Dorrin’s brows went up. “They cannot mean for me to do it!”

“The elves did not know of you,” Seklis said. “The Marshal-General, however, did. She regrets that she mentioned you to them. I was told to ask if you had any idea how. Despite the outbreak of magery here and there, you are the only adult trained magelord we know of. I certainly have no skills in breaking enchantments.”

“Prayers to Gird?” Dorrin suggested. “The High Lord?”

“Will be tried, of course. The Marshal-General sent a paladin by the mage-road to Kolobia for that reason. We have not heard back, which suggests that so far the gods have not granted it.”

“Do you even know what kind of enchantment it is?” She thought of the reading she had done in the Verrakai library: nothing suggested a way to hold someone enchanted for all those lifetimes.

“No. But if the elves say it is not theirs—”

“If they are telling the truth,” Dorrin said.

“You would doubt them?”

“Kieri’s grandmother, the Lady,” Dorrin said. “She was not always truthful. Elves love harmony, as you know, and will avoid conflict if they can. Including by subterfuge.”

“Do you then think it is an elven enchantment?”

“I don’t know,” Dorrin said. “I have not seen the enchantment … I have not seen any enchantment of that kind. It is like a bard’s song or a fireside tale … and the only tales I heard spoke of enchantment from eating something enchanted.”

“I have spoken to witnesses who have seen the stronghold and its contents,” Seklis said, “so I know the enchantment is real. Do you think you’d recognize the magery used if you went there?”

“Went to Kolobia? I doubt it. And anyway, I can’t go.” She glanced at Mikeli. “Not without your command, sir king, and with the messages from Arcolin on the situation in the south, I should stay in Tsaia.”

“I agree,” Mikeli said. “Unless you thought you could quickly deal with the enchantment and return. We also want to know whether you can open the box that shut itself when Paksenarrion was here.”

“I don’t know,” Dorrin said. “I can try—if you truly want me to.”

“I think it best. Among other things, we need to know if the pattern on the box is the same as the pattern the elves use to move about. Queen Arian found such a pattern; we have chiseled out the stones where it was and put them outside the city. I would rather not have a sudden arrival of elves in my palace.”

Dorrin could understand that. They all went to the treasury, and she looked at the plain wooden chest.

“As you see, the wood grew together—there’s no longer a way to open the chest.”

“Nor can we move the chest,” High Marshal Seklis said. “Several strong men cannot move it a finger’s width.”