wore. She was much better dressed than when she had been taken to the arena. She glanced around. Her cell was cleaner, too.
Her focus narrowed sharply. Was she mistaken about the intentions of the Straken Lord? What was going on?
She looked at Weka Dart. «If you don't stop lying to me and tell me the truth,' she said softly, «I might have to use my Straken magic on you, Ulk Bog.»
He grinned, showing all his sharp teeth. «That might be a little difficult, since you wear a conjure collar.»
He seemed to realize his mistake almost immediately, a change coming into his eyes and the self–satisfied look fading as his lips compressed in silent reprimand. «Conjure collars are not unknown to me,' he said quickly. «I've seen them before.»
In truth, she had forgotten about the collar until he reminded her of it, but he didn't know that and she wasn't about to tell him so. She held herself very still and continued to stare at him.
«I don't know who you are or what you want, Weka Dart,' she said finally, «but you haven't told me one word of truth since we met.
This has all been a game for you, a game in which you seem to know all the rules while I know none. If you know what a conjure collar is, you know too much to be just a simple village creature traveling to a new part of the country. If you know how to bypass the Straken Lord's guards, you have skills and knowledge that suggest you are something more than you pretend. I have had enough of you. Either tell me the truth or leave me here to rot.»
She held up one finger as he started to speak. «Be careful. If you are about to tell me another lie, think twice. I don't have much left to call my own, but I do have my sense of what is true and what isn't. You don't want to try to take that from me.»
The Ulk Bog stared at her. Wary eyes studied her uncertainly; deep creases etched his wizened face.
He shook his head. «I don't know how much I should tell you,' he said finally.
She sighed. «Why not tell me everything? What possible difference can it make now?»
«More than you think. Difference enough that I must consider carefully. You are right about me. You are right about my story. But you are in a stronger position than you believe. You have something I want. All I have to offer in exchange is the truth—and perhaps a way out of here. I can give you the one for the other. But 1 am afraid you will refuse me when you hear what I have to say. I am afraid you will hate me.»
He spoke with such sincerity that for the first time since she had met him she was inclined to believe what he said. She did not understand how all that could be, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that he had said he might be able to help her escape. At that point, she would do anything, — make any bargain, agree to any conditions to gain her freedom. Because if she remained where she was, she knew she was lost.
But she couldn't let him know that. She couldn't let him see her desperation. Giving Weka Dart that sort of power over her was too dangerous. He would take advantage of her as quickly as Tael Riverine had.
She took a deep breath. «Listen to me. You came here with the intention of trading or you wouldn't have come here at all. My word is good, Weka Dart. I keep my promises. So I will give you one now. If you tell me the truth about yourself, I will tell you if I can forgive you for your lies. Then you can decide if you still think it's worth it to try to trade what you want for my freedom.»
She hauled herself to her feet and with some effort stumbled over to where he stood. «What's it to be, little Ulk Bog? A bargain or a good–bye? I don't really care anymore.»
He stared at her some more, his yellow eyes nicking left and right, up and down, scanning the whole of her face, but never settling on any one part. She could see a glimmer of doubt and fear mirrored there. But she could also see hope.
He nodded. «Very well, Grianne of the many promises. I will tell you, even though I think all Strakens lie.» He spit again and shook his head. «I know who you are and where you come from. I always did. I know because I was Catcher for Tael Riverine before Hobstull was. I would be Catcher still if the Straken Lord hadn't decided I had lost my skills. He was wrong, but there is no arguing with a Straken. So he replaced me. But not before he humiliated me in ways I will never discuss, so don't ask it of me.»
He swallowed hard. «He took me in when I was driven from my tribe for eating my young. He cared nothing for any of that, only for what I could do for him. He recognized my skills and offered me a place at Kraal Reach as his Catcher. He knew that I would accept, that I had to because I could not survive alone and unprotected in the world of the Jarka Ruus. He gave me what I needed, but then he took everything back when he cast me out. So I vowed that I would take everything from him in turn.»
His voice grew fierce. «The plans to bring you here have been in place for some time. Tael Riverine would swap you for his changeling creature, the Moric. Easy enough for a Straken of his power. I decided to disrupt his plans by getting to you first, which I did. I intended to take you away from him, to steal you out from under his nose. I intended to embarrass Hobstull and reveal him to the Straken Lord as a failure! Then I would produce you and regain my rightful place!»
He was breathing hard, his eyes become narrow slits, his throat working rapidly as he sought to gauge her reaction. She gave him nothing, listening blank–faced and empty–eyed, her talent as the Use Witch resurfacing from where she had kept it buried for twenty years. Soeasy to call it up again, she thought. Soeasy to go back to being what I was.
«My plan failed when you refused to come with me,' Weka Dart continued. «Failed completely. I tried everything. But you were so insistent on going your own way! And I couldn't change your mind without giving myself away!» He shook his head. «So I let you go. I said,If that is what she wants, then give it to her! See bow well she does without you! Walk away from the Straken and nothing is lost! I wasn't going to risk my life following after you when I knew what would happen. Hob–stull was looking, and it was only a matter of time until he found you. He didn't know exactly where you would appear, only that you would. But I knew! I knew, because I have always been better able to read the signs of such things! I have always been the better Catcher!»
He spit the words out and flung himself away from the cell bars, dropping to the floor in a crouch, refusing to look at her. She watched him for a moment, her mind working through the choices his revelations had given her.
«Weka Dart,' she said.
He stayed where he was.
«Look at me.»
He refused, turned away, and hunched down.
«Look at me. Tell me what you see in my eyes.»
Finally, he turned just enough to glance over his shoulder and make momentary eye contact, then looked away again.
«I am not angry with you,' she said. «You did what I would have done if our positions had been reversed. In fact, once upon a time, when I was a different person living a different life, 1 did things much worse to others than what you have done to me.»
He looked back at her once more.
«I don't hate you,' she told him.
«You should.» His teeth clicked as his jaws snapped shut.
«My hate is reserved for others more deserving and less forthcoming about their efforts to see me dead and gone.» She gestured for him to come back. 'Tell me the rest of what you know.»
He stayed where he was a moment longer, then sighed, rose, and came back to stand in front of her. «You don't hate me? If you were free, you wouldn't try to kill me?»
She shook her head. «I don't hate you. Even if I had the chance to do so, I wouldn't try to kill you. Now tell me the rest. Do you know the Straken Lord's plans?»
The Ulk Bog nodded. «I was here at Kraal Reach when he was making them.» He looked closely at her. «You still don't know what he intends? You haven't seen the way he looks at you?»
She went cold all the way to her bones, the little man's words conjuring up an image that froze her blood. «Tell me.»
«He has been testing you to see if you are a suitable vessel to bear his children. He wishes to mate with you.»
