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Hilly said, “The man sits in on most of the public Council sessions and he’s staying in number three-oh-six.”
“Do we want to have a look?” Janco asked.
Tempting, but rescuing Leif was my priority. “Let’s talk to Fisk first.”
“What about the person who took an interest in us when we left the Citadel?” Ari asked Hilly.
“It’s the same cat.”
I mulled over her comments. Could the cat be The Mosquito, reporting to Bruns Jewelrose? Then why didn’t the assassin try to kill me when I was locked in a cell? Probably because his prior attempt in the Fulgor jail hadn’t worked. And all he needed was patience. No doubt another opportunity to target me would arise.
Ari touched my sleeve. Concern creased his face. “That cat may have followed us here from the east gate.” Ari had chased the same logic as me.
“Unfortunately, Master Ari is correct,” Fisk said, entering the kitchen. “A man—or should I say your cat—is keeping an eye on the White Rose’s stables right now.”
I stood. “I’m so sorry, Fisk!”
“No need to apologize, Lovely Yelena. The man has been sniffing around here for the last three weeks. Seems he assumed that when you returned to the Citadel, you’d pay me a visit before being arrested.” A gleam of amusement touched Fisk’s light brown eyes. “Kudos to you for doing the...unexpected. It may have saved your life.”
“How?” Janco asked.
“Think about it,” Ari said.
Janco tapped his fork on the edge of the plate for a minute. “Oh. If we came straight here, he would have surprised us, but now we know his exact location, but he doesn’t know we know.”
“Not bad, Master Janco. I’d hire you if you were available. You could train under Hilly.”
The girl smirked at Janco and handed the six silver coins to Fisk. She curtsied to us. “Please let me know if I can be of any more assistance.” Then she left.
Fisk pocketed the coins. “Always wonderful to see you, Lovely Yelena, but I fear you bring us bad news?”
“Let’s talk in your office,” I said.
We trailed him down a long hallway that ended with a door. Fisk unlocked it and ushered us inside. The large two-story room also housed a living area and a loft above his office.
Janco sat in one of the two nubby red armchairs and Ari took the other. I perched on the edge of the black-and-white couch. A glass sculpture of two hands spread out like wings sat on the table between the two chairs. It was one of Opal’s magic detectors. Nothing flashed within its core, which meant no magic was in use. Plus Janco appeared to be relaxed.
Fisk remained standing, making him seem taller than his normal six feet. “What happened?”
No way to break this news gently. “Leif’s been taken.”
He gripped the back of the couch. “When? Where?”
I told him about the ambush.
“Oh, no.” Fisk sank to the couch. “I’d thought he’d be safe.”
“Why?” Ari asked.
“He has that...smell thing.”
“Doesn’t matter if they used null shields,” I said. They had their uses, but were a big problem when abused. A strange thought popped into my head. What if the Cartel did gain power over all the magicians? They’d be able to regulate those shields, but would they use them for the good of Sitia or for their own plans?
I shook my head. It didn’t matter, because we’d stop them. We had to. “Do you have any information about the disappearances?”
Fisk hesitated.
“I’ll pay you, of course.”
“No. It’s not that at all. Leif has aided me so much over the years, and I will do everything I can to help you rescue him.”
“Then what it is?”
He took a breath and met my gaze. “Not all the magicians are missing. A few of them are in hiding.”
20
VALEK
A storm brewed over the Sunset Ocean, and Valek had a day and a half to prepare. His theory about the Storm Thieves being the crew of the Starfish, which was reported lost at sea, meant they’d use this incoming storm to cover their approach to land. But many questions still remained. Which town did they plan to target? Would they use a dock or send a skiff to a beach? And then there was a good chance they wouldn’t arrive at all. It’d been three weeks since their last break-in.
Valek returned to the apartment on Cannery Road after supper. Endre snored in the bedroom and Annika worked at the inn. Valek reviewed the information gathered and the list of stolen items. Ignoring the jewelry and money, he concentrated on the others. He considered the basics—food, water, shelter.
Endre had said living on a boat would be difficult. If he assumed they’d found a place to live—a cove hidden in the cliffs, perhaps—then the Storm Thieves had enough supplies to build a couple structures. That covered shelter.
Fresh water was too essential to steal, so Valek figured their location had access to a stream or river that flowed toward the ocean. He checked the map of the coast and discovered that all of the rivers that emptied into the ocean had towns built around them. Which made sense for shipping supplies up the river to cities inland.
He considered the cliffs in MD-1. Would fresh water run under the cliffs and not be marked on the map? Possible. And no one would notice a settlement that was inaccessible by land. However, during the fishing season, they’d be visible to the fleet. Unless they used camouflage. And that would explain the fifty gallons of gray and green paint stolen from Krillow. The hidden cove moved to the top of Valek’s suspected location list.
As for food, the Storm Thieves had stolen basics like grain, rice, corn, flour, sugar, but they also took seeds and gardening supplies, which meant they planned to plant crops. No way a cove could sustain plants, unless it was huge. A sandy-rocky soil covered most of the coast, and farmable land started about ten miles inland. So much for the cove idea.
Valek tapped the map with a finger. He chased a memory of a conversation with one of the Stormdancers. Something about islands out in the Jade Sea... They were too small for a settlement because of the unpredictable storms. What if the Storm Thieves built their base on an island in the Sunset Ocean? With their magician keeping the storms at bay, they’d be safe. And no one would suspect they lived there.
Excited, Valek scanned the coastal map. Dozens of small islands were marked on the chart. It’d take seasons to check them all, and news would undoubtedly spread about the search, alerting the Storm Thieves, who could use a storm to keep the searchers from reaching their island. Plus they could have discovered an uncharted island. Deflated, Valek leaned back in the chair. Finding the island would be impossible.
He returned to the list of stolen items. What was missing? What did they need to sustain a settlement? Medical supplies had been taken from an infirmary in Coral Caye, casks of ale missing from a tavern in Lattice Beach, pots and glassware from a inn in Draggan and—
Valek shot to his feet. He flipped through the information Endre and Annika had collected, looking for the report on damages sustained during the storm thefts. Once he found it, he scanned the pages. A henhouse had collapsed during one storm and all the chickens had escaped. During another, a gate blew open and a dozen sheep had run away and had presumably drowned. Four milking cows had disappeared when a storm had knocked down a wall of a barn. What if these animals had been stolen instead? That meant the Storm Thieves still needed beef.
Once again Valek consulted the map. Where was the closest steer farm to the coast? He located one about three miles south of Gandrel and approximately a half mile inland. Gotcha!
When Annika returned and Endre woke up for his night shift, Valek ran his theory by them, seeking flaws in his logic.
“Those cliff coves aren’t big enough for livestock and crops,” Endre said.
“Are you sure there aren’t any missing steers listed in the reports?” Annika asked.
“I checked all the information twice,” Valek said. “But I’
ll read through the ones in the security office again tonight, and tomorrow I’ll see what the locals have to say about the islands.”
“You think they’ll strike tomorrow night?” Endre asked him.
“If not tomorrow, then during the next storm. The Stormers need to have all their supplies before the fishing season starts in twelve days. We need to be in position regardless.”
Valek spent another late night in the security office’s conference room. With his theory in mind, he scanned the incident reports looking for anything that would dispute his logic. Finding nothing, he returned to the inn for a few hours’ sleep before reporting to the dock to join the repair crew.
The waves no longer lined up like rolling pins. Instead, they titled to the right.
“The worst part of the storm’s gonna miss us,” Joey said.
“Heading north, right?” Valek asked, tying a knot. Disappointment slowed his movements. More time spent away from Yelena.
