeva said, stepping to Rikus's side. She removed the key ring
from Boaz's belt.

“Not if my plan works,” Rikus replied, giving his fighting partner a confident wink.
“They'll think the gaj did it.”

“'They'd better,” Neeva said, moving to the gate lock Rikus looked at the dwarf, who still
held onto Anezka, though it no longer appeared that she needed to be restrained. "Yarig,
you'll have to lift the gate for Neeva to crawl under.

“I don't like it,” the dwarf said. “You shouldn't have done something like this without
asking us first.”

Boaz tried to pull free. Without looking away from Yarig, Rikus slammed him back into the
gate. “Don't you think asking would have ruined the surprise?”

“That doesn't matter,” Yarig answered stubbornly. “This affects all of us. I don't care if
you are the champion. You can't make decisions like this on your own.”

Rikus rolled his eyes, then let go of Boaz's broken wrist. “You're right,” the mul said.
“I'll let him go.”

Anezka shook her head urgently.

Neeva turned a key in the gate lock and a loud click echoed in the cell. “Make up your
mind, Yarig,” she said.

“We'll push Boaz over to the gaj, lock ourselves back in, and toss the keys in front of
its pen,” Rikus said, once more slamming the half-elf into the gateÑthis time only because
he enjoyed doing so. “Everyone will think he was drunk, wandering around in here, and got
too close to the cage.”

Yarig released the halfling and slowly lifted the gate. Once he had raised it high enough
for Neeva to crawl beneath, she went into the corridor and restrained Boaz from the
outside while Rikus left the pen.

In both directions, the long corridor was lined with steel gates similar to the one from
beneath which the mul had just crawled. In a few places, he could see claws or tentacles
or vaguely humanlike hands protruding from between the bars, but otherwise every pen
appeared identical.

As Rikus stepped into the corridor, Neeva shoved Boaz toward a cage a short distance away.
A powerful, acrid odor rose from the pen.

“Rikus, maybe we should feed Boaz to a raakle instead of the gaj,” Neeva said.

No, Rikus!
the gaj whined.
You promised!

The trainer cringed, and his eyes glazed with horror. Rikus did not blame him for being
frightened. Raakles were brilliantly colored birds the size of half-giants, but their
mouths were short tubular beaks no larger around than a man's fingers. They digested their
prey by gripping it with their powerful, three-clawed feet, then spitting sticky acid over
it. This fluid reduced bone and flesh alike to a pulpy ooze that the bird sucked up
through its small mouth.

Though he would have enjoyed hearing Boaz scream in the terrible agony of being digested
alive, Rikus shook his head. “I gave my word,” he said. “Besides, being eaten by a raakle
can't compare to the pain the gaj will cause Boaz's mind.”

“If you say so.” Neeva shoved the trainer toward the gaj's pen.

Rikus laid a hand on his fighting partner's shoulder and shook his head. “I'll take him,”
Rikus said. He substituted his hand for the one that Neeva had been using to hold Boaz's
bleeding mouth closed. “I want the pleasure of feeding him to the gaj myself.”

The gaj thrust
its
mandibles as far into the corridor as they would go. Rikus stepped toward the pen.

Boaz mumbled something at the mul. Though the trainer was doing his best to appear
menacing and confident, fear and panic softened his sharp features.

The gladiator moved the hand covering the half-elf's mouth just far enough to hear what he
had to say. “You'll ”ever get away with this,“ Boaz hissed. ”Tithian will know what
happened, and Neeva will be the one who pays."

“You're the only one who's going to pay,” Rikus interrupted. The mul smashed a fist into
the half-elf's rib cage. Boaz cried out, then began to wheeze.

Please, Rikus,
the gaj asked.
Give him to me now.

Boaz tried to call for help, but with his broken ribs and teeth, only incoherent mumbles
came from his mouth. Rikus smiled, then pushed the half-elf across the corridor. The gaj's
barbed mandibles closed on the trainer's abdomen, and a pair of whiplike antennae lashed
out of the pen, entwining themselves around its victim's brow.