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On impulse, I conjure cold and make it follow her.
She shivers behind me as the temperature around her drops, and I hide a dark grin. I can treat her the way she deserves. I will.
In the corridor, the other door opens as I lead her past, and she looks away from Kallum as he leaves the room. A second later, he slams into her, sending her sprawling to the ground with a small cry.
He chuckles. ‘You should make more noise,’ he tells her. ‘I had no idea you were even there, slave.’
She doesn’t look at him as she gets up, but I can see her lips set into a mulish line, and I make a mental note to check the multiple conjures that are binding her because I have no doubt that she will kill us without a second thought if she gets half a chance.
We walk down the steps to the now-deserted taproom.
‘How long do we have?’ I ask Grey.
‘Enough time for a meal if we’re quick,’ he replies.
We sit at a table, and she kneels on the floor beside it without being ordered to. I smirk at the others, using it to mask my confusion when I see that her teeth are chattering and her lips are going blue around the edges.
The power that’s flowing through me is so much stronger than it was even a week ago. Conjures that used to take effort are now as insignificant as walking across a room, and I’m not used to it, so I keep using too much on small things.
I berate myself silently as I watch her trying to suppress her shivers. I modify the conjure quickly and watch her from the corner of my eye to make sure she warms up. The point isn’t to kill her, after all, just to keep her in discomfort that she can’t pinpoint.
A mug of tea is put in front of me, and I eye it with distaste, usually preferring water or weak wine in the morning. But it does remind me of something I forgot to do last night.
I delve into the front of my pack, where I keep a supply of medicinal sachets, herbs, and potions, and bring out a vial of brown liquid that I pour into my mug.
I hand it to her.
‘Drink it, Harbinger, unless you want to grow large with a demon bastard in your belly.’
She takes the mug from me after a moment’s hesitation and, with a glance at Kal that I don’t understand, drinks it all in one gulp.
We eat a quick but hearty breakfast of eggs and sausages.
She ignores us, rightly assuming that she won’t be getting any, and when we’re finished, she rises before I can pull on the rope to get her up.
‘You’re learning to be a good slave for us quickly,’ I remark. ‘Perhaps we’ll keep you with us for a while.’
Kallum laughs. ‘Having our own personal Harbinger to serve us? I can’t think of anything worse.’
She doesn’t reply, but I notice that our talk has made her expression go even blanker than it was before. She gives Kallum no reaction as he pulls her across the room and out the door to the dark street, though I can see goosebumps over the skin of her arms despite the warmth even so early in the morning, so I know she’s still feeling the conjure that’s following her. She’s also limping slightly, probably from where Kallum bashed into her upstairs.
We get to the Gate with a few minutes to spare, but no one else seems to be traveling this early, and I wonder if there are multiple Bridges that open at this Gate.
I ask the goblin watchman in the guardhouse, and he nods his shaggy-haired head, pulling down a ripped and half-mangled map of the Dark Realms that’s rolled up on the back of his door with a thick, knobbly hand with three fingers on it.
‘This next Bridge will take you here,’ he rasps, pointing a sharp, black fingernail at the end of one gnarled digit at a spot in the tenth circle out of the eighteen that are known enough to be marked. ‘It’s a mostly dead outpost. No supplies. Might even be overgrown to nothing by now. Not much traffic through there, and you’ll need to follow the signs south to the other Gate to get to the seventh circle because the one you enter through is one-way. It’ll take you a few hours to get to the next one on foot, but there’s a wide path. Travel only in daylight, and don’t go into the darkest woods.’
I roll my eyes. Does he think we’re idiots?
‘Obviously. And the next Breach that opens here?’ I ask.
‘That one’s later. Usually after midday, but it goes to the same circle.’ He points at a world not far from the other, at least on the map. ‘Wouldn’t suggest going there though. It’s where the mercs’ main camp is, and they don’t like visitors.’ His eyes flick to the Harbinger, and then he spits on the ground.
I turn away from the watchman and wait with the others in silence, my eyes flicking between Kal and her. He’s periodically tightening his grip on the rope and pulling it so that it chokes her a little and then easing off when she makes a noise, though it’s clear she’s trying to ignore him and his antics completely. The grin on his face is unhinged, even for him.
When he notices me watching, he does it harder and finally gets a reaction from her. Her hand goes to the rope and pulls it away from her throat. But she refuses to look at him or at any of us.
I hear the roar of the Breach opening and instinctively make sure none of us are within the safety line that’s around the Gate.
