The woman twirled the rod between her fingers nimbly. She returned to Abrial and brought the rod down near Abrial's neck. Abrial felt a gradual heat radiating onto her skin. She twisted her head to look down.
The metal melded onto the end of the rod was now glowing red, a literal hot iron.
"This is a branding rod," the crazy woman murmured, lowering her head so that she spoke softly by Abrial's other ear. Abrial tensed up automatically with discomfort at the closeness of the whisper. "If you really want to join the magicians' camp and show that you aren't a spy, you'll let me brand your neck while I search through your memories. Sounds reasonable, wouldn't you agree? It'll hurt a lot, yes. And it'll be…somewhat permanent. But you'd do that much at least to join the camp, or get to your friend, wouldn't you?"
Abrial swallowed, finding that her mouth had been unsealed. The rod burned hot and bright, so close to her skin that the heat was scalding.
