his one's nothing special, except in the
number of his crimes and the fact that he wanted witnesses until he got
to the last victim in each series. It was the rapes that were his
particular thrill; the murders were enjoyable, but more of a side
effect. So I'll be concentrating on the punishment for rape."

Although he'd been her assistant for a little over a year, Odeon--as
Illyanov had predicted--still didn't like the work; he helped only
because he loved Cortin, and there were things her own torture and
maiming by the Brothers had left her physically unable to do, until
Jeshua, and later Shayan, had healed those injuries. She could do most
of them now, everything that didn't require a man's extra muscle, and
he could've asked to be excused, but she liked having him around, and
they were both used to the routine. So he stayed--though part of him
regretted the end of his three-week "vacation", studying with DeLayne.

Keith, unlike Odeon--and Medart, from his expression--seemed to have a
true appreciation of Cortin's intent and ability. Not, Odeon told
himself, that he should be surprised; from his studies, Sandemans
considered it perfectly honorable to torture a captured enemy for
information, and certain offenses against honor or custom demanded the
offender's lingering death. But they were more direct about it; a
beating was the usual method.

It was several hours before Cortin was satisfied with the prisoner's
general condition: his entire body except the genital region so bruised
or abraded that even a light touch brough curses.

She stepped back to survey him, then smiled at her audience. "That
takes care of the preliminaries; now we can get to the real
punishment." She went to a cabinet, removed a vial and syringe.

"This is eroticine," she said, forcing the liquid in the vial down her
prisoner's throat. "In small doses, it's a male aphrodisiac. In
larger ones, like this, it forces an erection and increases semen
production by several hundred percent. He has no way to stimulate
orgasm, so that is forced out by simple hydraulic pressure--quite
uncomfortable, I've been assured. This dose is oral, so he'll be that
way for about twelve hours." She picked up a syringe, cleared it of
air. "And this is algetin, a pain-enhancer that's most effective on
swollen tissue such as an erection. It's a combination I think
particularly appropriate for a rapist."

"An intriguing combination," Keith said. Momen