“Don’t call out! Keep your head down and follow me.”

“Where are we going?”

“My speeder’s over there.”

“But Sage Elvan-“

“We need to separate the two of you. If the others see four people in one place, they will suspect something is happening. Come on!”

Jal wasn’t so sure about this. “Do you have a map of the mountains?” Jal used the code phrase that Sage Elvan had told it.

“We don’t need a map, we’ll follow the streams.” Jal knew then that these were the right people. It crept to the speeder some twenty meters away, and climbed in. “There’s a buckle over each shoulder that clips to the seat between your knees.” They lifted rapidly and after a sudden jerk, lurched forward at an alarming rate of speed. “If we get stopped, I’ll do the talking. Got it?”

“Got it!” Panic came over Jal, and it knew that this was not the time to get sick, so it swallowed repeatedly.

As they zoomed over the trees, lights from below flashed up at them. The driver did not hesitate. Suddenly, the machine jerked to a stop and descended.

“Don’t open the door, just step over the side.” Jal did as it was told. “Can you see me?” The youth used a very dim light.

“Yes.” As they moved forward, Jal walked into the branches that overhung the path. “Ouch!”

“What? Oh, sorry! You’re much taller than I.” A moment later, they stepped into a tiny building that appeared to be made of logs. The door opened behind them and closed again.

Jal sighed with relief when it saw Sage Elvan.

“Follow Maja,” Luka said to Sage Elvan and Jal. “I’ll bolt the door!” He grunted as he slid a huge locking bar into place and punched the buttons on a keypad near the door.

They followed Maja down a long narrow corridor with only the light of one battery powered lantern. As they entered a large open area, they went to a group of people. A middle-aged man said. “I’m Milen. I’m terribly sorry for the crazy travel arrangements,” he apologized. “This is Kudon, my brother, and Kita, his wife. You’ve met Luka, my son, and Maja, my daughter. Gera is my wife.” She went to his side and suggested that she prepare drinks and a small meal. He nodded at her, and she went away from the group into the blackness.

Jal watched as a light appeared some distance away, while Sage Elvan introduced itself and Jal.

The seven of them took seats in a well-lit area, and Jal realized they were inside a large natural cave. The two brothers explained that they owned a mining company that initially claimed land in the mountains that bordered Naynur and Zibran on the west side of the mid-continental river. The business had done well, and they had gone into the mountains at the edge of Zibran, searching for specific ores and minerals. They had come north to this tract of land, drilled, and found traces of the ores they sought. “We claimed land further into the mountain range. This is our most recent acquisition, here in this area that the Haybuti and the Zibrans both claim,” Milen concluded.

Kita spoke, “It’s my understanding that the Protectorate leaders have still not made a decision as to who owns this territory. Is that true, Sage Elvan?”

“It is. The Council insists that it needs more documentation about the ownership of the properties.”

“What sort of documentation are they seeking?”

“The Protectorate has asked that those who claim original land ownership bring the documents that were issued to them by the officials. If a person or business purchased a property, the record of sale, and the registration of the transaction must be presented.”

“Why would they do that?” Kudon growled. “They monitor all the land uses and document each time a property changes hands. They watch like hawks when we bring our ores to be weighed. They question our income. These officials are asking us to provide them information that they already have.”

“You are angry and upset,” Sage Elvan spoke simply. “There are people in the area who are trying to influence a referendum for annexation. The Protectorate has been trying to identify which people have legitimate voices in the governing process. There is a lot of resistance to this request. Do you have the documents of the land claims you’ve registered?”

“We do!” Kudon barked. “We want our voices heard. The bigger property owners seem to be aligning with the Haybuti. We feel threatened by them.”

“Threatened?” Sage Elvan glanced back and forth.

“There are Haybuti who are hijacking our transports on a regular basis. They are killing drivers and stealing our inventory.”

Sage Elvan tried to remain neutral. “The Haybuti and Zibrans agreed to an arrangement of jointly monitoring the shipments along specific routes in this area.”

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“That agreement seems to still be in place, Sage Elvan,” Gera, Luka’s and Maja’s mother, answered. “However, they have attacked our transports when they are on our private property, when they are between our mines and the specified routes. Three drivers and three guards have been killed. Three of our shipments never made it to the checkpoint. It’s less than twenty kilometers away. They’ve also been harassing the children as they transport back and forth to school. Part of the agreement was that vehicles with children in them would not be interfered with.”

Sage Elvan looked at the two youth and invited them to tell him of their experiences. They explained that they’d been stopped daily for the past several weeks, been threatened with guns, and had their speeder searched. “Maja,” Sage Elvan asked, “How many people are stopping you?”

“Two."

“Four. There are four different people. The people in the afternoon are different from those in the morning,” Luka cut in.

“When they stop you, Maja, how do you respond?”

“I put my hands up like this. I close my eyes.”

“Why?” Sage Elvan demanded.

“One holds a weapon against my forehead and shouts at us.” She began to weep.

“How do you react, Luka?”

“I hold my hands out, like this.” He held his hands waist high and away from his body. “I watch while the other one searches the speeder.”

“Does the second person have a weapon, Luka?”

“Yes. He has it aimed at me the entire time.”

“What are they looking for?”

“They won’t say,” Luka turned away.

“Do either of you carry a weapon?” They shook their heads. “You put your materials for school in a case?”

“Of course.”

“And they check it?”

“Yes. They dump the contents onto the ground.”

“Tell me,” Sage Elvan looked at the two youth, “Are the other students your age being harassed like this?”

They looked at one another. “I don’t know,” they said in unison.

“We’re always late, and we get in trouble with our teachers,” Maja went on.

“Can we find out if anyone else is being targeted?” Sage Elvan asked Milen.

“I’ve asked around. No one else is having this issue.”

“Where is the speeder when you’re at home?”

“You mean here.”

“This is your home?” Sage Elvan looked at each adult and child.

“For right now,” Milen said. “When things are up and running smoothly, we’ll return to our home in the mountains.”

“Where is the speeder parked when you’re here?”

“In the storage cave to the south.”

“Is it secured?”

“Yes.”

“What is it that you’re mining for?”

“Heclil.”

Sage Elvan heard Jal’s sharp intake of air, but went on, “What you’re telling me is that you have property south and west of here, and after you purchased this piece here, you moved here and started mining for heclil. When things are well underway, you’ll return to your home. You want a voice in whether this area is going to be part of Zibran or part of Haybuti.”

“Right,” Milen answered. “We want this territory to be aligned with Zibran. And we want our children to be safe.”

“You prefer to be taxed?” Sage Elvan asked.

“The tax rates are set. They haven’t been changed in years. They are reasonable compared to other worlds,” Kudon responded. “There is a policing and security structure in place. A transportation infrastructure is there. We know that roads and flight paths are being maintained. We need them. We want to know what we can do to protect ourselves from the bullies affiliated with Haybuti.”

“Aside from travelling the marked roads and the pre-set flight paths, there’s not much you can do. Using weapons merely escalates things.”

“I’ve been looking for people to hire for security, but no one wants the jobs.”

“Do you have access to the data satellites? I could contact someone who might know others who would take this on.”

“Yes. Tomorrow I’ll show you a specific place in the tunnels where we can get a clear signal. We have encountered something very strange that we’d like you to see, so we’ll show you around our operation.”

“Is there a way to speed the decision-making process of the Protectorate?” Kita asked. “We are tired of the fighting. It’s not fair that our children must live in fear.”

“It’s not right that anyone should live in fear,” Sage Elvan acknowledged. “Unfortunately, there are those who enjoy having power and threatening others.”

As Jal lay on its cot some time later, it looked over at Sage Elvan. “Master, how do we know that the hijackers and the people harassing Luka and Meja are from Haybuti?”

“I wondered the same thing, Jal.”

“Could they be identified somehow?”

“We would have to seek outside help to determine that. Let’s try to problem-solve with the others tomorrow.”

The following morning, Luka and Meja studied as they ate their breakfast, and then gathered their things together. “Jal, would you like to go to school with us today?”

Jal looked at Sage Elvan and saw the almost imperceptible motion of its head. “Thanks for the invitation. I am Sage Elvan’s apprentice, and it expects that I will be at its side.”

“You don’t have to go to school?”

“When we return home, I’ll resume my regular studies.” It was clear to Jal that the other youth didn’t want to leave. “You’ll see your friends,” Jal pointed out. They told him that they liked the subjects and being with their friends, but they hated the daily harassment. They reluctantly went on their way.

“It’s very odd being here,” Jal said to Sage Elvan when they had a few minutes alone. “My meditation this morning was very confusing. The voices are different.”

“How so?”

“It seemed as if there were only a few instead of a great crowd.”

“Maybe being below the surface is a factor,” Sage Elvan suggested.

“Perhaps.”

That morning, Milen and Kudon led Sage Elvan and Jal through the tunnels of their mining operation, showing them the various machines used to extract the minerals and ores. “Do you receive special training to learn mining?” Jal asked at one point.

Milen laughed. “Special training? No. We buy the machines. They do the work.”

“Which minerals besides heclil are you looking for?” Jal waited, expecting that they were after several different things. When Milen and Kudon didn’t offer more information, Jal asked, ““What do you do with the parts that are extracted that aren’t used?"

“We put them back.” Jal looked confused. “We move from hole to hole, filling the hole we just left.”

“What sort of rock is left behind?”

“We don’t know.” Jal glanced at Sage Elvan, whose eyes were on the machine. “We just set the machines to search for heclil, and turn them on. When we’re done with this tract, we’ll sell it, and someone else can process it for other minerals.”

Milen led them through a manmade tunnel to a large cavern. “This is the other reason I contacted you, Sage Elvan.” He flipped a switch and the area lit up. “We found this, and we don’t know what to think.”

Four statues stood in a semi-circle. With a shield in one hand, and a sword in the other, they appeared to be in battle with an unknown force.