At the Palace in Fludavera, King Ulden headed for the meeting with his two sons, Grand Duke Viggin and Duke Harolf, and a range of high-ranking members of the Halder fleets. They were poring over maps of the Nevan coastline.

“I think it would be prudent to despatch ships to blockade all major Nevan ports, to choke off their sea trade. Our ambassador can then demand that the incident be investigated thoroughly,” advised one of the fleet commanders.

“A sound plan. Are you going to pay for it?” the king asked him, as he raised his eyebrows.

“Well…that is to say, I mean, the plunder would help the expedition pay for itself.”

“Ah. And the prospect of that being a declaration of war against the Nevan Empire without any evidence that they are directly responsible does not give you pause for thought?”

“Well, Your Majesty, we are merely strategizing and looking for possible plans of action.”

“Yes, yes. Now don’t get me wrong, it is a sound stratagem. However, it is one for when we are already at war. It is not so sound against an empire as vast as the Nevan Empire that we are not currently at war with. It has multiple options for getting around such a blockade. No, I need strategies for supplementing the plan we already have in motion,” said King Ulden.

The youngest commander cleared his throat and spoke, “Ahem. If I may, Your Majesty.”

“By all means,” said the king.

“We landed a small force in Raugus by a small detachment of ships. Those ships should be heading back to Sofjorland. If we dispatch four fleets, two to Giles in Sofjorland, and two to Walroberle. The Walroberle fleets will consist solely of longships, and the fleets in Giles can be mostly transporting land forces,” said the young commander.

“Go on.”

“The ships that carried the party to Raugus will be meeting the party in Disipica in one or two months. When that time expires, if the mission was unsuccessful, or we don’t hear from them by the time three months have lapsed, then the fleet at Giles moves on to Disipica. After this, the land forces carried by that fleet move overland to lay siege to Paqurineva. Once the city is engaged from the landward side, the Walroberle fleet attacks Paqurineva by sea.”

“It is sound, and it is much more cost-effective than blockading every port. However, the force we send after dealing with Disipica will have to survive going overland. How can we guarantee that they won’t be whittled down to nothing by the time they get to the walls of Paqurineva?”

“We could have a group of ships randomly raiding the coastal cities to the southeast of Raugus to draw attention to that section of the empire. Or we can foment unrest over the intervening months amongst the conquered peoples in the south of their empire. We have many options, sire.”

“Yes. We think that there are some merits to this line of thought. Also, fortunately, this idea is flexible and doesn’t need to be put into action straight away. It leaves open the time to gather more intelligence and adjust as needed. Let us start working around this idea, and iron out an interim strategy based on it.”

All the men around the table nodded in agreement.

ᚲᚺᚱᛟᚾᛁᚲᛚᛖᛊᚱᛁᚾᚾ×ᛟᚱ×ᛟᚱᚾ

The tavern had a lively atmosphere and good lighting, contrary to a typical tavern’s ambiance. In the corner, a troupe of entertainers played music and led a group of patrons in a dance.

The Skordian huscarl ducked to avoid banging his head on the door frame as he entered. He wore chain mail armour and a rounded helmet that had a nosepiece attached to the front, and a chain mail neck guard hanging from the back of it. When he entered, a few patrons looked toward him, trying to disguise their surprise at the large man entering.

Following behind him was a shorter man in fine clothes who filled the doorway with his horizontal dimensions. Hans Barkhoff, the merchant, scanned the crowd, spotted a likely candidate to make conversation with, and headed in that direction.

The third man entered. His size and dress matched his armoured comrade. However, there, the similarities ended. He had blue ink tattoos of mystical shapes and patterns all over his face. When he took his helmet, he revealed the full scope of the tattoos on his shaved head. Both of the large armed men had blonde beards with three braids. The Skordian who first entered spoke. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yes, thank you. I want to go talk to the man over on that table...”

Before he could finish, the tattooed man made to walk over there, when Hans blocked his path. “Woah-woah-woah, wait, wait! What do you think you are doing?”

“I will get him and bring him outside, so we talk, yes?”

“What? No! No. I will go over there, and I will talk to him. You will stay here. The fact you insisted on coming in means subtlety is out the window, but I don’t want to intimidate him. I just want to talk, all right?”

The big, tattooed man nodded his sullen agreement, while his companion had a twinkle of mirth in his eyes. He turned away, putting a hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh.

Hans went on, “Why don’t the two of you grab a quiet drink? And I mean one quiet drink. No fighting, eh?”

“Naw, father, you are too strict.” The first one had since taken his helmet off to reveal long, blond hair.

Hans rolled his eyes at him, shook his head, and with a wry smile, he responded, “For my escort, I get a jester and a troll. Just my luck.” He headed over and sat next to the man he spotted earlier. The two Skordian huscarls headed to a nearby empty table and sat down.

As Hans approached the patron in a friendly tone, he said, “Hello, good sir, I am Hans. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind me joining you for a drink and some conversation. I just arrived in Raugus today and was hoping you could help me get the lay of things here.”

The man eyed him over his cup, then replied, “Sure, take a seat, good Hans. I am Tanis.” As he introduced himself, he gestured to the bench beside him and then waved to a serving girl and gestured for two drinks before pointing down at his table.

“So, anything interesting in this town? Any recent happenings of interest, or that I should, perhaps, be wary of?”

“Well, this tavern is probably one of the better ones in town. Decent fare, at a good price. And the entertainment, as you can see, is not too bad. If you’re after company, that gentleman over there with the towel over his shoulder, he can point you in the right direction, depending on your taste.”

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Hans listened attentively and received their drinks after the serving girl arrived. He placed a drink in front of himself and the other before Tanis. He then fished out a small silver coin and passed it to the girl with a wink. “So, no festivals or anything like that?”

“No, not for a few months. But there are always the pit fights. You can go there to watch or gamble on Serday, the last day of the week.”

“The ‘pit fights’? What do you mean?”

“They have slaves they train and put in an arena to fight each other. It can be quite the spectacle. I don’t know how yesterday’s fights were. I was out of town and only returned this afternoon. But Serday-week ago should have had people screaming to the heavens over their lost bets, but it was such a spectacle, most punters were too entertained to worry about lost winnings.” Tanis chuckled with a nostalgic expression. “Yes, quite the spectacle indeed.”

“How was this time different?”

“Oh? You really are new here.”

“I knew about the games and arenas, but I have only ever paid attention to commerce whenever I visited the Empire. I am a merchant, you see, so I never paid that sort of any mind. Where I am from, slavery is not a commercial venture.”

“Ah, I see, I see. Well, that makes sense, I guess.”

“So, what happened yesterday-week ago?”

“Well, ol’ fancy Flavius got himself some new possessions. One was the biggest man I have ever seen. Huge, he was. I thought he was a giant, myself. Wouldn’t be surprised, as he apparently came from up north somewhere.”

Hans looked meaningfully at the two huscarls and turned back to Tanis. “And this man? I take it he fought?”

“Yes, they put him up against a Gijeji fighter. They’re a dark-skinned folk from far to the south.”

“So, what happened?”

“Well, they fought, and as I said, it was quite the spectacle. For a giant, the big fellow moved fast. And I mean fast! Everyone was shocked. Bigger men tend to be stronger, but slower. He moved and struck with the speed and power of a lion.”

“So… who won?”

“Oh, the giant. The Gijeji put up a good fight, but he was no match for him. But then, now this is where it gets interesting. I couldn’t understand what was being said, but from what I could glean, the giant refused to finish him off.”

“Really?”

Tanis’ expression had truly come alive as he recounted the happenings of that day. He continued, “Yes, see the pit fights are supposed to be to the death. So then, they sent out twelve of the arena guards to try forcing the issue. Instead of accepting his circumstances, this bloody giant teams up with his Gijeji opponent, and the pair of them, absolutely annihilated the arena guards.”

He took a long draught of his drink and laughed as he said, “I mean, the giant even threw one of them one-handed half across the fighting pit. I never saw anything like it!”

“Well, I think I should check these fights for myself. So, what did they do to them?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the slave refused to obey, and then they killed the guards, so what happened?”

“Oh, well, the house always wins,” Tanis said with a giddy smile as he swayed slightly. “They didn’t want to lose face, or any more guards, so they tried to pass it off as ‘all part of the show’. The Gijeji’s owner sold him to Flavius.”

“So they didn’t get executed?”

Tanis guffawed and then answered, “Fighters like that? Are you crazy? Flavius’ fame would spread like wildfire, putting on a show like that. Those men are worth more than their weight in gold.”

Hans took a mental note of that and then switched to more mundane topics of conversation as he finished his drink. As he was nearing the bottom of his cup, he put his hand out to Tanis, who took it briefly. “Well good Tanis, I appreciate the conversation, but I must take my leave, unfortunately. I need to secure some lodgings for the night.”

“It was a pleasure, and thanks for the drink,” Tanis said as he smiled.

Hans headed back to the two huscarls and updated them with what he had learned. “It would seem that our people were sold off as fighters for their pit fights. I can only assume he was talking about Vylder, but apparently, Vylder has already fought where, I believe, he survived his first showing. I am going to lean toward optimism and assume he lives. But we need to find him, and soon. First thing in the morning, we will seek out the place of the person who purchased them from their captors.”

“Why not now?”

“The city guard patrols. We can’t be seen loitering around, or we’ll be apprehended, and we won’t be able to find anything out after that. You gentlemen are hardly nondescript, so we need to proceed carefully. I will secure us lodgings for the night. Have some more drink, relax, but don’t get crazy.”

The two huscarls looked at each other and shrugged, then the long-haired one waved towards the serving girl. Hans moved over towards the tavern owner to negotiate a place for the night.

ᚲᚺᚱᛟᚾᛁᚲᛚᛖᛊᚱᛁᚾᚾ×ᛟᚱ×ᛟᚱᚾ

Sanji’s thugs led Shufi down an alley. Although the hessian sack over his head obscured his sight, it did not obscure his sense of smell. He could smell the acrid odour of stale urine and human faeces.

Soon enough, they stopped and led him into what he assumed was a gate, by the sound of it as it opened. Then they took him up some stairs and through a doorway.

After being shoved through a doorway, hands jerked him to a stop and a hand whipped the sack off of his head. He blinked a few moments as he gathered his bearings. Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the light inside the room as he glanced about. The room belied the area of its location with its lavish furnishing and colourful tapestries hanging from the walls.

Towards the far wall, he saw a well-groomed and expensively dressed middle-aged Azahri man seated at a desk with stacks of coins and small piles of jewellery. His grey hair was thinning on top, however, his neatly trimmed greying beard was thick and shiny from the oils applied to it.

The man behind the desk didn’t lift his head from his counting, merely glancing up with his eyes. He then returned to what he was doing for a few more moments. He set the jewel-encrusted gold bracelet he was examining aside, leaned back in his chair, and rested his interlocked fingers on his chest.

When he spoke, it was a smooth, deep voice that said, “So it would seem you are still alive.”

“So it would seem, Sanji,” Shufi replied while he inspected his fingernails nonchalantly.

“Perhaps I could see my way to correcting that situation, hm?”

“Sanji, I don’t think your mother would like that very much were she still with us.”

“Yes, you are probably right. But she is not with us.” With that, Sanji nodded to the two burly men on either side of the room’s entrance.

As they moved towards Shufi, he ducked to the right, under their grasping hands. Shufi spun around and drove a fist into the solar plexus of the man nearest to him. As the first thug doubled over, Shufi leaned forward as he brought his boot heel up into his face. The thug’s head whipped back from the kick and he slammed hard onto the floor, landing on his back.

The second man turned to move towards Shufi and stepped over his comrade. As he did that, Shufi stepped onto the knee of the man’s extended leg and, grasping the back of his head, drove his other knee full into his face.

The second man fell onto his backside as Shufi pushed off from him into a backflip, landing in a fighting stance, ready for the next assailant. More thugs burst through the door, wild-eyed and ready after hearing the commotion. However, Sanji calmly waved them off.

Shufi was puffing slightly as he asked, “So you still haven’t gotten over it, then?”

“Merely a test,” Sanji shrugged. “If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have spared you all those years ago.”

“You call selling me to the galleys sparing me? I almost died in that abortive attempt to invade Skord. In fact, the only reason I survived was because I was a slave. The Haldermen went after the Neven soldiers and ignored us until after the battle was over. What they did to them…” Shufi visibly shuddered before continuing, “But I can’t blame them. They were defending their land, and what better deterrent to prevent future Nevan incursions?”

“So, what? They just…let you go?”

“Well no. They gave us a choice. Work for them, or don’t. I chose the former. The ones who chose the latter had their throats cut, and they threw them into the sea.”

“So, you are free now?”

“Yes. Well, yes, and no. But regardless of that, I was hoping we could make your mother happy and leave all that ugliness where it belongs. Behind us.”

“I don’t know. You killed Birim, he was important to me.”

“And you sent me to the galleys, a fate worse than death. Surely we are even? Besides, Birim was a rapist and a pig. He deserved worse than what I gave him.”

“So what now? Why are you here after all this time?”

“I need some information, and as fond as you are of their money, I know you hate the Imperials as much as I do. So, with that in mind, helping me, in a way, hurts them. Also, I can pay for it. The usual fee for information, plus a little extra.”

“The fee has gone up since you were gone.”

“Oh, I know. I keep tabs on the goings on from time to time.”

“If that’s the case, what do you need me for?”

“I have eyes everywhere, but not all the time. I need more current information about this town specifically. About a ship that had some Halder captives. If the information is good, I will pay for it.”

“I think we may be able to come to an understanding, cousin. Because you are in luck.”