The drive to Utsjoki Village was a little more than thirty minutes away. Tori knew it well, even if he didn’t often stop there. The village was a crossroads leading into Norway. It contained a beautiful bridge that spanned the Karasjohka River and a few basic stores, but most people crossing into Finland continued south to one of the larger towns.
Just outside of Utsjoki, Tori spotted something that made his stomach sink.
“Pull over!” he shouted suddenly, twisting in his seat as Cameron passed by a small, maroon car that looked familiar. He’d driven that car, he was sure of it, on a variety of runs to the south.
Cameron hit the brakes hard and pulled off to the side of the road just in front of the car. As they slowed to a stop, Tori hopped out of the vehicle and ran back to the car. As he approached, it became clear that the front and rear driver’s side tires were flat. They’d hit something in the road.
“It’s the same trick they pulled to kidnap me from Dieter,” Cameron said from behind Tori. There was a haunted quality to Cameron’s soft tone that sent a chill skidding down Tori’s spine.
He continued to walk around the car. The doors were all closed, but the backseat behind the driver was piled high with bags. The trunk was likely to be filled, as well, with valuable goods. Whoever had taken the kids wasn’t interested in the contents of the car. Just them.
“There were three of them. How could they take three of them with such ease?” Evora asked. Tori glanced over to find that her arms were wrapped tightly around her waist, as if she was feeling the same chill as Tori.
“There have to be more of them than the two that met us in Helsinki. I-I don’t know how many it would take to overpower three young mages. They’re probably in their late teens to early twenties. They would at least know how to do some basic protection spells, but if they didn’t realize they were in trouble…”
“It would have been much easier for the Jaeggi to take them by surprise,” Gunter finished.
“We need to find them,” Cameron said and led the way back to the car.
Tori followed a moment later. As much as he didn’t care for his old clan, they were still, in a sense, family. They were still his, and he was not about to let a bunch of Jaeggi assholes hurt them.
As he climbed back into the SUV, a loud whooshing or maybe a leathery flapping noise drew his attention to the sky. He looked up in time to see something large and glittery white cut through a large bank of clouds, causing them to shift and swirl. A smile teased his lips. One of the Valerii dragons. That. The world had been desperately missing that.
The return of mages to the dragon clans meant that for the first time in centuries, the skies could once again be filled with the sight of dragons soaring overhead. When he’d been in school, the image of dragons filling the skies had been used as a threat. Now, he could only see it as a beautiful promise.
He lingered for another couple of seconds, hoping to catch a flash of red for Baldewin’s dragon, but he’d had a much larger head start on them. Baldewin could be far on the other side of town by now. No matter. Baldewin was his mate. When they returned to Burkhard, he could beg Baldewin to shift so Tori could glory in the sight of his dragon without worrying about him eating a Taavi Clan member.
Back in the SUV, Cameron hurried them the rest of the way into the town and pulled over in the parking lot of a small coffee shop. There wasn’t a lot of room to work in the SUV, but Tori and Cameron didn’t need much to start the seeking spell over again. It helped that they were in the town. Tori could already feel hints of the various wards and alarms that the Jaeggi had set about the area, and he wasn’t sure if that would help or hinder his work.
“Hold up,” Alric said and quickly climbed out of the car. Tori looked out the front windshield to see Ravi jogging in their direction in his human form.
“Do you think they’ve found where the Jaeggi are hiding?”
“It’s possible. It’s not like there’s much to this town,” Tori murmured.
“And if you’ve got more than half a dozen dragons searching the area, they can make quick work of it,” Cameron added.
Ravi and Alric spoke for a moment and then approached the SUV. Gunter and Evora opened their doors to climb out.
“I think we found them,” Ravi announced a bit breathlessly.
“Where?”
“Old abandoned storefront. There’s a van parked in the back. Baldewin says it’s similar to the kind of van they used when they attempted to grab Tori.”
“Have you seen the Jaeggi? Or the kids? Do you know how many there are?” Alric asked.
Ravi was shaking his head before Alric even got all his questions out. “We can feel wards around the building, and we’re trying not to trigger any alarms before everyone can get there. We don’t know how many there are. But if they managed to easily grab three mages, we’re assuming that there are at least three of them. Probably more.”
“Are the Valerii there?”
The dragon nodded. “They had just arrived when I ran to find you.”
“Show us,” Alric ordered, and they climbed back into the SUV. Tori’s heart was pounding in his chest as they tore across town and parked on the side of the street. Fear and memories of his own kidnapping attempt left him wanting to remain in the safety of the van, but he knew that not even fear was going to keep him there. They were stealing mages, hurting his kind, draining them, and it could not be allowed to continue.
As they climbed out of the SUV, Baldewin walked over to him, a dark look cutting deep lines on his handsome face. His lover’s fierce expression made him glad his anger was not directed at him.
“I don’t like that you’re here,” he growled the moment he was at Tori’s side. “Is there any way I can get you to remain in the SUV while we deal with these Jaeggi?”
Tori placed his hand on Baldewin’s chest, covering his heart so he could feel it pounding against his fingertips. “You know I can’t do that. Alric isn’t about to make Cameron remain in the SUV.”
The consort snorted. “He knows that I’d never stay put, so he’s not wasting his breath.”
“That is sadly true,” Alric grumbled.
“My entire focus is keeping the mages safe,” Gunter promised, and it helped to erase some of the worry from Baldewin’s face.
“Besides, you will need us to pick apart these wards if you want to have the element of surprise before you strike,” Evora said in a practical tone, which silenced any further discussion of the mages remaining a safe distance away from the fight.
Leaning back into the SUV, Tori pulled open the satchel full of supplies and started pocketing the elements he thought might come in handy in a fight. Captured sunlight had served him well in the past, and he could do fun and explosive things with cackle of a drunken gnome. He glanced across the backseat and caught a wicked grin from Evora before she reached into the bag and grabbed a few items as well. The mages had come to play. They certainly couldn’t leave all the danger and fun to the dragons.
At the edge of the parking lot, Tori raised his hands so the energy from the protection ward brushed against his palms. Evora stood on his right, while Cameron moved to his left.
The consort flashed him a nervous smile. “I’ve never done this before. Any advice?”