“I think that you’re lying to me, because you’re scared, and that is perfectly understandable and also the biggest mistake of your life. And you need to rethink it, before it’s the last mistake of your life. We can work with spies, in my line of business. But we can’t work with spies who lie to us even once they’re offered the chance to tell us the truth.”

“You should put up a truth spell, sir, and I’ll say I’ve never lied to you.”

“We know you’re very good at defeating spells. Much better than a first circle swordmage should be.”

“Get a priest of Abadar, then.”

“Don’t have one, and this doesn’t warrant one. You want me to take expensive steps to help you, I want to hear about who you work for, what the pay is, how you beat our scries -”

“I work for the Crusade, I earn three solidi a week, I’m good at throwing spells off. How does this not warrant a priest of Abadar? I’ve been quoted twenty solidi for a truthtelling and -”

Entat looks at the guard, who kicks the prisoner in the ribs again, harder than he did to get him to admit he was awake. “This isn’t a negotiation. Admit you’ve been lying, and tell me who you work for.”

"I haven't spoken to anyone in Katheer since I joined. I work for the Crusade. I'm not a spy."

“You are by your own admission guilty of spying on dozens of the Knight-Commander’s personal conversations.”

“That she had in public, sir, in places I was authorized to be.”

“Still illegal.”

Marit observes him consideringly and does not say anything. 

“Who in Katheer are you in communication with?”

“I have enough of my own money saved up for an Abadar’s Truthtelling, and am requesting one. I’ll pay for it.”

“Your funds have been seized on suspicion of espionage,” says Entat.

Marit does not even look surprised. “I understand, sir.”

“Whoever put you up to this, in Katheer, they did it knowing you’d get killed for it, eventually. They didn’t care.”

“I have not spoken to anyone who I knew in Katheer since I left, sir.”

“A lot of men make a foolish decision when they’re eighteen. Some of them are lucky enough to get a second chance.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m curious what you care about so much that you’d spit that second chance back in my face. You so sure you like where you’re headed?”

"I don't believe in the afterlives, sir."

That throws Entat for a loop. "Oh? You don't think Sarenrae comes to the rescue of her each and every sandworm? That's what I usually hear."

"Probably not, sir. It seems like a very convenient thing for everyone to believe."

That one takes Entat a while. “Now, that’s not the answer I’d have expected from an innocent man. I’d have expected an innocent man to tell me he fears nothing as he’s broken no laws and will be welcomed into Axis.”