After a few minutes, Priya sat back in her chair. “Wow, we have a partial hit.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“The imprint you gave me is definitely female, and it’s definitely the daughter of two known Directorate operatives. We only have two daughters on record, and one of them died recently.” Priya’s eyes widened. Her lips parted slightly as she stared at me in shock.
“What?”
“The deceased daughter is Analise Lipukin. You were there when she died.”
That meant the imprint belonged to Sadie, her sister. And if that were true…
“I know who’s been going to the Cushing Sea.”
Twenty-Six
Lilibet’s face appeared in an orb above Priya’s desk. “Priya, I saw that you did an imprint scan that came up with a positive ID. What have you got?”
“Actually, this is Kat’s find,” Priya replied.
“Oh, really? Let’s meet in the mission room. I want to hear everything.” Lilibet’s face disappeared.
“She didn’t need to sound so surprised,” I murmured.
“It wasn’t about you,” Kellan said. “We’ve all been working on this case so hard that she’s surprised we’ve come up with anything after so many dead ends. It wasn’t personal.”
“Thanks, Kellan.” He returned my smile, one more step toward friendship.
Lilibet waited for us in the mission room and stayed standing while the rest of us sat around the table. “So, Kat, you have the floor. What’s going on?”
“I think I know who has been at the Cushing Sea. If I’m right, it’s Mikael Lipukin. He worked with Casper at the Armory. Given his interests, it makes perfect sense.”
Priya held up a hand. “Wait a minute, I don’t get it. The imprint you had me run was a female.”
“Like I said, I got the imprint from a source, and I knew that imprint didn’t belong to the mage who was traveling to the Cushing Sea but to one of their associates. When it came back that the imprint belonged to Sadie, I knew the mage doing the traveling had to be Mikael. They do everything together. And I imagine since their sister died they’re even closer now, if that’s at all possible.”
“Who’s your source? How did you get this? I still don’t understand.” Priya didn’t like things she didn’t understand.
“I can’t reveal my source. All I can say is that the imprint you ran confirms that Sadie has been doing work directly connected to the issues at the Cushing Sea. Under Casper, she and her brother worked for the Directorate, but they were also independent. Casper was the type to work for the Directorate when it suited him, but he always looked out for himself first.”
“Yes, I’ve read his profile,” Priya said, impatient for me to get to the point.
“I don’t know where Sadie and Mikael’s allegiance was, with the Directorate or with Casper, but I do know they put their family first. Between their parents dying and then Analise, they're going to be formidable opponents. And with Casper dead, the Directorate is the only organization they can align themselves with, but they may still have the resources of the Armory.” If only we had located it.
“But isn’t this all just a little convenient? I’d be able to better do my job if I knew more about the circumstances surrounding this intelligence. You know we protect our sources. I don’t understand why you’re not willing to tell us.”
And I don’t understand why you’re making an issue out of it. If I told her Millhook was the source, she’d want to know how he got it, and I couldn’t reveal those circumstances. With Priya, she wouldn’t be satisfied until she knew everything. Since I couldn’t give her that, I didn’t want to give her anything she didn’t need. It would only lead to more questions.
“Priya, it’s not your job to understand,” Lilibet said, saving me from having to respond. “It’s your job to analyze the intelligence we get. Brief all stations and put them on high alert. If either mage is spotted, they are to be observed only until I give a command to the contrary. Is that understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Lilibet watched Priya leave the room then sat across from me. “Priya may not need to know more, but I do.”
I could give her a little more but not much. “My source is Millhook, so you know it’s solid information. He wouldn’t betray our trust, not the Council’s, not mine.”
“I agree. That’s enough for me. This is good work. You’re going to make a great field agent. And I promise, as soon as this immediate threat is dealt with, finding out who sabotaged your trials will be our top priority.” I could see in her eyes that she meant it and a touch of apology that it had to be this way.
“I think they’re related.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s something we would need to discuss in private.” I looked at Kellan. “Sorry.”
“Hey, no problem. I understand the concept of need-to-know. Would you like me to leave?” He directed his question to Lilibet since she was the only one who had the authority to release him from his duty as shadow.
Lilibet nodded. “Wait just outside.”
Even though we were alone, I leaned toward Lilibet and lowered my voice. “Earlier, you told me that golem magic was being investigated as a possible source of the problem with my trials.”
“Yes,” she said, confusion on her face.
I couldn’t tell her I had been sneaking into section five to study golem magic, but disclosing that Millhook was my source on the imprint had revealed a new avenue to me. “I talked to Millhook about it. He knows a lot more about different types of magic than I do, and he mentioned that golem magic requires clay from the Cushing Sea. I think part of the Directorate’s mission there involved creating a golem so they could infiltrate the CCS and sabotage my trials. Mikael was interested in history and different types of magic. He’d be more than capable of either doing the spell himself or helping the person who is doing it. My gut says he’s acting as an assistant.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He and his sisters were committed to the Directorate to avenge their parents. They’re foot soldiers, not commanders.”
“That’s a keen assessment. But why would the Directorate infiltrate the CCS just to sabotage your trials?”
“They probably thought it would kill me and look like an accident.”
“But there’s so much more harm they could do. I’m not making light of the attempt on your life, but in the grand scheme of things, having a golem inside the CCS could do a lot more damage.”
“Why would they want to do more? Better to off me in an accident and keep their golem as a spy so they can stay one step ahead. You don’t let the enemy know they’ve been made unless you have to.”
Lilibet nodded as she thought through it all. “Where did Millhook get this imprint?”
“I don’t know.” I hated lying, but if I revealed where and how he got it, then I’d be letting her know I remembered my mother’s notes.
Lilibet sat back in her chair, looking to the side, as if she spoke to herself. “Why was he even on this? Calista hasn’t hired him for any missions, and it's weird that he’d be going through you instead of her.”
I shrugged. “He’s taken a liking to me. I’m not going to turn away help.”
She focused back on me. “And what did you tell him that yielded this help?”
This questioning had taken a dangerous turn. She was thinking about this harder than I would like. Why couldn’t she just accept the help and thank me? “He heard about the sorcerer’s emissary first through rumors and then from Calista. He said he’d keep an eye out for anything. He showed up in my room last night with this imprint and told me it’s connected somehow. I didn’t question it more than that. Millhook’s never led me astray.”
“Hmm. It seems like you made an awful lot of jumps from an imprint without a known provenance to Mikael Lipukin creating a golem. What about this imprint led you to deduce that the owner’s brother was at the Cushing Sea?”
“Millhook told me it was related to what's going on at the Cushing Sea but that it wasn’t from there.” This was getting complicated. I couldn’t handle many more questions.
“That’s it?” Lilibet asked dubiously.
“You’re questioning Millhook’s reliability?” I shot back.
“No.”
“Just mine then?” We stared at each other, neither backing down, the tension pushing us closer to snapping. I needed to take a step back and de-escalate this quickly. I shook my head, breaking eye contact. “I’m sorry. There’s something to be said about intuition. I can’t give you anything solid, but neither can anyone else. All I can tell you is that I’m sure about this.”
Lilibet sighed with a hint of disappointment. “Let’s hope this lead pans out as well as you think it will. You should get back to work.”
Outside the room, I sagged against the wall next to Kellan. I hadn’t expected that kind of grilling from her.
“What’s wrong?” Kellan asked.
“Nothing, we just need to figure this out.” And I needed to figure out who the mole was so I could get the suspicion off of me.
Twenty-Seven
My earlier research had yielded nothing of help to decipher the code. All I had to work on was the belief that the code originated with the elves. I already knew the mole spent time in section five. I’d caught them there twice. Given the fact that only the Council had access to it, and the Councilors themselves weren’t likely to have done an exhaustive study of the section’s contents, it made the most sense to use a code that had been found there. It gave him the least chance of having the message intercepted and deciphered.
To minimize the risk of being seen, I ported to the far corner of the section behind a tall bookcase. I held my breath, listening for any sound, footsteps or breath, that would give away the mole.
The stillness of the room echoed in my ears. As far as I could tell, I was alone. Of course, when you lived in a world of magic, you could never be sure.
At the catalog, I wrote my request: elves.
The results the book returned covered seven pages. I didn’t have enough time for that. Trying again, I wrote: elf war. It seemed reasonable to assume that the code had originated during the conflict that drove them below ground.
That narrowed it down to two pages. I circled everything that had even a chance of containing the information I needed. The only books I excluded were ones with titles such as Potions of Death From the Moon Worshipers and The Dark Uses of Moonglow.
I coughed on the dust the books wafted into the air as they flew onto the table. The section was so restricted that the cleaning crews didn’t even get in here.
There was no way I could read through all of these. I had to narrow it down even further. Glancing over them, one stood out for a noticeable absence. The dust was missing from Elven Tactics in Warfare. I grabbed it and sent the other books back to their places. The tome in my hand was more than a thousand pages long. It couldn’t have been a nice little pamphlet, could it? No, of course not.
I used my magic to thumb through the pages, looking for what, I didn’t know. I stopped on a grand picture depicting a battle. The illustration was marvelous in its detail, and I turned the page to see if there was more.
An idea struck me. While a mage was likely to use magic to open a book to a certain point, if they were reading and needed to turn the page, they would most likely do it by hand. If the information on the code spanned more than one page, then it was likely the mole had left fresh fingerprints behind. Fingerprints I couldn’t do much with, but, the oil from their fingers would stick to dust. Using the same technique police did on Earth, I dusted down the book and then flipped through the pages with my magic. If this book hadn’t been touched by anyone else in decades as it appeared, then I should be able to find out which pages the mole had handled.
Page five hundred eighty-four showed fingerprints. Flicking the dust away with a wave of my hand, I scanned the page.
Having been cut off from one another, groups of elves resorted to passing messages using light in the night sky. The Covert Council Service dedicated two dozen agents to cracking the code. After months of fighting, they succeeded, and their interception of messages between the elves led to tactical movements that curtailed mage losses.
I turned the page, just as the mole had, and there was the cipher. I pulled out the paper I’d written the code on to show Millhook and got to work.
We’ll meet tomorrow when Majora sets in the Flamewood Forest at the four-trunked tree.
Shit, that was in less than fifteen minutes. I had to get to that meeting. It was my chance to not only uncover the identity of the mole but also to learn their plans. But if I left the Citadel, there’d be no returning. I couldn’t just port back in the way Millhook could. He had a special charm from the Council that allowed him to port freely due to his work. I had no such charm. If I left here, I’d either be returning victorious or not at all. That was one hell of a choice to make in ten minutes.
It didn’t matter. Finding out who the mole was superseded everything else. I’d figure the rest out later. I put away the book with the cipher and decided to look for pictures of the Flamewood Forest. Without knowing exactly where the meeting place was, I didn’t know if I’d be able to port there. In the catalog, I wrote: four-trunked tree. Two titles appeared. I circled both.
One of the books appeared to have more pictures than the other, so I opened that one first. If I couldn’t find a picture of the meeting spot, then I would have to rely on whatever description of it I could find. Not only would that take more time, but I was less confident I could port there without seeing a picture.
A smile split my face as I peered down at a picture of a four-trunked tree in the Flamewood Forest, one of the most easily recognizable trees in the forest according to the description.
The door opened behind me and I spun around, my heart leaping at the intrusion. I'd been too immersed in my research to hear someone approaching.
“Kat, what are you doing here?” Lilibet stepped back in surprise. Then her eyes widened as she realized that my presence there was impossible.
“What are you doing here?” I countered. Real smooth. But I couldn’t think of what to do.
“I got permission to come here and study golem magic. I told you we would make it a priority to find out who sabotaged your trials. I’ve been spending any time I can get away in here studying. I wasn’t aware that you’d been granted permission to be here.”
“I was studying golem magic too.” I needed to work on my lying. I felt sure my eyes gave me away. I hadn’t prepared for this, and my conscience took issue with lying to Lilibet.
“But how? I would’ve been told if you had access.”
A ray of sun hit my eye from the window as Minora set, blinding me until I turned away from it. I didn’t have much time, not enough to think of a convincing lie or explain the truth. She would see me port out of here, and as soon as she did, she would know what I was or at least have an inkling. Her first stop would be her father. I couldn’t have that, not when I was so close. I couldn’t risk my mission being thwarted.
When I focused back on Lilibet, she stood waiting for an explanation. She trusted me, otherwise she would have taken action by now. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
With that I bound her with my magic, silenced her mouth, and took her sight.
I looked at the image of the four-trunked tree once more, closed my eyes, and pictured it in my mind. With all of my energy I willed myself to a position behind a tree where I could get a clear view of the meeting place. Nothing happened.
I wrapped my hand around the talisman, begging for help. Maybe my father had been there at some point. A memory surfaced, nothing more than my father walking in the forest and looking over at the tree, but it was enough. I opened my eyes, and I was there.
Twenty-Eight
The forest glowed with the flames that engulfed the trees. Despite kno
wing the flames wouldn’t produce heat until the end of the tree’s life when it would burn to ash, I still hesitated a second before placing my hand on the trunk in front of me. It was large enough to hide me from view, and I pressed myself against it, making myself comfortable while ensuring I had a clear view. I could only hope the meeting would take place on the side of the four-trunked tree I could see.
I cloaked myself for extra security, blending into my surroundings. Off to my right, leaves rustled. A mage emerged. A familiar face.
Gareth.
I should’ve known he’d follow me even here. How had he found me? I made a move toward him, ready to tell him to get out of sight, when he stopped at the tree and used his wand to cast a shield.
The wand glowed green.
Traitor green.
Of course.
He hadn’t followed me here. This was his meeting. He was the mole. It made sense. After my trials, he’d been given access to the CCS. As a Councilor, he’d made an excellent operative for the Directorate, but with access to the CCS, he was perfect. As head of security, he could allow our enemies into the Citadel at any time. There was no telling what harm he’d already done. No one had ever suspected him, yet he knew everything. Everything.
For a few minutes, it appeared as if he'd been stood up, or maybe this wasn’t an in-person meeting. Maybe he was communicating with his contact in some other way.
A cloaked figure approached from the left. I couldn’t make out anything about the mage’s appearance. Not only did a physical cloak conceal his body, it was as if he’d cast a spell that obscured the vision of anyone who looked upon him. That was a level of magic I hadn’t seen before. With the ease of many practice sessions, I breached their shield and listened to their altered voices.
[The Elustria Chronicles 03.0] Magic Betrayed Page 13
