She could feel him peering at her, and was glad the darkness hid her face, as it hid his.
When she thought she had control of her voice-of her words, and thoughts-she said, “You’re right, we should get some more sleep. I’m still tired.”
There was a pause. “Of course.”
His voice had that impassive tone he often used.
Chandra lay down on her bedroll with her back to him. She felt him move away from her, returning to his own bedroll, where he should have stayed in the first place.
She lay awake for a long time in the dark, with her eyes wide open, forbidding herself to think about anything. Anything.
Although she didn’t expect it to happen, Chandra drifted off eventually, and she slept soundly. When she awoke, Gideon had already risen and gone back out into the night. Falia said some of the men had taken him to speak to someone who could tell him more about the Fog Riders that they had seen earlier.
“The rest of the villagers are all doing their work.” Falia said to her, “There is no one to guide you to where he is. You must remain here.”
The girl’s manner toward her now was noticeably cool. It was all too easy to guess why, given where Gideon had chosen to place his bedroll when they all went to sleep. Chandra might have told Falia that she had no interest in Gideon, let alone in competing for his affections. But that seemed like too absurd a conversation to have with someone who looked so young.
Not wanting to stay on Diraden-or in Gideon’s company-one moment longer than she had to, Chandra decided to tackle a task that she and Gideon had talked about: questioning Jurl. So she went into the livestock hut to see him.
The cage was empty. The goblin was gone.
Chandra turned around, intending to go alert the villagers. She found Falia in the doorway behind her. The girl had followed her here.
“He’s escaped!” Chandra said.
“No,” Falia said.
“Then were is he?”
“Being skinned and roasted.”
“What?”
“Goblins make good eating.” Falia gave Chandra’s horrified reaction a look of cool amusement.
“You’ve killed him?”
“We’ve butchered him.”
“You’re going to eat him?” Chandra couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Of course.”
“Oh, no.” Chandra covered her face with her hands, swamped with guilt. “No wonder he was so angry at me! He knew you might do this! And Gideon and I locked him in here! We made him helpless!”
“He was a goblin.” The girl’s voice was contemptuous.
“But he was my…”
Actually, friend would be wildly inaccurate. Jurl had tried to kill her and Gideon; and they had taken him prisoner and brutalized him when he resisted their questions or orders.
Such behavior, on either side, wasn’t exactly the basis of friendship.
Chandra knew full well the goblin was treacherous, amoral, and vicious. She had no doubt that, given a chance, he’d have fed her to Velrav without the slightest hesitation or pang of regret. She had also known that a situation might arise where she or Gideon would have to kill Jurl.
But she had never intended to turn him into a helpless, caged victim that the villagers could skin and skewer at their leisure.
But that was exactly what she had done.
Chandra stared at the smirking girl in the doorway. “How can you eat someone you’ve talked to? Someone you’ve given food to?”
“I fed him because his skin looked a little too loose when you got here. A well-fed goblin is juicier.”
Chandra was aghast that she had slept in the same small hut with this revolting, sneering, deceitful child! “I think I’m going to be sick.”
She was so angry she felt dizzy. She also thought she felt a sudden headache coming on. There was a pounding in her ears, a harsh, uneven drumming that echoed around her…
Chandra frowned, realizing the sound wasn’t inside her head. And it was, she realized with a creeping chill, familiar.
“If you plan to vomit, get it over with.” The girl’s voice was hard. Her eyes were narrow and her lips tight with loathing. “The riders are coming for you.”
“What?” Chandra breathed.
“The Fog Riders are coming to take you to Prince Velrav.” Falia’s tone dripped with dark satisfaction.
Chandra heard the echoing beat of approaching horses, their hooves thundering against the ground. “Me?” Chandra felt the hut closing in on her. “But… why? I mean, how do they know I’m here?”
“Because I summoned them.”
“You?”
“I told you, people thrill him. Power thrills him. Why do you suppose he has not fed on me?”
“Power,” Chandra murmured. “Power.” She tried to call on mana. Any amount. Any feeble flow that she could use to power her fire.
“Because I trade with him for my life.” Falia looked much older than she had before. Perhaps even older than her true age. In that moment, she looked hard, ruthless, and casually cruel. “I find special things for him. A fire mage, such as you… Oh, my. Very exotic, Chandra.”
She looked at the girl sharply. “Did you drag that out of Jurl with your skinning and roasting tools?” She knew Falia hadn’t heard it from her or Gideon.
“He traded the information for his life. But goblins are stupid. He was still caged when he gave up your secret, you see. He didn’t even realize there was no reason not to kill him once he’d told us. If only more goblins were merchants.”
“So you’re one of the takers,” Chandra said, calling on her fury, calling on fire… and scarcely even able to feel her chilled blood warm a little bit.
“This is Diraden.” The girl’s voice was flat. “Everyone is a taker. Some of us are just better at it than others.”
Chandra decided they had chatted long enough. Fire magic wouldn’t work. Velrav had seen to that. She’d have to evade those Fog Riders the old-fashioned way-by running, hiding, and finding a means to fight them even without her power. And the first step was to get out of this hut and away from this smirking brat.