Page 80 of Pretense

“No.” Edmund shook his head. “All of them are accounted for, except for the five we are chasing. Maybe she was posing as the wife or sister of one of them. I wish I could go back through the files and check for sure.”

Jalissa nodded, biting her lower lip.

It was uncomfortable, not knowing where this mystery sixth spy had come from. But at this point, they had no choice but to go forward as best they could with the information they had.

“We should change and keep moving.” He gestured toward the river. “The spies probably took the boat, so we might have to swim for it.”

Jalissa huffed and shook her head, waving from her to Sarya. “We both have plant magic. We can make a boat.”

“Right.” Edmund grinned, though the expression felt weary. “I’m glad you came along. I wasn’t looking forward to swimming the river again.”

“Again?” Jalissa raised an eyebrow.

“Another story I’ll have to tell you, when I show you my scar.” Now his voice turned a little husky, and her ears reddened as he had expected. He stepped from the room. “If you’d like to change first, I’ll keep watch.”

Jalissa nodded, and each of them rotated through changing out of their basic Escarlish peasant disguises into elven tunics, trousers, and tall sturdy boots.

By the time Edmund finished and left the room, re-locking it, he found Jalissa and Sarya beside the river. A section of saplings had uprooted and formed themselves into a boat shape. Green magic glowed as the gaps filled in. Saplings jutted from the bottom and sides of the boat, forming paddles on their ends.

Before Edmund could drag the boat to the water, the saplings around it bent, picked up the boat, and set it in the gently lapping pool at the edge of the river.

Spying was so much easier with magical help.

Jalissa straightened, surveyed her handiwork for a moment, then gave a sharp nod as if satisfied. She turned to Edmund, then frowned. “Aren’t you going to disguise yourself as an elf?”

“Not yet.” He gestured to the boat, then the far side. “All of my elf disguises are across the river. When I was by myself, I never knew when I’d have to swim for it or if I’d sweat through my disguise rowing myself across the Hydalla. It was easier to make the switch once I was across the border. As I was usually sneaking across in the cover of darkness, I rarely ran into problems.”

Jalissa eyed him, probably picking up on his rarely. “You are fortunate you were never killed doing this.”

“It was risky.” Edmund shrugged, then walked down the bank toward the boat. “I’m counting on the two of you to get us free if we encounter troublesome border guards.”

“I almost hope we run into trouble.” Jalissa climbed into the boat she and Sarya had grown. “It would save us a lot of trouble if an alert border patrol arrested the Mongavarian spies for us.”

“Somehow, I don’t think it will be that easy.” Edmund waited for Sarya to settle into the boat before he climbed in. He didn’t even have to push off, since both Jalissa and Sarya pressed their hands to the boat and its paddles shoved them into the current.

Green magic glowed along the paddles, and they silently rowed the boat at a surprising speed.

Edmund rested his elbows on the sides, his legs sprawled as much as he could in the small boat. Now this was the way to cross the Hydalla.

Yet, as they sped across the water, his gaze focused on Jalissa rather than the view of the brown river reflecting the tree-covered banks and the glowing sunset shining orange and gold to the west. The breeze tossed her hair while a smile lit her face in a way he had rarely seen.

Hers was such a practical magic. Not flashy or eye-catching, yet awe-inspiring all the same. Perfect for Jalissa.

As they neared the far side, he tore his gaze away from her and forced himself to scan the bank. Both for elven guards and for the Mongavarian spies. He didn’t think they had caught up yet, but they must have gained some time. The Mongavarians were trying to find his hideouts based on his hand drawn sketches and instructions that had been a part of his file. That had to take them some time while he was leading Jalissa and Sarya straight to each location.

He spotted something in the weeds. “Veer more toward the east.”

Jalissa nodded, and their boat turned with the current and paralleled the bank for a few yards before he directed them into an inlet.

There, pulled up in the weeds and draping branches of a weeping willow, was the rowboat that he normally kept stashed by the ruins.

Jalissa steered the boat to the bank next to the rowboat, and they all piled out. Jalissa touched the boat one last time, then it turned around and headed back the way it had come all by itself. At his look, she shrugged. “It will return to growing as saplings where they had come from.”

It was such an elven mindset, to think of something like that.

Edmund led the way into the forest. They stayed quiet to avoid drawing the attention of anyone who might be wandering through this section of forest. It was a long, three-mile hike deep into the forest to reach the log cabin he had built in a hidden nook between two roots of a massive tree.

By the time they arrived, night had fallen over the forest, coming even earlier thanks to the thick tree cover far overhead. As they approached, Edmund didn’t see any lights coming from the cabin.

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