Richard Tuttle - Island of Darkness

“Perhaps we should go to the marketplace,” suggested Mayor Reaker. “It would be better if we were at hand to give the correct orders. We do not want a repeat of the angry mob that tried to take the prisoners.”

“Right,” agreed the general. “I still think that is their goal. That FalconEye always was a quiet one. I cannot imagine him really addressing thousands of people. He must be a diversion.”

General Manitow strode out of his office and into the large entry foyer. Mayor Reaker followed closely and listened as the general bellowed orders to everyone in hearing range. He ordered sleeping guards to be awakened to bolster the defenses of the headquarters. He commanded that the doors to the headquarters be closed and locked after he left.

The general and the mayor left the building and headed towards the marketplace. The general saw the huge crowd from blocks away. His mood darkened as he ordered some Imperial Guards to create a path for him. The soldiers drove a wedge into the crowd so that the general and the mayor could reach the front row surrounding the table that the Sakovan stood on.

* * *

“I have never seen so many Omungans in the Sakova,” frowned SkyDancer as she peered out through the bushes. “We must sound the alarm immediately.”

“There are probably a thousand in this group,” replied HawkShadow. “There will be more later. It is not the number that disturbs me, but rather the speed at which they are traveling. This area of the Sakova has been invaded many times. It is so close to Okata that the armies choose it every time they threaten to invade.”

“So you are not going to issue an alarm?” questioned SkyDancer.

“Not just yet,” answered the Sakovan assassin. “What we need to do now is to slow them down. We must prove to them that they are at great risk. Their caution will slow their progress.”

“How are you going to slow them down?” asked SkyDancer. “Lyra said not to kill them.”

“No, she didn’t,” grinned HawkShadow. “She said that they were not to have any bodies to show the Omungans. I think we can follow those orders and still have some fun.”

“You are going to make their corpses disappear?” SkyDancer asked with skepticism.

“No,” chuckled HawkShadow. “You are going to make the bodies disappear. They appear to have three outriders on each flank. We will attack one flank starting from the rear. I will take out an outrider, and you will dispose of the body. Take the body, the horse, and anything else that will point to that man ever existing. I want you to take it far enough away that if they decide to search, they will find nothing.”

“I can do that,” assured SkyDancer. “Still, only killing the three outriders will not slow them down. You are risking your life for little gain.”

“This is only the first step,” explained HawkShadow. “While it alone will not slow them down, you must trust me that this army will move cautiously in a day or two.”

“I do trust you,” smiled SkyDancer. “I like to think that I am good at what I do, but I know a master when I see one.”

“You are excellent at patrolling the Sakova,” HawkShadow smiled back. “You will have a chance to prove it really soon.”

“I know,” frowned SkyDancer. “They never can manage to leave us in peace for long, can they?”

“They cannot even manage to rule their own country,” replied HawkShadow. “They have chosen yet another Katana that is eager to shed the blood of their young men.”

“I hope that I am called upon to help you with more than just burying bodies,” SkyDancer said.

“You will be,” assured HawkShadow. “There is one part of their bodies that you will not bury though. I want their tails cut off and saved. Preserve the ribbons as well.”

Most Omungan soldiers wore their hair quite long. Some had long braids hanging down their backs, while others merely tied the long hair back with a white ribbon and let it hang behind them.

“What do you want with their hair?” puzzled SkyDancer.

“These men will react to our strikes with bravado,” explained HawkShadow. “While we are killing these three today, we will not in the future. I plan to make it known to the Omungans that we can strike anytime and any place we want.”

“You plan to attack some of them and merely cut off their tails?” questioned SkyDancer.

“Not just me,” grinned HawkShadow. “You will also get in on the fun. It will be hard for a soldier to maintain his bravado when his fellow soldiers see him without his tail. At first, the victims will be ridiculed, but when we have struck enough of them, fear will spread through their camp like a downpour.”

“A brilliant plan,” frowned SkyDancer, “but how are we to get close enough to them to cut their hair?”

“That is the challenge,” smiled HawkShadow. “We will talk about strategies tonight after we do the simple chore scheduled for today.”

“Simple chore?” chided SkyDancer. “Do not get a swelled head out here. That can be fatal. There is nothing easy about picking off outriders from a group of a thousand soldiers. Each kill carries the chance of death along with it.”

“I understand,” HawkShadow nodded solemnly. “My talk is for my own self-confidence, not to impress you. I will be careful.”

“Still, shouldn’t we send for more help?” asked SkyDancer. “Just the two of us against a thousand is long odds.”

“We will do fine,” replied HawkShadow. “I have sent a message asking Goral to come out, but it will be a while before he gets here.”

“Goral is hardly a stealthy type,” responded SkyDancer. “He is more the hit-them-over-the-head type. Why did you choose him?”

“Goral can be frightening in his own way,” smiled HawkShadow. “Besides, he can carry an awful lot. I plan to collect more than a few tails from these Omungans.”

“Now you have me looking forward to tonight’s strategy session,” chuckled SkyDancer. “I can’t imagine how we could get more than a handful of tails without dying.”

“I bet you can,” countered HawkShadow as he slid back down the slope that was hiding them from the Omungan army. “Let’s get this task out of the way.”

“Can we get through please?” LifeTender asked sweetly.

Two large women watching FalconEye stand on the table turned to stare at the source of the melodious request. One of the women nodded and moved out of the way, but the other’s eyes narrowed as she stared at LifeTender.

“Who are you?” asked the women. “We have been standing here for an hour waiting to see what is going to happen. You can’t just push your way to the front.”

“We must get up there,” StarWind said over LifeTender’s shoulder, “although I would prefer not to have to push. We are friends of FalconEye.”

The woman’s mouth opened in confusion. Her brow wrinkled as she stared at StarWind.

“We are all friends of the Sakovan here,” she finally said. “You will be able to hear just fine from where you are.”

Lyra squeezed between StarWind and LifeTender. She smiled up at the woman.

“I am sorry to trouble you,” Lyra said, “but we are not here to listen. We are here to talk. We are Sakovans.”

The woman gasped and stared at the three newcomers. Speechlessly, she nodded vigorously. She turned around and tapped the person in front of her.

“Make way,” she said loudly. “Make way for Sakovans.”

“Merge into the crowd,” Lyra said softly to StarWind and LifeTender. “I did not expect to become a spectacle before we reached the table.”

StarWind swiftly stepped backwards, and LifeTender squeezed to the left and hid behind a tall man. The large woman smiled as she turned around.