He watched the activity from a hidden location for the rest of the day. A few people looked promising, but Valek didn’t want to rush it, nor did he wish to rip the information from someone’s mind. He’d rather coax it out, so the person would have no idea Valek was ever there. But he doubted he had that light a touch. After a couple days of observation, he found a potential mark—a male captain. The man wasn’t ranked high enough to be making decisions but should be aware of the details of the attack.
A few hours after the captain retired to bed, Valek crept to the man’s tent—which was rather easy, since no one had bothered to station guards around the encampment. He crouched behind the shelter. Since he wasn’t sure of his magical range with this many people around, he preferred to err on the side of caution. Valek hoped the captain would explain Valek’s presence in his mind as strange dreams.
Lowering his shield, Valek extended his awareness. The captain was alone. And awake. Damn. Valek floated on the very surface of the man’s thoughts. Captain Campbell reviewed all the tasks he needed to do on the morrow. The list was quite long—probably why Campbell couldn’t sleep. Most of the items could be taken care of by a lower-ranking officer in the captain’s unit, but this man liked to be in control and refused to delegate. Good for Valek, because he sensed the man housed a deep well of information.
Valek used his magic to encourage the man to fall asleep. Once Campbell drifted into a deeper slumber, Valek nudged the captain toward considering the future. Campbell longed for the festival, especially the pit beef and cream cakes.
No sweets once it’s over, Valek thought.
No, but something important. Images of soldiers fighting with swords flashed in Campbell’s mind. So much training...better pay off.
Valek picked up on the man’s worry. Sitia’ll be ready for us.
Yeah. Columns of soldiers formed. They marched right into rows of Sitian ranks. Sadness darkened Campbell’s thoughts over the imagined battle. Casualties can’t be avoided in the initial attack.
Picking up on the word initial, Valek gently prodded.
Second attack from the rear. Surprise, surprise, Sitia.
An icy chill ripped through him, but he kept his emotions in check. How?
Slow leak over the last couple of seasons. Use the tunnel.
Valek stifled a curse. Owen had been using the smugglers’ route under the border to sneak soldiers into Sitia. While the Sitian army fought off the Ixians, another Ixian force would move in behind them. The Sitians would be trapped between the two and forced to surrender. At least the Commander wasn’t planning a slaughter.
Hard to hide so many, Valek thought.
Best of the best. Kept out of sight. Assassins in first, to target the leaders.
Even the Cartel?
All leaders.
No surprise Owen planned to double-cross Bruns. Good riddance. It was the others that concerned Valek. Without any leaders, Sitia would be easy pickings.
When?
After the Sitian army leaves the garrisons.
That made sense. They’d no longer be protected. Valek needed to warn them, just in case his mission failed.
Before breaking his connection with Campbell, Valek pulled on a bunch of random thoughts so the captain wouldn’t suspect he’d been interrogated. The man might, regardless. It was hard to tell. A few sessions with Teegan hadn’t given Valek enough experience. He suspected it would take years to fine-tune his skills.
Tired from the exertion needed to read Campbell’s mind, Valek returned to his hideout. He lay on his bedroll and pondered the information. At least the timing of the attack remained the same. However, he wasn’t sure how to get a message to the resistance. Perhaps he could reach Irys. The Featherstone garrison was the closest to Castletown. But would his fumbling efforts do more harm than good? Another magician could pick up on his attempt, exposing Irys or bringing unwanted attention to his whereabouts.
He decided to wait. If his mission appeared to be headed toward failure, he would endeavor to warn Irys and the others.
Once he’d rested, Valek spent the next three days monitoring the traffic through the castle’s gate. The security personnel just about tripped over each other in the narrow opening. And he counted at least three magicians—they stood out due to their lack of visible weapons. Plus Valek recognized Tyen, Owen’s chief minion, who spent most of the day glaring at everyone. Probably upset about being assigned to guard duty.
Not a single person touched the compound’s walls, which meant the magical alarm remained. And without his agents to help, Valek’s chances of getting inside undetected dwindled to zero. If he had a storm orb, he’d be able to breach the castle without any trouble, but that would certainly alert them.