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She knew it was unreasonable to be angry over his words. He wasn’t talking about Kashava, and he hadn’t meant to hurt her. He was looking out for his people. Just like everyone else was. And when he looked at her like that, like he really cared whether she was well, she couldn’t be angry with him.

“Fine,” she said. The half-elf was watching her, waiting. She spoke her translation quickly.

“Your days of terrorizing Ardani are coming to an end,” Theron went on. “We have your people on the run. If you choose to remain here, it will only be a matter of time before all of you are dead. My brothers to the south and the west have been called to help us deal with the night elf menace. Soon there will be more of us, and by my estimations, there are less than a few dozen of your people scattered across the Shields.”

He waited while Zara translated. If the half-elf was listening, he gave no indication.

“We could be convinced to let the lot of you leave peacefully, if you cooperate,” Theron said. Zara wondered, as she translated, whether that was true. Would he let them retreat without harming them? Or was this a lie, a ploy to get close enough to kill them?

“Who is your leader?” Theron asked. There was no response. Neither was there a response to any of the next questions he asked.

“How many groups of you are there?”

“How long do you plan to stay in the mountains?”

“How do you choose where to attack? Why this village?”

“Where do you hide during the day?”

It went on and on.

Finally, Theron paced a small circle in front of the half-elf, seeming to have reached a tipping point in his patience. “Perhaps this is a fool’s errand,” he said, either to himself or to Naika and Zara. “There is no reasoning with these people. There is something in them that innately desires chaos and conflict. Without the Five, there is an emptiness in their hearts, and in their ignorance, they try to fill it with violence and greed. What else could explain the way they travel so far outside their lands to harm us?”

“They raid because they would starve otherwise,” Zara said. “The Ysurans built a dam that cut off a portion of the water supply to Kuda Varai during the war, and the Ardanians will not trade with Varai except in secret through smugglers, let alone help them in a time of need.”

Theron raised an eyebrow at her. “You think that gives them the right to steal and kill?” he asked. “What of the dozens that were found hiding among us in Valtos before the Paladins rooted them out? Were they innocent as well?”

She had never heard of any Varai living in Valtos. It would be extremely dangerous. No one would attempt a raid in Ardani’s capital city. “Perhaps they just wanted to live there in peace.”

Theron gave Naika a look that was now familiar:She’s been brainwashed by her captors,that look said.How sad.Zara frowned, glancing away. Maybe he was right.

Theron turned to the half-elf. “I would advise you to speak,” he said.

The half-elf said nothing.

“If you continue to refuse, we will be forced to use other methods to take information from you.”

Zara’s tongue felt thick as she translated.“They say they’ll hurt you if you don’t speak.”

The half-elf looked at her impassively. He took a slow, lazy breath. He almost seemed bored.

Theron’s lips twitched. Zara couldn’t tell if he was angry or pleased, or both. “Very well,” he said. His face turned grim as he turned to Zara. “Perhaps you should leave for this part, Zara. I don’t think you’ll want to see this.”

He was right. She didn’t. She ducked out of the room, shutting the door tightly behind her.

* * *

When she returnedthe next day for a second interrogation, the half-elf looked worse than she’d expected.

He was already slouched in the chair this time. His face and neck were mottled with strange, black, bruise-like marks, and his hair was matted with blood. His violet eyes landed on Zara when she entered the room behind Theron and Naika, and she was hit with a wave of guilt.

It was only her curiosity about him that was making her sympathize with him, she was sure. It was nothing rational. He was allied with the Varai attacking the village. He might have killed her if Basira hadn’t beaten him away from her.

“Shall we try this again?” Theron asked, leaning on his crutch. Tahir had replaced the bandages on his leg that morning. With no magic to help things along, the wound was healing slowly. Theron seemed to have no shame about his temporary infirmity. On the contrary, he almost seemed to take pride in it. “Did you think of anything you’d like to tell us?”

Zara translated, wondering how long the half-elf had been awake. He looked like he’d not slept at all. He stared at nothing in particular as she spoke.

A long silence followed the question. Naika sighed. Theron’s expression was hard.