Norian cursed softly and opened his eyes. I helped him stand; he grabbed our coats and herded me sleepily toward the doors so we could get off. I smelled one of our rats the moment we exited the train, and that's what saved us. I had Norian turned to mist instantly while the laser pistol fired right through us.
* * *
"Now, tell us everything you know," Norian smiled unpleasantly at our would-be murderer inside a tiny ASD office in downtown Rezael. I'd already placed compulsion on the creep to answer all of Norian's questions. Creep wasn't much to look at, with a narrow face and a long nose. Thinning hair and a sparse moustache rounded out the picture. His dark eyes followed me nervously while he answered Norian's questions.
"Seturna Odnard ordered me to kill you as you exited the train. We had information that you boarded in Xindis."
"Seturna Odnard, of Solar Red?" Norian bared his teeth. I could only imagine that he'd be hissing if he were the lion snake.
"We are to call ourselves Brothers of the New Dawn," our creep, whose name was Pebrus, whined.
"So, Pebrus, Brother of the New Dawn, where might Seturna Odnard be found? Who gave us away? Do you have a name?" Norian suspected a mole and he was doing his best to grind this guy down to get a name.
"Seturna Odnard is at the temple. We have been working with someone named Tork," Pebrus gave the answer.
"An assumed name," Norian looked up at me. "We have twenty-nine agents on Trell. We had thirty, but one has been missing for a while. Could be any one of them, though. With the proper resources, they might be able to trace my chip number." He'd used it to pay for our train ride.
"Did you suspect a mole before now?"
"Of course I did. I've known we were infiltrated for some time. The Charter Members are investigating their staff and Lendill and I have been trying to help with that. We've found two so far, but none of them knows about any of the others, so we have to track them one at a time."
"Honey, that sounds like a mess."
"Lissa Beth, it is a mess." Norian went back to questioning Pebrus, but he was just a flunky to Seturna Odnard—somebody who was expendable if he was killed trying to kill us.
"I don't want to turn him over to the local authorities," Norian informed me after he'd gotten as much as he could from Pebrus. "We could kill him, but I don't want to do that yet."
"We can put him in my dungeon," I offered. Pebrus, who'd been listening, cringed at the mention of a dungeon.
"It won't be like the ones Solar Red operates," I told him. Solar Red tortured their prisoners and their dungeons were notoriously filthy and dark. My prisoners might get intense questioning under compulsion, but they had clean, decent quarters. If they were sentenced to die, their death was swift and as painless as we could make it.
Norian nodded his acceptance, so we folded to Le-Ath Veronis, which shocked Pebrus no end. I laid compulsion not to talk about how he'd gotten where he was, and Drake and Drew came running when I sent mindspeech. Some of Rigo's Rith Naeri helped and we got Pebrus placed inside his new home beneath my palace. Drake and Drew tried to convince us to spend the night, but we were hot on the trail of Solar Red in Rezael, so we left again.
* * *
"Seturna, the news is everywhere concerning the attack at the train station, but they haven't reported finding bodies and Pebrus hasn't reported in." The one who called himself Tork stood inside Seturna Odnard's private office to give the news.
"The news is accurate? There is proof of the attack?" Seturna Odnard frowned at his informant.
"Yes, Seturna. The spies we have embedded within the local authorities say the laser blasts are legitimate—the train car had to be repaired before it could continue on its journey."
"But no bodies were found."
"No, Seturna. Not even blood was found, which is puzzling."
"And what do the witnesses say?"
"They only saw the laser blasts—they didn't see who fired the pistol or the ones being fired upon, it happened so quickly, and they were all falling to the floor to avoid getting hit."
"So, there's either treachery afoot and someone knows and managed to keep it away from us, or something else is going on." Seturna Odnard watched his mole carefully. They'd gone to great lengths to get this one and set him up. Odnard had no desire to lose him now—he was much too valuable.
* * *
We'd found our way into Seturna Odnard's study while he was talking to the mole, and even though Norian couldn't send mindspeech, I could feel his anger. It was white hot and uncomfortable. We listened to part of the conversation between the mole and the Seturna—they didn't get any information from the attempt on our lives—things had happened much too quickly. I had to get Norian out of there and fast, however; I had a feeling that the moment I dropped him, he would make the turn, he was so furious. I had to find a deserted spot so he could do that, and then I had to get him calmed down. There were things he needed to know.
I flew through the ceiling and then away from there as quickly as I could. Snow was falling again; thick white flakes dropped through my mist as I rushed along, searching anxiously for a safe place where Norian could turn. I was afraid the tiny ASD office might now be watched, so I didn't go there. I found an empty hotel room instead, and hoping that the hotel staff wouldn't send any guests there, dropped Norian inside it. I remained mist, too, as he quickly turned to lion snake, then tried not to cringe as he hissed and shook his tail angrily before throwing his body against a wall.
"Norian, stop that—someone will hear!" I did some hissing of my own as I materialized. Norian flung himself once more at the wall with a loud thump before he turned in my direction, his hood spread and mouth open to display lengthy fangs. "Norian, listen to me and listen carefully. You only think you know who that was. I can still use my scenting abilities while I'm mist and you can trust me when I say that the spy wasn't Lendill."
Chapter 8
Norian hadn't changed back to his humanoid form and was now snaking his way toward me. "Norian, I think we should go and find the real Lendill. Chances are he's still in Xindis right now, working away. At least that's where I hope he is. I hope they haven't gotten to him yet. I have a feeling they plan to replace him with the doppelganger we just saw a few minutes ago. I think the one we saw is your missing agent—he probably knew what Lendill looked like and had his features altered."
"You're kidding?" Norian stood in front of me, completely naked and still angry.