Death Sworn(32)

Irun laughed. “I don’t think so. This is a good opportunity for the two of us to talk.”

Ileni tried to look past him, to see if anyone else was coming. The entrance to the cavern was empty. It was just her and Irun in a room full of glistening knives.

With an effort, she hung onto her haughtiness, though she doubted it would fool him. “Talk about what?”

Irun’s smirk made her attempt seem infantile. “Two weeks before you arrived, Teacher, I returned from a successful mission. Do you know who I killed?”

She didn’t trust her voice, or her expression. She shook her head.

“The high sorcerer at the emperor’s court.”

She blinked, shocked despite herself. Irun shifted position and nodded. “Nobody truly believed it could be done. Certainly not that I could do it and survive. But Absalm’s lessons . . . they came in very handy.”

“Did you kill Absalm, too?” Her voice shook, which she hated, but Irun obviously liked. His eyes glittered.

“No. Nor Cadrel. And I won’t kill you, either, if you cooperate.”

“With what?”

“Next time I kill a sorcerer, I don’t want to just take his life. I want to take his power.”

Ileni choked. Irun waited, with exaggerated patience, for her to regain her composure. Then he added, “I want you to tell me how to do it.”

“I don’t know how!”

“That’s . . . unfortunate.” His disbelief was palpable. “Because it means you serve no purpose here.”

He moved with swift, brutal efficiency. All at once she was flat on her stomach on the stone floor, her wrist screaming in pain, her face crushed into the black stone.

“Perhaps your successor will be more amenable,” Irun said, stepping back.

Her mouth filled with pieces of grit. She pulled up her power, but it was so little, so weak.

This would make three Renegai killed in these caves. She wondered who the Elders would send next.

“None of the Renegai know how!” She pushed herself up from the ground, craning her neck back to look up at him. “Taking magic from others is evil. Only the imperial sorcerers practice that sort of perversion.”

“Perversion? My, what strong language.”

“Hunting down those with power, breeding them as slaves, keeping them in cages, and harvesting them for their magic? That’s how the Empire gathers its power. We don’t—we would never—” She had to stop talking then, because she had run out of air and couldn’t seem to draw in another breath.

Irun laughed, a harsh triumphant sound. “I don’t believe you. When one of your sorcerers dies—of old age, of course—you let his power die with him? You don’t transfer it to another sorcerer, or into a lodestone?”

“No.” She had to croak the word out, but she was past caring. “We let our people die in peace.”

“You waste their deaths, you mean. And none of you are tempted, is that it? None of you ever think about what you could do with your power multiplied by two, or three, or four. . . .”

Ileni rolled over and sat up. “No.”

“You’re lying.” Irun leaned forward. Despite herself, she cringed. Irun noticed, and smiled. “But I suppose I’ll wait and see what the next tutor says.”

“The next one?” Again, she couldn’t quite hide the sob of fear. Not that it mattered. “Do you think my people will keep sending tutors if we all meet the same fate? The master won’t be happy with you if you cause us to break the treaty.”

His face twitched. With one stride, he stood over her. “You don’t understand much about us, if you think I would ever risk interfering with the master’s plans. Your people will do whatever we tell them, or risk annihilation.”

“Did your master command you to do this?” Ileni said desperately. There had been a slight hint of hesitation there, when she brought up the master. Very slight, but it was her only hope.

“The master expects us to think for ourselves. Most of our missions are half a world away from him. What he needs—what we strive for—is to understand what he would want even when he isn’t there to tell us.” Irun laughed softly. “When he commands, of course we obey. But the best of us obey even before he commands. I know what he wants. He brought me to these caves to do just this.” He leaned back slightly and kicked her in the ribs.

Agony exploded through her chest. She groaned and fell over on her side, curled up into a ball. Irun knelt beside her. “The pain makes it difficult to call up your power, doesn’t it?” he said, and closed one hand over her mouth, clamping her jaw shut. He placed his other hand on her forehead and slowly, inexorably, tilted her head back.