Page 97 of Elven Lies

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With the rescued magicals all around her, both her teams waiting for her next order, and a desperately pleading witch—so exhausted and malnourished she could hardly stand—clinging to Rebecca’s arms for support and in desperation, Rebecca could hardly breathe.

There was an entire warehouse full of even more abducted civilians who needed their help. How had this crucial information gotten past her recon teams when every other piece of intel they’d gathered had been on point?

She didn’t even have time to think about it. Not really.

Over two dozen innocents waited around for someone to decide what would happen to them next, most of them in far worse shape than the witch in Rebecca’s arms. She’d only taken two teams out here tonight for two small ambush operations. How prepared were they, really, to take the word of one rescued prisoner?

Enough to go up against Harkennr’s forces stationed at a holding facility they’d only just discovered? And how much could she trust this witch in her arms?

“Please,” the witch pleaded again as she gazed up at Rebecca and seemed to regain a little more of her strength. “We have to help them.”

“Maddie, what’s your sister’s name?” Rebecca asked.

“Lacey. She’s all alone in there, terrified. She has no idea what’s happening, and I’m not the only one who knows people they’re still holding in there.”

Tears shimmered in Maddie’s brown eyes. Crying wouldn’t make this easier. Rebecca didn’t think she could handle it right now.

“Okay, Maddie,” she said. “Why don’t you take a seat for just a second. Rest. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you.” The witch’s voice trembled as she held back her tears, though she seemed unable to release Rebecca’s hands before she finally let someone else guide her away to sit down, hopefully before she keeled over with exhaustion.

Rebecca turned toward Maxwell and nodded for him to step away with her for a more private discussion. He didn’t hesitate, nor did he wait for her to start their conversation. He already knew what it was about.

“It’s not the prison,” he murmured.

“You don’t think we’d be up against just as much security and heavy artillery there?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Each of the vehicles we intercepted were only manned by two soldiers. They weren’t prepared for something like this, and they hardly put up a fight. The prisoners are all dirty and starving.”

“That could just be part of the process before he starts experimenting on them.”

“It could be. But I don’t think Harkennr would evenly split his resources between two or more facilities. I think he’s pouring everything into the prison, and the rest of this is just an outside operation he keeps running on the bare minimum.”

“We’ll have to confirm it.” Rebecca looked over her shoulder. Maddie the witch seemed to have calmed down but wouldn’t stop staring at Rebecca and Maxwell, as if enough focus would let her hear their conversation. “We’ll talk to Maddie again and some of the others too. See how much their stories match up first.”

“It has to be quick, either way.” Maxwell scanned the scattered groups of rescued prisoners, his frown darkening. “If we sit on this and wait to confirm what the witch said, Harkennr will hear about the convoys one way or another. If we move tonight, we still have surprise on our side. At this warehouse, it might just be enough to give us the upper hand.”

Rebecca nodded. She’d had the same thought. A decision needed to be made immediately, and once it was, there would be no opportunity to change her mind.

“What if it’s a trap?” she asked.

Maxwell leaned toward her and lowered his voice even further. “You think he might have planted that witch because he knew we were moving on his shipments tonight? That he put her there with the others to lead us back to the warehouse on purpose?”

She folded her arms and tried not to cringe at how much worse it sounded spoken out loud. “It’s possible.”

“But you don’t really think that’s what’s happening right now.”

No, she didn’t. She would have bet anything he could feel that in her too right now, the same way she felt the shifter’s unflinching readiness to go above and beyond what their original mission had called for tonight.

“I don’t,” she said. “No one can fake that kind of desperation. There’s no way Harkennr could’ve known we were coming for him. Not any that I can see.”

“I agree.”

His words were perfectly clear, but in that moment, Rebecca heard him saying they needed to move, to trust Maddie the witch, that neither of their consciences would be clean if they turned away from this responsibility tonight.

Maxwell had already made his decision, and, Rebecca realized, so had she.

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