Ella blushed. "No, nothing like that. Well, we kissed. Just once." She found it made her angry the way the High Enchantress was nodding. "We spent some time together, that is all!"
A palace guard came over and made a formal greeting to the High Lord and the High Enchantress. "You asked for me, High Enchantress?"
"Ah, yes. High Lord, this is Sorrell Ronin, one of the guards."
"Soldier," said the High Lord.
"Enchantress Ella, Sorrell here had an encounter with your young man. Sorrell, could you describe what you saw?"
Ella turned to the guard.
"He was quick — obviously he had some skill. Not as fast as our bladesingers though, nothing like that. The invisibility though, that was the hard part. Other than that he was naked, didn’t stand a chance if he hadn’t had that essence."
"Invisibility?" Ella said incredulously.
"Like our bladesingers’ shadow. But where they make light pass through their armoursilk, he’d somehow made the light pass through his skin. He could hardly be seen."
"Do you know anything about this?" the High Enchantress asked.
"No. No, of course not. How could such a thing be possible? Was he wearing something over his skin?"
The soldier shook his head definitively. "Not a thing, he was completely naked. The bladesinger, he could sense him though. Almost took him in half with his zenblade."
"Almost?" Ella said. Despite herself, she wasn’t sure how she felt about the thought of Killian being hurt. "What happened?"
The soldier’s face grew grim. "The thief threw essence at the bladesinger. Sprayed it out of a bottle he’d stolen. Lord of the Sky, I hope I die in my sleep, I never want to feel pain like that."
"That is all, thank you soldier," said the High Enchantress. She looked hard into Ella’s eyes. "Is there anything, anything else, anything at all?"
Ella slowly shook her head, trying to think of something that could help. It was she who had caused this mess after all — her brother was out there fighting and she’d helped give the enemy a great weapon against them, at the same time crippling her house.
"Only that he had red hair and an unusual name. He just asked me a lot of questions. Lord of the Sky, I don’t know what to say."
The High Enchantress just nodded.
"What do you plan to do next? How can we recover our Lexicon?" said High Lord Tessolar.
"I’ll make plans to track him down, it’s our only option," said the High Enchantress. "I renewed the Lexicon recently. It will take time for the runes to fade."
"He should stand out with that red hair," the High Lord said. "Just remember what happened to the animators’ loremaster, Evora. We can’t afford to lose you too."
Evora nodded. She looked at Ella standing by, twisting her fingers in her dress. Evora tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace. "That will be all, Ella. Please forgive my harsh words. Next time a young man shows an interest in you though, make sure you find a little out about him."
Ella turned away as Evora resumed her discussion with the High Lord, but heard a voice behind her.
"Oh, I almost forgot. It was in the boat. There’s only about half left, but fortunately it fell on its side."
The High Enchantress handed Ella the intricately worked crystal bottle, the stopper now where it should be, firmly sealing the bottle. "Here you go," Evora said. "Now, be on your way."
For the second time in a short period, Ella began the desolate walk home from the Crystal Palace, with nothing but her thoughts for company.
Ella could see bladesingers and soldiers prowling the outskirts of a small copse of trees. A few were looking at something on the ground. Getting closer, Ella felt an initial sense of revulsion, and then pity, when she realised it was blood. There was so much of it. Surely it couldn’t all be the bladesinger’s? She tried to avoid picturing Talwin, his insides turned to liquid. There had been plenty of blood then.
Smaller splashes of blood led to a copse of trees, a pleasure park more than a real forest. This was where they’d tracked him to. Some of the High Lord’s best trackers would be summoned, to join the High Enchantress in the hunt.
Ella stood looking at the blood, feeling a strange mix of pity and hate. The rage began to build in her. It had all been an act. Killian had probably laughed to himself as she’d offered him her kiss. He thought she was nothing, just a stepping stone to take him a little closer to his goal, a stupid, naive girl, lonely and looking for love.
Tears welled behind Ella’s eyes. She didn’t blink, refused to acknowledge them. She hadn’t cried since Miro had left, sent to the front, and she wouldn’t cry now, not over some thief.
She’d thought he cared about her! All that talking, the subtle meeting of eyes and the gentle touches, they were a lie. A trick!
Worst of all, she couldn’t believe she’d shared with him her innermost emotions. The guilt she felt at Talwin’s death, the resultant sickness, Amber’s wedding and her loneliness.