Wishbone: 11

How indeed? Should Wishbone try to surrender now? Hope for mercy if he begged? Wishbone realized, to his surprise, that he wanted anything but mercy.

"Senjian," he said, "mark me."

"You are brave," said the shih-aan.

Wishbone gritted his teeth. "No, I'm not. I'm just tired of hearing you blather on."

Wishbone watched the graceful lines of the shih-aan's body in firelight as he opened the wardrobe again. He looked--and smelled--more aroused than Wishbone had known him. How long had it been since anyone had made Senjian work this hard?

Senjian removed a coil of something black from the wardrobe. He took a gray piece of cloth to its surface to buff away a coating of what looked like solid, rendered animal fat, releasing the scent of fine leather into the room. The thing seemed to move of its own accord in the firelight.

"I do apologize for disturbing you further with my voice," said Senjian, smiling. "This is a fine instrument indeed, and I think you are best served by knowing something of its nature."

Wishbone sighed in frustration.

"It is a single-tailed whip, six feet long, braided from the supple hide of an animal I killed with my own hands. It obeys me well. The handle is weighted with lead for balance. The thong is made up of layers--one core and alternating bolsters and plaits. The fall is thin enough to cut like steel wire, and the silk popper on the end may be replaced when it wears...