The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn Page B

river.
    “How do we know she is telling the truth?” came Pax’s deep timbre of a voice.
    “Because I put Alethiem in her tea earlier and tested her mind for shadows and hints of deceitfulness.”
    This took me by surprise and I stared at Lorna feeling betrayed by her dishonesty and low handed tactics. It was as if any trust she had previously built up was destroyed with a few words. I could feel the resentment start to rise to the surface and I had to bite back an angry retort that I was ready to spout out.
    Adept Lorna turned to me with a solemn face that spoke honest sincerity. “I’m so sorry Thalia, please forgive me. Alethiem is an herb that when ingested makes it impossible for the speaker to lie.”
    “I didn’t lie! I told you the truth,” I snapped out.
    “I know, I know, she said guiltily. “But I also was in your mind reading for any half-truths and tampered memories, which could have been a possibility since you couldn’t remember your time before imprisonment. Your memories could have been planted and we had to be sure. You will be happy to know that I didn’t find any.” A small smile crept up Lorna’s face in an attempt to reassure me.
    “If you would have asked I would have agreed to it without you having to do it covertly. I’m telling the truth and I’m sorry if what happened to me and the others is an inconvenience to you!” I was starting to get worked up, losing the little control I had on my emotions.
    “We know. You see, this is not the first time rumors of a rogue group have surfaced. We have not located them because they seem to be constantly on the move. They have hidden their identities from us and even though we have searched, we’ve only found this.” Lorna stepped forth with a piece of cloth.
    Unraveling the cloth she showed me a design sewn into the scrap. It was the familiar design, the Septori’s design; two slashes in a circle. “This was found in the mouth of a dog belonging to a shepherd, it seemed one of them tried to steal his sheep.”
    “That’s them. That’s the mark of the Septori, each one of them have that permanently branded somewhere on their body. If this isn’t the first you’ve heard of them, then why haven’t they been caught?” I was astounded and angry. Maybe if this Council had done their job, I could have been saved, Cammie would never have died.
    “Because we don’t know where they are!” Pax Baton interrupted. “Granted, a few stolen items, wagons missing and a lot of speculation was not proof enough to start a war on a rogue group. The Queen ordered them watched, but no one could ever find them. It’s like they disappeared into thin air.” His large hands flew as he spoke enunciating each syllable.
    “Or across the border,” Breah added.
    “You could have prevented this! If you had looked into the missing items, lives could have been saved!” I yelled.
    “Calm down, child,” Kambel spoke up. “We will find them. But we also have another concern.”
    “What could that possibly be? What could be more important than catching them?” I asked indignantly.
    “What they obviously were trying to do to you?” Kambel intoned.
    “You see, what was done is against the law and this is very troublesome to us because what was attempted is the stuff of legends and myth. Theories that have never been fully documented or proven, only speculated. And most of the High Council have always been against this kind of experimentation.”
    “But I don’t understand. What didn’t work? What happened to me?” I felt tears of frustration start to sting the back of my eyes as I held them in.
    Kambel actually seemed to get excited and sprang from his chair, walking quickly around the room speaking as if to himself. “It’s just a guess, but it sounds as if Raven, the, uh, leader of the Septori, has gotten hold of one or more of the Horden journals that we believed were lost for all eternity.”
    “The Horden Journals?” Pax asked.
    “They are