Page 43 of A Tale of Mirth & Magic

“Hey, leave him alone,” Elikki said. “This is ridiculous. What’s your name?”

She hesitated, and then grumbled, “Maerryl.”

“Okay. Maerryl. I’m Elikki, as you know. This is my… friend, Barra.”

Rolling her eyes, Maerryl said, “Pleasure.”

Elikki took a calming breath and said, “If we let you go, do you promise to leave us alone?”

Maerryl paused for a beat too long. “Um. Yes?”

“Well, I’m convinced,” I said dryly.

Elikki let out a frustrated screech. “Goddess dammit, dwarf! Right. Fine. We can’t trust you. Option two.”

She lifted both hands toward her prisoner. Grabbing them before she could do anything, I said under my breath, “Wait—you’re not going to…” I trailed off, raising my eyebrows meaningfully.

“Not going to what?”

“… Kill her? Right?”

“DON’T KILL ME!” the half-dwarf shrilled.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Elikki cried. “Why does everyone suddenly think I’m a raging murderer?”

Yanking her hands from my grasp, she glared at me and then Maerryl.

“No, I’m not going to kill you. Obviously. But I am getting rid of you.” She raised her hands again.

Sweeping her arms out, Elikki used her magic to move the bangle-cuffs on Maerryl’s hands and feet again at her command. The wrists unhooked from behind the tree. Maerryl let out a relieved groan and swiveled her shoulders and arms to loosen them up.

With a jerk of Elikki’s arms, Maerryl’s ankles moved, propelling her forward across the forest floor. Her wrists moved in time with her feet, keeping her at a steady march around the trees and back toward the road.

“Elikkiiiii! Let gooooo!”

I stared after her, and then at Elikki. She was looking very smug with herself.

“How does this solve our problems?” I said.

“You’ll see,” she said and began walking after the baffled woman. She called over her shoulder, “Grab those knives, would you?”

I rustled around until I found Maerryl’s knives where they’d fallen in the forest undergrowth. They were shoddy quality—the kind of pieces Ma Reese would melt down for scrap metal. I tucked them into my belt and followed Elikki out of the forest. When we all reached the road, Pebble was right near where I’d left her, munching on some grass. I went over and patted her neck, pouring some water into a large bowl for her to drink.

The two women stood glowering at each other. Without taking her eyes off Maerryl, Elikki said to me, “Write a note to Legus explaining the situation. It’s not a horribly far walk to the inn. And if anyone could deal with this properly, I bet it’s him.”

She was probably right. We couldn’t trust Maerryl not to follow us, and we couldn’t take her with us. What else were we going to do, leave her tied to a tree? Someone might not journey this way for hours or days. Knock her out? I didn’t want to hurt her, and I knew that deep down Elikki didn’t either. Just because she’d lost her temper—understandable, considering she’d been jumped and put in a sleeper hold—didn’t mean she wanted any real harm to come to the other woman. Probably.

So bringing her to the Painted Dragon might be our best option at this point. Legus could be intimidating and persuasive when he needed to be. He always knew how to deal with troublemakers. I’d once seen him firmly sit down a pickpocket who’d been bothering the inn’s guests. Two hours and many cups of tea later, the thief was sobbing into the dragonborn’s handkerchief as they worked through his abandonment issues together.

And after Legus sorted things out, Saho was usually able to win folks over even further with delicious baked goods. That pickpocket worked in the kitchens part-time now, last I’d heard. Watching Maerryl as she not-so-subtly tried straining against the metal cuffs’ magical hold, a dark look on her face, I thought that even my charismatic friends might have their work cut out for them.

“But what is the note for? We can explain everything when we get there,” I asked Elikki.

“I’m going to try to charm my bangles to take her there for us. Like they did just now,” she said.

“I… didn’t know you could do that.”

She huffed a bewildered laugh and said, “I don’t know if I can for sure. But my magic feels… good right now. Strong, and calm. I’m not sure how, but it’s worth a try.” Shrugging, she tried to act nonchalant, but I could feel the excitement rolling off her.