They continue past several buildings until finally entering a large warehouse. Jiron and the others peer in through a window by the door where they see the sailors talking with a man inside.
“Let’s wait until they come back out and see if we can book passage,” suggests James to the agreement of the others.
They watch through the window until they see the man shake hands with the well dressed sailor who then turns back toward the door they entered through.
Seeing that they’re coming back out, James has them move away from the building for a ways and wait until they leave.
Once all the sailors are completely out of the warehouse, James steps up to the well dressed one and says, “Excuse me.”
Stopping, the sailors turn to see them standing there. A couple of them put their hands on the swords hanging at their waists.
“Yes?” the well dressed man asks, looking at James and the others.
“Are you a captain of a vessel?” James asks.
“Yes, I am,” the captain replies.
“My friends and I were wondering if you might be heading to Cardri soon?” inquires James.
“Why?” the captain asks him back, suspicious.
“We were interested in booking passage if you were,” he explains.
“Hmmm,” the captain says and then one of his men whispers into his ear. His eyes widen slightly and then he says to James, “There were some soldiers asking about a group of people, not of the Empire, who might be looking for passage. They requested that we inform them of any that do.”
“I’m sure that wouldn’t be us,” responds James, innocently.
“Don’t lie to me boy,” orders the captain, “I’m not stupid. I can tell from the way your friend over there got a panic look, that you’re the ones they’re looking for.” He points over to where Roland is standing, beginning to blush.
“What do you plan to do?” Jiron asks, as he unobtrusively takes hold of a knife.
“Do? Nothing,” the captain replies. “I hate the Empire and everything it stands for. I’m only here because I was offered enough gold for me to put aside my dislike for this place and come. Plus, some idiot of a customs official decides to hold my cargo for two days because he thought I had slighted him in some way. If you are causing them problems, so much the better.”
“Then, will you allow us to sail with you?” Jiron asks. “We can pay you for your troubles.”
The captain thinks for a moment and then says, “How many are there?”
“Two women, an infant and six men,” James tells him.
“What could you have done with that to warrant such an extensive search?” he wonders.
“We’d rather not say,” James tells him.
The captain considers it for a moment and says, “Fifty golds and that’s not open to negotiation.”
“Very well,” agrees James holding out his hand.
The captain takes it, sealing the bargain. “Our ship is the Crashing Wave, it’s the second from the end. We sail at first light, if you’re late or don’t have the money, we sail without you. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” replies James, “we do.”
With that, the captain turns and heads back toward the docks, his men following.
“Fifty golds!” Roland cries. “Do we even have that much?”
“I guess we better go and find out,” James says as they head back toward the inn.
When they return to the inn and tell everyone what’s happening and how much it’s going to cost, they pool their money. They discover that they do have enough, though they’ll have little left for when they arrive in Cardri.
“Let’s sell the horses,” suggests Delia. When everyone looks at her, she continues, “We’re not going to need them, except two for the two of you who’ll be staying behind.”
“How much do you think we could get for them?” James asks her.
“Don’t know,” she replies. “I’ll take Roland with me and we’ll find out.”
“Be careful,” warns Jiron, “there’re soldiers everywhere looking for us.”
“I will,” she assures him. “Besides, are they going to be looking for a lone couple out for a stroll?”
Grabbing Roland by the arm, she propels him out the door, but not before he gets a few quick words off to Ezra.
“The rest of us should stay in our rooms until just before dawn,” Jiron says. “Then make our way down to the docks.”
“Sounds simple enough,” adds Stig optimistically.
James hopes his optimism isn’t premature.
Delia and Roland leave the inn and make their way to the outskirts of town, which is usually where the horse traders have their businesses. Several times, they cross the paths of soldiers who fail to take any interest in a couple strolling down the street. Coming to the edge of town, they find a large corral containing several horses.
“Looks like the place,” comments Delia.
“I would tend to agree,” adds Roland as they make their way over to the building adjacent to the corral.
Within the building, they find a man sitting at a table, making notes on parchment. When he sees them enter, he puts his quill in the inkwell and gets up as he comes over to greet them.
Once Roland makes it understood what it is they wish to do, the man becomes all business as he asks about the horses they wish to sell. He tells them that he will be happy to take them off their hands but is unable to name a price until he’s actually seen the animals.
Roland explains to him that they’ll be back shortly with the horses. Walking out of the horse trader’s shop, Roland asks Delia “Aren’t we going to draw attention if we’re seen leading eight horses through the streets?”
“Hopefully not,” she says, “but we need the money for when we reach Cardri.”
Back at the inn, she tells them they found a buyer and takes Scar and Stig along to help with the horses. Leading them out to the stables, she has each of them take two horses. They leave the two that James and Jiron will be using to get out of Al-Kur on their way to locate Miko.
As they proceed through the city, the people on the streets only briefly glance in their direction as they make their way toward the horse trader. Apparently the sight of them leading horses through town is not so out of the ordinary to warrant curiosity.
Once at the horse trader’s, he has them lead the horses into the corral where he begins an inspection of each one. He looks at hoofs, teeth and overall fitness. When he’s done with the last one, he names a price, seventy five golds.
Delia commences to haggle, with Roland as the intermediary and ends up with eighty nine golds. A brief shake of hands to seal the deal and the trader takes them into his office where he pulls out a chest and counts out eighty nine golds. Scar and Stig put the golds into the pouches they’re carrying and then they leave, heading back toward the inn.
A man watches from a doorway across the street as they leave the horse trader’s shop. When they’re out of sight, he crosses the street and enters through the door they just came out of. The horse trader turns to look at who’s entered and his face turns slightly pale when he sees the sign on the medallion the man is showing him.
The man asks, “Those people just sold you several horses?”
“Yes, sir,” the trader replies, nervously. “Eight.”
“Did they say why they had needed to sell so many at once?” he asks as he looks at the trader closely.
Beginning to sweat as he stands before one of the Eye’s of the Empire, a secretive group that seeks out those who would jeopardize or challenge the rule of the Emperor, he replies, “They just said that they needed to leave town and wouldn’t be taking the horses with them.”
Staring at the trader, the Eye says, “Now, just where would they be going that they wouldn’t need horses?”
“I…I don’t know,” the trader says, beginning to get the shakes. No good ever comes from being questioned by an Eye.
Without so much as a thank you, the Eye turns and walks out of the horse trader’s shop. He ponders the
