Page 36 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

He wanted to go home. That was all.

“Do you think you have a chance of winning over your unwilling slave if you’re polite enough to him?” he said.

“I believe you attempted to kill me back there, after we left the prison. And now you keep telling me that’s what you’re planning to do to me. So what am I supposed to do? Feel sorry for you? You’ve left me with little choice if I want to ensure my safety.”

“You could have left me alone.”

“You could have had a bit of integrity and fulfilled your end of our arrangement. I helped you even though I guessed you’d refuse to help me in return when the time came, and then you did exactly that and now here we are, so which of us is really the troublesome one here?”

“You only helped me knowing that you were going to put that soulbinder on me the moment I did anything counter to your wishes. You may as well have just put it on before we left the prison.” He looked over to meet her eyes. “And Iamgoing to kill you. Please don’t think that was an idle threat.”

“Oh, well, I’ll just remove the binding right now, then, shall I? What a great way to convince someone to restore your free will: just continue telling them you’re going to murder them.”

Vaara stared ahead and said nothing. There was only so much conversation with her that he could tolerate. But she kept talking.

“You know, I picked you instead because you seemed slightly less insufferable than the prisoner I was actually there for. But now I’m certainly having second thoughts.”

“Picked me?” he repeated dully. Then he looked up at her, frowning. “You were there to get someone else?”

“Yes, Vaara, ash and blood. What did you think I was there for?”

He hadn’t thought about it.

None of that mattered, though. He was still a slave, and she was still his captor. There was nothing more that needed to be said.

“There’s a loophole, you know. If you really want to be rid of the binding, there is one way you can break it,” she said. She spoke with a smugness that told him whatever she was about to say would be useless to him. He didn’t bother to indulge her by asking.

“Have a change of heart,” she said. “Have a true, honest desire to aid your binder, without the binding compelling you, and the binding will break on its own.”

He nodded absently. Useless.

* * *

Some time later,the barking came again.

They both jumped. It was much closer than before, coming from somewhere in the trees on the side of the road. It was unmistakably the same dog they’d heard the previous day.

Vaara grabbed Crow’s arm and faded them both instinctively, though the spell would do little to hide them while they were standing in the middle of the road in the middle of the day.

Crow just stood completely still, eyes wide, listening. The dog kept barking. But it didn’t get any closer. No other sounds joined it. No guards appeared.

Crow shrugged off his hand and walked toward the trees.

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

She waved for him to follow. He cursed, and trailed behind her.

They spotted the dog as soon as they passed the first trees. It was crouched not far off, staring in their direction. It was large and black, reminding Vaara of the wolves in Kuda Varai.

It began barking again as soon as it saw them. Vaara scanned the trees. As far as he could tell, it was alone.

They got closer, and it became clear why the dog wasn’t moving from where it stood. It had stepped in a hunter’s jaw trap, and its leg was caught. Its fur was matted with dark blood.

“It must have wandered off from the rest of them,” Crow said. “I wonder how long it’s been stuck here.”

“How did it beat us here?” Vaara asked, still scanning the trees apprehensively.

“We’ve not been moving in a straight line. We’ve crossed back and forth several times now.”

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