Free Prophecy, Child of Earth by Elizabeth Haydon Page B

do it with impunity, you craven piece of Bolg-dung."
    Ashe stood up a little straighter; the sword did not move. It was as if his anger had tempered a little. Rhapsody was not sure how she knew this, but she was certain of it.
    'Confess who sent you and I will spare your life," he said, a slightly more reasonable tone in his voice. "Tell me who the host is, and I'll let you go."
    'I have no idea what you are blithering about," she retorted angrily. "No one sent me."
    Ashe gave her throat another savage jab. "Don't lie to me! Who sent you? You have ten seconds to come up with the name if you want to live."
    Rhapsody thought for a moment, knowing he was utterly serious. It would be simple to make up a name in the hope that he would leave her to find whatever host he was babbling about. Living wasn't worth the lie. Time slowed around her, and she thought of the family with which she was about to be reunited.
    'Save yourself the time," she said. "I don't know what you're talking about, and I won't lie just to live." She raised her throat to an easier angle of attack to facilitate his strike. "Go ahead."
    Ashe remained frozen for a moment, then pulled the sword away from her neck with a sweep that spattered drops of water over her face and into the fire, where it hissed angrily. He continued to look at her from beneath the misty hood.
    After a few moments of returning his stare, Rhapsody spoke. "I don't know what's gotten into you. Maybe your brain has been curdled by that skunk urine you call coffee." She took a deep breath and used her true-speaking lore as a Namer.
    "In any case, your behavior is inexcusable. I am not a liar, nor am I evil incarnate. I don't know why you're angry at me, but I have no master, I am no one's whore, and I don't know anything about a host. Now get away from me. I'll find the dragon without you."
    Ashe considered her words. "What was that comment about my heart supposed to mean?"
    Customarily I'd cut your heart out, although it's fairly obvious someone already has.
    Rhapsody looked puzzled; it had been a joke. "That you're heartless, rude.
    Willing to insult the dinner I made you, to spit my tea out, to be unduly offensive. You're an insufferable pig. You have no respect for anyone. You can't take a joke, but you expect others to. You're cranky. Shall I go on? When I said it I was teasing. I no longer am."
    Ashe's shoulders uncoiled, and Rhapsody heard a deep exhalation of breath from within the hood. They stared at each other for a few moments more. Then the cloaked figure lowered its head.

    'I'm very sorry," he said softly. "Your assessment of me, in all its parts, is correct."
    'You'll get no argument from me," Rhapsody said, her heartbeat slowing slightly. "Now, back away. If you still want to fight, I'd be happy to oblige.
    Otherwise, be on your way."
    Ashe sheathed his sword. The glen they were standing in became immediately darker in the absence of its light. The fire had been roaring in time with her anger; it had settled down somewhat as well, having expended much of its fuel in its fury.
    'If you wanted me to leave, why didn't you just make up a name? I would have left you here, unharmed. You're lucky. You took an awful risk."
    'What risk?" Rhapsody snapped. "You asked me a question. There was only one possible answer, and it did not consist of making up a name. What if I had and it belonged to some poor innocent whose only crime was being unfortunately tided?"
    Ashe sighed. "You're right. These are bad times, Rhapsody. I know you deserve to hate me forever, but please don't. I thought you were someone you're not, and I beg your forgiveness. Many of my friends and countless other innocent people have died at the hands of something sinister that is causing these raids. For a moment I thought it was you."
    'What a coincidence. Achmed thinks it's you."
    Ashe's words were soft. "He's wiser than I thought."
    Rhapsody blinked in spite of herself. There was a poignancy in his words she felt in the