Island of Darkness (27 page)

“Why not?” questioned Mayor Oxley.

“Because Imperial Guards can march to Alamar,” answered the Star. “I thought it was too dangerous for the citizens. Duran will be the first city. Alamar may follow later.”

“You are a smart woman,” nodded the mayor. “We could switch sides and be safe in the knowledge that Okata would never strike out at us. You are still asking too high a price for your food. I suspect that you will deliver it in any event.”

“Why do you say that?” frowned Lyra.

“Your tears still show on your face,” replied the mayor. “You should have cleaned up before coming to see me. You could drive a better bargain that way. When will this food arrive?”

“It is on its way,” sighed Lyra. “I don’t understand why you won’t switch sides. Omunga has done absolutely nothing for you. Why do you remain subservient to them?”

“You are right about how Omunga has treated us,” stated the mayor, “but you should have already realized that we do not think kindly of them. Why else would I consider anyone from outside the city a foreigner?”

“So you feel no allegiance towards Okata,” frowned Lyra, “but you will still not join with me? That makes no sense.”

“Sure it does,” smiled the mayor. “I have to look after my people. That is why I am the mayor. They trust me to do what is best for them. If I sell our allegiance for a shipload of food, what will they eat next week? We will have nothing left to sell.”

“You misunderstand me,” replied Lyra. “I will not stop sending food after one shipload. If you are part of the Sakova, I will feed your people until they can once again feed themselves.”

“Now you are talking sense,” smiled the mayor as sounds of a commotion drifted through the doorway. “You will be feeding us for a long time, though. Our fields are dead.”

“I will send in mages to restore your fields,” promised Lyra. “I promise to care for the people of Duran as they have never been cared for by Okata. What more can I offer you?”

The man from the desk in the entry foyer appeared in the doorway.

“There is a mob forming outside the building,” the man said.

“Find out what they want,” replied the mayor as he dismissed the messenger.

“The food could not have arrived that quickly,” frowned Lyra. “Maybe you should check to see what the problem is.”

“In a minute,” stated the mayor. “We need to finish our bargaining first.”

“I have offered all that I am capable of,” sighed Lyra. “I will not promise you something that I cannot deliver.”

“Now that is refreshing,” grinned the mayor. “You will never make a good politician, but you have my vote as a fine leader. Your people must be proud of you.”

“They are,” Lyra said. “Is there nothing else that I can say to change your mind?”

“Nope,” the mayor shook his head. “Course, I am not sure why you would want to change my mind at this point. I am prepared to pay your price.”

“Do you mean it?” Lyra asked excitedly.

“Of course I do,” grinned the mayor. “Let’s go outside and find out what our people are screaming about.”

Lyra rose and accompanied the mayor to the front steps of the building. A great mob had formed, and they were shouting the mayor’s name loudly. One man separated from the crowd and approached Mayor Oxley.

“We heard that we can have food if we become Sakovans,” said the man. “We want the food.”

Lyra gazed out at the crowd and saw Chargo grinning at her. She shook her head and smiled at him.

“Yup,” replied the mayor. “That is what me and the Star of Sakova have just been discussing. Get wagons down to the docks to receive the food. We are Sakovans now so don’t let your Star see you moving slowly. We want her to remember Duran as Sakova’s finest port.”

The crowd cheered and scattered to tell everyone the news. The old mayor turned and winked at Lyra.

“We may be your only port,” he grinned, “but you will remember us as your best port.”

The servant opened the door and admitted General Kapla. Cherri closed the door to her private garden and walked across the floor to greet the Minister of Defense. She smiled broadly and ushered him into the dining room.

“I just received your message,” declared General Kapla. “What did you want to see me about?”

“I reviewed your notes from the last meeting of the Katana’s Council,” smiled Cherri. “I know how to make you wealthy.”

“Really?” asked the general. “How could you determine that so quickly. I didn’t see anything in there that could be used to make money.”

“Perhaps it takes the eye of one who is practiced in looking?” shrugged Cherri. “Aren’t you lucky to have me around?”

“Very lucky,” grinned the overweight general. “What did you find?”

“The most important crisis affecting Omunga today is the food shortage,” explained the buxom blond.  “Where there is a crisis, there is profit. I did some investigating and found watula farms that are selling at a great discount. If one were to buy them now, they would have a healthy profit in only a few months.”

“A profit?” the general asked skeptically. “The farms are selling cheaply because their crops are dying. That watula may never grow again.”

“Thoughts like yours are precisely why the price is so low,” countered the Sakovan spy. “What if I told you that those farms would be producing a fine and healthy crop in just a few months?”

“Is this just a feeling you have?” asked General Kapla. “Or do you know something that everyone else does not know?”

“If I told you why I believe the fields will recover,” teased Cherri, “then it would no longer be a secret. Remember that I once told you that to reveal a secret is to give others a chance to profit before you. That is not how I got rich. I will say that the fields definitely will recover, and soon. You will just have to trust me.”

“Are you sure?” the general asked nervously. “I do not have much money to waste on bad investments.”

“Of course I am sure,” grinned Cherri. “I plan to buy some of them myself. Have you ever known me to make a bad investment?”

“I could not imagine that,” admitted the Minister of Defense. “Very well, buy one of those fields for me when you buy yours.”

“One?” pouted Cherri. “You can not get wealthy by buying only one field. You must buy at least a dozen of them. More if you can afford it.”

“That is the problem,” frowned the general. “I cannot afford it. Buying one will take most of my savings away.”

“Then you must borrow the money,” Cherri demanded. “You cannot waste this opportunity. Who knows when the next chance will come along?”

“Borrow?” echoed the general. “I could not. They dismember people who cannot pay their debts. I want to be wealthy, but I will not take the risk of dying to become affluent. Besides, who would lend me the money? They would ask why I am buying the fields, and that would point to me using information from the secret meetings. I cannot risk it.”

“You cannot afford to miss this opportunity,” Cherri said adamantly. “Within a couple of months, you could become one of the wealthiest men in Okata. I like you too much to allow you to miss a chance like this. I will arrange the loans for you.”

“You will?” brightened the general. “You must really believe that this plan is going to work.”

“I am positive about it,” beamed Cherri. “I am never wrong when it comes to gold.”

“Then I cannot refuse,” smiled General Kapla. “How do we handle this?”

Cherri rose and walked to a cabinet. She withdrew some forms and placed them in front of the Minister of Defense.

“You must sign these papers,” instructed Cherri. “One is a promissory note for the loan, and the other allows me to transact business in your name. That is all there is to it. I will take care of everything else.”

“You are so organized,” admired the general. “How did you know that I would need to borrow money to buy the fields?”

“I know the holdings of everyone in this city,” smiled Cherri. “How else could I gauge my progress to become more wealthy than all of them combined?”

“You should be the Minster of Finance,” chuckled the general. “It is a pity that it is illegal for a woman to hold such a position. You would do a much better job than anyone else.”

“I will just have to suffer by making myself rich,” shrugged Cherri. “Myself and a close personal friend, that is.”

“I hope some day to convince you that I am more than just a friend,” the general said amorously.

* * *

MistyTrail wrapped her arms around herself as the raw wind buffeted her body. Her eyes stared at Eltor’s back as he led the way across the peaks of Motanga. She shivered involuntarily as the cold crept through her clothes.

“How much more of this must we endure?” she finally asked out loud.

Eltor stopped and saw MistyTrail shivering. His eyes passed by MistyTrail to Mistake who looked just as miserable.

“I am sorry,” apologized Eltor, “but this is the safest way to get to the pyramid. Look,” he pointed, “we can see it now.”

MistyTrail turned and looked, her teeth chattering as a chill raced through her body.

“It still looks far away,” MistyTrail complained. “How long before it gets warm again?”

“We will start going down soon,” promised Eltor. “It will get warmer once we get out of this wind. I came this way to avoid the kruls. If you look below you will see where they have been foresting. It would not have been safe that way.”

“I bet we would have found more to eat than that one small rabbit,” complained Mistake. “I think I would rather risk running into the kruls than starving and freezing to death.”

“Let’s keep moving,” MistyTrail said. “I want to get out of this wind. We can complain about the route later.”

Eltor nodded and began leading again. He started angling downward every chance he got, and soon the wind was lessened as the mountain blocked it. Eltor called a halt and sat on a rock.

“We will rest here,” the elf stated. “I am sorry about the wind, but it was safer. The peaks give you a good feel for the island. It is almost like looking at a map.”

“How did you learn so much about the island?” asked Mistake. “You said you were just captured four months ago.”

“I have always liked maps,” shrugged Eltor. “The shipyard where they took Caldal and me after we were captured has a large map on the wall. I studied it every chance I got. I also listened to conversations of the masters. They unknowingly taught me a great deal.”

“What did you learn?” asked Mistake.

“The island is huge,” answered Eltor. “There are six major cities on it. Four of those cities have massive shipyards that are creating large sailing vessels as fast as they can. Vand is creating the greatest fleet in the world. I just can’t figure out what he plans to do with it.”

“He is going to invade our homeland,” replied Mistake. “All of those ancient scrolls were true.”

“Are there that many people living on this island?” asked MistyTrail. “I mean Sakova and Omunga have lots of soldiers. Khadora must have more.”

“And the free tribes in Fakara,” added Mistake, “but none of them will fight together.”

“There are thousands upon thousands of soldiers on this island,” interjected Eltor. “I could not even count just the ones that I have seen since I came here. The cities that are not on the coast are where the soldiers train. I have heard men at the shipyards talking about a thousand ships.”

“A thousand ships?” echoed Mistake. “If they put fifty men on each, that would be half the size of the free tribes.”

“The ships hold over a thousand men each,” Eltor reported glumly.

“Merciful Kaltara!” exclaimed MistyTrail.

“You know Kaltara?” Eltor asked with surprise. “How is it that you look like an elf and believe in our god, yet you claim not to be an elf?”

“Kaltara is the elven god?” asked MistyTrail. “I was told that he was the Sakovan god.”

“And the god of the Qubari,” added Mistake. “The Qubari used to trade with the elves. At least they did until the elves attacked Angragar.”

“Attacked Angragar,” scowled Eltor. “What are you talking about? The elves never attacked Angragar. We hid it so that it would be preserved.”

“Only after you attacked it,” retorted Mistake. “Don’t try to tell me otherwise. I have been there and seen the damage.”

“You have been to Angragar?” Eltor questioned with disbelief. “That is not possible. What the elves hide, no one will find. Besides, we left people to guard and protect it. You are making this up.”

“Those people you left to guard the city,” countered Mistake, “were they the Qubari people or the hellsouls?”

“Hellsouls?” echoed the elf. “What are they?”

“They are followers of Vand,” explained Mistake. “They are spiritual beings that have inhabited Angragar for thousands of years waiting for someone to enter. They will not die unless the Staff of the Astor touches them. I know. One of them rose from the dead with my dagger in his throat.”

“I recall something from my youth about the Astor,” Eltor replied with confusion. “I cannot remember it well, but it dealt with an ancient prophecy. How do you know these things? How do you know of this prophesied Astor?”

“I am good friends with him,” beamed Mistake. “I was with Rejji when he learned that he was the Astor. I accompanied him on the historic visit to Angragar when the gates to the city opened at his very touch. We are very close friends.”

“And I personally know the Star of Sakova,” MistyTrail hurriedly interjected, “and we both know the Torak.”

“Those names mean nothing to me,” Eltor shook his head. “Maybe Caldal will remember more. We must push onward, or we will not reach the city until after dark.”

“After dark may be best,” replied Mistake, “but let us push on regardless.”

“Yes,” agreed MistyTrail. “It is bound to be warmer in the city than here.”

Eltor nodded and rose. He led the trio across the face of the barren mountain. Whenever the terrain allowed, Eltor moved further down the side of the mountain. As the sun dropped below the peaks, the three adventurers entered the forest at the base of the mountain. Almost immediately MistyTrail spotted a rabbit. She pulled a knife from her belt and threw it before the others realized what was going on.