“Look at this,” he pushed against a metal wall, and the whole thing pivoted. “It was hidden behind this cabinet.”
“How did you find it?” I peered into the room beyond. It was small, with only a desk and some filing cabinets, but there was a good amount of light coming in through a bank of windows behind the desk.
“I smelled the ocean,” Conri tapped his nose, then pointed to the windows. One of them was cracked open, letting in a gentle breeze.
“Damn, that's a good sniffer you got there,” I patted his shoulder, and slipped into the room.
“Thanks,” Conri strode in after me.
“Get the others in here,” I said to him. “I'm going to need help going through these files.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Conri saluted, then took off.
Cat gave me a pained look.
“He's silly, but we like that about him,” I told her.
She made a happy huff. Yes, we did.
It may sound even sillier to you that I talk to Cat, her being a puka (a type of fairy dog) and all. But Cat had been touched by Danu, and she understood far more than most animals did. On top of that, she had a way of communicating. Especially with me. Half the time, I could just look at her and know what she was thinking. She was my best friend, a friendship that went deeper than any I could have had with a person.
So when Cat went to the back of the desk and nudged it with her nose, I paid attention. I eased around her to investigate. There was a little piece of metal wedged between the desk and the wall. I started pulling the desk out just as my Guard came in. They rushed forward to help me. Not that I needed help, but... princess. Sigh.
As soon as the desk came clear of the wall, something clattered to the floor. I bent and picked it up. Then I shouted for Killian. When he came rushing into the room, I held the arrow aloft. He smiled brilliantly and took it from me. Then he flinched, and his gaze went distant.
“Yep, you're welcome,” Conri crossed his arms and smirked.
“Did you find that arrow?” Gradh asked him.
“No, I found the room the arrow was in,” Conri grimaced.
“But you didn't find the arrow.”
I gave them both a look, and they shut up. Killian started coming out of the trance. He blinked, then looked around the room. A couple of steps took him to the filing cabinet. Killian pulled out a drawer, then went unerringly to a folder. He didn't even look at it, just handed it to me.
“There's the list of everything they ordered,” Killian said.
I flipped open the folder and took a deep breath, “Twenty-thousand arrows and five-thousand crossbows.”
“Fuck me,” Conri whispered. “It'll be a slaughter.”
“Did you get anything else from that arrow?” I asked Killian.
“Well, it's definitely Moire who's in charge,” Killian huffed. “She ordered the stuff herself. But unfortunately, she didn't do that dumb villain thing and spout off her plans to Morris.”
“Shit,” I sighed. “I guess that was too much to hope for.”
“But I think we need to warn Bress,” Killian grimaced and looked back towards the forge. “His mother is searching for him.”
“For Bress?” I dropped my voice so it wouldn't carry out to him. “Why?”
“She wants him with her,” Killian grimaced. “That was the one thing she did rant about to Morris. On and on about how she was going to get her son back, and he was going to be a king.”
“A king?” I blinked. “She can't possibly think to put Bress on the Unseelie throne.”
“It's Moire,” Conri rolled his eyes. “Who the fuck knows what that bitch is thinking.”
Gradh gave Conri a look.
