“You don’t trust the Veneno Conclave, do you?” Misha adjusted his spectacles as he studiedAngelique.
She paused, Lovelana’s concerns floating through her mind. “I trust the organization—their mission and genuine desire to help. But I’m well aware that our enemy has had centuries to sink their claws into the continent without our knowledge. The Chosen already have the mirror. We can’t take the chance that they’ll intercept the message and start hunting out Foedus aswell.”
Odette nodded. “Right, then. Let’s head out. Your…mountcan pick up a faster pace, if you like. As swans, we can fly faster and farther than regular horses, and it seems that we have a tailwind. It’s why I said we’d fly from the border of Sole to Ciane when you sent word you wanted to hire us for anotherjob.”
“Excellent, I appreciate the speed. Between sending you word and staying in Erlauf to clarify some details of our mountain expedition, I’ve already lost a couple weeks.” Angelique bit at the inside of her cheek. “I cannot tell you how thankful I am for your help inthis.”
The Swan Queen awkwardly shrugged and scuffed her bare foot on the ground again. “You’re doing a good thing. Besides, wearegetting paid forit.”
Her companions said nothing, but Misha raised an eyebrow at his leader, and Nadia smiledfaintly.
She’s not fooling anyone. She has a heart as pure as gold behind that bluster of hers.Angelique dimly realized she was smiling as well. “It is as yousay.”
“We can help you with your research, too.” Odette picked up a leaf and tossed it into the air, her eyes narrowed as she watched which direction it blew. “Misha used to be a traveling scholar. He taught all of our band to read, write, and keep balance for our business. Skimming a few books for a mythical dagger will be acinch.”
She made a few gestures to Misha and Nadia. The pair nodded and shuffled around, prepping a small satchel with a few items init.
Must be flightpreparations.
Angelique mounted Pegasus and leaned farther back in the saddle as she stretched. “That would be greatly appreciated,” she admitted. “I’m not sure exactly what we’re going to encounter in Ciane—or rather what will demand my attention besides theresearch.”
Odette handed a few daggers off to Nadia, who slipped them into their satchel. “It seems to me you’re always being asked to do something—of course, I say that having requested your help first with our curse and then with thewyvern.”
Angelique shrugged. “I’m an Enchantress-in-Training. It is myduty.”
“If it’s your duty, it stands to reason there’s a number of Lord Enchanters and Lady Enchantresses—not to mention mages—they could approach and expect to receive aid from,” Odettesaid.
“It’s getting better,” Angelique said.Sortof.
Odette shrugged again. “As you say.” She glanced at Misha and Nadia, who were making some curling loops out of rope and securing it to the bag. “We’re ready to leave whenever youare.”
“Are you certain you don’t need a longer break? You just came from Kozlovka,” Angeliquesaid.
Odette shook her head. “Our strength spell keeps us going longer than a normal swan. We’ll have to stop a few times so we can change our formation, but we can still go fairly far today. Though I’d like to stop in a town for thenight.”
“There are several towns between our location and Ciane,” Angelique said. “It will simply be a matter of picking the one wewant.”
“We’re flying in a southwest direction, correct?” Mishaasked.
“Yes,” Angeliqueconfirmed.
“Right, then. We’ll get transformed, pick up our satchel, and we can be on our way.” Odette bowed again to Angelique, then trotted over to hercompanions.
The three of them accessed the spell that transformed them into swans, spawning bright lights and a wind that stirred up the dying grass and all the fallen leaves in thearea.
Bells tolled, and Angelique raised a hand to block her eyes from the bright light of the transformation spell. When the wind dropped, she lowered herhand.
Three large swans rested where Odette, Nadia, and Misha had stood a moment ago. They stood in a triangle formation—the one at the front had to be Odette, for she grunted and grumbled under her breath as the other two worked to slip the looped rope over theirheads.
Pegasus snorted and impatiently turned toward Ciane. Angelique patted his neck and called back to the smugglers. “Stop whenever you need to—I’ll keep an eye on thesky.”
One of the swans nodded, which Angelique took as acquiescence. Pegasus started walking, the blue flames of his mane burning higher thanusual.
“It’s okay, Pegasus.” Angelique patted his shoulder in commiseration. “This willhopefullybe a fast trip. We’re just looking for information on Foedus—and we should look into Carabosso and Suzu as well. That’sit.”
Angelique should have known better than to hope that’s all it wouldbe.
* * *
