"This weapon alone can send you to the Cauldron," he said, "even if you weren't already going there." He pulled the knife from the sheath. "Cheap steel, it won't hold its edge past one use." He stabbed Paul in the stomach with the knife. When he pulled the knife out he pulled it across the back of his hand. It made a faint cut. "See," he said, "dull already." He stabbed Paul again. This time he left the knife in the wound. When the servants came they stared in shock as Paul fell to the floor. Paul gasped through the pain of the knife in his stomach. He tried to make his hands grip the knife to pull it out, but they refused to obey. It was like after the daughter left him helpless in the snow, but now instead of the cold seeping in, Paul's life blood leaked out. He watched from the floor, u
