The Howling Delve - Jaleigh Johnson [82]
"I didn't eat her," Talal said. His voice trembled with suppressed rage. "I took her boots." He pointed to his feet.
A pair of brown leather boots bunched up awkwardly around his knees, straps and buckles dangling. Scorch marks from old fires bruised the leather.
"They're hers," Aazen said. "I remember sitting on them."
"Oh-ho." Balram chuckled. "Straddled her like a two-taran whore, did you?" He clucked his tongue. "Isslun will be disappointed in you. Or is it Aliyea?"
Talal stirred. Balram snapped his hand straight out from the boy's head without looking away from Aazen's face.
Talal screamed out in pain and fell to his knees. He clutched at the patch of bare, bloodied skin behind his ear. Tears streamed from his eyes.
Haroun started forward, but Aazen caught the woman's arm, roughly drawing her back. "You will only worsen the pain," he hissed in her ear.
She glanced up at him, surprised, but kept her silence.
Balram calmly sprinkled bits of loose hair over Talal's whimpering form. "It certainly sheds like an animal. What a mess you are." He crouched down, snagging Talal's chin. "If you're truly the heartless vulture, why should you care what insult I give the Harper?"
"I don't cate," Talal said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, but it seemed like you did, just then. The look on your face was terribly affronted. I'm warning you, boy, if you value these people's lives, you will give me truth. Where is the Haiper?"
"We brought her here!" Talal shouted. Jerking away from Balram, he climbed back to his feet and stood defiantly before the gathered Shadow Thieves. Behind him, the refugees, though far greater in numbei, stood in stunned, terrified silence while Balram regarded the boy.
"Why?" he asked.
"We tried to heal het," Talal said, calmer now. He wiped his running nose as blood dripped down his neck. "So she could help us escape."
A collective tremor went through the crowd, but still no one spoke.
"Did you expect we wouldn't try?" Talal asked mockingly, his eyes daring Balram to come at him again.
Balram smiled. "I wouldn't have expected an animal to speak so boldly. Yes, I knew you'd tty. Were your efforts rewarded?"
Talal shook his head. "She died during the first night. We didn't want to waste our last healing draught on a lost cause."
"Really?" Balram sounded impressed. "What little mercenaries you've become… that is, if you're not little liars. Where is the body?" He raised his hand again, tracing the air alongside Talal's head.
The boy refused to flinch. "Follow me," he said. "I'll take you to her."
She awoke to a hand softly brushing her cheek. Meisha opened her eyes and saw Varan staring down at her.
Her hands were numb from being pressed against the cold floor. She clenched them into painful fists to keep from throwing herself away from Varan, but he merely sat before her, one hand endlessly shuffling his papers, the other resting on her skin, as if he had forgotten he'd laid it thete.
Slowly, Meisha uncurled her body and slid out from under his hand. She came to an unsteady sitting position against the wall, still too close to the unstable wizard for comfort.
How long had she been meditating? No, that wasn't tiue, she thought, berating herself savagely. Meditation had turned to sleep, and a deep one. That had nevet happened to her before, not unless she willed it. Had Varan used some magic to make her sleep? The thought was more than unsettling. Meisha knew what he could do to het when she was awake and aware. It was frightening to contemplate