Depths of Madness - Erik Scott De Bie [85]
Liet stared, perfectly calm. "I suppose…" He shrugged. "Aye."
Twilight's eyes widened. His voice had not wavered; his heart had not palpitated. All the subconscious signs were absent. Her senses had not found any falsehood. Liet stared at her with absolute sincerity and, she thought, contempt.
"Lady Doom!" Twilight leaped back and snapping out Betrayal. How…?
Liet's mismatched eyes blazed, and she knew it was true.
"Oh!" Slip screamed. "Oh, gods! 'Twas a lie!"
Twilight flicked her eyes to the halfling, who was panting, terrified. Liet grinned.
"What?" Twilight asked.
" 'Twas a lie, of course." He gave an awkward, insufferable smile. "I've been taking your lessons."
"Slip?"
The little woman stated at her intently. "I swear, by all the gods I know, that he tells a lie," she said. "I mean, that's the truth-that 'tis a lie… I mean… he…"
"No." Twilight let out a sigh and turned back.
" 'Light-" the Dalesman started, but her slap cut him off.
"You think this is a game, boy?" she snarled. "Get out of my sight."
"But-" Liet started. He stopped when Twilight half-drew Betrayal and gave him a look no yet-living foe had ever seen on her delicate features. Liet stiffened and suppressed a sound that was much like a strangled cough. The mirth had gone out of his eyes, replaced by sheer horror. "Oh, 'Light, I'm so-"
"I won't say it again," Twilight said, her voice flat.
The young swordsman's face went ashen and his eyes gleamed with tears. "Sorry!" he cried, and fled.
A long while passed, the silence filled with heavy, angry breathing. Twilight was hardly aware of Slip's searching gaze, her frightened features.
All she could see were those horrible eyes, Liet's eyes, laughing at her-mocking her hard-trained abilities, her confidence to tell truth from falsehood by ear. Laughing… always laughing… what was he doing, trying to drive her mad?
From behind her, Slip shifted nervously-loud enough for Twilight to hear. "Ah," she said. "Are-are you well?"
"Oh, indeed." Twilight closed her eyes and forced an easy smile onto her pale face. "Friend." She turned and favored the halfling with her most dazzling grin. "How sure are you that none of them is a spy?"
Slip brightened considerably, smiling back as though nothing were the matter. "Absolutely certain," she replied. "Why?"
CHAPTER Nineteen
When the screech came from the Forge, Liet bolted up from where he had slumped, his hands on his knees, against the wall of the alley. Gargan similarly unfolded himself from the shadows and laid his hand on his sword. Even Davoren paused where he had been pacing.
The rear door flew open and Slip staggered out. The halfling immediately whirled and drew her little dagger, but a dusky blade sent it whirling from her hand with a deft flick. The gray-white point of Betrayal hissed under Slip's chin. "Help me!" Slip cried. "She's gone mad!" "What's going on?" Liet asked, hand going to his sword. "Back," was all Twilight said, but the fire in her pale eyes- almost red in the ruby light of Davoren's pulsing energies-told him much more.
"Do you not see?" The warlock sneered. "She has eliminated the options-me, you, the giant-and has but one left. The only one who could have lied-the half-witch." Darkness passed over his eyes and his arms pulsed with flame.
Slip, with Twilight distracted, stammered out the words to a spell, but Davoren chanted along with her, invoking harsh and vile names and deeds better spoken of in a tongue of pure evil. The halfling's magic faltered, defeated by the warlock's voracious powers, and tears ran down her cheeks. Twilight dealt Slip a savage kick to the stomach, stifling further magic. She pulled Betrayal back, lining it up with the little one's back.
Hissing black steel knocked it aside when she thrust. Gargan was there, sword drawn, and he and the elf locked blades and stares, waging a private battle. Their swords sparked against each other, bubbling acid hissing on the hot steel. The light flickering above her, like a hissing sun, plunged her face into light and shadow.
Liet shivered. From their stares,