Book 2 - Warlock Read Online Free PDF Page A

paw.”
    “Had it been real, there would be only three meth alive in
this room right now.” Marika spoke with conviction. She broke
eye contact long enough to glance at the knife. “We had a
saying in the Ponath. ‘As strength goes.’ ” She
had to say it in dialect. Gradwohl did not react. Perhaps it went
past her.
    “When I am manipulated or pushed, mistress, I must push
back.”
    Gradwohl ignored her. She surveyed the silth, still perched upon
their stools. “This assembly has served its purpose. It is as
I suspected. Someone has been remiss. Someone allowed prejudice to
overwhelm reason. Listen! This pup ambushed and destroyed a
ranking
sister of the Serke Community. And I promise you,
that House is giving that fact a lot more attention than this one
has.”
    Gradwohl stared at Marika hard. Marika continued to meet her
gaze, refusing to be intimidated. Beneath, beyond the test of
wills, she sensed a kindred soul.
    “This assembly is at an end,” Gradwohl said, still
holding Marika’s gaze. “Go. All but you,
pup.”
    Silently, silth began filing out. Two helped carry Senior
Zertan.
    Barlog and Grauel did not move.
    Braydic, though, Marika noted, had disappeared. Ever cautious
and timid Braydic.
    Just as well, perhaps. Just as well.
    Marika focused upon this meth strong enough to rule the
fractious Reugge Community.
     
----

Chapter Sixteen

I
    Gradwohl climbed onto a stool. “Sit if you like,”
she told Marika.
    Marika settled crosslegged upon the floor, as had been the
custom among the packs of the upper Ponath. Furniture had been
unknown in her dam’s loghouse.
    “Tell me about yourself, pup.”
    “Mistress?”
    “Tell me your story. I want to know everything there is to
know about you.”
    “You know, mistress. Through your agent
Moragan.”
    Gradwohl seemed amused. “She was that
transparent?”
    “Only looking back.”
    “Nothing substitutes for direct examination. Begin simply.
Tell me your story. What is your name?”
    “Marika, mistress.”
    “Tell me about Marika. From her birth to this
moment.”
    Marika sketched an autobiography which included her first
awarenesses of her talent, her unusually close relationship with
her male littermate Kublin, her troubles with one of the Wise of
her dam’s loghouse, and all her troubles during her stay at
the fortress Akard.
    Gradwohl nodded. “Interesting. But possibly even more
interesting in complete privacy.”
    “Mistress?”
    “You have told me very little about Marika
inside.”
    Marika grew uneasy.
    “Do not be frightened, pup.”
    “I am not, mistress.”
    “Liar. I met a most senior when I was your age. I was
petrified. There is no need. I am here to help. You are not happy,
are you? Honestly, now.”
    “No, mistress.”
    “Why not?”
    She thought she had made that clear. Perhaps their backgrounds
were too alien. She rambled till Gradwohl lost patience. “Get
to the point, pup. There are no ears here but mine. Even were
there, your sisters would make no reprisals for what you say. I
will not permit that. And do not lie. I want to know what the real
Marika thinks and feels.”
    Irked, Marika tested the water with a few mild remarks. When
Gradwohl did not explode, she continued till she had revealed most
of her dissatisfactions.
    “Exactly what I suspected. An absolute lack of vision from
the very beginning. I was not a feral myself, but I endured similar
troubles. They sense strength and power, and it frightens them. In
their way, silth have minds as small as any common meth. Those who
might be surpassed want to stifle you before you develop the skills
to command them. It is a severe shortcoming of the society silth
have developed. Now. Tell me more about Akard.”
    Gradwohl spoke no more of Marika’s place in things, nor of
her feelings. Instead, she concentrated upon a minute examination
of events during Akard’s final days. “What has become
of the other survivors? Especially the commtech and the
tradermale?” She used the