Odhran motioned for Marek to move closer. He did not move immediately. His legs were still stiff with fear. She waited. After a few seconds, he forced himself to take two steps forward.

Odhran’s mind linked Elian again. "I have looked forward to this day. I have known someone like him wouod seek me out."

She tilted her head and studied Marek. "Who and where do you want to find in the Blighted Lands?"

Marek did not answer.

Odhran nodded slowly. "You have a split soul. You have a mate, but your soul belongs to another."

Marek pressed his lips together. He looked down at the ground. When he looked back up, his face was tight. "I need to find the one my soul belongs to in Drakwyne."

"Drakwyne," Odhran repeated.

"So what is your price?" he asked.

Odhran turned and started walking again. "I will have to think about it as we make our journey to the Mourning Peaks."

Marek walked beside her. "You are a witch. Why can you not make us disappear and reappear at the Mourning Peaks? Why do we have to walk?"

Elian scoffed from behind them. "Witches are not doors."

Odhran glanced at Marek. "If I had disappeared a while ago, then I would not have saved you from the eight men who wanted to harm you. You would be dead. And we would not be having this conversation."

Marek considered this. It was logical. "Thank you for saving me." He said.

Odhran nodded. "We have to make the journey on foot because I also have a mission. I am cleansing the territory. There are things in these woods that should not be here. I deal with them as I find them. That is what I do."

They walked in silence for several minutes. The forest grew thicker.

Elian spoke up. "Tell our guest an interesting tale to keep him company."

Odhran looked at Marek. "Would you like to hear a story?"

Marek nodded. He did not know if he wanted to hear a story, but he wanted to fill the silence. The silence made him think about the price she might ask for. That thought made his stomach hurt.

Odhran walked for a few more steps before she began. "There lived a young lad who served at a lord’s house. He was a good steward. He was diligent with the accounts. He kept the stores organized. He made sure the servants did their work. The lord noticed his diligence. So he made him the master of coin. This was a high position for a boy with no family name."

Marek listened.

Odhran continued. "The lord had two beautiful daughters. And the steward fell in love with the youngest daughter. They met in secret. They exchanged letters. They found moments alone when the household was asleep. But the eldest daughter had also fallen in love with the steward. She watched him from a distance. She noticed how he looked at her younger sister. This made her angry."

Odhran stepped over a fallen log. Marek stepped over it after her.

"The lord noticed something happening between the steward and his youngest daughter. He did not want whatever was between them. The steward had no land. No title. No family connections. So the lord arranged for his youngest daughter to marry a different man. A good family from the neighboring province. The engagement was set in no time."

Marek could see where the story was going. He had heard several stories of servants and the daughter of a lord, or a maid and the son of an elder. These love stories always ended badly in the parts of the realm where he had traveled.

Odhran continued. "The eldest daughter was happy about this. She thought she would have the steward for herself. She thought her father would eventually approve of a match between them because her older status would make the steward a more acceptable candidate. But the youngest daughter was already pregnant. Three days before the engagement celebration, she and the steward eloped. They took a horse and some supplies and left in the middle of the night."

She paused.

"Did they make it far?" Marek asked.

"They tried. But not far enough," Odhran said. "The lord sent riders after them. He ordered the steward killed for his betrayal. The riders caught them, and they cut his throat right in front of her. She screamed until her voice broke. Then the men dragged her back to her father."

"That must have been painful to watch," Marek mumbled.

"She told her father about the child. He did not believe her at first. But she was showing. The evidence was there. So he locked her in a room for days with no food and no water. He hoped she would lose the child. He wanted the problem to solve itself. But she did not lose the child," Odhran paused.

"She had a strong will to live. The child also had its own will. In the end, she managed to escape from her family. She ran into the night. She never returned to that house."

Odhran stopped walking. She looked up at the sky through a break in the trees.

"Every night, she still relives the memory of her lover being killed. She sees his blood. She hears the sound of the blade. She feels her own hands bound behind her back. And all she desires is to bring him back. To love him again."

Marek waited. But Odhran didn’t say anything. The story was over. They started walking again.

After a minute, Marek asked, "Is it possible to bring someone back to life with magic?"

Odhran did not answer immediately. She walked with her eyes forward. Elian walked behind them.

"Anything is possible with magic," Odhran said. "That is why there is forbidden magic. That is why some knowledge is buried, and some books are burned. Just because something is possible does not mean it should be done."

Marek pushed further. "What would it take to bring someone back to life?"

Odhran turned her head and looked at him. Her eyes were green again. Or gray. It was hard to tell in the fading light.

"Curiosity kills the cat," she said.

She looked forward and did not speak again for a long time.