He came to a corridor and saw a light burning in a small side chamber of the cave. He walked there, entered the room, and saw dozens of statues, beautifully carved of clay, perched on every shelf of rock and all over the floor. But as he looked more closely, he saw that all the statues were marred, smoothed here and there, the detail lost. Who would deface such marvelous work? Deface it, and yet keep it here as if it were a secret treasure trove?
Then at last he noticed a statue high up and far back from the fight, a statue larger than the others, and un-marred. It wasn't the perfection of the detail work that made him stare, however. It was the face itself. For unlike the others, which were all either animals or gargoyles, this was a head of a human. And he knew the face. He should. He had seen it in every mirror since he became a man.
Now the footsteps came closer, not scurrying, but slowly, respectfully. He felt a small hand touch him on the thigh. He did not look; he did not need to. He knew who it was.
Except that it was only in the dream that he knew. In fact he had no idea who it might be, and he tried to make his dream self turn, look down, see who or what had touched him. But he could not make his own head turn; he could not make himself bend over. In fact, he was bending backward, and his neck was caught between two cords, and there were footsteps, loud ones now, not quick scurrying steps, and a light went on, dazzling him.
He blinked open his eyes. Really awake now, not just dreaming that he was awake.
"Time for my walk?" he asked.
A quick whistling sound, and then a sharp pain in his arm. Against his will he cried out.
"That's one," said the voice of Elemak. "Tell me, Rasa, what's your count? How many took the oath?"
"Do your own foul business," said Mother's voice.
"Could it be hundreds?" asked Elemak. Again the whistling sound. Again the excruciating pain, this time in the ribs of his back. One of them broke; he felt the bone stabbing him as he breathed. And yet he couldn't stop breathing, he had to gasp, because he wasn't getting enough oxygen anymore, he couldn't breathe deeply enough to get the air to stay conscious.
"I don't count any of these against the total, until you tell me what the total might be," said Elemak.
"Count it yourself," said Rasa. "It was everybody except Protchnu, Obring, and Mebbekew. Everybody, Elemak. Think about that"
"He's not healing himself," said Luet.
Nafai heard her voice and felt a surge of anger against Elemak. Did he think she was so weak that her spirit would break because she saw her husband enduring pain? What was Elemak trying to gain, anyway? It was the Oversoul he had to persuade-or surrender to. Something had happened, though. An oath.
"I've noticed that," said Elemak. "His wrists don't seem to get better, or his ankles. I can't figure out if that's because the cloak just isn't working right now, or because he's deliberately not healing himself in order to look more pitiful so I'll feel sorry for him and loosen his bonds so he can get free and kill me."
The whistling sound. Another blow, this time on the back of his neck. Nafai gasped at the pain that shot up and down his spine; for a few moments he was numb from the neck down, and he thought, He's broken my neck.
Why doesn't he just kill me?
Well stop it. Let him kill me. Then he'll have his victory and there'll be peace and everybody will be bettor off.
What, dead isn't defeated?
Then if you have any decency, tell Volemak to say the magic words and end all this.
I'm too tired to make sense of this. Go away and let me die.
The one on my neck?
Oh, yes. I can feel that.
Don't do it.
Don't heal me until he leaves the room. Give me that much dignity.
It's between him and me. I don't want him to see how you intervene for me.
This really hurts.
I said not to.
"Look," said Elemak. "His leg is straightening out. I guess we found out how much pain he could take, and now he's got his invisible friend to save him."
"I'm looking," said Volemak coldly. "What I see is a coward, striking a bound man with a metal rod."
Elemak's voice rose to a scream. "I'm the coward? I'm not the one with the cloak! I'm not the one who can get magically healed whenever I stub my toe! I'm not the one with the power to give people jolts of electricity whenever I want to bring them to heel!"
"It's not the power you have that makes you a coward or a bully," said Volemak. "It's how you use it. Do you think that being bound like that keeps the cloak from having the same power it's always had? As badly as you're treating him, as badly as you're treating all of us, Nafai still chooses not to strike you dead where you stand."
"Do it then, Nyef," said Elemak softly. "If you have the power to strike me dead, do it. You've killed before. A drunk lying unconscious in the street, I think it was. My older half-brother, I think it was. That's your specialty, killing people who can't fight back. But Father thinks I'm the bully. How can it be bullying, to break the bones of a man who can heal himself in moments? Look, I can break your skull and-"
There was a scream of rage from a woman and the sound of scuffling. Then someone was slammed into a wall; a woman cried. Nafai tried to open his eyes. All he could see was the wall his face was pressed against. "Luet," he whispered.
"Luet can't heal herself, can she?" said Elemak. "She should remember that before she tries to fight with me."
"All you're doing," said Nafai, "is using up the oxygen that your children need to breathe."
"You can end it at any time, Nyef," said Elemak. "All you have to do is die."
"And then what?" asked Volemak. "You'll just start hating the next best man, and for the same reason. Because he's better than you. And when you kill him, you'll find still another better than you. It will go on and on forever, Elemak, because each act of bullying cruelty you commit makes you smaller and smaller until finally you'll have to kill every human being and every animal and even then you'll look at yourself with such contempt that you won't be able to bear it-"
The rod smashed down right in Nafai's face. He felt it cave in all the bones erf'the front of his head, and then everything went black.
A moment later? It could have been; it could have been hours or days. He was conscious again, and his face was not broken. Nafai wondered if he was alone.