He produced a small, dark metal ball from somewhere and held it upon the palm of his left hand, which he extended before her. Slowly, the ball began to move, describing a counterclockwise circle. Nayda emitted a single sound, something halfway between a cry and a gasp, and she dropped forward to her hands and knees, head lowered. From where I stood I could see saliva dripping from her mouth.
He said something very fast, in an archaic form of Thari which I could not follow. She responded in the affirmative.
“I believe I’ve solved your mystery,” he said then. “Do you recall your lessons on Respondances and High Compellings?”
“Sort of,” I said. “Academically. I was never exactly swept away by the subject.”
“Unfortunate,” he stated. “You should report back to Suhuy for a postgraduate course sometime.”
“Are you trying to tell me … ?”
“The creature you see before you, inhabiting a not unattractive human form, is a ty’iga, “ he explained.
I stared. The ty’iga were a normally bodiless race of demons that dwelled in the blackness beyond the Rim. I recalled being told that they were very powerful and very difficult to control.
“Uh … , can you make this one stop slobbering on my carpet?” I said.
“Of course,” he replied, and he released the sphere, which fell to the floor before her. It did not bounce, but began immediately to roll, describing a rapid circuit about her.
“Stand up,” he said, “and stop releasing bodily fluids upon the floor.”
She did as he ordered, climbing to her feet, her expression vacant.
“Seat yourself in that chair,” he directed, indicating the one she had occupied but minutes earlier.
She complied, and the rolling ball adjusted itself to her progress and continued its circle, about the chair now.
“It cannot vacate that body,” he said then, “unless I release it. And I can cause it any amount of torment within my sphere of power. I can get you your answers now. Tell me what the questions are.”
“Can she hear us right now?”
“Yes, but it cannot speak unless I permit it.”
“Well, there’s no point to causing unnecessary pain. The threat itself may be sufficient. I want to know why she’s been following me about.”
“Very well,” he said. “That is the question, ty’iga. Answer it!”
“I follow him to protect him,” she said, her voice flat.
“I’ve already heard that one,” I said. “I want to know why.”
“Why?” Mandor repeated.
“I must,” she answered.
“Why must you?” he asked.
“I…” Her teeth raked her lower lip and the blood began to flow again.
“Why?”
Her face grew flushed and beads of perspiration appeared upon her brow.
Her eyes were still unfocused, but they brimmed with tears. A thin line of blood trickled down her chin. Mandor extended a clenched fist and opened it, revealing another metal ball. He held this one about ten inches before her brow, then released it. It hung in the air.
“Let the doors of pain be opened,” he said, and he flicked it lightly with a fingertip.
Immediately, the small sphere began to move. It passed about her head in a slow ellipse, coming close to her temples on each orbit. She began to wail.
“Silence!” he said. “Suffer in silence!”
The tears ran down her cheeks, the blood ran down her chin…
“Stop it!” I said.
“Very well.” He reached over and squeezed the ball for a moment between the thumb and middle finger of his left hand. When he released it, it remained stationary, a small distance before her right ear. “Now you may answer the question,” he said. “That was but the smallest sample of what I can do to you. I can push this to your total destruction.”
She opened her mouth but no words came forth. Only a gagging sound.
“I think we may be going about this wrong,” I said. “Can you just have her speak normally, rather than this question-and-answer business?”
“You heard him,” Mandor said. “It is my will, also.”
She gasped, then said, “My hands… Please free them.”
“Go ahead,” I said.
“They are freed,” Mandor stated.
She flexed her fingers.