The Verdent Passage

by Troy Denning

  On the far side of the square, the commander yelled a curse, then cried, "They've reversed directions! They're heading toward the temple doors!"

  The six templars in the square turned back toward the center of the shrine. Fortunately, the six men's little detour had delayed their progress, and they were only halfway across the square.

  "Dozens of men went in and out of the wineshop every day," Agis objected. "How would the templars know which one was your contact?"

  "Caro again," Sadira answered, working her way back toward the sliver of red light where Ktandeo still held the temple door cracked open. "He was there when you bought me at Radurak's auction. He would have been able to describe Ktandeo from that incident."

  Ahead of her, the flickering shaft of light widened as the door opened. Ktandeo stuck his head outside. "I'll cover your escape, Sadira," he called in a throaty rasp. In the dim red glow shining from the doorway, the sorceress saw him point his cane at the six templars in the square. "Run."

  "Wait—"

  In the same instant that Sadira spoke, Ktandeo activated his cane, then called, "Groundflame!"

  A glob of fluorescing green gas spewed from the cane and wafted over the center of the square. The templars stopped moving as the cloud descended in their midst. The stones began to sizzle, and the glowing haze spread out across the square like a ground fog. In the blink of an eye, it changed color to vibrant blue. There was a blinding flash, and the templars screamed once. When Sadira's vision cleared again, the square was completely dark.

  Ktandeo groaned and grasped at the door to keep from slumping to the ground. The sorceress moved to catch him, but a tremendous thunderclap reverberated off the cavern's rocky ceiling and floor. A bolt of lightning flashed across the courtyard and slammed into the open door.

  "Ktandeo!" Sadira shrieked, momentarily blinded.

  As her vision cleared, the sorceress saw that the bolt had not even scorched the church door. She dared to hope Ktandeo had escaped injury, then she saw the old man's crumpled figure lying between the double doors.

  Sadira rushed forward and snatched his cane from where it had fallen. As she kneeled at the old man's side, she saw warm blood streaming from his ears and mouth. Though the lightning bolt had not even scorched the temple's door, it had crushed Ktandeo's ribs.

  The sorceress slipped the cane into her master's hand. "Will this help?" she asked. Tears began running down her cheeks and dripping onto the old man's face.

  Ktandeo pushed the cane away. "No, that wand only takes life." He suffered a fit of violent coughing and spewed up a gob of bright red fluid. When he could finally speak again, he said, "Sadira, you must go to Nok." "Nok?" she asked. "Where—"

  The old man grasped her wrist. "Listen! Take my cane, go to Nok in the halfling forests. Get the spear and kill Kalak. Tithian betrayed you, but the danger he showed Agis is real."

  "What about that danger?" Sadira asked. "Tell me."

  "Nok, he will—" He fell into another fit of coughing, and Sadira waited patiently for him to stop. She did not even try to suggest that the old man would survive. The lie would have been obvious to both of them, and she would not insult the man who had taught her magic that way.

  When Ktandeo stopped coughing, he motioned her close to him. "You'll learn the answer there," he said. "There is one other thing I must tell you, Sadira."

  She leaned over to hear his final words. "Yes."

  "Be careful," he said, gesturing toward the satchel that contained her spellbook. "If the templars hadn't come, I wouldn't have given that back to you. You're walking too close to the edge. Step off, and you will fall so far you'll never see the light again."

  With that, he gave one last cough and closed his eyes forever.

  TWELVE

  Asticles Wine

  Rikus didn't care much for Asticles wine. The pale golden color reminded him of something he'd rather not drink, and the tart, dry scent made his nose tingle. It had a thin, light taste that left him with a dry mouth, and after each swallow he had a thirst for something richer and sweeter. Still, compared to the fruit syrup doled out in Tithian's slave pits, Asticles wine was at least drinkable, and it was a lot more potent than its watery appearance suggested. Besides, drinking it made the gladiator feel like he was stealing something from a nobleman, and he liked that feeling.

  The big mul lifted his crystal goblet and asked, "How about some more?"

  "Have all you like. My master won't care," replied Caro, who had introduced himself as the valet of Agis of Asticles. The wrinkled old dwarf picked up a carafe and refilled the goblets of his guests.

  Rikus, Neeva, and Caro were in the western courtyard of the Asticles mansion, sitting on a pair of benches sheltered beneath a vine-covered bower. The bower stood upon a small patio-island located at the center of a deep pool. A narrow bridge ran from the island to the marble colonnade that ringed the pond, and the colonnade was in turn encircled by a granite privacy wall.

  Enormous lily pads covered the surface of the pond. Round, with upturned edges, they resembled green serving trays set out to float on the water. Between the pads drifted pink-hearted blossoms with pearly white petals.

  Every now and then, a flower bobbed once or twice, then Anezka's wooly-haired head appeared as she treaded water and gulped down a few lungfuls of air. The halfling had been in the pond since they arrived, when she had astonished both Caro and her companions by stripping off her dusty clothes and jumping into the pool.

  Rikus and his companions had spent the previous four days skulking about the desert, sneaking into faro orchards to ask directions of unguarded slaves. They had met with little success, for most fields were deserted, having been ravaged by scavengers or burned by marauders. On the two occasions when they had found someone the slave had mistaken them for raiders and had run off screaming the alarm. Finally the trio of gladiators had gone to the road, where they had ambushed a templar. He had told them what they needed to know in exchange for a mercifully quick death. After the four-day ordeal, Rikus was so tired and thirsty that he would have joined Anezka in the lily pond, had he known how to swim.

  "How will your master feel about a halfling bathing in his pond?" Rikus asked.

  Caro watched Anezka's small form slip beneath a lily pad, then smiled crookedly. "Don't worry about my master," the dwarf said. "If we wanted to, we could drink the last drop of his wine and swim in his pond for days. He'd never say a word to us, I promise."

  "Then here's to Agis of Asticles. May his fortunes prosper!" Neeva said, raising her goblet. When Caro did not match the gesture, the woman asked. "What's wrong? It's only proper to drink to your host's health."

  "To toast him would be to toast my bondage," the dwarf replied, his face unreadable.

  "There are worse things than this sort of bondage," Neeva said, waving her hand around the lavish courtyard. "This is paradise!"

  "Compared to our slave pits, perhaps," Rikus allowed, rolling his crystal goblet between two grimy fingers. "But slavery is slavery. I doubt that Caro's master views him much differently than he does this colonnade or his house. It's all property."

  Caro nodded. "I couldn't have put it better, my friend."

  "Forget I offered that toast," Neeva said, starting to empty her glass on the ground.

  Rikus grasped her wrist. "Don't waste the wine!" he said. "Slaves get too little of it. We just have to think of something better to toast."

  Caro lifted his glass. "To your freedom," he said.

  All three of them downed their wine in a single gulp. The dwarf refilled their glasses, then casually tossed the empty carafe into the pool. It landed on a lily pad and came to a rest in the center of the enormous leaf.

  "Have you given thought to where you'll go from here?" Caro asked.

  Rikus nodded. "After we find Sadira, we'll join a slave tribe," the mul said.

  "I'm afraid you may have to wait for quite some time before you speak to Sadira," Caro replied. "She's with Lord Agis in the city, and I
don't know when they'll return. Perhaps you should leave the message with me. I'll see that she gets it."

  Rikus shook his head. "We'll have to wait—"

  "We can't wait long," Neeva interrupted. "The cilops are probably already on our trail. If we're going to have any chance of escaping, we've got to keep moving—and get to the mountains before they catch us."

  "It's not fair to burden Caro with this particular message," Rikus said.

  Neeva met Rikus's eyes evenly. "Tithian's spy is watching Sadira. If Caro's here and Sadira's in Tyr, then Caro can't be the spy, can he?"

  "Spy?" Caro gasped, his jaw dropping. A moment later, he closed his mouth again. "How did you find out there's a spy in my master's household?"

  "That's a long story not worth the telling," Rikus said, far from anxious to dredge up memories of Yarig's dead: by discussing the gaj. "If you'll tell us where your master and Sadira are, we might reach her before we go to the mountains."

  "I'm afraid it would be impossible to find them. The last time I saw my master and Sadira, they were going to a rendezvous. They never returned," Caro explained, a sudden frown accentuating the deep crow's feet around his eyes. "I'm afraid something may have happened to them."

  "We're too late!" Rikus yelled, hurling his goblet across the pool. It smashed against the outer wall, causing a light tinkle of shattering glass to echo all around the colonnade.

  Neeva reacted more calmly. "How long ago was this rendezvous?" she asked. "Where was it to take place?" "Agis and Sadira disappeared three days ago," Caro reported. "Neither would say where they were going, but both were acting rather nefarious about the whole thing.

  I suspect their destination was somewhere in the Elven Market."

  Rikus stood. "That's where we're going.

  The old dwarf slipped off the bench and dropped to the ground. "I have something in the house that might help you."

  "What?" Neeva asked.

  Caro smiled. "It's a surprise," he said. "I'm sure you'll find it quite remarkable."

  After the dwarf left, Rikus and Neeva retrieved the weapons they had stolen during the escape from Tithian's estate. They secured the daggers to the belts of their breechcloths, then Rikus kneeled at the edge of the pool to catch Anezka's attention.

  Just as the mul glimpsed her form gliding toward him, several sets of thudding steps sounded outside the colonnade. Rikus looked up and saw the stout form of a half-giant blocking the arched entrance. His brown hair hung over his ears in long greasy strings, and he had a protruding brow set above a pair of drooping eyes. The half-giant wore a purple tunic emblazoned with Kalak's golden star, and in one hand he carried a polished bone club taller than a dwarf. The guard's thighs were as big around as the pillars of the colonnade, and he had to stoop to keep from scraping his head on the ceiling.

  "In the name of King Kalak, stand where you are!" the half-giant bellowed. His voice rumbled over the still waters of the pond and echoed off the opposite wall encircling the colonnade. As the guard lumbered toward the bridge, another half-giant, a little stockier and shorter than the first, stepped into the entrance.

  Anezka briefly stuck her head up from between a pair of the lily pads. When she saw Rikus's shocked expression and the half-giant guards, she slipped back beneath the water and disappeared beneath the floating leaves.

  "Neeva!" called Rikus, returning to his feet. "Hand me the—"

  The mul had spoken too late. Even as he reached for the spear, it whistled past his head. The shaft took the first half-giant square in the rib cage and sank to half its length. The guard dropped to his knees, then pitched forward onto his face.

  The second guard began to climb over the still body of the first. A third half-giant moved through the entrance and, upon seeing the blockage ahead, circled around the other way.

  Rikus searched the area beneath the bower for something to use as a weapon. Both he and Neeva had obsidian daggers, but the knives did not seem like effective weapons against half-giants.

  When the mul's eye fell on the bench, an idea occurred to him. He gave his dagger to Neeva, then nodded toward the closest half-giant. Rikus did not need to say a word for his fighting partner to know he wanted her to cover the attack he was about to make.

  The second half-giant finished climbing over his dead comrade, then stepped onto the bridge. Rikus wrapped his massive arms around the bench and picked it up, groaning with the effort. He turned toward the bridge.

  The half-giant stepped a third of the way across in one stride. "Stop!" he cried.

  Rikus charged, holding the bench like a battering ram. The half-giant grinned and lifted his club.

  From behind the mul, Neeva's dagger flashed overhead in a black streak. It hit the guard in the brow, striking hilt-first. It bounced harmlessly away and landed on a lily pad with a hollow thump. Nevertheless, the attack served its function—stunning the half-giant long enough to keep him from swinging his club before Rikus drove the end of the bench into the guard's chest.

  A great crack sounded from the half-giant's sternum. A heavy groan escaped his lips. He whirled his arms, and his club went crashing into the bower. With a tremendous bellow, the guard fell backward, slamming into a pillar. The marble column broke into the three pieces, and the half-giant landed among the sections, cursing and vowing vengeance.

  As the guard started to sit up, the roof collapsed, dumping half a ton of rubble on his head. His death cries were lost amid the thunderous clatter.

  Rikus dropped the bench and turned around. He saw that the third half-giant had decided against the bridge and was approaching the patio through the pond. Neeva already faced him. Armed only with a dagger, she was moving forward to meet him at the edge of the island.

  To one side of the bridge, Anezka emerged from the water long enough to grab the dagger that had fallen on the lily pad. Guessing that she intended to attack from under the water, Rikus retrieved the second half-giant's club and stepped to his fighting partner's side. When Neeva lifted her arm to throw her remaining dagger, Rikus laid a restraining hand on her wrist. "Not yet."

  "Maybe I'll get lucky."

  The mul did not reply, but held onto her throwing arm, waiting for Anezka's attack. When the half-giant lifted his club to swing at Neeva, Rikus finally released her.

  "Thanks a lot!" the blond gladiator exclaimed, preparing to dodge instead of throwing her dagger.

  The half-giant paused in mid-stroke. He stared at his feet, then screamed in pain. The guard plunged his hand into the water behind his ankle.

  Guessing that Anezka had severed the tendons at the soldier's ankle, Rikus swung his club at the half-giant's head. He made contact, but the shock jarred him to the soles of his feet and his hands went numb from vibration It felt as though he had struck a marble column instead of a skull.

  The only effect on the half-giant was to draw his attention away from his feet. "Now, Neeva!" Rikus yelled. "Throw your dagger!" The guard's massive fist shot out of the water and hit Rikus in the face. The mul tumbled a dozen yards across the patio and smashed into one of the posts supporting the bower.

  As Rikus struggled to focus his eyes, Neeva threw her dagger. It struck blade first, ripping a long slice in the guard's cheek. The half-giant roared and lifted his weapon to strike. Neeva threw herself in Rikus's direction.

  As the club smashed into the patio, the guard bellowed again, then reached into the water and grabbed at his other heel. He took a panicked step toward the colonnade. He stumbled and fell into the pond, spraying water and scattering lily pads everywhere. Rikus could see the half-giant flailing and clutching at the pillars to keep himself from drowning.

  A moment later, clenching her bloody dagger in her teeth, Anezka slipped out of the pond and went to retrieve her clothes.

  *****

  The bellowing and roaring of the battle inside the colonnade had reached even the faro fields surrounding the Asticles mansion. Agis and Sadira surmised that someone was fighting in the courtyard, but they could d
etermine little else.

  They crouched at the edge of a dusty field, staring over the coppery field of rockstem that separated the farm from the mansion grounds. The meadow was one of the most ancient features of the Asticles mansion, for rockstem was a leafless, hard-skinned plant that did not grow so much as accumulate in one place over the centuries, forming fantastic, twisted shapes.

  From across this tangled heath, the white marble colonnade looked like nothing more than a wing of the mansion. The two half-giants and the templar standing outside it were silhouettes the size of insects.

  The two watchers were protected from view by both the rockstem and the faro trees, but neither plant shielded them from the oppressive afternoon sun. Both Agis and Sadira were dizzy from the heat, and their throats were so swollen with thirst that they sometimes found themselves choking on their own tongues.

  They had been prowling about in the faro fields since mid-morning, when they had returned to Agis's estate from UnderTyr. After Ktandeo had died, a crimson knight had taken the old sorcerer's body inside the temple. Sadira had thrown the bronze disk by which the templars had been tracking them into the shrine, then she and Agis had crept away and hidden at the edge of the dark courtyard.

  Shortly afterward, the templar commander had ordered his men to storm the shrine. The crimson knights had met them at the entrances, and Agis and Sadira had taken advantage of the resulting battle to flee. They had retraced their path to the Drunken Giant. After finding the wineshop wrecked and abandoned, they had returned to Agis's house to gather supplies.

  Fortunately, Sadira had insisted that they take the morning to reconnoiter, reasoning that Tithian might well have ordered Agis's house watched. After several hours of waiting, it had become apparent that the half-elf's caution was warranted. Four figures, two tall and two short, had entered the colonnade. Agis had been able to identify the shuffling gait of one of the short figures as that of his manservant Caro. A short time later, Caro had left the colonnade and fetched five half-giants and a templar from main house. Three of the half-giants had gone into the colonnade, and that was when the fighting had begun.