The templar fell forward, dying before he hit the ground and probably not aware of it. Caro, who had been talking to the man, stared at the body in confusion.
Sadira’s attack was more spectacular. She pointed the cane at the two half-giants, then spoke two words Ktandeo had once uttered when he used it: “Nok” and “Ghostfire.”
The obsidian orb flared a brilliant orange, then a thunderous boom rocked the field. A stream of fiery light shot from the cane and enveloped the two half-giants. Agis did not see what happened next, for in the same instant he felt a cold hand reach inside him and draw away a portion of his life energy. It was a feeling similar to the one he had experienced when Ktandeo used the cane, but many times stronger.
A tremendous shudder ran through the senator’s body. His knees buckled, then he crashed through a brittle rockstem formation and pitched face-first onto the ground. He rolled onto his side and looked toward Sadira, but otherwise he felt too nauseous to move.
The sorceress had sunk to her knees and was holding Ktandeo’s cane in both hands, staring at it with a look of indignation and confused astonishment. A faint scarlet light glimmered from the depths of the black pommel, squirming and crawling over the surface as if it were alive. The scarlet gleam slowly faded, and Sadira’s body swayed uncertainly. When the red light disappeared entirely, she toppled forward into a coppery fan of rockstem.
Agis forced himself to his knees and looked toward the mansion. Caro was staring at the ground where the half-giants had been standing only a moment before. The noble took his horrified expression as a sign that they would not have to worry about those two half-giants, at least.
Finding the strength to crawl to the sorceress’s side, Agis found her curled into a ball and gasping for breath. Her skin was as pale as bone, her face was haggard, and the luster was gone from her amber hair. Her eyes were focused on the old man’s cane, which lay in front of her.
The noble put a hand under her elbow. “Sadira? Can you hear me?”
The half-elf’s gaze slowly shifted to Agis’s face. She cried out in shock.
“What is it? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” she gasped.
Agis helped her to her knees. She continued to stare at him. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
Sadira shook her head and seemed to return to her senses. “No. Everything’s fine,” she said, brushing the hair around his temples. “You don’t see any gray streaks in my hair, do you?”
“No, of course not. Why?” Agis had no sooner asked the question than the answer occurred to him. He looked at the black-pommeled cane in shock. “That thing turned my hair gray?” he gasped.
“Just a few streaks, around the temples and the top of your head,” Sadira replied defensively. “It makes you look distinguished.”
Agis heard heavy footsteps approaching. He looked up to see a large mul dressed only in a breechcloth. Like all muls, this one had small, pointed ears, was completely bald, and below the neck appeared to be nothing but bulging muscles. He was unusually handsome for a man-dwarf, for his rugged features were generally well-proportioned and appealing. He had a sturdy brow with dark, expressive eyes, a proud straight nose, and a powerful, firmly set jaw.
Agis was about to ask Sadira if she knew the mul when the half-elf struggled to her feet. “Rikus!” she said, opening her arms to hug him as he rushed to her.
As they kissed, the noble winced inwardly. Though Sadira had made no secret of her feelings for the famous gladiator, Agis had not expected to meet him so soon-and he was certainly not prepared to deal with the jealousy he was experiencing.
After Sadira finally removed her lips from the mul’s, she asked, “What are you doing here?”
Rikus smiled at her, then, giving Agis a wary glance, leaned close to her ear and whispered. Feeling as though he were intruding, Agis rose to his feet and looked away.
Behind the gladiator, two women also approached from the colonnade. One was a full human almost as husky as the champion himself. She had pale, smooth skin and a full, firm shape. The other was the size of a child, with a head of wild hair and a wiry figure. Trapped between the two women was Agis’s manservant, Caro.
“We don’t have to keep secrets from Agis,” Sadira said, taking the noble’s arm and standing between him and Rikus. “He knows all there is to know about me.”
“Is that so?” Rikus asked, raising an eyebrow at the senator.
Sadira smiled coyly and let the mul’s question drop. “Rikus escaped Tithian’s slave pits to warn me about Caro,” she said, turning to the senator.
“That was very courageous,” Agis offered, uncertain as to whether he should greet the gladiator with the traditional double handclasp of the higher classes or dispense with it, as would have been appropriate with any other slave. He decided instead to wait for the mul to take the initiative. “You needn’t have troubled yourself, Rikus. We’re already aware of Caro’s treachery, and your escape comes at a most unfortunate time.”
The mul bared his teeth. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing, I assure you,” Agis said, raising his hands reassuringly. “It’s just that Sadira is safe with me, and you would have been more use to us where you were.”
Rikus reached out and grabbed the sorceress’s arm. “Well, now she’s safe with me,” he said. “I warn you, if you try to follow us, I’ll kill you.”
Sadira pulled free of the mul’s grasp. “Rikus, where do you think you’re taking me?”
The gladiator frowned. “We’re escaping,” he said. “You’re coming with Neeva and Anezka and me to the mountains.”
“I don’t need to escape!” the half-elf said. “Agis set me free. Besides, there’s someplace he and I have to go.”
Rikus’s face showed his disappointment. “Free?” the mul echoed, half-dazed. “He set you free, and you’re still with him?”
Sadira squeezed the mul’s hand and rose onto her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “It’s not forever, Rikus,” she said. “I told you, he and I have someplace to go.”
Rikus studied Agis, then returned his attention to Sadira. “We’ll come with you.”
“Thanks for offering, but we can get along fine ourselves,” Agis said.
“I wasn’t asking permission,” the mul insisted. “We’re going with you.”
“Rikus has a right to go along,” Sadira said, giving Agis an imploring smile.
“We’re going to have enough problems without Tithian’s slavehunters chasing us alongside his templars,” Agis said.
Sadira shook her head. “What’s the difference?” she asked. “Being hunted is being hunted. Besides, it won’t hurt to have three gladiators along, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Anezka could take us to Nok, whoever he is.”
The two women escorting Caro arrived at the gathering, putting an end to the debate. The blond, who Agis guessed to be Rikus’s well-known partner Neeva, glanced at Sadira’s grip on the mul’s hand and sighed.
Without commenting on the affectionate hold, she turned her attention to Agis. “This belongs to you, I think,” she said, shoving the aged dwarf at him. At the same time, the halfling held out a square crystal of green olivine, and Neeva added, “He’s a thief as well as a traitor. Anezka caught him trying to slip this into his pocket.”
Agis took the green crystal from the halfling. “This doesn’t belong to me,” he said, examining it closely.
The noble was startled by the sound of Tithian’s voice in his ears. “How many times must I tell you to hold the crystal away from your eyes?”
Raising an eyebrow, Agis obeyed the command. A tiny image of Tithian’s face appeared inside the crystal. As the high templar’s sharp features came into focus, his jaw slackened. “Agis?”
The noble nodded. “Yes, Tithian. It’s me.”
“How did you get Caro’s crystal?” Tithian asked. “You’re supposed to be trapped inside the Temple of the Ancients!”
“We escaped, no thanks to you,” Agis said bitterly. In his peripheral vision, he could see everyone except Caro staring at him as if he were mad.