The Caravan Road (33 page)

“Well, let’s make haste to get to The View as fast as we can, and decide what comes next,” he said.  “Everyone needs to think about what they plan to do once we’ve reached the Twenty Cities.”  With that he stood up and went to the stables to prepare the animals for departure.

Their travels that day showed them one particularly interesting sight; they passed a caravan headed east towards Black Crag, the first organized caravan to attempt the trip.  “We’re leaving a week earlier than usual, but by being the first ones to arrive east we’ll collect a premium for the load we’re carrying,” the team leader told them.

“You say you made it all the way through with just that rig?” he asked dubiously.  “What were the tollkeepers like?” he euphemistically referred to the bandit gangs.

“We only ran into two sets, and they won’t trouble travelers as much anymore,” Alec said flatly.  “Did you happen to see a set of folks on horses, about seven, also headed down into the Twenty Cities?” he asked.

“We did, they hit the bottom of the Glide the day we were starting up.  They were a bit of a celebrity group for making it through in the heart of winter.  They didn’t mention there was another group behind them,” he said.

“They didn’t know we were behind them,” Alec answered.  “Did they mention where they were headed once they got through Oolitan?”

“No, they just asked about the fastest way to get to the Western Road,” the other leader answered, then cracked his whip to set his train back into motion.  “Got to keep moving; good luck.”

“And good luck to you too,” Alec answered.

His caravan, had been dwarfed by the eastward bound collection of forty wagons, with spare
to
mules carry fodder
,
and multiple guards on horses.  The small group spent the night camping along the road, maintaining two guards on each shift of the watch.  Alec and Jasel worked on extending the boy’s ability to speak with his mind. 
You can’t hear me any further away than this?
Jasel asked as they sat only five feet apart.

Not yet, but keep practicing.  You will develop the ability,
Alec urged him.

It seems like a lot of extra work
, Jasel commented,
without any real benefit
.

Imagine that you’re calling out to Kriste
, Alec suggested. 
Think about if she could hear you telling her that you’re coming to find her.  Think if she could answer and tell you where she was!

The look at Jasel’s face showed Alec that he had stumbled onto the best motivation possible, and the boy practiced continually.

By mid-afternoon on the following day, they reached the edge of The View, the small plateau that sat amid the mountains, several thousand feet above the plain in which the Twenty Cities were located.  Alec stood at the edge with the others in his group as the regular traffic of the region paced by them.  The view from The View was extraordinary; Alec drank in the sight of the flat plain that stretched into the distant horizon.  Oolitan spread out far below them, a city with small patches of recognizable grids of streets, but mostly a turning, teeming mass of roads and ways that merged and ended and started randomly.  It would be a tortuous journey through that slow-moving traffic, he realized.

Off in the distance, he saw six cities easily.  Two were north along the northern road, and one was south, though it was not the great port city, Shoreham.  Looking west, the direction they had to travel, he saw two cities in a line that must be the Western Road they were looking for, as well as a city to the southwest.

“It’s an inspiring sight,” Salem said as she came to stand next to him.

“It is,” Alec agreed.  “What cities do we see?”

“To the north are Churt, and then Firence,” she pointed past Alec.  “Down south is Creole.

“Over there in the west is one of the Five, Erechta, and the most distant you can see is another of the Five, Exbury.  The near one,” she paused for only a moment, “is Woven.”

“Was it your home?  Is that the city you’ve fled from?” Alec asked her.

“Yes,” she answered softly.  “It was home.”

“My path leads to Woven, it seems,” Alec said carefully.  “Do you plan to journey that way too?  Shall we continue to travel together?”

“I wish that I could return to Woven, and I wish that I could travel with you, but we cannot return,” Salem said.  Kane had walked up, and stood behind his mother.

“We could!  With Alec fighting for us, we could return!” he said excitedly.

“Alec is not on his way to Woven to fight for us.  He is going in pursuit of his own mission,” she said, not looking at Alec.  Her eyes looked out at the horizon, tears forming and brimming.

“Won’t you fight for us?  Won’t you fight for my mother?” Kane asked Alec.  “We can offer you great rewards!”

“What battle would you need fought?  Who is your enemy?” Alec asked.

“Kane, that is enough!” Salem spoke sharply, silencing her son.  “Go now; leave us,” she directed sternly.

The boy looked at his mother defiantly for a moment, then turned and walked away.

“I apologize, Alec.  I didn’t expect the boy to pester you like that.  It’s been hard for him,” she spoke hesitantly.

“What is your story?” Alec asked.  “If I can help on my way to finding Kriste, I will be there to assist you.  You have been a good friend on this journey; I’m glad we were able to help you.”

“My husband was the Marquis of Woven,” Salem explained.  “We were the ruling family of the city.”

“Until?” Alec asked.

“Until his cousin overthrew him.  We had many loyal followers, but after my husband was murdered, they felt it was best that we leave the city and run for safety,” she told Alec.  “And so we did.  We went to the edge of Oolitan, and lived on an estate there, and tried to forget the past.

“But one night the past came to us, and attacked the estate.  Many of our servants and followers were killed defending us, and we,” she paused, “and I decided we needed to run from the Twenty Cities if we were going to stay alive.  And you know what happened after that.”

“My grandfather was a king,” Alec said softly, looking off into the distant horizon.

“Alec, if we’re going to make it down the Glide today, the stableman says we need to go soon,” Andi came over and interrupted.

Alec held his hand up.

“My grandfather, the king of the Dominion, was murdered by men who wanted power.  I killed them in revenge, and eventually took the throne myself,” he continued, his voice so soft that both Salem and Andi leaned in closer to him.

“My first wife’s father was the emperor of Michian, until he was killed by his own sister, who wanted to rule the empire.  And I killed her.

“Then Caitlen’s throne was usurped by the Conglomerate in Vincennes, and so I fought and returned her to the throne,” he said.

“I will go to Woven with you, and we will restore you to the throne of your city,” he told Salem.  “Those who violently seize power for themselves must not be allowed to succeed.”

“Andi, we will wait here until nightfall.  I have a different plan.  Go tell everyone to settle in and rest, and send
Stacha
and Alfred over here to see me,” he directed the Black Crag guard.

“Alec, I believe you could do this.  I know you could fight your way into the palace and slay Trayma, the usurper.  But the people would not accept us back on the throne,” Salem told him.  “Trayma promised them that he would make Woven the ‘Sixth City’ with a miraculous power of its own.  The people – the nobility, the merchants, the peasants – they all want that.  They supported him so that they could become a ‘great city’, even if they dislike his treachery.”

“How will he make the city a ‘great city’?” Alec asked.  “What does that even mean?”

“The Five Great Cities are right next to Woven,” Salem answered.  “They each have some magical aspect to them, a feature that is maintained by the descendants of the ancient powers that founded the cities.  They are the heart of the culture of the Twenty Cities.

“Trayma says that he has a magician who will use magic to make Woven the city of crystals, so that it will glitter and sparkle like a gigantic gemstone, and all the people of the Twenty Cities will come to see its splendor,” Salem answered.

“How would he do that?” Alec asked.

“The reports I received said that he was doing it, but it was a sham.  His ‘magician’ has a building where he mixes water and chemicals and makes a great deal of thick black smoke, and from that he produces a paste or a paint that has sparkles in it.  They are going around painting all the buildings with this paint, and when people protest, they are beaten, or jailed, or worse, by the soldiers and thugs who Trayma has brought in to coerce the city,” Salem answered.

“If you were to return, and promised that you would truly give the city something unique, something that would make the lives of the people better and make the city wealthy, would they turn back to you, and help to overthrow Trayma?” Alec asked.

“Alec, you wished to see us, my lord?”
Stacha
and Alfred arrived.

“Think about your answer,” Alec directed Salem, then turned to the two new arrivals.

“Alfred, do you have a plan for what you will do now that we are in the Twenty Cities?” he asked the old trader.

“Only what I planned to do when Gwen and Mrs. Grean and I were heading this way,” Alfred said.

“If I offered an alternative, would you consider it?” Alec asked.

“Knowing what a great man you are, my lord, I would in all likelihood agree to any plan of yours.  I do not need to keep traveling to be happy,” Alfred said with a smile that displayed the genuine trust he had developed for Alec during their journey.

“
Stacha
, if I suggested that we bought a shop where you could live and work in a city, and make hats and dresses and capes as you have been learning, would you think that is a good start to your new life?” he asked the girl.

“Oh yes, my husband, I would live the happiest life if I could settle down with you and do those things,” she replied with a broad smile.

“And if I said that I would not settle down with you, but that Alfred would live nearby to help you with running the shop, would you accept that?” Alec followed.

Stacha
’s smile disappeared.

“
Stacha
, you have never really thought I am your husband, have you?” Alec asked, pushing the issue.

“No Alec, I knew you were not, and I always knew in my heart you were not going to be,” she agreed, blushing lightly.

“So a shop with Alfred nearby to help, and perhaps a real husband who would come courting you sometime soon as the pretty girl that you are, that would be a good way to start your life over here?” Alec pressed.

“It would be more than I hoped for most of my life,”
Stacha
seemed to accept his proposal.

“And Alfred, would like to be mentor to this young lady, and use your knowledge and skill to settle down and introduce the fashions of Cearche hats to the ladies of the Twenty Cities?” Alec asked.

“You’re a shrewd man as well as a great one,” Alfred accepted.  “A shop, the prospect of waking up in the same bed – the same city! – every day, and the company of this young lady: that’s a nice promise for an old man,” he said.  “I think Gwen would approve of her hats coming back into fashion in a new town.”

The sun was starting to set in the western sky, the air beginning to take on a warm golden glow as the rays lengthened and evolved towards red.

“Thank you,” Alec said.  “Go over to Jasel and Andi, and send them over to me now,” he told the pair.  They nodded and walked away, talking intently between themselves, discussing their future shop, Alec suspected.

“What plots are you hatching?” Salem looked at him keenly.  “What new impossible tasks are you going to accomplish?”

“I think we will all go to Woven,” Alec told her.  “We will acquire a shop for
Stacha
, and we will use it as our base for a quick campaign to restore you to leadership in your city.  If we need to, we will produce something unique and everlasting and magical that will make Woven the rich and powerful envy of the Twenty Cities.  And then I will go find Kriste and bring her back to freedom,” he said with a smile, as the next two young members of his entourage arrived.

“We are going to go to Woven,” Alec addressed them, and explained his plan to set
Stacha
up in a shop there, and spoke in general terms about restoring Salem’s family, “Lady Salem, I should have been saying, pardon my familiarity,” he apologized with a smile to her.

“When that is accomplished, it will be time to resume the hunt for your sister,” Alec spoke directly to Jasel.  “Are you comfortable with this?”

“You believe we will still be able to find them?” Jasel asked.  “You don’t think Kriste will be lost forever in all these people?”  He had never seen a city before, and even the high altitude view of Oolitan’s teeming warrens astonished, overwhelmed, and even frightened him.

“I think we’ll be closer to them when we leave Woven that we were when we left Ridgeclimb,” Alec answered his question indirectly.