She saw Joyhdee emerge, puzzled and concerned, from the sitting room
and barely felt her sister touch her hand, as it felt numb. Joyhdee
was saying something, but Ehlissa ignored it and strained to hear what
Hertha was telling Welmer. When Welmer emerged from the sitting room,
he seemed to give Ehlissa a hard glare, apologized gravely to Joyhdee
for the interruption, and announced that he was "going out to deal
with this before it reached their parents." Ehlissa started to cry.
Once Welmer was gone, Hertha joined Ehlissa and Joyhdee out in the
foyer. Hertha looked sad, or maybe just depressed, but not nearly as
distraught as Ehlissa felt. Ehlissa had finally recovered enough that
she could speak. "You could have killed him, Hertha."
Hertha shrugged coldly. "He deserves it," she said calmly. "You
don't know how long I've been dealing with him and his friends."
"But to do that—" Ehlissa began to protest.
"How can you not know what they intended to do to us?" Hertha said,
her voice trembling for the first time. "It was because of them that
I had to learn that spell in the first place!" Hertha then forced
herself calm again and said quietly, "you two should both go. Out the
back door in case the Town Watch is coming to question me."
The serious is her gaze made both sisters feel obligated to comply.
Mechanically, they made their way towards the kitchen. But before
leaving the hallway, Ehlissa turned back and asked the question she
had wanted to ask this whole time. "Who taught you that spell?"
Hertha crossed her arms and looked down at them. She might have
finally been holding back tears, but Ehlissa could not be sure. "Ask
Felgosh. Bastro Felgosh," she said, and that was all she would say.
The flight from Hertha and Welmer's home was frightening for the two
sisters. Ehlissa in particular could not stop looking back and
watching for pursuers for the first four blocks. Ehlissa's
explanation of what happened came in fits and starts whenever she felt
there was no one near enough to eavesdrop. Joyhdee reacted with shock
at all the appropriate passages of the story. The more Joyhdee heard,
though, the more she shook her head. "You're not planning to talk to
this man, are you?" she asked at last. By the look on Ehlissa's face,
she knew the answer. "Holy Ralishaz! You are! And what are you
planning to say? 'Hi, a friend of mine used your spell to almost kill
a man. Will you teach me it too'?" she asked mockingly.
"No. I don't know!" Ehlissa said. "I have to find him first and then
I will figure out something. In the meanwhile -- please, please keep
secret what happened today!"
"You think I want everyone to think Welmer comes from a family of
killers?" Joyhdee asked earnestly.
Home never looked so good as when the sisters finally reached it.
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