The captain only nodded, there was enough gold in that chest to make the both of them rich beyond their wildest dreams for the rest of their lives and there was three more chests like this one outside.
“
Close the lid.”
The captain stepped forward and slammed it shut again, It was as if a spell was broken for them and they could return back to normal.
“
You are not to speak of what you have seen here to anyone, not a soul do you understand?”
The Captain looked at him square in the eye.
“
I do solemnly swear.”
Raz paused in deep thought. There are only two reasons for this amount of gold. Either King Olav is being paid to keep out of this fight or it is to bring him in. Either way we have tipped the balance back in the opposite direction, only we don’t know which. Raz came to a decision.
“
Captain, I want you to take the three wagons and go to the wharfs and have them loaded on your fastest ocean going boat. Then you must hand pick a Captain and crew who you can trust completely and can remain totally discreet in what they do. Do you understand what I am asking for?”
The Captain nodded immediately.
“
Perfectly sir.”
“
Good man. Now once you have assembled the crew and stowed away this cargo I want you to return to here where I will have sealed orders waiting. Go immediately, there is no time to waste.”
He saluted and left calling out to his crew once out the door. Raz turned back to the chest sitting in the middle of the room. He called his adjutant in and asked for certain, select men to come immediately. Then he sat down at the table and pulled out some parchment. After giving some thought for a moment he began writing.
Captain Koberg made straight for the wharves. Now he knew for certain what was in these chests the less time they stayed in sight the better. If rumor got out there would be parties in town he knew would be making every effort to snatch it. If the criminal element ever got hold of such riches it would finance even further criminal activity for years to come.
He already knew which boat the chests would go on and as soon as they arrived back at the wharf he commandeered the boat sending its crew off on leave. Then turning to his trusted lieutenant he ordered that the men he named report immediately to him. It was only half an hour before everything was organized and the crates were stowed away.
Turning to the newly arrived Captain, he gave him strict instructions not to say anything to his crew or to anyone else for that matter of what he was doing and what he had on board. Koberg would return within half an hour and he would have his orders. Then Koberg jumped on a horse and rode back to the hall to fetch the orders Raz would have ready.
On entering the hall Koberg saw Raz had two scrolls ready and was placing one in a small wooden box. He looked up and immediately gave his instructions.
“
Captain you will take this scroll to the commander of the boat and tell him that he is not to open it until he has left the bay proper. Only then shall he read the orders within. The box he will not open at all. It is to be kept under lock and key from the moment he receives it on the boat, do you understand?”
The Captain nodded,
“
Yes sir as always.”
Raz smiled.
“
It's always a pleasure working with you Koberg. You are a very good officer, now take these and be off.”
The Captain reached out and took both the scroll and box, gave a stiff salute and left quickly. 'Yup he is a good man even if he is a bit of a stickler.' Raz thought.
Later as the boat left the bay Captain Reagor lifted the scroll in his hand and looked at it. What could be so important that could lead to such hurried activity and such furtive movements? He cracked the seal on the edge of the scroll and unrolled it, then began reading.
To the commander of this boat:
You are entrusted with the safe passage to the city of Oceania of the three crates in the hold of your ship. You are not to discuss its contents or its destination with anyone. Should you be in danger of being captured at any time by enemy forces, be they Isogorrean or any other agent for that matter, then you are to sink your boat immediately. This is of paramount importance that what you have not fall into the hands of anyone else.
Furthermore, you are not to communicate or stop at any place on your journey to Oceania and upon arrival you will not speak to anyone other than directly to the Grand Admiral Prince Alard of your mission.
Upon obtaining your audience with the Prince you shall present him with the box you have locked away, this box is to remain sealed and shall not be opened by anyone other than the Prince himself. Once he has opened that box he will be giving you further orders.
You are handed this task as it is of the utmost importance that their contents remain a secret even to you. The crates must not be opened under any circumstances and it shall be for the Prince to decide what to do with them.
I, Lord Raz, trust you with this mission and cannot stress highly enough its importance, not only to your superiors but to the Kingdom itself.
May the gods be with you.”
Reagor looked up and out over the ocean. He stood there digesting its contents and allowing the importance of what he was doing to sink in. It was the biggest mission he had ever been entrusted with and he would meet the Grand Admiral to boot. He had every intention of carrying out his mission to the letter. So what was in the chests?
In Port Cholandra Warlord Aristeides was pacing the floor, it had been three weeks since a fleet had been sent to the unseen deep-water port in the south and no word had come back, not even a scout. That made a total of 38 warships unaccounted for and with this amount of time having past it was looking very likely they were all lost.
It compounded a serious situation that was developing here too. A supply convoy had not arrived at all those weeks ago and the troop convoy that followed it had arrived with quite a few ships missing. They had been attacked in the dark by enemy ships of unknown numbers and they had lost 3,000 troops and a number of supply ships.
Of real importance was the loss of the gold on board one that was for paying King Olav off. That meant no raids from Olav on the northern Kingdom Ports for the next year. Now he had the remaining 12,000 troops out of the 15,000 and only enough supplies to equip half of them. He couldn’t move on Kassandrea before the winter which was only two months away. It meant he couldn’t keep his promise. Luckily Madeira was on her way back to Isogorr so he shouldn't be too concerned about facing any immediate consequences.
The ship losses had no real affect, he had an abundance of them. In fact soon he would start sending some back simply to make room. He had over three hundred and fifty ships stationed in and around the harbor and it was getting quite crowded.
This brought him back to the question of the deep-water port down south. It could prove handy to his operations but he needed to find out whom and what was there, how big was it? How many ships could the harbor hold? What sort of logistical needs did it have? How easily could it be defended? Could troops be marched directly from the port north?
He would have to find out and quick. Turning to his adjutant, he ordered that Sealord Gacek make himself available immediately. So far that man had been able to achieve nothing. Within minutes Gacek arrived from down the hall and he was ushered in.
“
So Gacek, any news on the southern deep water port?”
“
I have heard nothing at all I’m afraid.”
Aristeides looked him up and down. He was an older man whose best days were behind him. This last assignment would be his last hurrah, not that there was much to cheer about so far.
“
Tell me Gacek, have you made any attempts at all to get information from down there? Sent scouts out by any chance?”
Gacek slowly shook his head, he could see it coming, Aristeides didn’t waste a second and began shouting.
“
Has old age addled your brain? Have you lost control of your senses? Do you think for a second that an area where we have lost almost forty ships to date might be worth investigating?!”
“
There is no evidence we have lost those ships.”
Aristeides couldn’t believe what he was hearing and shot back,
“
How can there possibly be any evidence if you don’t go look? Your ships are a week overdue! How long were you going to wait? Until you saw a fleet of Kingdom ships coming over the horizon?”
Aristeides took a deep breath. ‘You need to calm down.’ Composing himself he continued on.
“
I am instructing you to send out some scouts to reconnoiter the southern coast and get detailed information on either the whereabouts of our ships or the deep water port itself. Do you understand me?”
Gacek simply nodded without a word. As far as he was concerned a man of his standing shouldn’t have to put up with this sort of nonsense.
“
Then you are dismissed Gacek.”
Gacek walked out. He wasn’t really worried. He would order the scouts out, but he didn’t think that Aristeides would be around much longer. Gacek knew the sorcs would hold him to the promise of being in Kassandrea by winter.
Aristeides turned back to his war maps. Any day now the Kingdom’s land army moving south would hit his firebase. His scouts had confirmed that. Then things would start happening and he could lose himself in the immediate needs of battle. Maybe he could even go pay the base a visit. He rubbed his temples. Aristeides seemed to be suffering from more and more headaches of late, incompetence of others does that to you he thought.
Down in the streets of Port Cholandra, Eldoron was riding slowly along, studying all aspects of the city. Watching the troops and making mental notes. If anyone looked at him they would have seen nothing more that an Isogorrean Captain making his way to some destination. Eldoron had managed to take the uniform from a very generous officer a day’s ride out of the city, a considerate man who had expired on the end of Eldoron’s dagger for the good of the Kingdom.
As Eldoron approached the wharf area he turned off into a back alley and wandered along for a while longer. Then finding a tavern stopped and tied up his horse. He entered the premises and found it to be nearly empty, though from the smell of pipes and beer he could tell it was still used from time to time. At the bar he lifted his helmet a little and looked about nodding to the barman who came across to serve him.
“
A glass of port if you have it my good man.”
The barman looked him up and down. He thought the tall officer to be a puffed up blue blood.
“
Only beer is served here mate.”
Eldoron’s mouth turned down at the prospect of that.
“
Very well a beer then.”
He pulled out an Isogorrean gold piece, also a generous gift of the dead officer and laid it on the bar.
“
I’m afraid I don’t have enough change to give you for that sir,”
responded the barman as he plonked down the mug in front of Eldoron splashing a bit of the beer.
“
Maybe you can give me a good story as I have been out in the field for over a month and haven’t had a chance to catch up with any of the gossip here in the city.”
The barman licked his lips at the prospect of gaining a whole gold piece.
“
What would you like to know?”
“
I understand you had some excitement here in this very bar just over a month ago?”
The barman knew exactly what he meant. Eldoron’s hand loosely covered the gold coin.
“
Oh yes very exciting it was, there were some soldiers in here, dressed like you but not real soldiers if you know what I mean.” The barman winked at him, “There was four of them, two girls and two men. One man who was obviously the leader as he was big, almost as tall as you. He had a certain presence about him, never could figure out what it was, some sort of aura you could feel eh?”
Eldoron glowered at him,
“
Anyway back to the story, they were sitting there and bang, in came a bunch of troops and these four sprang into action so fast it was a wonder to see eh? They were quick I tell you, dangerous too. They had their swords out so fast it’d make your head spin.
Yes anyway so there they were clashing swords and retreating through the back room there and a sorc walks in all calm like and reverent. A sight to see when you see one of them in action I can tell you. This Wollfen guy lifts his head in the battle and stops right?”
Eldoron gave a little start at the name but kept quiet.
“
All the soldiers are standing there and they just all stand up right. This sorc walks forward in front of Wollfen and you can see, they are giving each other the evil eye and I’m thinking. This mans for it now, she will have him. So anyway the sorc stops see? You really can’t tell what’s going on but the air, well it's like it's filled with static or something cos’ my hair starts rising right?