Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 49: Rock and a Hard Place

It struck Kori that she could attempt to run—as her wrists and ankles were not bound—but she determinedly banished the thought from her mind.

On my short legs, they would most likely catch me anyway. Besides, I need Francis. Kori reminded herself with some amount of conviction.

She followed the elf-human into the ornate tent.

Inside, she saw Francis caught and bound off in the corner of the interior with an incredibly indignant expression on his face. In front of her, the leader of the elf-humans was diligently whetting his blade.

Kori stood awkwardly in the opening of the tent for a moment. Nervously, she rubbed her left elbow with her right hand.

Time passed.

The only sound was the shhk of blade on stone.

Kori glowered. She decided she didn't like how rude the man was being. "Well? Are you going to acknowledge me?"

The man glanced up at her and stopped whetting his blade. An amused smile twitched at his lips. "I will give my full attention when I'm ready."

He went back to whetting his blade.

So disrespectful! Kori thought to herself. "You'll give me your attention now! Tell me why you have taken us captive!"

The man raised a quizzical eyebrow. "You have courage, waif, I'll give you that. But I must also remind you that you have no power here."

Kori was, indeed, painfully aware of how little power she had. She bit her lip. "Just tell us what you want from us..."

The man laid his sword in his lap. "You're the Redeemer, aren't you?"

Kori was silent for a moment.

"There's no need to lie. There's only one waif in this kingdom, and she's the Redeemer. Why don't you introduce yourself?" The elf-human suggested.

Kori swallowed nervously. There's no point in lying. "My name is Kori, and yes, I'm the Redeemer. If you have any manners, you'll introduce yourself, too."

"I am Hew, the leader of Those Who Are Lost In-between. Or, the elf-humans, as you know us, and your elf friend has told us something very interesting." Hew said with a smirk.

Kori glanced over to Francis, who frankly looked ill, with a furious scowl. Nonetheless, she crossed her arms defiantly. "Oh? What's that?"

"He says you have a little... Crush on your king. No, crush is not the right word. You adore him, and from the sound of it, he adores you, too." Hew said. "I wager you'd make a good ransom. What do you want to bet your king would trade a lot of land for your safety? Maybe even enough land for us elf-humans to have a small kingdom of our own?"

A despondent frown pulled Kori's lips down in a worried grimace. She recovered in a moment. "Can you really trust what he says? After all, he is essentially my captive. He wouldn't care about smearing my name if it meant getting him off the hook, would he?"

Hew searched her face for a clue as to whether she was bluffing. "I think he was being truthful. I'm a great judge of character; it's true he was getting himself off the hook, but the details of his story were far too precise to be false. Why would he tell such an oddly specific lie if it weren't true?"

Kori felt betrayed by Francis even though she had no right to feel betrayed. After all, she was little more than his captor. She glanced down with a deep breath. "Even if it is true, do you really think the king would be willing to give you all that land just for me? He'd be more willing to let me die and then kill all of you before he did such a thing."