“I do not understand,” the manticore replied, shaking his wide head.
“No, of course not,” Soen muttered under his breath, then spoke more clearly to the monster beside him. “A broken slave is one who has fallen outside the discipline of House Devotions, Gradek. Their souls no longer yearn for the peace and glory of the Imperial Gods-and as such they are dangerous to both the body and the spirit of the state. I’ll need to examine each of them. You will stay close to me throughout, and I will tell you which are broken and which are not. If I tell you that one of them is broken, you are to kill him or her at once-at once, you understand, without further question or thought.”
The manticore nodded and then looked up at the sky, searching for stars, perhaps, that could not yet be seen. “Yes, Master. . I believe that four of them. . perhaps five. . are broken.”
“Very well,” Soen said, drawing in one last, deep breath of the sweet evening air before setting about the grim task before him. “Your Lord Megnara shall garner much favor this night because of your sure action in his name.”
“Master,” Gradek said, his wide, flat face gazing down at the elven Inquisitor. “We have not slept in nearly two days. It is nearly the hour of House Devotions. Many of my warriors are anxious to return to our Field Altar so that they might. .”
“NO!” Soen barked. “Not a single Impress Warrior is to leave until I have questioned them to my satisfaction-especially for House Devotions! Is that absolutely clear?”
Gradek drew himself up erect with great effort. “Yes, Master Soen!”
The old human woman had stubbly, gray hair barely emerging from her head, but she was stroking it with her fingers like a brush. “There were flowers in the fields then. Such beautiful flowers. The smell of them was overwhelming in the bright sun. Patches of red and yellow and brown and blue. We ran and ran and ran through the field with the flowers rushing past us. How I laughed!”
“What is your name?” Soen asked in soft tones.
The old human woman’s eyes came into focus again on the Inquisitor’s face, but she didn’t seem to actually see him. “She always called me Essie. I never much liked Essenia though Mama told me she named me after her grandmother. It’s strange, in a way, because I can remember Mama telling me I was named after her sister, too. She called to me, ‘Run, Essie! Run!’ and we ran through the flowers in the fields. What a game we played, with the elves chasing us, but we were so fast that they couldn’t catch us! Not Mama and me!”
“Essie,” Soen said. “Do you know where you are?”
“Yes!” the woman said as her fingers caught on an imagined snag in her hair. “Are you looking for Mama, too? She fell into the flowers of the field-I think she was playing a trick on us. She fell among the red flowers, so bright and still wet. She said to keep running, but I can’t remember to where. I’ve looked and looked for her, but she’s hiding in the field, I know she is. There were flowers in the fields, then, you know. Such beautiful flowers!”
“Perhaps I can help you find your mother,” Soen said, patting the woman on the hand.
“Thank you, sir,” Essenia smiled childlike through her weathered, ancient face.
Soen stood and spoke to Gradek.
“She is broken.”
“Please, sire, I need help. . I’m sick. . something is terribly wrong!”
Soen nodded as he gazed into what passed as the face of the chimerian. It was difficult to look at because its shape kept shifting, the plates of its bones sliding beneath the skin as the creature struggled with his own inner monsters tearing at his memories.
“We can help you,” Soen said with measured words, his black gaze trying to lock with the shifting, feverish eyes of the chimerian. “What is your name?”
“My name? My name is. . I don’t know!” The chimerian’s voice rose to a panicked pitch. “I have too many names!”
“It’s all right,” Soen reassured the quivering being, the tips of his own ears starting to twitch. “Just tell me what happened here and we can help you.”
“What happened? What happened?” The chimerian worked his hands nervously until the fingers on each hand had lengthened to nearly a foot in length. “Didn’t you see it?”