I blinked and stared at him for several heartbeats, wondering if I'd heard him right. "What?"
He glanced at me, eyes once again gleaming brighter than his sword. But this time its source was not the fierceness of battle, but rather the desire for vengeance. And that scared me, because as good a warrior as he was, there was still only one of him, and many more of them.
"It would not matter how many there were, because I am no longer one, but two."
"Which is just about the most confusing statement you've ever uttered," I said. "And you've uttered a few."
He smiled. "Our life forces have been leashed. That means it's harder for each of us to be killed, because we can draw strength from the other."
I frowned. "So I'm drawing from you now? I mean, I'm not exactly in tip-top shape at present."
"No, because it will only ever happen when whatever form we are wearing is in danger of complete failure."
"But that doesn't stop them from weakening you to the point where neither of us can fight," I commented. "And it doesn't stop them from kidnapping me again."
"Yes, but the other benefit of our energies being leashed is the fact that there is nowhere they can take you – not even deep underground – that I will not be able to find you."
"That still won't stop them from snatching me." Or trying to tear me apart yet again.
"That is something they can no longer do. You have the life force of a reaper within you, and while they may be able to kill you, they can no longer render you to particles." He caught my hands, and squeezed them lightly. "You have nothing to fear from them. You are not what you once were. You are stronger. We are stronger."
"Forgive my pessimism, but I'm thinking we still need to fear them. They'll find a way to make us do what they want."
And it would be easy enough – all they have to do is echo my father's methods and threaten one of my friends.
"But they are impervious neither to attack nor death," he said. "And if we remove the brains of the beast, the beast itself will not function."
A shiver ran through me, despite the warmth of his touch. Though it was cold down here, and I had only a light dress on, neither of those factors played a part in the chills assailing me. Rather, it was the notion that I'd be confronting the brains of the beast – Malin – sooner rather than later. Clairvoyance, I thought, sucked big time.