Chapter 19

"This weapon alone can send you to the Cauldron," he said, "even if you weren't already going there." He pulled the knife from the sheath. "Cheap steel, it won't hold its edge past one use." He stabbed Paul in the stomach with the knife. When he pulled the knife out he pulled it across the back of his hand. It made a faint cut. "See," he said, "dull already." He stabbed Paul again. This time he left the knife in the wound. When the servants came they stared in shock as Paul fell to the floor. Paul gasped through the pain of the knife in his stomach. He tried to make his hands grip the knife to pull it out, but they refused to obey. It was like after the daughter left him helpless in the snow, but now instead of the cold seeping in, Paul's life blood leaked out. He watched from the floor, unable to speak, barely able to breathe without feeling the stab of the blade again.

"Look," the Master said and held up his hand. "He tried to stab me. the Book says I must protect my family." The people nodded. "Take him and the other ones to the Cauldron." Paul lay on the floor and wondered who else besides him and Daniel were going to the Cauldron.

The servants lifted him up and dumped him roughly on a wagon. Daniel and the woman from the hallway were already there. Daniel looked almost relieved, but the woman glared at Paul as if she could stab him again with her eyes. The wagon bounced through the streets and Paul moaned with each bump. He wondered why he wasn't dead yet. Maybe he would die before they got to the Cauldron. The pain was still there, but it started to move away from him as if he didn't occupy his own body and it was someone else's stomach that bled around the steel blade.

For some reason Paul started remembering Diana. She would be so disappointed when he never came home. She had wasted her kiss, but he held on to the memory of her lips and the taste of honey and the soft feel of her body against his. The memories pushed the pain further away. He felt cold in his stomach now. Like he'd been lying in the snow all day.

The wagon pulled into a courtyard and men in black uniforms came out and directed Cauldron spawn to drag them from the wagon. The spawn awkwardly took hands and feet of the three people and carried them into the building.

They were carried along a dank corridor until they reached a platform that hung out over a huge cauldron. It was bigger than Paul had imagined possible. I found it, he thought to God. Much good that's going to do.