Venick looked up at the vaulted ceiling. “I could do it.”
“You.”
“Yes.” He drew his gaze back down. “I have the training. I have the knowledge.”
“Have you forgotten that you are a prisoner? Northern elves will not follow you. You are not even supposed tobehere.”
“Then I’ll advise in secret. I’ll teach you and Ellina everything I know, andyouwill head our defenses.”
“Ours, is it?”
Venick hesitated. “The mainlands are at risk, too.”
“But you did not come here for the mainlanders.”
Venick wasn’t certain how to respond to that, so he said only, “Evov sits atop green glass mines. That’s valuable. How large is your arsenal?”
Dourin uncrossed and re-crossed his legs. “A human, wondering about our arsenal.”
“You’ll need to arm your soldiers.”
“Indeed.”
Venick gave an impatient sigh. “So you don’t know.”
“Oh, Iknow.”
“But you won’t tell me? Fine. Take me there.Showme your armory. I’ll take inventory.”
Dourin laughed. “If I do not want to tell a human about our weapons, I certainly would not want toshowhim.”
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
“You will kill me as soon as we arrive.”
“That wouldn’t serve my purposes.”
“You will escape.”
“I wouldn’t make it far if I did.”
“Then you will make a fool of me, merely for agreeing to your preposterous plan.”
Venick gave a hollow laugh. “Dourin,” he said, “we both know, of the two of us, you are not the fool.”
???
Dourin didn’t take him to the armory.
Instead the elf departed with promises to send the palaceeondghiin order that Venick’s mental wellbeing might be checked since he had, in Dourin’s words, clearly lost his mind. When he left, the click of the bolt rang loud. It seemed to echo through the room for a long time after.
Venick stared at the door. The handle, ornate. The keyhole was a little black eye. He shook himself, finally, and tried to arrange his thoughts. Which were a mess.
Venick became well-acquainted with his prison. He went through the drawers again, more carefully this time, checking for false bottoms, testing the strength of their handles. He learned the number of steps it took to cross between bed and dresser and fireplace, the size and position of each wall sconce, which of them burned oil and which burned wax. He discovered blind spots, places he could stand unseen with curtain rod in hand.
To do what, Venick? Launch an ambush?
If it came to that.
