Chapter 6: The Battle for Port Saif

Previously in Chapter 5: After eluding capture in Centra, Dalan, Tobias, Jonathan, Artemis and Claude arrived in Gabradia, where they met the head of the Council of Guilds, Gil Regalia. Dalan explained to her that they had reason to believe that the Elvaan were preparing an invasion of Hume lands in the near future. Gil, stunned by this information, revealed that there was little that she could do on such short notice save for contacting Guilder Aramis, an ally in the Council of Guilds, who was well respected by the Centran military forces. Dalan set out for Al-Mahid, hoping to warn Murad of the Elvaan plot, allowing Al-Mahid to be prepared in the event that such an invasion did occur. Tobias joined him as well, hoping to free his imprisoned parents before the capital of Akhmet is invaded. Artemis agreed to travel to Al-Mahid as well, in order to do whatever he could to prevent the Elvaan invasion and Jonathan joined them because he had no home to return to. Claude, however, declined to go, believing that he could be much more useful elsewhere and began preparations to set out for his ship at sunrise...

--

Chapter 6: The Battle for Port Saif

Dalan rubbed his eyes, blinking to see his surroundings after the bright light of portal travel. He felt the ground beneath him and guessed its grainy consistency that he was sitting in sand. The sounds of metal against metal, pounding feet and shouting filled his ears. Someone ran past him shouting “The docks! Don't let them come ashore!"
“Where are we off to?” Tobias asked.
“I say we find Murad first, so we can warn him about the Elvaan. He will probably be able to deal with things. After that, we should get to Bah'rati as well,” Dalan shouted over the deafening din of battle.
“Guilder Ibrahim, huh?” Artemis yelled. “Thats fine by me. I would rather not run into Bah'rati though,”
“Why?” Dalan asked.
“Let’s just say, we have a bit of bad blood between us,” Artemis said turning and looking to the docks. Five large blocky carrack ships rested in the docks, Centrans in chain mail swarming out of them. Dalan could barely make out the shapes of three ships remaining at sea, maintaining a moderate distance from the shore. A few blasts of smoke and bright orange flame issued from the battleships still at sea.
“Cannons!” Dalan shouted as he dove for the ground. Three of the cannonballs fell far short of Dalan's position hitting the sand of the seashore ahead, sending the Akhmet forces advancing on the docked ship flying. Two more cannonballs flew overhead, striking two buildings further up the road with a deafening crash.
“I know Murad. He'll be up front fighting with everyone else. Let’s go!” Dalan said.
“Wait, we are going down there!?” Artemis shouted, pointing at the mass of Akhmet soldiers, who, despite continued bombardment by the distant battleships, continued to advance up the shore, encircling the Centran forces, who were falling back to defend the higher ground of the sandstone port.
“What did you come here to do? See the sights?” Dalan said, turning to run down the road. Artemis, Tobias and Jonathan ran beside him.
“Well at least Al-Mahid has found someone competent at military strategy since I last visited this damned sand pit.” Artemis replied.
“Last visited?” Dalan asked.
“Yeah. Remember, I traveled all across Hume lands for my Zmarrd'k.” Dalan looked at Artemis skeptically. He was in Al-Mahid? There has to be more to this than he is saying. Dalan shook his head. There is just so much that I'm not sure about anymore. Artemis continued. “Last time I saw the Al-Mahid army, the strategy of choice was to throw as many soldiers as they could at the enemy. Now they actually seem somewhat organized.”
“That's Murad for you. Perfect commander, incredible fighter, incurable womanizer. A scoundrel after my own heart,” Dalan replied, running down a flight of stone steps which led down a steep incline onto the shore below.
“I said competent,” Artemis replied. “If he was perfect or even merely good, the Centrans wouldn't have even landed. He would have...”
“Guys, we should watch out,” Tobias shouted, interrupting Artemis. “What if both sides mistake us for combatants? Three of us at least look Centran. And Dalan is unmistakably Mora.” Jonathan looked up, and shook his head in dismay.
“Then we fight,” Dalan responded. “And Artemis. If at all possible, try not to kill. We want to warn them, not cause more damage,” Dalan said, looking over his shoulder. He stepped onto the shore and felt his shoes sink into the cold, soft sand. Al-Mahid soldiers rushed past him to the port further down the beach.
“Can't promise you anything,” Artemis shrugged. “If they try to kill me, they are fair game too,” Dalan sighed, but did not respond
“Looks like that port is our destination,” Dalan said, turning to look at the company. He noticed that Artemis was trudging awkwardly through the sand. “Sandals, Artemis?” Dalan said, looking at Artemis’ feet in disbelief.
“Hey, its not like I had time to stop by home and get a nice change of clothes. Don't worry, I'll keep up... Hm?” Artemis looked up as one of the soldiers broke off from the crowd and charged at him. “Hey!” Artemis shouted. “I'm not Centran!” The soldier, however, paid him no heed. “Damn it, get out of my way!” Artemis said, annoyance and anger bringing his voice to a crescendo. He held his hand out and the soldier flew backward, colliding with a nearby comrade. “Come on!” Artemis shouted as he rushed to Dalan's side. Tobias ran up beside them and Jonathan followed close behind, panting heavily.
“Jonathan, behind you!” Artemis shouted. Another soldier had broken from the crowd and was running at Jonathan, knife in hand. Dalan stopped, drawing his knife and charged the soldier, crashing into the man's lower chest and sending the soldier tumbling over him, falling face first into the sand. He turned around and delivered a swift kick to the soldier's head and the man went limp.
“At this rate, we'll get killed before we get to the port. Come on, we look like civilians!” Dalan said, turning to Artemis, and beginning to run once more, his feet throwing a flurry of sand up in his wake.
“Yeah, but the problem is, three of us look like Centrans. And I'm sure that a few civilians have signed on to the Centran army for the pay. Loads of unskilled craftworkers who would love to be paid like soldiers,” Artemis said, his voice level despite the quick clip with which they ran through the sand. Dalan winced as a deafening roar split the air as another cannonball struck the sand not meters away. He shielded his eyes against the grit and sand which blew in his face and continued to press toward the dock, which was still much further down the beach.
“Another one!” Jonathan shouted, running up next to Dalan, pointing out a Mora soldier running to intercept them.
“That looks like… Damnation! I knew we'd run into him,” Artemis muttered under his breath as he looked at the advancing assailant. “Dalan, Tobias, Jonathan! Get down!”
“What did you say?” Dalan shouted, but cried out in alarm when he was lifted off of the ground and found himself hurtling through the air. He saw two silvery objects whistle past his head as he landed face first into the sand. The grit in his eyes stung and prevented him from seeing where he had landed, but he heard Tobias cursing nearby.
“Loross'i!” an enraged voice bellowed clearly over the din of battle. Dalan rubbed his eyes, his vision slowly focusing. He saw Artemis cartwheel out of the way of two silvery objects which flew at him, thrown by their unknown assailant.
“Bah'rati!” Artemis shouted as Bah'rati rushed at him. “This... is... not... the... time!” Bah'rati, however, seemed to take no notice as he drew his katars from under his cloak and gripped them by the horizontal bars under the delta-shaped blades. Artemis drew his blade, which shone a light blue in the intense flickering torchlight, and stepped into a defensive stance. In seconds, Bah'rati was upon him, slashing swiftly and accurately with his blades, Artemis stepping backwards slowly and parrying blow after blow, his brow wrinkled in concentration. Damn. Bah'rati's fast. Not giving Artemis a moment to use magicks. Dalan thought as Bah'rati spun around, bringing one of his katars in a counter clockwise slash at Artemis' throat. Artemis brought his blade up and blocked the blow, stumbling backwards, tripping over his feet. Bah'rati continued and in a smooth motion, turned in the opposite direction, slashing at Artemis' abdomen. Artemis, off balance, barely avoided the slash, diving onto the ground. Bah'rati lifted his foot, as if to strike Artemis in the chest, but Artemis raised his hand, a smirk on his sand-covered face. Bah'rati flew into the air, tumbling backwards head over heels and Artemis sprang onto his feet, blade outstretched in front of him, body glowing with a golden yellow light that was brighter than the nearby torches.
“You haven't killed me yet,” Artemis panted, attempting a half-hearted cocky grin, but the best he could manage was gritting his teeth. “And they call you the mage hunter,” Artemis said. Bolts of blue electrical energy snaked forth from his blade at Bah'rati, who had rolled onto one knee. Bah'rati raised his blades in front of him, using them to intercept the electrical energy. His blades crackled with sparks as he held them out in front of him with considerable effort, standing up cautiously.
“You will die, you traitor. You will not humiliate me again!” Bah'rati bellowed as he walked forward slowly, his muscles tensed, catching the stream of energy still crackling forth from Artemis' blade.
“Traitor? I never had any allegiance to your sorry nation,” Artemis said, his body straining to direct the continued stream of electricity.
“You knew what we do when someone betrays us. You knew you would be hunted for as long as the Dey lived and yet you returned to Al-Mahid?”
“We have business here! We are trying to protect all of you, so let us do it!” Artemis shouted. Pfft. Bah'rati flipped out of the way of a flurry of crossbow bolts which zinged past the spot where he used to stand, embedding themselves in the sand. A small streak of energy snaked off from the pillar of electrical energy pouring forth from Artemis' blade and struck Bah'rati, who spasmed in midair and hit the ground, rolling to dodge the crossbow bolts which Dalan continued to pour toward him. Damnation, Bah'rati doesn't stop! Dalan thought. He knew that the Howling Blades went through months of intense preliminary training, which involved, among other things, combat, subversion training and being subjected to torture until they were numbed to pain. Still, it was amazing and somewhat frightening to see their leader’s training in action.
“Dalan!” Tobias shouted.
“A bit busy here, kid!” Dalan said as he ejected a clip of bolts from the crossbow and reached for another on his belt,” Bah'rati contiued his roll and came up on one knee, deftly throwing three knives at Dalan and Tobias, who dove out of the way. Jonathan stood not too far away, observing the battle from the peak of a nearby sand dune.
“Dalan!” Bah'rati shouted, his voice betraying a mix of surprise and anger. “I don't know why you are with Artemis, but stay out of this or I will kill you!” Artemis rushed up to him with slashing down at the kneeling Bah'rati, who rolled out of the way and came up on his feet, his cold eyes focused on the half-elf.
“Don’t call me ‘kid’! Just give me a bolt!” Tobias said, turning to Dalan.
“What are you going to do with one bolt!?” Dalan shouted, standing up and rushing to lift his crossbow from the sand.
“Cannon!” Tobias shouted as the silhouette of one of the ships lit up briefly in the distance, but Dalan couldn't hear him.
“What?” Dalan shouted, as a cannonball struck so close to Dalan that the shockwave of the impact made him stagger and lose his footing. Oh, that. Dalan thought, laughing to himself as he braced himself with one hand and stood up.
“Trust me!” Tobias shouted. Dalan picked up his crossbow, opened one of the clips on his belt and ejected a bolt into his hand. He ran over and handed it to Tobias. “Are these the bolts that I gave you to take down Artemis?” Tobias asked.
“Yes, wh-?” Dalan began to ask but stopped as he remembered the nerve poison that Tobias' friend Dr. Algathier had coated the bolts with and realized what Tobias was planning to do. The kid is crazy.. That's not his style. Too... Crazy. Dalan shrugged. “If this works, I'll buy you a round of drinks if we live through this,”
“I don't drink, remember?” Tobias said and with that, he turned and ran toward Bah'rati, who was ducking and weaving, dodging Artemis' slashes and blows. An Al-Mahid soldier running by had barely extended his arm to stab Tobias when three crossbow bolts flew through the air, one flying wide, one striking the assailant in the shoulder and the other in the neck. The man fell to the floor clutching his throat, gurgling. Damn this lighting. Can’t aim right. Dalan thought. Tobias slowed down and looked at the soldier who had almost killed him.
“Go! I'll cover you!” Dalan shouted. Tobias nodded, gripping the bolt tightly in his left hand and drawing his knife with his right, his brow furrowed in determination. Bah'rati continued to exchange blows with Artemis and Dalan noticed that he had maneuvered Bah'rati so that his back was to Tobias. Bah'rati delivered a kick to Artemis' stomach, sending him stumbling back and instead of pressing the attack, whirled around to face Tobias, who was sprinting at full speed towards him. Bah'rati's lips curled into a sinister grin. Tobias stumbled in surprise, but continued his sprint. Dalan could imagine Bah'rati thinking 'caught you’. No, I caught you. Dalan thought as he pulled the trigger of his crossbow, releasing four bolts. Bah'rati twisted to avoid the flurry of bolts, at the same time, releasing two throwing knives from his hand, which flew through the air at Tobias. Artemis held his hands out and the knives curved away from their target, harmlessly lodging themselves in the sand. Tobias winced, but continued to run at Bah'rati, now barely more than an arm's length away. Bah'rati used the momentum gained from dodging the bolts to slash at Tobias' neck, but was jarred suddenly from behind and thrown off balance. Tobias dropped to the ground and as he slid through the sand between Bah'rati's legs, he jabbed the sharp tip of the bolt into Bah'rati's right calf. Bah'rati let out a grunt and turned around to attack Tobias, but was lifted off of the ground and thrown into the sand not far away. Artemis was on his feet, watching the battle carefully, ostensibly for opportunities to give Bah'rati another telekinetic 'nudge'. Waves of shimmering energy rose off of him and he sand which covered his face stood in stark contrast to his pale freckled skin. Nice one Tobias... And that Artemis. Dalan thought, looking at over at Artemis, smiling. He may look like a pansy of a half-elf, but damnation... he can fight. Bah'rati struggled to stand up, but his body would not cooperate, as the poison spread through his veins. His limbs fell limp despite his best efforts. With the last of his strength, he pulled the crossbow bolt out of his leg, looking at it quizzically, muttered a curse and collapsed into the sand. Dalan ran over to Tobias, who was kneeling in the sand. “That was amazing! You are crazy, you know that, right?” Dalan shouted, a broad grin on his face. Tobias stood up, brushing grains of sand off of his black denim pants. Tobias tilted his head to the side and shrugged.
“Y-you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do,” He said, a little bit shaken despite his confident voice and perhaps amazed that his stunt had worked. Jonathan ran up to Artemis and checked him for wounds.
“Stand still! He said. He noticed that blood flowed from a laceration in Artemis’ right hand. Presumably from a blow from Bah’rati’s katar near the hilt of Artemis’ blade. “Sheesh. All of you think you can just walk off injuries. You aren’t even healing affines! You know that you can get infected. Try fighting then… resilium!” Jonathan muttered as he touched his staff to Artemis’ hand. Wisps of white energy surrounded the tip of the staff and Artemis pulled his hand away, examining the black crusted blood around the wound.
“Thanks Jonathan, but I’ve been through worse,” Artemis replied. Jonathan scurried over to Tobias and Dalan, checking both for any sign of injury. He sighed a sign of relief when he saw nothing serious.
“I know you say that you don’t drink, but after this is all over, I’m buying you a round of something,” Dalan said.
“Yeah, yeah,” Artemis said, walking up to Dalan. “The kid jabbed a poison tipped bolt into the guy’s leg. That was impressive and all, but lets keep our eyes on our goal. We are trying to find Murad. Isn’t that right?” Dalan looked over at Tobias, who was glaring in Artemis’ general direction.
“Well, he was the one who took him down,” Dalan said.
“No. That, my friend was all three of us,” Artemis said, turning his back, to look out at the sea. What is he looking at? Dalan thought as he looked out over the water, squinting to see silhouettes of the ships in the faint light of the early morning. Bright explosions erupted from the ships silhouettes, yet no cannon shots came ashore and Dalan was certain that he saw perhaps twice as many ships as he had before. Someone is engaging the Centran fleet. Murad? Dalan thought. He was jolted out of his reverie as Artemis turned back to him. “And besides,” Artemis continued. “I didn’t need you guys’ help to defeat that weakling,” With that, Artemis turned on his sandaled heel and began to walk down the beach, which Dalan noticed, was now deserted. Further down the shore, he could see masses of Al-Mahid soldiers surrounding the Centran ships. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Artemis asked. “You said we were going to meet Murad,”
“Murad?” Tobias asked. “Was he leading the defensive force?”
“Leading it?” Artemis asked. “Nah. Couldn’t you see those ships engaging the Centran forces at sea? They were brigs!” Dalan peered at the sea once more, yet he could still barely make out more than silhouettes of the distant ships, much less the class of each ship. Super sensory spells, huh. Dalan thought, remembering his stay in Amaurea. One of the reasons that it was such an effective hiding place was that all of the half elves who inhabited the island, as with most elves, were magick affine and they could easily detect those who wished to sneak into the city. Many made use of super sensory spells and enchantments to improve their sensory perception in day to day life. Although the Amaureans were for the most part peaceful, Dalan could see how such a skill could become very useful in combat. Especially as a student in tactics such as Artemis.
“Brigs, huh?” Dalan said. “Most likely…”
“Smuggler ships,” Tobias said, finishing his sentence. Dalan nodded. The swift wooden ships were favored by smugglers, due to their exceptional speed and maneuverability. Indeed, it was probable that Murad was aboard one of them, assuming he wasn’t leading the attack here. He does rub elbows with some of the shadier members of society. Dalan thought. As he looked up at the sea once more, the eruptions of cannon fire had stopped and the eerie yellow-orange glow of flames lit up three ships, which seemed to be creeping out toward the open sea. He could see what seemed to be six or seven smaller ships as well. The brigs. Dalan thought. five of them were breaking from their v-shaped formation, presumably to follow the gutted Centran ships. The other one proceeded toward the port. Dalan turned to Jonathan who was staring blankly at the retreating Centran ships and the brigs, who followed close behind, like sharks preparing to gore their prey.
“Why?” He asked. “Why is my country doing this?”
“You know,” Artemis sighed. “We have explained this a hundred times to a hundred different people. The Elvaan set them up,” He said, emphasizing each of the last three words.
“No… Not that,” Jonathan said, shaking his head in awe. “The priesthood. The patriarch’s knights. So many of the commoners. They all went to war. How could they be convinced to do this for no reason?” Dalan walked over to Jonathan and put his hand on his shoulder.
“It’s all about the resources, kid. One thing that Al-Mahid has that Centra doesn’t is Damask ore. It is used as an alloy in most Al-Mahidi weaponry and some weapons like Murad’s sword are made of pure Damask. It makes far superior weapons and depending on the purity, they have even been known to cleave iron and steel weapons in two, so I am sure they would want to get a hold of it,” Dalan said. “As for the people, they are either naïve enough to believe that it is their religious duty, or greedy enough to know that they will benefit by either being paid as a soldier or by the expansion of the empire. When money and power are involved, I don’t care how moral you think that you are, everyone has a price.”
“Hm,” Artemis said, slowing down so that Dalan caught up to him. “You really believe that,” His light brown eyes met Dalans’ and seemed to peer straight into his soul. “What is your price, treasure hunter?” Dalan averted his gaze, looking down at the sand.
“I’d like to think that I don’t have one. But what makes me different from any other Hume... or Elf for that matter?” He said, pursing his lips. “Well, what are we sitting around chatting for? Let’s go talk to my boss,”

. . .

Dalan looked up at the ship as one of the sailors tied it to a metal fixture at the port. The ship’s two large masts jutted out into the sky, black sails stood in stark contrast to the now purple-orange sky. The port side of the ship was lined with eight cannons. Heavily armed for a brig. Dalan thought. He looked up at the letters in black which spelled Gilles across the top of the hull. So this is the Gilles. Dalan thought, hearing tales of the legendary brig which had managed to escape countless Centran blockades. Across the sea, the sun could be seen peeking over the horizon, tinging the water with red, orange and purple hues. A ramp was thrown over the edge of the ship and two men, flanked by six muscular sailors stepped off of the ship. One of the men was a short man with dark brown skin and curly, kinky unruly black hair which puffed out around his face. A curved sheath hung at his belt, a golden hilt protruding from it. Next to him was a tall lean light skinned man no older than twenty six, Dalan guessed, with dirty blond-brown hair and light blue eyes who would have been stunningly handsome if it were not for the multitude of scars which pockmarked his face. So the Centran guy must be Zinin... Captain of the Gilles. Murad has some pretty infamous friends. Dalan thought, smiling.
“Murad!’ Dalan said, pushing his way through the crowd to the short man. A few of the Al-Mahid soldiers grabbed him, but Murad waved them off.
“It’s alright. I know this old rogue,” Murad said, smiling. “You should too. It’s Dalan Hafid! Treasure hunter extraordinaire!” Murad gestured comically, flashing a dashing grin at the crowd, who muttered as they realized who Dalan was and parted to let him and his companions through. “What are you doing here anyways?” Murad said, but stopped when he saw Artemis. “Oh… I see… So you caught him,”
“Oh, Scions of nature…” Artemis sighed. “We will have to explain this again? Look. They didn’t capture me. Well… Not exactly. Dalan was acting on his own information. We both have reliable evidence that the Elvaan are engineering this war between you and the Centrans. We came here to warn you about that.”
“What?” Murad said, almost laughing. “Is this true, Dal?” He said, turning to Dalan, who shrugged.
“Appears so. That’s why Artemis was killing the soldiers on both sides. To try to divert their attention from each other so that he could delay the war. And there was this old elf who was trying to stop it too. Name was Claude. He was the one behind the assassination of the Dey’s military advisor. A lot more effective than Artemis’ attempt if you ask me, but nonetheless, it didn’t work either,” Dalan said. Artemis began to protest, but decided it would be better to say nothing.
“Wait a minute.” Zinin said, his voice almost as smooth and dismissive as Murad’s. “If the Elvaan engineered this war, then they must have done a horrible job. The most important part of the Centran invasion would have been the sea landing. They would have certainly attacked from the seaport here, not the land front.”
“You are assuming that the Elvaan have seafaring vessels. Enough to make up a battalion at that,” Dalan said. “Zinin Garvey, right? You have traveled the seas all around Centra and Al-Mahid. Have you ever noticed any Elvaan ships?”
“None at all, but I have not been near their continent. Aurensvale, I’ve heard it called. They don’t like outsiders, so I tend to steer clear. No telling what kinds of fleet they might have up there.”
“Well, I lived in Amaurea for a while,” Dalan replied. “Definitely did not hear them talk about any Elvaan fleet. The occasional piece of gossip from Aurensvale makes it to Amaurea, since some Elvaan live there, but work on the Aurensvale mainland. This doesn’t mean that they don’t have a fleet, but if they don’t, they will attack from the land front. Who is defending the Centra-Akhmet border anyways?”
“Kussa is leading the forces at the border. Naka is leading the archers unit,” Murad replied. “Rey Lucas Blum also agreed to help,” Murad sighed. “Its times like this that I wish the porter’s guild wasn’t neutral… Then we could just port into Aurensvale and make them tell us what is going on.”
“Lucas?” Tobias asked. “Al Rey? The king of the Roma? Why is he fighting like us? The Roma—we need him to watch out for us. There are few enough of us as it is!”
“I think that is what he is trying to do,” Murad replied. “Your people have wandered for almost a century after they left the Arauncan Continent. They are just settling down in our country, you know. If the Centrans take over, no telling what will happen to them. They might have to find another home. Besides, they still have Reya Arroyo, the other Rey, to watch out for them. We really don’t know what will happen if the Centrans win. That is precisely why we, your Rey included, have to prevent this from happening,” Murad appraised Tobias, nodding. “So how was the job?”
“Pretty good,” Tobias said shrugging.
“psh. 'Pretty good',” Dalan said, waving his hand. “He prevented Artemis from being killed and he took down Bah’rati,”
“I guess you are almost good enough to earn your keep with the border mercenaries,” Murad said, smiling.
“Almost?” Tobias said in mock disbelief. “Try taking down Guilder Bah’rati before you say that,”
“You killed him?” Murad said incredulously.
“No, just incapacitated him. Poison,” Tobias shrugged. “He should recover in a few hours.”
Why were you fighting Bah’rati anyways?” Murad asked. Artemis looked over at him sheepishly.
“Let’s just say that he wants revenge for something I did over ten years ago,” Artemis replied. Murad’s eyes widened in amazement.
“So you were the one who--?” He was cut off by Artemis.
“You know, that is something I would prefer not to talk about around the present company, but yes.” Artemis said. “I would have thought that he would have told you who I was before I was guilder,”
“No. No, he didn’t,” Murad stammered, looking at Artemis with newfound respect. “But our relationship is strictly business. We don’t exactly go drinking. Even if we did, I would imagine that he would be busy scanning the room for bounties.”
“Well, we learn new things every day,” Artemis said, turning to Zinin. “So what is the plan for securing this place? Landing here at Port Saif is integral to the Centran invasion, so they will probably make another attempt.”
“Hah,” Zinin replied. “Let them try. I know at least ten crews of smugglers and pirates here who won’t have it. Five of them are on the sea chasing that sorry attack force back where it came from. Five are lying in wait in a cove nearby. That’s why Murad wasn’t leading the attack. I took him to the cove west of here so he could tell some of the other crews about the invasion. Brought some of his men with him so that he could help with the land front while we took care of things here.” Zinin turned and nodded to a crowd of thirty people, mostly men with an occasional woman, lounging around on the deck of the ship.
“So, what do you plan to do with our information?” Dalan asked Murad.
“There is no change in plans really,” Murad said. “My men and I were planning to head inland to Akhmet City to support our troops there anyways. I guess this just makes it more urgent to have a few reinforcements, no matter how small in number. Also, I’m going to make sure Bah’rati is alright. Like him or not, he is an asset on the battlefield. Are you guys going with us?”
“Definitely,” Tobias said.
“The kid wants to save his parents. They are stuck in prison… captured members of the fraternary,” Dalan replied. “I’m going with him,”
“What?” Tobias replied. “You are going to help?”
“Yeah. Don’t act so surprised. I might change my mind,” Dalan said. Artemis looked at Tobias, his lips pursed.
“So, we are going to rescue a couple of inmates from prison, fight off the Centran army and hope there is no Elvaan invasion. I hope whatever gods you guys believe in exist, because there is no chance in damnation that we are pulling this without the help of something supernatural,” Artemis said.
“We have Archos on our side,” Jonathan said. “What my country is doing just isn’t right. I will pray that we can help your parents.”
“Thanks,” Tobias said, nodding to Jonathan.
“Yeah. Hope someone exists too,” Dalan said, looking off into the distance. but the only one who I can be certain of to look out for me is myself Dalan thought. “Murad. Could you wait a little while before you leave? I have to go see if an old friend is safe and out of harm's way,”
“Sure. We’ll be here until midday. A little last minute business to take care of?” Murad replied.
“Yeah,” Dalan said. “Someone who means a lot to me. I’m going to tell her goodbye, just in case I don’t come back.” Dalan turned his back and began to trudge slowly down the shoreline. He stopped and turned back to Murad. “You know. That is my greatest fear. Not dying, but going off to die without those who I love knowing that I may not return,”

. . .

“I see. So you intend to go with him?” Nana said, studying the brown steaming liquid in her tea mug. Dalan sat across the bare wooden table, his eyes fiery with determination, meeting the older lady’s gaze.
“I don’t have a choice really. I have to do my part to protect us all. I don’t have time to explain, Nana, but if this war goes on for too long… if this battle goes on for too long. Something terrible will happen. I don’t want you to be caught in the middle of it,” Nana laughed and Dalan looked at her quizzically. Why are you laughing? He thought. Nana sighed and then put her mug down on the table.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ve lived through disputes between the many races in Al-Mahid. I was here when the Jazair pressed the border dispute at the Last Stand. When it is time for me to go, I will pass on. You should be more worried about yourself,” Nana said, appraising Dalan with a level gaze. “You are going to Akhmet because you think that you can stop a war. I don’t care how powerful they are, no mortal could hope to do such a thing alone. Dalan, I know that you never had the kind of life you wanted growing up. You know how it feels to lose and that, I think, is what drives you to make sure that others don’t feel the same pain, but remember. One drop of water is swallowed up by the desert, but many drops of water can make an oasis blossom in the middle of the dry sands,”
“You are telling me to trust those close to me to help or something like that?” Dalan said, chuckling. “That sounds like something out of an old book of aphorisms. Or several old books for that matter. All of those old sages write the same things,”
“Yes, it may have been said many times by many wise men and women. But doesn’t that at least vouch for its validity?” Nana asked.
“Perhaps,” Dalan said, standing up. “Well, I should get going. Murad and the others are waiting for me. I hope that I will come back after this is all over. Maybe we can talk about something a little more pleasant over tea,”
“You will come back. I know you don’t believe in Sharah, but at least have some faith in yourself. I will be here waiting for you. I am an old woman, but if Sharah comes to take me, I’ll tell him to wait. I wouldn’t miss the return of Dalan Hafid for anything. Even the afterlife.” Nana said, laughing. Dalan stepped forward and caught the woman in a tight embrace.
“Keep a pot of tea going for me. In case I do come back, you know?” Dalan said.
“I will every day, my boy,” Nana said, tears streaming down her face. “Every day,”