Richard Tuttle - Winged Warrior

“We have run out of time,” answered Lyra. “We need to start on the real defense of the Sakova, and I need those people behind me. Make sure that our spy does not get out of line, Temiker. I am counting on you.”

Temiker nodded and opened the door. He left with MistyTrail and closed the door to leave Lyra to herself.

* * *

Fisher found several trails that ran through the jungle to the beach. He could not be sure which trail was the one used by Aakuta, so he began walking past all of them. He walked along the beach from one point fairly close to the city to another point far from the city. When he reached the end, he turned around and walked back. The spy had covered the route over forty times already without seeing anyone, so it surprised him somewhat when a woman appeared on the beach. She was an attractive woman, but she was not what Fisher had hoped to find. He paid no to attention her as he walked by, seemingly deep in thought.

Fisher continued his path to the far point and turned around to retrace his steps. He frowned as he once again approached the woman. He had hoped that she was just out for a morning stroll like he was pretending to be, but she had seated herself on the sand and did not appear anxious to leave. While pretending to be looking out to sea, Fisher caught the woman’s image with his peripheral vision. She was staring at him and frowning. The spy knew that he could not walk the beach the entire day without arousing suspicion, so he planned to make this his last trip. He began to wonder if the whole trip had been a waste. The chance of running into Aakuta now seemed rather weak.

“What are you doing?” demanded the woman.

Fisher glanced at the woman and then looked away, preferring to ignore her on his last pass. The woman had other ideas. She rose from the sand and blocked Fisher’s path.

“I asked you a question,” scowled the woman. “What are you doing on this beach?”

“Why shouldn’t I be here?” Fisher snapped back. “I am not on duty. I feel like walking and being alone with my thoughts. Am I disturbing you?”

The woman was slightly taken aback by Fisher’s reply, but she didn’t move out of his way. She seemed as if she were itching for a fight, and that was something that Fisher could not afford.

“Look,” Fisher said to the woman, “this is my last pass on the beach. I will be gone soon, and you can have the whole beach to yourself. I am just going up to the point and back. Now, if you don’t mind, I want to get back to my walk and my thoughts.”

Fisher stepped around the woman and continued walking. He wanted to turn and look back at her, but he didn’t dare show that much interest in her. He would see her again when he turned around. If there were soldiers with her, he would run in the opposite direction.

Fisher reached the point and turned around. The woman had gone back to sitting in the shade, and he sighed with relief. His eyes drifted up to the towering mountain peaks before him. He knew that somewhere up there was Calitora, a Chula shaman. If strolling the beach looking for Aakuta was no longer an option, he wondered if he could climb the mountain and speak to Calitora. It would be a way to spend the rest of the day without drawing any more attention to himself.

When his eyes returned to the beach, Fisher saw that a black-robed man had joined the woman. He felt a shiver tingle up his spine, as he knew the garb meant that the man was one of Vand’s mages. The spy steeled his nerves and tried to continue walking nonchalantly, but he could feel that he was being watched. When Fisher drew close to the couple, the mage started to approach him. Fisher let a knife slide into his hand, holding his arm slightly behind himself so that it could not be seen.

“Fisher?” exclaimed the man. “What in the world are you doing here?”

Fisher tensed as he turned to face the mage. He saw the woman rise and hurry towards him. The mage’s face was handsome, and Fisher imagined that the man could not walk past a pond without admiring his own reflection.

“You must have me confused with someone else,” Fisher replied, not knowing if he had found Aakuta or someone else who might recognize him.

Fisher began to doubt the wisdom of his mission as he stared into the mage’s eyes for any sign that Aakuta lived within. The mage frowned and then saw Fisher’s eyes focus on the woman. He nodded his head in understanding.

“She is alright,” the mage said. “Come and sit down in the shade. Tell me why you have risked your life to come to Motanga.”

“What is your name?” asked Fisher as the woman arrived and frowned in confusion.

“Xavo,” the man answered.

“I know no one named Xavo,” shrugged Fisher as he tried to walk by the couple.

“Then call me Aakuta,” the mage said softly, “but not too loudly. I am not anxious to die again.”

Fisher froze and spun towards the man, his eyebrows rising in understanding.

“Again?” echoed Fisher. “That explains a lot. Who is the woman?”

“Her name is Lady Mystic,” answered Xavo. “She is Vand’s daughter.”

“And she knows who you are?” whispered Fisher.

“She does,” nodded Xavo. “Come and sit. I will not say that you are safe with us, but Lady Mystic will not cause harm to come to you.”

“Unless you intend to use that knife in your hand,” Lady Mystic said threateningly. “I would advise strongly against that.”

Fisher nodded and slid the knife into its arm sheath. He followed the couple to the shade of a palm tree and sat down on the beach.

“I am hesitant to say what I have come to say in the presence of Vand’s daughter,” admitted Fisher.

“Do not be,” replied Xavo. “She is working with me to do as much damage to Vand as possible. Why have you come?”

“To talk to you,” admitted Fisher. “The last information that you sent has stirred a hornet’s nest. It shows that we need more information than what you have been sending. Just the date of the invasion will not be enough if we cannot discover Vand’s plans.”

“I am not sure that I can get any more information without being discovered,” frowned Xavo. “Vand does not share much, and he trusts no one. That is why Aakuta had to die. Vand uncovered him.”

“Clarvoy is the only one that Vand trusts,” volunteered Lady Mystic. “The spymaster knows everything, but he shares just about as much as Vand himself.”

“That was the reason for the warning I sent,” nodded Xavo. “Only a handful of people were present when Clarvoy spoke to Vand about placing a spy in Lyra’s inner circle. If they found out that someone from this island supplied that information, I would be dead within a day.”

“You have that high an access to Vand?” questioned Fisher.

“I am one of his disciples,” grinned Xavo. “In fact, I got credit for killing Aakuta. That was one of my finer accomplishments.”

“What is it that you need to know?” asked Lady Mystic.

“Everything and anything,” sighed Fisher. “Who the spies are on the mainland? What the overall strategy will be? What is Vand’s goal in all of this? Who is going to the mainland to spy, and how do we identify them?”

“Clarvoy would never mention names,” Lady Mystic shook her head. “He never has, and he never will. Vand would never ask for such information. He is paranoid.”

“Clarvoy goes to the mainland himself quite a bit,” offered Xavo. “In fact, he spends much of his time there. I can tell you one thing that is important. So far the Motangans only know how to use the air tunnel to send messages. They know nothing about equalizing the pressure.”

“That is worth noting,” nodded Fisher. “Incidentally, Rhoda is assigned to you full time now. Her only task is to field your messages, so you can contact her day or night. What about strategic targets on the island that we might want to sabotage? Are there any installations that would cripple Vand’s attack?”