Her heart hammered in before she turned and said, in her best innocent voice, "I don't know what you mean. Moved what?"

To her surprise and slight irritation, his face split into a grin, white teeth flashing against deeply tanned skin before he winced at what it did to his bruise. "You're a bad liar," he mumbled, dropping the cloth and tenderly prodding at his cheek with his fingers. "I'm not going to tell him, I was just wondering."

"Stop doing that," she snapped, a bit sharper than she meant to say it. He dropped his hand and looked at her in surprise, and she motioned at his face. "You're just going to make it worse by doing that. Put the cloth back."

Another grin, though this time much smaller so it wouldn't hurt him. "Yes, Lady," he said smoothly, a teasing lilt to his melodious voice. As he did her bidding she had the sudden thought: what if this was an act to get her to drop her guard?

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, studying as if he were a particularly interesting flower that she wanted to draw. His dark hair was damp from the rain, though his clothes were not so he must have hung a cloak or coat elsewhere. He wore nicely made clothing, not as fine as Himchan's but solid and sturdy with no holes or worn spots. Her eyes narrowed as they lingered on his boots: the dark brown leather was worn from use but without holes either.

As her gaze returned to his face, she found him watching her just as closely as she had been examining him. What did he see, except a slender woman in a plain black dress, her brown hair made stringy with the earlier rain? She almost dropped her gaze then, but she needed to know if this was a trap for her or not. She steeled her shoulders and asked her question. "Why did you argue with him? When he was going to let that man have me," she added when his brow furrowed.

His face went blank as she clarified, and after a long moment he heaved a sigh and dropped the cloth away from his face once again. "I... I am property, Lady. He owns me, he can do what he wants to me. But he doesn't own you."

"You're a slave?" she gasped, and he flinched at her indreculous tone.

"Not exactly, no. I... it's complicated."

"Try me," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring down at him. "I'm not a fool, I can grasp complicated things."

He raised a brow at that but didn't say anything for a long moment, then finally shook his head and heaved a sigh. "Himchan... he and I both work for Shindong. But I was a slave, bought from Obarsan years ago, and when I worked off my slave debt I opted to go free. Shindong didn't much like that and he had his magician place a hold on me. I have to do as he tells me to do. Shindong, I mean, not Himchan. But he told me to come with Himchan so..."

Her eyes narrowed at this information, thinking of what he had said. "So then... if I give you the map, then what are you ordered to do?" He didn't answer, so she reached out to grab his chin and turn his face to meet her's. "Kill me?"

He shook his head immediately. "No, you're too valuable to him for that. He wants you brought to Celeron no matter what. The Ring might be a fake, you're worth more money in the long game."

She felt a wave of sickness run through her as she realized that she truly had no options, but to her pride she didn't waver in her stance at all. "I see. And how did your confrontation with Himchan fit into your orders to obey him?"

He shrugged, and she realized that she had a lot to think about after this whole conversation. She reached out and took the hand holding the cloth and lifted it back to his face. "Keep that there. And I will give Himchan the map. You understand?" She hoped he did: hoped he wouldn't say anything about her changing the placement of the Cairn. "Can I trust you?" she added, and it seemed to be the right words.

He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh as if the weight of the world were crushing him. "Yes."

Himchan came to take the map far sooner than Chorong would have liked. She watched with baited breath as he inspected it, hoping that her promise with Daehyun would hold. To her surprise and relief, the tanned man sat still on the bed, pillowcase pressed once more to his face as he simply stared at the floor. Himchan had spared only a slight glance at him as he entered, and nothing more.

Now the dark-eyed man's gaze was on the paper, scanning it carefully as he gripped it in both hands. Chorong felt as if her heart were about to burst from her chest by the time Himchan finally nodded at her. "Okay," he said, folding the paper and stuffing it into a pocket. "It looks close to what I know of that area. It should take us about a week if we leave tomorrow."

Then she would have a week to escape, it seemed. She fought the urge to turn and look at Daehyun, but the thought that maybe she could pull him into her plans had implanted in her mind. He seemed sure that the magician had bound him to obeying Himchan, but with his silence about the map, an idea began to form in Chorong's mind. What if it wasn't a real bind? What if it were just a threat, made real by his belief in it?

She couldn't question it with Himchan in the room, though, so she kept that to herself. The dark-eyed man did pause for a moment, eyeing her as if he suspected something, his eyes narrowing as he studied her. She wrapped her arms about her mid-section in an effort to keep from shivering, but then the moment passed. He shook his head and the tension eased.