Pryde grabbed her by the neck and raised her high into the air so that her head brushed against the roof of the cavern. "I ought to kill you right now," he said. Samantha felt lightheaded, stars exploding before her eyes as Pryde cut off the air to her lungs. He hurled her against the wall again and then stomped down to where Prudence lay. "But I think I'll kill the pig first."

"No! Don't hurt her. I promise I won't do anything else. I'll be good," she said.

Pryde didn't seem to hear her. From his belt he took a second knife, smaller but no less dangerous. He held the knife over Prudence's throat as she continued to lay unconscious. Samantha crawled towards him, but she knew there was nothing she could do. At the last moment Pryde raised the knife and instead of slitting Prudence's throat, he hacked off her bun. He stuffed the ball of hair into a pouch on his belt. "I've wanted to kill this one for so long," he said. "I don't know why the rev insists on keeping her around."

"If you don't like Reverend Crane, why don't you kill him and do whatever you want?" Samantha asked. She stopped crawling towards Prudence and settled herself against a wall to rest.

"I owe the rev. Some of us believe in loyalty."

"But you don't believe all this about The Way, do you?"

Pryde gave another of his dry-leaf chuckles. "Heaven and Hell don't interest me." He held up his knife and waved it at Prudence. "But it makes my job easy. Keeps everyone in line."

Pryde reached into another compartment of his belt for a silver flask. He unscrewed the top and took a sip, throwing his head back as he did so. Then he stood and walked over to Samantha. She thought he might finish her off, but instead he offered her the flask. "Take a sip. Just a sip."

"What is it? Poison?"

"I'm tired of carrying you." He held the knife within an inch of her throat. "Drink it."

Samantha took a cautious sip and tasted the same sweet water as she remembered from the gruel. "What is this?" she asked. "Some kind of magic potion?"

"You'll find out soon enough." He snatched the flask from her and stuffed it back into his belt. When he turned around, she saw the knife wound had healed. She felt a tingle in her ankle and got to her feet without pain.

Before she could think about running away, Pryde slammed her against the cavern wall. He held his knife over her ear and in one deft motion sliced off her braid. "A souvenir," he said with a satisfied grin. "Now, see if you can wake Fatty and we'll pay a visit to the rev."




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