Chapter 14

I said my final goodbye to Marcus in the tin shack. Paco helped me put the cloak on again, and then pulled the hood over my head. The moonlight reflected off the black sheen of the Dakota Sea. It seemed so odd that by day the Dakota Sea looked brown as mud, yet at night, it reflected light with its darkness. Paco moved as silent as a cat along the docks. I made more noise with my wooden crutch dragging along as I hobbled awkwardly along.

We stopped between two large wooden cargo ships. Crates of netting, long poles, leather armor, rope, and various piles of clothes littered both ships. Some of the crates that remained on the dock created cover for us to blend into. Paco searched the waterfront with his eyes. He paused every few seconds to stare.

“Wait here, Eric.”

I watched Paco run to the landing area where large wooden wagons lined up to carry the cargo into Arsenal Village. He met someone. They huddled together then ran over to me. It was Kara. She handed me a flask.

“Eric, how do you feel?”

“Still very weak,” I said as I drank the water. “It’s bitter.”

“I added herbs to help keep your fever down.”

“Thank you.”

“I need to show you something. Paco, please wait here,” Kara said.

Kara and I walked to the end of the dock. There were more crates stacked at the end. Kara pulled me to the very edge of the dock where the railing ended.

“Look far out into the Dakota Sea. What do you see?” she asked.

My eyes searched the shadows. The moonlight dancing off the water made it very difficult to discern between waves and objects. I stared out. Everything looked black as night. Then as I continued to stare into the horizon, the landscape seemed to move in pieces. Hundreds of pieces moved together, bouncing on the subtle waves. Still, the objects were too far for me to make out what they were.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Ryan Strider ordered his warriors to sail south to Vicar. Hundreds of these boats have gone south under the cover of moonlight. They shine no lights. They make no noise. They slip away like the wind.”

“How do you know it’s not the Minister?”

“Early one morning, one of the ships had trouble. Smoke billowed from the front of it. They took shelter not too far from here. It was just a few days after Paco brought you to the safe house. I came to make arrangements with the man who took care of Marcus’s body and I noticed the boat.”

As I listened to Kara, I counted more than fifty ships. There were many more on the horizon.

“The men on the troubled ship all had Zetec war paint on their faces. They carried full armor of leather, mesh, and steel. They held crossbows, machetes, and clubs at their side. These were not men going to meet for a truce.”

“When is this meeting between Sanctum Village and the Minister taking place?”

Kara looked behind us to make sure Paco still kept watch. She looked around the docks as well. “Nobody knows exactly when, only that it will take place on the desert field of Vicar. It’s rumored that only the Sanctum Village leaders, Manzo, and the Minister know for sure.”

“They will come for me,” I said.

“Yes. Everyone will send someone after you. You present too much of a risk to this truce.” Kara held my hand tight. “We must stay hidden until it’s time.”

“Time for what?” I asked.

“Until it’s time for you to kill,” she said. “Eric, I accept you for what you are. I know what you must do. All that I ask is for you to search for peace when this is over. Search for peace with your whole heart and soul. Search for it with me.” She kissed me. Her lips felt light as a feather and warm like the sun.

“I will not be responsible for you. Everyone close to me has died.”

She hugged me. “I’m not asking to be taken care of. I lost my father. I know there are no guarantees in life. I also know life is so precious and brief. You and I are haunted by the same thing. Loneliness. You may not feel it now, but when you’re done. It will hit you hard. It will take your breath away.”

Her words gave me a chill that ran from my neck, down my back, and to my legs. “You support what I must do?”

“The Minister can’t be trusted. Your blade will reveal the truth for all.”

I leaned on my crutch. I felt weak. “You don’t believe a truce is possible?”

Kara looked out to the Zetec ships. “If truce was a possibility, why do they not fly their flags to let others know they are coming? Let’s go back to the safe house. You are starting to shiver.”

Truth existed in her words. She understood loss and sorrow. She understood me. I kept my thoughts to myself. I kept them deep in my soul.

With Paco leading the way back and Kara on my arm helping me along, we made it back to the safe house without incident. As soon as my head hit the cot, I fell asleep.

“Eric?”

Paco stood over me with a flask and a bowl of steaming food. “Some rice and dried fish. Not the most appetizing breakfast but it will give you strength.”

I ate the food eagerly. The night of sleep helped my body. I felt weak, but refreshed.

“Are you up for going into town, Eric?”

“What do you need to do?”

Paco held up Marcus’s throwing knife belt. “I need to refill this.”

I grabbed my cloak and crutch.

Kara remained asleep on the floor in the other room. She used a simple canvas blanket and a rolled up military shirt under her head as a pillow. Nestled between her and the wood thatched wall, lay the short sword her mother had given me, that I passed on to her. One day, after I’ve killed the Minister, I promised myself that I’d teach her how to master that little sword.

We arrived at the Arsenal Village market at mid-day with the autumn sun moving between clouds. I followed Paco through the many weapon and armor stalls until we reached the Asian sector. I watched as Paco showed a merchant the knife belt. The merchant left Paco at the table. Another merchant came to bargain. When the first merchant came back the two merchants argued with each other. Paco stepped back. He waited.

I made my way over to Paco. “What’s going on?”

“It would seem that of the eight knives we need to complete the set, this merchant has three and the other has five. The problem is, they don’t want to share the sale so they are arguing between themselves to get the other to give up their knives.”

I listened carefully to the two merchants argue. While I didn’t understand the language, it was clear that they were motivated by money and nothing else.

“Paco, how much do you have?”

“Forty seven Commerce City dollars and about thirteen in coins.”

“How much do the knives cost? The total set.”

“Not more than fifteen.”

“Give me twenty.”

Paco handed me the full satchel of coins plus some dollar bills to make up twenty dollars. I walked over to another merchant a few tables down. I yelled to him. “Twenty for that full set of throwing knives behind you.”

The two arguing merchants ran over to the table where I stood. They brought the knives.

“No. No. You buy from us,” the first merchant said.

“How much?” I said to him.

“You said twenty to this one, so the same for us.”

“No.”

“No?” he asked.

“This one didn’t give us a hard time. I’ll buy your knives for thirteen.”

The two merchants looked at each other in disbelief. “No. No. Eighteen.”

I yelled to the other merchant who had already gathered the knives and put them on the table. “Here, twenty.”

One of the two merchants pushed my hand back to my chest.

“No. No. Thirteen. We’ll take thirteen.”

I looked back at Paco.

He laughed.

The two merchants packed the throwing knives in a canvas bag. They handed them to Paco. They continued to argue with each other in disgust.

“That was clever, Eric.”

“Not really. You just need to understand what motivates people. They didn’t care about the knives. They only cared about the money.”

We walked through the maze of merchants. Paco stopped at a food stand. The merchant grilled fresh fish, crabs, and squirrel. The aroma made my stomach grumble. Paco purchased two whole grilled mudfish. The leathery skin had pulled away from the meat where the cook had cut it. I pulled off a piece as we walked. It tasted delicious.

Paco stopped suddenly. He pushed me into a tent area where tanners dried deerskin on large racks.

“What is it, Paco?”

“Zetec soldiers. The four we watched last night. They are fully armed. Come, follow me.”

While my left leg, left shoulder, and back ached tremendously, I did my best to keep up with Paco as he moved through the rows and rows of stretched deerskins. He used the deerskins as cover. I looked ahead to see a clearing between the tannery and the blacksmiths. If we crossed that clearing without being found, we’d have more cover as we go up the hill and back to the safe house. Paco must have thought the same thing as he headed in that direction.

Paco looked back behind me.

We were not followed. We kept going.

As Paco cleared the last cover of the tannery, two of the enormous Zetec warriors met him with their crossbows drawn. I turned to go back where we came. When I turned, my eyes met with a crossbow aimed at my head. We had no chance. They grabbed the throwing knives from Paco and my sword from my belt.

“Come with us.”

The Zetec warriors took us to the shoreline, to a cluster of docks away from the main loading area. A small covered boat, with its motor running, idled at a nearby pier. They forced us onto the boat. We traveled far into the Dakota Sea to a cluster of ships. As we approached one of them, the side metal rail opened. We entered the larger boat. They led us down to a holding area. Two of the armed Zetec warriors stayed with us.

“Eric, don’t worry. If they meant to kill us, we’d already be dead. These two don’t look like they have any problems killing people.”

I remained silent. With my depleted strength, I was useless to Paco. While I didn’t doubt his skill as a Raven, the two Zetec warriors, armed with crossbows, would be difficult for anyone to handle. I sat still and quiet on the metal chairs bolted into the wall of the ship.

A figure I immediately recognized walked in.

“You are a very difficult person to track down, Eric Skye.”

Ryan Strider stood before me. He shaved his head down and wore green, white, and red paint on his cheeks and neck. His outfit must have been provided by Sanctum Village as it looked nearly indestructible. At his side he holstered a thick machete, a metal club, and throwing knives different from those that Marcus had on his belt. These were shaped like a crescent moon with only one side of the curved metal sharpened to a razor thin blade.

I remained silent.

“As for you Paco, you’re foolish to help him. You should stop your little adventure here and go back to helping the Sanctum Village guests.”

Clearly, Ryan did not know Paco’s true identity.

“What happened to you? Did Commerce City soldiers do this to you? Was it mercenaries? There certainly are enough of them here in Arsenal Village. Tell me.”

I remained silent. When I first met Ryan on the transport ship, he seemed scared, weak, and unsure of himself. The person before me had none of those attributes. Ryan stood tall with confidence, the confidence of a leader and warrior. He sat down next to me.

“So will you talk to me? No?”

I remained silent.

Ryan clapped his hands. The door opened and Nayla walked in. Like Ryan, she dressed in tactical gear and she had tied her hair back. She carried no weapons.

“Maybe you can convince him to talk,” Ryan said.

“I’ll try.” Nayla sat down opposite me. “Eric, forgive my husband. He is very eager to get information that could help us ensure a truce.” Nayla looked at Ryan and the Zetec warriors. “Please leave us.”

Ryan walked out. Before he left the room, he pointed to his two huge Zetec warriors. “You two stay. If Eric or Paco so much as touches her, kill them.”

Nayla closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. Moments later, with a cloud of doubt and fear descending on her face, she stared at me.

“Congratulations on your wedding. I’m sure you’ll be very happy,” I said to her.

“Oh, Eric.” She held back tears.

“Why doesn’t he just kill me now and be done with it?”

Nayla stood up. The two Zetec warriors watched her every move. She sat down next to me.

“Too many believe in you. So many people use you as an inspiration to fight back against the Minister, even among the Zetec faithful. They know your story. They know what you did to try and save your sister.”

“So he can’t kill me then,” I said.

“Not intentionally, but he can certainly make it look like an accident or that Commerce City did it,” Nayla said. “More than anything though, Ryan respects you. You saved his sister Riah from being raped by those men on the transport ship. He may never say it, but I know for sure he respects you for what you did.”

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Leave and never come back. As I told you at Sanctum Village, your presence here is dangerous for everyone. You must go if this truce will happen.”

I closed my eyes for a moment. The site of Nayla troubled me. She had transformed into someone I could not identify with. Politics dominated her thinking instead of the pursuit of justice. She sat before me as a stranger, like the Zetec warriors that guarded her from me. “Your faith is misguided. Politics will not save these lands.” I looked away from her. “What I did for his sister, I would have done for anyone else. It was justice.”

“It’s time.” One of the Zetec warriors said as he separated Nayla from me.

Nayla looked back before leaving. “Riah speaks often of you. She believes you have been chosen by their ancestral spirits to rescue the Zetec nation from destruction. She recites the Retreat Poem every time she sees Ryan. Maybe there is something to her innocent sense of hope.”

Nayla left with the Zetec warrior. The other one stepped forward with his crossbow armed and pointed at us.

“A skiff waits for you on deck. I suggest you get on it immediately before High Chief Ryan changes his mind about you.” He walked out, leaving the door ajar.

I shook my head in disbelief.

“What is it, Eric? Are you worried that Ryan may come after you?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?”

“I can’t believe what Nayla has become. Once, she was a warrior. Now she’s a political slave to Ryan.”

Paco helped me up. “There is one thing you must know, Eric.”

I paused. “What?”

“The blood samples I took from you came back clean. Other than some expected, non-threatening parasites in your system, your blood sequence came back as fifty one percent Sequot. Somewhere in your lineage, you are from her tribe.”

“Does she know?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but you can be sure that when she does find out, nothing will keep her from you. She’s obsessed with keeping her bloodline alive.”

“I don’t care what they found in my blood sequence. I have one more thing to do in this life. I will kill Minister Taybor. After that, nothing else matters.”