I wish my mother was here. She might actually be on Elora’s side in this, if that memory crystal was any indication, but at least I could probably get some answers out of her.
Vera raised two fingers, continuing her explanation. “Two, I’m not willing to let Echion get dragged into this any further than he already has been. If I go to Katashi, he could use me to locate Echion here. I’m not okay with that.”
If Echion was already powerful enough that Vera believed he had a chance against an Emerald, I could see why even a visage might be concerned about him... and I could see why Vera wouldn’t want to give him up.
Jin spoke up, surprising me. Vera seemed startled, too. “We can get you into the tower without the government knowing. Your best chance to save yourself is cooperation.”
Vera absently scratched at the wall with her nails. “I’m still not willing to risk Echion suffering further.”
I shook my head. “Echion isn’t Katashi’s focus right now. Even if he was, I think we could convince him to make a deal. He wants his brother to be back safe. If we can convince him that this was probably an Edrian plot to conquer Valia, maybe that’ll be sufficient to turn his attention elsewhere.”
“I don’t like it. Too many uncertainties.” Vera shook her head. “I’m not going in there without a clearer plan.”
I scratched my chin. “What if we offered to teleport Echion to a safe place, where even Katashi might have a hard time finding him?”
“Can’t trust that you aren’t going to put him somewhere your own people are going to study him or hurt him.”
I considered that. “Katashi is going to come after you directly if you don’t go right now, and he’ll have an army of monsters with him. If what you want is to keep Echion safe, you want him as far from you as possible. What if we put him on a train back to Caelford?”
She rubbed her forehead. “I’d have headed back to Caelford with him by now if I could, but your government has people checking up on us. Tell you what, if you can successfully get Echion and my brother on a train to Caelford, and I’m satisfied that they’re not just going to be grabbed by your troops at the next city over, I’ll go with you to the tower.”
I vastly preferred this idea to trying to take Vera by force, even if we could accomplish it. If she cooperated, we had a better chance of talking Katashi down.
Unfortunately, this meant trying to arrange for Echion’s escape while in the company of someone I suspected was involved in the whole conspiracy. I needed to arrange this in a way that Derek wouldn’t find out where they were going.
I took a breath. “Okay. I think I can make this work. I have someone outside that can teleport us. If your brother and Echion are nearby, we can go to where they’re located and teleport a group of us straight to a train station. I don’t know what her range limit is, but she probably has enough influence to get Echion and your brother on a train without any questions being asked. Maybe even get you some fake passports if you need them. Give me a minute to make some arrangements.”
I turned to Jin. “Can you keep her company for a minute?”
Jin nodded in assent and I stepped back outside. I found the other three members of our group looking bored.
I turned to Professor Orden. “I think I’ve made sufficient arrangements, but I need to talk to you in complete privacy.”
Orden sighed dramatically. “Of course you do. Fine, fine, let’s get this over with.”
She went through her usual incantation, teleporting us into that strange void that she called a safe location.
“Well?”
I took a moment to gather my thoughts. “Okay. Long story short, she’ll go with us voluntarily if we put her brother and a child from Caelford on a train back home in a way where they won’t be discovered or stopped. Complication is that people from our government are surveilling them, as you already mentioned.”
Professor Orden chuckled. “You want us to bypass border security? Is that all?”
I didn’t know if she was laughing because that was easy or hard.
“Uh, she’d want to watch them leave, and any assurances that you could give that they’ll make it back to Caelford would be helpful...”
Orden rolled her eyes. “Give me a few hours and I can get them all the way out of Valia on my own. When we’re in the Unclaimed Lands, I’ll put them on a train. Do you want to come along?”
My curiosity said yes, but my stomach was very at odds with that instinct.
Ultimately, I decided on the responsible route, even though I knew I was going to regret it when my seasickness kicked in. “Yes.”
“Anything else?”
I nodded.
At this point, I could have told her everything that Vera had just told me, but I knew that Professor Orden was a member of some kind of secret organization with an agenda of their own. I didn’t think she was involved, but I still didn’t completely trust her, either.
“She gave me a considerable amount of information about what happened in there and I have a strong reason to suspect that Derek might be involved in all this. I don’t think we should bring him along.”
Professor Orden’s eyes narrowed. “I’m going to need a little more than that, Corin. That’s a fairly serious accusation.”
I debated how much to say. “She witnessed Tenjin being attacked, but she wasn’t one of the people who attacked him. She described one of the attackers as a tall Emerald-level swordsman with short brown hair.”
Orden went still for a moment, and then shook her head. “That is... worrisome, I agree. I believe it would be wise to bring him along and see how he behaves, but I will take significant precautions. An Enchanter is always prepared for contingencies, but in this case, I will take extra care.”
I nodded. “I’ll be careful, too.”
Orden grinned. “I’m certain you will be.”
***
Two hours later, I stood outside a train station in the Unclaimed Lands.
It had taken ten teleports to get us here.