Chapter 79: Malum
Zandrel began to laugh when he heard that. "So you’ve been planning something like this for a long time, a shot to get back at me. You’ve been slowly eating away at my golden puppeting thread to try and get away, and yet you used it here?
"You could have saved it for later and maybe even tried to get away, but you used it on this boy? I didn’t know you still had humanity in you, Kivara. I did not teach you such!
"I thought you to be cold and ruthless. And yet you used your chance of ever escaping me on this boy? I am disappointed."
Kivara smiled. "He did save my life. I owe him this much."
Zandrel looked at her in disgust. "You are a fool. Because you have not managed to save his life. He will become my slave, just like you. And then I will reshape his life as I wanted."
Kivara didn’t look at Zandrel. Instead, she focused on Riven. Their eyes met, and what he saw in her eyes wasn’t what he expected. What he saw was weariness and tiredness, as if she’d been carrying a burden for so long that all she wanted to do now was rest.
"You should escape. Trust me, you don’t want this life. And... I shouldn’t have brought you here." As she finished saying that, she jerked her sword backward.
The formless sword that was her Shape technique could make her manipulate her sword to whatever shape she wanted. And as it was night, she turned the sword into a rope of darkness that coiled around Zandrel’s feet.
When she jerked, she pulled the man’s feet straight from underneath him. It was so sudden and unexpected that she was able to pull it off completely.
Zandrel let out a yelp as he fell, cursing. He twisted in midair and jerked his feet back, but Kivara had already let go. The brief instant that he wasn’t controlling the statues was enough, and Riven rolled to his feet. He stumbled forward, staggering as he ran.