“What do you mean?”
“Well, they fly for one thing. So we’d never be able to track her. Which leaves—”
“Her lair,” Thia finished, remembering what he’d said before. “Where is that?”
Dess rubbed the back of his neck. “No idea. People who journey there don’t usually return.”
Her heart gave a painful thud.Keep it together, Thia.
They looked at Thran. “Somewhere east,” he said softly. “But my scribe’s tower was more interested in human activity, local politics and the like. I never learned where exactly.”
Thia’s brow furrowed. She turned to Dess. “You saidusually.”
He let out an exasperated sigh that did not bode well. “Well, I know of one person who has been there and returned.”
“If you say the king—”
“Worse than that, unfortunately.”
She raised an incredulous brow. “Worse?”
“Our dearest friend.” He jutted his chin across the countryside in the direction of the barn they’d abandoned.
Thia wrinkled her nose. “The one we left unconscious and tied up.”
“That’d be the one, yes,” Dess said mournfully.
“How the hell did she manage that?”Whymight have been the real question, but either way it was hard to imagine anyone getting away from two witches, let alone Oskaren. She could picture Xercae and Asha eating the girl whole just to shut her up.
Dess shrugged resentfully. “She’s an incredible fighter. She was always good, but after she lost her heart—she lost her restraint with it.”
Unease curled in Thia’s stomach. “Why did she go there?”
“I don’t know,” Dess replied. “Fame? Glory? Boredom? Why do heartless people do anything?”
“Dess—”
He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Witch heads are worth a pretty penny. Perhaps she wanted to barter her way out of her wanted status.” He ran a hand over his chin. “In any event, she knows the way.”
“So we have to ask her for help.”
“Yes.”
“After we knocked her out and stopped her from getting the only thing she wants.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe she’ll be reasonable?”
They looked at each other. Then split into twin grins.
“I’m too old for this,” Thran muttered.
“Oh, I’m going tokillCallista,” Thia commented.
Dess patted her shoulder. “Start with the witch,” he advised. “Sorceresses are a lot trickier.”
TWENTY-FOUR
