Sult glared up at Pike, looming menacingly over the table, his shadow falling across the polished case containing Glokta's instruments. 'What is this thing?'

'This is an old friend of ours, Master Sult, but recently returned from the wars in the North, and seeking new opportunities.'

'My congratulations! I never believed that you could find an assistant even more hideous than yourself!'

'You are unkind, but thankfully we are not easily offended. Let us call him equally hideous.' And just as ruthless, too, I hope.

'When will be my trial?'

'Trial? Why ever would I want one of those? You are presumed dead and I have made no effort to deny it.'

'I demand the right to address the Open Council!' Sult struggled pointlessly with his chains. 'I demand… curse you! I demand a hearing!'

Glokta snorted. 'Demand away, but look around you. No one is interested in listening, not even me. We all are far too busy. The Open Council stands in indefinite recess. The Closed Council is all changed, and you are forgotten. I run things now. More completely than you could ever have dreamed of doing.'

'On the leash of that devil Bayaz!'

'Correct. Maybe in time I'll work some looseness into his muzzle, just as I did into yours. Enough to get things my own way, who knows?'

'Never! You'll never be free of him!'

'We'll see.' Glokta shrugged. 'But there are worse fates than being the first among slaves. Far worse. I have seen them.' I have lived them.

'You fool! We could have been free!'

'No. We couldn't. And freedom is far overrated in any case. We all have our responsibilities. We all owe something to someone. Only the entirely worthless are entirely free. The worthless and the dead.'

'What does it matter now?' Sult grimaced down at the table. 'What does any of it matter? Ask your questions.'

'Oh, we're not here for that. Not this time. Not for questions, not for truth, not for confessions. I have my answers already.' Then why do I do this? Why? Glokta leaned slowly forwards across the table. 'We are here for our amusement.'

Sult stared at him for a moment, then he shrieked with wild laughter. 'Amusement? You'll never have your teeth back! You'll never have your leg back! You'll never have your life back!'

'Of course not, but I can take yours.' Glokta turned, stiffly, slowly, painfully, and he gave a toothless grin. 'Practical Pike, would you be so good as to show our prisoner the instruments?'

Pike frowned down at Glokta. He frowned down at Sult. He stood there for a long moment, motionless.

Then he stepped forward, and lifted the lid of the case.

'Does the devil know he is a devil?'

Elizabeth Madox Roberts

The Beginning

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