“Where are we going?” Devlen asked.
“To find Ari and then to Fulgor.”
“What about Reema? According to Yelena, they threatened her life, too.”
“That’s why we need Ari.”
He found them in the war room. As expected, Reema stared, mesmerized, at the tall stained-glass windows that ringed the round room.
She squealed when she spotted Devlen at the threshold. “Daddy! You have to see this! It’s fantastic!” Reema grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.
Valek gestured Ari into the hallway. He explained what was going on. “Devlen and I are going to Fulgor. You—”
“Are coming, too.” Ari crossed his massive arms.
“No. You are going to protect Reema. I don’t trust anyone else.”
“Why not leave Devlen here to babysit her?” Ari demanded.
“He’s Sitian and he’s friends with Fulgor’s security forces.”
“What about the mission to the Soul Mountains?”
Ah hell. Valek had forgotten about it. He’d have to rearrange a number of things. Plus Kiki needed time to rest. She wouldn’t let him leave without her. “I’ll rendezvous with the teams in the foothills. They’ll be on foot, while I’ll have Onyx. Can you get Devlen something to eat and find him a place to catch a few hours of sleep?”
“Yes, sir.” Ari frowned. “Where should Reema stay while she’s here?”
“With you. Don’t let her out of your sight.”
“Wonderful.” Ari’s sarcastic tone sounded just like Janco’s.
“She’ll surprise you. Reema’s a smart little scamp.” Valek paused. “She reminds me of Yelena at times. They both had difficult childhoods, yet instead of breaking them, it made them stronger. Think of this not as babysitting duty, but encouraging a future recruit.”
“Opal won’t like that.”
Valek grinned. “Opal doesn’t have to know.”
He left Ari to take care of their visitors while Valek rushed around and updated his team members on the new timeline and rendezvous point. Hopefully, he’d find Yelena, convince her to come with him and then figure out how to return her magic. The Commander would probably not be pleased with Valek’s detour, but he didn’t care. Nor did Valek plan to inform him of his change in itinerary. As long as Valek completed his mission and stopped the smugglers, the Commander would be happy.
* * *
A couple of hours after the sun set, Valek and Devlen mounted Onyx and Kiki and headed southeast through the Snake Forest. With Kiki in the lead, they kept a fast pace and only stopped to feed and rest the horses. As they traveled, Valek searched his memory for a name of a substance or poison that would block a magician’s power. Other than Curare, nothing came to mind.
They crossed the Sitian border without encountering a single guard. No surprise. Kiki had an uncanny knack for avoiding the patrols, just like she knew the shortest route to any destination in Sitia and Ixia.
When Kiki veered to the right during their second day on the road, Valek thought she might be overtired. But she cut through the trees and onto another path. Kiki slowed as a wagon appeared, traveling toward them. Odd.
One person drove the team of horses. The driver’s hood had been pulled down, hiding his or her face. Yanking on the reins, the driver stopped the wagon.
“What are you doing here?” the driver asked.
“I could ask you the same thing, Maren,” Valek said.
“I’m returning from a mission for the Commander.”
“What’s in the wagon?”
“It’s classified.”
Valek bit down on a harsh reply. Nothing should be classified for him. But Devlen was with him.
“Are you out here for business or pleasure?” Maren glanced at Kiki.
“We’re investigating a smuggling operation.”
“Then you want to head east to Lapeer. The smugglers have dug a tunnel under the border into Sitia a couple miles straight north of the town.”
“How did—”
“I was undercover with them, but it got too hot for me, so I bugged out. But don’t worry. Janco’s there with some chick, and Yelena is sniffing around, too.”
Valek tightened his grip on the reins. Why hadn’t the Commander informed him of Maren’s whereabouts? She had critical information about the smugglers. He kept his tone neutral as he thanked Maren for the intel.
She waved as she spurred her horses forward. Valek’s curiosity urged him to follow her in order to take a peek at her cargo, but catching up to Yelena in Lapeer was a priority.
Kiki set off, presumably toward Lapeer. Had Kiki known Maren would have information about Yelena, or had she just smelled a familiar person and decided to investigate? He’d have to ask Yel... Oh. Without her magic, Yelena wouldn’t be able to communicate with Kiki. His anger at his heart mate disappeared. Yelena must be devastated. No wonder she’d confided in Devlen and Opal. They’d endured the same hardship.
Valek and Devlen reached Lapeer two days later at midafternoon. Doing a quick recon of the town, Valek noticed guards posted around one of the warehouses and quite a bit of activity around the station house. While Devlen visited the authorities, Valek stabled the horses and then took a closer look at that warehouse.
He found a gap in their security and slipped into the building. While the equipment was unfamiliar, the smell slapped him in the face. Curare. They’d been manufacturing Curare. The smuggling operation, which he’d viewed as an annoyance, had transformed into a high-level threat to both Ixia and Sitia. No wonder the Commander had been so determined to shut it down.
Except...
Why wouldn’t he tell Valek that Maren had been working undercover? They could have saved time with her intel.
Unless...
The answer shocked him. He stood in the middle of the room, not caring who might see him. It explained so much. Not everything, but the reason the Commander hadn’t confided in Valek became clear.
Maren’s wagon was loaded with Curare for the Commander. And now that the Commander had enough of the drug and probably insider knowledge on how to produce more, he’d sent Valek to shut the smugglers down. No point in having Curare if everyone had it—that wouldn’t be a good strategy. And since Valek had “divided” loyalties, the Commander kept this part of the operation a secret so Valek wouldn’t inform Yelena. He didn’t trust Valek.
Not sure how he felt about the Commander’s lack of faith, Valek finished scouting the building. All evidence suggested the place had been abandoned. He exited and hurried to join Devlen in the Log Jam Inn’s common room for supper. Neither of them had eaten a hot meal in days.
“What did you discover?” Valek asked as he sat next to Devlen.
“That their corn pie is supposedly the best. I ordered one for you, too.”
“You sound like Leif.”
“I learned to ask the servers what their favorite dish is from him,” Devlen said. “It takes all the guesswork out of ordering a meal.”
“That is one good thing when traveling with Leif. The food is always better.”
“True.” Devlen scrunched his napkin between his hands. “I learned the smugglers are producing Curare.” Guilt creased his face. “Yelena’s father developed the drug to help people in pain, and the Daviian Warpers stole it and misused it. And now... Hell, I was a Warper. I was a part of all that. And just thinking about some street thug using Curare on my children...” He twisted the cloth into a tight rope.
“It can’t be undone,” Valek said. “It can’t be contained. But we can fight it. There is an antidote, and Leif and Esau have been working on finding a way to mass-produce it. And more healers are using Curare to manage pain. A good thing. Besides, from what I hear about Reema and Teegan, the street thug will be the one in danger.”
r /> That surprised a laugh from Devlen. “Especially if they’re together.”
“That poor street thug won’t know what hit him.” He smiled.
The server arrived with two steaming corn pies and two mugs of ale. All conversation ceased as they inhaled the food. Not bad. The pie had chunks of chicken, potatoes and corn inside a flaky crust.
When they finished, Valek asked, “Did you learn anything else?”
“The smugglers had fled before the raid. But they think Yelena found a clue to their destination and followed them.”
“Think?”
“She disappeared after the raid.”
Valek wrapped his hands around the mug to keep them from grabbing Devlen’s shirt and slamming him on the table. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
“What could you do? They don’t know which direction the smugglers headed. The horses need to rest. We need to eat.”
He drew in a deep breath. “When was the raid?”
“Yesterday.”
Valek considered. “Did they mention if Yelena was with anyone?”
“She was alone, which concerned the captain. He expected the Soulfinder to have an escort and did not believe her story about the factory at first.”
Which meant Janco and Onora had kept a low profile. And there was a good chance they’d followed the smugglers. Did they head north to that tunnel Maren had mentioned? One way to find out.
* * *
Valek returned to the Log Jam Inn after finding the tunnel. The entrance had been hidden by magic and it had taken him four hours to discover its location. Pure exhaustion soaked into his bones, and he fumbled at the door, waking Devlen when he entered the room.
“Any signs of recent activity?” Devlen asked.
“No. It was last used about three or four days ago.”
“That rules out north. And we know they did not go west or Kiki would have smelled Yelena. South?”
“Not with the Fulgor security forces searching for Ben Moon.”
“Then that leaves east.”
Of course. He groaned. “They have another tunnel near the mountains.” Where he planned to rendezvous with his teams.
“You still had to check north just in case they crossed into Ixia and then headed east. Go to sleep, Valek. You will think clearer in the morning.”
Except the morning came sooner than expected.
A slight noise woke him. He jumped to his feet with his knife in hand. Onora stood by the open window. Her skin and clothes appeared gray in the predawn light that framed her. She was barefoot and without a cloak despite the cold air streaming into the room.
“Too slow, Valek. I had plenty of time to reach you,” she said.
“Why didn’t you?” he asked.
“Then I’d have your job and I’d have to deal with Janco all the time.”
He relaxed. “He’ll grow on you.”
“That’s what everyone keeps telling me.”
Devlen laughed from the other bed. “It would be difficult to find a person who has met Janco and did not wish to kill him right away.”
“Who’s he?” Onora asked, eyeing Devlen with suspicion.
Valek introduced her to the Sitian. He stood to shake her hand. She stepped back. He wore a pair of pants, but no shirt. And the man certainly kept in shape. Just like Captain Timmer. Devlen sensed her fear—and dropped his hand. Valek needed to have a chat with Onora about Timmer, but now wasn’t the time or place.
“Do you have information for me?” he asked.
She pulled her gaze from Devlen and told Valek about her and Janco following a group of smugglers east through a number of small towns before they stopped in what appeared to be one of their hideouts. “A couple of wagons joined them a few hours later. When it was apparent they planned to stay, I left to update Yelena. She was supposed to remain in town. Do you know where she went?”
“No.” The worry that had been simmering in his heart boiled over. He explained what they’d learned from Captain Fleming.
“She’s either still in the factory, or she hid in one of the wagons that arrived later, or she’s a captive,” Onora said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Still in the factory?” Devlen asked.
“Yes. These people have magic and they’ve been using illusions to conceal things. So why not use it to hide in the factory?”
It made sense. Wait out the raid and leave later. Or even during the raid. If you were hidden from sight, then you just had to make sure you didn’t bump into anybody.
Devlen glanced at him. “Did you feel magic in the warehouse?”
“No, but I wasn’t searching for it.”
“Then we should return and do another sweep,” Onora suggested.
“Good idea.” Valek changed his shirt.
“What should I do?” Devlen asked.
“Take Kiki and head east. Yelena might be with the smugglers, and that’s our destination regardless. We’ll catch up.”
After Devlen left, Valek stopped Onora.
She frowned at him. “We’re wasting time.”
“This won’t take long. I need to trust you, Onora.”
A wary expression crossed her face. “I’m here, helping. What more do you want?”
“Assurance that you won’t attack Yelena again.”
Onora pressed her lips together to cover her surprise.
“Why?” he asked.
“Orders.”
Ah. “How long have you and the Commander been working together?”
“Six months.”
“Do you have orders to kill her?”
“I never had orders to kill her.”
“But the arrow was filled with a poison.”
“No. It was filled with a harmless substance to make the attack appear to be more dire.”
Powerful relief swept through his body. Nice to know his friend and Commander didn’t wish his heart mate dead. Except...what had happened to Yelena’s magic? “Did you prep the arrow yourself?”
“No. Why?”
“Who gave you the arrow?”
“The Commander.”
Everything circled back to the Commander. Damn.
“The Commander said you’d figure it out. I didn’t think it’d be this soon.”
Valek planned to have a heart-to-heart talk with Ambrose as soon as they found Yelena. He shoved his swirling thoughts and emotions aside to concentrate on her.
* * *
Valek and Onora had no trouble entering the factory. This time Valek kept alert for evidence of magic.
“When Janco feels magic it hurts him. Is it like that for you?” Onora asked.
“No. For me, it’s sticky. The magic presses against me, but can’t penetrate my skin.”
“Because of your immunity?”
“Yes.”
“Can you see through an illusion like he does?”
“No. I only sense it through touch, and I have to guess what type of magic it is. Very frustrating at times.”
Onora remained quiet as they searched the ground floor. Then she said, “If Sitia has all this magic, then why haven’t they conquered Ixia?”
“Magic is a strong weapon. But like every weapon, there is a defense. Plus magicians are human. They can be bribed, tricked and coerced. They have their own agendas. Sitia had its hands full with rogue magicians who are more of a threat than Ixia.”
“For now.”
Valek turned to her. Had the Commander confided in her about the Curare? No emotion shone on her face.
When they entered a small stairwell, Valek sensed power emanating from the floor. He found a hatch. They descended and found Yelena’s switchblade lying near the base of the ladder. Valek’s heart
lurched. She’d never leave it behind, which meant she’d been captured. Determined to return it to her, he tucked it into his belt.
He rushed to finish checking the basement. It was empty of goods and magic. And Yelena. They had taken her with them. Valek needed to find them.
Fast.
31
JANCO
Where was Onora? She should have been back by now. Janco circled the smuggler’s farm another time. The place was big and surrounded by a chain-link fence, but he doubted any actual farming went on in there. Lots of barns, people and activity, but no cows, crops or farm equipment. Each hour that passed brought more wagons and sketchy-looking goons. Where was Onora?
Plus Janco thought he’d spotted that Ben Moon guy Yelena had talked about. The man resembled her description, and she’d suspected he might be involved. He thought about the fugitive. That rescue op from Wirral Prison would have cost a bundle. And what better way to raise money than smuggling? Selling Curare. No doubt you could collect lots and lots of gold for Curare.
He watched the compound from a low branch in a tree and kept track of people going into and between buildings, counting heads and guessing their jobs. The sun set and lanterns were lit—a good indication of which structures were occupied. Tired of waiting for Onora, Janco decided to sneak into the compound later and have a look around.
When the activity diminished, Janco ghosted along the fence until he found a dark area out of sight from the main buildings. He climbed over the ten-foot-high fence. A weird tingle lingered on his palms. Janco rubbed them on his pants. Must be from the cold.
The first barn he explored smelled authentic. Yuck. Moldy straw bales mixed with crates of goods. The second place was even more uninteresting. However, hidden between two buildings was a strange-looking structure. The one-story-high oversize shed had been constructed with glass. Odd. Janco moved closer. Water beaded the glass on the inside. Dark leafy plants filled the interior. He circled it and found the entrance. Locked. But not for long.