Page 39 of Dark Elves of Ardani

She glanced over at him, guilt stirring in her belly. Studying his face, she realized he was even younger than she’d initially thought. This was probably his first journey outside of Kuda Varai. She felt sorry for him.“I doubt it.”

He persisted.“We’re both prisoners here, are we not? If you—”

She raised an eyebrow.“I am not a prisoner.”

His eyes widened, then narrowed.“I thought…”

Zara winced. Was it that obvious that she didn’t want to be here?

One of the Paladins handed her a flat round of bread and some dried meat. She held it out near Devana’s mouth, since his hands were still bound. If he found it embarrassing to be fed by someone else’s hand, he was too hungry to mention it. In truth, Zara had fully expected him to turn away from her. Most Varai she’d known would have died before lowering themselves this way before a human. Maybe he would have behaved differently if he’d known she was a former slave.

When they’d finished eating, Zara was preparing to climb into her bedroll when she saw the Paladins gathering into a circle around the fire. A few of them looked over at her disapprovingly.

“You’ll join us for the prayer, Zara?” Theron asked her pointedly. The way he said it gave her the impression that it wasn’t a choice.

“Prayer?”

He motioned impatiently. “Come. It will help protect you from evil spirits.” He didn’t add that she needed the extra protection due to her involvement with the Temple of Ravi, but Zara sensed the subtext anyway.

When she hesitated, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Not wanting to draw his ire, she wedged herself between two of the Paladins. Every one of them stood in the circle with Theron, except for Naika. The Witch-Paladin stood off to the side near Devana, who was also excluded.

“What about them?” Zara asked. The comment earned her a few more impatient looks.

“Only the virtuous are worthy of receiving the blessings of Paladius,” Theron explained. “Witch-Paladin Naika is a mage, which taints the soul from birth, and she has made some regrettable choices in her past. She is still attempting to redeem herself. Paladius has not yet given me a sign that she has repented enough to cleanse her soul. As for the night elf, it’s doubtful he will ever fully cleanse himself, even if he wished to.”

Zara looked at Naika. She gave no outward response to this declaration, but her eyes were hard.

When the lengthy prayer was finished, the Paladins dispersed again. Zara found herself standing near Naika.

Zara made a sign with one hand, raising her fist and index finger near her mouth. Naika raised one eyebrow slightly. “This is our hand sign for, ‘asshole,’” Zara said, motioning toward Theron with her eyes.

Naika’s dark eyebrows went down.

* * *

Zara awoke the next dark,gray morning to raindrops on her face. She quickly rose, hurrying to pack her bedding before it could get soaked through.

They moved slower that day. The fog had lifted, but the wind threatened to blow them off the side of the mountain, and the rain made Zara’s skin feel like ice.

She watched their surroundings, searching the shadows as more trees began to crop up among the rocks. The rain obscured their vision almost as much as the fog had. As the day progressed, she got the odd feeling of unseen eyes on her more than once.

She sidled up beside Devana, wiping rain from her face.“Where are you really taking us?”she asked quietly.

He looked briefly alarmed.“I’m doing just as your leader asks.”

“Are you really leading us to the Varai hiding place?”

He hesitated.“Yes. I don’t want to end up like Jishna,”he said with a faint, bitter smile.

Zara didn’t know whether to believe him. No one in Kuda Varai would have sold out their fellow Varai, even under threat of death. But then, they weren’t in Kuda Varai anymore.

“I will do my best to see that you don’t,”she said.

He looked wary.“Why?”

It was a good question. In her head, Zara could hear Kashava chastising her. She should be looking out for herself. She shouldn’t trust strangers, and she certainly shouldn’t put herself at risk for their sake.

It was because Varai had to stick together, she realized. She wasn’t Varai, so it didn’t apply to her, but a strange, backward loyalty to them was forever planted deep inside her. The Varai would never feel that loyalty toward her, but she felt it toward them all the same.

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