to refuse. I understand Sabates can do quite nasty things through a tattoo like that.”
Sabates was behind him now, and Vocho could feel even Egimont’s distaste as he edged away. A sharp pain almost blinded him and dimly recalled another night, another time. His back was on fire, so hot all the blood dripping from it should evaporate.
“Now then,” Licio continued. “The good news is, I can get you pardoned. More than that, if the renowned Vocho, exonerated from the lies and treachery that led to him being charged with murder, leads my cause, I can give you lands, titles, money, renown. I can give you everything your shallow little heart desires.”
“That’s nice,” Vocho said, and then had to grit his teeth against what Sabates was doing to his back. He’d have preferred the rack, or maybe one of those red-hot pokers. Anything was preferable to the grinding pain that shot through his back as the magician ran his fingers over it.
Licio frowned at Vocho’s flippancy but carried on. “Actually, you’ll do it anyway. The tattoo will see to that. Correct, Sabates?”
“Oh yes. To a point.”
“Well, that’s fantastic. Why bother offering then?” The scream came through his gritted teeth; he couldn’t stop it.
Eggy muttered something under his breath, but Vocho was past hearing it.
“Oh, the tattoo is just to be sure.” Licio said. “Magic’s all very well, but it’s not reliable, is it? Not part of the clockwork universe, isn’t that what Bakar has against it? Not orderly, not logical according to our new Clockwork God, a magician’s whims too much an element of chance. No, I want you to join me of your own free will. Ha! Yes, the free will that Bakar derides so much. Think of the glory, Vocho. Think of the money, the adulation. Vocho the Great, who led the revolt against the prelate, who killed him to set his fellow men free from the tyrant Bakar has become.”
“You want me to kill the prelate? You’ll need more than a tattoo to make me do that. He already wants me dead; I don’t want him flaying me alive first.”
A sudden twist in his back, the slice of a blade, and Vocho couldn’t control his legs. Someone appeared to be groaning, and it was him. Eggy pulled him back up gently enough.
“There. All done.” Sabates appeared in front of Vocho’s sweating face. “A tricky bit of magic. But it worked on you well enough before. Didn’t it?”
Vocho couldn’t seem to get his breath – his throat was dried up like a fish left out in the sun. He could barely even manage to move his head. Only Eggy’s arm kept him upright rather than lying on the floor like a beaten dog, and Vocho was bizarrely grateful to him. Which meant he must be going mad.
“Very nicely,” Licio agreed. “First though, I need you to persuade your sister. Poor Egimont tried, but he didn’t get very far, except into her underwear.”
The hand gripping his arm tightened, and Eggy’s teeth clacked shut by his ear.
“Persuade her to do what?” Vocho managed in a whisper.
“Join the cause, obviously. And give us those papers back. Then, once your names are restored, the ever lovely Kacha, apprentice to the guild master, now on our side and keeping Eneko’s mouth shut, will be an enormous asset to Petri when he takes over the guild.”
Vocho couldn’t help the little giggle that escaped. “I don’t think she’ll—”
Licio’s voice snapped out, cutting him off. “I don’t give a shit what you think. You’ll persuade her, or Egimont here will have to kill her. I can’t have her running loose against me. Especially if she still has those papers.”
Again the tightening of the grip on his arm, a mutter from Egimont.
“Persuade her to come to us with those papers, and then perhaps she can live.” Licio turned to the magician. “Sabates, that tattoo will stop him running again?”
Sabates shrugged, but the shining eye told Vocho all he needed to know. The magician wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
“Good. And don’t worry, Vocho. Think of all you’ll gain out of this. Everyone will know your name, and not just as a priest murderer. Vocho the Magnificent has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
Licio gave him a bright smile and left, the little folded man at his heels. Sabates lingered for a while, looking Vocho up and down. “I’d consider agreeing, if I were you. There really isn’t much choice.” Then he too left.