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“Is it safe?”
“Oh, yes. We won’t step into enemy territory or go anywhere where we could be spotted. And I’m sure you’re tired of being in the same small space for so long.”
The same small space. He hasn’t seen the tower where I grew up. Then again, the island isn’t much bigger.
He leans forward. “You like to climb, right? We’ll find a rock wall for you.”
I think he’s trying to do something nice for me, but there’s something odd about his invitation. “Are you allowed to do that? Get me out of here?”
He leans back and shrugs. “If I think it’s important, yes.”
This is some interesting information. “Let’s go, then.”
I hope I don’t regret this.
I know there’s something Nelsin’s not telling me. Why would he choose to take me out of the island right when Marlak is away? When, coincidentally, Ferer is also away?
My best guess is that he’s doing something he isn’t allowed to do, but it can’t be just because he wants to take me for a walk, can it? Of course not. There’s more. I know it, but I want to find out what it is.
At least the curiosity about where Nelsin is taking me replaced my worry about Marlak, and perhaps seeing him in a dream last night was enough to quiet that nagging anxiety.
Nelsin told me not to bring my sword. Thankfully, he said nothing about daggers. Still, as I stand at the edge of the island, I decide it’s better to offend him than to risk my life.
“You’re not tricking me, right? You mean no harm?” I chuckle, and it sounds right, but I had to put an effort to fake it.
He raises a hand and shows me his palm. “No harm. I have sworn an oath to protect you, my lady, and even if I hadn’t, I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
“I didn’t think that, I just?—”
“I know.”
A disk of ice forms in front of us. He steps on it, then reaches out for me to step on it as well, which I do. Soon we’re gliding gently over the river, towards the other side. Nelsin’s water magic is quite impressive, and it’s something I’ll have to remember.
Ha. Remember when? I don’t think I have any chance against him. Perhaps that’s what I need to keep in mind: how utterly powerless I am in this place.
On the river bank, he winks. “Don’t tell anyone about this.”
“It will be our secret.” Had I been just a little prudent, I guess I’d be asking him to take me back to the island right now.
But that island is my prison. Should an inmate ask their jailer to put them back in their cell?
There are pebbles and mud under my feet, but he leads me inland, towards the small cliff. Among some rocks, I see a circle of white mushrooms. A faerie portal? I always learned that they exist only in human stories, created by people with little understanding of magic.
Nelsin steps in the middle of the circle, a mischievous grin on his face, his top ears pointed forward. “Yes, yes. We do travel through those.”
I step in. “Are you going to tell me where you’re taking me?”
“Why? If I can show you?”
It feels like he’s working some air magic, blowing a powerful circular current around us. As far as I know, Nelsin wields only water, though.
When I look around us again, we’re in a plateau, near a tall rock cliff, some two times the height of any climbing structure I ever trained on, surrounded by mountains and more mountains.
Oh. So we are indeed climbing, and that’s what this is about. I don’t know why I feel deflated. Maybe because I thought I was about to find out some juicy secret? We didn’t even need to come here, as we could have climbed the cliff by the Queen’s River.
There are only tall, green mountains around this valley. So many, so tall… It means we’re still somewhere among the Endless Mountains, so not far from home.
Home.
