Bryn stopped; looked around. Something was not right. Something was missing. It took a moment to realize One Eye had quit snoring. In the far corner, a single golden eye peered up at him. One Eye shook his head and shifted in his chair.
“She’ll be here,” he said. “All that pacing is disturbing my sleep.”
“It’s the only thing that ever has,” Bryn said.
“You should try it sometime,” One Eye countered. “It might sweeten your disposition a little.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my disposition,” Bryn said. “Nothing, that is, that a bit of news wouldn’t fix.”
“Relax.”
“You keep saying that.”
“And you keep ignoring me,” One Eye told him.
“I can’t afford to relax,” Bryn shot back. “People are depending on me.”
“That’s exactly why you can’t afford not to relax,” One Eye said with a smile. “It’s something I learned from yo...well, never mind where I learned it. It’s good advice. Come over here and sit down. I promise all your problems will still be there when you get up again.”
“That’s a relief,” Bryn said. He lowered himself into the chair next to One Eye and leaned back to imitating his friend’s posture. “How’s that?”
“I don’t think you’re trying very hard,” One Eye said. “But, it’s a start.”
One by one, Bryn let his tired muscles relax. He eyes lids slid slowly down. Sleep was out of the question, but he felt better.
“Okay, I’m relaxed,” he said. “No wiser, but relaxed.”
“Wisdom takes time,” One Eye told him. “For now, let that overgrown sense of right and duty take over.”
“We can’t stay here,” Bryn said. “We’re no match for Raryn.”
“And we are dragging a load of human prisoners,” One Eye added.
“We can’t let them go,” Bryn replied. “Or can we?”
“We would do well to be rid of them.”
“And it would force Raryn’s next move,” Bryn sat up. “Tell the troops; we move as soon as it’s light.”
“Now, leave things to me,” One Eye said. “You get some sleep.”
“I think I will,” Bryn closed his eyes again. This time he did relax and sleep rushed in to claim him.
Bryn shielded his eyes from the morning sun as he watched the sick and wounded freed from the cages in Vix wind their way through the trees to the northeast. Their trail would not be hard to follow, but he didn’t think Raryn’s army would bother to pursue them. Bryn didn’t think Raryn could hold the Boubouja without help from the humans. Raryn needed the Lift more than he needed to recapture prisoners. At the moment, the Lift was in the hands of Faryn and one hundred warriors. Once the wounded were safely away from Vix, Bryn would reinforce her. They were still no match for Raryn’s army. However, if they could get the humans back atop the Edge where they belonged and disable the Lift, they might buy enough time to rally an army large enough to restore freedom to Valir.
“I’m relaxed,” Bryn told himself and thought himself a terrible liar.
Small columns of warriors fanned out on the flanks of the mass of humans being pushed east by Bryn’s troops. One Eye made sure the humans offered little resistance.
“Feel free to try and escape,” he encouraged the prisoners before setting out. “My troops have orders to kill any man not with this group. If they don’t, I’m sure our jungle will. Drag your feet on the march and we’ll feed you to the viath.”
A few who tested his sincerity and were left in pools blood to the efficiency of jungle disposal. There was no attempt at stealth. Human and Valir alike crashed through the undergrowth, snapping fallen branches, trampling saplings and scattering floor litter in a riotous invitation for Raryn to follow.
Two hundred miles away the invitation was being delivered. A lightly armed signal corps messenger in a sweat soaked tunic shuffled through the throng of workers stacking stone blocks and masons busily chipping away. He passed a rolled sheaf of bark to a sergeant stationed outside the working quarters of King Raryn. The sergeant tucked the message inside his clothes and disappeared inside while the messenger dropped to the ground beside the guards remaining at the door.
The coming of the king transformed on the sleepy village of Ai into a bustling city overnight. A wall of rough cut timber rose from the southern end of the town towering over the rows of tents and hastily thrown together structures of ground dwelling humans. Human soldiers marched back and forth inside the walls in an endless display of ready power.
The center of the village was giving birth to a wonder never seen by the Valir. A palace of stone, home to the new king, reached from the site of the old council house to touch the trees. A half dozen species of Tettians carrying rock and wood swarmed over the structure in imitation of the jungle ants. Deep within the mass of movement, King Raryn gave instructions for his new throne.
“Highness,” a servant said with a bow. “The sergeant at arms is outside with an important message.”
“Oh, very well,” Raryn said without a glance. “Send him in.”
The sergeant waited with bowed head to be recognized. Raryn continued his unhurried study of some golden fabric smiling as it slipped smoothly through his fingers. He pulled a hand away long enough to wiggle long fingers in the sergeant’s direction.
“Well?” Raryn said when there was no answer.
“A message from Vix,” the soldier said.
Raryn’s narrowed and a wrinkle crossed his brow. He turned still fondling the gold material, but pleasure was gone from his eyes. Long strides carried him to the waiting soldier.Snatching the message from his hands, Raryn ordered him from the room. The crease in his forehead grew deeper as he scanned the writing. He threw the message to the floor and stalked across the room. The sergeant narrowly avoided being hit by the flying door.
“Where did this come from?” the king demanded.
“H-h-highness,” the sergeant stammered. “A signal corps courier delivered it.”
“Was the courier from Vix?”
“Forgive me Highness,” he answered. “I did not ask.”
“Find him and bring him to me,” Raryn snarled.
The report was true. The courier sacrificed a couple of fingers to convince the king. Raryn trod across a carpet of fawning toadies on his way to the human fortress. The royal storm caused less damage in human headquarters. Raryn’s demand to see General Jamal barely registered with the sleepy eyed captain manning the desk outside the general’s office.
“King Raryn,” the general half rose from his seat. “What can I do for you?”
“What are you doing about the attack on Vix?”
“Vix? Oh yes, the prison. What about it? Jamal asked.
“It has been attacked by rebels,” Raryn placed his hands on the general’s desk and leaned closer.
“I’ve heard nothing about this,” Jamal said. “When?”
“Yesterday,” Raryn assured him. “You’re entire garrison is dead or taken prisoner.”
“And how do you know this?’
“I have an army of my own,” Raryn sneered. “And, I keep my eyes open.”
“Then, why don’t use use your army?” The general chided.
“I fully intend to,” Raryn said. “But, we will not be bothered about your troops. I cannot say the same for Lord Zett when word of your lack of interest reaches his ears.”
Jamal
stroked his beard as he stared at Raryn with his heavy lidded eyes. The king’s
threat to report him was as hollow as the head from which it rolled. Inwardly,
he toyed with the idea of setting the old bird straight. The day for that would
come. At the moment, he found the possibility of an armed resistance appealing.
It certainly had more charm than the prospect of doing nothing but rotting away
in this humid hell hole.
“Very
well.” Jamal leaned back in his chair. “It can’t hurt to have a look.”
“I
intend to do a great deal more than look,” Raryn assured him. “I want them annihilated.”
“Have
you considered where these rebels came from?” The general asked.
“What
do you mean?”
“I
mean, were we mistaken to think the Boubouja was secure?” Jamal lit his pipe
and exhaled a cloud of blue smoke toward the ceiling. “If it was secure there
should be no resistance left. But, what if the new threat comes from outside?”
“We
hold the Lift,” Raryn reminded him. “How could outsiders get in?”
“The
Lift is not the only way into and out of the Boubouja,” the general said. “It’s
merely the easiest to use.”
“Eeryn?
You’re thinking Eeryn is behind this?”
The
general raised an eye brow and gave his head a quick tip.
“It is
possible,” he said. “Even probable.”
Raryn lowered himself into a chair as he
studied the general.
“Yes,
it does make sense,” the king said.
While
Raryn and Jamal readied their troops for a march to Vix, Bryn Bou and the rear
guard caught up to One Eye by the shores of the Hiddekel. He had a feeling
about where he might find what he was looking for. The building housing the Lift’s
machinery was a tall wooden structure with a thatched roof that stood on stilts
in the center of the compound. Through the open door, he saw Faryn. His heart
began to beat again. Her back was to him as she was explaining the workings to
One Eye. He was struck by the realization that he might not know her as well as
he believed. He never considered that she might be mechanically inclined.
“So, it
is easily disabled,” she said. “From this end without destroying the Lift
altogether.”
“I like
it,” One Eye told her.
“So do
I,” Bryn chimed in. “I don’t know what it is, but I like it.”
“Bryn,”
she cried and charged into his arms. “I missed you.”
“I wonder,”
he teased. “You seem to be doing fine without me.”
“I was
just showing One Eye the locks Vulryn made to keep the Lift from operating
without having to destroy it.”
“It’s
just a series of wedges,” Vulryn said as he joined them. “But, they will do the
job. We can stop the Lift from coming down whenever we want to. Of course, the
humans should be able to do the same thing to keep us from going up.”
“Let’s
see how willing they are to do that,” One Eye said. “I’ll start sending these
humans back where they came from.”
The car
was loaded with as many humans as seemed safe, however it refused to move. The
humans had their own brake. One Eye used the commuwire to explain to the men at
the top that he intended to send humans up or feed them to the viath in the
river. He gave the operators thirty seconds to decide which it would be. The
car began to move up.
“How
many died on the way here?” Bryn asked.
“Only a
small handful of extremely stupid ones,” One Eye said. “No great loss.”