Connor sat opposite Korvac, with Adelia in the chair beside him.

He focused on Korvac, and his enhanced eyes took in every micro-expression, down to the smallest drop of perspiration on the man’s clean-shaven head.

“Have you heard from Illyian yet?” Connor asked.

“Yes, he said something about Chamberlain Davison making a power play in the palace and that you’d want to tell me the rest,” Korvac said.

Connor filled Korvac in on the details of the attack on himself and Adelia at the docks, and what they found when they returned.

He told Korvac everything, though he left out where he and Adelia were staying at the moment and little details like that. Things Korvac didn’t need to know.

He didn’t see a single twitch that would suggest Korvac was anything other than loyal to Victor, but he remained cautious. Between his training on reading people and the potion to amplify it to superhuman levels, it would take someone with incredible skill to lie to him successfully.

But, nothing was impossible.

Korvac rubbed his temples and scrunched up his face like he’d been punched in the gut. “This is dire news indeed,” he said, “what are we going to do?”

“Illyian is spreading word about the palace through the network, and finding what he can from his end. What I need from you right now is to get your men on the lookout for any sign of Victor and anyone with that symbol, or those rods. The smallest detail could be of the utmost importance.

“Meanwhile, Adelia will lead an investigation into the kidnappings and slavery in the city. I want you to give her your full support and to assist her with anything she needs.

“The Syndicate is clearly tied to the slavers somehow, so finding the slaves might give us a lead on where they’re keeping Victor. If anyone can find out where all these slaves are going, its Adelia.”

“I’ll be sure to give her anything she needs,” Korvac said with a nod to Adelia, “what do these rods do exactly?”

“I got hit with one on the shoulder, and it numbed and paralyzed me from the shoulder down, despite my clothing and leather armor,” Connor said.

“Hmm… I think I remember some of the boys talking about running into weapons like that,” Korvac said, “wait here for a moment and I’ll see if I can get one of them.”

Korvac strode out of the office and barked some orders, leaving Adelia and Connor alone.

“Did you see anything to suggest he was lying to us or hiding anything?” Connor whispered.

“Not that I could tell,” Adelia said, “in fact, I think he idolizes Victor. This office might as well be a shrine to Victor, and he seemed extremely concerned when you told him what we found when we returned. I think we can trust him. At least as much as we can trust anyone right now.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one that noticed his office is like Victor’s… I’ve always thought it was weird, but nobody else ever said anything,” Connor said.

They stopped talking when Korvac returned with a much thinner man trailing behind him with a face like a rat.

“This is, Garth,” Korvac said by way of introduction. He didn’t bother to introduce Connor or Adelia. The man didn’t need to know.

“His is the group I told you about that ran into something similar to what you described,” Korvac continued, “Garth tell them about where you saw those enchanted rods.”

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“Yes, Guild Master,” Garth said in a high pitched voice.

All he needed was some whiskers and a tail, Connor thought.

“We was tailing a group of them Shadowcloaks. Figured we might find something juicy to report on, but we was spotted, and it turned into a scuffle. They had these weird looking sticks what looked all magical like.

“Made you lose all feeling with just a nick. Scary things I tell you. They dropped Toby in seconds, and only half of us got away,” Garth said, “couldn’t feel my arm for hours after that fight.”

Connor raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure it was The Shadowcloaks? Not some other group?” Connor asked.

“Sure as sure can be,” Garth said, “seen these folks before. They’re Shadowcloaks through and through, some of Bvorns top men. Seen a few more of them with those damned sticks of theirs, but me and my boys are staying clear of those things.”

Connor stared at the desk as if looking through it, lost deep in his thoughts.

“Er… if that’s all you need Guild Master…?” Garth trailed off.

Korvac looked at Connor, who nodded absently. He had what he needed from the man. Either he was one hell of a liar, or he believed he was telling the truth.

“You can go,” Korvac said.

Garth made a slight bow before leaving.

It’d been a while since Connor had worked with Korvac and he’d almost forgotten how disciplined his men were… another thing he emulated from Victor.

Maybe Adelia was right, and he really did idolize Victor.

It would be understandable. Victor was exceptional at everything he did. Hard not to, at the very least, respect someone like that.

“So Bvorn’s Shadowcloaks have these rods too?” Connor muttered.

“Do you think The Shadowcloaks are behind this?” Korvac asked.

“No. Assuming Bvorn even knows about Victor in the first place, The Shadowcloaks don’t have the resources to pull of something like this. Besides, if they were behind it then why capture Victor? Why not just kill him and be done with it?

“No… much as Bvorn might love to take out The Stars of Night and return to being the dominant guild in the city, it just doesn’t feel right to me,” Connor said.

“You think someone is using Bvorn?” Korvac asked.

“It’s certainly cause for alarm that anyone could manipulate the guild master of such a powerful thieves guild, but it’s good news for us,” Connor said.

“How is it good news exactly?” Korvac asked.

“More people to kill,” Adelia said.

Both men turned and looked at her.

“What?” she asked.

“Other than that…” Connor said, “we finally have a lead. If Bvorn and his Shadowcloaks have these rods that means that they’ve been working with The Syndicate more directly than I’d thought, which means he might know something about them.”

“That may be so, but this is Bvorn we’re talking about. The leader of a guild of thieves and assassins. He’s been watching his back since the day he crawled out of his mother,” Korvac said, “he’s a despicable, slimy bastard and he’s paranoid. We haven’t managed to get close to killing him in all the years since we set up this little guild of our own.”

“He’s still our best lead,” Connor said, “I’ll see about breaking into his office. Even someone as paranoid as Bvorn has to have some way of keeping track of everything. We’ll see what secrets he’s been keeping.”

Korvac sighed and put his head in his hands. “If anything happens to you, Victor will skin me alive, and the first thing you want to do is to break into the rival thieves’ guild’s main building. Get into the office of a man we haven’t got near in years. Through gods only know what kind of defenses that paranoid bastard has set up,” Korvac said.

“Inside a building filled with cutthroats, thieves, and generally unsavory people,” Adelia added.

“And get out again,” Connor said, “preferably with all my appendages.”

“Gods have mercy on me,” Korvac said.

They went through more of the specifics of what Connor wanted Korvac to do while he worked on getting inside Bvorn’s office.

He hadn’t worked directly with Korvac on a mission of this scope and importance before, and he quickly found that Korvac was far more intelligent and on the ball than he’d thought.

He’d always seen him as just the figurehead, but now he understood why Victor put him in charge of the guild.

He was taken aback by the way that Korvac deferred to him. He wasn’t used to being in charge, and he hadn’t expected that Korvac would have no issue with Connor telling him what to do.

“You shouldn’t be so surprised,” Adelia said to Connor after they left Korvac’s office and went down into the guild armory with a token from Korvac to gain them entry.

“You’ve been trained by Victor your whole life,” she continued,” you’re more capable than you know, and others see that. People are going to want to follow someone like you. You’d better get used to it now.”

“I don’t want to lead anyone,” Connor said. He picked up a rapier from one of the racks and tested the blade.

The balance was good and the metal used was excellent. The craftsmanship overall was simple, clean, efficient and well made. Nothing compared to his dwarven-forged blade, but it should do the trick. He took it, and a few knives to replace the ones he’d handed over.

“As soon as we get Victor back I’ll return to my leisurely life and forget I was ever in charge,” Connor continued.

Adelia looked at Connor but said nothing.