Elina

But there's something I want even more.

It's his secret. Why the hurry to make money? He must be doing it for someone. Someone who is more important to him than his own life.

A mother? Father? A sibling?

Or a lover?

I changed tactics. If an information exchange deal couldn't get it out of him, then I had to try something else.

I said, "Fine." Corn for lunch. I could deal with that. But in return I wanted to extract something else out of him. A promise.

It wasn't too hard to get him to say it. Promise me that he'll tell me someday. Of course I knew that he had no intention on keeping this promise, but for what it's worth, if it the time ever came, I could leverage it.

But there was one other thing I wanted to know. And I knew Salem didn't have the answer. He was just a hired sword.

What did the Church of Deliverance want from me?

Was I beautiful? Maybe.

Was my magic powerful? Probably.

But the Church usually wanted witches dead, not alive.

Which made Salem's contract odd. An exception.

I guess I'll have to wait for a chance to find out.

And that chance came sooner rather than later.

I noticed the war horses outside the travel inn. The armor. The insignia. I summoned a spark of magic to my eyes and looked closer.

A hand holding a candle.

Armored horses that belonged to the Church.

Why would the Church have combat horses? You wouldn't need swords and armor to spread prayers.

Whatever the case, maybe I could find the answer to my question here. How fortunate. This way I wouldn't need Salem to bring me all the way to Merkelborough.

I glanced at Salem. It looks like he hasn't noticed anything strange yet.

"Can we stay here?" I asked.

"No, too expensive."

We got closer to the inn. Salem's eyes changed. A look of recognition. Realization. Confusion.

I tugged at his sleeve. "Can we stay here?"

------------------------

Salem made sure that I was tightly wrapped up in my winter cape and that the gransia cuffs were properly hidden underneath. He said if I made a single noise, we'd be camping again tonight.

I told him to get the biggest room. Two King sized beds with deluxe dinner and breakfast sets.

He requested the economy single Queen sized bed room. A small dinner for one, and no breakfast.

I wanted to nag him in front of the innkeeper. But watching Salem hand over the money for the room was like watching a witch hunter getting their fingernails torn out: a painful process that brought a little smile to my face.

He took the key. We went upstairs.

I said, "You could've at least paid for two rooms, you know? Or a larger room with two beds."

"You can always just take the receipt and deduct it from your taxes as a business expense."

He gave me an odd look. Like witches couldn't know about loopholes in the tax code. He said, "I don't think the king has a tax policy like that."

The room was small, but better than the cart. Without saying anything we both went downstairs to the dining hall where most of the travelers sat.

I told Salem I wanted the corner table. I expected him to put up resistance. Because a captor couldn't obey the captive so easily. But he nodded. Weird.

The food came and I took the dinner plate all to myself. A few slices of mutton, some boiled potatoes and a chunk of roast rabbit. Not much. But it was well cooked.

Salem said nothing. His eyes weren't even on the food. I followed his gaze. He was looking at two men. From the Church. It was easy enough to spot them. They both wore capes with the insignia stitched on.

"Are you planning on handing me over to them?" I asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because my contract is with a specific priest in the Church. These men won't pay me."

"Then why are you looking at them?"

Salem said nothing.

I returned to my food.

Salem reached over for a potato. I slapped his hand.

I hummed an ancient tune as I ate. Today was a good day. I was able to get new clothes and now I had the chance to gather information.