Farek’s boots scuffed the old wooden threshold as he marched into the Ageless Academy for the third time. He had not knocked this time, but Torga stood up from his desk and smiled amicably. “Welcome back,” the administrator murmured, bowing his head. “Have you had any luck finding a token to trade with us?”
The disguised Prince Gallendris smirked irritably and put his left hand on the corner of the desk. Then, in a smooth movement, he raised the axe he had gained from the Emporium of the Bizarre and slammed it down on his own knuckles. Torga’s cry of shock echoed the room but the thud of the weapon did not. Nor did Farek screech. The crescent blade rested gently on top of his fingers, but the only sensation felt by his calloused skin was the cool tone of metal.
Torga chuckled. “Yes. Yes, indeed. That will do nicely. How does it work?”
Farek showed him quickly as his men examined the row of statue visages that lined the foyer. They had watched him practicing his showmanship a few times earlier. “Now,” Farek said, setting the axe gently down onto the desktop, “Will you show us the way to the House of Kiaraka?”
“Of course. Wait here, please.”
“Of course,” Farek repeated, dryly.
When Torga returned, he was followed again by the quiet, silver-haired man. The strange man looked at Farek for a moment, and then held out a hand. Torga placed the axe in it. The man nodded and handed a canvas tube to the major-domo. Torga removed a circular lid with a squeak and slid out several rolled papyrus pages. As they unfurled, Farek was greeted by the pleasant sight of maps. He saw the coastline with a few dots along it and old, scrawled dialect. The figures were either foreign or very old, for he could barely decipher them. “So where’s Kiaraka?” he asked.
“Here,” Torga said, tapping a point on the map.
“Wait. That’s forest,” Farek mumbled. “Oh… dammit! The House of Kiaraka isn’t in New Mallam?”
“It’s inland,” Torga said. “Several hours’ hike. Across the bandit-infested wildlands. Make a copy if you wish. It won’t be the first.”
“Who else has copied it then?” Farek asked. He waved Sievus over to record the details of the map with a fleck of charcoal. Torga simply turned to his overseer inquisitively, and for a minute of immense irritation, Farek suspected they would barter for such information.
But the strange man nodded.
“Why, it was our Baron of New Mallam, Norlam,” Torga said, quietly.
“The Baron?” Farek asked.
Sievus paused in his work. “A few weeks ago, he took all his warful nobles inland with an army. To campaign against the other Barons of the Great Isle as they do in this land.”
Torga inclined his head but said nothing.
“He went to the House of Kiaraka,” Farek murmured. He sighed and ran a hand through his head. “But why?”