Chapter 53
Darrow
The prince had called another meeting twenty minutes ago, and Durelle joined us—not that anyone had a say in the matter. My aunt had settled into the castle two evenings ago, wanting to be close to the action, and I swore I saw her at nearly every turn.
I suspected that transferring her secret power of “curing the incurable” to Rynn had set her free.
She’d just needed time to adjust to the idea of no longer being at risk before leaving her secluded life.
For decades, she’d had to choose whether or not to save a dying person, especially children with the faebor fever.
Each time she did, it took her up to a week to recover, and she risked more people discovering what she could do.
Living far from other fae had become her safest choice as she grew older and the price on her body grew steeper.
Aella’s young cousin wasn’t experienced or powerful enough to use my aunt’s gift yet, but she was improving quickly and would need guidance when the time came. No one suspected a thing since the girl also had natural healing powers, unlike Durelle.
Because I’d always been a restless type, my aunt brought a small leather ball to the meeting.
She suggested I play with it when I became too bored.
As it turned out, it was quite helpful. For me, anyway, no one else appreciated me throwing it up in the air and then hanging it suspended over the table with my powers, occasionally spinning it.
If anyone said anything foolish, I’d let it drop in front of them on the table.
In my defense, the meeting hadn’t started yet. We were waiting for Loden to arrive. He’d been the one to instigate our gathering, but he’d needed to cross-check something in the Crystal Castle library. Apparently, we had a book the druids lacked that would confirm something.
I sighed. “There are prisoners in the dungeon who need my immediate attention. What is so important?”
“Give me the ball, and I’ll tell you,” Aella said, holding out her hand. She’d been the only one to ignore it until now, so I’d thought she didn’t mind.
I dropped it into her palm. “You have one minute with it.”
“Loden believes he’s finally found the correct type of ore that we need to repair the ring in Penoria, but the text only mentioned it was in the Oarwar desert.
He recalled that one of your ancestors wrote about mining opportunities there, and they might have listed a specific location.
” She tossed the ball back and forth between her hands.
“Since no one wants to spend weeks wandering around there hoping to uncover it, he is checking the journal.”
Ah, that made more sense. “Let us hope he is right this time because we are losing too much fertile land. The fall crops have been brought in, but at the rate parts of Paxia are dying, we’ll have too few places to plant in the spring if we don’t resolve this situation.”
“And the cities can’t handle taking too many more refugees,” my father added.
On the way from bringing Loden back from Alavaar, Aella had stopped in Siggaya and picked up Lord Gannon. While she still avoided socializing with him, she had quit giving him the evil eye now that she knew the whole story of her father’s death.
I was as surprised as she was to learn the truth.
I’d asked my sire why he'd taken credit for it for so many years, and he’d said it hardly mattered who the enemy thought killed the last Therressian army commander.
At least, until he had to look at the elf in question’s daughter regularly in his own home.
He was also concerned about dying by “floral accident” and thought it would be an undignified way to go.
“Give me the ball back,” I demanded.
She rolled it across the table and looked away from me without another word.
Her moods were up and down since her friend’s betrayal.
One minute, she’d pull herself out of it and behave normally.
The next, she’d fall silent and stare blankly at nothing.
The only time I’d seen her truly come to life had been on the battlefield the day we brought my aunt back to Darynia. I missed that version of her.
The prince marched into the room with Loden right behind him, carrying an old leather-bound journal.
We all rose to pay respects to the royal before retaking our seats.
I noted the excitement in my friend’s eyes, which hinted at good news.
We needed that desperately. I let my ball sit on the table motionless for now in the hope I wouldn’t need it anymore.
“I’ve found the exact location for where we can get the ore we need,” Loden announced.
“Where?” I asked, with several others echoing me.
He glanced at the journal. “There is a cave system on the southeast side of the Sobaryan Mountains in the Oarwar Desert just before they become foothills. We’ll find what we need in there.”
I released a sigh of relief. “The sandworm doesn’t roam those parts due to the ground being too rocky for them.”
“Yes.” Loden nodded. “But we will have to pass through an area of hissing cacti that the journal says are very lethal. After losing several members of their party, they resorted to wearing thick armor and enchanted head and face coverings to protect themselves. A rather uncomfortable option in a desert.”
Zelthor, who was now the prince’s heir, shuddered. “I’m glad I don’t have to go.”
“Hissing cacti are amazing,” Aella replied, giving him a pointed look since he controlled venomous frogs. “They’re plants in most ways, but they’re also intelligent, and they have eyes and a mouth. I’ve always wanted to see one.”
If I’d known walking through a field of lethal cacti would cheer up my wife, I would have taken her there sooner. “I assume you will be joining us, then?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I can probably help keep them calm enough for us to pass, too.”
A relieved expression took over Loden’s face. “I was hoping you’d say that, but be aware this trip will likely take at least a couple of days. There isn’t a portal near our destination, and we’ll have to do some mining once we get there.”
“That’s fine,” Aella said.
The prince ran his gaze over us. “Take tonight to pack the supplies you need and then leave first thing in the morning. I’ve also sent a sebeska to Methelaga, the ice giant with extraordinary math skills, to inquire whether she’d allow you all to visit soon.
Hopefully, I’ll have a reply before too long. ”
The bird's journey up there would take several days, plus the return flight. Still, we were nearing the end of her birthing recovery period, so she’d hopefully be open to us visiting soon. Even Hisgar had to be worried about the blight at this stage.
I tossed the ball in the air again as the prince wrapped up the meeting with a few other items he felt we all needed to know.
While he spoke, I kept my gaze on my wife.
The change in her demeanor was remarkable at the mention of seeing a plant she considered interesting.
Perhaps I needed to research where other rare plants lived so I could bribe her with that information whenever I upset her.
That could very well be the key to her heart.
Aella and I stood next to each other with our arms crossed as we stared across the way at two cells.
One held Ulmar and the other, Elgord. They both slumped against the back wall with chains holding them up by their wrists, still recovering from the injuries we’d given them over the last nine days.
In fairness, we only did a little at a time.
There was no need for them to die too quickly after all they’d done to their victims.
The number of women in Balzour who’d profusely thanked us for capturing the baron was staggering.
They didn’t even care that Veronna and the Andalagar had saved them.
Elgord had targeted females of multiple races and ages living in the town, and the stories they told us were some of the most sickening I’d ever heard.
That monster would live to regret every person he ever harmed before we fed him to the lake creatures. Aella had taken their names and begun avenging them one by one. We’d eventually acquired a potion that silenced his screams to save our ears.
Ulmar was close to getting that tonic, too. He couldn’t move much with both his arms broken, so his eye patch hung askew. Aella’s cousin was more defiant than our other prisoner. He spewed curses at us anytime he was awake and swore his wife would save him. I highly doubted that.
“I think we should hang Ulmar upside down today,” she said, eying the chains suspended from the ceiling with special hooks.
The prisoner in question glared at us, missing many of his teeth now. He was naked, bloodied, and smelled terrible. We’d need to have the guards splash him with buckets of cold water again after we left today. I was certain he’d appreciate our thoughtfulness.
“You’ll both pay for this,” he said, rattling his chains.
We had him strung up against the stone wall, but we left some slack to account for his broken limbs. I planned to have them set soon, so we could break them again after they healed.
Aella lifted a brow. “You’ve been saying that for days, and yet, nothing ever happens.”
Ulmar made a frustrated growling sound, which he’d begun doing recently. “I will skin you alive when I get out of here.”
“You’ll be feeding the lake monsters when you get out of here,” my wife replied, then held out a hand.
I placed a dagger in it. She wasted no time tossing it between the bars to embed in the elf’s lower stomach, a few inches from his limp cock. He screamed as his blood poured from the wound. Using my powers, I brought the weapon back and studied the soaked blade.
“Your aim is improving,” I said, pulling a cloth from my pocket to clean the dagger. “Last time, you hit Ulmar in the balls.”
Aella gave me an amused look. “Who is to say that wasn’t on purpose?”
“The fact you told me you planned to hit his kidneys.”