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By or The horse seemed to sense his impatience and pushed himself harder than normal The five day journey turned into four Valek made sure to find a clean stable and rubbed the black horse down hi out with those Sandseed horses too long," Valek said to hiratitude With Onyx fed, watered and settled, Valek hurried to his safe house He didn’t care if anyone recognized hior, but he made sure no one saw him enter the small nondescript townhouse a few blocks froent on duty shot to her feet when Valek appeared She would have launched into an update about what had been happening in the city, but he silenced her with a sharp wave
"I need to know if any of our Fulgor agents has reported seeing Leif Liana Zaltana in the last ten days," he said
The young woes, she scanned the entries Valek paced the narrow rooive the appearance of a ho was used as an office and safe haven for his corps The Commander had ordered him to set up and maintain one of these safe houses in eachthe Citadel All to keep track of the neighbors to the south
Yelena would be livid if she knew, but Valek couldn’t disobey a direct order from the Commander Besides the houses ca the Weir Inn seven days ago, and two days ago an agent noted his horse is still at the inn’s stables No one has seen him around town or at the Councilor’s Hall"
Valek raced to the inn, beating the supper rush by a few minutes The coh the table Valek sought out the inn’s owner and heard the saht and disappeared the next day She figured Leif would return for his horse eventually
"Did you notice if he talked to anyone?" Valek asked her
"I’, but you can ask our cook He’s friends with Mr
Leif," she said
The sizzling sru him he hadn’t eaten since yesterday The cook flipped beef steaks with an expert twist of his wrist
"I stayed up all night with Leif," the cook said between tasks "We talked food--no surprise there, the man has an excellent palette--and then I whipped hi, I saw hied "He told uards, I think they all left together"
Valek thanked the cook Returning to the common room, he sat at a table in the back corner and ordered a beef steak It didn’t take a genius to guess that those guards weren’t legit After Valek finished his or’s security headquarters In order to h to lead Leif souards would have to start out in the right direction
In the graying twilight, Valek scanned the street, searching for places he would use for an ambush He peered into dark alleys and circled abandoned buildings One alley a couple blocks away frole scuffed on the cobblestones near the alley’s entrance
It could be froht was gone Half way down, he discovered drag es and knob, but not the lock
Could it really be that easy? Not trusting the door, Valek climbed to the second floor and found an unlockedGhosting inside the e or anyone on the second floor On the first floor, he found aopen room Dried blood splattered the blade Nearby, he spotted faint scratches on the brick wall, but it was too dark to read theht?" a woman’s voice asked
As a fire blazed to life behind hiures fanned out in front of hi to be that easy
Part 4
Valek was literally cornered Six arures blocked his only escape route He kept his expression neutral, but inside he chastised his own lack of judgment "Only six?" he asked "My, ers in his hands "Do you want to surrender to hed--a deep al safely behind the se cloak up to conceal her face "We’re well aware of your reputation And I ic brushed Valek’s skin At least one of the aic, he could feel it, and, if it was strong enough, it could slow him down
The woman continued, "We expected you to show up at soht you would be this easy to catch"
"Who says I’h the six fighters Valek studied the black clothes that covered everything but their eyes Sharp swords pointed at him with steady hands, and a few clutched short knives in their other hand
His daggers wouldn’t reach as far as their weapons Leif’s machete lay by his feet, but the thick blade would still not be long enough He considered the darts treated with Curare tucked in his belt They would even the odds a bit if he has time to use them