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"So, liddle Skiv, heard the tale o' the scorpion an' the frog?"

Mariel remained silent, walking down the nearly dark stairs one pace ahead of the jovial searat, concentrating on putting one paw in front of the other on the slippery stone. She grunted in pain as he yanked the rope around her paws.

"I asked yew a question, lass. Speak."

Mariel cleared her throat and said "I've heard of the snake and the frog. What's a scorpion?"

"Oho, ye'll find out."

A pair of silverfish ran over Mariel's bare footpaw, and she twitched in disgust. Darkness, cold, and insects held no fears for her, but she was familiar enough with Gabool's ways to know he must be planning worse. She took another step, and a cockroach crunched beneath it. She felt a little guilt at that. Now her eyes had adjusted to the dim glow of the lantern in her captor's paw, she saw beetles and spiders and ants on the walls and stairs. It might have been her imagination, but many of them seemed to be fleeing in the opposite direction from their route.

Her footpaw slipped and she almost plunged into the dark pit beneath, a muffled squeak escaping her throat. Gabool pulled the rope taut and she stumbled backwards. "Aha, liddlun, ye don't want to fall 'ere." He sounded genuinely concerned, but more in the manner of a beast protecting a treasured possession than a life. "Just like the scorpion didn't want to fall in the river, me dear." Just as she relaxed, he pushed her; she came to the end of the rope with a painful jolt, paws yanked up hard until she thought her shoulders would pop out of their sockets. Gabool lowered her down to the cold and filthy floor. She blinked into the darkness as he continued talking, his voice almost drowning out a rattling of what sounded like claws on the floor.

The clattering sound moved closer, and Mariel heard another tapping sound above her. She looked up, and saw Gabool was tapping on the side of the lantern. More of the fireflies within woke, and their glow increased, turning the dungeon a murky green. "So the scorpion asked the big ole frog to swim 'em both across the river..." he said softly, patronisingly, as if telling stories to an infant.

Mariel looked back into the shadows ahead, and froze as the edge of a sickle-shaped claw emerged. Gabool chuckled darkly as she swallowed hard and pressed against the wall, eyes on the horror before her. Its segmented body was bigger than her; eight tiny eyes fixed wickedly on her, and a bead of venom hung from the razor-sharp tail tip above it. Mariel was far from a coward, but she had never seen anything like this. Fat fangs gleamed, ready to suck her carcass dry.

"The frog asks 'how do I know ye won't sting me?'"

Mariel felt herself being suddenly pulled back up with another shock of pain in her shoulders, just as the claws snapped shut a hairsbreadth from her snout, snapped again at her footpaw, and the stinger tail struck the wall.

"And the scorpion says..." Gabool's hoarse, mocking laughter echoed in her ear. "''Cos my plan is dead widout ye'." He spun her away from the drop, drawing her close and hugging her, patting her, in a way that made her shudder as she unwillingly thought of her father. "Same here, liddle Skiv. I shan't slay yer now. I'll be tellin' yer daddy of this. See if a new thing I could do to yer changes his mind. Ye can trust yer old uncle searat better'n a scorpion, dear." His gold teeth glittered, and he pulled on her rope leash. "Trust me like I trussed you. Ahaharrr..."

Mariel realised she was gripping his shirt collar, and let go, hating herself and him.