UNMARKED

9: Expensive Taste

"He's given us a babysitter." Fletcher was pacing the room like a spitting tomcat. Well, more like a large clumsy bovine, Blayre thought as her friend and counterpart did nothing to mask the sound of his heavy footfalls on the wooden floor. It was unusual to see the fun loving young man so out of sorts. So livid.

    Just days before, Holt had sat the three of them down in his office and briefed them on their next assignment. It seemed the King had heard whisperings of illegal dealings involving unmarked mages. Big dealings - with exorbitant amounts of gold being exchanged. And those in question were extremely difficult to apprehend because of their ties to foreign mages.

    It was still illegal for foreign mages to enter Emarian soil unmarked - but politics and alliances or tenuous relations with other countries sometimes allowed them to be overlooked. It didn't due to start a war unnecessarily. But it made for tricky work where the Seeker's were involved.

    Holt had explained illegal dealings were for objects that could propel magic. Weapons that could be used by non-magic wielders. The same that Blayre had heard of that night in the Dragon Room.

    The King wanted to know where they were coming in. Mages had to be involved - how else would they be enchanted. But the intricacies of what they were and how they worked were still unknown. It seemed to Blayre that they were rare and perhaps difficult to produce or transport - otherwise Emares would be riddled with the weapons.

    "Fletch, it will be fine." Ainslee said calmly, tightening the drawstring on one of her bags. The three had met in Ainslee's room after Holt had made his decision regarding their involvement in the trip to Port Roubeles. A decision that included sending Nuala along with them to "provide additional support."

    It wasn't that Blayre minded Nuala - the woman was an excellent mentor and extremely experienced. But it did seem like a waste of resources to remove the seasoned seeker from her post as trainer in order to oversee three graduated and capable Seekers. It also seemed a lot like undermining the royal family.

    "Nuala is a good mentor - has always been a good mentor. It will be wonderful to have her with us." Blayre added, though the words were saturated with the bitterness of a half-lie. Inside she felt much as Fletcher was outwardly expressing.

    "I wonder if she welcomes the opportunity to travel somewhere warmer, or if she has grown accustomed to her living situation here in the Capital." Ainslee mused.

    Blayre just shrugged. It made no difference. After over a week of deliberation, Holt had made his choice. Last minute at that, so there was less time to argue it. No time for her to go to Rory with their objection.

    Not that it mattered. It didn't matter. Fletcher was getting her more worked up over it than she needed to be.

    "If she wanted to travel somewhere warmer, I'm sure she would have volunteered to leave her nice cozy training job by now." Fletcher snarled, his brown hair falling into his eyes as he halted abruptly in front of Ainslee's bedroom window.

    "Fletch, enough!" Blayre snapped. "What's done is done." She fixed him with her gaze, golden eyes meeting his dark ones, then collapsed into Ainslee's armchair with a sigh. And to think, a little over a week ago she had been thrilled that the two members of her Triad had returned.

Massaging her temples, Blayre squeezed her eyes shut. The frustrations of the past week had seeped into her bones, and threatened to spill over and drown her. Despite the return of her triad, Ripley had continued to work with her on trying to find the assailants.  With no luck.

Twelve hells, it was frustrating. And in a few days they would leave the city and be back out in the open, and Rory would be in increased danger once more.