Abuud: the One-Eyed God (29 page)

***

"Shouldn't we stop for the night?" asked Niki. "It has been dark for some time."

"A little bit longer," Master Khatama answered. "I would like to pass through Dubar while it is dark, and the city is just ahead."

"Why not stop in the city?" asked Niki. "Maybe a good night in an inn and I won't have that dream again. I hate waking up every night with my husband dying."

"Your visions are troubling," frowned Boris, "but I do not think what you sleep on will have any effects on the visions."

"Still would be nice to sleep in a bed," pouted Niki.

"Life on the trail is better for you," responded Boris. "Besides, Dubar is not very friendly to foreigners. In fact, most places we are going are not going to be friendly. I also do not want people to notice us passing through. Most of the people of Dubar will already be inside, and that is why I plan to keep on going."

"Why don't you want people to see us?" questioned Niki. "Doesn't a merchant like to be well known?"

"It is you that I do not wish people to see," explained Master Khatama.

"Me?" inquired Niki. "Why would people seeing me bother you?"

"Do you think that Azmet has forgotten about the loss of his diamond?" Boris shook his head. "His men will be looking for you while they head south to the Island of Storms. Is your memory so short that you have forgotten that you smashed their statue and stole the diamond?"

"Why are you always picking on me?" scowled Niki. "Your memory is not too good either. You cannot remember who Tanya's parents were, or how long she has been with you. You cannot remember where you even met her. You shouldn't be picking on me for my memory."

"You are right," sighed Boris. "I do seem to be forgetting more things each day. I guess I am getting too old for this life. Some day I will forget that this is my wagon. Then where will I be?"

"I will help you remember," smiled Niki. "You have already taught me so much about myself that I never knew. The least I can do is help you find your wagon. It is a good thing that you have your name on the side of it. As long as your remember your name, you will know your wagon when you see it."

"Things are not that bad," laughed Master Khatama. "It is troublesome though that memories escape me. It is not the current things I forget, but rather the older memories. It is like things take a long time to be forgotten. Like I remember meeting you and Fredrik on your way north near Toresh. You were hungry and stopped for a bite to eat."

"I remember that too," smiled Niki. "We were very hungry at the time. You were kind and generous with your food."

"I remember admiring your cloak that day," Boris said. "Wherever did you get that cloak? You never did say."

"Oh a friend gave it to me," answered Niki. "I always feel like a queen when I put it on. Do you think I will ever be a queen? I mean a real queen?"

"Who was the friend that would give such a fine cloak away?" asked Boris.

"Oh you would not know her," Niki said nervously. "You didn't answer my question about being a queen."

"Are you not already a queen?" smiled Master Khatama.

"You mean with the animals?" asked Niki. "That is not the same thing. I mean, they do seem to like me, but that is not being a queen."

"Isn't it?" posed Boris as he eased the wagon through the deserted streets of Dubar. "Do you realize that if the animals accepted you as their queen, that you would have more followers than any ruler in the world?"

"Really?" grinned Niki. "I guess I never thought about it that way. They would not be real followers though," she pouted. "A real queen has people waiting on her all of the time. Animals can't do much of anything."

Boris rounded a bend in the road, and the city of Dubar disappeared behind a stand of palm trees. He pulled the wagon off the trail.

"Animals can do much more than you could imagine," Boris said seriously. "Time will show you what I mean. For now, let us get some food and sleep. Tomorrow will be another long day."

***

Arik, Tedi, and Wylan continued their journey from Ongchi to Barouk. They passed several small villages, but avoided them. There was little traffic on the road until they reached the outskirts of Barouk.

"That looks like a sizeable city ahead," commented Wylan. "Do you think it is Barouk?"

"Must be," responded Tedi. "It has a lot of ships in the harbor. Do you think anyone offers rides to the Island of Storms?"

"I have been pondering that for the last few days," stated Arik. "I think we should have asked the captain who brought us to Ongchi. He was the last person we met that I trusted. I do not even know how these people will react to our mentioning the Island of Storms. We haven't actually met anyone who is friendly since we entered Lanoir."

"Well just be cautious then," offered Wylan. "Do either of you know how to sail?"

"We both do," answered Tedi. "Our fathers were fishermen, and we went with them many times. Often we would pilot the boats while they tended the nets."

"Well that is a plus," grinned Wylan. "I was afraid you were going to ask me to steer. The barge we stole in Cleb is the closest I have come to being on a boat before we got to Dalek."

"Piloting the boat will be the easy part," frowned Arik. "Getting a boat will be much harder."

"How should we approach this?" asked Tedi.

"We have a fair amount of gold," answered Arik, "but not enough to buy a boat. We will have to try to offer our gold for the use of a boat I guess."

"That might work well enough in Lorgo," frowned Tedi, "but we are strangers here. I cannot imagine anyone letting us take a boat and expecting us to return it. We will have to find someone who is willing to take us to the island and wait for us."

"I think you are right," nodded Arik as they approached the gates of Barouk.

The soldiers at the gates stopped them, and the boys had their papers ready. Arik saw the soldiers eyeing up the Sword of Heavens, and he growled under his breath. The soldiers looked surprised and waved the boys through the gate.

"Did you do that on purpose?" asked Wylan. "The growling I mean."

"I did not mean for it to be verbal," replied Arik, "but it certainly seemed to stop their inquisitiveness. Perhaps we have been taking too soft a line with the soldiers. I really do not know how important these papers make us here."

"The first soldiers said only Imperial papers would allow us to enter the country," interjected Tedi. "Maybe that makes us like friends of the Emperor."

"I do not think I would push it that far," chuckled Arik, "but the soldiers did appear to back off when I showed displeasure, but maybe that only works away from the capital city. We should still be cautious."

Barouk was a large city, but it was also similar to a fishing village. The streets away from the water's edge looked very much like Ongchi, but smaller and poorer. More of the city was drab colored and only a few buildings sported vivid colors. The soldiers were less numerous and appeared to be less disciplined. As soon as the boys neared the water, the whole flavor of the city changed. While there were numerous docks along the waterfront, many boats were just pulled up on the sand.

They passed many markets and all of them appeared to be fish markets. The markets were large and open, and throngs of people milled about. Again they saw carts drawn by people, but they were not fancy as they had been in Ongchi. Most of the carts in Barouk were carrying fish. The whole waterfront smelled strongly of the sea, but some of it was quite foul. Arik and Tedi had grown up on the edge of the sea, but fish in Lorgo never lasted long enough to smell bad. Some of the merchant stands had fish that must have been several days old, and Arik held his breath as he passed by.

Arik did not see any horses in Barouk, and consequently, no rails to secure them to. Arik halted the group at the edge of the beach, and they dismounted. Arik tied the reins of the two horses to Chaco's reins and strode down to the beach. He marched out onto the first dock he came to and looked at the boats. Most of them were fairly large boats and were clearly designed to stay out at sea for several days before bringing their catch home.

Arik asked several people where they might secure the use of a boat. After blank stares and more than several chuckles, everybody pointed towards the beach. Arik led the group towards the beach and stopped to stare at the maze of boats. Many of the boats were in various stages of repair. Men were patching holes in the hulls. Others were applying colorful dyes to the wood. Masts were removed from ships and men were rubbing sand along the wood. Many ships had their sails removed, and men were stitching patches into the canvas.

"This looks like a graveyard of ships that are not fit to sail," commented Tedi. "How far offshore is this island?"

"Master Khatama did not say," frowned Wylan. "He just said it was a large island south of here."

The boys continued walking along the beach and looking at boats. Suddenly, a scrawny young man raced up to them.

"You looking for a boat?" grinned the young man.

Arik nodded cautiously and the young man's grin stretched to cover his entire face.

"I am Bin-lu," bowed the young man. "I will arrange a boat trip for you?"

"Yes," nodded Arik. "We want to travel to the Island of Storms."

"Island of Storms?" frowned Bin-lu. "Only a crazy man goes to the Island of Storms. I will take you on a nicer voyage. We will go up the coast to Ongchi."

"We just came from Ongchi," Tedi shook his head. "We want to go to the Island of Storms."

"You cannot go to the Island of Storms," argued Bin-lu. "Nobody goes there. You are crazy to want to go there. No captain will take you."

"Can we get a boat without a captain?" asked Wylan.

"Sailing a boat is not like riding a horse," scowled Bin-lu. "Sailing takes much practice. You take a boat out then we will never see the boat again."

"Arik and I know how to sail a boat," insisted Tedi. "We grew up on the sea."

"We would pay well for the use of a boat," offered Arik as he hefted his gold pouch.

Bin-lu stared at the pouch and then turned and gazed down the beach. His eyes returned to Arik and he smiled.

"I can get you a boat for the gold," smiled Bin-lu. "Follow me."

Bin-lu raced down the beach and the boys followed. He stopped next to an old two-masted scow that had seen better days long before the Collapse.

"This boat is just right for you," smiled Bin-lu. "I need gold and something valuable to let you use it."

"Something valuable?" scowled Tedi. "The gold is worth several of these scows."

Bin-lu frowned and shook his head, "In Barouk nothing is worth more than a boat. Without a boat, there is no food."

"What do you mean by something valuable?" asked Arik.

Bin-lu grinned and pointed at the Sword of Heavens.

"No," Arik stated defiantly. "The sword goes with me."

"You get the sword back when you bring the boat back," Bin-lu quickly added. "Cost of boat is only the gold. The sword is to make sure you bring the boat back."

"Let's keep looking," suggested Tedi. "There must be someone in this city that is more reasonable. I am not sure that scow would even get us to the island."

"There nobody else in Barouk that will even let you use a boat," insisted Bin-lu. "Only Bin-lu shuns the sea. I want to be a mighty warrior. This boat belonged to my father."

"Sorry, Bin-lu." Arik shook his head. "We cannot meet your terms. We will look elsewhere for a boat."

Bin-lu shrugged as Arik and the boys turned and walked away. They spent the rest of the day searching for a boat and could not find anyone who would even discuss it. Tired and depressed, they decided to find an inn and sleep for the night. It took them an hour to discover that Barouk only had three inns and all of them had been taken over by the army. They wandered back to the beach to where they had left their mounts. Several hundred paces up the beach was a small stand of palm trees, and they grabbed the reins and walked there. Wylan built a small fire using dried palm fronds, and they enjoyed a light meal and then stretched out on the ground for the night.

After they were asleep for only a couple of hours, Tedi heard a noise and sat upright. He saw three men sneaking up on the campsite and swiftly woke Arik and Wylan. When all three of them were sitting up, the three men turned and ran away.

"It does not appear too safe to sleep on the beach here," scowled Arik.

"The city streets are not much better," added Tedi. "The Sword of Heavens attracts a lot of attention. Every army patrol we passed has stared at it. I think it is better hidden."

"We won't need to hide it on the boat," countered Arik. "We need to find a boat in the morning and get out of here."

"While Bin-lu may have appeared overly eager," frowned Wylan, "I think he was being honest with us. His scow was the only boat on the beach that didn't have someone working on it."

"I think Wylan is right," added Tedi. "These people use their boats daily. Whatever it is about the Island of Storms, it scares Bin-lu. None of the ships will take us there, and we will not be able to buy the use of a ship for ourselves. We really have little choice if we want to get to the Island of Storms."

"We will discuss it in the morning," decided Arik. "I think we will need to keep one of us awake at all times throughout the night. I will take the first watch."

"So what are we going to do?" asked Wylan as he watched the Lanoirian fishermen putting out to sea.

"We have little choice if we wish to get to the Island of Storms," frowned Tedi. "Bin-lu is the only one who can help us."

"I will not give up the Sword of Heavens," Arik replied adamantly. "It is not mine to give, and we are lost without it. The short period of time that Azmet had possession of it seemed like an eternity. Perhaps we should go farther down the coast and try the city of Mamik."

"Do you think Bin-lu would keep the Sword of Heavens?" quizzed Wylan.

"No," replied Arik. "I think Bin-lu is honest enough, but I do not think we can take the chance of losing the Sword of Heavens. The Ancient Prophecy depends upon the sword. Without it we will never find the gems, and Sarac will never be killed."