Page 39 of Flameborne: Fury (Emberquell Academy #2)
Alexi’s eyes cut to the side, to me, then back to the table. “Speak here. Your men can be trusted. And mine would go to the grave for me.”
A signal that he agreed we had reason for caution in this room.
I’d raised the concern weeks ago that we might have a mole among our trusted leaders.
That our reports might be altered here in Vosgaarde, rather than by misinformed or misleading spies.
There was such consistency in these threads—even when their sources were different agents—it meant that either there was an extremely adept network of misinformation in other nations, or nothing was getting through un-intercepted on our end.
Which meant someone within our trusted circles was at work against us.
And that meant we couldn’t risk expressing that fear in case someone in this room was part of the plot.
To me, it seemed far more likely that our mole was here among us, than in the other nations where we had more than one spy who might not have been identified and fed lies.
I’d spoken to Alexi about the need for concern among his Advisors.
I didn’t believe the Furyknights were the source of our problem.
Our Flyers and messengers who worked at this level would have had to corrupt their dragonfuries or hide information from a bonded dragon.
Not an impossible feat. But difficult to sustain for long periods. Especially from multiple sources.
Alexi had initially brushed me off but became more thoughtful lately. A few weeks ago, I’d established a code with him. Something we could use in the presence of others without suspicion.
And so, we spoke in a code no one else in this room knew.
My request for privacy was a signal that I held back and he should disregard my public words as plotted, rather than truth.
His reply showed me where he now stood. If he’d used the phrase die in my place in reference to his advisors, it would have been his vote of confidence. But go to the grave meant he had questions.
My pulse sped up at the deeper conviction that someone in this room worked against us.
But, unaware of our subterfuge, the others around the table quieted as we spoke, tuning in to shake or nod their heads in agreement or otherwise. But no one interrupted.
“Any movement based on speculation at this point is at risk of being fully the wrong decision,” I pointed out calmly, gesturing towards the map. “We can’t afford assumptions. We not only risk the sanctity of our borders, but our alliance with the most critical nation for our continued safety.”
Alexi nodded. “So, what do you advise?” he asked tightly.
“Either those truly are Ashthorn banners and sigils, or someone else wants us to believe they are. Regardless, we have to roust these troops and identify their nation of source. If they’re truly from Ashthorn, some of them will have the accent.
But regardless, they’re far too close to be anything but a threat.
So, we remove them. Kill a few to scare the rest. Take most of them prisoner.
Then use anything we can extract from these interlopers to infiltrate both Draeventhall and Ashthorn with spies bringing sly gossip of the capture. ”
I very carefully didn’t mention Fyrehold because that was our true target. And even though the idea that they might betray us had already been raised, I wanted to divert attention from that.
I would clarify the point when I spoke alone with the King, though the way he scratched his chin and nodded led me to believe he’d already anticipated where my theory pointed.
“If they’re Ashthorn’s men, they’ll lie to their deaths,” Alexi muttered.
“And if they aren’t, they still might,” I said with a shrug.
“In truth, the men themselves have very little bearing on our future.
Because wherever they come from, there will be murmurings in their homeland, questions of their strength under interrogation.
Threads we can unravel once the immediate threat is removed.
“I suggest once we locate the camp, we send Flyers on to scout the lands beyond. We can use our attack to divert the camp’s attention and let the scout dragons slip past. Maybe they learn who’s behind this, maybe they don’t.
But either way, we learn how big the threat is.
If this is little more than reconnaissance, if they’re only finding a path for a greater number of troops, or escorting new spies, we’ll figure that out.
If they’re the forward guard of a warring army, we’ll learn that too.
And when we place agents in their homeland, we’ll uncover their king’s response, and hopefully whatever schemes would be thwarted. ”
It was mostly a lie. It was true that we’d take the actions I described. But Alexi knew from our previous conversations that I proposed a far more subtle attack on the real players in this game.
“And if we don’t?”
“If we don’t, if they’re that good, then we have bigger problems, but at least we’ve removed the immediate threat.
We know the men carry banners for Ashthorn—and you said your instinct was he was up to something.
Even if we can’t identify the source, we must prove to our enemies that this frontal attack against us is a worthless endeavor. ”
“If we trump them too soundly, we’ll send any allies into hiding.”
“And yet, defeated. Which must be the primary goal. Meanwhile, we’ll increase border-patrols for a couple of months until we have more information and thank God we aren’t surrounded on four sides like Sierral.”
“But, how do we know where we’re looking? Let’s assume the men are strong enough to resist torture—or so weak that they’ll lie to save their own skins. Even if the borders are safe, we have to find out who’s fed us false information, or we’ll simply end up back in this situation within a year.”
I nodded. “A mole can only be found by another mole—someone who’s trusted, but shouldn’t be.”
Olve caught my eye, cautioning me about stepping too closely to the truth. He was unaware of my subtext with the King. But the Fang Wing had its own secrets of which I and the King, and some of the Furyknight leaders were aware. But no non-Furyknight Advisors in this room knew of them.
“Any Furyknight that we send in to find a mole will be known to the other agents already in place,” he muttered, scanning the maps. “Whether they work for, or against us.”
I nodded. “We need someone capable of slipping in and out of nations unremarked even by our people. Yet gain access to the highest sources.”
Here and there around the table, several Advisers raised names, but most of their suggestions were Furyknights who risked being recognized if they personally drew close to the annals of power.
No matter the nation, rulers were obsessed with the dragons and the riders who bonded them. I suspected it was the powerful humans recognizing something they couldn’t buy or fight to obtain. Of course they found that fascinating.
But the Advisor’s conversation around this table needed to happen. Even if their suggestions would never be our primary plan—they couldn’t know they were suspected. Still, it was a diversion and a use of our time when we had none. I grew impatient with it.
Any spy that was identified and set in motion by this circle was our false flag—those names would be passed on by our traitor if we had one, and their targets kept under watch by our hidden enemies.
Each of them would ultimately either be thwarted in their mission, or assassinated.
They were scapegoats, which turned my stomach.
Not that they wouldn’t do good, useful work.
But they were knowingly sent into the fire and wouldn’t be the true focus of our mission.
Though everyone here would believe they were.
If our man was assassinated, we’d know for certain the traitor was here in the Council. But a clever traitor would simply feed the contact false information or change the reports they sent back. They’d use these men against they very purpose we purported to serve.
The thought made my blood run cold, but also fed my need for justice.
If we had a betrayer here, we needed to uncover them. And this would be the fastest route.
So, I hid my impatience as the conversation circled, then narrowed on two of our messengers who were not Furyknights, but had shown great aptitude for political jockeying, and could be sent to the rulers of other nations, yet seen only as pawns.
I had nothing to offer this portion of our planning, because we needed the men in this room to determine the details—making it easier for us to identify who betrayed us when the time came.
When this was done, the true strategy would be refined between myself and the King and Queen.And maybe by the time we’d done that, Bren would be in my quarters.
My body tightened at the thought and I prayed I’d have time at home to bathe and see her before our duties took us back into the skies. But, at least this time we’d be openly working together. Flying the same path, seeking the same goal.
Yet, for how long? A Furyknight, especially newly raised, was at the beck and call of a mission. Especially with war on the horizon. While Bren and I would both aim for the same target tomorrow, there was no telling where she’d be pointed once our dragons could be separated.
Or where I’d be assigned.
Unease raised the hair on the back of my neck, but I shook it off.
With our dragons bonded, it was normal protocol to keep them together.
Given my role, I was usually kept in the Dragon Keep until we were flying to outright war.
And Bren needed in-depth training before she’d be called into the field.
We could do this.
Let her prove herself. Let her show them her ability. Then I would let all these fuckers know exactly where she stood. And with whom. Let them try to split us then.