Dark Sun: Prism Pentad 4 - Obsidian Oracle (18 page)

Once Kester allowed Agis to return to his own feet, he realized that he had been knocked a
short distance down the passage. By the dim glow of the burning bow, he saw the bear's
huge silhouette a few yards away. The beast had collapsed on its stomach, its lifeless
muzzle buried beneath the dust and its immense bulk blocking the exit to their small
passage. So completely did the creature fill the grotto that only a few feet remained
between its back and the ceiling.

“Sorry to let ye do all the fighting,” Kester said. Beneath the silt, her hand was still
on the noble's elbow. “But by the time I got myself out of the silt and cleared my lungs,
ye were under the damned beast, and I didn't want to startle it.”

“It was a remarkable battle,” said Tithian, moving into the light of the burning bow. The
king, shorter than either Agis or Kester, barely managed to hold his chin above the silt.

“Where were you hiding during the fight?” Agis demanded. He winced as a fresh bolt of pain
flashed through his body. “A little magic might have been helpful.”

“And interfere with such an artful display? Never,” Tithian replied. “I saw Rikus kill a
half-dozen bears during his time in the arena, and not one of those kills was as clean as
yours.”

Agis narrowed his eyes, but he saw no point in commenting on the king's cowardice.
Instead, he said, “Let's get Nymos and go.”

“We can go,” said Tithian. “But there isn't much of Nymos to take along.”

“What do you mean?” Agis asked.

Kester's eyes grew sad, and she shook her head. “The bear's first blow took us amidships,
right where he was sitting.”

“If you want to bring him along, you'll have to collect the pieces first,” Tithian added.
He moved past the noble and picked the jozhal's tail off the other side of a stalagmite,
then offered it to Agis. “Personally, I don't think its worth the time.”

“Let's hope the dwarves are as kind to you as the bear was to Nymos,” Agis spat. The noble
slapped Tithian's hand away and turned to see if he could climb over the bear's corpse.

It was then that he saw two huge eyes in the shadows between the bear's spine and the
cavern ceiling. “I'm afraid we have company,” the noble whispered. Of its own accord, his
free hand dropped to his empty scabbard.

“So I see,” said Tithian. He was already reaching for his enchanted satchel.

Kester grabbed the plunging pole and stepped forward. “Mind yer own business, beasty!” she
growled, thrusting the tip into the gap.

The eyes vanished, then a mighty groan rumbled through the cavern, and the bear's carcass
started to slide back into the larger passage, filling the air with billowing clouds of
dust.

“Bad men!” growled a familiar voice. “Kill bear!”

The jaws of the three colleagues fell open, then Agis cried, “Fylo? Is that you?”

The bear stopped moving. “Me Fylo,” came the muffled reply. “So?”

“Do you know who this is?” Agis called.

“Bear killers,” the giant returned, again tugging on the bear. “Fylo take you and throw
you into Bay of Woe.”

“This is your friend, Agis.”

The pink-gleaming eyes appeared in the gap beneath the ceiling. “Agis? What you doing
here?”

“Don't answer that,” Tithian whispered, pulling a glass rod from his satchel.

Fylo's eyes darted to the king's form, then they narrowed angrily. “Tithian!”

The eyes disappeared. An instant later, a long arm shot over the bear's back and tried to
pluck Tithian from the dust channel. Kester quickly raised a dagger and jabbed it into a
huge fingertip. Fylo's muffled voice uttered an angry curse, then he pulled his hand away.

“You and I are supposed to be friends, Fylo!” Agis yelled. “Is this how friends treat each
other?”

“Good,” Tithian murmured, fingering the glass rod in his hands. “Draw him out. All I need
is one chance.”

Agis pushed the king's hand down. “No.”

“Tithian not friend,” Fylo said, peering back over the bear. He had pulled the carcass far
enough into the larger cavern so that he could push his entire head into the gap, albeit
sideways. “And maybe Agis not friend, either. Why kill Fylo's bear?” The giant's cavernous
nostrils twitched as he sniveled in remorse.

“If you're my friend, why did you let your bear attack me?” Agis countered.

Fylo furrowed his sloped brow, then said, “Fylo didn't know it was Agis.”

“And we didn't know it was your bear,” Agis replied. “We were just minding our own
business when it attacked. We had no choice except to defend ourselves.”

Fylo considered this for a moment, then said, “You invade bear's den. Him just defending
home.” The giant frowned and began to withdraw.

Before the giant's face disappeared entirely, Kester quickly asked, “What are ye doing
living with a bear, anyway?”

Fylo pushed his head forward again. This time, there was a proud smile on his lips. “Fylo
becoming Saram-Bawan Nal's own clan,” he explained. “But first, Fylo need new head-big
one, since him full-grown. So Fylo make friends with bear, ask him to trade heads.” As the
giant came to this last part, a sad frown crept across his lips, then he groaned, “But now
bear dead. Fylo not join Saram. Him have nowhere to go-again.”

The giant slumped down on the other side of the bear and fell silent.

Tithian came to Agis's side. “We don't have time for this,” he whispered, holding his
glass rod up. “Get that dimwit to show himself again. I'll take care of him so we can get
on with our business.”

“I know you'll find this hard to believe,” said Agis, “but I don't betray my friends.”

Tithian shook his head in disbelief. “Pardon me,” he sneered. “I didn't realize your taste
in friends had become so bad-though I suppose I should have, given your penchant for the
company of ex-slaves and dwarves.”

“I find it preferable to that of kings,” the noble replied coldly.

Tithian's eyes flashed in anger. “That's your choice, I suppose,” he said. “But if you're
not going to kill this dimwit, at least get rid of him so we can get on with our business.”

“I don't think that would be wise,” said Agis. “In fact, I think it would be better if I
talked with him for a while. Otherwise, he may decide that it's his duty to report us to
the Saram.”

“Which is why you should let me kill him!” whispered the king.

Ignoring the king, Agis waded forward and grabbed the bear's ear, then used it to help him
climb onto its shoulders. The effort sent daggers of pain shooting through his ribs, and
blood began to ooze from the dust-caked wounds on his torso.

“Fylo, I'm sorry about killing your bear.” the noble said. In the flickering firelight
spilling through the gap from the burning bow, the noble could barely make out the giant's
bulging eyes. “Is there anything we can do to make up the loss to you?”

The giant glumly shook his head. “No.”

“If you take the bear back to the castle later, maybe you can still trade heads with it,”
he suggested.

Fylo looked up. “Bear too heavy for Fylo to carry.”

Tithian suddenly stepped over to the bear's head. “Maybe I can help,” he said. “With my
magic, I can lift it for you. It would be difficult, but I could do it- if you showed us
the way through these caves and into the castle.”

The giant looked at the king as though he were mad. “Fylo can't do that,” he said, shaking
his head. “Caves don't go into castle. They go down, under Bay of Woe.”

“What?” demanded Kester. “We heard there were caves inside the castle!”

The giant nodded. “Yes. Magic caves,” he said. “Very pretty, in different kinds of
rock-not like these caves.”

“That's it, then,” the tarek groaned. “We'll never get my ship back.”

Agis breathed a silent sigh of relief. The noble wanted to get inside the citadel as much
as Kester and the king, but he would not use his friend to achieve that goal. If Fylo
helped them get inside and the Saram found out about it, the giant would certainly meet an
unpleasant end.

Tithian kept his eyes fixed on the giant, then said, That's no trouble, Fylo. I don't need
to take the bear through the caves."

“Don't, Tithian,” Agis said. “I won't allow it.”

The king smiled up at him. “Won't allow what, Agis?” he asked. “All I'm saying is that I
can take Fylo's bear into the castle through the gate.”

“Really?” the giant asked, a hopeful light in his eyes.

“Yes,” the king replied.

The giant's expression changed from hopeful to sad. He shook his head sadly, then said,
“Bawan Nal say bear must volunteer to trade heads. If bear dead, him can't volunteer.”

“Are you saying Nal expects you to lead a live bear into his castle?” asked Tithian,
climbing up the beast's snout to join Agis. He took a seat on the other shoulder blade.
Kester remained below, shuffling through the silt in search of the valuable floater's dome.

.' Fylo nodded. “Yes. Him say bear must come by itself.”

“And then what happens?” inquired the king.

“Magic. They cut bear's head off, then they cut my head off, and we change,” said the
giant. He lifted his chin proudly, then he added, “After that, Fylo beast-head.”

“I see,” said Tithian. “And you've seen this ceremony performed? You've actually seen a
Saram let Nal chop his head off?”

Fylo frowned. “No.”

“So you haven't seen him replace it with a beast's head, either?” the king asked.

The giant shook his head. “No, not yet.”

“But of course you're going to,” Tithian said. “I mean, before you let him chop your own
head off.”

Fylo looked concerned. “Why you ask?”

“Don't pay any attention to him, Fylo,” said Agis, disgusted by Tithian's efficiency in
planting such cruel doubts in the giant's head. “All you have to do is find another bear,
and I'm sure everything will be all right with the Saram.”

“Yes, I'm sure it will,” said Tithian, nodding a bit too eagerly. He looked at Agis, then
said, “You know me. Always ready to think the worst-but if I were going to change my head
for that of a beast, I'd want to see the ceremony performed on someone else first.”

“You think Bawan Nal tricking Fylo?” the giant roared.

“Don't listen to him, Fylo,” Agis said, grabbing the king by the collar. “He's trying to
take advantage of you-”

“Not at all,” objected Tithian, patiently disengaging himself from the noble's grasp. “I'm
just trying to protect our friend. If I were Nal, I'd want to convince everyone that Fylo,
as big and brave as he is, isn't smart enough to be king. I'd make sure they knew it by
playing a cruel joke-”

The word
joke
had hardly even left the king's mouth before Fylo rolled onto his knees and, bellowing in
rage, gave the bear an angry shove. Agis and Tithian threw themselves flat, clutching at
its bony armor to keep from being scraped off its back.

“Fylo!” yelled Agis. “Stop!”

“No!” thundered the giant. He rolled away from the carcass and started to crawl into the
larger cavern. “Fylo mad! Been tricked enough. Go kill Nal!”

“You can't do that!” called Tithian. “He's inside his castle-and he has too many warriors!”

“Not stop Fylo!” he shouted over his shoulder. “Fylo too strong and brave. Him chase Nal
out of castle.”

As the giant disappeared into the darkness, the clatter of shifting rocks echoed through
the huge cavern, punctuated by the occasional snap of one of the bones or timbers
littering the floor of the chamber.

“See what you've done?” Agis growled, crawling toward the bear's rear quarters. “You
should have let me handle this my way-without lying or playing off his fears.”

“How was I to know he'd go mad?” countered the king. “Besides, can you be sure I'm wrong
about Nal?”

The noble did not answer. Instead, he slid down the bear's backside and onto the floor of
the larger cavern. The silt here was no more than waist-deep, though the sloping floor
beneath seemed much more broken than had the one in the smaller passage.

“Fylo, wait!” Agis yelled, his voice echoing through the huge chamber. “How do you know
Nal is tricking you?”

“Everybody always tease Fylo,” came the reply, well ahead and to the noble's left.

“Not me,” Agis called, wading after the giant. He stumbled on a submerged rock, but caught
himself before he fell. “I've always been honest with you, haven't I?”

The echo of clattering stones fell silent, suggesting the giant had stopped crawling.
“That true,” said Fylo. “You never play joke on Fylo.”

“Then maybe Nal isn't, either,” said the noble. “If you attack him, you might be hurting
someone who really is your friend. You won't know until you test him.”

A timber cracked as the giant turned around. “Test?” he called. “How?”

“Perhaps Tithian and I can make the bear look like it's still alive,” Agis said. “We can
take it into the castle.”

“What for?” the giant asked.

“We'll see how Nal reacts to seeing you and the bear,” Agis explained. “If he isn't
surprised at your return and prepares the ceremony, we'll know he was telling the truth
about changing heads.”

“Nal get mad when him see bear is dead,” Fylo objected.

“No,” Agis replied. “I'll be very close to you. When I know Nal wasn't tricking you, I'll
tell you a secret about the Joorsh that will make him happy with you-just like I did when
I told you about the Balkan fleet.”

If he had to keep this promise, the noble would harbor no guilty feelings about betraying
Mag'r's plan. Because he and his companions had agreed to go along with the sachem's plan
only under the threat of the direst consequences, Agis did not feel honor-bound to do as
the giant demanded.

“That good,” said Fylo. “But even if you make him happy, Bawan Nal still kill you and your
friends. Him not like little people on Lybdos.”

“Thanks for worrying about our safety,” Agis replied. “But after you tell Bawan Nal the
secret, you aren't responsible for what he does. That's between him and us.”

“If Agis want,” Fylo agreed. “But what if Nal playing trick on Fylo-like Tithian say?”