Pale red light fell across the grasslands as the morning sun stretched its first tendrils over the horizon. I looked between the unconscious man on the ground and the inn a short distance away.
“I thought you said he was supposed to be waking up at sunrise,” Callan said as he crossed his arms and looked down at me.
Meeting his gaze, I shrugged. “I estimated the strength of the poison based on how quickly someone with a body type like his usually burns through it, but there was more left inside him than I had predicted. It’s not an exact science.”
“Then why didn’t you say that?”
“I did. I said he should wake up by sunrise. But it doesn’t matter, I’ve pulled out the remainders of the poison now.”
“Why can you never just admit—”
Lance let out a loud groan, interrupting Callan’s next taunt.
I arched an eyebrow at the force mage. “You were saying?”
He huffed out a dismissive breath, but didn’t retort.
Another moan came from the Binder on the ground as he worked to shake off the lingering effects of my poison. Blades of grass clung to his golden blond hair from when we had just unceremoniously pulled him off the horse and dumped him on the ground while waiting for him to wake up. His clothes were dirty and rumpled, probably from when we dragged him through the tunnel, and fresh bruises peeked out from underneath his clothes. He was also still wearing that pair of stiff handcuffs. To sum it up, the great hero of Eldar had probably both looked and felt better than he did right about now.
Once I was sure that Lance was truly waking up, I met Callan’s gaze again. “I’ll get us a room. Make sure this one understands what will happen if he so much as breathes in a way we don’t like.”
“Oh don’t you worry. I’m quite skilled at threatening people.”
“Don’t I know it,” I replied with a huff of amusement.
While Callan smirked back at me, I grabbed the three horses’ reins and started towards The First and Last Stop. It was morning, which meant that other people would be up and about too. We couldn’t very well carry an unconscious man into the inn and expect no one to notice, so we had to make Lance walk inside while pretending that he was here with us of his own free will. But we didn’t want people to get too good a look at him, so I would get the room first and then we’d just have him walk straight up the stairs to it.
After handing over the horses to the stable hand, I approached the front door. I hadn’t told Callan that I’d be taking the horses with me, but I trusted him about as far as I could throw him and there was no way I was leaving him alone with Lance and the horses so that he could just ride off without me.
The scent of baking bread enveloped me as I stepped across the threshold. My stomach rumbled in response to it. It had been quite a while since I had eaten anything, and all the fighting and running yesterday had used up a lot of energy as well. I would need to get us all some food too.
Muted chatter filled the room as I started towards the pale wooden counter at the back. The whole tavern area was packed with people eating breakfast. I studied their faces as I walked.
When I reached the counter, I rapped my knuckles against the worn wood. “I need a room.”
“Sure,” the innkeeper answered as he turned around to face me while giving me a smile. “Any preferences?”
“The biggest you have.”
“That one is quite expensive.”
“Not an issue.”
His blue eyes lit up. “Then I have the perfect room for you. It has a large double bed, a small separate room for baggage storage, and even a bathroom attached to it.”
“We’ll take it. And three full breakfasts too.”
“Excellent.”
While I retrieved some money from my pack and slid it across the counter, the innkeeper grabbed a large key from the rack behind him and held it out to me.
“It’s on this floor,” he said, and pointed in the direction I had come from. “Just across the hall over there, on the other side of the stairs.”
Satisfaction swirled inside me as I nodded in acknowledgement and took the key before starting back towards the front door. The room was on this floor? That was perfect. We would be able to get Lance in quickly and quietly.
Warm summer air ruffled my hair as I stepped back out and gazed across the grass. Callan and Lance were standing in the same place as I had left them. Raising an arm, I motioned for them to approach.
Lance was walking next to Callan, and he looked to be carrying the force mage’s pack. One of Callan’s jackets was draped over Lance’s hands, making it look like he had knitted his fingers together to carry the pack in his arms. I had to admit, it was a really clever way to hide the fact that he was actually handcuffed.
As I watched the way Callan’s muscles shifted under his clothes while he strode towards me, I realized that this was it. This was the last day of our temporary truce. After this, everything would change.
“You got the room?” Callan asked as they closed the final distance.
“Yes.” I slid my gaze to Lance. “Did he explain the rules to you?”
Lance’s blue eyes were filled with both fear and anger as he flicked them towards Callan before meeting my gaze. “Yes.”
For someone who was supposed to be the hero of Eldar, he was surprisingly easy to intimidate.
“Good.” I jerked my chin as I opened the front door again. “Then follow me. Don’t raise your head and don’t speak to anyone.”
Our feet thumped against the pale wooden floorboards as I led them across the hall at a brisk pace. After unlocking the door on the other side of the stairs, I held it open and motioned for them to hurry up.
A flash of panic shot through me when the sound of chairs scraping against the floor came from the doorway leading into the tavern area. But before that group of people could make it into the hallway, Lance and Callan had thankfully already crossed the threshold. I slipped inside after them and closed the door behind us before blowing out a long breath.
While leaning back against the door, I swept my gaze across the room. It was rather large for a simple roadside inn. A couple of drawers lined the wall beside me and there was a double bed next to the window on the other side. To my left, a wooden door stood open to reveal that small baggage room that the innkeeper had mentioned. And on the right, another door led into a bathroom. A small smile tugged at my lips. It had everything we needed.
Callan took his pack and jacket from Lance’s arms, revealing the stiff handcuffs underneath. While he set them down next to the bed, I unslung my own pack and pulled out a metal contraption.
The chain rattled as I pulled it out before advancing on Lance.
Straightening from his own pack, Callan turned to look what I was doing. Amusement tugged at his lips, and he arched an eyebrow at me while nodding towards the item in my hands. “So that’s where that one went.”
“Yes.” Placing a hand on Lance’s chest, I shoved him towards the small baggage room. “In there.”
He looked like he wanted to protest, but in the end, he just shuffled into the closet-like space. I reached up and snapped the metal collar around his neck before locking the chain to the horizontal metal rod that was supposed to be used as a clothing rack.
The contraption was one of the things that Callan had bought from that shady store in Eldar. Before we left our rented house, I had stolen it from his room and put it in my pack instead. I knew that we would need to lock Lance into the room when we stopped at this inn, and that it would be the perfect opportunity for that damn force mage to betray me and disappear with the Binder on his own. After all, we were both dark mages, and we took what we wanted from this world without being bothered by something as silly as a conscience. So I couldn’t let him outsmart me.
Palming the key, I turned and strode back into the bedroom. Callan was still looking at me with raised eyebrows and half a smile lurking on his face.
“You have the key to the handcuffs,” I said. “And now I have the key to this.”
Callan smirked at me. “Still don’t trust me, huh?”
“No. And I assume the feeling is mutual.”
“It is.”
“So, we have one key each.”
“Fine.” Callan huffed out a soft chuckle and then started towards the bathroom. “I’m taking a shower.”
I tracked his movements until he disappeared beyond the doorway, then I strode back out to the tavern and retrieved that breakfast I had ordered too. While balancing three bowls of stew and chunks of bread on a wooden tray, I returned to our room and kicked the door shut behind me. After placing it down on one of the small side tables, I locked the front door but left the key in the lock so that Callan could still get out if he wanted to.
Water splashed against tiles from the other side of the bathroom door. I cast a glance at it before picking up a bowl and a chunk of bread on my way to the baggage room.
Lance Carmichael was sitting down on the floor, leaning his back against the wall and staring out at nothing. The chain was just long enough to allow him to lie down if he wanted to.
“Here,” I said as I placed the food in front of him.
Suspicion swirled in his eyes and he made no move to eat it.
I rolled my eyes and then touched my palms together. Glittering green magic swirled around my arms while I shot him a pointed look. “If I wanted to poison you, I wouldn’t need food to do it.”
He seemed to see the logic in that because he picked up the spoon resting inside the bowl. With his handcuffs on, his movements were a bit awkward, but he began eating the stew.
Moving over to the tray, I picked up a bowl and a piece of bread for myself, and then sat down on the bed as I started wolfing down the food as well. From where I sat, I could still see Lance through the doorway.
“All that stuff you said in your speech,” I began between mouthfuls of stew. “Do you really believe that shit?”
“Of course I do,” he said, his voice brimming with indignation. “And it’s not shit. Magic is supposed to be shared equally. Not hoarded by the select few.”
“You really can’t see any reason for why mages would want to keep their magic?”
“Only selfish ones.”
Wood clanked as he stabbed his spoon into the bowl in a show of anger. I just cocked my head, studying him while I tore off a chunk of bread. For a while, we just ate in silence.
“So you really are fine with spending a decade developing your magic just to give it all to someone else?” I asked when his food was gone.
“Yes.”
“Then why aren’t you sharing all of your money too?”
Drawing his eyebrows down, he gave his head a short shake as if that should have been obvious. “Because everyone has a job and everyone makes money.”
“Do they?”
“Yes.” Righteousness blazed in his eyes. “But not everyone has magic. That’s why we need to share it.”
The sounds of splashing water that had been coming from the bathroom stopped. I finished the last of my food and pushed up from the bed. After grabbing his bowl and spoon as well, I set them back down on the tray. Then I drew in a deep breath and moved back to stand in the doorway above him.
“If you could have just kept your ridiculous ideals to yourself, you would have lived a wonderful and happy life in your beloved city. But you didn’t.” Touching my palms together, I called up a cloud of poison and then flashed him a smile sharp enough to draw blood. “I look forward to breaking you.”
Before he could reply, I shoved the poison down his throat. He slumped down on the floor. The strength of it was enough to knock him out for at least eight hours.
After one last look at the hero of Eldar, I closed the door to the baggage room and left him alone in the dark.
Lance Carmichael.
He would come to regret his choices before the end.
I would make sure of it.
