Her voice was ragged, croaking. ‘May you one day choke on that dust, little man.’
Tanal smiled. ‘“Little”. You seek to wound me. pathetic effort.’ He walked over to a chest against the wall to his right. It had contained vise-helms, but Tan; had removed the skull-crushers, filling the chest witi flasks of water and dried foodstuffs. ‘I shall need to bring down buckets with soap-water,’ he said, drawing out the makings of her supper. ‘Unavoidable as your defecation is, the smell and the stains are most unpleasant.’
‘Oh, I offend you, do I?’
He glanced over at her and smiled. ‘Janath Anar, a senior lecturer in the Academy of Imperial Learning. Alas, you appear to have learned nothing of imperial ways. Although, one might argue, that has changed since your arrival here.’
She studied him, a strangely heavy look to her bruised eyes. ‘From the First Empire until this day, little man, there have been times of outright tyranny. That the present oppressors are Tiste Edur is scarely worth noting. After all, the true oppression comes from you. Letherii against Letherii. Furthermore-’
‘Furthermore,’ Tanal said, mocking her, ‘the Patriotists are the Letherii gift of mercy against their own. Better us than the Edur. We do not make indisctiminate arrests; we do not punish out of ignorance; we are not random.’
‘A gift? Do you truly believe that?’ she asked, still studying him. ‘The Edur don’t give a damn, one way or the other. Their leader is unkillable, and that makes their mastery ahsolute.’
A high-ranking Tiste Edur liaises with us almost daily-’
‘To keep you in rein. You, Tanal Yathvanar, not your prisoners. You and that madman, Karos Invictad.’ She cocked her head. ‘Why is it, I wonder, that organizations such as yours are invariably run by pitiful human failures? By small-minded psychotics and perverts. All bullied as children, of course. Or abused by twisted parents-I’m sure you have terrible tales to confess, of your miserable youth. And now the powet is in your hands, and oh how the test of us suffer.’
Tanal walked over with the food and the flask of water.
‘For Errant’s sake,’ she said, ‘loosen at least one of my arms, so I can feed myself.’
He came up beside her. ‘No, I prefer it this way. Are you humiliated, being fed like a babe?’
‘What do you want with me?’ janath asked, as he unstoppered the flask.
He set it to her cracked lips, watched her drink. ‘I don’t recall saying I wanted anything,’ he replied.
She twisted her head away, coughing, water spilling onto her chest. ‘I’ve confessed everything,’ she said after a moment. ‘You have all my notes, my treasonous lectures on personal responsibility and the necessity for compassion-’
‘Yes, your moral relativism.’
‘I refute any notion of relativism, little man-which you’d know had you bothered reading those notes. The structures of a culture do not circumvent nor excuse self-evident injustice or inequity. The status quo is not sacred, not an altar to paint in rivers of blood. Tradition and habit are not sound arguments-’
‘White Crow, woman, you are most certainly a lecturer. I liked you better unconscious.’
‘Best beat me senseless again,’ she said.
‘Alas, I cannot. After all, I am supposed to free you.’
Her eyes narrowed on his, then shied away again ‘Careless of me,’ she muttered.
‘In what way?’ he asked.
‘I was almost seduced. The lure of hope. If you are supposed to free me, you would never have brought me down here. No, I’m to be your private victim, and you my private nightmare. In the end, the chains upon you will be a match to mine.’
‘The psychology of the human mind,’ Tanal said, push-ing some fat-soaked bread into her mouth. ‘Your speciality. So, you can read my life as easily as you read a scroll. Is that supposed to frighten me?’
She chewed, then, with a struggle, swallowed. ‘I wield a far deadlier weapon, little man.’
‘And that would be?’
‘I slip into your head. I see through your eyes. Swim the streams of your thought. I stand there, looking at the soiled creature chained to this rape-bed. And eventually, I begin to understand you. It’s more intimate than making love, little man, because all your secrets vanish. And, in case you
. were wondering, yes, I am doing it even now. Listening to my own words as you listen, feeling the tightness gripping your chest, that odd chill beneath your skin despite the fresh sweat. The sudden fear, as you realize the extent of your vulnerability-’