K'rar's chasers had lost them completely, and had no chance of catching them now that K'rar and his companions were racing through wild terrain. Still, their location, Coyote's Creek, was a dry patch of land with a lot of brown and a little green, and they would soon run out of food. They could camp in the shelter of the craggy land and still conceal themselves even with a fire. This escape plan was apparently premeditated, and their route fixed through remote areas, through the creek to the bitumen fields of Veala, the Veala Crater, then through the two towns of Oshvala and Grinsgot, then the marshlands leading up to the beach where their ship was anchored, several miles south of the main Port Praesof, which they knew, had known, would obviously be heavily guarded and teeming with angry hostiles. The Grinsgot marshlands had deep waters and were remote, and the Province ship waiting there hadn't been to Praesof and thus not drawn any attention. K'rar liked it, as it avoided the main roads through the linear towns and cities from Mahideen to Praesof. It would take them the best part of just two days to complete the journey, and on the night of the second day they had cleared most of it and come to Oshvala. They hadn't been fast enough to beat the heavy rain that came down that evening, and were wet as seafood when they found a small inn belonging to an old physician and his wife. They had to knock at his gate first, and when a young man came to answer the door, he wouldn't let them in because of their looks, but he brought the physician's wife outside, both of them holding oil lamps.
'Good evening. I thought there was an inn, ma'am. We were turned away by your son,' said Rubio to the lady.
'He's my innkeeper. Please come in. You're dripping with rain. Couldn't you find a shelter somewhere?'
'No trees anywhere near the crater, ma'am,' said Rubio.
'Crater? What were you doing there?'
'I hope there is room.'
'There isn't, not for all three of you here at the inn. But you're welcome to stay at my house, it's got enough room.' The house was adjacent to the inn, a decent, medium structure.
'Appreciate the kindness, ma'am,' said Rubio.
'Don't mention it,' the old lady was very kind, even in her gait, 'so, how is it that a man, a lady and a boy are riding horses in the dead of night through the Veala Crater in the rain?'
'For reasons we can't disclose, we could not use the main roads,' K'rar said quickly.
'Okay,' said the old woman, 'come on in. I have some spare food for the night, and plenty of blankets.'
'Oh, I'm famished, thank you,' said Rubio. They had eaten nothing all day, and had been on horseback for almost 12 of the 17 hours they'd been on the dirt.
Once they'd eaten their fill, Rubio insisted on taking the same room as K'rar, and a mattress was fitted into that room on the floor. Alain would take the adjacent room. Alain was also charged with the watch for the night. K'rar figured that Rubio would rank higher if she did have a rank, because Alain acted mostly under her direction. He was busying himself with his book when Rubio settled herself and collapsed on the bed under the covers after taking off just her boots and outer clothing to let it dry. She had no problem doing this before K'rar, but K'rar didn't bother question her. Once on their adventure she had stripped half naked and jumped into a pond, so it was no longer surprising.
'How can you not have sleep now?' she asked him.
'Oh I do. Just completing this drawing first.'
'You have been busy with that book through the journey. What's in it?'
K'rar wouldn't normally reveal the contents of that little book of his, but with a smile, he handed it to her on the page he was on. It was a concept drawing of a female soldier, of Rubio.
'Is this me, sir?'
'You're the first female soldier I ever saw.'
'I am glad you are not prejudiced against my choice to be one.'
'In future, when I have my own armies, I will remove the myth that a woman may not wield a sword.'
'An army with females in it is bound to be compromised from within. There is no focus, no order. It is known.'
'Let me ask you, then, since you are a soldier yourself. Have you been a…victim of such compromise? I'm taking it you have been in a group of soldiers. Or any large group of men. Like the sailors of your ship.'
'If you mean sexually improper behavior, no I have not, but that doesn't mean I have never clashed with a soldier for doing something stupid, or that they do not discuss such indecent slurs behind me.'
'And what is the punishment if one soldier is caught?'
'Flogging, before the rest of the men.'
'Then do you not agree that it is a matter of discipline? Discipline is the…the glue of an army, and even if the soldiers fall in love and are inflamed with passions, discipline must always conquer.'
'Well, I hope you succeed, because if you do, I will come join your army if you allow it.'
'Why not? You are a pioneer.'
K'rar drifted into sleep eventually, but had hardly slept at least five hours when loud knocks aroused him from sleep. Rubio jumped out of her bed as if she had been waiting for those knocks, and somehow her weapon was already in her hand, unsheathed. She said loudly,
'Alain?'
'Yes,' Alain said. K'rar knew something was up and was looking through the window, and before Alain had finished explaining to Rubio what was going on, K'rar said,
'Shit. They're uniformed constabulary. Looks like this area also has a traitor in its midst.' He could see most of the compound from here, and had made out at least eight men scuttling across.
'Yes, young sir. Someone gave us away,' said Rubio, 'Can't believe that lady gave us away. Must have recognized you.'
'I don't think it was her,' said K'rar, 'it was that innkeeper. I think he's the one who more likely recognized me, or else connected the dots.'
'We have to go now, sir.'
'Not through there,' said, 'there's only one corridor, the one that led us up. We have to escape through this window. Lands on the roof of the shade. Come on.'
K'rar took the initiative to go first after retrieving his few belongings, and the others followed suit. Alain locked the door to the room, and extinguished the oil lamp. The soldiers had already forced the door open and shoved away anyone who came out of bed to investigate. The mole knew which room to take them, so they were headed there directly without smashing in other rooms. When K'rar and his party landed on the ground below, there was no one to greet them, so they made a beeline for the stable, where apart from their three horses, just three others dwelt there. But they hadn't yet completely left the compound when two of the men reappeared from the interior and spotted them. K'rar acted quickly, ordering his companions in a muffled shout,
'Can't let them get back inside.'
All three turned their horses around. Alain just jumped off of his, and hurled his sword halfway across the compound at one of the men, hitting him squarely in the thigh. The man went down, but wasn't harmed, and would get up before they got to him. The second man opened his mouth to yell the alarm, and although he did alert his mates inside, he was a piece of a cake for Rubio, who bled him in just two thrusts.
'The door has an open padlock!' K'rar yelled, and raced there to close it. He was quicker than the first couple of men to come downstairs, and he locked them in. But the man whom Alain had downed grabbed his leg as he ran past the compound, tripping him. Alain and Rubio had already mounted their horses, and if the latter hadn't looked back, she wouldn't have been quick enough to return and slit the man's throat before he injured K'rar, who also had managed to kick the man's weapon away from him before he could pick it up from where it had fallen. Still, K'rar's fall had caused bruise right by his knee, and he needed assistance to get to his horse. The men inside the house were banging against it to no avail, and K'rar got away again.
'Are you injured, sir?'
'No, it's just a knock. Let's get out of here.'
'Okay, because we can't make another stop. They'll be flooding this area as soon as those scumbags confirm you were there.'
'We should be there some time after noon. Once we get to the sea, we'll be safe,' said Alain.
'That was very close.'
Garrera noticed quickly this time, and confirmed, that the boy by himself was good enough to make his best men look like children. That he, not Ashdud, must have been the one pulling the strings while in hiding. But Garrera was also finding it hard to believe that the altercation that caused his escape was orchestrated ultimately by K'rar. And, upon learning his whereabouts, he had also realized how stupid it was of him to think that the escape plan would have anything to do with Port Praesof.
'He's much wiser than I thought,' Garrera was talking to the top generals present with him, including Lankh, who had returned that morning. Lankh was a better strategist than most of the men in the room. Hatto was also a good thinker, while Kaputska was like Garrera, more inclined to use brute force. The man called Chica, or Tychica in full, was also present. He had survived the assault at Magherita, and caught up with Kaputska, who knew him well. Tychica's superior Dhali had been killed in the assault, and Arameid was missing.
'We know his whereabouts now, sir,' Hatto said, and laid down a map of the area surrounding Oshvala and Grinsgot, including uninhabited land in which he could hide, 'we should deploy troops in this surrounding area…'
'He already knows you'll do that,' it was the voice of Tychica, 'you've done it before, and he got away all of the time.' Hatto was clearly displeased with this interruption, and he let Tychica know by shooting him with a harsh look. But Kaputska knew his man. He rarely said something that didn't make sense.
'This is Captain Tychica,' he introduced him to the men who didn't know who he was, 'he survived the assault at Magherita. He was one of General Dhali's best men.'
'What are you thinking, Tychica?' Garrera was willing to listen to all the ideas.
'Committing troops to hunt three horses is too artificial. He will be more than ready. He may be just a boy, but there is no doubt he is more intelligent than we've been willing to concede.'
'Still can't figure out how he organized two assaults in the matter of hours.' Kaputska knew about the account of the Magherita outpost.
'Well, he did. Anyway, we've known for some time now that he has been in contact with Shona. It's safe to assume he's trying to get there.'
'That would be bad for everyone. He would be an invaluable asset against us if your assessment of him is correct. It is unacceptable.' said Garrera.
'Indeed, sir. It is safe to assume that he is still in contact with them. He couldn't cross the western border, so he will try to reach Shona by sea. He has no business roaming about the coast for no reason.'
'Then he would have headed north to the bay, to Roach.' said Hatto. Roach was a short form of Cockroach.
'No, that is too risky. He is avoiding cities, now we know. And if his sights are on Shona, then we would be wasting time chasing him from behind.'
Garrera spotted the idea,
'We have to be ahead of him. But then, we would have seen at least a sign at Praesof. Nothing out of the ordinary.'
'Of course not. He cannot be near major cities and ports. But the coast is long isn't it? Nobody said a ship cannot drop anchor anywhere along the coast. Pirates and smugglers don't dock at major ports, do they?'
'Then we have already wasted precious time. If he was last at Oshvala, he might be boarding as we speak.'
'Sir, half the Korazin fleet docks here, at Matalma Rock,' Lankh cut in quickly, 'but most of the sailors abandoned it after the invasion, and they've been stuck in the dock for ages. There's just about 41 ships still in our control, and they should be close enough to anywhere in this area.'
'He's here. These marshes right here,' Hatto was pointing at Grinsgot marshes. It was a concealed spot, and well hidden by an irregular coastline. The Matalma Rock fleet was less than five miles south of that area.
'Ah, that's a good spot to hide a ship,' said Garrera, 'Lankh, I need all the ships ready for sail in this dock out to sea. Have them skirt the coast for any suspicious ships. Search them all, and if any ship doesn't stop to the horn, sink them.'
'Yes sir.'
'If it's a Hone ship, it is likely to be the one. It shouldn't be anywhere near our eastern coast.'
'Yes sir.'
'Meantime I am going to Cockroach myself to commandeer a flotilla there. If we are right, we will meet in the middle and sink them.'
'Yes sir.'
Lady Esella had been so devastated by the news all those days ago. Not only had K'rar handed himself over to her husband, but he had also lost the camp's many leaders, including Ashdud, Ossus and Mongoose. For all she knew, these men had also laid down their arms and struck a truce with her husband to spare them. The camp had stalled and mourned the abrupt end of their campaign for a day and a half, and then began to disintegrate. Some wanted to continue the rebellion, but most had considered that this move was moot, because even if they forced a change, there was no king for them to crown. Besides, the armies of Shona had been prevented from joining the struggle by geopolitical forces. In the end Lady Esella herself had seen no reason to continue, and she, Pithadia and Kanga and a small group had returned south to Kedesherad to lay down their own arms there and wait for whatever would come their way.
And then they heard that K'rar had extricated himself from his captors' clutches. The whole eastern region was tense and ecstatic because of the various reports flying around this way and that like a sausage fruit in a windy storm. Some said he had even planned an assassination. Others said that the native Korazite soldiers had felt so remorseful and pledged to fight for him, hence the altercation. Lady Esella and her group knew, they knew that they would not just sit back and relax. Their king would have wanted them to rise up and do something. So on the fourth day after the epic escape, they had made a decision. To travel to Shona and once again solicit that nation's help. All hands on deck or nothing, Lady Esella had said. This was no time to mobilize small disorganized groups. It was time to act decisively.
There had been no crackdowns issued by the rogue state of rebels like them, although small units of soldiers that had camped at Magherita days prior were said to be on their way back to the western border. Lady Esella was ahead of these, and would find no problems crossing the border through Garza, despite the fact that this town was one of those with heavy troop deployment—it was not difficult to imagine that a royalist splinter group could easily develop in this town given its history. Lady Esella had arrived at Garza during the evening of the fourth day of travel, tired as a withered tree. They had travelled nonstop in two carriages, a party of five people, including the son of a man who had accommodated them at Kedesherad and his wife, who wanted to make for themselves a life in Thermos, Shona. By the close of nine days, the party came to the south gate of the magnificent Thermos. They had been extremely fast. The Hone terrain was tilted to the north, so that on many a spot from the south, one could behold the most beautiful city in all Moab. The city was built on the shores of the Azlan Sea, and was the first destination of many travelers from the neighboring nations, including Korazite travelers and traders who came by sea rather than by land, which was the norm, because Thermos was easily accessible directly from the Azlan Sea, better than several days of travel over difficult terrain with cargo. Thermos' walls were higher than Chaldea's, also because of its location on the sea, and were wider. Its ramparts were wide as roads, and it was impossible for tourists to miss an opportunity to walk along these, to behold the great Bay of Thermos, one of Moab's greatest trading hubs. The larger part of the northern coast comprised of developed towns, but none could compare to this spot. The city's north ramparts that overlooked the sea extended for over 20 miles, and those in the easterly direction stood on a bedrock atop a precarious precipice, with about an eighty-foot drop into the white rocks of the loud sea below. Those toward the center were in the valley, and these were the ones with the great double doors of Thermos, through which myriads of bodies came and went. One of the first sights once one entered was the fabulous Temple of Ashtoreth, whose pillars and walls and stairs elevated it higher than the rest of the structures. Like Korazin, the Hones were predominantly Ashtoreth worshipers. Nonetheless, the Hones could boast revering the goddess more, because of structures like this. In the center of temple stood an even better sight, viewed by many as the single most outstanding sight in all of Moab—the Grand Statue of the Mother, that is, Ashtoreth.
But Lady Esella would postpone sightseeing for all of this. She was here to see the Queen of Shona on a matter of critical importance. That is what she told the second palace liaison for the Thermos Palace, who was also a Chief Constable of the Southern Sector of Thermos. The grand palace was situated in his sector, although it officially belonged to none of the sectors. The chief was responsible for delegates from foreign nations who came sought an audience with the queen. The second liaison dealt with delegates coming from the southern and eastern directions, while the first liaison dealt with the rest. The second liaison was busier than his counterpart in that regard, so Lady Esella found him still at his office in the late evening hours. He was an overprotective man, but even more condescending, so in response to Lady Esella's matter of importance he said to her,
'It is always a matter of importance, my lady. But as you probably know, the queen would be preoccupied with weightier matters of the nation. You do not just assemble before Her Majesty.'
'I am Esella Hermon from Chaldea, and if you knew who I was you would rush to get me the audience I seek.'
'I only want to know the gist of the audience you seek, ma'am.' The liaison evidently knew nothing of the name Hermon.
'I can only speak to Her Majesty about it.'
'Then there's going to be a problem. There are many lunatics who misuse this office to goof around, so pardon me if I sound stringent.'
'I am here on behalf of K'rar von Caspar, king of Korazin.'
Now the liaison's face changed. He knew that if he turned away a Chaldean with any information about K'rar, it could cost him really dearly. And, he knew that Rukh-shana regarded this matter as of utmost importance, given the prevailing political atmosphere. He said, in a softer tone,
'My goodness, you should have begun with that, my lady. But how do I know you are who you are?'
'Her Majesty sent men to our camp in the Debasian Mountain where we were hiding with the king. They will confirm.'
The palace was at least an acre larger than Korazin's, but she could tell only from the interior, because she was hastily rushed there. She went in with Kanga and Pithadia, but the other two visitors went on with their journey deeper into the city to find a relative. Lady Esella and company were escorted up two flights of stairs and into a small empty room, in which they waited about five minutes before an elegant young lady walked through the door. The princess Helga.
'You are the Korazite visitors?' she asked.
'Yes, we are, my lady,' said Lady Esella, rising, and sitting down again, 'we are waiting for your mother.'
'Your audience is regarding K'rar, isn't it?'
'That is correct, my lady. Were you friends?'
'Were?'
'Sorry, are you friends?'
'Yes we are. I hope you carry good news?'
'I do not know if it will be good news to your ears, my lady.'
The girl came closer to her, and was about to mutter words when her mother's footsteps approached, and Queen Rukh-shana walked in.
'Helga, what are you doing here? You should be asleep,' she said as her guests arose to pay respects.
'The nice lady is from Korazin and she carries news about K'rar.'
'I'm sure she does,' came the reply, and then turned to Lady Esella, 'she is worried sick about him, you know.'
'As we are, Your Majesty. I am Esella, this is Kanga, and Pithadia.'
'Perhaps you should have some rest? Must have been a long journey.'
'Nine days at full pelt to be precise. But I am afraid it cannot wait, because his life might depend on it.'
'Do you mean K'rar's life?'
'Yes, my lady.'
'Last we heard is that he managed to escape from the usurper in the east. I am so sorry about the troops we tried to deploy. It appears Goldora has also swayed Kai and Tamar and Ziv to block our efforts, so we've been beating ourselves in grief.'
This intelligence was unknown to the guests, who were looking at each other's faces.
'We thought you arrived at the plains of Dura and found an empty field,' said Kanga.
'We thought K'rar's forces would arrive there and find an empty field, then next thing we heard apart from war threats was that K'rar had handed himself over. Do you know about his current whereabouts?'
'Kanga,' said lady Esella to Kanga, who began to speak,
'We do not know the details of the king's escape, but we were with him in the wild for a year, and experience with him dictates that he would be out at sea, somehow trying to sail here. And it appears, as we feared, that it wasn't Your Majesty who had orchestrated that.'
Queen Rukh-shana and her daughter also looked at each other.
'We did not. We are just hearing of this now,' said the queen, 'Rohr?'
That man walked in from outside.
'My lady?'
'Summon General Libna immediately,' she said to him. Rohr would have reminded the queen that Libna was a long distance away from the palace, but he knew the guests, and he knew what was at stake, so he rushed out to execute the command. The queen went on, 'now we should all catch some sleep. I will send down attendants. In the morning we will talk more.'
The ship had been at sea for 11 straight days, but it was hardly having a smooth sail. On the fifth day of the voyage from the beach at Grinsgot, the ship had been joined by 20 ships flying Korazite flags and had since been in a desperate high speed chase. The Provincian infiltrators, however, had prepared themselves for any contingencies, and their ship was fully equipped for up to a month at sea for the 26 bodies it was carrying, including K'rar von Caspar. It was a fast ship, owing to its thinner body and more streamlined shape, but was not built to last several consecutive days at sea, and as a result, just near the horizon astern, the Korazite fleet was closing in. Fast. But that was the least of Captain Langlot's concerns. The exfiltration plan had planned for a long journey and the crew members' food, but there had been no preparation for the possibility of the current situation. Under the original plan, the ship was meant to make at least four stops along the coast in secluded areas, and all of this was to take place without Garrera ever knowing what was going on. The morale on his ship was plummeting dangerously, and he knew that if it hit extremely low levels, the chances of success would be infinitesimal. The ship was now less than a day's sailing from Cockroach, but that fact did not abate the mood among the sailors. There was a high likelihood that more Korazite fleet ships would be waiting for them in the Azlan Sea, regardless of the fact that they would probably be fewer than the ones behind them, and the sailors knew this. And this was a problem also for K'rar. He'd been just fine for the first part of the voyage, but a week into it, just when infectious bad mood was starting to spread, he had sensed that some sailors were viewing him as the direct cause. In fact, only Rubio, Alain and the captain were the only three on the ship that would engage in a conversation with him. Today, K'rar was at the stern alone, looking back at the tiny ships of his own fleet getting larger. He was beginning to consider that perhaps the sailors' negativity was well placed. If the fleet wanted to they would be within just a few meters, not that far off. And it was not a matter of if, but when. He knew there was something in the works, like a plan to surround this ship from the north and south, and sink it. He was still in this contemplative mood when Rubio came round the stern to join him. She stood to his left, and she too set her eyes on the approaching flotilla.
'They're getting closer,' K'rar said to her, 'I thought that perhaps they had scrambled the logistics required and wouldn't keep up, but there is no doubt they were ready when they set sail.'
'Is that all you're worried about, my lord?'
K'rar looked in her face,
'No,' he said. Rubio knew what was troubling him, so she skipped asking him what it was.
'We're going to be alright. The crew will get accustomed to the reality.'
'Don't you see? I have already worsened tensions between five nations. They will find out this is a Province ship if they haven't already. Garrera will certainly antagonize Shona, and Goldora has already intimidated Ziv and Rabier and Tamar against not only desisting from verbally supporting Shona but also to threaten mobilization against her.'
'Well, it should be clear to them that Goldora will not simply end with occupying your country. You must stay alive until that realization is reached, and perhaps we will have a chance.'
'So much for staying alive. I do not feel safe on this ship anymore.'
Within the next eight or nine hours, the ships in the chasing pack had reduced the gap between themselves and the Provincian ship, and were coming in dangerously close. The sailors were not ready. Only their officers had known exactly why they were sailing northeast from their own kingdom when they had done so. No one had explained to them the real object of this mission. They began to bicker and panic restlessly like frightened prey animals, although Cockroach was now within sight, just behind the tip of the horn of Korazin, the northernmost tip of mainland Moab. The Korazite fleet behind them began to spread out to their right and left. At least two of them were within striking distance, that is, they could now launch fireballs with miniature catapults fitted onto the decks of the ships. The fireballs, as they called them, were the size of small rocks that could be carried in both of a sailor's hands, covered in fabric and oil or tree resin, which Korazin had in abundance. But somehow they were holding back from launching these, which bewildered everyone on the vessel. Captain Langlot had prepped the vessel to prepare to fight for survival, and the ship's own weaponry had been assembled on the deck. This vessel was capable of a defending itself, but it was not a commissioned military vessel, and had little chance against even one Korazite fleet vessel. K'rar had been asked to bury himself in the lower deck with Alain until the situation improved, and he had been there 2 hours when Rubio came around breathing like she'd been chased.
'Come on, we have to go to the captain's cabin,' she said, panting.
'What is going on?'
'We're into Azlan waters, but we have to change course again. Garrera commandeered merchant vessels and lined them up in a blockade along with the fleet that docks in the north. That's why the Matalma Rock Fleet wasn't striking. But now the crew are restless and are thinking about surrendering you.'
'What is the meaning of all of this charade?' Alain wanted to know.
'It appears Garrera is here in the north, and ordered them not to sink this ship. He wants to witness it himself.'
'So are you saying that they will now begin the dogfight?'
The words had hardly left his mouth completely when the answer came from the deck above. Alain raced to the nearest staircase and shot himself out. K'rar knew what the sound was despite having never witnessed a maritime battle. It was the sound of a mutinous ship. K'rar had known for quite some time that this was a more likely outcome than a maritime battle against an entire flotilla of warships. The captain's cabin could be accessed from this deck, but K'rar had wanted to go to the top.
'I want to go up,' he said to Rubio.
'What? No, you can't do that. The crew will throw you overboard.'
'The alternative is what? That we'd all just shake hands with the enemy and go our separate ways?'
She couldn't prevent him from running upstairs, but she did follow him up, into a situation in which she had to immediately draw her sword, because the sailors were assembled near the stairs, and two of them paused their confrontation of the captain, whom they had bound in ropes.
'There he is,' said the sailor who was clearly the cornerstone of this whole misdemeanor. The sailors called him Levisha the Broke, because of his irregular gait thanks to a broken leg. But he was by far the biggest man on the ship. Broad shoulders, hard muscles and a wide chest which he was glad to show off, and today he was doing just that against Captain Langlot and his first mate, whom they had locked up in the kitchen below.
'The king who is pursued by his own fleet,' said another sailor.
'Touch him and you're dead,' Alain stationed himself next to Rubio, between the crew and K'rar.
'Hand over the boy so we can save our lives, man,' said Levisha, 'you and your captain didn't plan for this, and we didn't plan on being expendable. We're not dying for a boy with no future.'
'Even if you hand me over, Garrera is determined to sink this ship. You're not flying flags, but it will not be difficult to find out,' K'rar said to them.
'Yeah, is that so?' Levisha spat back at him, drawing closer with his askew stance.
'Levisha, one step closer and I swear I will cut you,' Rubio was not being dramatic. She had the point of her sword less than a finger's distance from Levisha's throat.
'Stand down,' K'rar said to her, 'he has good reason to fear.'
'My lord?'
'I will not hand myself over again, but I will also not allow this ship to go down because of me,' K'rar said. He held Rubio's hand to let down her guard, and looked up with a sad face in Levisha's intimidating eyes. He added, 'it is clear by now that I will die today, and it is no use trying to avoid that. I am sorry for bringing you to into this, but I can't say I don't appreciate that we tried.'
'What are you saying, my lord?' Rubio asked.
'You told me that a few miles north of here is a place where no man can cross. Was it a fairy tale?'
'The Ervean Meridian isn't a fairy tale. I have never seen it myself, but there is no doubt about it.'
'Are you suggesting we sail you to the meridian?' now Levisha was interested, being moved by the boy's words.
'Have you seen it before?' K'rar asked him.
'I have,' said captain Langlot from the mast where he was fastened like a sack, 'you will die the moment you cross into the green water. It is a boundary placed by the gods, for reasons unknown, but not by mistake. It looks calm from this side of the Azlan, but once a ship crosses to the other side, the water rises, the ambience darkens, thunder and dark clouds and lightning and all those terrible things in a storm, and the ship is battered until it sinks. It is insane to try crossing the meridian. Tis even better for us to surrender to these men.'
'How do you know this if it looks calm and clear from this side?'
'Not when a ship crosses to the other side. Everything will change. Rain, clouds, lightning. Everything you do not want to happen to a ship you're sailing. A viewer from this side will remain in the light, but it is suddenly dark across the green line, and we can see the ship being battered by the immense power of the gods. It is said the dark clouds can descend up to sea level, and I have heard a story that sometimes a face can be seen on the clouds. In other words, Your Majesty, you cannot cross the meridian.'
K'rar had known about that mysterious Ervean meridian, but not these fantasies about it. He was not devout, and was skeptical about the existence of any such boundary.
'Then just put me on a boat, and I will die at the hands of the gods rather than at the hands of my enemies.'
'About that,' a sailor watching the progress of the Matalma ships shouted to port, 'they're readying weapons!'
All the attention shifted to the Matalma ship that had kept up with K'rar's ship to port for the last hour. The warship was indeed prepping its weapons, and the man on the mast raised a red flag. It was a signal to the Provincian ship to brace for impact. Rubio quickly rushed to free the captain, who ordered a steward to hoist a white flag of peace. The promontory of Korazin had now disappeared under the horizon behind them, although the last merchant ships in the blockade were still within sight. The rest of the Matalma Rock Fleet was sailing just behind. Four new warships had joined the chase a few paces ahead, and K'rar knew that Garrera was on one of these.
'Starboard!' another sailor shouted to inform the ship that one of the ships on that side was also getting active. The escaping ship was now in full panic mode. The enemy had pulled in to port, and was sailing at full sail, so that it sailed level with K'rar's ship. Now it was at boarding distance, sailing so close to the starboard side. All hostilities that Levisha had begun were thrown overboard, and he was now obedient to the captain. The Provincian ship had on its deck just three catapults. They would not help at all. Besides, they were forward-firing only. The warships were a bit longer and taller than the small, fast ship, but it couldn't give them a clean pair of sails. The captain of one of the Matalma ships reduced his sails to half sail, and the ship immediately began to slow down, apparently respecting the white flag. One of the four ships ahead slackened its pace, and began to pull starboard a few degrees. K'rar's ship would meet it and be sandwiched between three ships, two to port, and one starboard. It was easy to figure out that the ship ahead was the one Garrera was sailing, and in a few moments this was confirmed, because Garrera was standing by the port side of the vessel. K'rar knew this ship. He recognized it because his father had sailed on it more than a few times on the Azlan sailing to Thermos, and he had come with on one trip. Of course Garrera hadn't mistakenly chosen this ship.
'Is that the General?' Rubio asked K'rar. They were standing near the main mast of the ship, but K'rar could make out Garrera properly.
'It is.'
Garrera stayed there, looking at the Provincian ship until K'rar also mustered the courage to walk to the side of the ship and engage in the staring contest. The ships were close enough, and the sea calm enough, for Garrera to communicate by shouting,
'You cannot escape now!' in response K'rar agreed by shaking his head. He made a gesture to the soldiers behind him, and three of them took bows and arrows, stood along the edge, and pointed them at K'rar. Alain and Rubio immediately planted themselves close to K'rar, hoping to block the arrows if the soldiers shot them.
'But I will not die by your hand!' he shouted across the narrow.
'By whose hand, then?'
'The sea!' K'rar pointed to the bow of the ship. He saw one man bend down to explain to Garrera something, 'but let these men go, I forced myself onto their ship!'
'Why would I do that? I have appeased you long enough!'
'On your honor!' Alain shouted back the answer that K'rar would have shouted back.
Garrera grinned at himself, and turned around, saying something to the man who had spoken to him. The archers withdrew their weapons and walked away from the side of the ship. The sailors on K'rar's ship began to shout joyful cries. But K'rar was not convinced that Garrera had honored his request so easily.
'What the hell is he planning?'
'Well the ships are not slowing down,' Alain pointed out, 'it seems they're escorting us to the Meridian.'
K'rar stayed there with his aides for several minutes, watching the activity on the enemy ship carefully. After almost another hour, K'rar had left the port side and was standing alone at the bow of the ship. He was once more suicidal in his thoughts. This was the second time in just weeks that he was willingly putting himself in front of the Grim Reaper. His mood was resigned and beaten. He had lost men by the hundreds, had lost his entire family, including Ashdud, had left his soldiers in a camp and wandered off like a coward. All of these things summed up to make him feel like a disgrace, a failure. In the aftermath of all this, directly as a result of his failure, the two warmongers Garrera and Tao would begin an unfettered campaign of hostilities and strife against other nations, but first, Tao would make Garrera regret his bad decision. K'rar visualized a Korazin living under the yoke of their mortal enemies, even so far as to picture a slave society. He could picture a Korazin being run by the invisible hand of Goldora, even new laws that Garrera would be forced to pass. He knew that the Reideland District was on Tao's immediate agenda after this imminent sacrifice, and he could picture the denizens of the Reideland being forced out or being suppressed, or something like that.
The voyage went on all day long without incident, the Provincian ship being escorted, and the fleet escorting at close quarters. K'rar stayed on the top deck the whole time, and was given a chair to recline upon. His poignant mood remained, and he spoke to no one. Twice, his thoughts were too heavy, and they became teardrops, and once for very long. He was still at the bow of the ship when the evening came, and the sun began to sink under the western horizon. Then something about a mile ahead caught his attention, and he knew what it was. The ship was closing in on the Ervean Meridian. The captain's words held true about a boundary of the gods. It was clear that the water on the other side was of a different color, a sort of clear green rather than the blue-grey color on this side. Moments later, the same realization had spread through all the sailing ships, and sailors were converging on the deck of all the ships to catch a glimpse, the first glimpse, of the Ervean Meridian, as no fishing or merchant ships ventured this far for any reason.
But something was inconsistent with the captain's description of the lateral line separating the waters. It was not calm on the other side. The closer the flotilla came, the denser and more violent the green sea across became. The clouds and thunderclaps and the strokes of lightning had come early, because the ships were still a good distance away from the meridian. In a few moments the soldiers on both the enemy ships began to assemble on the decks of their ships, and then it suddenly dawned on the Provincian sailors that their ship was doomed. The Korazite sailors were now preparing to board the ship, not to sink it. They made no move, however, other than mobilizing themselves by the number on the decks, and showing no sign of interest in the terrifying sight of the meridian ahead of them. The tip of the sun in the west was the only thing still providing a dim light, but the meridian's weather had now grown exponentially into the most fearful sight that K'rar had ever seen. The dark cloud, true to the captain's words, fell and hovered just a few feet from the surface of the sea across the visible meridian, and one couldn't miss the incessant flashes of lightning that somehow illuminated the place. The dark cloud, the dark presence, stretched to the extremes on both sides across the entire surface. It was like a living being was standing in their way to warn them against crossing the line. K'rar, Rubio, Alain and the captain were standing together in the tip of the bow, all looking as though they had met the gods. The rest of the crew were timidly cocooning in small, terrified numbers, and this was the situation on the fleet ships, even among those standing along the sides.
'The god face,' captain Langlot said, 'it wasn't supposed to be this way. No ship has crossed over. Slow and drop anchor!'
In a moment, the ship was lining up under 50 meters from the edge of the awe-inspiring cloud face staring back at them with malice aforethought. Garrera's ships had anchored at least 10 meters behind them. No captain dared approach the very edge, even though they could simply drop anchor.
'My lord, you cannot go into that,' Rubio threw in a genuine worry.
But somehow K'rar harbored no reservations, although his heart was sunken in dread of the sight. It was as fantastic as it was dangerous. But K'rar knew that he would not hold back from getting on a lifeboat and rowing right into the mix. In fact, he felt as though something was inviting him to jump into the dark. Something was mitigating his fear, when everyone else was horrified. K'rar turned around and pushed through the gathering crowd in the bow of the ship. He was wearing a serious, fearless face when he said to the nearest man.
'Drop me the lifeboat.' The sailors did not move an inch. They were reluctant. So K'rar faced the captain, who said to him,
'My lord, is it really worth it? Is it….'
'I will not be executed before the eyes of my own people. This must be done. The boat, captain.' His people were only the soldiers that were making sure of his death.
The sailors broke, and even though they had wanted to throw the boy under the boat by handing him over, they were remorseful and melancholy as they lowered the lifeboat into the water from the starboard side of the ship. The General was witnessing this. He took the front seat on the warship to see for himself as the boat bounced on the water with the boy in it. He ordered the captain to move the ship closer so he could have a closer look. As a result, all the remaining warships pulled closer to the action, although most of them missed the show, because as soon as K'rar's boat crossed the meridian by one inch, the water violently rose, as though it was conscious of his presence. K'rar stood up in the boat, staring directly at the wall of green water. He wanted to make out a face, something that indicated a conscious presence, but there was just high, violent water. He turned around and took a last look at the lineup of ships, which he barely made out because the sun had now sunk into the sea. Friend and foe alike, they witnessed the event, when his boat was suddenly hurled into the air and smashed to pieces. K'rar did not have time to turn around, nor a chance to choose the alternative. He was separated from the boat and its debris, and only carried his little bag strapped around his torso. Before he landed with a splash in the demonic waters ten feet below, something whacked his head, and everything went black. He was unconscious before he sank into the drink.