Troy Denning - The Verdant Passage

“I’m safe enough with that between us,” the half-elf replied, gesturing at the iron gate. His words were slurred. “Besides, my guards have all passed out. Not enough to do in this tedious compound, so they drink too much.”

“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 you-you 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 never-”

“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 believe-that 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 to 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 Sadira-whatever they are-have 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 halfling 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. “But I have in the last few days.”

Rikus furrowed his hairless brow and shook his head.

“If-”

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.”