“I’m here to help you.” Her voice is quiet, almost a whisper. “Just listen. You want to rescue Tarlia. I know where she is and how to get her out of here without alerting Zorwal.”
“Why would you help me?”
She stares at me, her eyes hard, then looks down. “I’m not Zorwal’s puppet. Not anymore. We have an enemy in common. More than one enemy. I’ll help you get Tarlia out of here, and then… I want to come with you. To… my brother’s house.”
“To lead Zorwal there.”
“Zorwal… I spent years and years on that island, years and years in a nightmare. I blamed you for a long time. Blamed myself. Still do.” She closes her eyes and lets out a bitter chuckle. “Zorwal’s the one behind it all, and if he’s connected with the Witch King… I can’t take him. Can’t kill him, not on my own. Now he knows I betrayed him, but Tarlia might have information that could help us. Let me guide you, then take me to my brother. I’ll explain to him what I was doing.”
Her words don’t make much sense. “You found him at the Jewel without any issue. Why would you need my help now?”
“I can find Marlak. You’re right. But I don’t want him to think I’m a threat, to think I’m helping Zorwal. And we need to free Tarlia.”
Ziven looks at me. “You could make a deal, couldn’t you? It would protect you both.”
I glare at Mirella, wondering if I can peer through her layers, look into her poisoned heart to find the reason for her strange behavior, and yet I do not know the answer. “You’re saying you can tell me where Tarlia is?”
“Yes, but you shouldn’t go there.”
“Am I supposed to rescue her by telepathy?”
Mirella shakes her head. “It’s a trap. Zorwal wants you. Why, I do not know. But it’s a trap. He’s waiting for you.”
“How am I to rescue Tarlia?”
She points at Ziven. “Hecan go. And you’ll need to use that dagger to cut her bond.”
How can she know that much? “Dagger?”
She sighs. “I can see you. I don’t know why. I thought it was Marlak that I was seeing, but no. It’s you.” The thought of Mirella peering on me chills my bones, and I don’t think she likes the idea either, as she grimaces. “I know everything you planned. Everything. And I know you need to defeat Zorwal. I want to defeat him too. It’s why I joined him, to learn his weaknesses.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“Tarlia might have learned something, but I couldn’t ask her. She’s being watched. It’s a trap for me too. Let’s make a deal. I know you hate me. I…” She closes her eyes. “Have no affection for you, Renel. And I know… I know we don’t get along. I’m not asking you to like me or to trust me without any guarantees. Let’s just make a deal.”
Mirella is poison and torment condensed in one person. Her words sound reasonable, but she’s obviously hiding some kind of trick. At the same time, I don’t think Ziven can defeat her. How am I going to get to the castle when she’s standing in our way? I’ll have to play whatever game she wants to play, and then later find a way out.
“Can it be a life-binding deal?” I ask her, already predicting that she’ll refuse it.
She raises her eyebrows. “You want to bind your life to a deal?”
“Yes, I have nothing to hide, and no need to deceive anyone.”
She pauses, thinking, then says, “So I’ll help you rescue Tarlia and you’ll take me to Marlak. Does that work?”
“You’ll come with us, and you’ll meet Marlak when we do. You’ll use no magic to attack, humiliate, hurt, deceive, or harm us.” I’m sure she can find a way to twist these words. “Actually, you’ll use no magic at all on me, Ziven, or Tarlia. You’ll promise you mean no harm to Tarlia, that your help has the goal of freeing her, and that your instructions are correct.”
“Ithinkmy instructions are correct. I could be wrong.”
“You better not be wrong.”
She sighs, then stretches her hand. “I bind my life to you that I want to help you remove Tarlia from this castle, that I won’t tell Zorwal or anyone working for him about you, that I mean no harm to you. I will use no magic on you until after we meet Marlak and you say so, and I vouch that my instructions for freeing Tarlia are correct based on my observation and shouldn’t get you hurt, harmed or imprisoned. You will take me to Marlak, and will not use physical force against me.”
“Except for self defense,” I say.
“Self defense against what? I already promised not to use any magic on you.”
At once, I realize the gap in the words I suggested. She could still poison the air around me. “No magic on me or near me.”
