The Treasured One

And then the fleet sailed, and the choice went out the window.

He began to seriously regret that when the fleet of ships reached the band of ice floes that lay between the Empire and the Land of Dhrall. The term ‘ice floe’ was a gross understatement to Jalkan’s way of thinking. ‘A mountain range of floating ice’ would come much closer. The channels the fleet followed were disturbingly narrow, and the towering cliffs of blue-white ice rose up and up and up until they seemed to blot out the very sky. A lot of ‘ifs’ came unbidden into Jalkan’s mind as the fleet carefully made its way north. ‘If the current changes’ seemed to argue with ‘if the wind comes from a different direction’ in Jalkan’s imagination. He realized that the cause wouldn’t really matter, since the effect would be the same. The ice-mountains would slowly, but inexorably, come together, crushing the ships - and everybody on board the ships - slowly into splinters and bloody pulp.

Jalkan went below decks at that point and refused to even look at the mountains of ice on all sides of the fleet.

The weather had cleared off somewhat when the advance fleet sailed into the harbor of a native village called Lattash, but there appeared to be a great deal of snow in the mountains that reared up behind the village.

Commander Narasan was standing on the beach when the ships dropped anchor, and he greeted his officers as they came ashore.

To Jalkan’s eyes the village of Lattash was so primitive that he half expected to see the natives walking on all fours like dogs, and the scruffy-looking Maag pirates weren’t much better. It did raise some interesting possibilities, though. A well-trained army could take just about anything of value from these primitives without so much as working up a sweat. Jalkan was very happy that he hadn’t just stolen those few blocks of gold and run off while the fleet had still been in the harbor at Castano. It appeared that there were all sorts of opportunities here.

He almost burst out laughing when Commander Narasan led them into a cave to meet Veltan’s sister. A cave took ‘primitive’ all the way down to the bottom rung of the ladder.

Then he saw Zelana for the first time, and just the sight of her almost stopped his heart. She was by far the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

The pirate leader Sorgan was quite another matter. Jalkan had never seen a man so large, and the ones called ‘Ox’ and ‘Ham-Hand’ were even bigger. For some unknown reason, Commander Narasan seemed to think the small, wiry Maag known as ‘Rabbit’ was somebody special.

After a bit of discussion, Commander Narasan and the pirate decided to leave their men on board the ships in the harbor, and that didn’t particularly bother Jalkan. The less he had to do with pirates and savages, the better.

Time seemed to pass very slowly as they all waited for the snow in the mountains to melt off, but Jalkan wasn’t in any particular hurry.

And then the day came when an old man from one of the native tribes told them all a wild story about people who were part snake and very dangerous. Jalkan dismissed all of that as pure nonsense. The less he had to do with these superstitious savages the better.

Jalkan’s hideous discovery of the true reality that lay behind this dreadful war quite nearly dislocated his mind. He spent most of his time devoutly praying to Amar to protect him - not only from the evil snake-men, but more importantly from the witch Zelana. There were several gestures he knew of that would hold evil at bay, and his fingers were moving almost constantly as the army marched on back to the village by the bay.

After what seemed to Jalkan almost an eternity, the army of Commander Narasan boarded the ships in the harbor and set sail for the southern reaches of the Land of Dhrall to fight the war they were being paid for. Jalkan privately wished that they’d just keep on going south. Everything here in the Land of Dhrall seemed so hideously unnatural.

Jalkan found the Domain of Veltan much more attractive than the region controlled by Veltan’s sister. The forests of Zelana’s Domain had frightened Jalkan, and the savage hunters who lived there appeared to have little respect for those of superior rank. The fact that Jalkan was an officer and a gentleman seemed to have escaped them. At least the peasants of Veltan’s Domain seemed to know their place.

Jalkan carefully questioned a peasant named Omago about the religious beliefs of the natives, and he was more than a little shocked to discover that the ignorant savages had nothing even resembling a church, and they were permitted to speak directly with their god without benefit of the clergy.

Jalkan concealed his outrage and rather slyly asked the crude bumpkin where the gold mines were located, but the fellow feigned ignorance. Jalkan swore under his breath and stalked away. He was fairly certain that in time he’d be able to find some peasant who’d be more forthcoming. There were unbelievable opportunities here in the Land of Dhrall, but Jalkan needed more information before he’d be able to exploit them.

After they’d walked a goodly distance up from the beach, they reached the castle of Veltan, and their host led them to what he called his ‘map-room’.

Then Commander Narasan and the pirate Sorgan became involved in a lengthy discussion of the terrain and probable tactics which might - or might not - be involved in their campaign, but Jalkan paid very little attention. It was fairly clear by now that the region around the Falls of Vash was most probably rich in gold. There was no other reason to defend the area, and it was equally obvious that it was also the reason for the enemy invasion. That made everything crystal clear. The volcanic eruption in the Domain of Veltan’s sister Zelana had buried any gold deposits at the head of the ravine, so now the people of the Land of Dhrall were desperate to protect the deposits here in Veltan’s Domain.

Now that Jalkan knew what was really happening here, his next logical step was to find some way to profit from that knowledge.

After a while, a peasant woman who was remarkably attractive came through the door to announce that the evening meal was ready, and Jalkan made a few complimentary remarks. Any peasant woman in the Empire would have felt quite flattered by his observations, and no peasant man would have found them the least bit objectionable, but the peasant Omago had the gall to respond with violence. Without so much as any kind of warning, Omago drove his fist into Jalkan’s mouth, knocking him flat on his back with a single blow.

Jalkan came to his feet, grabbing at his knife-hilt, but the insolent young Keselo drew his sword and began making threats.

Jalkan appealed to Commander Narasan for justice. The law was very clear in these circumstances. Any peasant who struck one of his superiors was supposed to be executed on the spot.