“I know you hate him. You have every right to hate him. I don’t know him at all, and I hate him for you.”
“But this? This is too far my friend. You do not know what you ask me to teach you.”
“Yes I know you hurt. I can hear it in your voice. Every harm. Every wound. It is as if you speak to me in two languages at once. Do not doubt that I believe you. Do not doubt.”
“I know my oath, damn it. You would through that in my face? After all these years, you would do that to me?”
“Do you hate me as you hate him? Do you blame me for what he has done?”
…
“I see…”
“It hurts my heart that you think so of me, but I will honor my oath. I will honor it and tell you how to summon him. I will do it, but I will do it in my way.”
“No! You will listen or you can kill me and lose the knowledge. I am not a slave to your whims. I have kept my oath, but how I keep it is up to me.”
“Go ahead then. Put that blade in me. Do it.”
“No? Then you will listen? Good. One last lesson for you.”
“He is called the Relentless Wire for a reason. Fools think it is because he prefers the garrote and that he gave himself this name. Another assassin making a name for themselves, but… well, let me ask you a question as I once did. Why else might he have this name?”
“Correct. He is not a mortal or immortal. He is eternal. He is one of the horrors from the beginning. From what my tutor called the Madness. And so, his true name has more power than most.”
“No, I will not say his name aloud. That would draw his eye. I have it here, in my notes. You can take at the end of my lesson.”
“Don’t be frustrated. It won’t last much longer. The hour is almost up.”
*cough*
“Hah, I knew what my prized student wanted before they walked in the door. And I will honor my oath, but I will not live with the shame of doing so.”
“Yes, that is why I did not offer you a cup of wine. It works slow, but I will feel little pain. Just a slow numbing until… well until whatever comes next.”
“Yes. Yes. It is all in the notes, but hear these words. It will demand a price. One you cannot pay, but will pay, for it will be clouded in trickery. It will ask you questions wrapped in metaphor, but it will take them as literal truth. Know this when you strike your bargain.”
“Hah. I can’t feel my hands. My vision blurs. You were a good child. So smart. Just like your brother.”
“You are more alike than you want believe…”
~ From Taubha’s Lesser Book of Names
