*
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.”
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.