“You mean lie to my own people?” asked Lyra.
“Yes,” nodded Ukaro. “Lie to them and save their lives at the same time. You have no choice.”
“What is the third thing?” asked Lyra.
“We must find the spy,” answered Ukaro.
“How?” Lyra sighed with exasperation. “It could be anyone, and I have seen how hard it is to identify someone using another’s body. If Larst had not acted so out of character, he would never have been discovered at all.”
“I did not say that it would be easy,” Ukaro replied comfortingly, “but we must do it. I will stay with you until the spy has been uncovered.”
“And what if you are the spy?” challenged the Star of Sakova. “What a clever ruse that would be to turn me away from all of the people that I trust.”
“You are wise to think in such terms,” nodded Ukaro. “I have already specified the people who know of this problem. You are free to contact all of them if you wish.”
“I am sorry, Ukaro,” shrugged Lyra, “but that is something that I must do.”
“I am not offended by such thoughts,” smiled the shaman. “In fact, you would be foolish to accept my words alone.”
“Please do not leave my room while I am gone,” ordered the Star of Sakova as she rose from the bed and left the room.
Ukaro sat in the chair and thought about the dilemma while he waited for Lyra to return. He did not have to wait long.
“Marak is unavailable,” Lyra reported as she reentered the room, “and so is Fisher.”
“And Rhoda?” asked Ukaro.
“Rhoda refused to speak to me about it,” answered Lyra. “Her instructions did not permit it.”
“Then we must wait,” shrugged Ukaro. “I know Marak was bound for Elvangar, but I know nothing about Fisher’s movements.”
“You are not going to try to contact Rhoda and get her to talk to me?” asked Lyra.
“No,” Ukaro shook his head. “Her instructions make sense. In fact, they are written in the note you read. Lyra, when we cannot trust even our closest friends, how can we berate Rhoda for following her orders? She acted properly. Besides, Rhoda does not know me, nor does she know that I have read the message. We will just have to wait.”
“We cannot afford to wait,” Lyra shook her head. “Every moment that we delay, the invasion gets closer. I am going to have to trust my instincts on this, Ukaro. May Kaltara guide me from making a mistake. What do we do next?”
“Your armies are in danger if Vand knows where they are,” answered the shaman. “The first thing you have to do is move them.”
“Without anyone knowing where they are going,” nodded Lyra. “And just how do we do that when I can trust no one?”
“I have a thought about hiding your armies,” replied Ukaro, “but not one of formulating a new strategy.”
“I will take whatever you have,” responded Lyra. “How do I hide my armies without anyone knowing where they are?”
“Give each general an air mage attached to him,” explained Ukaro. “Give each mage a number, and do let anyone know which mage is which number. Throw in a few dozen more mages with numbers who are not attached to any armies. You will start each mage out by giving them a direction to travel and an amount of time to reach some destination that is unknown to them. You have mages here in StarCity weave an air tunnel to each destination at the appropriate time and give new directions. No one will be able to decipher which army is where.”
“I will end up with armies scattered all over the Sakova,” frowned Lyra. “While it will deceive the spy, it will also disorganize us.”
“Perhaps,” shrugged Ukaro. “If you are clever in the use of directions, you could end with each army exactly where you want it to be. Plus, you will reveal a bogus war plan for the spy to concentrate on.”
“I see where you are going with this,” Lyra nodded in appreciation, “but I sure would like to have a few more people helping me with this.”
“You will have Kaltara helping you,” smiled Ukaro. “If you are worried about the mages recognizing the voices of the other mages, I could persuade some Chula to come down here to help.”
Lyra sat on the bed and did not answer. After a long time of silence, she rose and walked to the window. She stared out at the brilliant night sky before turning to face the shaman.
“When was this message received?” she asked.
“I am not sure,” admitted Ukaro. “I spoke to Marak about it yesterday, so it was some time before then. Why?”
“Because I am thinking of one Sakovan who could be of great help with this plan,” answered Lyra. “Until tonight, StarWind has been by my side for the past week. It is not possible that she has been possessed by a mage without me being aware of it. Her help could be immeasurable.”
“That is your decision to make,” Ukaro replied cautiously. “Please remember that your father’s life is at stake. The message does not come right out and say it, but I have to believe that very few people on the Island of Darkness even possess this information. If it is revealed that we know of the spy, your father’s life will be forfeit.”
“And if we do not find this spy,” retorted Lyra, “thousands of Sakovan lives will be forfeit. My father is a resourceful person, Ukaro. While I will not intentionally endanger his life, I cannot work totally in the dark. I feel confident that StarWind is not Vand’s spy. I will stake my life on it.”
“And the lives of your people,” reminded the shaman.
“And the lives of my people,” nodded Lyra. “It is time to bring her into this conversation.”
* * *
The throne room in the Royal Tree was crowded with officers and military advisors. They crowded around a large table that had been brought in for Marak to spread his charts over.
“They will be most vulnerable when they are crossing the sea,” King Avalar declared. “Anything we can do to disrupt that crossing will be well worthwhile.”
“We have some surprises in store for them when they cross,” replied the Torak, “but once they have made the voyage that chance is gone forever.”
“Not necessarily,” Avalar shook his head. “They cannot just cross the ocean and be done with it. Vand is not a fool. He knows that we will likely deplete the land of food and supplies. His ships will continually sail the seas to resupply his armies. It is important for us to reserve some ships to harass him.”
Marak stared at the map of Omunga for a long time without speaking while the elves bantered among themselves, trying to figure out where Vand would choose to strike first. The Torak suddenly started nodding and smiling and the room fell silent as Avalar leaned over to look at the map.
“What do you see that the rest of us do not?” asked the King of the Elves.
“An answer to a riddle,” smiled Emperor Marak.
“What is the riddle?” asked Tamar.
“Two questions,” answered the Torak. “Why was Duran already attacked? And why would the evacuation of Zaramilden alter the invasion plans?”
“You mentioned that Duran was attacked to see what your reactions would be,” replied Avalar. “Do you think there is more to it?”
“I do,” nodded the Torak. “You brought the thought to mind a few minutes ago when you mentioned his need to resupply his forces. Duran is a seaport that has absolutely no access from any point of land. As a landing point for an invading army, it is worthless, but it is strategically located in the center of the landmass and will be fairly close to the fighting no matter where Vand strikes.”
“He is going to preposition supplies there,” gasped Tamar. “Once the fighting begins, he will have no need to have his ships crossing the ocean.”
“Exactly,” nodded Marak. “Zaramilden, however, is too close to Duran by sea be left unconquered. Any of our ships based in Zaramilden would be a threat to his resupply effort, but if we evacuate it, they no longer have to bother attacking it.”
“Does that mean that he will also attack Raven’s Point?” asked Avalar. “It is Khadora’s only major seaport on the eastern coast.”