Council of War (12 page)

"Where are you going with this?" Kalina asked in confusion.

"You have a task for me?" chirped Button.

"Yes, Button," replied Garth. "I need to see an image of the map Clint has been making. I want to focus on the Isle of Despair."

As the fairy created the requested image, Garth explained, "The pyramid mountain is one third of a league in height. If the dwarves were trying to use it as a measurement that the Zarans would never understand, that makes the first part of the riddle equal to fifteen leagues."

"A tunnel fifteen leagues long?" gasped Natia. "Is that possible?"

"It is for dwarves," nodded Kalina. "There are no finer tunnelers than dwarves."

Garth picked up a stick and placed it on the image that the fairy was casting on the ground. He put one end on Giza and snapped the stick where it passed through Olansk.

"This is sixty leagues," announced Garth.

Garth broke the stick in half and discarded one piece. He broke the remaining piece in half and again discarded one piece. He laid the last piece of the stick on the Isle of Despair and rotated it until it went directly south.

"That is in the Elfwoods," remarked Morro.

"Are there any elven villages near there?" asked Garth.

"No," answered Morro. "The Federation does not like our villages to be near the coast. Besides, my people have always tended to keep the villages far away from the Despair River and the city of Despair. I understand in the early days, humans settlers used to raid the elven villages, and my people were forbidden to defend themselves."

"So it is feasible that the dwarves could have reached the Barrier without detection?" asked Garth.

"And survived for hundreds of years without anyone knowing?" questioned Tedi.

"Elves and dwarves lived in Targa for hundreds of years without anyone knowing," declared Garth. "Both races are quite capable of stealth."

"This is interesting," remarked Morro. "While we were hiding in Aranak, Shawn Cowen asked me if the elves ever did tanning and metalwork in the mountains. I told him that we kept clear away from the Barrier as the Emperor had demanded."

"Why did the Ranger ask such a question?" asked Kalina.

"He was puzzled by something he found at the Chute," replied Morro. "The waters there were tainted as if someone upstream was engaged in a lot of tanning and metalwork. I told him that he must be mistaken, and he stopped questioning me."

"Praise Razil!" exclaimed Kalina. "If the dwarves made it to the Barrier, they probably still exist."

"That is a mighty leap of faith," sighed Garth. "They could just as easily have been cut down by the Empire when they came out of their tunnel."

"I know from what you have explained to me about the history of the elves and the dwarves that I should not think of the dwarves as my mortal enemy," frowned Morro, "but I cannot help feeling that way. Part of me would be just as happy to believe that they perished."

"But the other part of you would not," smiled Kalina. "Old hatreds die slowly, Morro. You must strive to accept people as you find them, not how you were taught to believe."

"It is hard," confessed the elf, "but if this tunnel does still exist, we could use it to make my people disappear."

"Button did say that the mine was large enough to house a city," interjected Natia. "If the Federation no longer patrols there, it could hide a lot of people."

"We can't have thousands of people fishing for dinner," retorted Tedi. "We would have to have some food stockpiled for them."

"If the tunnel even exists," sighed Garth. "This is just a dream that we are discussing. Our time is better spent concentrating on things that we know are real. We have seen little of the Federation so far, so I think it is time for the five of us to head further south. I want to see the cities of Farmin, Spino, and Despair. We need to glean more information regarding the troop strength of the Federation and the timing for the invasion."

"Garth is right," conceded Kalina. "We can no longer rely on the belief that the Federation will need to rebuild its navy. If they have portals to Alcea, we have no time to waste."

"Couldn't Runt crash the ship somehow?" asked Natia. "That would stop the Doors from arriving in Alcea. Maybe he could put the captain to sleep at a particularly perilous moment?"

"I doubt that the ship we saw in Giza is the only one carrying Doors to Alcea," answered Tedi. "We may have destroyed their warships, but they still have scores of cargo ships capable of making the voyage to Alcea."

"Correct," nodded Garth. "It is inconceivable that we could single-handedly prohibit the introduction of portals in our homeland. We need to gather information to foil the attack despite the enemy having the portals. Let us set out for Farmin and begin our quest for the information."

* * *

As the sun slid towards the peaks of the Barrier, it cast long shadows over the rolling dunes of the Sands of Eternity. The tiny green fairy made one final sweep over the area at a great altitude before diving towards the desert floor. The rush of the air exhilarated the fairy as he hurtled downwards. The sands rose to greet him at a dizzying pace until at the last moment he flared his wings, his feet hovering over the floor of the trough a mere inch from the sand. He grinned broadly and darted into the black hole in the side of the dune. The fairy sped down the dark sloping incline and intentionally darted between the legs of the horses standing on the roof of the buried building. The horses must have sensed the fairy because they whinnied nervously and pranced about. The fairy laughed inwardly as he banked steeply and shot through the hole in the roof of the buried inn.

Peanut flew down the mound of sand inside the building and soared out the door and over the inner courtyard before turning and gliding back into the entrance room and into the bedroom nearest the entrance. With an aerobatic flip, the fairy landed on the shoulder of Karl Gree who was sitting on the bed with Clint McFarren. The two men had a map spread out between them, and they both looked expectantly at the fairy as he landed.

"What do you have to report?" asked Karl.

"Not much has changed in the last two hours," the fairy reported with a military demeanor. "The enemy has started to make camp for the night. They are a little closer to us than before, but not close enough to cause despair."

"How close is that?" asked the Ranger.

Peanut looked at Clint and said, "About ten leagues. They stopped for the night right at the edge of the desert."

"Which means they could be here tomorrow," frowned the Knight of Alcea. "Are you sure that they are not going to continue north?"

"Positive," replied Peanut. "They are eight leagues east of the Aranak Road which runs due north at this point. If they had any intention of continuing north, they would not have left the road. Besides, I spied on them. Many of the soldiers are grumbling about having to enter the desert tomorrow. They are not happy about it."

"Then we move out tonight," decided Karl.

"Are you thinking of trying to go around them?" asked Clint.

"No," replied Karl as he ran his finger along the map. "We will head due north from here and parallel the Aranak Road. Our goal is to reach the Old Aranak Road that the sands have obliterated. We will take that west to the Aranak Road."

"That is thirty leagues across the desert," frowned Clint. "That will take us two days if we only travel at night."

"I am figuring on three days," replied Karl. "I do not intend to ride the entire night. It is too risky to take the chance of being spotted by a roving patrol while we sleep during the day."

"There is little that we can do to avoid being spotted if the Federation is smart enough to send out wide patrols," stated Clint.

"But there is," grinned the Knight of Alcea. "Do you remember the hideouts that Garth, Tedi, and Morro built to hide us on the journey here?"

"I do," nodded the Ranger, "but those were prepared well in advance, and they were built far to the east of us. How can they help?"

"Each night," explained Karl, "two of the group will ride ahead of the others and begin construction of a similar hideout for the party. It does not have to be as elaborate as the ones the others built. We will carry all the needed supplies with us, and we don't care if the Federation finds the hideouts later. It is only Aranak's secret that we need to preserve. We just need something that will hide us from a distance. The fairies will keep constant surveillance during the day so that we will have plenty of notice if a patrol is getting close."

"I understand," Clint smiled. "I will have a couple of doors and some tarps loaded on one of the spare horses. I think Max and I should go ahead of the group and set up the first shelter. Max has a knack for constructing things."

"Leave as soon as it is dark enough to travel," agreed Karl. "Remember to keep a due north track, otherwise we will never find you."

Clint rose and departed the small room. Karl rolled up the map and then left to meet with the others. The members of the group had spread out to all of the rooms on the top floor of the inn, but they used the corridor as a gathering place. The Knight of Alcea walked into the corridor and called for everyone's attention. Those few people who were not already in the corridor came out of their rooms to listen.

"We are leaving Aranak within the hour," Karl announced. "Clint and Max are going on ahead of us to build a shelter for us to hide in during the day, so the ride will be a bit shorter than the night is long. The proposed path is due north for thirty leagues and then due west to the edge of the desert. It is important that no one get separated from the group, so if one of you has a problem, we all have a problem. Prince Rigal, I am going to need some help in booby-trapping the entrance here. I would appreciate it if you would join me at the rear of the column. Shawn, we will be depending on you, Lyron, and Gerant to keep the others safe during the journey. Some of the sailors are not used to riding, so keep the pace set appropriately. Are there any questions?"

The group had been preparing for the departure for some time and there were no questions. Karl dismissed the group and everyone returned to their rooms to pack for the trip. Within half an hour, Max Caber and Clint McFarren lead their horses out onto the desert floor and headed north.

The little green man squeezed through one of the small air holes in the sand-covered trap and flew to land on Karl Gree's shoulder.

"It is dark out," reported Mite. "The soldiers have made camp, but there are none near us."

"Excellent," replied the Knight of Alcea. "Listen up everyone. Tonight we turn west. Before morning we will be out of the desert and on our way to Sebastian Pass, but we have an extra chore to perform before we start our trek."

The Rangers, elves, and sailors stopped what they were doing and turned to listen to Karl.

"We are going to build a large fire pit outside the hideout before we depart," explained Karl. "Anything that is burnable and no longer desired should be left in the pit. I also want the doors left on top of everything else. If any of you have other things that can be done without, I need articles that a fleeing army would discard."

"What are you planning?" asked Clint.

"I want to start a fire large enough to grab the attention of the Federation," answered the Knight of Alcea. "From the location of the fire, I want to leave a trail of discarded items for about a league straight north. The items should preferably not be light enough to be blown away by the desert winds. I want them to stay where we leave them, but they must be things that would seem reasonable to abandon."

"A false trail," Max Caber nodded with approval, "but the fire will be spotted before we leave the desert. I do not think that is wise. Why risk calling attention to our location even if the trail is false?"

"There are two reasons to draw the Federation up here," answered Karl. "We do not want the Federation to accidentally stumble upon Aranak. It is too important to our future plans to allow it to be discovered. The other reason is that Garth and his group are heading south, deeper into Federation territory. If the Federation fails to find any sign of us at all, they will widen their search, which endangers all of us. I propose to give them a scent that will keep them focused on this blasted desert, but in an area far away from Aranak. As to when the fire will be lit, I think our little friends can deliver a jar of fire glue after we leave the desert."

"I shall do that!" volunteered Peanut. "I will be like the hawk swooping down on the unsuspecting prey."

Mite rolled his eyes, and some of the men chuckled, but Karl looked at the little man with a smile and a nod.

"A predator you shall be then," Karl declared. "Alright," he said to everyone, "two piles. One for the fire pit and one for the false trail. Look through what you are carrying and donate what you can. The fairies will create the false trail as we start heading westward."

* * *

The ships sailing in the harbor of Despair altered course rather than cause the sleek yacht to be forced to maneuver. The yacht's captain evidently expected such deference from the other captains, as he made no attempt to alter his own course. Such was to be expected, as the yacht bore the Royal Flag of Aerta from its pole, and any collision with such a vessel would be punishable by death.

King Anator appeared not to notice such things. The affairs of the common people were beneath his notice. He was, after all, one of the four most powerful persons in the world. While the Federation had already grown to seven countries, it was the four countries bordering the Sea of Tears who truly held the power of the Federation. The Big Four considered Candanar a backwater hamlet, and Vinafor and Karamin were recently gobbled up merely to supply soldiers for the army. No, it was Aerta, Ertak, Spino, and the Empire of Barouk that really wielded the power in Zara. No one else really mattered.

The captain shouted orders as the yacht approached the Imperial Palace dock. King Anator stood and surveyed the docks. He noted that the royal yachts of Ertak and Spino were already docked. That was to be expected, as the journey was shorter for each of those monarchs. It bothered King Anator somewhat as it allowed Queen Samir and King Harowin to talk with each other without including him, but on the other hand, it pleased him that they were forced to wait for his arrival before sitting down with Emperor Jaar. In a way it made him feel much more important than either of them.