Raven committed the map to memory, reminding herself to make a copy of it when they arrived at their destination. It wasn't difficult to figure out what the legends meant, though why Lord Theron and his men were so interested in these individuals and buildings, she had no idea. Well, she would find out soon enough. "I'm guessing the numbers of these buildings correspond to a name on this list. Are they targets to be silenced, or agents to be evacuated? Well, it doesn't matter. If the enemy wants them, we best make sure nothing happens to them." She mused, more for her own benefit than that of the two men beside her. "As for the person who got this information... I'll need to keep an eye out for them."
Raven doubted regular soldiers would pose much of a challenge for an assassin or spy to slip past them. Still, it was better than nothing. Raven had no other agents helping her, and anyone who would be interested in doing so couldn't be trusted to keep it quiet. She sighed, speaking her mind again. "I'd suggest posting some men to keep an eye on these buildings. If the names on this list are in them... We need to keep those people out of the enemy's hands. I'd recommend you tell your men not to wear their armor and hide their weapons nearby, but I suppose soldiers don't like being out of their metal shell."
She spotted a young boy, dirty and dressed in rags. One of the city's many street rats and orphans. She walked over and tossed a couple of gold coins in his hand. His face lit up and she smiled kindly. "Get yourself and your friends a hot meal, and do something for me." She showed the child the building marked on the map. "Go to these places and see what you can observe. Don't go inside or get too close, but if you boys see anything interesting, come to the keep and tell me, alright? Tell the guards that Raven asked you to do something for her and if they still don't let you pass..."
She fished out a small tag, which granted her permission to move in and out of the keep at will. The guards mostly recognized her by now, she didn't really need it. "Show them this and tell them they can let you in or I'll be very very cross and they might end up with something in their soup that will give them a really bad rash between their legs." She giggled and sent him on his way. It wasn't the first time the homeless or orphans did favours for her - they knew that she was a friend to them and they could go to her if they needed food or shelter. It was an investment, for they would then serve as her eyes and ears within the city. They were kind of folk people normally paid no mind to, and they were thus the kind of people who would overhear secrets without anyone being the wiser.
She disliked risking the children like that, but they were smart and nobody would suspect their presence was more than them looking for scraps. She returned her attention to the two men. "The sooner I can get to finding Theron's spy, the better. Let us make haste." She continued studying the maps, trying to figure out the strange code. It wasn't anything she had seen before, and the key to cracking it lay out of reach. She knew there had to be a connection between the circled number and the name it corresponded to on the list, but she couldn't for the life or her work out what that connection was.
"Ingfal Remest... Ingfal Remest... Is that supposed to sound familiar?" She pondered out loud. "Gledyj? It doesn't sound like a real name, so I don't think it's a Caesar cipher... Hmm. Anagram? Remest could be meters... Ingfal?" The more she tried to break the code, the more frustrated she got. If there weren't any lives riding on her breaking the code, she would have just let Doyle handle it and forget about the code.
Morana tried organizing her thoughts, having burned the images in her mind. Seven names, marked buildings, the circled number two, and two separate maps. She tried figuring out if there was some rearrangement of the order of the names would make sense, and repeated different ways in her head. The rhythm was off, since the names sounded so strange and counter-intuitive to pronounce on some of them. Wait.
The spy was struck by an epiphany. Parents often named their children after ideals and virtues, or something that had a nice sound to it when paired with the family name. Some of these names didn't quite fit or would be considered unusual regard. Why seven names, and why did most of them sound strange? The odds were against such an occurrence. Maybe they aren't names.
She took out a pen, and circled the second letter of each word. She looked at the order: VANESLGVPTKRIL. It didn't make any sense, so she tried every circling second letter.
VALEAN
FLEET
SAILIN
GONVES
PARSIX
KTRAPH
IMIN
There was a pit in her stomach the moment she saw the words "Valean fleet", but the rest of the message, once she figured out where the spaces were, spelt out a more dire situation. VALEAN FLEET SAILING ON VESPAR. SIX K. TRAP HIM IN. The message itself was pretty plain once the code was broken - Lord Theron planned on using the Valean fleet as an anvil, while his own forces played the hammer. Sir Elric Grey would be trapped between two armies and there was no way they could hold back the tide even with their preparations, even if the walls held back the onslaught.
"Sir Doyle, you need to see this." Morana spoke up, passing the soldier the map again and showing him the circled letters and the transcribed message.
When they finally arrived at the strategy room, Raven let Sir Doyle proceed first, before entering behind the mercenary. The reason for their presence was announced, Raven strode up to the table, quite aware of the fact that there were other guests. The man could get angry at her for being rude later. "Sorry to intrude, Sir Grey, but I recovered this from one of Lord Theron's bannermen... and the situation is not good." She placed the maps and the spy's message on the table, facing the noble.
"Lord Theron intends to use six thousand Valeans as his anvil while his army hammers us." She explained. "I do not know if these reports were deciphered and delivered to Lord Theron yet, but it doesn't make our situation any less dire."
Plank Sinatra
