Murik Sterno sat on a stone bench that had been placed in the middle of one of the lawns in front of Lord Cepher's mansion by landscapers. General Makon paced slowly in front of him as he drank from a large jug of water. Off to the side the Aku'andan mages were discussing.

"They now know we survived." Murik said.

"Indeed." General Makon replied. "Although I suspect they only recognized me."

"Yes, I suppose that's more likely." Murik said.

"I would've loved to keep my cover for a little while longer." Makon said. "But when I heard your call, I had to jump in. I've lost enough men as it is."

"I appreciate that, General." Murik said.

"Call me Rubric, brother." Makon said. Murik protested but Makon waved him off.

"What is a general without an army?" He said. "We're in this together now, You and I. It's only fair you call me by name."

Murik paused for a while, then nodded.

---

A thousand miles to the south west, Lakan and his group entered Kanam in their caravan. Lakan had devoured the entire pack of treats he'd taken from Dogonu, and the sugar crash was making him dizzy.

Kanam was an overwhelmingly red and green town, most of the houses were built with fired clay bricks that shone bright red, but the soil was very rich so there were trees and greenery everywhere. From the eastern side of the city, there were wide views of the Chawbig river, and even as they entered into the city proper, they could see the backlog of cargo ships that had, presumably been blocked by Ganz's men from moving upriver.

They all noticed immediately they entered under the spell dampener.

"Hmm, this one's a bit stronger than Aku'anda's?" Binko suggested. Hark nodded.

"Yeah, it's definitely heavier." he replied. "You've seen the delayed ships, right?"

Binko and the others nodded.

"We'll deal with it tomorrow. It's getting late today already." Lakan said.

"It's barely seven o'clock, Lakan." Binko said. "Just admit you're drunk on dried fruit and you want to sleep."

"I'm drunk on dried fruit and I want to sleep." Lakan shrugged. The team chuckled.

Hark and Regar found the group an inn and they went in to book.

"Oh! Aku'andans!" The innkeeper said, the moment he heard their accents. "Welcome, we rarely get your kind around here. How many rooms would you like?"

"Oh, just one." Regar said. The inn keeper looked at them with an eyebrow raised. He looked at Binko, then looked at the men around her.

"Er... are you all siblings?" He laughed nervously.

"Oh no, we're not." Hark said. "Why do you ask?"

"Well..." The innkeeper said, wringing his arms... "Is it this one woman you're all going to.... you know..."

"what?" Hark asked obliviously. Binko realized what the innkeeper was talking about and quickly jumped in.

"oh, no, no." She laughed. "These guys? They wouldn't dare. We're War Mages, you see." She said. The inn keeper flinched.

"War mages? from where?" He asked, alarmed.

"Our capital, of course." Hark laughed. "Where else would we be from?"

"I hope there's no trouble? I don't want any trouble!" The man said with a shaky voice.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Oh for goodness sake." Binko exhaled tiredly. "We're not here for you. Now do you have a room or not?"

The man seemed to think for a few seconds, then he nodded and led them all to a large room with two beds. They had extra beds added to the room so they could all stay there. Lakan had some tea brought into the room as they all settled in for the night.

The following morning, Lakan rolled out of bed, directly on to Binko's sleeping body, causing a small commotion.

"What the hell, Lakan!" She shouted, pushing him aside.

"What?! why is your bed right next to mine!" He asked, confused.

"Arggh, stop it you two!" Hark said as he curled up under his blankets. Regar didn't even flinch.

"Sorry." Lakan said to Binko. She sighed and looked out the window.

"It's early morning. an hour before sunrise, I think." She said. "Go back to sleep."

He groaned softly and sat on his bed.

"That's fine, I think I'll stay awake." He said. She shrugged and lay back down, curling up in her blanket.

Lakan walked groggily to the bathroom and splashed his face with cold water as he became more alert. he had a slight headache from all the sugar he'd eaten the previous day, he shook his head slowly.

"Ughh, I'm never indulging like that again." he groaned.

He came back to his bed and did a few stretches as he planned the day.

By the time Hark woke up, it was already bright morning the sun was already higher than most of the buildings and the dawn was already an hour old.

Lakan was fully dressed and sat on his bed, studying his grimoire. Hark made his way to the bathroom.

Binko was up next. Then Regar.

it was already full morning before they were all ready.

"All that Dogonu food... Damn." Hark groaned. "I've never felt so heavy in my entire life."

"Yeah we are definitely not going back through there." Regar said. "I slept like a rock!" he yawned.

"Okay let's get started for today." Lakan said. "First we head to the docks to find the master of the docks, find out why the ships are delayed. From there we should find the authority of the city and find out who is behind the delays."

Thirty minutes later they were at the docks. They were abandoned.

"Split up, find anyone." Lakan said.

Five minutes later, Binko found a woman selling fruit two streets away from the waterfront. She asked her about the docks.

"Oh, the governor locked down the docks and chased everyone from there." The woman said. "No one is allowed to operate any of the ships, and any coming ship is to be blocked."

"How do you know this?" Binko asked.

"He announced it to the entire city." She said. "He called us all to the theatre at the city center."

Regar and Hark found out the same information from other people. they regrouped again and decided to make their way to the governor's office. They picked up a wheeled coach and were driven all the way downtown, about a kilometer away from the waterfront, the buildings here were painted, most white, but some yellow. There were also less plants and more open spaces.

The wheeled coach arrived in front of the governor's office, which, apparently, was also his house. it was a one storey courtyard building with a black gate on the street, which was guarded by two men. The entire building was bright red clay, which contrasted it from the adjacent white buildings.

They approached the guards, Lakan reached into his pocket and brought out his Warrior Mage seal and stretched it towards the guard.

"We would love to see the governor." He said.

One of the guards squinted at the seal and glanced at his companion.

"This is an Aku'andan seal." he said.

"Yes." Lakan said. "We are Aku'andans."

The guard laughed. "Young man, don't you know? This is Pirun kingdom. You people have no authority here."

"You better wipe that smile off your face." Binko snapped. "This is a matter of international urgency!"

"Then why are you here instead of our own Warrior mages?" The guard asked.

"Because we're faster at responding to existential threats?" Binko replied.

"Well I doubt that—"

"I don't give a rats ass!" Lakan interjected. "Where is your governor!"

"How dare you cause trouble here!" Another guard shouted. "Get out of here you riffraffs!"

Lakan couldn't believe his ears, he laughed. Regar stepped in.

"Gentlemen, perhaps we got off on the wrong foot." he said. "We would really like to meet with your governor. Can we do this peacefully?"

"Well..." The first guard began. "Do you have an appointment."

Lakan tightened his lips in annoyance. Regar said no.

"Well you'll have to get an appointment at our council house, it's a few streets away, you can get there by coach." he said.

"I swear..." Lakan began, Regar pulled him back.

"let's go to the council house." He said.

"Really?" Lakan said.

"Let's... let's just go." Regar said quietly. "I have a plan."

Lakan scowled at the guards who looked at him with self-satisfied smiles.

Binko flagged down a wheeled coach nearby. They got back.

Lakan grimaced throughout the ride.

"You're going to constipate yourself." Hark joked, Lakan rolled his eyes.

"I hope your plan is a great plan, Regar." He said. "For the sake of those guards."

"Yeah, Regar, what is your plan?" Hark asked.

Regar stopped the coach, paid, and hustled everyone out. The sun was about two hours away from it's peak at this point, so they shaded their eyes as they spoke.

"We're mages guys." Regar said. "For crying out loud. We don't have to talk to stupid gatekeepers. We can literally climb into the building and find the governor ourselves."

"If we get caught that could cause some interkingdom political strain." Hark said.

"No," Lakan said. "No, he's right. If we'd done this in Seyrule, or Sungan, then maybe. But Pirun? They owe us, and Prince Karan is our puppet anyways."

"King Karan." Binko corrected.

"Same difference." Lakan said. "Great Idea, Regar. We're sneaking in."