"I am! I am! You lunatic!! You..."
Old Siltec's roar abruptly cut off. As if he had seen a ghost, he stared by the faint light of the status indicator on the Night Vision Goggles in Schiller's hand at the priest's robe Schiller wore, embroidered with golden patterns.
"You... you're from the Court of Arbitration?" Terror seeped into his voice as he stammered, "So you came to silence me? How do you people know so much...?"
Schiller was too impatient to listen to his nonsense. He swung the Crowbar in his hand and said, "Tell me everything you know, or I'll throw you back into the cave where your wife is."
"No, no, no!" Old Siltec shouted. "You can't throw me back there! That monster will kill me!"
"But... but since you've already tracked me all the way here, what could you possibly not know?" Old Siltec said, sucking in a sharp breath. The injury to his ankle had left him sweating all over from the pain. From that reaction alone, Schiller could tell that he really was just a pampered rich man who had never received any resistance-to-interrogation training. What he said was likely quite credible.
"I know a great deal, or I wouldn't have found you here. But there are even more things that interest me. If you satisfy me, perhaps I can give you a chance."
Old Siltec gave a bitter smile. "Forget it. I knew this day would come sooner or later. Ever since I learned about that matter, I never expected to survive in your hands."
"Enough nonsense. Tell me what you know."
"I recognize that outfit of yours. You're a member of the Pope's Guard? That does leave me rather puzzled. I don't think His Holiness would send his guards after a nobody like