The Lotus Thief novel · Chapter 7 of 32

Chapter 7: Speak, or Bleed

The mouth was open and there were no teeth in it, only a dark long way down.

Bua's hand stayed over Ton's mouth.

Neither of them moved.

Then the thing spoke, and it spoke out of the tree behind them, and out of the tree to the left, and out of the ground under Ton's back.

"You have seen each other's dead."

Its voice was dry and slow, like a door with a bad hinge.

"That is the first half."

Ton pulled Bua's hand off his mouth.

"What's the second half?"

The face came closer. The bark creaked.

"You carry a lie. Each of you."

"You will put it down here or you will not leave."

Ton sat up.

The Yaksa withdrew into the dark and was gone, and the forest was only forest again.

Bua was crouched beside him with the knife in his hand.

"Can you cut a tree?" Ton said.

"No."

"Then put it away."

They sat with their backs to the same root, shoulder to shoulder, and watched the dark.

"We can't both talk at once," Ton said.

"Then you first."

"Why me?"

"Because you've been walking next to me for two days with your jaw shut."

Ton looked at the ground.

"I'll tell you the truth and then you'll want to go back to the palace."

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