The cell was opened and Klia stepped in while the manacles were being released. “Now, tell me what you saw that night.”

Trembling, the corporal wrung his hands and mumbled something in the general direction of his bare feet.

“Stand at attention when you address the princess, and speak up,” Micum snapped.

Karis drew himself up as best he could but still looked terrified. “I said I seen the worst thing I ever seen, Your Highness.”

“And what was that?” Klia asked gently. “I know this is difficult for you, but lives may depend on your information, Corporal. As your commanding officer, I order you to speak.”

“It didn’t have no face,” he quavered. “It was tall, almost up to the ceiling, and where its face should be it was just—just empty.”

“It had no head?”

“It had a head, Highness, just the face weren’t there, only blackness.”

Seregil exchanged a sharp look with Thero. The wizard raised a noncommittal eyebrow and turned his attention back to the man being questioned.

“Could this person have been wearing a mask?” asked Klia.

Karis shook his head vehemently. “No, on account of that I could see into the blackness, like it was a well.”

“A well?”

“Yes, Highness. You know—deep, a long way down and dark, only it weren’t down. It was sideways, looking at me.” He was shaking harder now. “And when it reached for me with those great long arms it had, it was going to—” He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself. “It was going to pull me into that blackness and I knew I couldn’t never get out again!”

“Apart from its face and arms, what did it look like?” Klia asked.

“Like I said, taller than regular folk, and arms too long even for it to have.”

“You mean they were out of proportion to its body?”

“So it seemed to me, Highness.”

“What was it wearing?”

“I can’t say.”

“In Lady Zella’s initial report, she says you claimed it was wearing some sort of old-fashioned clothing.”

“Did I?” Karis looked positively dazed with fear. “I disremember, Highness. A robe, maybe, or some kind of cloak. I don’t remember seeing the body, ’cept for the tallness. I’m sorry, Highness, but that’s the truth!” He wrung his hands miserably again, and Seregil heard his knuckles cracking. “Lady Zella says I must go back with you. Please, Highness, don’t make me! I ain’t no use to anyone anymore. It knows me!”

“What do you mean?”

Karis shuddered and closed his eyes. “When I looked into that—that place where its face should have been, I could feel it looking into me, all cold-like.”

“Cold?” asked Thero. “You could feel its gaze?”

“Weren’t no gaze, my lord.” Karis’s voice fell to a strangled whisper. “I didn’t see nothing, but I felt it, like a snake crawling down my throat and going up behind my eyes.” He shuddered violently at the memory. “I ain’t no use to anyone, Highness. No use at all.”