Red Faith strode in without a pause, absently swinging a chair around as he rifled around in some shelves for an elixir. Glass clinked as he pointed to his side.
“Sit so that I may examine you. I can bind you if you wish, but the pain will be minor. Negligible, to one of your constitution and advancement. Have you had any mental enhancements?”
Yerin’s mind ran through all the emergency measures Lindon had left for her, but she sat in the offered chair. While her whole body was tense and she watched every motion of the Sage, she found that she oddly did trust him.
At least, she thought she did. She suspected he wouldn’t lie to her about his intentions, now that she was within his power. If he planned on stripping her skin away and carving her up from the inside out, he’d say so. He would probably expect her to understand.
“Can’t see why there’d be pain at all,” Yerin said. “Give me a dream tablet and tell me what you want to see, and I’ll squeeze it in there as best I can.”
The Sage vigorously shook a violet mixture in a sealed vial until it shone brightly. “That would be sufficient to retrieve your recollection of one incident, but I intend to extract your entire experience of raising your Blood Shadow according to my techniques, which will be simpler if your mind is temporarily enhanced. Any preexisting mental enhancements may have unforeseen effects with this one, so I need to understand the situation correctly. And I may also require extracted memories from your manifested Shadow—”
“Ruby,” Yerin interrupted.
The Sage tilted his head to one side until it almost touched his shoulder. “Interesting. Do you find that your sense of identity has been at all corrupted by the addition of your Shadow? Are you suffering from any delusions, nightmares, or hallucinations that suggest you yourself are, or ever were, Ruby?”
“Can’t see how we’re both making it through this when every word you say makes me want to snap your neck like a winter branch.”
He shook the elixir again. “Irrelevant. Unnecessary of me to even ask when I will understand in but a moment. Now, mental enhancements. You received a supplemental cognition booster from the Eight-Man Empire, didn’t you? Have you received anything else?”
“Guess that’s what you’d call it, sure. No other changes to my brain except dream tablets and some—”
Her hand snapped up and grabbed his wrist as he was about to drive the elixir into her shoulder. He had attached a needle to one end and had attempted to inject her with it.
The Sage frowned. “Why are you objecting now? I was always going to administer this formula. A cognition booster should have no influence on its effects, aside from potentially speeding up the process.”
“Don’t like you doing anything to my mind except listening to it,” Yerin said. “You start putting something into my head, and I’m putting something into yours.”
She extended one of her red-chrome sword arms and slid it close to his temple.
He didn’t avoid it, and his expression showed nothing but annoyance. “This is the most efficient method of retrieving your experience. It’s similar to the procedure used for leaving behind an inheritance to one’s disciples. It is nothing to fear.”
“You want to swear to me on your soul that this won’t knock me out, slow me down, or hurt me, and then I’ll let you use it.”
The Sage hesitated, confirming her suspicions. “The only purpose of this compound is to enhance your memory. It will be similar to a…a daydream. There will be no danger while I am here to defend you. Even my Shadow is committed to your protection while you are cooperating with us.”
“Got a bargain for you: let’s try it like normal first, and I won’t gut this ship on my way out.”
Red Faith scowled. “It will only be more difficult for you to produce clear memories, and if your experience isn’t to my satisfaction, then you will waste both of our time. The concentration necessary to produce a coherent dream tablet is enough that you will be all but incapacitated with or without my formula. This is foolishness.”
Yerin looked down at his wrist. “Then I guess I’m taking your hand with me as a trophy.”
He tugged at her grip, which she released. “Very well. Make your attempt. Should you fail, I will insist that you try again.”
“Not itching to be anywhere else.”
That wasn’t true on any level. Not only did she have other business, but she hated being in Redmoon Hall. But sometimes you had to do things you hated.