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Janco sputtered and tried to break his partner’s hold. Tried being the key word. Without warning, Ari released him. Janco landed with an oomph. He recovered, but before he could squawk in protest, a clang echoed.
We turned to the main entrance of the jail. Irys strode in with two guards on her heels. One glance at her pale face and her fingers fretting at her sleeves, and I braced for bad news.
“Unlock the doors, now,” Irys ordered the guards.
They moved to obey, starting with Janco’s.
Perhaps bad was an understatement. I gripped the bars. “What happened?”
“Rusalka showed up at the Citadel without Leif,” she said.
I pressed my forehead against the cool metal. Concentrating on not panicking, I drew in a few steadying breaths. “My father? Is he missing, too?”
“No. He remained behind to finish his investigation.”
One good thing. I focused on the positive. “What’s being done to find Leif?”
“As soon as I heard, I gathered Kiki and your other horses, along with Rusalka. They’re waiting for you. Rusalka’ll guide you back to where she...lost Leif. Janco, you will be able to track him, right?” The desperate hope in her voice almost cracked my composure.
“How long ago did Rusalka arrive?” Janco asked her.
“This morning. About three hours ago.”
“Then we need to hurry.” Janco grabbed his hidden sword from under the metal cot.
We joined Irys in the corridor. If the guards were surprised by the sudden appearance of the weapons, they didn’t show it.
“Do you think the Cartel has him?” I asked her.
“I suspect they’re behind it, but I’ve no proof.”
Sprinting after Irys, we exited the building. Bain Bloodgood argued with a handful of Councilors at the base of the steps. A few shouted at us to stop, but we ignored them and mounted our horses.
“Let’s go,” I said.
Rusalka turned. We followed. The loud clatter of hooves over cobblestones vibrated in my ears. I let the sound drown out the voice in my head. Being very familiar with that voice, I knew it would list all the horrors that might have befallen my brother, remark on the slim chance of successfully finding him alive and comment on every other terrible scenario. That voice was rather creative when stressed and worried.
After a day and a half of hard riding, we reached the location of Leif’s disappearance. A few hours of daylight remained.
Janco dismounted and examined the ground. Ari and I allowed him to do his tracking mojo while we walked the horses. They had set the brutal pace. Patches of sweat stained their coats. Their nostrils flared as they caught their breaths. Once their breathing smoothed, we watered and fed them. By this time, Janco had finished his investigation. He stood in the middle of a number of scuff marks on the right side of the road, scowling.
“What did you discover?” Ari asked him.
“It wasn’t a typical ambush.” Janco pointed to clumps of grass and dirt between two trees. “Somebody went to considerable trouble to stage an accident. They overturned a wagon and made it appear as if it was stuck.” He strode closer and crouched down. “And here’s evidence of a freaked-out horse.” Janco straightened. “They knew their mark.”
“Janco,” Ari warned.
“I’m trying to be dispassionate. Leif’s my friend, too.”
I concentrated on the information and ignored my emotions, which threatened to let that voice of doom speak. “Why do you think it was set specifically for Leif?”
“’Cause of the elaborate setup. Being a Sandseed horse, Rusalka would have alerted him of people hiding in the woods.”
“Unless they were waiting downwind,” Ari added.
“Not this time of year. The prevailing wind direction is from the west.”
Ari and I exchanged a glance. Impressive.
Janco huffed. “Ya know, it’s not all...tracker mojo. There’s a lot that goes into it. And there’s some good news.”
My heart jumped. “You know where he is?”
“I wish. They headed west, but the road’s surface is too hard packed and well traveled to distinguish their tracks from all the others.”
“The good news,” Ari prompted.
“There’s no blood.”
“That makes sense if he was taken by the Cartel. They wouldn’t want to harm him until he refused to join them.” And my stubborn brother would probably never agree to work for them. Which meant we had a limited amount of time to find and rescue him before The Mosquito bit.
“Another thing about the setup is they knew Leif would be on this road at a particular time,” Janco said. “Who else knew his location, other than Master Irys?”
“Bain and the Councilors, who might have informed their aides,” I said. Plus all the people who bribed the aides for intel. In other words, too many.
“Janco said they continued west. We didn’t pass them on the road, or else Rusalka would have smelled Leif. Is there another road that branches off this one?” Ari asked.
I considered. “There’s a shortcut about a day west of here that leads to the main southern road. That route follows the western edge of the Avibian Plains, but they could have veered off into Stormdance or Greenblade lands. And they have a three-day head start.” Frustration welled.
“That’s also the way to the Jewelrose lands,” Ari said.
“If Bruns Jewelrose is dumb enough to amass his magician army in his own backyard,” Janco added. “I doubt he’s that stupid.”
“What’s our next move?” Ari asked.
Guessing would get us nowhere; we needed reliable information. I stifled a groan. My earlier mistake—the one that had led to us sitting in a cell wasting time for five days—returned for another kick of recriminations. “Fisk.”
“But if he knows where Leif and the others are, why doesn’t he tell the Council?” Ari asked.
“For the same reason we don’t trust the Council,” Janco said.
“And the reason is?”
“They’re ineffective idiots!”
“He probably doesn’t have any proof,” I said. “These are wealthy businesspeople who have a great deal of influence and power. Fisk has probably cobbled together bits of information from his sources and determined what’s going on.” At least I fervently hoped so. “We need to talk to him. Let’s go.” I stepped toward Kiki, who grazed nearby.
Ari grabbed my shoulder, halting me. “No.”
“But time—”
“We haven’t slept in over a day.”
“We’ve been resting for five days.”
“A few hours is all we need.”
“Leif—”
“Leif’s clever. He’ll play along, knowing we’ll come rescue him. But you won’t be able to help your brother if you’re exhausted.”
I peered at him. He’d gone from using we to you, meaning me. “Let me guess. Valek—”
“Doesn’t have to order us to protect you. You are family. That goes beyond orders.”
* * *
When we reached the Citadel two days later, we split up, just in case the guards at the gate had been ordered to look for groups of three. Janco circled around to the southern gate with Rusalka, while Ari and I headed for the eastern entrance. We merged with the early-morning traffic and sidled behind a large caravan of wagons. The guards didn’t even glance at us as we passed through.
While the benefit of having busy streets helped us enter unnoticed, the crowded roads slowed our pace. It’d been six days since Leif had been taken, and the desire to scream at all these obstructions clawed at my throat. Then the need to ensure no one followed us to Fisk’s headquarters delayed us further as we snaked through the streets.
Fisk’s building resided in one of the outer factory loops southwest of the market. By the time we rendezvoused with Janco near the narrow alley that led to the door, all of my pent-up frustration and worry pressed on my skin from the inside. If Fisk couldn’t help, I’d explode. H
is Helper’s Guild members would be cleaning Yelena bits off their ceiling, walls and floor for days.
“Any trouble?” Ari asked his partner.
“None.” Janco scrunched up his nose.
“Then what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Yet another stinkin’ alley. The smell is bad enough, but the place is also reeking with magic. I thought Fisk was a regular kid.”
“He is.” Although I wouldn’t call a seventeen-year-old a kid. “He probably hired a magician to hide the guild’s entrance with an illusion.”
“Why?” Ari asked.
“Problems with the criminal element. Their cheap labor force, also known as the homeless children and the desperate, have been too busy working and earning money by being a part of Fisk’s guild, so the crime bosses have been making it difficult for the helpers. Leif offered to help, but Fisk insisted he’d handle it on his own. The young man’s a bit stubborn.”
“Stub...born?” Janco sounded out each syllable as if saying the word for the first time. “Gee, I don’t know anyone who is stub...born.” He stared at me.
“Just for that, you get to go into the stinkin’ alley first,” I said.
“Yay for me.” He rubbed his right ear. “What about the horses?”
“Ari, can you stay with them until we find the door?” I asked.
“What if it’s a trap?”
“I’ll scream really loud and you run and get backup,” Janco said.
“It’s not a trap. It’s Fisk.” I dismounted.
“Yeah, well, Fisk is a businessman, and I’m sure he has other clients who will pay—”
“No. Not Fisk.” I kept my tone even despite my anger. “Before you remind me of my...inability to wield magic and how I have to be paranoid and trust no one, it’s Fisk. Got it?”
