Page 86 of Somewhere down the Ley Line
“What? No, that’s insane,” Felix said.
Mia glared at him.
“Um, can I say something?” Leif piped up.
Mia’s expression changed to a wide smile. “Of course you can, Leif.”
“What if this ritual is dangerous to you, Lady Isolde? How can we just let you walk in there if we don’t know what they might do?”
“Exactly,” Felix agreed.
But Isolde shook her head. “I’m not afraid of mages. They are afraid of me. We know they are ahead of us, so most likely they have set up some kind of base camp at the Nexus. We’ll have to get past them to get to the Arcaenum.”
Felix shrugged. “We can just kill them.”
Both Luella and Garren scoffed.
“You’re assuming the six of us can simply wipe out an entire force of mercenaries and who knows how many mages?” Luella sputtered. “That is overconfident to the point of stupidity even for you, Felix.”
Felix shrugged again. “That would be my choice. But it’s up to you, Isa.”
Isolde smiled at him. “I appreciate your confidence, but I would rather not do that. A ruse should work. I will go along with the mage’s plans to get us inside the Nexus. Somehow. I hope… once I am there, I’ll know what to do.”
Felix did not like it; that much was clear. She didn’t like it much herself. But it seemed like the most obvious course of action.
“Fine,” he said with a sigh. “But you’re not going into this ‘ritual’ alone.”
Mia was looking doubtful. “Are you sure about this, love? I don’t like it. We could try some kind of diversion?”
Isolde shook her head. “I don’t think diversions will work against mages, and I’d rather not turn them outright hostile against us if we can avoid it. I don’t want any of you to get hurt.”
Mia pursed her lips, then nodded. “It’s your call.”
Her call. Isolde looked around and realised it was true. They all agreed it was her call, some more begrudgingly than others. So she made it – one more night in the keep, then five days until the end.
30
Something special
Felix woke up freezing again the next morning, though he had anticipated it and wore a shirt, to Isolde’s pointedly expressed disapproval.
The sky was pale, and there was a new chill to the wind when they departed the keep. Felix threw a final glance at the ruin that had been such a lifesaver, hoping it would not be the last time they had a roof over their heads for the foreseeable future.
“So…” Isolde began as they walked at the back of the group a few hours later, out of earshot of the others. She was biting her lip and glancing sideways at him nervously. “What Garren said yesterday…”
Felix stopped walking. Dread crept into his stomach. “What about it?”
“Is it true?”
“Is what true? That I am a worthless sellsword? Or, what was the word –lowlife?I suppose it is.”
Isolde looked shocked. “No! That’s not… You’re not! Don’t say that! I meant… you and Mia.”
Oh, right. Thanks for that, Garren.
Felixgrimaced. He would rather have continued talking about how much of a lowlife he was. “We had a thing for a little while. It wasn’t anything serious.” He tried his best to say it as casually as possible.
“Were you in love with her?”
