He shook his head. “We all helped to extinguish the fire. I can’t see that she was out of place as she did this.”
“But what of her blade? She still carries that goblin knife with her.”
“That is because she finds it effective and nothing more. Do not worry over my sister. We were raised together. I know her better than anyone else, and I believe her intentions to be loyal.”
I sighed. I couldn’t say his reaction surprised me. The psychologist in me suggested I tell him that sometimes the people we knew best were the ones capable of deceiving us the most, but I held my tongue. It wasn’t my place to interfere in his relationship with his sister.
When we made it to my cabin, I noticed the door wasn’t closed all the way. I pushed it open and peered inside, although it was too dark to see anything. I lit the lantern, and the room came into view. The cabin was in shambles. Mattresses were overturned and gutted. Feathers covered the floor. Our clothing and weapons were heaped in haphazard piles. My stomach sank. I was starting to see the real reason for the fire.
As I entered the room, I tiptoed around the piles of clutter, searching for my gray scarf, but I found no sign of it. Kull entered behind me.
“I can’t find my scarf,” I said.
“Your scarf?”
“Yes, I spellcasted it with an illusionment spell. If there were magic users aboard, they would have sensed it. Anyone looking for the orb would have been drawn to it.”
“So you set a trap?”
“More or less.”
“Then this proves it—our suspicions were not unfounded,” he said. “There is an infiltrator onboard.”
Chapter 23
“Who is the infiltrator?” I asked as I picked through the discarded pile of clothing.
Kull and I stayed in the cabin, searching through the mess left behind. Someone attracted to the scarf’s magical enchantment had been here, and so far, I hadn’t found my scarf, which meant they must have taken it.
“I’m almost certain that I wasn’t followed through the portal,” I continued. “Geth swore he would have me followed, but I thought I’d escaped him.”
“Perhaps that is what Geth wished you to believe,” Kull said.
At this point, whoever had stolen my scarf would be upset. They’d hoped to find the orb hidden by an illusionment spell, but whenever they released the enchantment, they would be disappointed to find my scarf instead of the orb.
“Whoever has taken my scarf will have realized by now they’ve been duped, and they’ll be one step closer to finding the real orb,” I said. “This isn’t good.”
“I agree. We must find this infiltrator before they can accomplish their goal.”
Heidel appeared at the door. I gauged her reaction, careful to notice even the slightest appearance of guilt.
She stared, open-mouthed, at the ransacked room. “Who has done this?” she said.
“We don’t know,” Kull answered.
She picked through the pile. “Have they taken anything?”
I eyed her as I gave my answer. “We’re not sure yet.”
Her face grew panicked as she knelt beside us. “I kept my best weapons beneath my mattress.” She hastily dug through the pile. “Where are they?”
As Heidel searched, I did the same and found a few of my Faythander texts, my pack, my mirror, but still no sign of my scarf. Ket and the elven princess appeared at the door. Ket’s eyes widened as she stepped inside, and the princess’s face took on a worried expression.
“What has happened?” the princess said.
“Kull and I found it like this a few minutes ago,” I answered.
“Why would anyone do this?” Ket asked.
“They were obviously after my weapons,” Heidel answered. “Although,” she paused and counted the number of knives and short swords laid out in front of her, “they seem to have spared my collection.”
Ket knelt and helped us shuffle through the mess. “This is very odd,” she said. “I do not know of anyone aboard the ship who would do such a thing.”
“I agree,” Kull said. “I have observed the members of the elven party, the Wults, and the crew aboard. I cannot see that any one of them would have an interest in this room.”
“Perhaps,” the princess said, “they were looking for something hidden by magic.” Her gaze snagged on mine.
“Magic?” Heidel said. “Impossible. Magic is useless right now.”
“Not necessarily,” the princess answered.
“We should notify the captain,” Ket said.
“I’m not sure it would do much good,” Kull answered. “It is unlikely he would concern himself over a ransacked room.”
I dug through the mess and found my leather pants, a few of my shirts and books, and two knit scarves, though I still saw no sign of the gray scarf. My mind kicked into overdrive. Heidel seemed honestly surprised to find our room torn apart. She may have been acting, but the truth was, she’d been above deck, not below, when the scarf had been taken.
I eyed her from my spot on the floor as she collected her weapons. If she’d taken the scarf, why would she have torn the entire room apart? Wouldn’t she have focused on my stuff and no one else’s?
No, whoever had taken the scarf had been attracted to its magic. They would’ve had to tear the room apart to find it. That left me with only a few options, and it meant that whoever had taken my scarf had been a magic user.
“I shall scour the boat,” Heidel said. “Whoever has done this has intruded on our privacy, has meddled with our belongings, and I will not stand for it. I will find this coward, whoever he is.”
“Yes,” Ket agreed. “But the question remains, why did they do this?” She seemed casual as she scanned each of us, although I saw the intensity in her eyes. She knew one of us must have been hiding something of importance.
I considered admitting they’d come for what they believed was the orb, but then I thought better of it. For all I knew, Ket could
