Richard Tuttle - Winged Warrior

“That can also work against Vand,” countered the Torak. “When word does get out, make sure that everyone knows that there was no chance for anyone to surrender. Vand does not plan to take any prisoners. We are all in this fight to the death, whether we want to be or not.”

“Well,” sighed Lyra, “the people are going to learn about what happened at Duran whether we tell them or not. It is only a matter of time. I propose that we use that time to determine how we will notify the people. I want to do it in a controlled manner so that the citizens can have their questions addressed rather than gather among themselves and spread rumors.”

“A wise decision,” agreed the Torak. “Khadora already has a mechanism that I can use to accomplish the task. It is the Assembly of Lords. You need something similar in the Sakova where you can have officials from each city gather. That way you can explain it to the assembly and then each of them can go home to explain it to the people of their cities.”

“The mayors would be a good choice for assemblymen,” suggested StarWind. “We could have them come to StarCity or hold the assemblies in different cities each meeting on a rotating basis.”

“I prefer the rotating cities idea,” nodded Lyra. “Set it up immediately. We will hold the first meeting in Okata.”

“But we have not confirmed the attack yet,” StarWind reminded the Star.

“It doesn’t matter,” shrugged Lyra. “We still need to start the assembly, and we will start it with a meeting. We have enough to discuss even if the attack did not occur. Set it up.”

StarWind nodded and left the room. Lyra paced the floor for a few moments, ending up in front of the wall map.

“This is coming too soon,” Lyra said softly. “We are not prepared for the war yet.”

Marak rose and walked up behind Lyra. He put his arms around her and held her.

“We will be ready,” he said softly. “I have a few ideas that I would like to discuss with you.”

* * *

The spy saw Marak and his two shadows slip out of the palace in Khadoratung. He eased into the darkness of a nearby alley as he wondered why the Emperor was wearing his black and silver clan colors rather than the white and gold of the Imperial Emperor.

Fisher had no reason to spy on the Torak, but his nature was one of constant curiosity. It was a trait that had made Fisher such a great spy. Fisher followed the trio to the new temple and slipped into the building after them. He let the small group get as far ahead of him as possible without losing them. He knew that Gunta and Halman rarely missed a detail when they were guarding the Torak.

Fisher saw Marak and his shadows enter the library. He chose a concealed place to wait for them to exit so that he could continue to follow them. He was extremely curious as to why Marak had chosen to wear his clan colors.

One minute slowly dragged on to the next. Fisher heard no conversations coming from the library. He heard no sounds of movement. After a long period of waiting, Fisher crept up to the library door. There was no one in sight. Perplexed, Fisher strode into the library. He walked slowly around the room, eyeing everything with suspicion, but finding nothing of interest.

Fisher had toured the new temple many times during its construction. In fact, he was amazed and thrilled to see an actual temple of Kaltara being built in the Khadoran capital. It showed the influence that the Torak had brought to the Khadorans. As he relived walking through the construction site, he remembered his curiosity regarding the small aberration in the perimeter of the library. He had assumed at the time that the library would have a small reading desk in an alcove, yet the library was perfectly rectangular. He walked to the area of the bookshelves where the alcove was supposed to be.

Fisher knelt before the bookshelves and gazed upward. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. Not satisfied that the alcove was a mistake of the builders, Fisher ran his hand under each shelf in the area. He smiled broadly when his fingers touched the metal latch. He triggered the latch and saw the bookshelf slide open slightly. He peered into the darkness and saw nothing.

Fisher slid past the bookshelf into the small alcove. He pulled the bookshelf closed and turned to examine the small room. He saw nothing other than a door and frowned. No doorway had been in the alcove during the construction. He was sure of that. The spy eased the mysterious door open and looked into a small, empty closet. His mind swam with confusion.

Fisher checked the small alcove one more time before stepping into the closet. It was extremely dark inside the closet so Fisher withdrew a candle from his pouch and lit it. Fearful of someone accidentally seeing the glow from his candle, Fisher closed the door to the closet and began inspecting every section of the walls for something that might not be obvious. He found nothing. Frustrated by the mystery, Fisher blew out the candle and opened the door. A cold breeze flowed across his feet, and the spy became instantly alert.

Fisher stowed his candle in a pouch and drew a dagger. It was a warm sunny day in Khadoratung, so Fisher assumed that a wizard created the cold breeze. He slowly moved out of the closet and eased the door shut. As he looked around the alcove, he frowned at seeing a second door leading off of it. He knew that there had only been one door a moment ago.

Fisher was about to examine the second door, when he heard a noise in the other direction. He moved up against the back of the bookshelf and put his ear to it. He could hear people talking in the library, but he could not hear what they were saying. He saw a tiny stream of light coming through a hole and moved his eye towards it. He inhaled deeply as he gazed into the library. There were two Chula in the library cleaning the floor.

Fisher stood silently for a long time trying to figure out what was going on. Eventually he slid his dagger into its sheath and turned to gaze at the two doors behind him. He wondered where the second door went.

Loud noises drew Fisher’s attention back to the spy hole. He watched as the Chula left the library. With no one in sight, Fisher fingered the latch used to unlock the bookshelf. He pushed it open and walked into the library, pushing the bookshelf back in place. He strode out of the library as if he had just entered it to replace a book. The coolness in the air confirmed that he was no longer in Khadoratung.

“So this is how Marak has been moving around so swiftly,” he softly mused to himself as he reached the outside entrance to the temple at Changragar.

“Ah, favored son of the Kywara,” Ukaro called in greeting as he approached the entrance to the temple. “I had not heard that you were skulking around these parts.”

“It is not a planned trip,” Fisher replied smoothly. “Is Rykoma around?”

“I certainly hope so,” answered Ukaro. “I have come to speak with the Head Shaman of the Kywara. Have you looked in the office in the temple?”

“No,” replied Fisher. “I just arrived myself.”

Ukaro halted and stared questioningly at the Kywara spy. The shaman had just hiked up the mountain trail leading to Changragar, and he would have seen Fisher had he been on the trail.

“Do not ask,” smiled Fisher. “Let’s go see Rykoma together. I would like your input as well on a problem that I have.”

Although puzzled by Fisher’s mysterious appearance, Ukaro nodded and walked alongside the spy as they made their way to the office inside the temple. Rykoma smiled broadly as the pair entered the office.

“This has the makings of an interesting day,” greeted Rykoma. “What brings the two of you to see me?”

Ukaro immediately nodded to Fisher to proceed with his problem first.