“I don’t like that you are forced to do this. Why should you sacrifice for me?”
“You spoke elegantly when you first arrived. You reminded us of our duty to those of our kind who are not blessed with a channel to magic. Maelira does not speak much, but after our meeting, she told us that she felt we owe you,” she says.
“I don’t?—”
“It was good you came. It has been so long since we have known anything about our kin.”
I breathe. She makes it sound so easy to accept help.
It is not.
“Would it help if I showed you more of this place?” she asks, pointing up to the lights along the ceiling. “It might soothe the discomfort of not fighting.”
I suck in a sharp breath, and nod. I am eager to get my mind off of what is happening outside.
“This place is called The Hollow. There used to be a dozen or so of these in the west,” she starts.
“And what do you keep here?”
“In this one, we have over a thousand years of debts my sisters made with strangers across the continent,” she says softly. “Each one a price, paid in memories or blood.”
“Are they records?” I ask, thinking of the library in Enduvida.
She gives me a half smile. “Almost. Some are memories. Some are entire souls, or pieces of souls. Some…” she trails off as I look up again.
Each floating thing is pretty, but I don’t know if I should be mesmerized or afraid by pieces of people flickering above.
“Thank you for telling me,” I say. Then yelp“fuck” asanother crash rumbles through the cave.
Vann. Be safe. Be safe. Be safe.
The old woman approaches and pats my back, waiting for the fear to ease with soft words. When the dust settles, she helps me up and smiles.
“You are kind,” I murmur.
Something flickers behind her eyes, then she says, “Please excuse my frankness, but I am old and formalities are useless. I just need to tell you that when I saw you, I felt something,” she says softly. “I felt a memory stirring in the cavern. A debt. Then they told me about your companion and I almost didn’t believe them. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a troll.”
My eyes widen. “You know of them? How?”
“I used to have a post near the city’s capital. I was in charge of brokering more than a few of these debts.” Her hand gestures above her.
I look around again. “For some reason, I thought people wouldonly leave this place if they wanted to abandon your customs, like The Six had.”
The woman laughs.
“We were much different when I was your age.” Her brows draw together. “It’s been nearly sixty years since I was there. Or perhaps more? Who knows. Time mixes with the humid air and addles my brain.”
I smile, once again storing every bit of information. I want to ask more, but a new wave of dust shakes from the top of the cavern.
Nervous, I push away. Squeezing my hands, as if trying to pull out my worries through my palms.
The old witch, wizened and gentle, watches me as I pace, her eyes never leaving.
When I finally look up, I meet her dark hazel gaze, and to my shock, her eyes begin to glow. I gasp, stepping back, and bracing myself for her to speak with Arion’s voice, or to attack me, or something totally unexpected, but decidedly worse.
But what I didn’t expect was the pure sadness in her expression, a sorrow so deep it felt like it could swallow a mountain.
“Oh… no. I didn’t realize... The man you bring with you… It was him. I told him he would live to regret it.”