Page 56 of Dark Elves of Ardani

“No. I like him.”

“Oh?”

“He was the one who loosened the ropes on my wrists enough for me to escape the inn.”

Zara looked up at him, surprised.

“I don’t think he intended for me to escape,” he clarified. “He adjusted them after I indicated that they were hurting me.”

“Were they?”

“No.”

Zara laughed as she went back to her work. She was delighted by this revelation. “Tahir and Basira are good people.”

Nero was frowning. “Varai aren’t barbarians. I would not hurt any of the villagers.”

Zara looked up at him skeptically. “Even during a raid? Like when we first met?”

“We don’t hurt anyone during raids.”

“I heard people shouting threats and breaking things that night. Someone shot arrows at me.”

“When people are intimidated, they stay inside and out of our way.”

Zara felt a twinge of relief. It was similar to the non-confrontational strategy Kashava’s raiding party had used.

“What’s that?” Nero asked as she added a few drops of liquid to the mortar she was using.

“Onyx oil.”

“We just use the herbs by themselves. I’ve never heard of adding oil to it.”

“It works better and lasts longer if you mix it this way.”

He watched her quickly add a few more items. She’d made a few batches by now, so she was adept at it. “You’ve learned all this in just the time since you arrived here?”

“It is an easy recipe. Not so difficult to learn.”

He disregarded her attempt at humility. “So you’re a skilled alchemist as well as a skilled fighter.”

“I would not call myself a fighter.”

“I would.”

It was strange having him there, watching her. Unlike most people she had interacted with, he was not an authority figure she had to obey, nor a threat she had to be on her guard with, nor a human she was trying and failing to fit in with. It felt almost comfortable. It was almost the way she’d felt with Avan and Kashava, except for the faint buzz of excitement that made her hands tremble ever so slightly.

“Could I ask you some questions?” she said tentatively.

“Like what?” He sounded suspicious.

“Like, where are you from?”

He took a breath, then exhaled. “Valtos,” he said. The word sounded wistful.

Zara put her mixture into a bowl and placed it on a flat, round stone lined with runes—probably one of the only enchanted items in the village, along with a few mage torches. When activated, it would produce enough heat to boil water within a few minutes. The mixture began to heat.

“That smells gods-awful,” Nero commented.

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