I consider how to fight them, when Mirella’s words come to me: they’re after Renel. After that worthless key, can I still trust her?
“Keep going and act normal,” I tell Tarlia. “They’re not here for us.”
The bloodpuppets walk by us and we continue. Outside, the guards are gone. Well, that’s one big problem.
The sound of footsteps comes from downstairs, so there’s no way I can follow Mirella’s instructions and go down. It’s time to improvise.
I pull Tarlia and climb up the stairs, then head to the hallway, the passage identical to the one below, and another hallway, where we walk calmly and even cross a few guards. The capes are still working.
I find a room with a window and gesture to it. “We’ll climb down.”
“Are you crazy?”
I grin. “Obviously. But didn’t you train for it?”
She grimaces as she looks outside. “I need water.”
At first I’m not sure what she means, but then I realize she must be thirsty. “Cup your hands.”
She does as I say, and I condense some humidity in her palm. Her body trembles as she gulps desperately.
“The castle could move,” she says once she finishes drinking.
“We’ll hold tight. It’s the only way that won’t be watched.”
Her nod is nervous and fast. I open the window and cool air comes to us. This is higher than the Elite Tower in the Krastel castle. And smoother. I’m second-guessing my decision, when someone enters the room.
A man with a scar on his neck. So that’s the infamous Zorwal. The one who can’t be killed. My heart stills.
“Look at that.” He smirks. “A human bit my bait.”
I’m trembling and try to think fast. Will it work? Only one way to know.
Perhaps beheading him doesn’t work, but he has blood in his veins and water in his body.
Focusing on my water magic, I freeze it all. Zorwal falls back like a statue without a stand, his body cracking against the floor. I use the water in the air to fill his interior with ice, so much ice that his body shatters into pieces, then I take some of them and throw them out the window. The pieces break like glass on the floor far beyond us.
“He’s gone,” Tarlia says. “We could take the stairs.”
I shake my head. “There could be bloodpuppets or even guards sworn to stop you or whoever’s with you on the way out. We’ll climb down. And I’m not sure he’s dead.”
She looks at the broken pieces in the room and grimaces. “I know.”
One reason I want to climb down is that I don’t trust Mirella’s instructions anymore. If she can’t lie, she gave them in good faith, but perhaps she was manipulated by Zorwal, shown the wrong key, who knows what else. It would be too easy to find us and block our way.
“I’ll go first,” I mutter, hoping nobody follows us.
I search for a fissure, for a place where to rest my feet, and find nothing. I look at Tarlia. “Do you trust me?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really. I’m going to hold you. Don’t be afraid.”
She frowns, probably thinking—correctly—that I’m about to do something quite reckless, but I don’t know what else to do. At least she lets me hold her, then I create a layer of ice beneath me, and focus on that ice, and move it down slowly. At first, I have one arm around Tarlia and the other on the wall of the castle, trying to find my balance, but then I let the ice bring us down faster.
Soon we reach the enormous black stone at the base of the castle, and then the ground. Tarlia steps away, trembling, and Mirella comes running toward us. Why is she here?
“You have magic.” Her tone is a mix of puzzlement and accusation.
