Chapter 35: Before Midnight

Chapter 35: Before Midnight

"You need me," she said.

"Do I?" Eli asked.

"I know the catchphrases and the watchwords. If you don't say the right thing, the marquis will vanish before you clap eyes on him. You don't want to scare him off, so you need me"

Eli scrubbed his hair with his fingers. "And you're going to help because that potion made me tell you all my secrets?"

"No. Yes. That's one reason. I'm going to help because I owe you and because you owe me and because I know what you've been through and ..."

"And what?"

She tilted her chin upward at him. "I don't want to tell you that either."

"So what?"

"So please don't ask me to."

"I think we're beyond politeness at this point. I'm asking you."

She exhaled. "Because with Chivat Lo, I gave myself to a monster. And I made him worse, I made everything worse."

"And?"

"And you're also a monster, but I'm going to make you better. I'm going to help you stay ... you. Not for you--not only for you. Also for me. This is something I need to do. I can't return. I can't go home. Not like this. Not until I ..."

"Redeem yourself?"

"Yeah."

"That's what I am to you? A way to get make yourself whole again?"

"Yes. I'm a dryn, Elishiv. I've wandered too far from the forest paths, and now what I want, what I need--" She showed him another sad smile. "I want to rest among the roots when I die. I want my bones buried in the trees, which means I need to do better. I need to be better."

Her bones buried in the trees? Eli pinched the bridge of his nose. "And being better means helping me? Even though I'm a monster?"

"Not 'even though' so much as 'because.'"

"Really? I'm a monster?"

"I know you don't disagree."

He snorted. "Yeah, but you don't have to be so sure about it."

"I'll prove it to you, then. Your plan is to kill the marquis and then what?"

"Then I'm going back to the mountain."

"You're not going back."

"What're you talking about?"

"They fed you people, Eli."

"Yeah, but--"

"Don't make excuses. That's monstrous. You like them? Fine. You're loyal to them? Fine. Even though you suspect--and I think you're right--that it's your blood that's loyal to them, that doesn't matter. The feeling is real. And you think you owe them, so--"

"I do owe them."

"Okay. Though ... I'm not sure how much of those memories you can trust. But fine, you owe them. Still, going back? That isn't right, Eli. They eat human beings--they fed them to you. You're not going back."

"I don't have anywhere else."

"You will."

Eli raised his hands in exasperation. He didn't understand this strange, familiar girl. She was too young and too confident about the oddest things. So vulnerable, so wounded, yet so unflinching. First she'd tried to die for Chivat Lo then she'd immediately abandoned him. Well, she'd been raised in one of the most remote and unusual corners of the valley. Maybe that explained her. But also ... she really did know Eli. She knew everything that had happened, every shame and sin and sorrow. And she didn't recoil. Instead, she'd put her life in his hands.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

Of course, she also insisted that he owed her for saving that life.

"The marquis will arrive shortly after sunset," she said.

"Wait, what? Tonight?"

"Yes." She rose in a single motion from her cross-legged position. "We have six or seven hours to prepare."

He stared at her, blank with surprise. Tonight? He'd expected days to plan, to brainstorm and plot and lay the groundwork. Hours. What could he do in hours? He needed to prepare an ambush against the marquis's best guards. Outnumbered, outarmed. For a moment, he considered delaying. Maybe he shouldn't use Chivat Lo's apartment, or Barent Manor, for the ambush. But no, the girl was right. He needed her passwords, he needed the marquis to expect a friendly reception.

And if the marquis realized he'd killed Chivat Lo, he'd retreat into the Keep like a turtle into its shell. Eli would never get another chance like this. At least not before the militia wiped out the trolls. So six or seven hours ...

"No. Why?"

That time, he gave her a look.

"I can help you," she said.

"You'll help by staying here. I won't worry about anything happening to you."

"You're not worried I'm going to get hurt. You're worried I'm going to hurt you."

"Either way," he said.

"I'm not staying here."

So he tied her wrists behind her back with the same cord that Chivat Lo had used on him. She didn't try to stop him, except with words: "Blight you, Eli! Don't do this!"

He eased her onto the bed, then knelt to tie her ankles together.

"I'll come back for you when I'm done," he said.

"Aren't you going to gag me? What if I scream?"

"Then I'll know I can't trust you."

"You prick," she said.

Except actually she'd said 'you prickle,' which must've been a dryn thing. Which almost made him change his mind, but not quite. For good measure, he carried her across the room and set her gently on the floor and tied her to a post that ran along one wall.

"You're making a mistake," she said.

"I talked to you for fifteen hours straight. In all that time, did I give you a single reason to suspect that I don't make mistakes?"

"Bury my bones!" she snapped. "This is stupid and reckless and--and insulting."

"You kicked me in the face."

"Well, yeah, but only because--"

"Twice. And tried to chop my head off."

Her shoulders slumped. "At least tell me what you're planning. Then I can explain why it's dumb."

"Don't worry," he assured her. "I already know it's dumb."

She snorted a half-laugh. "I know you, Eli. I know you better than anyone else does. Even better than, uh ..." She gargled. "Her."

"Mist-Beneath," he said.

"Huh?"

"The cave witch. In Iolian, her name is Mist-Beneath."

"That's what--" she gargled again. "--means?"

"Yeah."

"Well, even she doesn't know you like I do. You hid nothing from me, which means you have nothing to hide and I ..." She turned her earnest gray gaze upon him. "We're connected, you and me. We're a matched pair. We're partners and--shut up! Don't say anything dumb!"

He closed his mouth.

"Just do me a favor, okay?" she asked.

"Depends."

"Don't die, Eli. There's ... more to be done. There's more that needs doing."

Something in her tone made him pause. "You think you know something. About me, or about ... I can't tell what."

"About what you need to do. About the reason for you. About the only goal that makes any sense."

"And are you going to tell me what that is?"

"No. Because you're acting like a complete burl."

He grunted. "I'll be back before midnight."

"You better be."

He touched her shoulder, then turned and left her there.