Chapter 159: Dead Daughter (2)

Chapter 159: 159: Dead Daughter (2)

Lucard looked at the knife, then at her.

"You want me to cut your hair?"

She looked humiliated. "I want to not look like myself."

That was the first fully practical thing she had said without being forced.

Lucard took the knife.

"Sit."

She sat on a flat stone with her back straight. Her hands gripped the cloak tightly while Lucard gathered her hair and cut it with quick movements. He did not try to make it beautiful. He made it useful. The long noble style fell away in dark pieces. When he finished, her hair reached just below her jaw in uneven layers.

Elowen touched it slowly.

Her eyes filled again, but she did not cry loudly.

Lucard gave the knife back. "Now you look like a runaway servant instead of a runaway noble."

"That is better?"

"For staying alive, yes."

She looked at the cut hair on the ground.

Lucard burned it with bloodfire.

The flame was small and clean. It turned the hair to ash without smoke rising high enough to betray them. Bloodfire Lv2 obeyed his control better now. The unicorn blood had refined it, and the Blood Mage Vessel made each spell pattern smoother.

Elowen watched the red flame disappear. "Do you always burn everything behind you?"

"When I do not want it followed."

"That sounds lonely."

"It sounds clean."

She did not answer.

Lucard began moving along the ridge. He did not take the direct route north yet. First, he led them through broken stones, then across shallow water, then over dry ground where their tracks would be harder to read. Twice, he stopped and used blood threads to disturb footprints behind them. Once, he cut his finger and formed a small blood spell circle over the soil.

Elowen watched the ground shift slightly.

"What did you do?"

"Made the tracks look older."

"You can do that?"

"Now, yes."

"Because you became stronger after killing those beasts?"

Lucard glanced back at her.

She quickly added, "I saw something change. I do not know what. Your blood magic looked different after you killed the first cave stalker."

"You notice more than expected."

"My tutors said I was observant."

"Your tutors were not completely useless."

She should have been insulted, but for some reason, she looked a little pleased.

They walked for another hour before Lucard found a place to stop. It was a shallow gap under leaning stones, hidden from the main ridge by thorn bushes. The ground was dry enough, and the wind did not enter directly. Lucard checked for snake holes, insects, old blood, and monster scent before allowing Elowen to sit.

She almost collapsed.

Lucard stood near the entrance and looked toward the distant road.

Elowen took out a water flask from her ring and drank carefully. Then she held it toward him. "Do you want some?"

"No."

She looked at him, then pulled it back. "Right. You drink... other things."

Lucard looked at her.

She lowered the flask. "Sorry."

"Do not apologize for being right."

That made her even more uncomfortable.

For a while, they stayed in silence.

Then distant horns sounded from the direction of Stoneford.

Elowen stiffened.

Lucard listened.

One horn. Then two shorter ones. A city signal. Not for monster attack. Not for fire. A notice signal, perhaps to close gates or send riders. Aldren was moving quickly.

"Your father reached the city," Lucard said.

Elowen hugged the cloak tighter. "Already?"

"He had horses near the lower road."

"What do you think he will say?"

"That you died badly."

She flinched.

Lucard added, "If he is wise, he will cry while saying it."

Elowen looked at him with hurt eyes. "That is cruel."

"It is effective."

"My father is not a performer."

"All nobles are performers."

She wanted to argue, but could not.

Lucard looked north again. "Velkhur will hear soon."

"Lord Garrick," Elowen whispered. Her mouth twisted around the name. "I only saw him once. He smiled at me as if I was already something he owned."

Lucard’s eyes turned slightly colder. "Tell me about him."

She looked surprised. "Why?"

"Because he may send people."

"And because you are interested."

"Yes."

She swallowed. "He is old, but not weak. I heard he was once a Sixth Circle mage. Maybe still is. Some say he spends too much time with women and wine now, but no one dares call him weak. He likes beautiful things. Rare beasts, young mistresses, expensive wine, magic toys, singers, dancers, old books. If he wants something, he keeps asking until people stop refusing."

"More than fifty mistresses."

Elowen’s face turned pale. "That is what the servants whispered. Some were gifts from smaller houses. Some were debt payments. Some were taken after their families lost favor. People speak quietly because he is Velkhur."

Lucard looked toward Stoneford’s distant lights.

A Sixth Circle elder who had grown fat on desire and protection. A collector of women, beasts, and old books. A man tied to Velkhur but perhaps not protected by the main family in every private matter. Dangerous, but useful.

Very useful.

Lucard’s thoughts moved quickly.

If Garrick believed Elowen dead, his pride would still ache. If he did not believe it, he would send private men. Private men carried private letters. Letters led to estates. Estates led to servants. Servants led to secrets. Secrets led to leverage. And somewhere among it all, there might be blood worth drinking.

Velkhur kept stepping into his path.

Perhaps he should stop avoiding their feet and start breaking toes.

Elowen watched him and became nervous. "Why are you smiling?"

Lucard touched his face. The smile was very faint. "Was I?"

"Yes."

"Then I heard something pleasant."

"I was talking about a terrible man."

"I know."

That answer frightened her more than the smile.

She pulled the cloak closer. "You are not going to give me to him, are you?"

"No."

Her shoulders loosened slightly.

Lucard continued, "Not unless it becomes extremely useful."

Her shoulders stiffened again. "That is not funny."

"I did not say it to amuse you."

She stared at him, then looked away. "I think my father was wrong about you."

"He was wrong about many things."

"He thought you would protect me."

"He thought what he needed to think."

"Then why are you letting me follow?"

Lucard looked at her for a moment. "Because you are useful."

"That is all?"

"For now."

Elowen lowered her eyes. "That should make me feel worse, but it does not."

"Because useful people live longer than helpless ones."

She looked up slowly.

Lucard said, "Remember that. Beauty attracts owners. Weakness attracts chains. Usefulness attracts deals. If you do not want to be carried, sold, or locked away, become useful enough that others lose more by throwing you aside."

Elowen stared at him.

No tutor had ever spoken to her like that. They had taught her manners, history, music, family records, and how to smile during boring dinners. Her father had taught her duty. Her mother, before dying, had taught her how to read old maps and love impossible things. But no one had ever told her so plainly that usefulness could become a shield.

She touched the storage ring.

"What should I do first?"

Lucard looked north. "Learn to walk without slowing me down."

Her face fell.

"That is first?"

"Yes."

"I thought you would say magic or maps."

"You cannot read maps if you faint before reaching the next hill."

She had no answer.

"Sleep," Lucard said.

"What about you?"

"I will watch."

"You do not sleep?"

"I sleep when it is useful."

"That is a strange answer."

"It is the only one you will get."

Elowen lay down under the cloak, using her arm as a pillow. She did not sleep quickly. Lucard could hear her breathing change whenever she remembered something painful. Her father’s face. His wound. The unicorn. The word dead. Stoneford. Lord Garrick Velkhur.

Lucard let her think.

Pain was a teacher, though most mortals hated the lesson.

He stood at the mouth of the shallow shelter and opened the old map again. The red light from his blood circle was small enough to hide from far away. His eyes moved from Moonwater Hollow to the Blood Pit, then to three other marks near the northern cliffs.

White Antler Spring.

Ash Bone Den.

Red Hollow Road.

The Maw Range had more than beasts.

It had old secrets, noble records, hidden paths, and Velkhur interest nearby.

Lucard’s fingers rested on the Blood Pit mark.

Tomorrow, he would test how accurate Stoneford’s old records were.

Behind him, Elowen finally fell asleep after crying for a while in silence. She thought Lucard didn’t see or hear it. But he saw and heard everything but he didn’t care enough to comfort her. After some time she gets normal. That was what he believed.

In the distance, Stoneford’s horns sounded once more.

The dead daughter had been announced to the city.

Somewhere, Lord Garrick Velkhur would soon hear that a toy he had not yet touched had been stolen by the Maw Range.

Lucard wondered what kind of men he would send into the dark.