The Foreshadow of Balance
Page 12
CHAPTER XI
“So how are Kaitlin and Alura?” d’Gaz asked.
“Pretty good, considering. We’ve only just met them, to be honest,” Dad said.
“Are they joining us?”
“They should be here soon.”
“Hopefully,” Lucas said.
“Hopefully?” d’Gaz asked.
“It’s nothing,” Dad said.
“But there are more of you coming?”
“Four more,” Connor said.
“Hopefully,” Lucas said.
d’Gaz looked at him, but Lucas just shrugged.
“And so we get down to why the Twin Magicians sent you to me, why not any other ship’s captain?”
“We don’t know, they just said to find you.”
“I would prefer to find another captain,” Lucas said. “I am from the mountains and even I have heard of your wicked deeds.”
“Propaganda, Mountain Man, I only attack Chinerthian ships, but they want me caught so they spread stories. I suspect they even attack innocent vessels themselves just to pin it on me.”
“And we can believe that?”
“You can believe what you want, Man Mountain, you have come to me, not me to you.”
“Perhaps the Twin Magicians will shed light on the situation when they get here,” Connor said.
“How do you know them?” Dylan asked.
“The Twin Magicians? I fought with Alura right here in the Battle for the Port; what a woman. Then they tended my wounds back at that house of theirs. Quite something, isn’t it, little man?”
“Bigger inside than out,” Dylan agreed.
“You fought protecting the port?” Lucas asked.
d’Gaz laughed. “You still believe all the tales, huh, Man Mountain?”
“I apologise, d’Gaz.”
“It is taken well, Man Mountain. Now, the question is ‘why’?”
“Why what?” Dad asked.
“Why what, Lucky? Why have you come to me, why did you go to the Twin Magicians?” d’Gaz looked around and then leaned in. “What is your purpose?”
“Say nothing,” Lucas said.
Connor looked at him, but then leaned in anyway.
“We come to destroy the Black Queen.”
“A fool’s errand, even with your luck,” d’Gaz said and sat back.
“That it is,” Dad replied.
“We have no choice,” Dylan said.
“Well it is a noble cause then.”
“One that you seem to have been doing for some time,” Dad said.
“Maybe so. Or maybe I just do what a man can to survive.”
“But you only hit Chinerthian ships, you fought against them here.”
“OK, OK, but your mission is still fool-headed there is no purpose behind it.”
“I and my son are from the Fifth World,” Connor said.
“Now don’t play me for a fool, that would mean,” he stopped and looked around and then leaned in again, “that would mean a Portal has opened.”
“That’s exactly what it means,” now it was Dad’s turn to lean in, “and that’s why we have the opportunity to regain the Balance.”
They both leaned back on their chairs and drank.
“So you’re serious. And the Twin Magicians believe you enough to help,” he stroked his stubbly chin. “OK, OK so let’s say I help, what is the plan?”
Connor ran through the basics with him.
“It’s not much of a plan is it, Lucky?”
“Not really,” Dad agreed.
“So you’ll help?” Dylan asked.
“Well you obviously need someone who can plan on your side, young Guardian, who else is coming with the Twin Magicians?”
“A Forest Ranger friend of mine,” Lucas said, “and the Shadow Ranger.”
“The Shadow Ranger?” d’Gaz asked.
“Does it worry you?” Lucas asked.
“Worry me? I’m not sure if it is a blessing or a curse to have him at your side.”
“You know him?” Dylan asked.
“Now then, young Guardian, I could tell you some tales about your Shadow Ranger friend,” and he winked.
“He never mentioned knowing you,” Lucas said.
“Ahh, he’s a secretive one though isn’t he?” d’Gaz said and winked again at Dylan. “What strange bedfellows you have, young Guardian.”
“You mean friends?” Dylan asked.
“Aye, I do.”
“And are you a friend?”
“Well, well, young Guardian, I believe I am,” d’Gaz said and stretched out a hand which Dylan took and shook. “You can add me to your Quest.”
“We’re called the Foreshadow of Balance.”
“It’s a fine name, but now we need to talk preparations. You need to wait for your Quest and I have business to attend to.”
“Can we help?” Dad asked.
“Well, you might be able to, the quicker it is done, the quicker we can be away.”
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Two nights later with no moon, they were in the harbor unloading a boat. There were many crates to be unloaded, but d’Gaz wouldn’t tell them what was in them, merely that this was not the time for talk, but for speed. Dylan did what he could, but it wasn’t much. Dad said he should stay at the inn, but Lucas wouldn’t let him out of his sight. In the end he stood with d’Gaz and oversaw the operation.
They moved the crates from the boat to a cart and then the boat would leave and come back with more. Once a cart was full it left and another pulled up. Dylan counted six times they stopped and hid because of noises, but only once did a party of Ruling Guards march by on the street that ran the length of the harbor.
It took them two hours to finish and then Dylan, Dad and Lucas got on the last cart with d’Gaz and they rode to the outskirts of town, never taking the main roads.
“So what is this, d’Gaz,” asked Lucas, “what treachery have you involved us in?”
D’Gaz laughed. “These are medical supplies, Man Mountain.”
“Medical supplies?” Dad asked.
“Oh, yes. Some are made here in the woods, some come from overseas, but the Chinerthians cannot make money from free health care.”
“So they are selling them back to the people?”
“Indeed. They can’t stop the forest people doing so, but they can stop it coming in and out of the towns.
“You have to pay now for medicines and the poorest can’t afford to. I know people who smuggle it in through the forests and we smuggle in what can’t be found here.”
“So you are helping people?” Lucas asked incredulously.
“You still believe the Chinerthian lies then, Man Mountain.”
“I am a Mountain Man, I cannot change my beliefs so easily.”
“But you are coming around, no?”
“I am, Pirate, I am.”
“Good to hear,” d’Gaz smiled. “Here we are.”
They unloaded the crates into the back of an inn, the innkeeper hurrying them along, always looking around for Ruling Guards.
“Tomorrow night we finish,” d’Gaz said.
“There’s more?” Dad asked.
“From here some can be distributed, but they need to be smuggled to towns, such as Jania, that are on major, patrolled routes.”
“Tomorrow then,” Lucas said as they turned to walk away.
“Good to have you on side, Man Mountain.”
“Same to you, Pirate.”