Page 70 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

Again he thought of trying to escape her. Now would be a better opportunity than he’d ever had. But the binding twisted in his chest at the very thought. It would not allow him to leave.

Wandering the city alone seemed like a bad idea. Better to stay in one place and wait for her to find him again.

On the other side of the square there was a tall bell tower standing high over all the other buildings nearby. It was as good a landmark as any. He had to hope that Crow would have the same thought he did, and would eventually find her way back to it in search of him.

He pulled up his knees and settled in to wait.

Chapter 19

Only an hour later, a slim, hooded figure caught his eye. She was turned away from him, but he recognized the way she moved, like her entire body was made of water. She was wandering through the square, furtively glancing around. Searching for him.

He waited until she passed close to the building where he hid, then pulled up his hood and scarf and jumped down from the roof, landing smoothly beside her.

She started, whirling to face him. Then relief spread across her face. “Vaara! Thank Astra. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I thought maybe they… Are you all right?”

“Fine.” He made sure she had no injuries—other than the slice on her arm, which was still wrapped in his old scarf. He looked up at the milling crowd in the square, half expecting to see Alexei running toward him again. “Can we go somewhere less public?”

She motioned for him to follow her. “I’ve confused the dogs,” she said quietly. “They’ll have a hard time tracking us for a while.”

And what happenedafter a while,he wondered? How long would Alexei chase them? How long would he have to keep watching over his shoulder?

If she let him go back to Kuda Varai, he’d be safe. But she’d never let him do that.

“What kind of person is this?” she said, shaking her head. “No one does things like this. No normal person would devote so much time and so many resources to personally tracking down one night elf.”

“He’s not normal.”

“That much is clear.”

She led him quickly down the road and around several turns, as if she knew exactly where she was going. Vaara kept his head down, not wanting to risk attracting any more attention than he already had earlier.

“Where are we going?” he asked. Not that it mattered.

“A friend’s place.”

“A friend?” he said dubiously, remembering the bandit friends of hers they’d met on the road. “Am I going to end up having to rescue you from thisfriend, too?”

She gave a bitter smile. “This one is not like Garros, I promise.”

* * *

The friend’splace was an unassuming shop in an unusually narrow building. There was a sign out front with a depiction of a mage casting a spell on it. A bell chimed as they entered.

The silent, invisible buzz of magic inside came at him in a subtle wave as they entered. If Crow noticed it, she didn’t show it. Her human half must have dampened her ability to feel magic energy.

The shop was dark and filled with all kinds of things, too many to name or categorize. Chunks of metal sat next to feathers and broken pieces of pottery and rusted swords and stacks of books and loose papers and bones and vials and jars filled with unidentifiable liquids. It looked more like someone’s junk room than a real shop with goods for sale.

Many of the things seemed to hold enchantments of some kind. That was the source of the magic energy he felt.

“This person is an enchanter?” he guessed.

“How did you know?” She looked around the shop and toward the stairs at the back. There was no one else there.

“Are they any good?” He was skeptical about the skills of human mages. Talented human magic users were rare. They just weren’t born with the same magical acuity that elven mages were.

Crow shrugged, lowering her voice so as not to be overheard. “She’s good enough.”

“So, no.”

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