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“So what did you think of Indaturan?” Matthias asked as they compared notes on the meetings.

Lydia made a thoughtful sound. “You’re right, I like him and yes, I think he’s potentially dangerous. But right now he’s on our side, more or less. Kind of like his alran over there.” She cocked her head at Adrian, who chuckled.

“It’s a fair comment and neither I nor my mirian claim otherwise.” He sobered quite suddenly. “But he wanted us to give you a warning. He and Ystelyan think you’ve made a dangerous enemy.”

“Another one?” Matthias said blandly. “Don’t I have enough?”

“You do rather bring them on yourself, Matt,” Sonia said. “So who is it this time?”

“Her name’s Savira,” Adrian said. “She’s the ida of a minor court.”

“You remember that raid you sent me to stop near Elapyron?” Daniel asked.

“I could hardly forget,” Matthias said. “It was a bloody mess. I’ve only seen a few raids that were worse. She was behind that?”

“Yeah,” Naria said. “She was. You probably remember her – she was the one who kept possessing her court members to swear at you. But at least while she was doing that she wasn’t grabbing Speakers for her experiments. She got even more mouthy with Emms because she figured out who he was and she blames him for her problem.”

“Experiments?” Matthias asked. “Problem?”

“Her bond with her heart friend is damaged,” Sarah explained. “Apparently because she was conceived on Earth but born elsewhere. She’s trying to fix it and she’s in much the same head space I was in when I cured that plague Mitakrian unleashed on Caerdu.”

“Yeah, she’s been in descent for a long time,” Naria said.

“I can sympathise with her wanting to fix her bond with her heart friend,” Sonia said. “That cannot be good for either of them. But knowing what Sal did at Caerdu, I definitely do not like the sound of experiments.”

“Yeah, you don’t want to know the details.” Naria gave a shudder. “I think most of her victims would rather have been eaten by the time she’s done with them. I hope Ystelyan-mirian can rebuild enough strength to evict her soon. She’s horrible!”

“Given what her followers did, I’d agree with that,” Matthias said. “Do you think she’ll come after us?”

“She might,” Naria said. “I don’t know. It would be hard for her to sneak to Taloa but she is very angry with you, so she might try.”

“If she crosses over I’ll sense her,” Sarah said softly. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. More importantly, we need to plan for tomorrow.” She looked over at Adrian and Julie. “Are you sure that you want to blow your cover?”

“As sure as I can be,” Adrian replied. “It’s an unnerving thought but I think it’s the only way to shake Garrett into making a mistake.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Julie said. “It’s more than time the truth came out.”

“Good,” Sarah said. “We’d best take some backup to the meeting as well. Things are likely to get heated.”

“If we walk in with backup people will know something is awry,” Sonia said then narrowed her eyes. “Unless… yes that would work…”

“What would?” Matthias asked.

“We should take the kids. No one will expect them to be our backup.” She tilted her head. “But the best preparation would be a good night’s sleep. We really don’t want to be off our game tomorrow.”

 

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