The torture chamber was brightly lit, with torches in brackets along the walls that gave off, by a small fraction, more light than smoke. In one corner the rack itself stood, and there were other tools of the trade scattered around the room. Jonas found that he was sweating. The guards brought him to the center of the room. Knupf was standing near him, a perfectly blank expression on his face. His voice was the same rough rasp, but it seemed almost mechanical. "You have confessed to me," he said, "your heresy. Now, you will be made to ratify your confession. That done, your penalty will be exacted." And the penalty, of course, would be death--death at the stake. He forced himself to remain calm. Now was the time for his play. He took a deep breath and felt the strength in him gather to a single point and flow outward. The two men suddenly seemed to stagger; there was a second of confusion and they had let him go. He stood alone in the room. He turned and walked to the door, but he did not open it. Instead, he leaned against it. He forced his voice into the patterns of calmness and ease. "Your men cannot touch me," he said. "Wizard--" "No," Jonas said. The confusion he was broadcasting kept the men from doing anything that required even a simple plan, but he couldn't keep it up for long. "A man like yourself, a man with a particular talent, given by God." "The name of God--" "I can say that name," Jonas told the Inquisitor. "No wizard may say it." "It is a trick," Knupf said. Jonas shook his head. "Not at all. I will ask you to do nothing against the Faith; I will merely ask you to test for yourself what I say." "You are a heretic," Knupf said stubbornly. "I can not--" "You can pray," Jonas said. Knupf blinked. "Pray?" he said. "Meditate on a prayer," Jonas said. "Keep your mind open, keep yourself ready for the gift of God. It will descend on you." Knupf shook his head. "It is a trick--" he began. "A trick?" Jonas said. "With the prayers of God and His Church?" And that was the unanswerable question. For no wizard could use the name of God, no wizard could pray. So the Inquisition said; so Knupf said, so Knupf had to say, and so he had to believe. Slowly, his mind opened and became receptive. The prayer hung in the air of the smoky room. Jonas slipped in-- "Now," he said quietly. His control slipped. The two guards came toward him, overpowered and held him in a brief second-- "Wait," the Inquisitor said heavily. "Wait. Release him." * * * * * "And so," Claerten thought, "the job was accomplished." "Naturally," Jonas thought. Claerten's thought had an overtone of weariness. "There is no need to be smug," he told Jonas. "After all, you did not do the job yourself." "Unimportant," Jonas thought. "The man is convinced; he can be trained further and join the Brotherhood." "It will take time," Claerten said. "A few years, perhaps. But in the meantime there will be no trials in Speyer."