Chapter 11 #2
“Very well.” Iannis released whatever spell he had employed to force the doctor to confess. The prisoner’s lips thinned as he sat back in his chair.
“You may have tricked me with your thrice-damned mage power,” he spat, bitter resentment burning in his gaze, “but the information will not do you any good. No mage can breach the facility’s walls.”
“Why is that?” Iannis demanded.
The doctor shrugged. “I don’t know, but I have it on good authority that even if your kind discovered the place, you would never be able to get into the labs.
” He bared his teeth at us. “So go to Osero, if you must. You won’t get in, and if the Ur-God is just, you might very well end up being our first victims.”
We briefed the Minister in the comfort of his home, before retiring to our rooms at the Crystal Hotel for a much needed late-night dinner.
We would leave for Parabas just before noon, after grabbing a few hours of sleep.
The Minister would contact the Chief Mage of Osero and ensure his full cooperation with our mission.
The Capitol library would provide us a map of Nika and its environs before we left, so that we could be prepared for what lay ahead.
“It is quite possible that we may not be able to get into the lab, as the doctor suggests,” Iannis said, his arm curled around me as we lay in bed, showered and fed now.
He’d booked two adjoining rooms, my luggage was in the second one, but I had no intention of sleeping in a separate bed.
“Certain wards are impossible to break, even for me. In that case, we may have to destroy the entire building from outside.”
“And kill all the people in it?” I frowned. “What if they have innocents in there? They may use test subjects they’re experimenting on, perhaps even mages, if they are trying to create a formula to target them specifically.”
“It would be regrettable, but I don’t see that we have a choice,” Iannis said. “We cannot risk the lives of the entire Federation for the sake of a few.”
I sighed. I hated that sort of thing—sacrificing one to save the lives of many—but I couldn’t argue against the logic in this scenario.
If the Resistance was using innocent test subjects, they were probably going to die anyway, so blowing up the building would only accelerate their tragic fate.
“Still, if there is any way to stop this madness without resorting to mass killings, we should try to find it.”
“Of course.”
I slept uneasily that night, despite being cradled in Iannis’s warm, comforting embrace.
My thoughts were too tangled up in my worries for me to settle down.
How were Annia and Elnos faring? What was Noria up to?
Had Comenius received any word from them?
I wished I could rush to their side now, but I had to admit the news about the Osero lab was extremely troubling.
If I was being fair and logical, shutting it down was more urgent than rescuing my friends.
But I wasn’t an automaton. Just because I knew in my head that going to Parabas first was the right thing to do, didn’t mean I felt as certain about that in my heart. I was conflicted, torn between the desire to do two things that were, in their own ways, equally important to me.
An urgent knock at the door woke me, and I shot upright, my heart pounding. Who was at the door? Was it a message from Fenris? Had something happened?
“I’ll get it,” Iannis murmured, placing a hand on my upper arm. “Lie back down.”
I did as he asked, burrowing beneath the bedclothes while he donned a robe and answered the door.
Under different circumstances, I would have balked, but we couldn’t let an unknown servant see the two of us in bed together.
So, instead, I hid and waited, listening to the messenger tell Iannis that he had received an urgent message from Solantha Palace.
“It’s from Fenris,” Iannis said, sitting down on the bed and unfolding the single sheet of paper. His violet eyes narrowed as he scanned the words. “He says that Annia is in trouble, and Elnos has lost contact with her.”
“What?” I shot upright again, my fists clenching in the bed sheets as fear coursed through my veins. “What kind of trouble? How did they get separated?”
“The message doesn’t say,” Iannis said, his brow creasing. “Comenius received an ether pigeon from Elnos, and the information contained was rather brief. Apparently, Elnos and Annia tracked Noria to Nika, Osero, and Elnos awaits reinforcements at the local inn.”
“Nika!” I exclaimed. “Do you think that Noria is in the very same plant that we’re about to destroy?”
“I’m afraid it would be too coincidental for that not to be the case. She’s an inventor, after all. I could see why the Resistance would find her useful there.”
“Well then we can’t just go in and blow it up.” I threw off the sheets and began pacing next to the bed. “If Noria is in there, we have to get her out.”
“As I said, we will do what we can, but remember that Noria is a traitor,” Iannis warned. “She chose her side, and is assisting the Resistance in committing genocide.”
“I can’t believe she would willingly participate in that.
Who knows what they have her doing, and what she’s been told.
” Groaning, I shoved my hands into my mass of curly hair and tugged, hard.
Why was everything going to hell right now?
“Annia could very well be in there with her, and she certainly doesn’t deserve to die.
All she wanted was to save her little sister. ”
Iannis sighed. “That is true. And I owe Annia a debt for her part in my rescue.” He stroked his chin for a moment, considering.
“I have to meet with the local Chief Mage, but it makes sense to find Elnos first, and get a clearer picture of the situation. If he is staying in a local inn in a small town like that, he should be easy enough to find.”
“Great. So we’re leaving now, right?”
“Just as soon as you get your clothes on.”