“You have connections that get you information, don’t you?” Esha asked as she straightened and walked to them.
Kendrick inwardly smiled. He had hoped she had been listening and watching.
“I do,” Dain answered.
Esha nodded. “That could come in handy. Right now, I want to know why the Conclave is targeting me.”
“That could take some time,” Dain began.
Kendrick exchanged a look with Esha before asking Dain, “What do you know about the thing we hunt?”
“It doesn’t just strike aboveground,” Dain replied.
That’s what Kendrick had thought. “What about the Sea Elves?”
“They’ve been attacked, too.”
Esha shook her head in disbelief. “Can no one see it?”
“No one,” Dain answered.
“What about our magic?” Esha countered.
Dain shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe it would help if we could see it, but it strikes fast.”
“We, too, have had difficulty,” Kendrick admitted. “It’d be nice to know if it’s just one entity or if there are more.”
“It’s just one,” Dain said.
Esha’s expression grew hard. “How do you know that?”
“I hear things.”
Kendrick studied the Dark Elf. “What things?”
“There are rumors that someone called it here.”
Esha’s voice rose as she asked, “What?”
Dain held up his hands. “You asked, and I told you what I’ve heard. Right now, it’s only a rumor.”
“Or the truth,” Kendrick said.
Esha put her hands on her hips and stared at Dain. “What have you heard about me?”
“That you’re one of the best Rangers, if a bit reckless at times.” Dain looked at Kendrick. “Like agreeing to work with a Dragon King.”
Esha sighed loudly. “Things have been the same for too long. Isn’t finding new allies better for everyone?”
“Some don’t want change. Of any kind.”
Esha snorted loudly. “The Conclave, you mean.”
Kendrick frowned. “I thought they were elected.”
“Some have held their positions for quite some time,” Dain explained.
Kendrick nodded, thinking of some of the politicians on Earth who didn’t have terms for their offices, allowing them to stay as long as they were elected again.
“They all have agendas,” Esha said.
Dain nodded as he crossed his arms. “Those who have held their seats the longest have the most power.”
“And the most to lose,” Kendrick added.
“Why are they afraid of a King being here?” Esha asked.
Kendrick drew in a breath and slowly released it. “My guess is that there is something they doona want anyone to learn.”
Chapter Fourteen
Esha didn’t want to believe any of it, but too much was lining up. She wanted to go to her sister and demand that Savita ask the runes about the Conclave and everything else, but that wouldn’t happen until she returned to Flamefall.
Two more days. That’s all she had with Kendrick.
“There has to be more the Conclave wants Esha for than agreeing to hunt with me,” he said.
Dain drew in a breath, his shoulders lifting as he did. “It could be her skills as a warrior.”
“They would’ve sought me out before now,” she said.
Kendrick asked, “Could it involve Savita?”
Esha’s stomach clenched as she recalled the runes warning her sister of danger. Had Savita been trying to tell Esha that she was in danger? Or had the runes been telling Savita that she was the one in danger?
“It’s well known that Savita is with Esha’s Rangers. It’s highly unusual for family members to be in the same camp,” Dain explained.
Esha met his yellow eyes. “You know Savita?”
“Don’t you know all the Readers?” he replied.
“Why would I?”
Dain snorted. “Readers hold incredible power both politically and magically, simply by their gift of reading the runes. It’s said that any of them could take out the Conclave if they wanted.”
“Maybe that’s what this is all about,” Kendrick said. “Perhaps the Conclave believes Savita is trying just that.”
Esha was appalled that they would believe that. “My sister would never.”
“Someone is doing something. The proof is you being targeted,” Dain said.
Kendrick caught her gaze. “Has anything happened recently that would put you on the Conclave’s radar?”
“No.”
“What about Savita?”
Esha shook her head. “I’m not privy to everything my sister does, though.” Then a realization hit her. “Do you think Flamefall was attacked? Could whatever came for me have gone for Savita first?”
“Or after,” Kendrick added.
Dain’s lips flattened as he shrugged. “It’s possible, but moving against a Reader is unheard of. With one word, a Reader could have someone stripped of their power.”
“Savita did say that the runes repeatedly warned her about danger,” Kendrick said.
Dain’s yellow eyes narrowed. “They did?”
Esha sighed, suddenly exhausted. “Yes. I’ve never seen her so shaken. She tried to determine who was at risk or what the threat was, but the runes wouldn’t give her more information.”
“Let me see if I can discern anything more,” Dain told them as shadows closed around him.
Kendrick stepped forward. “Wait.”
Dain paused the shadows and snapped, “What?”
“Are you recovered from earlier?”
The Dark looked slightly embarrassed at the question. “Using the shadows to travel takes…effort. The more I take with me, the more strain there is.”
Esha hadn’t even noticed that Dain clearly felt the effects of taking them across the distance. She knew better than to disregard things. She needed to do better.
“Watch yourself,” Kendrick told Dain and stepped back.
Dain said nothing before vanishing.
Esha stared at Kendrick. “You like him.”
“He has his moments,” Kendrick said with a grin.
She couldn’t return it. “I thought the only thing wrong was that something was killing elves. How could I not see that there was more?”
“You’re out here doing your duty. How could you possibly know what politicians are doing or planning?”
“And my sister?”
Kendrick paused. “You know her. What do you think?”
“I think she became someone else when she became a Reader. She was always bossy, but ever since you arrived, she’s acted strangely. I thought it was merely because I overstepped. Now, I’m not so sure.”
“Do you have any way of contacting her?”
“I can, but it would give away our location.”
He glanced around at the thick forest around them. “And where are we?”
“On the other side of the river. Dain took us a significant distance.”
“I still think I’m the one they were after earlier.”