*
Morning arrived far too soon. Valek and Yelena had returned to the warmth of the fire after he proved his remorse over his behavior. As the group ate breakfast, Yelena reviewed the plan. She and Faxon would be stationed in the treetops, Hanni and Sladen on the ground right before the washout and Valek and Onora down the road far enough to come in behind the wagon once it had stopped. They expected the wagon to be escorted by eight soldiers, including two scouts traveling ahead of the team. The six of them settled into their spots a few hours before the estimated time, just in case.
*
Valek had never been on a stakeout with Onora before. Fascinated, he watched as she blended in with the colors of the forest. And it wasn’t due to her clothing. Yes, she wore earth tones, but if he had glanced away and looked back at her position, he would have thought she’d moved to another location. Janco had mentioned this to him before, but Valek had assumed it was just Janco’s tendency to exaggerate.
Had Onora used magic? Without his immunity, he could no longer detect when it was in use, but...
Remembering his conversation with Yelena, Valek lowered his mental shield. The blanket of power pressed down on him. He drew a thin thread and reached for Onora with his senses. Her surface thoughts focused on the ambush. Onora reviewed the plan and listed what could go wrong. For each unexpected contingency, she calculated a way to counter it. Smart.
However, he didn’t detect any magic being used. Either he didn’t have that ability, or she wasn’t using any at this time. Perhaps she used magic to go camouflage and didn’t need any more power to sustain it. He pushed his senses further, stretching them toward Yelena’s location on the limb above the road. She squirmed into a more comfortable position and hoped the ambush would work. Worry for Esau, Mara and Leif occupied her thoughts. No surprise. It didn’t take long for the baby to yank on Valek’s power, draining it.
Valek broke the connection. Drawing another strand of power, he aimed it at the road, seeking the scouts. They would be traveling about fifteen to thirty minutes ahead of the wagon. Their job was to flush out any ambushes or spot trouble before the slower and more vulnerable wagon arrived. Nothing.
Saving his strength for the fight, Valek raised his mental shield, once again blocking the power. He tried to meet Onora’s gaze, but without his magic, she’d disappeared.
“What’s wrong?” the tree asked in her whisper.
“Do you do that on purpose?” he asked.
“Do what?”
He gestured. “Blend in. Disappear.”
“I’m right here. What are you talking about?”
“Your ability to match your surroundings so well that I can’t see you anymore.”
Silence. She probably thought he was insane.
“Look at your hands,” he said.
“They’re hands.”
So she was immune to her own talent. He changed tactics. “You must have realized by this point just how well you can hide.”
“Janco said something about it, but I thought...”
“He was just being Janco, spouting out a plethora of theories, rants and comments, so you have no idea if he’s being silly or serious or if the man’s a genius?”
“Exactly.” A pause. “Wouldn’t you have felt me using magic?”
Onora didn’t know about his new situation, and he wondered if he should tell her now that he trusted her. Valek decided to wait until she needed to know the information. “Not if you’re a One-Trick.”
“One-Trick?”
“A magician that can only do one thing. There are a number of them in Sitia, and I suspect in Ixia, as well. They don’t consciously pull power. They just have an instinctive ability that has to be magical in origin. For example, Opal used to work with an old glassmaker who could light fires, but he couldn’t do anything else.”
She was quiet for a while. “It’s not conscious. All I do is focus on the mission at hand.”
Sounded like a One-Trick, but only a master-level magician would know for sure.
Onora appeared suddenly. She stared at her hands as she laced and unlaced her fingers over and over. “It didn’t work when...Captain...Timmer came for me. I couldn’t hide...from him...no matter how hard I tried.”
“Because you were afraid. Just thinking about him has made you lose your camouflage.”
She glanced up in surprise.
“No need to be scared of him. He’s locked in the Commander’s dungeon and is scheduled for execution in a little over three months.”
“Even if I’m not there to kill him?”
“Yes. The Commander might not be in full control of his mind, but one thing he loathes is sexual predators.”
“What if Owen releases Timmer or he escapes?”
“Then, when all this is over, we will hunt him down, strip him naked, tenderize him with a few dozen holes and leave him for the snow cats to find.”
Onora grinned. “Good plan.”