That is not important. Now, what is it you want?' Amararl asked. 'We may not have-'
They were interrupted by the muffled voice of someone approaching the Black Portal.
'As you can see, Prince,' Malik was saying, 'all of the sculpting is being done by my slave Aris-when he is not busy on his statues, of course.'
Amararl and Gelthez looked to each other, their jewel-colored eyes sparkling with alarm.
'Prince?' Gelthez mouthed.
Their gazes dropped to the corpse between them, and Amararl mouthed some curse Aris did not understand.
'And should you decide to become a member of Malik's Temple of the One and All,' Malik continued, 'you will receive a discount of a quarter of the price on any of Aris's works you purchase.'
The sound of Malik's feet scuffing the stairs came through the portal. Aris glanced outside, but saw only the murky facades of the buildings across the square.
'A discount?' It was the wispy voice of Prince Yder. 'That does not seem much of a gift for the prestige I would bring by converting.'
Gelthez grabbed Karbe by the arms and started to drag him away, but the spreading pool of blood made vain any hope of concealing the corpse. Aris pushed the body back to the floor, then motioned the two Shadovar aside.
'Of course, the discount is only on purchases made after you become a worshiper of the One.' Malik's voice grew more distinct as he neared the top of the stairs. 'Once you have announced your conversion, it will be my pleasure to make a gift to you of any work you desire.'
'You are too kind.' Yder's voice was even colder and more sibilant than usual. 'I shall look forward to touring Aris's studio.'
Outside, the crown of the prince's head was just rising into view. Aris stood and dropped his hammer on Karbe. It hit with a resounding thud, obliterating all evidence of the murder in a spray of blood and bone.
The conversation outside fell silent
Aris dropped to his rump with a crash far louder than the sound the hammer had made, then braced his head in his hands. There was no need to pretend he was dizzy. His head was already reeling from rising and coming back down too fast
Malik rushed through the Black Portal. On his heels followed Yder, with a dozen gold-armored escorts close behind him. All eyes instantly fell on the mess beneath Aris's hammer.
'What is this I see?' Malik gasped.
Gelthez was quick with the answer, 'Aris did it!'
Aris glanced over and saw the Shadovar, trembling in fear of Yder, drawing his sword.
'Yes, that's what happened.' Amararl stepped to Aris's other side. 'He grew dizzy and dropped his hammer. It happened to land on Karbe.'
'Is that so?'
Malik studied the mess beneath the stone hammer and the pool of blood spreading across the dark floor. When he saw the chip Aris had dislodged earlier, he marched across the narthex, his eyes bulging and his finger wagging.
'Look what you have done to my floor, you clumsy giant!' He stopped and stood in the divot. 'If you would eat as I have commanded, you would have the strength to keep hold of your tools!'
Yder and his escorts followed Malik across the narthex.
'Aris is not eating?' asked the prince.
Malik cringed at his slip, then turned to face the prince. 'It is nothing to concern yourself with.' He tried to stop speaking there, but his face twisted into the bitter mask it made whenever Mystra's curse forced him to clarify a lie of omission. 'He will certainly perish if he does not eat soon, but that will only increase the value of the pieces you purchase before he is gone.'
Yder stepped past Malik to where Aris was sitting. Tall even for a prince of Shade, he barely had to tip his head back to meet Aris's gaze.
'Aris, why are you starving yourself?'
Afraid the prince would force an answer with the same magic Telamont used, Aris looked away and said the first thing that came to mind-well, the second, since the last thing he wanted to do was admit the truth.
'The food is not to my liking.'
'What?' Malik said. 'Have I not offered to prepare anything your heart desires? Have I not brought whole boars from your own home in the Greypeak Mountains and roasted them under your nose, only to see the entire beast vanish down a rubbish chute when you could not be enticed to eat one bite?'
Aris's mouth watered at (he mere memory of the smell.
'I have never been fond of swine.' His stomach growled its protest of the lie, but he added, 'I am more fond of yaddleskwee.'
'For the thousandth time,' Malik demanded, 'how can I serve yaddleskwee when you refuse to say what it is?'
This drew a sharp-fanged grin from Yder. 'I see,' he said. 'I think I know what this 'yaddleskwee' is.'
Aris gulped, sincerely hoping the prince did not. A favorite of fire giants, yaddleskwee was the food he most hated in the world. Somehow, he had just never developed a taste for pickled beholder brains.
'You do?' Malik asked.
Yder nodded. 'It is not that difficult to figure out.' He raised his gaze back to Aris and said, 'You refuse to eat because you are unhappy with Malik as a master.'
Aris breathed a sigh of relief, and nodded. 'He was once a friend-'
'As I am still! Had I not asked the Most High to make you my slave, who knows what would have become of you?'
Malik paused there, fighting against his curse, then continued, 'Though I doubt your fate would have been much worse, for Shade values your art too highly to execute you out of hand.'
Aris ignored the protest and said, 'But now he betrays me at every opportunity.' Aris glared down at Malik, and allowing the bitterness of his tone to give voice to his very real anger, said, 'And he betrays my art.'
'Betray your art? Ungrateful giant! How many times must I save your life before you show thanks?'
Malik met Aris's glare with a fierceness born of his own injured feelings-then he seemed to recall the prince he was trying to impress and grimaced, no doubt mortified at how badly matters were going. He took a breath and composed himself, then turned to Yder.
'Pay no attention to the prattling of a temperamental artist, Prince Yder. I will deal with my slave later-and I assure you he will eat.' Malik shot Aris a look of pure venom, then dared to touch the prince's elbow and gestured toward the nave. 'For now, however, allow me to show you the rest of the temple.'
Yder remained where he was and said, 'I think not' He glared down at the hand on his arm until Malik removed it, then looked back to Aris. 'It pleases me to hear you are unhappy in Malik’s service.'
Malik's eyes widened in alarm and he said, 'If you think you can steal my slave-'
'Silence.' Yder’s hand was on Malik’s throat, squeezing until it appeared the little man's eyes would pop from their sockets. 'When I wish to hear your obscene voice again, I will break something and let you scream.'
Given the shade of purple Malik’s face was turning, Aris doubted the seraph could have protested had he dared try.
Aris asked, 'Why should a slave's feelings interest a prince of Shade?'
Yder’s yellow eyes glimmered in amusement
'Because it would have been a great waste to eliminate you,' he said, 'and now I know you will not-'
The sentence ended in a screech as Malik drew the dagger he kept hidden beneath his robe and brought the curved blade up into Yder's wrist
The prince's hand opened, and Malik wasted no time gathering his wits or getting his breath back. He fled through the nave and vanished into the darkness between two columns.
Yder flung his arm forward, and showing no apparent concern for the hand flapping at the end of his bleeding wrist, cried, 'After him!'
Yder's escorts swept past in a dark rush, leaving Aris alone with his two guards and the prince. It was only a
