LITMIR.BIZ

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the guardsman sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “It’ll take me a day to get permission, a few more days to get the papers, a day to get our things together…” He looked around at the other two. “Four days from now, I want you to be ready to leave first thing in the morning. And Sorgius,” he paused, you’re going to get your father’s permission first. I don’t want it to be like last time. Remember the hunting trip?”

      Chapter 3. Customs on the Northern Border

      The road to wild Lumdyrbag plains turned out to be less difficult than the friends had expected. They started out by sailing down the Fela on a comfortable quadridera. River transportation in the Empire had long been established and widely used. All the way to the delta, both banks were settled densely with towns, villages and farmers’ carefully tended fields. As they approached Samran, the capital of the province of Iristenia, the banks grew wilder and more overgrown, and the river began to divide its waters into a multitude of tributaries. In the old times, bands of criminals and other outcasts had hidden entire villages here in the thick canebrakes, away from the eyes of imperial authorities. Now, the criminals owned lovely estates with elaborate staircases leading to their second-floor entrances, as was the local architectural tradition, and the descendants of the outcasts had given up their rebellious traditions and lazily gathered harvests of peaches and figs growing in the gardens of the delta’s new aristocracy.

      Leaning against the ship’s side, Sorgius was rambling on about the Iristenian clans that were losing influence because of the arrogance of their leaders and their inflexibility in even the smallest matters, but Vordius was not really listening to him. He and Fenia were both standing on tiptoe and looking to the north. Their noses picked up the salty air of the Sea of Dragons wafting over the yellow houses of the city.

      According to the history books, the sea got its name during the era of the Twelve Kingdoms because of the giant cheley fish – brightly colored sea monsters with huge, poisonous dorsal fins that inhabited it. The clever fishermen who managed to catch the scary-looking fish passed them off for enormous sums of money by claiming that they were sea dragons. Demand for the exotic fish eventually led to their extinction, except perhaps in the deepest part of the sea, but the name “Sea of Dragons” stuck. Some people still called it the Northern Waters, but unlike the Southern Waters (the Misty Sea), the Sea of Dragons was rarely crossed by bloated merchants, and the only military ships in the area were limited to a dozen patrol liburns – small fry by the standards of any real navy. The Sea of Dragons was isolated from the Great Ocean, and its shores were inhabited by barbarian peoples who rarely came to the attention of the Empire: Anshary in the west, who had lived there even before the arrival of the Torgs, Markutan in the north and Sotrays in the east. The southern coast and Untrasun, the only large island in the sea (which housed one of the Emperor’s most beautiful – and least visited – residences) belonged to Herandia. However, the guardsman and his friends were headed in an entirely different direction. Turning course to the east from Samran, the unwieldy merchant ship slowly bobbed up and down over the lazy waves, causing Sorgius to hang his head over the side from time to time.

      “He’s not much of a merchant!” Fenia wrinkled her nose. She preferred to stand in front of the mast with her face to the wind. It whipped her red hair in all directions, but she did not even notice. The sailor whose job it was to keep an eye out for reefs and shallows hung around behind her. For some strange reason, he couldn’t get up the nerve to make her move.

      “The sea is beautiful!” Vordius exclaimed in the voice of a false romantic. He pushed aside the sailor and took his place behind Fenia, standing so close that the top of her head hit his chin every time the boat rolled. “Is this your first time on a ship?”

      “Yes,” Fenia answered dryly, closing her eyes.

      “Look, a dolphin!” Vordius pressed on. Bending forward, he leaned against the nose of the ship, nearly crushing poor Fenia.

      “Where?” she shouted, almost jumping for joy.

      Vordius cursed and rubbed his nose.

      “I’m sorry, did I get you with my head?” the young woman asked remorsefully.

      “It’s nothing,” he muttered, smiling to show that all was forgiven.

      “Then move over. I’m going to go check on our Vuravian. He may need something,” she said and flitted away.

      Vordius shook his dark curls. “Go ahead. Good riddance!”

      Just then, the little sailor – who had finally regained his rightful spot – gave a shout. Vordius turned and saw the captain running forward.

      “What’s he yelling about?”

      “What do you mean?” the captain replied. “It’s Urbiv. We’ve arrived at our destination, Enel officer.”

      “Is that possible?” Vordius was doubtful. “We’ve been at sea for less than a week.” He turned and examined the coastline. “Where is the dock?” There was none. The port was nothing but a few sad buildings sitting lopsided on a low beach.

      “How will we moor?”

      The captain shrugged. “It’s shallow here.”

      “You mean we have to jump into the water?”

      He heard a sigh in response. “That’s what we do.”

      “Like a bunch of pirates.”

      “I don’t know about that,” the captain said, eyes wide. “I’ve never seen any.”

      “Lower the rowboat!”

      “It’s full of holes.”

      It was useless to argue. Irate, Vordius turned and made his way to the improvised tent at the stern to give his companions the news. To his great surprise, they took it philosophically. Fenia just chuckled at the thought of swimming to shore, and Sorgius was so seasick that he didn’t care.

      When they looked over the side of the ship, they saw that the water was truly shallow enough for them to walk. The captain had skillfully brought the ship alongside a sandbar that acted as a natural jetty.

      “Take him first,” said Fenia when the guardsman attempted to give her a hand. Muttering, Vordius threw Sorgius over his shoulder and carried him to shore like a nomad with a stolen bride.

      “Don’t jostle me like that or I’ll throw up again!” Sorgius moaned. “I can’t stand the sight of all this water!”

      Vordius stopped and turned his friend around, now carrying him like a bride who had agreed to the arrangement.

      “How sweet!” Fenia waved from her perch riding piggy-back on the captain’s back. “Don’t forget to invite me to the wedding!”

      Without a word, Vordius dropped Sorgius in the water and stomped off toward the shore.

      The Vuravian stood up shakily and, rubbing his hip, shuffled after them.

      “Don’t be offended. He’s just jealous,” said Fenia with a chuckle.

      They received a less than hospitable welcome. Instead of a guard post or even a duty officer, they found a handful of men sitting between ramshackle buildings on the shore. The men were tied to each other with clumsily made wooden hobbles and were trying just as clumsily to get a fire going. A sheep bleated from inside a building somewhere nearby, and the air was heavy with the awful odor of animal skins.

      “What is all this?” Vordius asked edgily.

      One of the men seated on the ground looked up at the newcomers and slowly removed the wooden yoke from his neck. Then he stuck a piece of dried grass in his dirty mouth and began picking his teeth.

      “What nonsense!” Vordius shook his head.

      “Agreed,” Fenia declared. “The men are sitting on the ground while the sheep are inside.”

      “That’s not what I meant,” Vordius said stiffly, trying to avoid the girl’s eyes.

      “Slavery

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