She nodded.
“Fine. None of what I said means anything.”
I paused to see how anxious she was to hear me talk. She must have been fairly antsy, because after a couple of seconds, she snapped, “Go on, then! If I like your answer, I might bring you to my master with most of your parts intact.”
“Here’s the truth, then. You want to live. You want to kill me. Maybe killing me is your only goal. But I don’t have goals, and I don’t merely want your life. I crave your life. I hunger for it, and that’s all there is.”
“How do you get that?” She clenched her teeth.
I shrugged a little and went on like I was commenting on tonight’s beer. “Kill when it will do the most good.”
“What does that mean, you smug turd?”
“Know that your killings are pure and good. Know it in every part of you. Later, you’ll understand that you were wrong, that all the killings were just selfishness that didn’t do a single good thing. But it won’t matter what you understand. You’ll have made yourself into a killer, and you can’t unmake that.”
Leddie whispered, “How long did that take?”
“Oh, about ten years.”
She stared at the ground and mumbled, “I don’t have ten years.”
I showed her my teeth. “Well, that’s a damn shame.”
Leddie stared at the stars.
I snickered. “Woman, did you believe all that bullshit? Hah! I didn’t even have a magic glass to wave around! I’m astounded by your gullibility.”
I figured she’d be pissed and maybe kick me some more. But I hoped she’d be so enraged she’d do something stupid. I didn’t expect the woman to beam down at me like I was her favorite sweetheart. “I could kiss you! I could mount you if we had some privacy! Now I know I’ve made the right decision.” She turned without spouting any more craziness and walked back to the tent.
After a few moments of silence, Pil whispered, “I don’t want to make light of your morality and guilt problems, but can we figure out how to escape before they kill me? Please?”
“Hush for . . . wait! Pil, you’re a sorcerer. Can you do anything immediately helpful?”
The closest soldier swung around to peer at us. I hissed at Pil and then held my breath. It was a useless act, but my repertoire of useful acts had grown thin. After ten seconds, he walked off closer to the fire and sat on the ground, rubbing his hands to the heat.
I whispered, “All right, Pil, go ahead.”
Pil whispered, “No. If I had time, I could enchant this chain so I can kill you better with it, but not tied up in the dark on my butt.”
With plenty of leisure and materials to work with, a Binder was a horrifying enemy. I once saw a Binder stab a powerful sorcerer and his two bodyguards to death with a spoon she had enchanted for that purpose. However, it had required two days, a forge, and ninety silver coins to create that spoon.
I nodded even as I told myself she couldn’t see me. “Fine, just be ready to kick somebody and run like hell. Now, be silent while I plan.”
Pil wasn’t silent. “I can break my thumb if I need to. I mean, I obviously don’t want to, but if it will help us get away.”
“Harik’s ass, why?”
“To get out of the manacles.”
I wished she could see how disdainful I looked. “That’s mighty sweet of you. Whoever told you to break your thumb to escape manacles is an asshole who hates you. You’ll end up in manacles with a broken thumb. Now, be still.”
No matter what Leddie claimed, I felt confident she didn’t know everything about me. If she did, she’d have made a more vigorous effort to crush my toes. Sorcerers pull and direct magical power with their hands, or really their fingers, and that’s how I generally did it too.
However, I had once been temporarily without my fingers for most of a year, and I had taught myself to use magic with my toes. My toes were now out of practice, and I had never done magic with them while my boots were on, but that wasn’t the moment for doubts.
I wiggled my toes in what I hoped was a mystical manner. The boots did constrict them a bit. After a couple of minutes, I tried with the toes on the other foot, without success. Maybe now was the moment for doubts.
The soldier who had glanced at us earlier still sat by the closest campfire. I called out, “Hey!”
The man sighed. “Shut it, finger-waver.”
“Come here! I have some information.”
“Of course you do. I have a dong that whistles.” He spat into the fire.
“Really! Come here! Do you want the sergeant to get the credit?”
The soldier stood and trudged toward me. “Come here? Come here? I’ll come there and kick in your teeth. What’s this gold-plated information?”
“Well,” I said, lowering my voice, “it does have to do with gold. Is the captain sharing that giant lump of gold with everybody?”
He squatted down near me and grunted, “Shut it.”
“Unfair, right? I have some more gold that I’ll give you if you do a service for me.”
“Where is it? In some whore’s britches?”
“I have it here. Just a service.” I held my breath.
“Right, what?”
“When they unchain us, ‘accidentally’ let my friend loose.”
The man rubbed his nose and cheek. “Sure, easy. Where’s the gold?”
“Thank you! Thank you!” I thought I might be too obvious, but he seemed as stupid as a knothole. “I keep a gold coin hidden in my right boot. An imperial wheel.”
The soldier latched onto the boot, yanked it straight off, and upturned it. The hypothetical coin did not fall out. “Where is it?” He shoved the boot in my face.
“It’s not there? Harik, I hope it didn’t fall out. I’m sorry!”
“Cheap, lying piece of crap!” Then he stomped my unshod right foot.
I had assumed the soldier would kick, punch, or stomp me. I wished he
