by Guy Antibes
“Actually, we had rock battles when I was growing up,” Jack said.
“You didn’t cheat?” Haruno asked. “Wizards of rank eight can affect the direction of things.”
“I didn’t even think to do that,” Jack said, slapping his forehead. “I would have done better in archery too. My wizard bolts probably raised my ranking. I’m still happy with my ranking. I’m happy with all our rankings. We can be on our way.”
“Not to mention your teleportation,” Grigar said.
Namori stared at Jack. “You can teleport?”
“Grigar can too.”
Namori looked at Haruno. “No wonder they rated so high,” she said. “You will be useful in rescuing my mother.”
Jack looked at Grigar. “There are limitations to teleporting, you know.”
“But you can move past a locked door. That is enough,” Namori said. “And you are a warrior too. Father will be very pleased. However…”
“There always is a however,” Tanner said.
“You may need more training. Training that I am not able to give,” Namori said. “There are advanced styles for other purposes in Masukaian martial arts. We will talk about it while we travel to Yomomai.”
Chapter Nine
~
K iro Ganshi sent word that he wasn’t returning for another week, so Namori decided on her own to outfit them, and they would meet her father in Aimaru. She sent the message that afternoon, while Haruno bought horses and supplies.
That night a servant brought more clothes for everyone. Jack was given a nicer robe along with a peaked hat that covered his blondish hair. Most ranked people customarily wore hats in Masukai. Grigar wore the same hat, so it must have been for wizards. Tanner, Helen, and Namori wore scaled leather armor. Jack’s metal armor and weapons were tucked away with Helen’s and Tanner’s underneath a false floor on a cart that a servant would drive all the way to Yomomai. Namori insisted that people of their rank would do so, especially wizards.
“What is your rank, since you know ours?” Tanner asked.
Namori blushed. “Warrior-Six, newly promoted while you have been with us, but I will be up to seven after a few months at Yomomai. I’m not going to the capital just for my mother. You’ll see.”
Jack didn’t see, but he was just concentrating on how to appear less conspicuous. He was the tallest of a group of tall people among the shorter Masukaians, but he chose the shortest horse so he wouldn’t look so tall riding with the others.
Jack was anxious about passing through the gate leading out of Taiyo. Every rank card was examined. Even the driver had a rank card that he presented to the guard.
When Jack presented his card, the guard looked up at him. “So young for someone so accomplished. The blue eyes are a nice touch for a wizard,” the guard said. He bowed most deeply to Jack, since Jack still noticed bows.
He didn’t know how he felt being treated better since he knew he wasn’t nearly as experienced as his traveling companions, and that included Namori.
They left the city and passed through clusters of villages. Even out of the city, they had to show their rank cards to constables four times before they passed the second town on the road.
Other than the architecture, the countryside didn’t seem much different than lands around Raker Falls. Masukai was a bit more humid and wet, but not remarkably so. There were trees and shrubs Jack hadn’t noticed on the other continent. He wondered if there were Masukaian herbs that Fasher could use…or Penny if she took the extended herbal classes.
Jack gazed at the different varieties of trees as they entered into a forest. An arrow zipped past the driver’s nose, and he dived into the cart.
“Bandits!” Namori said, drawing her sword.
Jack pulled out his trusty wand and scanned the sides of the road. He spotted a black sleeve sticking out from a tree and aimed a wizard bolt. There was a scream as the bandit showed more of himself. The battle was joined.
So much for honor in Masukai, Jack thought as they rode into the forest in different directions. Jack didn’t go too far since the robbers might be after what they were transporting.
Seven men converged on the cart. The servant tried to clamber out of the cart but was cut down. Jack was shocked at the casual taking of the unarmed servant’s life. He could deal with these men without conscience and without honor. He rode into the men who were beginning to climb into the cart.
It didn’t take long before Tanner joined him fighting the bandits. Namori limped into the road with an arrow sticking out of her thigh. Jack felt a thump, and his arm had just sprouted a new branch. He gritted his teeth and turned back into the wood, finding three archers trying to evade him. Jack wasn’t in any shape to ask for surrender.
He grimaced as he dismounted. Namori was already on the ground receiving treatment from Grigar.
“Welcome to Masukai,” Jack said, as Helen returned at last.
“They are no longer a threat. There were twelve of them. The servant?” Helen asked.
“Dead,” Tanner said, his eyes still moving, alert for more robbers.
Namori looked better. Jack took out a healing rod. “Hold onto this,” he said. “I think I’ll have to make more.”
“What is this? I can feel power moving into me.”
“It is a healing rod,” Tanner said. “Those kept me alive last year when I was very ill. Jack made those too.”
“A true Akkora-blessed,” Namori said, looking at the rod in her hand. “I was uncertain about that, but not now. If you had demonstrated that to the magistrates, your wizard rating might have risen by two levels.”
The Lajian nodded with a grunt. “Let’s get you in the cart,” Grigar said. Tanner helped him lift Namori into the bed of the cart.
“And guess who the new driver will be?” Grigar said to Jack as he removed the arrow from his upper arm.
The arrowhead hadn’t even gone in all the way, but the healing power of Grigar still hurt him just as much as if it had. The benefit was that his arm felt much better.
“You should be back to normal in a few days,” Grigar said. “Namori will take longer.”
Jack nodded. “I can make more healing rods.”
Grigar frowned. “Not too many. I don’t encourage their use since it sometimes makes the patient dependent on them.”
Jack looked up at Tanner, now mounted again. “Were you dependent on my healing rods?”
The man blushed. “A little, especially the power rods.”
“I had to take them away sometimes,” Helen said. “He was like a little tot having a sugar biscuit confiscated.”
“Oh,” Jack said. “I’ll have to talk to Fasher about that.”
Grigar patted Jack on the shoulder. “If I had access to them, I would use them for the first day of an injury, so don’t think I don’t approve of them used properly.”
Jack nodded. They had all spoken Masukaian the entire time, and sometimes the conversation lagged, as one would have to think of the right way to get the point across.
He climbed up on the wagon and moved his arm around. The wound was a bit tender, but he could have ridden if the driver hadn’t been killed.
“What do we do with the bodies?” Helen asked Namori.
“Stack them at the side of the road. It isn’t honorable to rummage through the bodies. Let the constables do that. We need to document the driver’s death. He wasn’t a manor servant,” Namori said. “Three of us need to put our thumbprints and write our name on the ranking card. That will void it, should someone come and steal it.”
They used the blood of the servant for the thumbprints while Namori searched her saddlebags for a pencil. “It isn’t proper to use pencil for an official document, but we aren’t anywhere proper, are we?”
Jack shook his head. That done, the servant’s body was lined up along with the others, and they left the corpses on the side of the row in an orderly line. It seemed very odd, but they were in Masukai, not Corand. As he drove away, he wo
ndered if the robbers would have done the same to their victims’ bodies.
~
They stayed at a roadside inn, which Namori said was more common in Masukai since more people traveled on foot. As they walked in, a placard was posted beside the front door, a sliding affair like most doors in Masukai.
Roadside Inn - Four, the placard stated.
“Is four any good?” Tanner asked Namori as he helped her from the cart. She tested her thigh and hobbled into the inn.
“I wouldn’t stay at anything less. Four means clean rooms and edible food,” she said. “Inns are inspected twice a year. A rating might improve or slip during your journey,” she said. “Anything ranked six or above is somewhere my father might stay. Four is good enough for us. The price is also based on the ranking.”
“I guess that makes sense. I suppose the inspectors are ranked?” Grigar asked. Now that they were out in the countryside, his time in Taiyo had less relevance.
“They are. It is a specialized rating since they test for how well a person inspects target inns. You are better off as a warrior. You have the freedom to move about, an inspector is more restricted to the major roads.” Namori’s explanation was interrupted by the innkeeper asking for payment, which Namori provided.
Jack watched the transaction. He knew how to talk about renting a room, but he never had seen someone actually do it. An envelope was pushed across the counter, and the customer slipped coins inside. The keys were different than the ones at their inn at Taiyo. These were four-inch rods with protuberances.
They reached their rooms finding their way through two courtyards. The setup was reminiscent of Ganshi’s manor. A lock was on the front of the sliding door. Jack compared the number of the room with the number on the key and slipped it into the cylindrical lock. He twirled the key until the lock opened. After sliding the door open, he entered the room and noticed brackets for the lock on the inside. The walls were made of thick paper over a wooden frame. The pattern of the frame wasn’t as intricate as at Ganshi’s manor, but it let in plenty of light from the courtyard. The back wall was solid wood. Jack noticed the walls were plastered on the outside. That would keep robbers from entering from the rear.
Even in the inn, the wood was aromatic and scented the room. Jack sat down on the thick, woven mat with his back against the wall and looked at the paper. He noticed a bright spot and rose to investigate.
Jack smiled when he discovered a hole in the paper. Evidently, it wasn’t difficult to poke one out. He would have to warn Helen. Jack took a sheet of blank paper and tore a small piece and licked it, moistening the paper and stuck it over the hole. As he examined the wall of paper, he found he wasn’t the first to block a hole.
A bell rang denoting that dinner was ready. Jack sat down in the common room. Low tables and cushions made the room seem larger than it was.
“There are holes in the paper windows,” Jack said.
Namori smiled. “You can patch them, but anyone can poke another hole. It isn’t hard. You moisten the paper until it is soft and then push with your finger. It isn’t very polite, and anyone caught doing such a thing is expelled from the inn, and an entry is made on the inn’s register, which inspectors will take and record those who are caught. If you had done such a thing at my father’s mansion, it would have been a serious breach of etiquette.”
“Does it affect the inn’s rating?” Tanner asked.
Namori smiled. “It does, especially if one of the staff is caught. We have naughty people in Masukai as I’m sure you do in Corand.”
“Naughty wouldn’t be the term I’d use for the robbers we fought today,” Grigar said.
“Another ranking of criminal. Naughty is someone who isn’t malicious,” she replied
Jack thought of his past crimes as naughty, like sneaking out at night to drink purloined ale with his friends and playing tricks on the unsuspecting. It had been awhile since he had even gone over the line with a prank.
Their meal consisted of lightly fried vegetables that were supposed to be dipped in some kind of sauce with rice. They had been served much the same kind of meals at Ganshi’s manor. This rendition of the dish wouldn’t have matched Kiro’s standards, that was for sure, but after a day on the road, it certainly was acceptable. Jack worried that they had been spoiled the last six months in Taiyo.
They were about done with their meal when a squad of constables entered the inn, inquiring at the bar. The innkeeper pointed in their direction.
“You are Namori Ganshi?” the constable asked, but as he talked, he looked at Jack, Helen, and Tanner.
“I am,” Namori said after she rose from her cushion and bowed to the constable, who barely tilted his head.
Jack took that as a symbol of official arrogance.
“There are thirteen bodies on the road from Taiyo.”
“Twelve bandits and the driver of our cart,” Namori said.
“Ranking cards, please,” the constable said.
Jack had left his in the room. “Mine is in my room.”
The constable looked grim, but he assigned one of his men to escort Jack. The man didn’t respond to a single question from Jack. The constable stood at the door and didn’t enter the room as Jack removed his sandals and retrieved his card and handed it to the constable, who opened it.
“Wizard-Eight, ?”
Jack nodded. “Shall we return to the common room?”
The constable bowed more deeply than his leader as he let Jack walk ahead of him. Jack wondered if there was a protocol for doing that.
By the time Jack returned, everyone had stood at their table. Jack’s escort gave the ranking card to the leader. He looked at the card and then at Jack. “This is you?”
Jack nodded
“You can prove you are a Wizard-Eight?”
Jack teleported behind the leader. “Is this good enough?”
The constable-leader jumped at Jack’s voice. “It is.” He returned the card to Jack. “So many men were struck down by wizard bolts. I didn’t believe that five people could defeat the band in the woods. They have been plaguing this area for a few years.”
Jack wondered why such an orderly country would permit brigands to terrorize the countryside.
“Your having a Wizard-Seven and a Wizard-Eight answers my questions.” The man bowed a bit more deeply. Jack matched Namori’s bow, and they watched the constables leave the inn. Jack hadn’t noticed how tense the common room had become until the men departed.
“Shall we finish?” Grigar asked.
Jack hadn’t lost his appetite. He nodded at Namori and helped her sit at her place. Her wound evidently continued to bother her.
“What would have happened if I was only a Warrior-Six?” Jack said using the ranking nomenclature the constables used.
“We might have been brought in for questioning,” Namori said. “Now is as good a time as any to tell you some unpleasant things about Masukai. Officials are subject to bribes. The man who did the questioning is the local constabulary leader, and he just lost one of the probably many streams of income,” Namori said quietly. “The brigands most likely paid the leader a percentage of their thefts. Maybe the leader fenced the stolen items.” Namori shrugged. “Bribery is part of Masukai culture as much as honor is. Honor often turns a blind eye to money-making opportunities.”
“Or if there is power to be gained,” Jack said.
“That is correct. If we were taken in, the easiest way to have been freed would be to place money into the hands of the constables.”
Jack had been a bit too idealistic when he wrote his answers to Kiro Ganshi’s questions, but he didn’t regret doing it since it was how he felt. Surely there must be some truly honorable people in the country.
“I am a member of an organization that looks down on such things.” She looked around the room. “I will tell you about it when we travel tomorrow. For now, eat up. I will.”
Chapter Ten
~
W hen they stopped
to rest the horses in the middle of the morning, Namori had them gather around the cart.
“I am a member of the Pearl Mist. It is an organization that has ended up being a counter to the Red Herons. Pearl Mist headquarters are in Aimaru, but our main academy is located in Yomomai. My father used to be a leader, but that is in the past. He is still called upon to advise. We are a group of warriors and wizards who feel that honor is above all, even bribery.”
Now Kiro’s reaction to Jack’s writings made more sense. “You seek their help in the matter of your mother?”
“They can’t really help. Officially, they exist to support Emperor Rakota. My mother and brother have been hostages for years. They are not the only ones the emperor has sequestered in Yomomai. They aren’t in prison but are under guard in a compound. My father had to buy a house for them. They can wander around Yomomai, but they have minders watching. Nobles and prominent families in other areas of Yomomai have family in similar circumstances. It is how the emperor controls the country.
“That used to happen in Lajia and in Corand,” Grigar said. “The practice was outlawed when the rulers were eventually overthrown.”
“Revolution won’t happen in Masukai,” Namori said. “Our emperor is the head of the government. It would take an act of Akkora to dislodge him.”
“I am Akkora’s blessed. Perhaps I can be of help.”
Namori giggled. “I don’t think your level of Akkora’s blessing will do any Masukaian a bit of good.” She said it good-naturedly, but the rejection of his thinking was plain to see. “But I can do your mother some good? I would think the emperor would send his soldiers to recapture your mother.”
“That isn’t how it works. The hostage-taking is a serious challenge. If the hostages are removed from Yomomai, they are pardoned, but can never be permitted to enter the capital for the rest of their lives. That is the way it has been for centuries or even millennia.”
Jack didn’t agree. The kings he read about would have found a way to punish Kiro Ganshi. He couldn’t believe that the way honor was practiced in Masukai would be any different, but he kept his mouth shut.