Inari glanced to the runes covering every inch of the room. “The spell?”
“Is not the only one upon me.”
“Whoever set it… They really didn’t want you to leave.”
“Amongst other things.”
“How do we break the bonds?”
Ezra smirked. “A spell. How else?”
“And what is this spell?”
“I cannot say.” He looked at his bloodied ankles. “And I would not like to repeat what happened the last time I spoke it.”
Aloisia peered closer at his feet. Fine metal spikes protruded from the manacles, sinking deeply into his flesh.
“Can you write it?” Inari asked.
Aloisia stepped forth. “Are you sure this is wise?”
“What would you have us do? Leave him here? Likely, he is what we have been led to.”
“A spell this powerful, binding him here. I am guessing the spell to release him will not have a small price. And who is to say what powers he possesses? What might we face if he is released?”
“You are right to be concerned, Huntress,” Ezra said. “I would not trust a man, shackled in a cave in the middle of nowhere, bound by a spell this powerful.”
Inari gave her a pointed stare. “We cannot just leave him here like this.”
“I have to agree.” Kaja grasped her shoulder, as if to soften the blow. “This is where we have been led. He could have answers.”
“Then we get them,” Aloisia said. “Now. Whilst he is still bound.”
Ezra folded his hands in his lap, as if they were not chained. “What answers would you like, Huntress? The wisps? The Forgotten Gods? The dark magic which plagues your land?”
Aloisia raised a brow at him.
“I can provide all. Unfortunately, the spell binding me prevents me from saying much more than I have. So, you have a few options here as far as I can see. First, you break the spell and get me out of here and get your answers. Second, you leave me here, bound as I am, and get no answers. Third, try as you may to get answers here and now, you will not be able to, and further waste your time. After all, there is a trial approaching tomorrow, if I am not mistaken.”
“How do you know that?”
“All in good time, Huntress. Free me and any answers you wish are yours.”
Aloisia clenched her teeth, her mind at war. She did not trust this man, bound as he was, but she had not come this far to leave with nothing. And if he was offering answers…
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I am Ezra Solis,” he answered. “A scholar of the Mage’s Guild in Ephroditia.”
“And how did you come to be here?”
“I was captured and bound.”
“Why?”
“I cannot say.”
Inari rose from where he knelt, turning to Aloisia. “We don’t have time right now,ro suda. If we are to get back in time for the trial…”
