Tariel tried to reach out with her magic to soothe the woman, but she had an iron will, and a torrent of rage and fear rebuffed Tariel’sefforts.
“No one can help!” the woman sobbed, tears running down her reddened face. She snatched a rolling pin up from the counter and lifted it above Tariel’s head in a threatening manner. “Leave now, before you bring doom upon usall!”
She brought the rolling pin down, but before she could connect, Yarim was there. He snatched the rolling pin from her hand, then yanked the woman’s wrists behind herback.
“Apologies,” he said to the miller as he dragged the woman kicking and screaming out of the kitchen. “I’ll take care of her.” He shut the door behind him, and an awkward silence descended upon the room in hiswake.
“Momma?” the child whined, struggling to his feet to go after them. Tariel’s heart clenched as she beheld his tear-stained face—she hadn’t meant to cause all thispain.
“Momma will be back in a little bit,” the miller said, scooping up the child. He set his son on his lap and snuggled the boy against his broad chest to calm him. “She is just a little upset rightnow.”
“I can’t blame her,” Calrain said, his voice full of sympathy as he leaned forward in his chair. “If I had bandits threatening to burn down my home, I would be terrified too. But this is why we need your help. We have to stop these monsters and rescue ourfriend.”
But the miller shook his head. “Sama is right. The three of you are no match for the bandits. You should forget your friend, and leave these lands while you still can. Lord Traize makes a good bit of his coin by robbing hapless travelers, or holding them for ransom. You are lucky you have only lost one of yourgroup.”
“It is true that we are not many,” Tariel said, “but I have magic of my own.” She held up a hand, and the miller’s eyes grew round as saucers as she allowed a few sparks of magic to skip across her fingertips. “I cannot take on Lord Traize and his men myself, but if I can find a way to defeat their witch, their defenses will be weakened, which will give your people a fighting chance should you decide to do something abouthim.”
“I think even without his witch, people will be too afraid to rise against him,” the miller said dubiously. But a gleam of hope had lit in his eye, and Tariel knew he was more intrigued by the possibility than he leton.
“Still, we have to try,” Tariel insisted. “Is there nothing you can tell us about the bandits that might help ourcause?”
“I know of no way to breach their defenses, and even if you can penetrate the magic that hides their stronghold, they have dozens of men. They have no tolerance at all for strangers—anyone who tries to approach is killed, and the only ones who have ever returned alive from the castle were successfully ransomed after kidnapping.” The miller shook his head, his shoulders slumping. “Perhaps if you sent a message to them offering to ransom your friend, they might be willing to negotiate with you. But they could easily just pretend to agree, then kill you and take your belongingsanyway.”
“We shall see about that,” Tariel said darkly. Her stomach was knotted with disgust and anger—how could the king of Carliss allow one of his nobles to behave so criminally toward his people? Did the Carlissians not deserve better from their monarch? She had thought this country would be better than Fjordland, but criminals terrorized the citizens with no one to keep them in check, which was just as bad as the rampant witch burnings. At least in Fjordland, bandits were few and far between—neither the king nor the people would stand to have ruffians roaming wild and free on theirlands.
Tariel thanked the man for his hospitality, and she and Calrain quickly finished their food before taking their leave. They found Yarim and the wife outside, sitting on the front porch—the woman was much calmer now, though her face was still blotchy fromcrying.
“I apologize for the strife that we have caused you,” Tariel said, pressing double the amount of coins into the woman’s hands. “We promise we will not speak a word of our visit here, and hope you will do thesame.”
The woman barked a laugh. “Neither my husband nor I will breathe a word of this, I assure you.” But her face softened a little as she counted the coins, then tucked them into her pocket. “As far as we are concerned, you were neverhere.”
The wife sent them on their way with a bit of extra bread for the road. Once they were a safe distance away, they quietly discussed what they had learned, and what they were going to donext.
“By the gods,” Calrain said, shaking his head. “I am glad you were able to use your magic to get that man to tell us the truth, but I could have done without his wife losing her mind. How did you manage to calm her down,Yarim?”
Yarim smiled. “I am well-skilled in the art of soothing angry women. If only I had the same skill with men, I might not be exiled from the Empire.” He sighed, his violet eyes growing dull. “It seems that matters have gone from bad to worse, Tariel. I do not mean to quench your optimism, but how are we going to get past Lord Traize’s defenses? As the miller pointed out, we are but three, and he has dozens of well-armed fighters at hiscommand.”
“The obvious answer is that we will need to approach by stealth,” Calrain said, “but that is easier said than done, especially since we have no idea what sort of defenses we might encounter. Their witch could have set magical traps or alarms that will give us away. From what the miller said, it sounds like some kind of strong illusion magic hides the castle fromview.”
“Well, I do seem to have a gift for illusions,” Tariel said. “Unless this witch is many times stronger than me, I don’t see why I can’t penetrate it.” She touched the abacus in her pack and summoned Zolotais. “Is there a way for me to sense when magic isnear?”
Zolotais cocked her head. “You mean you cannot sense itautomatically?”
Tariel bit her lip. “I don’t know. I’ve never encountered another mage or witchbefore.”
“True,” Zolotais said. “I have always been able to detect magic naturally, but you and I are very different creatures. Even so, I imagine that there must be a way. Perhaps if you send bits of your magic out, like feelers, you might be able to detect spells or magicalobjects.”
“I will have to give it a try when we get closer,” Tarielsaid.
The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon riding in brooding silence. Tariel could feel through the bond that neither of her men were particularly optimistic, and yet, she was grateful for their unwavering resolve. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that she could inspire such steadfast loyalty from even a single man, let alone three of them. She wondered what Lady Tyrook or Queen Relissa would say if they could see her now, and smiled at thethought.
But Tariel knew she could not take advantage of their devotion. Just as they had promised to protect her, she would protect them, which meant she could not lead them to their deaths. Whatever plan of action they took had to have a high chance of success. She would settle for nothingless.
