“How was it that Kenda managed to escape?” asked the Torak.
“Kenda and his friend had decided to climb the Wall of Mermidion the night before,” answered StarWind. “It is a rite that the young pursue in Duran. No one ever succeeds, but there are seldom any serious injuries in the attempts. Typically the boys climb as high as they dare and then return to the city to take their punishment. The boys left the city before dawn. They were several hours up the wall before the fog lifted.”
“And Kenda’s friend?” asked Marak.
“He died,” reported StarWind. “He was seen on the wall and fell victim to a mage’s fiery blast. Kenda kept to the dark crevices, but Motangan soldiers were ordered to search the wall. He had no choice but to succeed in getting to the top.”
“He sounds like a brave lad,” frowned Marak. “Will he survive?”
“LifeTender is on a choka heading out to him now,” Lyra declared. “HawkShadow will keep the boy alive until she arrives. I am sure that he will live.”
“While I have no reason to doubt Kenda’s word,” StarWind continued, “I have sent scouts to verify his story. It is too important an event to take the word of a single boy.”
“A smart move, StarWind,” nodded Marak. “How soon will you know for sure?”
“We will know tonight,” answered StarWind. “I have a ship from Zaramilden heading there. HawkShadow also sent SkyDancer to check by land. She will not be able to enter the city, but she will be able to view it from the top of the Wall of Mermidion.”
“Then I shall stay until we know for sure,” declared Marak. “Let’s discuss what the significance of this event is as if it has occurred.”
“It is the invasion that we have been waiting for,” shrugged Lyra. “No one but the Motangans would attack in so vicious a way.”
“I would readily agree that the Motangans are behind the attack,” Marak shook his head, “but that does not mean the invasion has begun. Aakuta reports that Vand has a thousand ships, or soon will have. Why only send six?”
Lyra frowned and stared at the floor when Aakuta’s name was mentioned. She knew that Marak meant no disrespect to her father, but it still bothered her to have him called Aakuta.
“I apologize, Lyra,” Marak said softly when he saw Lyra’s reaction.
“You meant no disrespect,” Lyra smiled weakly. “It is something that I must get used to.”
“Can you think of any other reason to attack Duran?” asked StarWind.
“Possibly,” answered the Torak. “Vand knows that we use air tunnels to communicate. Perhaps he has found a way to intercept our communications and wants to verify it by monitoring what happens when we discover that Duran has been destroyed.”
“He might just want to see how we move our forces in reaction to the strike,” suggested Gunta. “It would be expected for the Sakovans to reposition their forces towards the east coast of the Sakova, but what would he expect the Khadorans to do?”
“A good point,” Marak nodded. “Between our three countries, we have a tremendous amount of coastline to protect. If Vand can draw our forces to any one particular point, it will make his invasion that much easier.”
“And if we keep our armies where they are,” added Halman, “he will easily break through our lines and get behind us.”
“Exactly,” agreed the Torak.
“There is also the terror aspect of it,” offered StarWind. “You can imagine what this will do for our morale when the people find out that Duran has been totally destroyed.”
“That can also work against Vand,” countered the Torak. “When word does get out, make sure that everyone knows that there was no chance for anyone to surrender. Vand does not plan to take any prisoners. We are all in this fight to the death, whether we want to be or not.”
“Well,” sighed Lyra, “the people are going to learn about what happened at Duran whether we tell them or not. It is only a matter of time. I propose that we use that time to determine how we will notify the people. I want to do it in a controlled manner so that the citizens can have their questions addressed rather than gather among themselves and spread rumors.”
“A wise decision,” agreed the Torak. “Khadora already has a mechanism that I can use to accomplish the task. It is the Assembly of Lords. You need something similar in the Sakova where you can have officials from each city gather. That way you can explain it to the assembly and then each of them can go home to explain it to the people of their cities.”
“The mayors would be a good choice for assemblymen,” suggested StarWind. “We could have them come to StarCity or hold the assemblies in different cities each meeting on a rotating basis.”
“I prefer the rotating cities idea,” nodded Lyra. “Set it up immediately. We will hold the first meeting in Okata.”
“But we have not confirmed the attack yet,” StarWind reminded the Star.
“It doesn’t matter,” shrugged Lyra. “We still need to start the assembly, and we will start it with a meeting. We have enough to discuss even if the attack did not occur. Set it up.”
StarWind nodded and left the room. Lyra paced the floor for a few moments, ending up in front of the wall map.
“This is coming too soon,” Lyra said softly. “We are not prepared for the war yet.”
Marak rose and walked up behind Lyra. He put his arms around her and held her.
“We will be ready,” he said softly. “I have a few ideas that I would like to discuss with you.”
* * *
The spy saw Marak and his two shadows slip out of the palace in Khadoratung. He eased into the darkness of a nearby alley as he wondered why the Emperor was wearing his black and silver clan colors rather than the white and gold of the Imperial Emperor.
Fisher had no reason to spy on the Torak, but his nature was one of constant curiosity. It was a trait that had made Fisher such a great spy. Fisher followed the trio to the new temple and slipped into the building after them. He let the small group get as far ahead of him as possible without losing them. He knew that Gunta and Halman rarely missed a detail when they were guarding the Torak.
Fisher saw Marak and his shadows enter the library. He chose a concealed place to wait for them to exit so that he could continue to follow them. He was extremely curious as to why Marak had chosen to wear his clan colors.
One minute slowly dragged on to the next. Fisher heard no conversations coming from the library. He heard no sounds of movement. After a long period of waiting, Fisher crept up to the library door. There was no one in sight. Perplexed, Fisher strode into the library. He walked slowly around the room, eyeing everything with suspicion, but finding nothing of interest.
Fisher had toured the new temple many times during its construction. In fact, he was amazed and thrilled to see an actual temple of Kaltara being built in the Khadoran capital. It showed the influence that the Torak had brought to the Khadorans. As he relived walking through the construction site, he remembered his curiosity regarding the small aberration in the perimeter of the library. He had assumed at the time that the library would have a small reading desk in an alcove, yet the library was perfectly rectangular. He walked to the area of the bookshelves where the alcove was supposed to be.
Fisher knelt before the bookshelves and gazed upward. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. Not satisfied that the alcove was a mistake of the builders, Fisher ran his hand under each shelf in the area. He smiled broadly when his fingers touched the metal latch. He triggered the latch and saw the bookshelf slide open slightly. He peered into the darkness and saw nothing.