Category: Vaenuth

The Ake’ma River split, and then it split again, and a hundred times more, until, like a shallow lake, it ran though the streets of Maykren and out into Trader’s Bay.  Fifty docks were built on the north side of the city, and fifty more on the south side.  Ul’ma’s barge seemed like it might crash into one, until four members of the crew jumped overboard—to Vaenuth’s surprise—and easily used its momentum to run it alongside a dock.  They deftly looped ropes around the mooring posts and the craft came to a lurching stop. Continue reading Vaenuth 24

“Again,” Tagg barked, and Vaenuth lifted her wooden sword with groaning muscles.  They stood on a cleared area of the barge that took four steps to cross; the wooden beams were smoothed and sanded, and sealed with sap and horse collagen.  It was not a large area to fight, but it was a reliable one. Continue reading Vaenuth 23

After she had acquired a job for her caravan from a Selected of the Third Court of Rema, Vaenuth hired another ten workers using notice boards and taverns around the city; then she set to planning her trip.  Knowing Banno’s potential objections to her ruthlessness, she had to decide to leave him in charge of her caravan in her stead.  Hulean, the only member who could teleport—travelling without expense or significant danger—would be joining her mission team after two months, in the distant city of Sheld. Continue reading Vaenuth 22

It was raining when Vaenuth woke up.  A week had passed since her successful meeting with Ovoe the Keeper.  While she knew—and had been told by everyone she spoke with about it—that she should be cautious, even scared, of the master spy and politician, he had succeeded in easing her worries and put her heart at rest.  He was going to help her, in either case, and Vaenuth felt elated. Continue reading Vaenuth 21

The Iron Palace was built with a stone outer wall to guard its grounds.  The Palace itself consisted of an iron-walled first floor, slanted inward at a steep angle, while the second floor had no walls at all.  While the first floor suggested the creation of a ziggurat, a set of columns made of iron rose above, ten by ten.  Far above, three storeys up perhaps, was supported another floor, but it was little more than a balcony and rampart.  Somewhere in the midst of that forest of iron pillars was the shape of a stone keep, plated with iron, where the Emperor’s private quarters were; it also housed his order of priests, the Aura. Continue reading Vaenuth 20

Iloli was more up tight than Vaenuth expected her to be, for at first she seemed comfortable.  They spent weeks on the road, as the caravan rode east, and she became acquainted with Tagg and Banno.  They shared stories of the venture into the Expanse, and, despite Hulean’s nearby ears, they told her everything that had transpired in Logren.  As they sat around the campfire or cleaned their equipment, the leaders of Vaenuth’s caravans helped Iloli become one of them. Continue reading Vaenuth 19

When they arrived at Nokire this time, Vaenuth allowed her small caravan a whole day of rest.  When they had rushed past to reach the Expanse and to trade with the Slither tribe, they had barely stopped at all.  Nokire was abuzz, as always, with other caravans or jungle tribes arriving and leaving without much warning.  Vaenuth chose to stay in her camp that night, rather than finding some distraction in Rainrest. Continue reading Vaenuth 18

Belmyre carried Vaenuth across the desert sands yet again.  They had reached the Expanse a few days ago, and one of her three scouts had found the Slither tribe across the dunes.  Instead of travelling west from the Nokire passes, she had kept a northern passage until her scouts found their friends.  She watched the dipping horizon as she rode; at her sides, Banno and Tagg did the same, the former in a wagon, the latter in a horse’s saddle. Continue reading Vaenuth 17

“Tagg, Banno, and Arn, with me,” Vaenuth said, as she set out from her camp at Rainrest into the city.  They had arrived late the night before, after a slow journey through the jungles.  Time had become her adversary, because her people needed rest after the arduous venture.  She was going to be late, too late, for the rendezvous with the Slither tribe she had given a map too. Continue reading Vaenuth 16

She awoke the next morning with Iloli’s bed sheets strewn around her while the woman herself stood nearby starting to dress.  The sun blinded Vaenuth, shining through an open shutter and across the bed.

“I’ve got to get to work,” Iloli said, quietly.  “But I really enjoyed last night.”

Vaenuth looked away, and stared up at the ceiling.  She had also had fun, lots of it, but Iloli had not given her what everyone else seemed to get out of this.  Vaenuth hadn’t been with a woman in a long while, and she’d been quite hopeful… but again, she awoke the next day disappointed.  She didn’t let Iloli know that though.  She sat upright.  “Certainly made my stay in Nokire better.”

Soon enough, they walked back to the Mediator’s office building, where many traders were already negotiating.  “I’ll write a list,” Vaenuth told her friend.  “Don’t give me a discount just because of our—”

Iloli laughed.  “Fine, but I reserve the right to ask you out to the bar again the next time you’re in Nokire.”  She had worn a violet robe today, a much lighter colour than the normal blue tunic that Vaenuth wore most of the days she spent in towns.

They exchanged their business information easily enough and Iloli sent a runner to procure the proper supplies from the warehouses in the settlement.  Once it was all concluded, Vaenuth and Iloli, in the privacy of the latter’s office, gave one another a parting kiss, quickly, and then Vaenuth was on the way out of Nokire.  Their camp was abuzz with activity and the smell of fruit seemed prevalent.

Banno was waiting, on watch, instead of one of their usual guards.  “I was worried—” he began, but cut himself off.  “Did you have a good time?”

She smiled at his second attempt.  Before she could reply, Tagg brushed past her, tapped her on the arm and then said to Banno, “Damn, I bet she did….  That little trader girl is fine!”  Vaenuth could only laugh at Tagg’s random interruption, and Banno rolled his eyes.

“Did things go smoothly here?” she asked.

“They did,” Banno replied, quietly.  Tagg had run off again, to help with the loading of their tents.  “I posted guards on the white lead specifically.  We’ll be tired and slow today, but at least we’re still getting the job done.”

“That’s good,” Vaenuth said.  “For once, I actually need some food, I think.  Shall we?”

“Of course!”  Banno led the way, and they went toward the smell of jam and bread.

Within the hour, they set out from Nokire and Vaenuth didn’t look back.  They would finish this deal, at Kivrad’s estate, within three weeks time.  The jungle got denser and more humid around them, and Vaenuth felt at home in some ways.  But she always longed for the Expanse, the open reaches without human touch.