"How did you find them?" Ry asked.
"We looked for purchases of homes or land parcels in the right time period and coupled that with unusual events reported for the same time period. You know there's nobody with any sort of wizard or warlock abilities native to Tulgalan. We dug up report after report of the neighbors' dogs coming home unable to bark or not coming home at all."
"Stupid," Gavril muttered.
"And we're glad of it," Lendill said. "We might have taken longer to find anything on them," he added.
"You think this is where the tapping originated?" Gavril asked.
"Yes," Norian replied. "We'll take Reah there as soon as we clean out the nest. We have everything under surveillance and should be able to provide images soon of anyone coming or going. Who can identify them?"
"My warlocks can easily identify them," Gavril offered.
"Good. We'll get the images to you as quickly as possible. Now, since you're still bent on setting up the Campiaan Alliance, what are your plans for creating a unit to mirror the ASD?" Norian settled into the chair behind his desk and put the tips of his fingers together, waiting on the one who called himself Teeg San Gerxon to outline his plans.
* * *
"It's just a precaution—stop whining about it," Nidris cast the spell to make his brother Derdris look exactly like him. "Father says it's for the best."
"Then why isn't Father casting the spell?" Derdris whined.
"Because I have the resources to do this quickly," Nidris snapped. He'd tapped the core gently again, he just hadn't told his father about it. What was one more small tap? The core was already leaking power. "Just a little longer," Nidris spoke mostly to himself. "There. We're twins now." He lifted the mirror so Derdris could see his image.
"I don't like this," Derdris muttered.
"They won't know which one to shoot if it comes to that," Nidris smiled nastily at his brother. "It could keep us alive if we're found. Besides, I have plans to get us all out of here. Just be patient—we'll live like kings in no time."
Derdris glowered at his brother. He'd heard that phrase before—on the night prior to a coup that left them in charge of Karathia for less than three days. Then, Wylend Arden, Erland Morphis and a stable of warlocks they hadn't even guessed at or calculated their power swept in and destroyed everything. They'd been hunted for so long afterward that now all Derdris wanted was to live his life in peace. He enjoyed farming—it was quiet. He could touch the earth and make it fertile. He'd found ways to keep the insects away from the crops and always volunteered to transport the crates of tomatoes to market, selling to upscale restaurants across Tulgalan. Desh's was one of his best customers.
"You'll either save us or kill us both, brother," Derdris grumbled and used his power to fold away from Nidris.
* * *
"Aurelius, I don't want to do this." I looked at him as I dressed to go to Tulgalan. Norian wanted to get there early. Seven days early, to be exact. I was hoping to spend my time with Aurelius on Le-Ath Veronis. Norian still held my leash so I had to go.
"Love, I hope to be here when you return but I may be sent out again," Aurelius closed the bag I'd packed.
"No," I whispered, going to him and wrapping my arms around his waist.
"My love, it cannot be helped," he kissed my forehead. "Come, I am receiving mindspeech from Tory. They are waiting for us at the palace."
"All right." I moved away from Aurelius. Ry, Astralan and Stellan were going to fold us to a plantation on Tulgalan temporarily housing ASD operatives. Norian wasn't taking any chances on letting Nidris and his family escape. The plantation was far enough away from the farm the Hazlan family supposedly ran that Nidris, as a power-seeker, wouldn't detect any of the warlocks with us. As soon as we had the Hazlans in custody, I would be sent out to heal the core.
Aurelius folded me to Norian's office inside Lissa's palace. Lendill was there, as were Teeg, Ry, Tory, all eight reptanoids and Astralan and Stellan.
"We will take our Reah's bag," Nenzi stepped up right away, so Aurelius handed it over.
"Nenzi," I hugged him tightly. I'd issued an invitation for him and the others to stay with me and Aurelius but they hadn't come. I blamed Teeg for that.
"Our Reah well?" Farzi got the next hug.
"I'm all right," I assured Farzi as the others came forward to get hugs as well.
"Reah, I'll see you soon," Aurelius leaned down to give me a kiss before disappearing. Without him, I felt I was in enemy territory. Only Farzi, Nenzi and their brothers would be any comfort at all. If I were truthful, I felt cold and abandoned. I had no desire to heal Tulgalan and wished I could wait until after my daughter's birth. Just the thought of it made me rub my belly.
"Reah well?" Farzi repeated his question.
"I'll be fine," I lied to reassure Farzi.
"We're ready," Norian nodded to Ry, Astralan and Stellan. We were folded away quickly.
* * *
"Tory and I will be trading nights," Teeg said the moment I was shown to my bedroom. Both of them, in addition to the reptanoids, had followed me. Nenzi still carried my bag.
"No," I turned and glared at both of them.
"Reah, this is the way it's going to be," Teeg snapped. "One of us will be with you at night and Farzi and the others will be in the bedrooms on either side. Get used to it!" I was just about to tell Teeg what I thought he could do with his high-handedness when Lendill walked in.
"I'd like a night, too," he said.
"No. Absolutely not," I almost shouted. I only held back a little—he was still my superior, after all. In fact, he shouldn't be trying to push himself on me. He and Norian would be lucky if they ever saw me again the moment my time as a conscript ran out.
"If either of them get to trade nights, then I demand time as well." Lendill had his arms crossed angrily over his chest. All three stood there in identical poses, almost, all glaring and snarling. I wanted to tell them to get out but there wasn't any chance they'd listen. They never listened. Every time, it was what they wanted. They got their way, too, every single time. Suddenly, I was too tired to fight with any of them.
"Nenzi, will you help me unpack?" I turned to my friend.
"Nenzi help," he nodded eagerly. He and the others had my bag on the bed and unpacked in very little time.
"Reah, baby, Norian wants one of those fruit and rum drinks," Tory poked his head inside the door. I just stared helplessly at him, all the fight gone out of me. Forces outside my control had decided my fate and I had no more strength to do battle against it. I walked wearily out of the bedroom, brushing past Tory and heading toward the kitchen to put drinks together.