“Touch her again and I will do more than terminate your contract.”
Veleria barely heard the sorceress speak. Her words were pointed, threatening. It frightened her despite her gratitude. She gathered her tattered cloak in uncertain hands, then turned to Alk’Hath before quickly diverting her gaze. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alk’Hath’s delicate, painted fingers beckon her hand.
“Come, Veleria. Let me find you a change of clothes.” She said, her voice silken.
Veleria took her hand between shaken fingers. As she did so, her eyes still off to the side, she felt the floor move. One of the nearby walls had slid into the adjoining one to reveal a passage. There were so many in the temple, all of them only for Alk’Hath to use. The sorceress led her into it, then Veleria felt the wall slide back into place behind her. Before it did so, she caught a glimpse of Vos’iin glaring in her direction. He was bleeding from his exposed abdomen. He was lucky that the sorceress had not cut him any lower.
They proceeded down the passage. Not once did Veleria allow herself a look at the woman leading her. Not even when they reached their destination.
“Arda! Do me a favor and prepare a medicinal bath.” Alk’Hath sat Veleria down on a cushioned seat. They were in the sorceress’s personal chambers now. Flickering candles and faerie lights illuminated a lavish bedroom decorated with overflowing bookshelves, tasseled pillows woven with reds and golds, and strange instruments that befitted her craft.
Yet, Veleria merely continued to stare at her feet. They were dirty. Unclean. She moved her toes with an unsettled anxiety.
“Yes, mistress,” came a small, yet confident voice. One of her handmaidens. “Would you like me to pick a nightgown?”
“The bath isn’t for me. I will choose what to dress her in. However, on the topic, I would like you to clean and cut Veleria’s hair while you’re with her. And get that wretch Vos’iin’s filth off of her! I want no traces left of him.”
“As you wish, mistress.”
Alk’Hath’s jeweled feet came into view just as Caed’s eye began to ache. He rubbed at it, taking his hand from Veleria while the woman rested undisturbed. He stepped away, grabbed materials to make his smokes, and then stepped outside to roll one.
Caed puffed a few rings. What he had seen wasn’t what he wanted, but he did find its clarity intriguing. It was obvious that the sorceress held some favor towards the girl…But getting rescued and then pampered was another thing altogether. He had seen something that likely happened following his departure.
What had Alk’Hath dressed her in? He smiled a bit, envisioning Veleria in one of the extravagant robes that the sorceress was known for. A split skirt to show her thigh, plus exposed cleavage with a teasing, dropped shoulder. This time, he laughed. He could not see her in any of that.
He jumped a little when a bird flew out from a nearby tree. As peaceful as this place was there was the real threat of Raker on his way. It was making him anxious. Putting out his smoke, he retreated inside the cabin to find Veleria had woken up.
“Think we can agree to a truce until Cromwell comes to get ya?” Caed asked, watching Veleria perk up.
“What, you’re asking me not to stab you?” Veleria pursed her lips. She looked away with her nose upturned, however playfully.
“Yeah, I’ll untie you but you gotta promise not to carve me up like a bird.” He moved past her, placing the rest of his materials on a nearby table. Caed turned back towards her just as she nodded her head in agreement.
“I won’t. Killing you would be kind of detrimental anyway, since I dunno where we even are. But, uh…” She smiled conspiratorially, “can you help me continue learning how to read and write?”
Caed stared at her. One brow hiked upward, though after a silent moment between them he snapped his fingers and the rope tying Veleria’s wrists came undone. She rubbed her wrists after. The minor bruising that had been present melted back into the olive hue of her skin.
“Giarmund was teaching you?” Caed asked, his back turned to her while he perused a dusty shelf that held a few knickknacks as well as books. He flipped through a few of them, all the while Veleria stretched. She was behind him after a moment, then she, too, looked through the few books he kept in the cabin.
“Why do you always smell like that?” She held one of Cromwell’s tomes in her hands.
“Like what…Oh,” Caed cleared his throat, “I smoke, ya know? Never noticed?”
Veleria shook her head.
“Well, the smell is from the Spiritcaller plant, right? The root is part of the blend. Soaks up a ton of magic from the leylines.” Caed took the book from her, looked it over, then sneered when he saw Cromwell’s moniker on the spine. Why would she want to read about Elvish history? It certainly wasn’t one he would have picked. “Basically, it calms me and it has an additional effect in that it feeds this awful hunger sorcerers like me constantly feel. That aside, why the hell do ya wanna read this trash?”
“What do you mean, ‘trash’?” Veleria narrowed her eyes. “I think it’s helpful.”
Considering her words, Caed flipped through the tome while skimming a few pages. His eyes caught on something that nearly made him drop it.
Caellach Fauror. The King of Dragons. The Red God.
Composing himself, Caed tucked the book under his arm. Impossible, he thought. She can’t really think that her passenger is that Caellach, can she?
The more he stood there, thinking, the more Caed believed it himself. What other being could possibly interrupt Istvar’s eye? Not even the sorceress could pull off something like that.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Caed ran his fingers through his hair. “We can read this one.”
When he looked back at her, he found that Veleria was shedding embers. Her pupils were thin slits, like a reptile might have, a snake, or…Like a dragon.