help me.” Kayan stepped back out of the creature’s hearing, pulling Jedra along by his sleeve. “It’s desperate,” she whispered to him. “It’ll say anything to get our water.”
Jedra looked back at the enormous mantis, its black eyes reflecting no readable emotion as it watched them decide its fate. “Yes,” he whispered to Kayan, “but that doesn’t mean he’s lying, does it?”
“What, you believe it knows where there’s a well? Why didn’t it use it before?”
Jedra noticed she was saying “it” rather than “he” in reference to the thri-kreen. Was she trying to keep from thinking of it—of him—as a fellow intelligent being? Jedra couldn’t do that. He didn’t want to do that. He said, “Maybe he collapsed before he could get there.”
“Hah. It seems pretty unlikely that it’d get this close and then give up. I think it’s lying.”
The setting sun cast long shadows among the broken stones littering the courtyard. Jedra wondered how they would find their way back out of this maze with only one moon and the stars to guide them. And where would they go if they did?
“So you want to just leave him to die?” he asked.
She sighed. “What else can we do? I wasn’t lying; we don’t have enough water for ourselves.”
Jedra nodded. “Then why are we whispering? To spare his feelings?”
Kayan clenched her fists. “I—” I don’t care about—You’re a healer. You could no more watch him die than you could kill him yourself with this spear. Jedra hefted the b’rohg’s weapon for emphasis. You’re trying to talk yourself into it, but it’s not working.
Don’t go putting words in my mouth, Kayan said. I could let it die in an instant if I had, to. I’m just trying to decide if I have to.
Jedra pulled off his pack and took his waterskin from it. There was only a swallow left, hardly enough to gurgle when he shook the skin. Kayan’s waterskin held no more than his, he knew. I don’t think it’s really going to make much difference, he said. You said it yourself; we don’t have enough water to do us any good anyway. But a thri-kreen doesn’t need much water to survive. What toe have left could revive him, and he could help us find more. He talks like he knows this place; who knows, maybe there really is a well.
Maybe. And maybe it just wants us to revive it so it can use us for food They eat elves, remember? I’ll bet it wouldn’t turn down half-elf, or even human in its present state.
I don’t sense any danger from him, Jedra said. Not even when I try to imagine him healthy again. He tried to think about it logically, though. Thri-kreen were carnivores, true enough. Is there any way to tell psionically if he’s telling the truth? he asked.
She nodded. Yes, if you know how to do it. Unfortunately, that’s not one of my skills.
Oh.
Just one more reason why we need a master to train us. With our combined power we should be able to find out what he had for breakfast three years ago, but we don’t know how.
Jedra sloshed his waterskin. Then we’ll have to do it without psionics.
Kayan stared past his shoulder at the insectile creature. It stirred feebly, then quieted again. Finally she shook her head. I don’t know how I let you talk me into these things, but all right, let’s try it. We certainly don’t have much to lose.
When the thri-kreen saw them returning with their waterskins, it croaked, “Your generosity… will be returned… a thousandfold.”
“I’ll settle for full packs and a guide out of the desert,” Jedra said as he held the waterskin up to the thing’s mandibles. It took him a moment to figure out how to pour the water without spilling any, but there was no hurry. He dribbled a few drops at a time into the creature’s hard mouth and let them run down the back of its throat.
When his waterskin was empty he took Kayan’s and poured its contents into the thri-kreen’s thirsty mouth as well, then handed the empty skin back to her. She held it up to catch the last drops on her tongue, then put it away in her pack.
They didn’t have to wait long for the water to take effect. The thri-kreen lay back for a couple of minutes while the pulsations in its abdomen grew stronger, then slowly, deliberately, it put its four hands down on the ground and pushed itself erect. Its