She thought it over a while, then nodded. "All right. As for Cond, you will give him a blood debt, and pride will make him fight. The Lhari are all proud," she added bitterly. "That's our curse. But it's bred in the bone, as you'll find out."
"One more thing. Zareth and Helvi are to go free, and there must be an end to this slavery."
She stared at him. "You drive a hard bargain, wild man!"
"Yes or no?"
"Yes and no. Zareth and Helvi you may have, if you insist, though the gods know what you see in that pallid child. As to the other...." She smiled very mockingly. "I'm no fool, Stark. You're evading me, and two can play that game."
He laughed. "Fair enough. And now tell me this, witch with the silver curls—how am I to get at Egil that I may kill him?"
"I'll arrange that."
She said it with such vicious assurance that he was pretty sure she would arrange it. He was silent for a moment, and then he asked,
"Varra—what are the Lhari searching for at the bottom of the sea?"
She answered slowly, "I told you that we are a proud clan. We were driven out of the High Plateaus centuries ago because of our pride. Now it's all we have left, but it's a driving thing."