“Without hopes and dreams, foolish or not, there can be no life,” Ryana replied.
“Ah, yes, of course,” Valsavis said. “The vain hopes and dreams of all preservers, that one day Athas will be green and live again.” He grimaced. “Take a look around you, priestess. You have traveled clear across the Tablelands from your convent in the Ringing Mountains, and you have crossed the Great Ivory Plain. You have seen Athas firsthand. Just what are the odds, do you think, of this desolate, desert world ever being green again?”
“So long as people believe the way you do, Valsavis, and think only of themselves, the odds are very slim,” Ryana replied.
“Well, then at least you have learned that much practicality,” Valsavis said. “As you learn more, you will find that most people think only of themselves, for in a world as harsh as this, there is neither the time nor the luxury to think of others.”
“Indeed,” said Sorak. “I wonder why you stopped to help me, then.”
“It cost me nothing,” said Valsavis with a shrug. The elfling was being very clever, using the priestess to draw him out. He would have to watch himself more carefully. “As I said before, it provided an interesting diversion on an otherwise uneventful journey. So you see, Nomad, as it turns out, I was really only thinking of myself. If it had proved an inconvenience for me to stop and help you, rest assured I would have passed you by without a qualm.”
“I am truly comforted by that thought,” said Sorak wryly.
Valsavis grinned. “Well, as things turned out, your companionship has served me well. A new adventure beckons, with the promise of wealth that will see me through my old age in comfort. I think that I shall build myself a new home, perhaps even right here in Salt View. Or perhaps I will take permanent rooms at the Oasis. A man could do much worse. I will be able to afford the constant company of beautiful young women to take care of me, and I shall never have to worry about where my next meal is going to come from. I may even buy the Desert Palace, so that I may amuse myself by ordering about that sly rasclinn of a manager and have a place where I can always come for entertainment free of charge.”
“It might be more prudent to find the treasure before you start to spend it,” Ryana said.
“What,” said Valsavis, raising his eyebrows in mock astonishment, “and give up all my hopes and dreams?”
Ryana shook her head. “You can be a most irritating man, Valsavis,” she said.
“Yes, women often find me irritating,” he replied. “At first. And then, despite themselves, they find that they are drawn to me.”
“Truly? I cannot imagine why,” Ryana said.
“Perhaps you will soon find out,” Valsavis said.
She gave him a sharp glance. “Now that,” she said, “would fall into the category of foolish hopes and dreams.”
Valsavis grinned and gave her a small bow. “Well struck, my lady. A good riposte. But the match is not yet finished.”
“For you, it ended before it could even begin,” she said.
“Did it, now?” Valsavis said. “Is that so, Nomad? Have you already staked your claim?”
“I have no claim upon Ryana,” Sorak said. “Nor does any man on any woman.”
“Indeed? I know many men who would dispute that curious assertion,” said Valsavis.
“No doubt,” said Sorak. “But you might try asking women.”
“When it comes to women,” said Valsavis, “I generally do not make a habit of asking.”
“That I can believe,” Ryana said.
Suddenly, Sorak stopped and put his arm out to hold back the others. “Wait. It seems that we have company,” he said.
They had entered the small plaza with the well, beyond which lay the bellaweed emporiums. Four shadowy figures stood at the far end of the small plaza, blocking their way. Eight more had entered the plaza from the alleys to either side, four from the left, four from the right.
“Ah, what have we here?” said Valsavis. “It would appear that the night’s entertainment is not yet over.” He drew his sword.
“Smokers in pursuit of means to buy more bellaweed?” wondered Sorak.
“No, not these,” Valsavis said. “There is nothing listless in their movements. And they seem to know what they’re about.”
The men stood, surrounding them. One of the four in front of them spoke. “One of our hunting parties failed to return to camp,” he said, immediately solving the question of who they were. “We went out to search for them and soon discovered why. We found their bodies, and then followed the trail left by their assassins. It led us here. We also found the stable where their kanks were sold. The man who purchased them was .. . persuaded ... to provide a detailed description of the sellers. Curiously enough, they looked a great deal like you three.”
“Ah, so then those were your friends that we butchered back there?” said Valsavis.
“You admit it?” the marauder said with some surprise.
“I am not especially proud of it,” Valsavis said with a shrug. “They barely gave me cause to work up a good sweat.”
“Well, I think we can manage to exercise you somewhat better,” the marauder said, drawing his obsidian sword with one hand and his dagger with the other. “After all, we are not asleep.”
“Nor were your friends when we killed them,” said Valsavis. “But they sleep now, and you shall join them soon enough.”
“Kill them,” the marauder said.
The bandits started to converge on them, but Valsavis moved with absolutely blinding speed. Almost faster than the eye could follow, he drew a dagger with each hand and flung them out to either side. Two of the marauders fell, one on the left, one on the right, even as they were drawing their weapons. Each man had a dagger through his heart. Neither of them even had a chance to cry out.
But as quickly as Valsavis had moved, Sorak moved even faster, except it wasn’t Sorak anymore. The Shade had come storming up from his subconscious-dark, malevolent, and terrifying, charging toward the four men at the far end of the plaza.
For a moment, they were too startled to respond. There were a dozen of them against three. And suddenly, in the space of an eyeblink, two of their number had fallen, and instead of being the attackers, they were being attacked.
The first thing the four men at the far end of the plaza realized was that one of their intended victims was actually charging them. And then, in the seconds before he was upon them, they realized something else, as well. They realized what it meant to be absolutely terrified. Death was coming at. them. The feeling was sudden, inexplicable, and overwhelming. They went cold, and it was as if a huge fist had grabbed each of them by the guts and started squeezing.
They had no way of knowing that the Shade was a unique and horrifying creature, that basic, primal, bestial instinct contained subconsciously within all men, only in this case, fully developed into a discrete persona-and capable of intense, psionic, emotional projection. The Shade literally instilled terror.
Two of the marauders began to back involuntarily away as the Shade charged across the plaza toward them. They were still in that momentary state, between full realization of what they were feeling and running in blind panic, when their leader shoved them forward, yelling, “Get him, you fools! He’s just one man!”
For an instant, the spell was broken, and then, even as it took hold once again, it was too late to run. The juggernaut charging across the plaza was upon them, and they suddenly found themselves fighting for their lives. The only trouble was, their obsidian weapons shattered with the first stroke against the stranger’s blade.
Valsavis tried to step forward to protect Ryana, but she merely shoved him aside and said, “Take the ones on the right!”
As she moved toward the three marauders on her left, Valsavis directed his attention toward the three on the right. They had already moved to within striking distance, and they were infuriated that he had already killed two of their number. Since the Shade’s projection was not being directed at them, they attacked Valsavis without hesitation.