I was feigning my reaction to a degree. I was reasonably confident she was working with Tristan at one point or another.
But a part of that reaction was real, too. I still didn’t know how to handle the fact that Tristan was both alive and working with some very dangerous people.
“Ah, yes. What do you know about your brother, Corin?”
I narrowed my eyes. “My brother entered the spire five years ago. He failed his Judgment. And he never returned.”
Elora smiled. “You’re making some interesting assumptions there. But you’ve given me an important answer with that, and so I owe you one in exchange. What would you like to know?”
“What are you working on with Tristan?”
She shook her head. “Poorly phrased. Currently, the answer to that would be ‘nothing’. My turn. Your dear mother. How is she?”
“You probably know better than I do.”
“That doesn’t help me, dear. Try again.”
I didn’t like this sort of information gathering game. I recognized what she was doing, of course, trying to pry information out of me that I wouldn’t even realize was important. Sera would have been better at countering that sort of strategy.
I had no patience for it.
“I haven’t seen my mother in close to three years. As far as I know, she’s out of the country.”
“Ah. Now that is helpful. Your turn.”
I narrowed my eyes.
Fine, if she’s going to play this way, I’m going to ask something I actually care about. “What do you know about what happened with Tristan in the spire?”
“I do think it would be better to ask him that question, don’t you?”
I folded my arms. “I don’t exactly have the means to do that.”
“I think we both know that you do, darling.”
She knows about the book. Either that, or she wants to try to gauge my reaction to her statement.
“Very well, an alternate question. What’s the point to all this? Kidnapping me?”
Elora laughed. “Oh, my dear Corin. We’re not doing anything so base as kidnapping you. We’re extracting you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Extracting? As in, from a dangerous situation?”
“Quite. But you owe me two questions now. Let me see… What do you know about any weaknesses that the visage Katashi might possess?”
One of the soldiers — Woods — shuffled uncomfortably.
I considered the question.
How much do I want to give these people?
Nothing, I decided almost immediately. Not until I know their motives. But I have to at least make what I’m saying sound convincing, in order to ask other questions myself.
I can make an opportunity out of this, provided they don’t just kill me afterward.
“His healing abilities are weaker than those of his sister, Ferras.”
Elora narrowed her eyes. “And how would you know that?”
“Because someone suffered an injury that he couldn’t heal, but he suggested that Ferras might be able to. You’ve asked two questions, now it’s my turn.”
“That was a follow-up. But very well, I’m amused. You may ask.”
“Why choose to send people for me right now? You could have just sent me an invitation to meet you sometime after the test.”
She shook her head. “And my dear, sweet Derek would have dissuaded you, or tailed you. No, you’re isolated out here. I can’t have Derek tainting your mind or dashing in to carry you off somewhere.”
I nodded. It was a reasonable assessment.
“You seem nervous. Why?”
I blinked. “Because I was worried I was going to be executed?”
“Oh, dear. No, nothing of the sort, I assure you. You’re far too useful right now.”
The last two words didn’t evade my notice. “Okay, you claim you’re here to ‘extract’ me. Where do you plan to take me?”
“Why, Corin. I’m going to make all your dreams come true.” She clasped her hands together. “I’m taking you to your brother.”
I took a step back. “How? The Serpent Spire is locked.”
Elora laughed. “A second question, but I’ll humor you. Locks have keys, darling. Now, my turn! What has Derek told you about me?”
The jilted lover looking for gossip?
No, this is more tactical.
“He misses you.”
“Nonsense, he would never say that.”
I shook my head. “It’s not what he says. It’s what he doesn’t say.”
That was one of those lines that sounded much deeper and more philosophical than it actually was.
Unfortunately, my paltry platitudes were ineffective. “Your assessment, while adorable, is not what I needed. What has he told you about me?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “He told me that you’re a powerful Summoner. I think he used to climb with you. And you used to know Tristan, as children. You and Tristan were working together for a while, and you tried to bring Derek in on your plans. Derek refused, and you parted ways.”
“True enough. Uninteresting, but mostly accurate. Go ahead.”
I nodded. “I take it you’re the one who hired the Blackstone Bandits to keep an eye on me?”
“I wouldn’t quite call it ‘hiring’, but yes, I was the reason they were looking after you for a time.” She smiled. “Let me ask you something that might actually have a useful answer.” Elora smiled. “How much do you know about the man who calls himself Keras Selyrian?”
Carter turned and looked straight at Elora, then to me. She was clearly interested.
“A bit. He’s a criminal who you attempted to arrest, working with my mother. He escaped.”
“Intriguing. I believe you know a good deal more than that.”
I slowly moved my head up and down, considering what was safe to say.
“He’s a foreigner and an expert combatant. I watched a memory crystal of your fight with him. He’s comparable to an Emerald-level attuned, if not stronger.”
“You’re dodging.”
I shrugged. “Maybe you should have been more specific.”
Elora waved a hand, her crystal ring glimmering as the light on it shifted. “Very well, then. Go ahead.”
I glanced to Carter, then back to Elora. “How long have you been working with servants of the Tyrant in Gold?”
Elora frowned. “What?”
The soldiers all tensed, turning toward me.
I may have just made another terrible mistake. But resh it, if she honestly doesn’t know, I’d rather have one potential ally than zero.
“Carter has a magical mark on the back of her right shoulder that—”
Eyes turned toward Carter.
Carter took a few steps back and reached into her pouch.
Woods tackled her to the ground.
I heard a snap. It wasn’t from the impact, though.
Woods pulled Carter’s arms behind her.
“Disarm and search her.” Elora clapped her hands together.
“You who are born of the Serpent,
Wrought with scales of adamant and bearing claws of fire,
I call upon our pact.
Visage of venom, hear my voice!
Wyvern, I summon you!”
A draconic beast appeared in the air above Elora, roaring into the sky. It was considerably larger than the version she’d summoned against Derek and Sera in the survival match.
Either she’d been holding back then, or she’d grown considerably stronger in the last few months.