Cale grabbed the easterner by his hair and said, 'Anything about you starts to change, and I start cutting off limbs. Hands, then arms. I'll get creative after that.'
Jak figured Cale was acting but still felt nauseated.
'I'll wait out here and keep watch,' he said.
'Suit yourself,' Riven said.
Cale nodded at him and said, 'Stay alert. I don't think they'll be back, but we can't be sure.'
Jak nodded, feeling numb while he watched Riven and Cale carry the struggling easterner into the barn. He thought Riven might actually have been whistling.
He hoped it was an affectation to unnerve the easterner, but Trickster's Toes if he could be sure.
Cale struck a tindertwig, shot Jak one more glance, and pulled the doors shut behind them.
Jak moved away a bit and sat atop an overturned feeding trough, careless of the rain. He tried not to think about what might occur only a short distance away.
He prayed that Cale could get the information without resorting to torture. In his minds' eye, he imagined the screams. Chills ran along his spine. The rain did nothing to wash away the filth he felt clinging to his soul.
From within the barn, he heard voices. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to abide.
'Sometimes good people have to do hard things,' he muttered. 'Sometimes good people …'
A few rusty farm implements and barrels lay strewn about the otherwise empty room of the farmhouse. Riven propped the bound easterner on a barrel in the exact center of the room. Exposed. Vulnerable.
Cale stared holes into the man.
Riven pulled another barrel over and placed it in front of the easterner. The assassin pulled a black leather bag from somewhere. Looking at the easterner meaningfully, he began to remove the contents-blades, wedges, nails, tongs, a poker, a hammer-and placed them atop the barrel. The easterner's eyes went as wide as coins.
Seeing those tools made Cale's legs go weak. To Riven, he said in Amnish, 'That's not the play, Riven.'
The assassin smiled evilly, as though Cale had suggested a use for the implements.
'We'll see. How do you want to go at him?'
'Ask and answer,' Cale replied. 'I'll ask.'
Riven gave a nod, picked up one of the blades, and ran his thumb along its edge.
'I'll answer,' the assassin said.
He glared at the easterner with ice in his eyes and a razor in his hand.
Cale could see the fear in the easterner's face, though he tried to hide it.
Riven walked around the easterner, out of his sight. Cale could imagine the fear that must have instilled. The man tried to squirm around, but his binding held him fast.
Cale looked into the easterner's face.
'I don't know what you are,' he said.
Riven was suddenly at the man's side, whispering in his ear, 'Doesn't matter.'
'I only know the situation you're in,' Cale continued.
Riven let the razor play along the easterner's face, just below his eye.
'And it ain't good,' he said with a smile.
Cale paced in front of the man, keeping his voice cordial. 'You can heal, we know that.' He stopped pacing, as though a thought had just occurred to him, and he looked into the easterner's face. 'Do you know what that means?'
Cale could see from his expression that he did.
'It means we can cut you,' Riven said. 'And cut you, and cut you, and you won't die.' He nicked the easterner's face below his eye. The man winced, but bled only for a heartbeat before the wound closed. 'Not ever.'
Cale had to turn to keep the disgust from his face. He could see that Riven was enjoying it, and he knew what would happen if he turned Riven loose on the man. He didn't know if he could allow that. He prayed that he would not have to make the decision. For the time being, though, he had to play it out.
'You know who we are, so you know what we'll do,' said Cale. 'There will be no end to the pain until you tell us what we want to know.'
Riven reached out, and took another tool from atop the barrel. The easterner's eyes followed his every move.
'Flay,' he whispered into the easterner's ear. He put that tool back and chose a saw-edged blade. 'Slice.' He picked up a pair of tongs. 'Rip.'
Cale let the easterner's imagination work, let him feel Riven's presence beside him. The room smelled of fear. He decided that the time was right to make himself the easterner's friend, the only thing standing between him and a madman with a knife.
'I've seen him work before,' Cale said apologetically, indicating Riven. 'If you won't talk to me … then you'll have to talk to him.'
Riven grinned, circled the easterner the way a vulture circles a dying man.
Moving methodically, staring at the easterner throughout, Cale removed his mask from his cloak and donned it.
Outside, thunder rolled.
Cale spoke the words to a spell that would allow no lie to be spoken within the room.
'If you attempt to lie,' he said. 'I will know.'
The easterner strained against his bonds. Riven, behind him, took his head between his hands and squeezed. The easterner froze. Riven looked to Cale expectantly.
Cale cast a second spell, one that would magnify the fear the easterner already felt. The instant Cale voiced the final syllable, the easterner's eyes went wide and began to dart around. Cale advanced on him. The man grunted, nearly fell over in his terror. Caught between Cale and Riven, he put his chin in his chest, moaned, and began to rock.
Cale hoped that he was coherent enough to answer. He felt uncomfortable putting the man into a state of terror but figured it was better than turning him over to Riven.
'You will have only one chance to answer my questions. Do you understand?'
The easterner grunted acquiescence around his gag.
'Remove his gag,' Cale said.
Riven did, but said, 'Say a word that even suggests a spell, and I take your tongue.'
Cale knew that Riven meant what he said. His spell would not allow a lie to be spoken.
Cale stood over the easterner and asked, 'What is the sphere?'
'I don't know,' the easterner blathered. 'I don't know.'
Riven cuffed him in the head and asked, 'Why does the mage want it?'
'To transform himself.'
'Into what?' asked Cale. 'How?'
'A shade,' the man said. 'By binding with the shadowstuff at the Fane of Shadows … Shar's temple.'
Cale and Riven shared a look. Cale had never heard of the Fane of Shadows.
'Where is this Fane?' Cale asked.
Terror kept the easterner's tongue loose. 'At the Lightless Lake, in the Gulthmere, not far from Starmantle.'
Cale did not know the Lightless Lake, but he knew of the Gulthmere-a brooding, ancient forest on the Dragon Coast.
'Why does he wish to become a shade?'
The easterner looked at him as though he was stupid, even through the fear.
'To make himself ageless,' the man explained, 'immune to disease, able to regenerate wounds. Why else?'
Cale understood. Vraggen was prepared to trade his humanity for power. It didn't surprise Cale. He had seen men behave as less than humans for much less than immortality. For the moment, he put it out of his mind, kneeled down, and stared the easterner in the eyes.
Cale asked, 'What are you?'
