Galaeron would have smiled at Malik’s cleverness, had the answer itself not filled his head with so many terrible images. The bones in his broken hand began to throb, and he thought of the crimson stain Dove had placed on it and how he would explain that to Telamont Tanthul.
The water arrived, and without leaving any for Galaeron, Malik led the soldiers carrying it over to his friend Aris. Clariburnus seemed to take delight in watching Galaeron lick his lips as he watched the little man trickle it down the giant's throat. Finally, Telamont Tanthul returned from his gift-making, and seeing where Galaeron's attention was fixed, motioned him to his feet.
"Come, you must be thirsty as well-and curious about your friend's condition."
He waited for Galaeron to rise, then placed an icy sleeve across Galaeron's shoulders and started toward the giant.
"I'm sorry for the difficult journey," Telamont continued. "It was my intention to bring you here in a more pleasant fashion, but you know dragons… I fear Malygris and his consorts may have been somewhat rougher on you than necessary. That young blue you killed in the Saiyaddar?"
Galaeron nodded, scarcely able to believe that the Most High was speaking to him as though he had just returned from a short trip outside the enclave.
"It was one of theirs," the Most High explained, just as they reached Malik and the water barrels and stopped. 'To tell you the truth, you're lucky you made it here at all. They kept giving us beholders and asabis and demanding that we help hunt down the murderers."
Galaeron's throat grew even drier. Blue dragons were not particularly family oriented, but he had talked to enough of them while serving along the Desert Border South to know that it offended their sense of magnificence to have a warm-blood kill a wyrm of their own line.
"Then I'd say we were very lucky," he said.
"We arranged something," said the Most High. He lifted an empty sleeve and pulled an ebony dipper out of the shadows, then filled it with water and passed it to Galaeron. "They really can't tell the smell of one moon elf from another, and it was a simple matter to sneak the hide into a camp one night"
Galaeron found the water going down the wrong passage and choked, spraying it out in a cone of silvery droplets.
"You didn't!"
"What choice did you leave me?" Telamont said. His voice had assumed that cold levelness it acquired whenever he struggled to contain his temper. "They kept bringing gifts, and I could hardly tell them it was you."
Galaeron looked at the empty dipper and wondered if he dared fill it again. Having tasted water, he could think of little except his thirst, but he had seen Telamont in moods like this and knew how risky it could be to presume in his presence.
On the other hand, what was the worst the Most High was going to do? Certainly not kill him, and angering him might make it easier for Galaeron to resist his will. He refilled the dipper and drank.
Telamont watched, platinum eyes burning with fury, but his empty sleeves folded calmly in front of him.
When Galaeron had finished, he asked, "Good?"
Galaeron met the shadow lord's gaze and smacked his lips.
"Have another." Telamont took the dipper and refilled it, then passed it back and said, "I insist."
Galaeron found himself gulping the water down like a drunkard breaking a long abstinence. Once the dipper was empty, Telamont took it and refilled it.
"You left Arabel with a caravan bound for Iriaebor, did you not?"
"That's so, but we were bound for Evereska." Galaeron told the lie quickly, trying to get it out before Telamont's will began to press down on him and force the truth. 'To join the fight against the phaerimm."
Telamont passed the dipper back to Galaeron, and again he found himself gulping the stuff down as though it might evaporate before he could finish.
"That is what our agents suggested, and yet Yder's point troubles me. What was it he said?"
Before Galaeron could answer, a pair of yellow eyes appeared in the darkness behind Telamont.
"That starting a beggar's riot does not seem a very good way to sneak out of a city."
Yder's gaunt face took form around his golden eyes, then he emerged from the shadows and stood at father's side.
"I also thought it strange," Yder added, "that they announced their departure by selling all of the giant's work."
Yder glanced over at Aris, who lay stretched out on his back, unaware of his surroundings, with Malik kneeling astride his chest dribbling dippers of water onto his cracked lips.
Telamont refilled Galaeron's empty dipper, and Galaeron began to gulp it down. He was no longer thirsty-he could already feel Alustriel and Dove sloshing around inside, banging off the walls of his stomach-but he could not stop himself from gulping it down as he had all the others.
"Had they needed the coin for their journey," Yder continued, "I would put this down to necessity."
"But if they needed the coin, why give it all to the beggars?" Clariburnus asked. "Something here stinks like the sulfur pits of Careen."
Telamont refilled the dipper. Though Galaeron's stomach was already so bloated it ached, he found himself reaching for it.
"It does sound odd, does it not?" The Most High pulled his hand away and asked, "Perhaps you care to explain it?"
Again, Galaeron forced the lie out before Telamont's will had a chance to compel the truth. "The statues earned more than we expected."
His fingers touched the dipper's handle, but Telamont did not let him take it.
"Is that so?" Telamont asked.
He released the dipper, and Galaeron began to pour more water into his swollen stomach. He was already in pain, but his mind insisted that he was as thirsty as before. Stopping was out of the question.
Telamont waited until Galaeron was finished, then refilled the dipper and held it in front of him. Though Galaeron felt like he might vomit up what he had already swallowed at any moment, and spill Alustriel and Dove on the Most High's feet, he wanted that water. He ached for it in the way he ached to touch the Shadow Weave, in the way a suffocating man aches for air.
"There was too much," Galaeron said. "We couldn't carry it"
Telamont continued to hold the dipper away, but remained silent. His will began to press down on Galaeron, and this time Galaeron could think only of how thirsty he had been crossing the desert and how much he wanted that water, of how badly his stomach hurt already, of how good it would feel when he drank that last dipper and finally grew so full he had to bring up everything he had swallowed.
He heard himself saying, "Besides, Prince Yder is right. We wanted to be captured."
This drew a smirk from Yder and a flash of interest from the Most High. Telamont allowed Galaeron to take the dipper, then watched with the purple shadow of a smile as the contents vanished down the elf's throat. Galaeron felt water sloshing in his throat, and his jaws began to ache.
Telamont took the dipper and refilled it, and Galaeron found his hand reaching for it yet again. Telamont held the handle away and remained silent. The weight of his will was crushing, and Galaeron could think of nothing but his aching jaws, his bloated stomach, and his overwhelming thirst.
"We came to rescue Vala," he said.
"You see?" Malik was up and sliding off Aris's chest, flinging water in all directions as he gestured with his dipper. "My excellent plan worked!"
Telamont remained silent and continued to hold the dipper out of reach. Galaeron felt the shadow lord's will crushing down on him, trying to force out the rest of the truth. He clenched his jaws and thought only of Evereska and his loyal friend Aris, of how the giant and the Chosen were risking so much to help-and there was his mistake. A dark voice arose inside him, reminding him of the blood on the Chosen's hands, telling him they could not be trusted, whispering of necessary trade-offs and secret bargains with the phaerimm.