Page 122 of The Study of Magic
“Sounds like you inherited your intelligence from your parents.”
“They’ve both helped me so much.”
“Did you kill Ferde?” he asked.
“No. I returned Gelsi’s soul to her body, which revived her. Then I freed the eleven souls Ferde had stolen, taking almost all of his power. The master magicians will be able to detain him and keep him locked away.”
Valek added Ferde to his people-I-will-kill list. In his vast experience, power-hungry people like Ferde were never satisfied. They constantly searched for a way to regain power. Death was the best cure for those people.
* * *
They continued walking and catching up over the next couple days. When they reached the edge of the plains, they switched to sleeping during the day and traveling at night. Skirting east of the Citadel, they continued north into the Featherstone Clan’s lands. Valek estimated that by now, Signe and her retinue were on their way home to Ixia and he planned to catch up to them before they crossed the border. Yelena hadn’t revealed her plans, and he didn’t ask.
However, during that time, Valek told her about his adventures while they were separated.
Yelena chimed in from time to time:
“Ooh, I like the sound of General Ute.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about Alea?” And after he explained, “That’s a lame excuse. You just didn’t want me to make you promise not to kill her.”
“You’re training Ari, Janco, and Maren to be your seconds? Ha! Good luck with that!”
They had six wonderful days together, but Valek needed to update the Ambassador. The delegation was camped about half a day’s walk from Ixia. Of course, Sitian spies were keeping a close eye on them. Valek did a loop and marked their locations, then he put on his Ilom disguise, because why not? He waited until the middle of the night before crossing into the encampment.
“Look who finally decided to show up,” Ilom said sleepily when Valek entered his tent. “You missed all the fun, old chap.”
“I’m sure you had enough fun for both of us,” he said.
Ilom snorted. “Am I supposed to dress as a soldier now?”
“Just until we’re in Ixia. After that you can be you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
* * *
At dawn, Valek visited Ambassador Signe’s tent. She sat at a small table, eating breakfast. Valek received almost the same snarky greeting as from Ilom. At least she offered him some tea.
It didn’t take long for her to turn serious. “Report.”
Over the noise of the soldiers packing up the camp, Valek explained about Ferde and Alea. He also detailed the pending problems with the new Daviian Clan. “Both Ferde and Alea were part of that clan. If the Sandseeds don’t exterminate them, they’ll be going after the Sitian Council.”
“I agree. We need to keep an eye on them.”
“The Sitian Council should?—”
“Should deal with their own problems. Unfortunately, they don’t have the skills, and we’d rather fight an enemy with an Ethical Code than one who thinks killing twelve young women and stealing their magic is okay.”
“I’ll assign a couple of my agents to keep tabs on the Daviians.”
“As long as they are discreet,” Signe said. “While you were vacationing in the plains, Ixian relations with the council deteriorated. By the end of our visit, one of the councilors accused me of bringing you to Sitia to assassinate the members of the council.”
“That makes no sense. If I were to assassinate the councilors, I wouldn’t come with a delegation.” Or would he?
“Regardless, we need to let tempers cool.”
“The Sitians haven’t discovered my network of safe houses yet, but I will warn them to be extra vigilant.”
