Abuud: the One-Eyed God (23 page)

"Sergeant," greeted Alex, "the pleasure is mine. I am glad to see your men have security well covered."

"They are good men," smiled Trank. "Come. Let us get you three to the mansion."

Sergeant Trank led the trio to the mansion where General Gregor was headquartered. Alex saw hundreds of Red Swords running drills and practicing with weapons along the way. They dismounted in front of the building. Sergeant Trank led them through the house to a large dining room with a long table. General Gregor and Queen Marta were seated at the table. Alexander and Jenneva bowed to the Queen. Queen Marta smiled as Jenneva nudged Tanya. Tanya recovered quickly and bowed before she became an embarrassment. Sergeant Trank bowed his way out of the room and the three visitors were invited to sit at the table.

"It is a pleasure to see you, Queen Marta," smiled Alex. "I trust your general is treating you well?"

"Yes, Alexander," smiled Queen Marta. "Let us dispense with the formalities until I return to Tagaret. Who is the young warrior with you?"

"I am Tanya, Queen Marta," answered Tanya. "I am nobody special, but I am traveling with Alex and Jenneva."

"She is modest as well," chuckled Jenneva. "Tanya has traveled with the Children of the Prophecy since the beginning. She is an extremely skilled warrior so don't let her modesty fool you."

"And she can be trusted," added Alex as he glanced sideways at Tanya.

"That, Alexander, was the answer I was looking for," smiled Queen Marta. "You bring news from Tagaret?"

"Yes we do," nodded Alex. "The preparations for your return to the throne are proceeding well. All of the Rangers are in the city and accounted for. The Council has adopted rules that will allow for it to shrink to a body of seven. We have our two men on the Council, plus Fredrik Wason. Plans are already in motion to help the Council shrink to a size that will guarantee us control."

"Excellent," nodded Queen Marta. "General Gregor assures me that the three thousand Red Swords are battle ready and available whenever they are needed."

"Your initial days may be rocky, Queen Marta," frowned Alex. "The populace of Tagaret is not happy. The Council has managed to continually raise taxes while decreasing services. I fear that the people may start revolting soon if something does not quell them. Even if we restore you to the throne, they may not acknowledge the change in regime. I am afraid they have grown leery of the government altogether."

"We can hardly blame the people," declared Queen Marta. "The responsibility of leadership is to provide for the people. Evidently they are not being provided for. Do you have any idea how the treasury stands?"

"Only rumors," answered Alex. "I fear it is empty."

"Whatever is Duke Everich doing with that money?" Queen Marta wondered aloud. "I suspect that we will need the help of my son with finances then. We need to warn him that he will have to open his purse wide if Arik is to inherit something other than a wasteland. How is Arik?"

"Arik and Tedi are searching for the Diamond of Edona," answered Alex. "I believe they are in Cleb. Prince Midge should be with them now."

"Is it wise for him to be off on his own?" asked General Gregor.

"I would not say it is wise," frowned Alex, "but the situation dictated it. I believe that Arik can take care of himself, but I certainly would feel better being with him."

"He must learn to stand on his own sometime," declared Queen Marta. "He is soon to be running the country. Still I wish he had stopped in here on his way by."

"We have completed our tasks in Tagaret," reported Alex. "We will be going to join him when we leave here."

"We still have not developed a plan to get the Red Swords into the city," declared General Gregor. "That will be necessary to avoid a lot of bloodshed."

"We have enough estates and guild halls to bring some in as mercenaries," posed Alex, "but that splits your force more than necessary."

"You could just mass them outside the city," suggested Tanya. "That would force the army to congregate at the outer defenses and leave the Rangers free roam of the city."

"That is not a bad plan," nodded General Gregor, "but there are many things that could go wrong. Just one army commander could cause a lot of deaths if he is foolish enough."

"What is the strength of the Tagaret Army now?" asked Queen Marta.

"Around six thousand," reported Alex, "but they are mostly untrained. They are no contest for the Red Swords and Rangers, but we will need those six thousand lads in the coming months."

"I heard your party saved the Tice garrison from extinction," stated Queen Marta. "I also heard it was a rather unconventional battle. Is there some way that we can utilize the Tice troops here?"

"No," answered General Gregor. "Getting them into the city would be harder than getting the Red Swords in. Plus they are important for any rearguard action we might need against Sarac's forces."

Prince Midge flew into the room and lighted on the large table. He bowed to Queen Marta, and Queen Marta nodded her respects.

"There is trouble," reported Prince Midge. "The Bringer is no longer in Cleb. I searched for leagues around the city and found no trace of him. Finally I decided to eavesdrop on a large group of people in Cleb. I heard the Bringer's name mentioned, and it was not in a friendly way."

"What did you hear?" asked Alex.

"There was great anger directed toward Arik," scowled Prince Midge. "They have people organizing for a trip to get to some place before Arik. They want to get a statue and then ambush Arik when he gets there. We must hurry."

"Where is his place?" inquired Alex.

"It is called the Island of Storms," reported Prince Midge. "I do not know where it is."

Alexander looked around the table, but nobody seemed to recognize the name. General Gregor called an officer and asked him to find out where the island was located.

"I must go to Tagaret," announced Prince Midge. "Do not leave without us."

"Us?" questioned Jenneva. "What do you mean?"

"I must mobilize the fairy army," insisted Prince Midge. "The Bringer is in trouble."

"But the fairies are needed in Tagaret," objected Tanya. "If you pull them out then we may fail to win the city for Arik. I think you should dwell on this decision first."

"Tanya is right, Prince Midge," agreed Queen Marta. "I do not like the fact that Arik is endangered, but your people are essential to our victory in Tagaret."

"Let us find out where this island is first," suggested Alex. "Then we can decide on a course of action."

The officer returned with a large map of Lanoir and spread it out on the table. Prince Midge jumped into the air and then settled back down on the map. When the officer pointed out the location, Prince Midge marched across the map to stand on it.

"The Island of Storms," General Gregor said softly. "Now I remember where I heard that name. Right off the Horn of Lanoir, graveyard of the ships. It has the foulest weather of any place known. At least that is what I have heard from sailors."

"Where is Tagaret on this map?" asked Prince Midge.

"Tagaret is not on this map," answered Jenneva. "The Horn of Lanoir is as far south as one can go before you run out of land. Tagaret would be past the other end of the table."

"It is farther than the distance from Tagaret to your village," added Alex, "but in the other direction."

"That would take a long time to reach then," frowned Prince Midge.

"It will also take some time for Arik to get there," interjected Tanya. "If we left from here, we might even beat him."

"If we knew what route he was taking," added Alex, "Prince Midge could find him, but there are too many options from Cleb. I also don't think the fairy army will be needed. Have faith in the Bringer, Prince Midge. He is a capable warrior."

"Whatever is Arik looking for there?" posed Jenneva.

"I don't know," sighed Alex, "but whatever it is, we are going to the Island of Storms, too. With your permission, Queen Marta, we will leave now."

Two small boats saw the barge coming downstream and headed for it. They pulled alongside, one forward and one aft, on the starboard side of the barge and tied the barge to their boats. The oarsmen on the small boats could only row on one side, so they maneuvered towards the docks downstream by rowing until the barge was heading for shore and then stopped. The current would slowly straighten the barge out again, and the men would start rowing again. The effect of this was to constantly move the attached barge closer to the shoreline.

Arik stood on the bow and watched the city of Dalek come into view. He swelled with pride as he realized that he was looking at the city that his father built from nothing. Looking forward, Arik saw a strange horizontal rail standing out of the water in the river. It was like the rail of a giant fence, and it ran diagonal from the docks to the upstream riverbank. Arik heard shouting voices from the forward small boat and looked towards it. The men were all shouting and making gestures, but Arik could not hear them clearly. He stared at them for some minutes before he understood the gestures. He looked forward again and saw the barge heading straight for the diagonal rail. He ran aft and threw his body to the deck near the pilothouse just before the barge rammed the rail. The barge jolted hard the first time, and Arik realized that the men were afraid he would be thrown overboard. It hit less hard the second and third times, and finally he felt the barge rubbing against the rail.

Arik stood up and returned to the bow. He saw now that the rail was designed to move the floating barge away from the land slightly so it didn't ram the docks as the river current moved the barge downstream. As the barge slid past the rail, men on the docks used long gaffs to snare the barge and hold it close to the docks. Other men jumped aboard holding the free end of dock lines and tied the barge to the dock. The small boats disconnected from the barge and rowed away. Within moments, the barge was secured to the docks, and the gangplank was placed to it. Arik moved aft and saw Tedi and Wylan standing with the horses, ready to disembark.

A burly man stood on the dock with his hands on his hips. He was shouting orders to the dockworkers and other men. The other men approached the barge with crossbows drawn and loaded. The dockworkers swiftly moved away from the barge now that it had been secured.

"Who are you?" shouted the man in charge. "What are you doing on my barge?"

"We are travelers looking for a ship to Marchek," Arik shouted back. "We mean you no harm."

"Leave the horses and your weapons on the barge and come ashore," the leader shouted back.

"Do as he says," Arik said as he stripped off his sword and the Sword of Heavens and placed them on the deck.

Arik raised his hands and led Tedi and Wylan down the gangplank. A man stepped forward and took their knives from their belts as they passed. Arik walked up to within a pace of the leader and stopped.

"I am sorry if we transgressed in any way," Arik apologized. "I did not know that passengers were not allowed on the barges."

"I'm sure, lad," the leader growled. "The fact is that the barge is practically empty and a week late. That makes me a bit suspicious. Who told you that you could ride the barge?"

"Sir," interrupted Wylan, "nobody told us we could use the barge. There is nobody working in the warehouse in Cleb anymore. We took it upon ourselves to cut the barge loose. We had to escape."

"Escape?" queried the leader. "Escape what?"

"Religious fanatics have taken over Cleb," Wylan answered. "They killed an awful lot of people when they took over. I do not know what happened to the warehouse men, but they haven't been there in days. The followers of Abuud were chasing us, and a merchant told us to get on the barge and float downstream to here."

"We will pay for the passage," offered Arik. "It is not our intent to take anything that is not ours. We did need to get out of Cleb though."

"Bring these lads to my office," the leader demanded.

The men were not needlessly rough, but they were firm in herding the boys into a large warehouse and up a flight of steps to a rather large office. The leader took a seat behind a huge desk and motioned for the boys to sit opposite him. Two of the men remained as guards and the others left.

"Let me see if I have this right," the leader began. "You lads were in Cleb and some fanatics came and took the city over. They killed a bunch of people, and my warehouse up there is deserted. You needed to catch a ship to Lanoir, so you just decided to steal one of my barges and float on down here. Is that about it?"

"There is a lot more to it," replied Tedi. "Azmet, the leader of the cult was going to torture and kill us. We managed to break out of prison, but there was no way we could escape the city. Azmet had everyone out looking for us."

"So you were prison escapees too," scowled the leader. "I wonder what you stole from them to get thrown into prison. Even if your story is true, which I doubt, you have no right to steal my barge."

Arik was getting worried, but Tedi was getting angry. The leader should have been interested in what was happening in Cleb, but he was only interested in his barge.

"Look," growled Tedi. "The use of your barge is worth a lot less than our lives. So we borrowed your barge. Big deal. Do you know what it is like to be in a dark cell with things crawling under your skin? With rats so hungry that they bite first and ask questions later? Arik said we would pay for the use of your barge, but you still keep on treating us like thieves. You are making a big deal over nothing. It is not even your barge. It belongs to Arik's father, not you."

"You have a pretty nasty mouth for a young lad," scolded the leader. "You act like you are royalty or…"

The leader stopped and stared at Arik. "What do you mean the barge belongs to Arik's father?" asked the leader.

Tedi bit his lower lip and remained silent. Wylan look confused, and Arik's eyes shifted to view all of the people in the room.

"May I speak to you alone, Sir?" asked Arik softly. "Please."