I stepped up to the door. “I like soup.”
Alastor reached around me and opened the door.
I’d been right about the house. The dining room had obviously been built as a large sitting room, but now three small tables and two large ones filled up the space. Each table had at least one person at it, and most had small groups. When we stepped inside, everyone turned to us, and all the conversations ended.
A short elf with an apron bustled out of the kitchen, set a bowl of bread on the large table, and then turned to look at us with everyone else. “Well,” she announced, “it’s rare to see a stranger here, and even rarer for her to bring a human. What’s your story?”
I walked away from the door and right up to the closest table. This was my chance. I had at least fifteen elves as a ready audience, and any of them might have horses for us. I clenched my hand and remembered all the times I’d argued with the king during the last few months. I could convince at least one of these elves to help me.
I channeled any firehawk inside me, and opened my mouth. “My name is Callista, and my story is long and complicated. The short version is that I have spent the last few months at the fortress in Sirun, and we’ve just found out about a plot to attack the king. We’re trying to get back to the fortress as quickly as we can to warn him, but it’s going to take us days on foot. Do any of you have horses we can borrow? We can bring them back tomorrow.”
At first, I was met with silence and blank stares. Some of those stares shifted into incredulous looks, which then turned into chuckles, eye-rolls, and even some outright laughs. Soon the entire room was laughing like I’d told anincredible joke.
My hands flew to my hips. “What is wrong with all of you? I’m trying to save the king, and you just laugh?”
The elf with the apron wiped her eyes. “Oh, honey. You’re going to have to do better than that. The people in this valley have been through a lot the last few years, and they’re not going to fall for a horse thief with a story like that—”
Heat rushed through my face as my jaw fell. “I am not a horse thief!”
She laughed again. “Right. And I don’t sell drinks.” The room lit up in more snickers and guffaws.
“But I’m not! I’m trying to save the king!” How could I make them believe me?
“Look, sweetie,” the cook said. “You need to drop the act. You’re cute, so it’s not likely these elves will hurt you, but I can’t say the same for your human. Eventually, the humor wears off, and we’re left with thieves trying to trick us into handing over our horses.”
How could this have gone so wrong?
“She’s a little too cute.” A big elf with muscles pushing the seams of his tunic glared at me. “I think we should put her to work to pay for her crimes. Let’s see how nimble her thieving fingers are after she scrubs dishes all night.”
“She could haul wood too. I have a downed tree from the storm last week—make her clear it out piece by piece,” another elf called.
“Make her gather stones for my new wall.”
“I’ll give her a shovel and make her dig holes. Giver her some sore muscles and dirt on her face.”
The room erupted into laughter again, and Alastor put a handon my shoulder. “Come on. This isn’t going to get better.”
I shook him off and raised my voice. “You’re all wrong! How will you feel if you grind my face to the ground today and then hear about the king’s death tomorrow? Or in a week? Knowing you could have stopped it!”
“See,” the big elf said, “this is your biggest problem. If you’d really spent any time in the fortress, you would know that the king can take care of himself. He’s more powerful than a dozen elves, and he spends half his time as a monster. He has the leniency of a starving tick in a pool of blood. If someone tried to attack him, they’d be dead before they knew what had happened.”
I shook my head. “Not if the person attacking him was someone he trusted. Someone he let get close to him and someone he would hesitate to destroy because he just couldn’t really believe they’d turn on him.”
The big elf shook his head and stood up. “There are only two people that even come close to that relationship with the king, and they’re both trapped outside the barrier.” He moved closer to me. “And you need to go before I decide to actually grind your face into the ground.”
Alastor stepped in front of me. “Sit down. We’ll go.”
A gleam lit the big elf’s eyes in a dangerous way. “Now you, human, I don’t have any reservations about hitting—”
I shoved my way in between them. “Stop. Please! Both of you.” I stared up at the big elf, wishing I had his name. “The king’s cousins were supposed to be outside the barrier, but one of them got in. And if we don’t—”
My voice caught. “Please. What would it take to convince you?”
His eyes narrowed. “Either you care far more than you should or you are a much better actor than your firstintroduction made you appear.”
I pushed back tears, refusing to let them fall here. “It’s the first, but I don’t care more than I should. I care exactly the right amount.”
A tension filled the room, as if this elf, with his towering figure and terrifying muscles, held the entire valley’s opinion in his hands. He was the one I needed to convince. He might not give me horses, but nobody else would without his approval either.
