The Convict

The convict is a man who hides in a tree at the Purelake. Lacking the sense to stay hidden there, he leaps for Szeth, perhaps tempted by the prospect of obtaining a fine weapon (i.e., Nightblood).
Szeth sidesteps and escapes the slashes of the convict's improvised dagger, but is forced toward the water.
The criminal then rushes him. Szeth catches the the convict's hand with the dagger, twisting to use the man's own momentum to send him stumbling into the lake.
When he rushes Szeth again, Szeth catches the man by the wrist once more and spins him around, the water splashing. The man drops his knife, which Szeth plucks from the water. He dodges the man's grapple, and in a moment has one arm around the convict's neck. Szeth raises the knife and presses the blade against the man's chest, drawing blood.
Szeth lowers the knife, but this gives the man an opening to twist and pull them both down into the Purelake. The criminal lands on top and forces Szeth under the surface, slamming his hand against the stony bottom and making him drop the knife.
When Szeth throws off the criminal, Nightblood gets caught between the stones of the lake bottom, causing him to jerk back to the water. He rips himself free, breaking the sword's harness strap, and the weapon sinks into the water. The man glances at the submerged sword, his eyes glaze, then he grins wickedly, droping his knife, and dives for the sword. The convict comes up looking gleeful, holding the weapon.
Szeth punches him across the face, grabs his sheathed sword, ripping it from the weaker man's hands, then swings it at his enemy. The weapon strikes the convict's back and he splashes down into the lake and falls still. Szeth shakes himself, then kneels and pulls the man up by his matted hair. The convict gasps, but his body doesn't move. Not dead, but paralyzed.
When Szeth asks him whether someone worked with him in his escape, the convict replies that it was Vun Makak.
When Szeth asks him how he got out, the convict tells him that it was Nu Ralik. That he just wanted to see the sun again.
When Szeth leaves the man to drown, he tells Nightblood that it was better than leaving him to a greatshell, which happens there in that kingdom.
==Appearance==
His sorry appearance is ragged. He has matted, shaggy hair. His skin bears many lesions. According to Szeth, the man is so filthy that beggars and street urchins would find him distasteful company. He is also scrawny and weak.
==References==
Category:Reshi Isles (people)