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“Manners!” he snarled. “You are not so ill-raised that you will bring shame on our clan.”
“While it is embarrassing we did not detect those mages living so close, I’m sure you’ve been made aware the Jaeggi have superior cloaking spells, as well as broken magic all the clans are struggling to detect,” Alric coldly said.
“Also, you did walk right into one of the Jaeggi spells,” Baldewin added with just the right bit of mocking in his tone. “You were saved by our librarian.”
Gunter fought not to roll his eyes and correct his friend. He was the royal researcher, not a librarian. Although, he also proudly thought of himself as a librarian.
Dimitri hopped to his feet and bowed low to Alric. “Forgive me, King Alric. I never should have spoken so disrespectfully. I might not be alive today if not for Nikki’s warning and Gunter’s quick actions.”
“You are forgiven, Dimitri. Please, sit. We’re all frustrated,” Alric said easily. He relaxed in his chair and broadly smiled at everyone at the table. Yes, Dimitri’s words might have rubbed them the wrong way, but he expressed an overall irritation with the Jaeggi they all felt. This threat should have been eliminated a long time ago.
“No offense to Lisette and all the other mages, but he does bring up a good point,” Cameron stated. “The Jaeggi have been locating mages with far more success than the dragons for far longer. Other mages might have developed cloaking and protection spells we haven’t thought of. These could be former mage locations.”
Dimitri leaned forward in his chair to look down the table at Cameron. “I don’t mean to dismiss your work. I think these are excellent leads, but I think we should also temper our expectations. We don’t know why this Jaeggi mage was at these locations or how often he was returning to the clan.”
“I—” Cameron broke off on a sharp gasp. His eyes were wide as he stared down at the map in the center of the table, marked with twenty red X’s. The top five were circled. “I can’t believe we didn’t think of this. It’s brilliant. I’m so stupid.”
Nikki nudged Gunter, drawing his gaze down to the young mage’s confused expression. “What’s he talking about?”
“I haven’t a clue,” Gunter admitted in a whisper.
“Liebling, what are you thinking?”
“A black hole search!” Cameron shouted with a laugh. “It’s so obvious. I can’t believe Cassie didn’t even think of it. We had so much data.”
“Alric, I think your consort is broken,” Roca teased.
“Or his brain is still frozen from being in that room for too long,” Nikki mumbled.
Cameron jumped to his feet, practically dancing in place as he pointed excitedly at the map. “The GPS chip in the phone provided us with tons of data. This Jaeggi traveled constantly over a three-year period.”
“That phone was three years old?” Rodrigo gasped.
Alric snorted. “Phone snob. Not everyone can afford to upgrade their phone every year.”
Rodrigo gave a dismissive wave of his hand but was still smiling.
“The point is we were completely focused on the data we had, tracking where he went the most often. But what if he never returned to the clan? What if he purposefully avoided the clan so he didn’t risk leading a dragon back to the Jaeggi stronghold? That would result in blank spaces on the map.”
“But why wouldn’t the mage return to the clan? That doesn’t make sense,” Dieter murmured.
“It does,” Nikki said in a low but excited voice. “Cameron is completely right, and I didn’t even think of it. The Jaeggi Clan is organized sort of like a beehive. There are the workers who never leave the clan stronghold, but that couldn’t be the owner of this phone because he traveled constantly. There are the people who gather supplies. They go out and immediately return straight to the clan.”
“If the mage gathered supplies, would these locations still work?” Gunter asked Nikki. “You said the Jaeggi don’t return to old locations.”
“Yes, because the supply carriers also spend a lot of time prepping future locations. The Jaeggi move constantly. Every place is temporary. They are always planning ahead to the next move.”
“And the prep ahead of time means the move goes more smoothly for everyone,” Alric said with a nod.
“We already marked off the locations where I can remember living. It’s highly unlikely they would go there.”
“What about the black holes?” Roca grumbled.
“I’m confused. Are the Jaeggi bees or black holes?” Chalo added.
Cameron grinned and shook his head. He looked like he was trying to not laugh. “No, the point is that this Jaeggi could have been sent out to find other mages, but he specifically has to stay away from all clan locations. He can’t risk leading any dragons he might encounter back to their lair.”
Gunter’s eyes widened as the pieces started snapping into place. “You think the data will show you places where it would have made sense for him to go, but he avoided.”
