Owen shrugged. "Despite the treaties and your bogus liaison duties, the Commander is an enemy of Sitia and should be treated as such."

"That's not your..." I shut my mouth. Nothing I could say would alter his opinion. Actions would be a better incentive. Unfortunately, until Leif and Valek were safe, my hands were tied.

I shivered through the night in the cold shelter. In the morning, gray clouds obscured the sky and the scent of damp earth rode the breeze. I cursed under my breath. The cold season would arrive in a few days along with a storm. We could get either snow or sleet or rain or a combinations of all three. Yippee. At least the weather matched my mood.

Owen set a fast pace through MD-4. As expected, a messy mix of precipitation arrived during our fourth day in General Tesso's Military District. The nasty weather proved to be beneficial for Owen and his men. No one stopped to question us. In fact, we didn't see a soul for the next two days, and spotted only a few people after the storm passed.

My anxiety increased with every mile. Valek had seemed confident he would escape, but Owen kept showing me him. He looked miserable and pissed off, but he hadn't tried to signal me again.

Which worried me. Combine that with the lack of Ixian soldiers, and I didn't know what I'd do once we reached the mine.

Actually, I knew I couldn't let Owen get his hands on the Ice Moon, but I had been hoping not to sacrifice Valek and Leif in the process.

When we reached the border of MD-3 ten days after crossing into MD-4, the guards let us through with hardly a glance at our papers. And to make matters worse, I failed to recognize any of the patrol. A small...well, huge part of me wished to see a familiar face or two.

No luck. Owen, though was quite pleased with our progress, and we arrived near Mine 3-13

twenty-four days after we had left.

The large entrance, or rather the big hole disappearing under the foothills of the Soul Mountains was guarded. Owen and I watched the two teams of four soldiers as they took turns manning the entrance. We quickly discovered the mine had been abandoned. No miners pushed wheelbarrows of rocks from the mine. Only the guards worked and stayed in a small building nearby.

I wondered why the Commander hadn't just sealed this entrance. There was a labyrinth of connecting tunnels under the mountains and I was sure there was more than one way to get to the Ice Moon.

Owen felt confident that the six of us could handle eight Ixian guards. He wanted to attack during the next shift change. Then I would use my magic to discover the location of the Ice Moon. He didn't wait until his men were well rested to surprise the guards. He acted as if time was an issue.

At least he was right about overwhelming the guards. After a short skirmish, we disarmed the eight soldiers. I made a show of reading their minds. However, I had no intention of learning the location of the Ice Moon. I would lead Owen and the others around the shafts until I could pick them off one by one.

Perhaps then I could use Owen's glass animal to contact the authorities in Fulgor to mount a search for Valek and Leif before Owen's collaborators could kill them.

Dread pulled on me as I entered the mine. Owen lit a handful of torches, and they illuminated a large cavern with abandoned equipment scattered on the floor and stacked in the corners. He fussed over my slow pace, but in the end it didn't matter.

I continued down the main shaft. In the middle of the next cavern, the Ice Moon sat on top of a squat stalagmite.

It sparkled with a bright blue brilliance.

Part 10

I stared at the Ice Moon. Perched on a stalagmite, it glittered with blue fire. There had been no attempt to hide it or protect it other than the eight guards outside the mine. Owen and his four men fanned out behind me. They drew their swords. I didn't blame them. This smelled like a trap. Heck, it reeked.

We waited for the ambush, but nothing happened. They searched all the dark corners, adjoining caverns, and tunnels. Nothing. However, they failed to check the ceiling for spiders. I wasn't about to do anything, magical or otherwise to tip them off. Besides, the way my luck has been going, there would be nothing up there but real spiders.

Eventually, Owen laughed. The sound echoed off the black walls. "Your Commander has lost his touch." He strode to the Ice Moon.

I couldn't let him pick it up. Even with the stone walls surrounding us, it would be too dangerous.

Stepping to follow, I stopped as Owen's men rushed to get between me and their boss. Their swords aimed at my middle. I reached with my magic to find another barrier. A null shield protected them. Owen must have trained the men what to do when we reached the 666 carat blue diamond.