Richard Tuttle - Star of Sakova

“Ksaly?” chuckled Lyra. “What does a Khadoran know about one-legged birds?”

“I have a very resourceful young woman as my Bursar,” explained Marak. “The corporation has holdings in Khadora as well. We will also be setting up offices in Alamar to facilitate the grain shipments from Khadora. That is where I need your help. I want you to establish an Air Tube to Fardale so I can instruct my Bursar to get things going so that it does not have to wait for my return. I am afraid that I just missed the rendezvous with my fishing boat and it will be some time before another is scheduled. If I could purchase some horses from the Sakovan people, I would be most appreciative. I think it will be quicker to go overland for the return trip.”

“I will set up the Air Tube if you can direct me how to do it so that it connects with Fardale,” grinned Lyra, “but the horses are out of the question. I have decided to gift you with four chokas, two breeding pairs. Your journey back will be swifter than you had planned. They are young enough to accept you as their masters, but that also means that they are not well trained. I hope that is acceptable?”

“Acceptable?” echoed the shocked Khadoran Lord. “You have my undying gratitude. I will guard them well, Star of Sakova.”

“Wonderful,” smiled Lyra. “Let’s get your message off then.”

***

StarWind and HawkShadow sat on the bed in the small rented room in the Wayward Inn located in the Merchant’s District of Campanil. HawkShadow stripped off his multicolored robe and tossed it over a chair. “At least the purchase of the farms went without a hitch,” sighed the Sakovan assassin.

“Yes, but getting in to see the Mayor is going to be a bit of a problem,” countered StarWind. “I did not expect the increased security that we have found.”

“I guess with the Katana’s assassin still on the loose,” HawkShadow reflected, “the other officials are taking their security seriously. I hadn’t really expected him to see an unfamiliar merchant anyway. We will have to sneak into his mansion.”

“I don’t see how we are going to do that with it surrounded by Imperial Guards,” mused StarWind. “If we kill any guards getting in, I do not think the Mayor will believe that we are peaceful.”

“True,” frowned HawkShadow. “I do not see any alternative though. We are not going to get in through the front door. We have already tried that and been rebuffed.”

“Well we knew this would not be easy,” StarWind sighed as she stripped off her gray tunic. “Let’s get into some dark clothes and see what openings present themselves.”

HawkShadow nodded as he rummaged through his pack for the black clothes he had packed. “You know that if this attempt fails,” warned HawkShadow, “we will not leave Campanil alive.”

“That is the risk we accepted,” agreed StarWind as she pulled on black pants. “We never expected to live forever. Maybe Kaltara will throw a little luck our way.”

HawkShadow finished dressing and hefted a coil of rope and slung it over his shoulder. “If it comes down to discovery or killing a guard,” he stated, “you know what I will do.”

“The same as I,” agreed the Sakovan spymaster as she hefted a rope of her own. “Shall we?”

HawkShadow nodded and leaned out the window of their room, which faced an alley. He looked both ways before easing through the window and waiting outside for StarWind. She followed silently and the two Sakovans stole up the alley. It was well past bedtime for all but the most nocturnal of citizens and the streets were empty except for Imperial Guards. The patrols were sparse in the Merchant’s District with the majority of security centered around the government buildings. While this made their trip towards the center of the city rather uneventful, it also made entrance into the Mayor’s mansion all but impossible.

The two black-clad warriors reached the center of the city and halted in the darkness of a doorway. They looked out across the park and studied the movements of the patrols for a long time.

“There is a pattern,” offered HawkShadow, “but it does us no good. They have it arranged so that there is always a patrol visible. There is not a chance that we can make it across the park. We will have to work our way around to the other side and see what that looks like.”

“The other side has a high wall,” informed StarWind. “We will be blind to who is inside if we have to scale it.”

HawkShadow shrugged and nodded and led the way back out of the City Center. StarWind followed silently as they circled around the blocks of government buildings, keeping well away from the areas that were heavily patrolled. Eventually they came out to a broad avenue with large oak trees on one side and a high stone wall on the other. The solid expanse of wall was broken every so often by a stone pillar that rose slightly higher than the wall. HawkShadow scampered up a tree and peered in both directions for a time before dropping back to the ground.

“The patrols turn around at the ends of the wall,” he mentioned. “They do survey its length, but I do not think any of them will actually march down here unless there is a disturbance.”

“I am more worried about what waits for us on the other side,” whispered StarWind. “Once we drop into the grounds, we will be exposed if we try to climb back out. We could be trapped in there.”

“It is likely that there will be patrols inside the wall,” agreed HawkShadow. “That is probably why they don’t need a lot of scrutiny out here. Do you have a better idea?”

StarWind shook her head and lifted the coil of rope off her shoulder. With a signal to HawkShadow, she dashed across the avenue and placed her back to the wall alongside one of the pillars. HawkShadow darted over as StarWind tied a loop in one end of the rope and tossed it over the top of the pillar. HawkShadow grabbed the free end and tugged once before scampering up the rope. StarWind followed right on his heels and pulled the rope into the mansion grounds as she landed on the other side of the wall.

The two black-clad warriors crouched next to the wall and surveyed the estate. The ground along the wall was peppered with low shrubs, but nothing large enough that would impede the view of the patrols. The landscape between the duo and their target building was flat and open, broken only by a small grove of trees halfway across the broad expanse. A pathway ran between the grove and the building and another between the grove and the wall. HawkShadow peered at the mansion and tried to estimate how long it would take to dash across the open ground and throw his rope over the balcony railing and climb up. His estimate of their success was not good, but he tied a loop on his own rope anyway. Too much was riding on this mission for them to turn and run. A war could be avoided and they had to try their best to get to the Mayor.

With a sudden tap from HawkShadow, StarWind flattened herself to the ground alongside the Sakovan assassin as a patrol rounded the corner of the distant building. HawkShadow could see the two distinct paths the patrol could chose from and hoped they took the one closer to the building as the near one would bring them dangerously close to where the Sakovans were, almost assuredly leading to their discovery.

The patrol chose the path along the wall and HawkShadow cringed as he lifted several stars from his pouch. “We have no choice,” he whispered to StarWind. “If they get the chance to alert the others, we will be dead in minutes. I will take the lead two and you get the other two.”

StarWind did not reply as she extracted stars from her own pouch and prepared to kill the Imperial Guards. HawkShadow slithered away from StarWind to put some distance between them before the patrol arrived. He was just about to toss his first star when an Imperial Guard stepped out of the small grove of trees and called to the patrol. The patrol halted not twenty feet from the prone Sakovans and turned towards the Imperial Guard who had hailed them. The lone guard approached the patrol and started issuing terse commands, pointing and gesticulating towards the front of the estate. The patrol leader saluted and led his team on the run in the direction the lone guard had pointed.