Chapter 25

Lymlock

Chapter 25

The door burst open. I looked up. I hadn’t expected anybody, and was annoyed to see the wizard, Maybelle, and a sorcerer there.

“What are you doing here?” I snapped.

“She asked to be brought here,” the sorcerer responded.

“And you did what she asked? Why?”

He looked a little confused. “I don’t…know…”

“Just leave,” I ordered, irritated. I would never understand how Maher chose his sorcerers, or why he would ever want to work with these people. They were incompetent. He exited, still looking confused, and I stared at Maybelle, who at least had caerthin handcuffs on.

“Why are you here?”

“To ask you to let us go.” Her response was matter-of-fact, and didn’t seem to leave any room for argument.

I laughed. “Why would I do that?” She was such a strange wizard.

“I really think you should let us go,” she said emphatically.

I blinked. For a second I wondered why I was keeping them there. I shook my head and said, “No, I shouldn’t. Don’t be ridiculous. I think you should go back to your cell and talk to your little friends.”

“Why not release us?” she said. “Keeping us here would just cost you money, and you can’t run the kingdom from here. And anyway, it’s not like we could have that much effect on anything if you release us.”

“Good point…” I said. It was hard to think about what she said logically. “But I don’t think I should.”

“Why not?”

Now it was my turn to say, “I don’t know.” I added quickly, “But I’m sure there’s a really good reason.”

“Why don’t you think about it for a while, and come visit in the morning?” she asked, sounding innocent. “It’s getting late, after all.”

“Okay,” I agreed, not quite knowing why. It was getting really hard to think.

“Call your sorcerer back in here and have him take me back, and then come to our room in the morning,” she suggested.

I did so. When she left, I tried again to think about it. For some reason, I couldn’t think of a single reason to keep them there. I remembered that they were working against me, but could they really accomplish that much if I let them go? What was I worried about? They didn’t have that much talent. They had that traitor, and one wizard, who probably wasn’t even as powerful as me, and a human. Nothing to be interested in.

I thought about it that night, and decided that in the morning I would demand more reasons to let them go. Because, after all, they were there, and they might as well stay.

That did make sense, right?

This was so confusing.