The Maelstrom's Heart

Chapter 2-1

CHAPTER TWO

RISPAN

“What the zerg is Darusa up to?” I asked.

Gralbast shook his head. “She’s always been a hard one to read. Even as young as she is, she’s managed to get her fingers into just about everything, though she almost always uses proxies. We know she used Valdeg as her front with the Merchant Guild, maybe she’s doing the same thing with Dobarek and the Slavers Guild.”

“Either way,” I told him, “she’s definitely backing King Vegak. We need to know more about this Ulané Jhinura mage she has with her now.”

“I tell you,” Gralbast changed the subject to repeat what had almost become his mantra, “we need a face to lead the opposition, or we can’t win.”

“You can say that all you want,” I told him. “But until you have a workable option, we can’t run with it.”

“If we don’t give the movement a leader,” he said, “someone like Darusa can just step in and take it all away from us. Then this will be for nothing. We can’t just keep pretending there’s some leader who’s hiding their identity.”

Both points were valid. Darusa had proven to be very clever and conniving. She probably had plans in place so she could take over Pokorah-Vo no matter who won. Up to now, we’d been organizing a movement against Vegak and the Slavers Guild and talking about a leader who we hadn’t presented yet. The position was ready, but if someone didn’t step into it soon it would all fall apart like a house of cards.

“Options?” I prodded him. “Who’s willing to openly stand up against Vegak and the Slavers Guild both? Are you going to do it?”

“Me?” He blinked at me. “No, they’d never rally behind me. But it will need to be an Urgaban, or it won’t go anywhere.”

We’d gone over this before. I’d have been happy to put the king and queen of Aganaté in charge, or even Shéna, but there was no way the Urgaban of Pokorah-Vo would go for it, even if any of them had been willing to come out of hiding. It needed to be an Urgaban with some clout.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s run through the list. Who are the key players and how do they work as an option?”

Pokorah-Vo was divided into seven districts or territories. When Pokorah-Vo was founded, Arugak had united seven clans that had formed from all of the exiles from over the centuries and promised them all equal shares of the city. Pokorah-Vo had been built around this idea. Those territories had been passed down each generation to a new leader, and the territories and the Ministers who ruled them were named for the original Clan Chiefs. Pokorah-Vo was more like seven towns than a single unified city.

“Julek and Shegaruv are both in the king’s pocket,” I said. “They are too connected with the slavers.”

Gralbast nodded. “And Kivalek will go along with whichever way the Merchant Guild goes, but people trust him even less than they do me.”

“What about Veréliag?”

“His ties to the Thieves Guild make him a bad choice as a leader,” he said.

“Maybe we can use that to get him to our side at least,” I suggested. “If free trade happens, it’s good for everyone economically. More options for thievery.”

“Maybe,” Gralbast laughed. “I might be able to sell him on that.”

“If we can get him with us, that puts it at Julek and Shegaruv on one side and Kivalek and Veréliag on the other. That leaves Hrangan, Frelian, and Okéla.”

“Frelian has a strong interest in growing the Mage Guild,” he scratched his chin. “With open relations to other cities, it will open up avenues for that. I think we can get him to our side. But he doesn’t have enough influence to be the leader.”

“From what I hear,” I said, “Hrangan and Okéla are always at each other’s throats trying to get control of the Craftsman and Planters Guilds.”

He nodded. “We can assume that whichever way one goes, the other will do the opposite.”

“Unless we can broker an agreement between them,” I suggested. “Then we could get them both.”

“Good luck with that!”

“But there’s no way that would work if we tried to make one the new leader,” I shook my head. “Still, it would be worth bringing them together if we could use it to get them both to our side.”

“Those are all the big players,” he said. “And that leaves us no closer to a leader.”

I leaned onto the table with a sigh, my chin on my hands, trying to think of a solution.

It had to be someone powerful. Respected. And someone clever enough to run the city once they took over. But all the options were too strongly aligned with one of the clans; the others wouldn’t trust them. Then a thought hit me. The Guilds. Why hadn’t we looked at the Guilds? The two strongest guilds by far were the Merchants and the Slavers.

“We need someone proven, right?” I asked him. “An Urgaban who will be well known and has a track record of making good decisions?”

“And they have to be responsible,” he said. “That’s why it can’t be me. I got fed up and walked away from running the Merchant Guild years ago and they think I’d do the same with the new movement.”

“Right,” I nodded. “And who stepped in? Who took over and made the Merchant Guild even stronger than you did?”

He looked at me, blinking slowly. “She’d never do it.”

“Are you sure?”

“She doesn’t care about politics, only about enhancing profits.”

“That’s what she says,” I looked at him.

“You don’t believe her?”

I shrugged. “Not particularly.”

He thought about it. “She’d be a good choice if she’d go for it.”

“There we go,” I grinned at him. “Problem solved!”

“She still has to agree to it,” he said. “I’m not so sure she will.”

“So, we don’t give her a choice,” I told him. “Once we let it slip that she’s in charge, there’s not much she can do to back away from it.”

“She’d kill us.”

“Nah,” I shook my head. “She’ll be too busy.”

“I’m not agreeing to anything,” he answered. “But she’s coming over this afternoon and I’ll let you talk to her.”

“Oh, no,” I grinned. “You’re the salesman here. You sell it. Besides,” I added. “She’s your girlfriend.”

“She is not!” His face flushed.

“Fine,” I said. “As for the others. Who do you want to focus on first?”

We had been putting off getting too deep into conversations with the factions because we didn’t have a leader for them to get behind.

He shrugged, “Do we want to go for the low-hanging fruit? Or tackle the big jobs first?”

“Actually,” I grinned. “Why don’t we leave that decision to our new leader?”

He shook his head, “You’re going to have to do the talking on that one,” he told me. “I don’t know if she’s ever going to forgive me for quitting.”

“Maybe,” I smiled. “But she listens to you more than you realize. I’ll take point though.”

I spent the rest of the morning putting together notes for my next report to Su Lariano. Dzurala had become very attached to her newfound ability to communicate with me instantly. Fortunately, she wasn’t pressing for more than a weekly report.

Bavrana arrived about an hour after noon for lunch. This wasn’t an unusual thing since they’d gotten back from Su Lariano, but most of the time I didn’t join them. Bavrana and Gralbast made small talk while we ate. Bavrana kept glancing my way suspiciously. We finished the meal and Mikolosk cleared away the dishes.

“Alright,” she said to me as Gralbast poured us a liqueur. “I can tell you’ve got something up your sleeve. Out with it.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I gave her my most innocent look. Her return expression was not quite an eye roll.

“Well,” I smiled. “We did have some things we wanted to talk with you about. You know… Get your take on things.”

“I’m afraid to ask.”

“Of course, you are aware of the way things are shifting here in the city,” I said. “One side wants things to stay as they are, and the other side wants things to change, namely, they want open trade and that requires making peace agreements with other cities and ending slavery.”

She nodded. “And you two are pushing for the second option. I keep my ear to the ground, so I know as much as anyone I suppose. What’s that got to do with me?”

“We were going over the different factions,” I told her. “Trying to figure out where everyone stood and how we could get them over to our side.”

I repeated the analysis that Gralbast and I had done for the seven District Ministers.

“Essentially,” I concluded, “We’re looking for a strategy for bringing as many of them over to our side as we can.”

She shook her head. “Until you bring out your secret leader, no one is going to fully commit. You’ve gone about as far as you can without that.”

I glanced at Gralbast. “We agree.”

“That’s the person you should be going over this with,” she shrugged.

I just smiled at her wordlessly, my eyes never leaving her face.

After a moment, her gaze sharpened as her eyes snapped back and forth between us. I could see the calculations going, the dots being connected.

“You don’t have a secret leader,” she said. “That’s why Vegak can’t figure out who it is. And you think…”

“Well,” my smile got bigger. “We didn’t have one.”

“Are you zergané crazy?” She looked at me. “This must be your idea! Gralbast isn’t stupid enough to think I’d go along with it.”

“You do see the benefits of our side, right?” I asked her. “Almost everyone benefits from open relations with your neighbors. You agree?”

“It doesn’t take a politician to see that!” she snapped. “It’s just common sense. Common business sense.”

“Then our goals are aligned,” I shrugged. “And if you can think of a better person to lead us, we’d love to hear it. This is the best chance we have.”

“You’re talking about overthrowing Vegak!”

I nodded. “He’s probably not going to like the idea.”

She sat there, shaking her head. There was no better choice, and she knew it.

“Have you ever played Jhianki?” she asked me.

“Shéna taught me a little,” I said. “Why?”

She wasn’t paying attention to my answer. I could see she was thinking.

“We need to sit down with Hrangan and Okéla,” she finally said. “And most of the other Clan Chiefs, too. But first…”

Bavrana stood up from the table and walked through the house into the shop out front. We followed as she stepped out the front door and began looking at passersby. She apparently found what she was looking for; she locked eyes with a man and flipped him a silver coin. He caught it out of the air, and it disappeared.

“Tell Jasena I need to see her,” Bavrana told him. “Tell her I’m here and that I’ll wait.”

The man nodded and vanished into the crowd. Bavrana turned and went back to the table.

“Did you just invite the Master of the Thieves Guild into my place?” Gralbast asked her.

“Sacrifices must be made for the cause,” She smiled at him. “Meanwhile, get me some paper and ink. We need Hrangan, Okéla, and Veréliag here tonight. And I need Veselek here right away.”

“I’ll send for Veselek while you write,” Gralbast said as he deposited paper and ink in front of Bavrana. She wrote out five different letters and sealed them. Gralbast handed them to Mikolosk with instructions to have them all delivered right away.

When Veselek arrived, there was another Urgaban on his heels, and a second just behind her.

“Having a party?” the first woman spoke. Veselek nearly jumped out of his shoes; he evidently didn’t realize anyone was behind him.

“Jasena,” Bavrana nodded her head. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. Please have a seat.”

“You know Zorina,” she indicated the woman with her. Bavrana nodded.

Jasena reached for a glass and the decanter as she sat to one end of the table, where she could keep everyone in view.

“Getting into politics, are we?” Jasena gave her a half-smile.