The Darkness Before the Dawn (Dark Sun: Chronicles of Athas 2)

"In my experience, there are two reasons for seeking knowledge," Kitarak said. "Simple curiosity and thirst for understanding is one, and lust for the power that knowledge can bring is the other. Which is your reason for seeking a mentor?"

"I-don't think it's either one," Kayan said.

"Neither one! How can that be?"

"I've already got the power," Kayan said. "I just want to find out how to use it better."

Kitarak clicked excitedly. "Aha, you dodge the question. Why do you want to use it better?"

"Because!" Kayan said in exasperation. "I don't like being ignorant. It's frustrating and it's dangerous."

"Good," Kitarak said. "Indeed, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You have a certain wisdom about you. It's crude and unpolished from too little introspection, but you do understand the basic issue. How about you, young Jedra? Wh

at are your reasons for seeking a mentor?"

"Power," Jedra said immediately. "Greed. I want to rule all of Athas with an iron fist."

"Do not take up gambling. You lie poorly," Kitarak said, but he turned away and left Jedra alone, which was what Jedra wanted.

All the same, as they hiked on toward the afternoon sun the tohr-kreen's question hung in his mind. Why did he want to learn more about psionics? It wasn't just because his power was dangerous; he could simply stop using it if that were the case. No, there was definitely an allure to it that kept him coming back. Especially when he and Kayan joined minds. Every time they had done so it was because of some emergency or other, but he yearned for the time when they could do it for the sheer joy of the union. To share their thoughts and their emotions-to share everything that made them who and what they were-without fear of repercussions.

Even after he'd met Kayan, he hadn't thought of love. Circumstance had made them traveling companions, even bondmates, but even so they hardly knew each other. Could they... ?

No, their attraction was purely mental. It couldn't be love.

Then he remembered the kiss their first night alone in the desert, and the one the following day. How could he have forgotten that? He'd seen enough in his years on the street to know that a kiss-or even much more than that-didn't mean someone was in love, but it was one more piece of evidence in a growing list. He and Kayan seemed to argue a lot for lovers, but Jedra had seen that before, too. It wasn't impossible...

He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he plowed right into Kitarak's bulbous abdomen when the tohr-kreen stopped suddenly. He nearly fell over, but managed to catch himself on Kitarak's pack.

"Sorry," he said, blushing. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Obviously," Kitarak said. "Fortunately, I have been. We are entering flailer territory, so be on sharp lookout."

"What's a flailer?" Jedra asked.

Kitarak rasped his arms again. "How did you make it this far into the desert on your own? A flailer is a six-legged beast with a hard shell that looks like a rock. When it hears you coming, it positions itself near your path, pulls its legs and head inside its shell, and waits for you to stumble into its backside-excuse me, they seldom find prey that stupid, so flailers wait for their prey to approach and attack when it draws close enough."

Jedra blushed even harder. He hated looking like a fool in front of Kayan, especially now when he thought he might be in love with her.

She didn't seem to notice. "They look like rocks?" she asked. The land around them was littered with reddish-yellow rocks of all sizes, from gravel to ones as tall as Kitarak.

"Yes," said Kitarak. "Just like rocks. And don't let that fool you into thinking they're slow. They're not, and they have claws on all six legs, plus a beak that could rip your fleshy little throats out in a second."

Jedra looked beyond Kitarak. The land ahead looked no different than what they had been traveling through all afternoon: stones as far as the eye could see. What made this particular area so special? He could see no reason why a flailer-if such a beast existed-would prefer the stretch ahead of them to the one behind them. He was about to ask Kitarak how he knew when he thought of another explanation.

Maybe it was all flailer territory around here, and Kitarak had just spotted one. He seemed determined to test Jedra's and Kayan's abilities; maybe this was another trial.

Jedra focused on the path ahead of them. Was anything watching them from out there? Anything dangerous? He concentrated on a waist-high boulder a few hundred feet away. Nothing. Beyond that was a jumble, so he tried nearer to where he stood. How about that big one to the right, or that little one just in front of it? He moved his attention from rock to rock, getting nothing, nothing, nothing-something. And only thirty feet away or so!

He bent down and picked up a fist-sized rock in each hand. "Like that one?" he asked, then he flung one of the rocks over Kitarak's head toward the boulder with personality. The rock glanced off the side of it with a hollow thunk, and the boulder suddenly sprouted legs and a beaklike head on a long neck. It hissed angrily and took a step toward them, but when Jedra threw his second rock and whacked its shell again it backed away.

Kitarak made his rasping noise again. "Don't be too proud of yourself," he said. "It could have attacked us even at this distance."

"Then why did you stop so close to it?" Jedra asked. "You knew it was there."

The tohr-kreen shuffled from foot to foot, his pack squeaking madly. He obviously didn't want to answer. Had he planned to lead them past it and see what they did when it attacked? Jedra didn't like that thought. He picked up another couple of rocks and tossed them toward the flailer, careful not to hit it this time. He just wanted it to know they hadn't forgotten about it. It hissed again, then turned around and lumbered away.

Kitarak bobbed his head in an exaggerated parody of a nod. "Point taken," he said. "I will remember that." He began walking again, making a wide circle around the flailer.