and tear. Or I might have been branded....

I banished the memory with the powerful exorcism; the man in Daillon
whose anticipation, alone, of a torture which never came, had broken his
mind. There was only one way to conquer this, and that was to act as if
the present moment was the only one, and never for a moment to forget
that the strongest of compacts bound them not to harm me, that the end
of this was fixed by sunset.

Gradually, however, all such rational thoughts blurred in a semidelirium
of thirst and pain, narrowing to a red blaze of agony across my shoulder
blades. I eased up on my toes again.

White-hot pain blazed through my feet. The rough stone on which my toes
sank had been covered with metal and I smelled scorching flesh, jerking
up my feet with a wordless snarl of rage and fury, hanging in agony by
my shoulders alone.

And then I lost consciousness, at least for several moments, for when I
became aware again, through the nightmare of pain, my toes were resting
lightly and securely on cold stone. The smell of burned flesh remained,
and the painful stinging in my toes. Mingled with that smell was a drift
of perfume close by.

Dallisa murmured, "I do not wish to break our bargain by damaging your
feet. It's only a little touch of fire to keep you from too much
security in resting them."

I felt the taste of blood mingle in my mouth with the sour taste of
vomit. I felt delirious, lightheaded. After another eternity I wondered
if I had really heard Dallisa's lilting croon or whether it was a
nightmare born of feverish pain:

_Plead with me. A word, only a word and I will release you, strong man,
scarred man. Perhaps I shall demand only a little space in your arms.
Would not such doom be light upon you? Perhaps I shall set you free to
seek Rakhal if only to plague Kyral. A word, only a word from you. A
word, only a word from you...._

It died into an endlessly echoing whisper. Swaying, blinded, I wondered
why I endured. I drew a dry tongue over lips, salty and bloody, and
nightmarishly considered yielding, winning my way somehow around
Dallisa. Or knocking her suddenly senseless and escaping--I, who need
not be bound by Wolf's codes either. I fumbled with a stiff shape of
words.

And a breath saved me, a soft, released breath of anticipation. It was
another trick. I swayed, limp and racked. I was not Race Cargill now. I
was a dead man hanging in chains, swinging, filthy vultures pecking at
my dan