“I’m smart enough by now not to try and match your fancy moves,” says Walgash. I struggle and try to stand, but he simply throws me to the ground and pins my arms together. Rope twines around my wrists and digs into my skin. As I lie there, hacking my lungs out into the dirt, I hear Walgash yelling for help with the fire. Finally, he drags me up by one arm.

“The general will want to see you,” he says. There’s a mournful cast to his eyes. I wish I could tell him the whole story, but who am I fooling? That wouldn’t change anything.

We track soot the entire way back to the barracks. They drag me into a shed, and Walgash pushes me into a chair. I crumple into it, sending a silent apology to Gatha and Zivah for my failure. In my mind, I count the hours since I took Zivah’s last dose of potion. I don’t have to hold out for long. Another couple hours at most, and I’ll fade away. Then they can torture me all they want.

The others in the room jump to their feet, and I know Arxa has come. By habit, I almost stand as well, before I realize there’s no longer any point. An hour or two, I tell my beating heart. That’s as long as I need to last.

Arxa might as well be Neju himself, the way he strides in. He looks at me, and then at the others.

“I’ve never seen such depth of treachery,” he says, and his voice is as low and dangerous as a snake’s. “Who are you really, Dineas?”

I stare at the ground in front of me. I am stone. I feel nothing.

Arxa looks at Walgash, who comes forward, his forehead creased as if pained. Reluctantly, the big soldier takes hold of me by the shoulder, and drives his fist into my gut. Scars, that man can pack a punch. My lungs feel like they’ve collapsed. Several more of those and I’ll be coughing up blood.

“Judging from your timing,” says Arxa, “you’re Shidadi. Who else is working with you? Are there others in the city?”

I can’t talk. All I manage is a small cough.

Another punch. I gag and thank the gods my stomach is empty.

I spit on the ground. “Zenagua take you all.”

Walgash pulls back his fist, but Arxa shakes his head. “No, he won’t break easily. We’ll have to be careful not to kill him before he spills his secrets. Take him into the interrogation rooms, then secure the grounds. Triple the guard and scour everything to see if anything else has been tampered with.”

The general looks at me, and the deepest disappointment is written on his face. “Then I’ll come back to him and see what he has to say.”