Page 21 of Zel
He also had to try to sleep, or he would be exhausted come morn—
A scream pierced the night, and Zel swung upright in bed. That hadn’t come from inside the tower, but somewhere below.
Tossing aside his sheets and quilt, Zel leapt out of bed to go to the window. He wore a linen chemise that he preferred for sleep. It was soft and well-worn, since he hadn’t grown much since he was sixteen and had used the same nightdress from then on.
The window did not have any glass, but was simply an opening in the stone wall. No wind or cold from the autumn night filtered in, and Zel was surprised any sound could penetrate what was clearly a space enchanted to act like glass.
As he neared it, he wondered, should he ever need to escape the tower quickly, could he use his hair to do so, like rappelling down rope? But how, when it would need to be tied to something that he then wouldn’t be able to untie it from? And besides, surely he would tear the hair from his scalp to have the full weight of an adult dangling from it, even if only his slight form.
What a foolish notion.
Zel peered outside, down the five stories to the garden, the wall, and the clearing around it below. In the moonlight, he could see a shadowy figure sprawled on the ground outside the wall, partially hidden. The body he had nearly investigated earlier, or someone new?
Another shadowy figure caught Zel’s eye, darting toward the tree line. A larger, more menacing shadow chased it, and when it caught the fleeing figure, it formed into the obvious silhouette of the sorcerer. Zel knew it had to be Ulrich, for even in the dark and a good distance away, the height, the robes, and the flowing hair were all him, and he sparkled like the night sky above.
He lifted the other figure off the ground, high into the air, and Zel’s vision seemed to zoom in, focusing more clearly. Something invisible was being sucked from the man, from his open mouth into Ulrich’s, and as it drained away, the man’s bodyshrunk in on itself until it was nothing but a husk with empty eyes.
Ulrich didn’t drop the body but tossed it over his shoulder. When he returned to the wall, he picked up the other body and tossed it over his other shoulder, carrying them both like sacks of fertilizer. That was clearly what they were used for when not left outside as deterrents, because the wall opened to permit Ulrich, then closed behind him, and when he dropped the bodies into his garden, they melted like the flesh pile that Zel’s childhood bully had become.
Ulrich looked up, and Zel foolishly ducked out of view. He shouldn’t have done that. He had shown fear, when it was obvious to Zel now that Ulrich had made certain he heard and saw all that on purpose.
Zel did eventually sleep, though he couldn’t say he slept well. In the morn, he used the washroom without running into Ulrich. He was glad his braids had mainly stayed in place, for it was difficult to style his hair on his own. He did not feel the need to bathe yet, and his hair required washing very seldomly, but once he did wash it, he might have to get creative with how he formed it into plaits.
Zel frequented the treasure room without running into Ulrich either, creating a new garment for the day with the loom. Since it was effectively spring on the grounds, he made a spring dress, a simple one-piece again but shorter, only to his knees, so the bottoms of the breeches he wore beneath showed through. He found he rather liked that look, complete with stockings andthe more comfortable shoes he wore on missions, but again, no corset or other undergarments. Like before, he also donned Rudy’s pendant. It was a simple indulgence but one that further bolstered him to succeed, so he might see his friend again someday.
He still didn’t run into Ulrich when he returned his nightdress to his bedchamber. He had not asked about washing his clothes, but there was a basket in the corner of his room. He tested a theory and placed the nightdress in it. The basket swirled with sudden water, then with suds like soap, then the garment spun faster until all the water was gone and it was suddenly dry and clean. Zel pulled it back out, amazed. The garment now smelled like moonflowers and sage.
Like Ulrich.
Zel did the same with his mother’s wedding dress and the dress he had worn to dinner, and then placed all the items in his wardrobe. He imagined he would quickly fill it using that loom and doubted he would wear any of the other clothing he had brought if he could make whatever he liked.
Hungry afterward and ready for breakfast, Zel decided to try a full turn of the key to find Ulrich, wondering if the sorcerer waited for him in the dining hall again. He slipped back out of his room and into the main area of the tower.
“Ready for something to eat?”
Zel gasped, not having expected to find Ulrich after two times of him not being there. And he wasright there, a reach away from Zel, wearing a different, brighter colored robe than yesterday’s—this one like a long, shimmery teal vest over black underlayers. His hair seemed to have its own current of wind around it, like it was constantly floating as the stars danced through its curls.
Ulrich reached for Zel, and he lurched backward, nearly tripping into his bedroom.
Damn. He could not afford to do that.
“You recoil?” Ulrich frowned.
“I-I didn’t mean to, my—”
“Because of what you saw last night?” The frown faded almost immediately to a gauging stillness. “It is different knowing something compared to witnessing it, is it not?”
He was testing Zel. That was the point of the whole month. To assess his worth. “I have seen worse, my lord,” Zel said. He had. His melted bully, for one. And Anna. The viscera of a close-up kill was worse than seeing a man turned into a bloodless husk, even if that husk had melted afterward. “Do you hunt your prey?” Zel asked.
“Why bother? Plenty cross my path on their own, seeking riches or power or the fame of having slayed a myth. It is very rare that I show such trespassers mercy. Do you think me vile for that?”
Another test? Again, Zel could only be honest. “It is not vile to kill to survive. To kill to defend, or to protect. Even to kill simply for gain if it helps ensure the rest.”
“The ends justify the means if it protects you and those you care about?”
“That is what I believe. Do you think me vile for seeing it that way?”
“I think you pragmatic, Zel. There are far worse things than me in this world, even if, once, I was the worst. Breakfast?” Ulrich did not gesture back through the magical door but to the center of the main room, where Zel realized a small round table had been placed and was set for breakfast with bread, meat, cheese, and something steaming that smelled like…
