[That mercy is a subtle thing but it does not go unnoticed; Bennet feels a pang of guilt for handling him roughly earlier. The mage is telling him the truth, much as he would rather it not be. Everything he has said so far is truth. Which means he truly is lost, lost in a way he can scarcely even fathom.]

Towards the end I was myself dehydrated, half-mad from the tricks of the desert sands... [He hesitates, but then presses on:] I did feel, several times, as though I was being watched. Observed. And yet whenever I would turn, of course no one and nothing was there. I took it then for the leave of my senses, but now I am not so sure.

[His mouth presses together into a thin line.] An Egyptian man, Sahreed, appeared before Eobar and I shortly before we were to test out, just a day before that woman arrived. He claimed to know of the location we sought and offered to guide us there. He changed his mind after coming to blows with Eobar, and I never saw him again. I took him for a mere lapdog, but mayhaps he had something to do with this. Mayhaps he really was a servant of the Eternal Pharaoh, as he claimed to be.