Torroth was hiding. It didn’t take a telepath to figure that much out.
“Because I'm the only one that survived out of Verkal’s unit after the dragon attack. Torture or kill me for deserting, but she is innocent.” Urake laughed causing Torroth to shrink back.
“I should have killed Verkal myself years ago. That fool was a cold hearted imbecile; although, he did have a knack for finding Gifted people and killing them. It’s only fitting that a dragon killed him. The fact that you deserted is more of a recommendation in my book. However, that still doesn’t answer my question as to who and what she is.”
“You are apparently Gifted so why don’t you tell me.” Urake eyed the young man. He looked ready to wage war on anyone who might harm the girl, despite the fact he was defenseless. He did have a posture that lent itself to a hand fighting style. A posture that spoke to military training. Especially training that one would have gotten as a part of the elite squads tasked with hunting the Gifted.
“Relax. I'm not going to hurt her; besides, I'm not the one that is Gifted. He is.” Urake motioned towards Emeck who paled slightly. The door rattled as if someone had fallen against it. Urake saw Redzyn’s shocked face illuminated through the barred window and framed by his white knuckles wrapped around the bars. He knew that the news about Em’risi’s Gift would come out eventually so Emeck wouldn’t be in any imminent danger. Turning back to Torroth, he saw that the young man was as shocked as Redzyn.
“This isn’t right… The army would have him killed right away. This has to be something different… Who are you people?” Torroth puzzled over the conflicting information he had been presented with.
“Best ask Colonel Redzyn that.” Urake stepped past Torroth and reached for the girl’s wrist to check for a pulse. At his touch she gasped for air and her eyes flew open and glowed briefly with a light blue light. Light of a darker shade spilled out onto the bed. Urake didn’t have to lift his cloak to know that Ice Heart was glowing again.
Chapter Two: Escape
“I can’t believe that he looks like he is just sleeping after all that he has been through.” Roild stood on the other side of the bars observing the human. He was not overly joyful with how his life had been turned upside down for this human.
“There hasn’t been a mark on him since yesterday. Never seen anyone heal so fast. Only a little more than a week ago, he was a mass of bruises.” Taric returned to polishing his armor. The normally touchy dwarf was remarkably calm considering they had been confined to this tunnel gate fort for the last several days.
“I wish my feet could heal as fast.”
“What are you complaining about? You are almost walking normally again.” Taric shook his head at Roild’s muttered complaint.
“You are one to talk. I followed you every step of the way and you don’t have a single blister to remember it by. Nearly killed him keeping you alive and on top of that, he had to go and save you from blisters. Fool human.” Roild turned moodily away from the bars and dropped into a chair. His feet were mostly healed although they were still tender and no amount of padding in his boots could overcame the pain that began if he stood too long.
“I still don’t believe you.” Taric polished a little harder at an invisible speck on his shoulder plate. Roild pursed his lips a moment thinking that perhaps the boredom was finally getting to his friend.
“Oh whatever, that light walker is able to make you do impossible stuff. I have seen it.” Shaking his head, Roild was glad to change the topic from his feet. Taric had no memory from the times that the light walker had taken him over and would argue vehemently as to the impossibility of a cloud of light taking control of his body without his knowledge. Roild refrained from describing the feats that he hardly believed even after watching them. One doesn’t speak of having walked through submerged tunnels or seeing a dwarf casually toss boulders aside without people looking sideways at him. Taric was about to make a denunciation of Roild’s comment when Seeroth rapped on the door. The guard that was lounging inside the door jumped to his feet and undid the latch and allowed the captain of the