To Ratface’s surprise, Kryssa did not immediately start screaming at her, instead she felt the armour go inert. Whatever the glamour was going to say was going to be in person then.

  She took the opportunity to check out what she was meant to feed the serpent. The elf had left it on the table before jumping out of the window. A dramatic entrance but the duo hadn’t struck her as relaxed people.

  She crept over to the table, making sure to keep an eye on the window before grabbing whatever was there and backing away.

  Once she was safe, she examined it properly and frowned. It was a health potion. She’d been expecting something a little more nefarious. It only made her more suspicious.

  There was a rush of air that was quickly cut off as the door opened and shut. Kryssa walked over to join her and examined the bottle.

  “Mean anything to you?” Ratface asked.

  “Just looks like a health potion,” said the glamour.

  They spared each other a glance other than at the potion.

  Kryssa looked annoyed but that was only hiding the hurt. Her eyes were slightly wide as she watched Ratface, like she was trying to watch all of her.

  “The elf was your informant” Kryssa guessed. Ratface nodded huffed an walked away towards the next cart. Ratface followed.

  The two clambered out the door and tried the door for the next cart, it was locked.

  Kryssa climbed up to the top of the cart without a word. She barely had to touch the cart to get up there and once at the top it was like the wind didn’t bother her.

  Ratface in comparison had to clamber up and hug the roof so as not to be blown away.

  “You lied to me,” Kryssa shouted over the wind. Her voice barely made it to Ratface before being blown away.

  Ratface hadn’t technically lied, but she wasn’t so stupid to say as much. She nodded in agreement as that was all she could managed in her current predicament.

  Kryssa kept moving across the roof and Ratface crawled after her. The glamour kept ranting into the air.

  “You shouldn’t lie to me; you shouldn’t keep secrets from me. The others? Maybe. Never me.”

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  “Why?” shouted Ratface. It wasn’t the right thing to say but she needed to know.

  Kryssa’s face twisted into a scowl. She grabbed Ratface and pulled her off the floor. She swung Ratface of the side of the cart. Ratface’s eyes widened. Had she finally pushed the glamour too far?

  A moment later and she was hurtling through a window into the cart. She was in the train again. Kryssa climbed through after her, not making a sound as she dropped to the floor next to Ratface and helped her up.

  “Because you’re supposed to trust me,” said Kryssa. Her voice was controlled and quiet, like she could only let her emotions loose where no one could see them. “I’m the friend you made to be by your side remember?”

  “But you don’t have to be that anymore. The core means you can have your own life,” said Ratface. She’d set the glamour free but even now the thing was shackled to her by obligation. The girl even would power her armour when asked. She gave the glamour an earnest look.

  “You get to choose the life you have now,” she insisted.

  Kryssa looked back at her like she was stupid, her eyes widened as she realised Ratface really didn’t get it.

  “It’s not obligation that keeps me here,” she said. Her voice so quiet that it barely travelled between the two of them, pitched just loud enough that she knew Ratface would hear her.

  “I want to be the friend that’s always by your side. The one that you trust no matter what. There’s no secret you can tell me that will change that.”

  Kryssa let go of her and stepped back. The declaration too big to fit them both. Ratface looked at her glamour and her heart ached. She couldn’t believe she’d betrayed the girl in front of her by thinking Kryssa would hurt her. How many more times was she going to hurt her? She knew at least one more.

  “You say that, but I have one more secret to share.” Ratface gestured to the room they were in, a giant pool sat on one side. She didn’t know if the cart was bigger on the inside or if this one was just wider than the rest.

  Inside the pool lay the serpent the elf had stolen from.

  “Behold a creature whose magic was taken. The same technique I made to make you,” said Ratface, “the only magic a goblin can have.”

  The serpent lay at the bottom of its pool. Its skin was flaking and dirtying the water. An effect that made the creature only look more pathetic. It was the eyes that were the worst though. Gone was the strong mother that had tried to protect her eggs, instead it was like she was barely there, the faint glint that was her hidden as her body grew duller. A mother desperately holding on for children that had already been taken.

  Kryssa eyed the serpent for a while. She took the potion out of Ratface’s hand and walked over to the serpent.

  It tensed up at first but relaxed when Kryssa’s mana brushed against it. The glamour administered the potion and Ratface watched as the serpent perked up. The mother in its eyes fighting a little closer to the surface.

  “You remember the taking, but I remember a field filled with goblins offering their light so I could see,” said Kryssa. She looked back at Ratface and smiled.

  “Don’t let some elf who takes more than he gives dictate who you’re going to be. How could he understand someone like you?”

  Ratface stared at the glamour in wonder. For a second Ratface felt like she understood how she’d cast the spell that had made Kryssa whole. A moment of wonder that magic was drawn to.

  The understanding fled from her but glimmers of it stayed with her.

  She held them close to her heart, where they’d keep her warm.