Page 105 of The Study of Magic
“Love some.”
They sat across from each other at the table as Janco filled him in on what happened. “We watched you get nabbed but couldn’t do anything at the time. They had like, a million people. Maybe you shouldn’t encourage that superman reputation of yours? Otherwise, they might have only brought a half dozen, which the three of us could?—”
“Janco.”
“Yeah, sorry. Then we had a dilemma. Follow Cahil and rescue you or follow Yelena as planned.”
“I’m glad you followed Yelena. Thank you.”
“Not that we did any good,” Janco huffed. “By the time we reached the meeting site at that Blood Rock, no one was there. From the marks on the ground, it was obvious there had been three people. One ran off, another of them was dragged onto a wagon that was hitched to a horse. We figured that person was Yelena and we followed the tracks. They had to stop sometime. Except…” Janco shuddered and rubbed his arms. “We ended up spending the night and most of the next day going in circles. First time I’ve been lost since…” He scratched his ear as he thought about it. “Ever!”
“How did you get back to the Citadel?”
“Yelena’s magic horse found us. What a beautiful mare. Sharp as a splinter.” His good humor faded. “Yelena was cut up pretty bad. Good thing Ari packed some of Rand’s glue and was able to seal the deeper wounds. Apparently, she had to use up her magic to repair a nasty stomach wound. I guess notallmagic is bad. Don’t tell Ari I said that!”
“I won’t. Did she say what happened to her?”
“It was Alea who grabbed her! Claimed she wanted revenge for her brother’s death. Ari and I wanted to go after her. Yelena stabbed her in order to escape and we figured she’d be easy to capture, but Yelena wouldn’t let us. She’s more worried about Ferde. Which makes sense. She beat Alea once, she could again.”
“Did you tell Yelena about Alea’s actions in Ixia?”
“No.”
Curious. “Why not?”
“That’s Ixian business. If we’re going to be spies, we can’t be blabbing. Not even to our friends. Now, if you tell us to tell her, that’s different.”
“Good to know. What else did you learn?”
“Alea is part of this Daviian Clan that are squatting on a plateau or something. Doesn’t sound like they’re good people, because Alea’s cousin is Ferde and he’s a part of their clan.”
“They’re working together?”
“Yelena says no. They’re doing different things but with the same clichéd, power hungry, megalomaniac desire to eventually rule the world.Bah.”
Valek mulled over the information. He’d been right about Alea, but her relationship to Ferde put a new twist on things. “Any news about Ferde’s location?”
“No. The master magicians are frantic. Something about the full moon tomorrow night being the dead in deadline.”
He had a feeling that if Yelena discovered Ferde’s location, she’d go after him alone. Considering how the master magicians hadn’t been able to find the killer, Valek wouldn’t trust them either.
“Thanks for the info. Anything else?”
“Yeah. You need to watch out for Captain Marrok. He’s the one who figured out when and where to ambush you. Smart guy. So.Don’t. Get. Caught. Or Ari will be upset.”
“Ari, eh?”
“Underneath all those muscles lies a teddy bear. But don’t tell him I said that, or he’ll wallop me.”
“Noted.”
When Janco left, the safe house seemed overly quiet. Valek paced through the rooms, peered through the curtains, and considered Janco’s report. When Brigi returned, he had a rudimentary plan.
“She hasn’t left the Magician’s Keep,” she said. “Gabor will stay and watch this evening.”
“I’ll take the night shift,” he said.
“Is that wise?”
