“I’m here to protect you as I swore upon my oath to do, O noble master.”
Thus assured, the thief leaned out the window and yelled to the figure below him, “I, Hakem Rafi, am master of this palace. What business brings you to trespass on my grounds?”
“I come on a matter of greatest urgency, O Hakem Rafi: the matter of Aeshma, chiefest of the daevas and satrap of the demons of the Pits of Torment.”
Hakem Rafi was immediately defensive. “What do you know of such things?”
“I know he is with you and that you make use of his power,” Akar said. “I also know that, as personification of the inventor of lies, Aeshma is the most skilled and powerful liar on the face of Parsina. While you have some control over him, he will find a way to destroy you and then work his evil upon the world.”
“I cann
