by C. Litka
02
We had finished our buns by the time we reached home. Home was a tree house/cave, a three char-bun stroll from the shipyards. I pushed through the gate in the thorn hedge, walked along the short path through wild-growing flowers and pulled myself up a pole-ladder to a broad platform built around the thick trunk of a wide-spreading fist tree laced with flowering vines. Being a typical island dwelling, it was merely a platform with a system of sliding beetle-proof screens and waterproof fabric walls that could be shifted about to form various sized and purposed rooms. The unique feature of our digs was that half of the platform was set into a shelf in the stone cliff that ran alongside the tree. The rooms set in the rock allowed me to sleep in actual darkness. The natives never associated sleeping with darkness, but I enjoyed the chance to have a bit of night to sleep in, or even to sit around "at night" after work, so it was the perfect cottage for me. In addition to these tree houses, there are many stone-built ground cottages scattered throughout the islands as well, which are much more secure in the occasional serratas. From talking to my coworkers, I gather that the style of dwelling you live in depended on how much you liked living in the open air or feared the serratas - and how many friends you had with stone cottages. I had the best of both.
I washed up, changed out of my work clothes and followed Hissi up to the top of the cliff where we tied up our little, electric motored boat. Hissi slipped on board as I untied it. Then, with the quiet whirl of the rear mounted fan I steered it through a narrow gap in the branches and vines out into the wide-sky sea.
We leisurely wove our way through the flock of ships and boats in the busy anchorage towards the usual Temtre landing pier close to the inner harbor.
My heart skipped a beat as it swung into view and I saw the familiar shape and declarative hull pattern of the Wind Drifter. The island breeze carried the sound of laughter and I could see children playing on the deckhouse and in the rigging. EnVey had already collected the clan families for the journey to the Assembly.
'It looks like we're going to the Assembly, Hissi.'
Hissi barked a loud laugh, eager to visit her dragon friends - and the children - on board. She shot out ahead even before I edged the launch alongside and hailed for a line.
TaFin, the first mate, pushed his way through the press of young people who had gathered, peering over to the bulwark to see who was calling for a line.
'Litang! Come aboard, the Captain is eager to be on his way. We all are,' he said, glaring at the youngsters and adding gruffly, 'Give me some room to toss a line.'
I secured the launch and stepped across to gangplank gate.
'Litang! Welcome a'board!' exclaimed the black clad EnVey with a grin, as he sauntered over, the youngsters scattering before him. 'Are you ready to sail? Time is of the essence. My meager store of patience is already dangerously close to exhaustion.'
'My kit bag is packed. All I have to do is stop by the shipyard office,' I said, as we clasped wrists in greeting.
'Excellent. Still, I suppose we must give your dragon friend a little time for gossiping. We'll have a glass of tey and a bit of gossip ourselves. Let's retire to my deck - it should be more quiet there - it had better be, if the young pups know what's good for them,' he added, glaring around, but the youngsters had drifted back to play, so he continued conversationally, 'I was afraid I wouldn't find you here. I crossed courses with Captain EnTar. He said that you'd been promoted to chief engineer of a Varenta Islands tramp.'
'I was.'
'It was a promotion, wasn't it?' he asked with a grin.
'Yes, it was. But knowing that I had to be here before the Blossom Festival, I signed on for only one cruise. I've been working in the S & D shipyards waiting for you since I returned. They know my plans, so all I need to do is tell them my ship has arrived, and I'm ready to sail. Or as ready as I will ever be.'
He grinned again. 'Having second thoughts, are we?'
'A few. I'm remembering how I became a Temtre. I'm not sure every Temtre is as forgiving as you.'
'Few are. Still, you can - probably - trust DeKan,' he said with a laugh, and then called to his steward for tey. 'Take a seat,' he added, with a wave to a table and stools set on the small deck, faintly checkered in light and shade from the overhead grid of beams. 'Keeping out of trouble since we last crossed courses?'
'Can't get into too much trouble crawling around the guts of a ship working on its electric system - if you're careful, anyway.' And we went on talking of this and that - my voyage with the Lora Lakes was just a filming expedition in my telling, no hint of the mutiny or the soul stones - until his steward brought a domed tray of small sweets, the cylindrical glass tey pot with a piston top to pump out the tey and a pair of thick glass mugs with covers.
TaFin stepped around the deckhouse just as the steward departed. 'Another visitor to see you, Cap'n. Would you believe, a Laezan. No doubt wants to steer you closer to the Way. Or collect some coins. Care to run either risk?'
'No danger of the former. Give him some coins and send him on his "Way."'
TaFin was back less than a minute later. 'Says he needs to speak to you on a pressing matter. Wouldn't tell me more.'
'By the Dragon, just toss him overboard, TaFin. Can't you see I'm busy?' exclaimed EnVey.
'Right you are, Cap'n,' said TaFin with an eager grin, touching his brow in an informal salute.
'Do you think that's wise?' I said as he pumped the tey into my glass.
He shrugged. 'Oh, I'll have TaFin toss him some coins as well?' he muttered as we heard a muffled scuffle beyond the deckhouse.
A moment later, the Laezan, dressed in the traditional "blues" - the light blue jacket, dark blue shirt and pants with the yellow sash, with a low crowned wide brimmed hat stepped around the deck house.
'Captain?' he asked, and caught sight of me. He broke into a his broad, boyish smile 'Wilitang!'
He hadn't changed a bit in the 2,500 rounds since I'd last seen him.
'Magistrate!' I exclaimed standing and cupping my hands with a brief bowing greeting.
Cupping his hands briefly in reply to my greeting, he crossed the deck to give me a bear hug. We pounded each other on their back, and we each asked how the other was doing and what brought each of us here. An angry TaFin had staggered around the corner of the deckhouse and EnVey looked on with an amused smile.
'I take it, you know each other,' he said, after Py and I stood back grinning, to take each other in.
'Why this is Magistrate LinPy,' I said, glancing to EnVey. 'The magistrate I served while in the Marches of Daeri after I arrived in the Dontas. I've told you those stories.'
'Ah, yes. The Young Magistrate Py.'
'The one and only. LinPy, this gentleman is Clan-chief EnVey, captain of the Wind Drifter, Chief of the Crea Clan. He's the fellow who tried to kill me when I was with the Temtres. I spared his life, forgave him, and now he's an old friend.'
'He stuck his knife into me, crippling me for life. And, as I recall, it was he who apologized afterward and I who forgave him. I am a very forgiving fellow. Why, I'll even forgive your insistence on seeing me, Magistrate - and the rough handling of my mate,' he said, casting his wicked grin towards a red faced TaFin with a nod of dismissal.
Py laughed, and bowed, 'Thank you Clan-chief. I am sorry to have insisted on seeing you, but it is about a matter of great importance for all of the Temtre clans.'
'So what's this pressing matter, Magistrate LinPy?'
'I'm now an advocate, rather than a magistrate, and a simple Py will do for an old friend of Wilitang. As for being here, I've been given an urgent message from my Order to your Clan-king and all the Temtres. The Elders of the Order feel that with the clans assembling for the Blossom Festival, now is the perfect time - before the warship from the Saraime arrives.'
'I'm afraid that the Assembly is for the Temtres only. Guests are not welcomed, as Litang discovered the last time he visited it. I will, however, be happy to convey your Order's m
essage. Ah, warship?'
Py smiled. 'He told stories about it. Very discreetly, I assure you. But given the dire consequences of the message not reaching the Temtres, which involves that warship, I think you can bend the rules in my case. I give you my word of honor that I shall respect the secrets of the Temtres.'
'Dire consequences?'
'Temtre ships and lives will be lost if the message fails to reach the clan and taken to heart.'
'What message? Can't you just tell me?'
'I can, but I was charged with delivering it in person to your Clan-king. It involves Temtre activity in the SaraDal Islands.'
'Ah? I've heard some ship-talk about that. Another tey cup, Dal!' he called out to his steward. 'Have a seat, and tell all. Even if I can't deliver you, I'd be happy to deliver any message from the Order of Laeza,' he said with his rather evil smile.
'So you're an Advocate now,' I said as we took our seats around the small table.
He smiled, 'Yes, though I miss the Marches and the people. Their problems are so quaint compared to some I've had to deal with.'
'You've found your bandits to lead to the Way.'
He shrugged. 'I've found the greedy and the powerful. But simple, colorful bandits, no. The greedy and powerful are usually not pleasant people, Wilitang. I would much rather lead simple bandits to the Way. Oh, I am not without my successes and though not all find the Way, they learn to treat others in accordance with the Way. And then with a bright smile, added, 'Perhaps the Temtres are more like honest bandits than the greedy mine owners and the city criminal gangs I've had to lead back to the Way.'
'We are merely keen traders and businessmen,' said EnVey. 'Most of us, anyway? Well, I and my clan are.'
'I believe you, Clan-chief, since you trade amongst the big Donta Principalities where piracy is frowned on. But in the fringes, as I am sure you know, things are different. The old ways are still followed. My message is for those Temtres of the fringe islands, specifically, the SaraDal islands.'
What followed was a long conversation, which I'll briefly summarize. The SaraDal Islands are several dozen medium sized islands, each ruled by a prince, under a Prime Prince on the island of SarLa. The island princes operate small fleets of ships - traders, opportunist pirates, and occasional raiders, very much along the lines of the Temtre - except that each prince has an island base and estates from which they derive much of their trade goods - farms, mines, and crafts. The common people of these islands are little more than serfs of their island's prince. A recent and bitterly contested war of succession amongst the princes of SaraDal, destroyed many of these island princes' ships, leaving their islands poorly defended - making them easy and tempting targets for raids by the SaraDal's age old rivals, the Temtres.
The common people of the SaraDals have long relied on the Order of Laeza to mediate and mitigate their exploitation by the royal caste. Left undefended, they turned to the Order for protection from the Temtre who, taking advantage of the SaraDal princes' weakness, have been pillaging, raping, and murdering them without consequences. The new Prime Prince, realizing his remaining princes were unable to protect his Principality, agreed to finance the Order's efforts to protect his islands and people. Neither he, nor the Order believed that arming the people to protect themselves would be wise. So the Order persuaded the Prime Prince to petition the Council of the Seven Core Islands to send one of their modern, steel warships to the SaraDals to destroy any Temtre raiders.
The Prime Islanders are eager to spread their law and modern ways into the smaller Principalities - the islands of the broad-feathered peoples. However, in order to do so peacefully, they respect the sovereignty of all the small, predominantly broad-feathered principalities, intervening only in the case of inter-principality wars or when petitioned to. Thus, the Council was happy to send a warship to eliminate the type of violent activity they hope to eventually eliminate from all of the Saraime - especially since the Prime Prince agreed to pay for its operation. However, negotiations between the fringe islands of the Dontas and the Core Islands takes time and only now was the warship set to sail, likely after the Blossom Festival.
The Order also persuaded the Prime Prince to finance a system of hidden island watch stations, equipped with radar to track Temtre ships and radios to warn the people of possible raids everywhere within the SaraDal islands, making the warship even more effective. The Order has had this system set up and running for some time now, saving lives but not property.
Being familiar with Prime Island designed ships, I assured EnVey that it would be ten times as fast as a Temtre ship, and being equipped with radar and guided missiles, it could easily destroy any Temtre ship before they even knew they were under attack. Temtres simply did not stand a chance of success in a battle or have any hope of escaping such a ship, insuring the destruction of every Temtre ship raiding in the SaraDal.
Py said that in order to avoid this loss of life, both SaraDal and Temtre, the Order was warning the Temtre of the consequences of continuing to raid. They hoped that all the Temtres would change their old ways, for other long suffering principalities might take the opportunity of a Saraime warship in the Dontas to rid themselves of pirates and raiders as well.
'This is the message I am charged with delivering to your Clan-king and people,' Py concluded. 'It can be looked on, of course, as a warning - an ultimatum even - but it is also an invitation to meet with the Elders of the Order and Prince of SaraDal to find new ways to live and prosper within the Way and our islands. For, you see, the ways of the fine-feathered people and the gentle Way are seeping into even the fringe islands. The old ways, and the peoples who follow them are fading away.'
'Ha!' said EnVey, shaking his head. 'Good luck with delivering that message.'
'I don't expect it to be well received,' admitted Py, 'But I trust you realize that what I have to say must be heard, believed, and acted upon for the good of all the Temtre clans. At the very minimum, the clans should avoid the SaraDal Islands after returning from your Assembly.'
EnVey stared out over the bulwarks to the wide-sky for a while. 'Unless we want to die with the old ways,' he muttered. 'Still, I will, of course, deliver your message. Litang can, I'm sure, provide the details of Core Island devices that we would be facing. I cannot, however, take you to the Assembly. It is against the laws and customs of the clan. There may be some captains or clan-chiefs who could defy that custom, but I'm not one of them. I'm ill regarded and have little or no say in the matters of the clan. I can do no more than carry your message. And well, I must admit knowing whose nose this message will tweak, I think I'm doing you a favor by saving you from tweaking it.'
I gave EnVey a look. 'DeKan's?'
He shook his head no. 'DinDay's.'
'Ah?' I had dealings with Clan-chief DinDay. His was not a nose I'd care to tweak either. He'd likely bite off your hand.
EnVey nodded. 'It is the Din Clan who sail in that region of the Dontas. The Dins are traditional, old style, Temtres, so raiding is right up his line. Litang and I will carry your message and argue your case. Why, I seem to recall that Litang is some sort of minor member of your Order already, so he stands in both decks and can deliver the warning as a gold-token agent of the Clan-king and a Laezan. The Clan-king DeKan is more far seeing than DinDay. He may well see how the currents are flowing and act on your warning.'
As I mentioned, I was already leery of my status within the clan as it was - gold-token or not - and wasn't overly eager to be the bearer of this warning. But clearly, it was my duty to both the Order and the Temtres to do what I could to keep the Temtres from doing something foolish, so I hoped I didn't hesitate too long before saying, 'I would be happy to act as the Order's messenger. I'm certain I can argue the case almost as persuasively as you, with greater safety.'
Py nodded and smiled, but said nothing as he, in turn, pondered his reply.
'You put me in a dilemma,' he said, at last. 'I am very reluctant to abandon my mission so early on by simpl
y handing it over to either of you. It is my mission, not yours. I know that the message will almost certainly be ill received, and whoever delivers it, or has a hand in delivering it, risks disfavor, if not worse. But considering the consequences, the risk is worth running. I am determined to bear that risk. As an Advocate, I am expected to risk my life in pursuit of my mission. I believe we can find a way to...'
And catching my slight smile - I knew Py well enough to know that he enjoys running those risks. He may have never dreamed of steering 10,000 semi-pirates to the Way, but I'm sure he relished the chance. In any event, he added, 'Wilitang knows my foolish boyhood dreams - and my pride - as well. This mission suits my dreams too well for me to simply give it up?
'However, I was about to say that I believe you could carry me to the gathering with no blame attached to you, Captain EnVey. My mentor did not expect me to be welcomed with open arms aboard a Temtre ship. She suggested that you could consider me a hostage awaiting ransom and carried to the Assembly, as many others have been before me.'
EnVey burst out laughing. 'Ransom a Teacher of Laeza! Is there any coins in that? Why, I'd be considered even more the fool than I am already, if I arrived at the Assembly with a hostage Laezan.'
Py smiled and shrugged. 'I doubt most Laezans would yield many coins from the Order, but for this mission, my master has authorized me to say that the Order would pay a reasonable and customary ransom for my safe return. Since outsiders are often brought to the gathering while awaiting their ransom, no blame can be attached to you for bringing me. And, I should add, you will get your ransom.'
'A couple of hundred gold coins for a Laezan?'
Py smiled again. 'You will need to negotiate my price with my mentor. She did say that she would pay the customary ransom, but just how much that is, she didn't say. I didn't press her, but I'm curious to see how many gold coins I'm worth.'
'I'm sure you'd get a good price for him, EnVey. I know that they value him highly. Especially since the coins would likely come directly out of the Prime Prince's treasure cave,' I said with a laugh. 'It's a solid business proposition. No one could fault you for that.'
'Really?' he muttered, looking to both of us while weighing the profit against the risks of bringing LinPy and his message to the Assembly. He shook his head. 'No - no one would believe I'd taken him hostage. My clan doesn't take hostages. We're merely keen traders.
'And truth be told, I'd not miss DimDay and his clan? Still, I suppose I must do the right thing, according to the Way? So here's what I propose. You, Teacher Py, travel to the Assembly as Litang's guest. Litang is, after all, a gold-token agent of the Clan-king. Calling DeKan's attention to a pressing danger to the clan could be seen as his duty as an agent, and bringing you along to make the case, well, I think the case can be made for that as well. DeKan is a good fellow. He is more Temtre than I, but he's no old fool like DinDay. He admires boldness and bravery, and I think he respects Litang enough that Litang runs little risks of displeasure. I may charge your Master a fee for your passage - but we will see how events unfold before settling on any amount.'
'So you're willing to put your head into the dragon's mouth for a few gold coins on the pretext that he is my guest?' I asked, giving him a sidelong look.
He grinned. 'Not a few, I assure you. I'll get my ransom for his passage. But it is for the greater good of the clan, not the coins? I resent your smile, Litang. In any case, I think my risk is minor. I can't be more disliked than I am already and DeKan will likely appreciate not only the warning, but the fellow who dares delivering it. Plus, you have the gold-token that I dare not refuse.
'However, I should add, Py, that I cannot, and will not, offer anything more than transportation to the Assembly and back - if you're still alive to return. Once there, you're on your own. Both of you, for that matter. I'm only willing to take you to Assembly Island because I believe DeKan will treat you as merely the messengers. Are we agreed? Py sails with us as your guest, Litang.'
'Aye. As my guest. I am honored to serve both the Order and the Temtres in this matter.'
'Say it again, this time with conviction, Litang,' laughed EnVey.
'I am honored. But I also fear it will be no picnic on the sward either. Still, I'm sure having Py on board will do wonders for your morals, EnVey. You'll be a far less keen trader after this voyage. And have many more bruises to show for it. Py likes to steer his flock of cutthroats to the Way with his iron vine staff.'
'A risk I will gladly run!'
Py beamed. 'You and I, my friend Wilitang, will both lead them all a little closer to the Way. I trust you are still in practice with your sword and dagger.'
'I am happy to say, my dear Py, that I am not. I have lived a largely quiet life, with little need of swords and daggers.'
'Never mind, we have the voyage ahead to remedy that.'
EnVey, clapped. 'Excellent! We'll have so much fun? At least until we arrive, and hopefully, even afterward. Gather your kits. Time is short!'
Chapter 32 The Assembly Revisited