He found our missing brethren for me, but much too late. I could not see with my eyes the scene that the Dark laid out before him, but his words gave me the report I asked of him. His heart gave me the details he neglected.
When he had finished, the echoes of his voice fell into troubled silence just as the echoes of the Dark drained from his perception, but the images he had seen remained fresh in his mind. Say what they will about the 'savage cruelty' of my followers and myself, the inquisitors of the 'merciful' St. Iocus never fail to surpass us.
He stood in quiet thought for a time, his eyes seeing nothing at all for once - only what lay within. Finally he lowered his distant gaze, regarding me seriously. "Sydney... If I may... beg a favor. Should they chance to take us..."
His eyes went involuntarily to my hands, to the razor-sharp edges that tipped them. I have always been careful, even while ruthless, and that he knows well.
I give him a slight nod of my head - a lie, when I know already that it will not come to that for him, but he does not know this, and he breathes a sigh of relief and regret. His own dagger would suffice, would even be less painful, but it is not surprising that he should wish this - that his end might come at the point of these instruments that have drawn so much of his blood already, and at his request.
And yet he did surprise me - in his heart, I heard the words he dared not voice, and I had never dared to think. I wish I had the power to promise you the same, lest you go on suffering at their hands without hope of the peace you'd have given me.
I suppose that it was only fitting that I should be recompensed for the many times my words have inadvertantly terrified him.