Chapter 33

As the harbormaster, red-faced and out of breath, arrived at the harbor bureau, he saw himself confronted with two soldiers guarding the entrance. The guards told him that the military had seized the building. It was now their battalion headquarters and his former office had become the office of the commanding officer. Outraged about this second indignity of the day, Phingul Stulghon demanded to immediately see the officer.

Avarro var Solbhan, the officer in charge of the battalion, had been tasked by Agon var Dosha with the search of Sanjaba’s harbor quarter. He indulgently listened to the fat civilian’s wordy complaints but perked up when the harbormaster accused the Ibanee military of being almost as rude as the foreigners who had invaded his port.

A short while later, Harbormaster Phingul Stulghon was anticipating a vast improvement of his day as he guided Avarro var Solbhan and two hundred soldiers toward the pier where the cargo vessel ‘The White Crest’ was moored.

Leaving the barn, Anjatta and Rhaseris watched Agon and a cavalry troop galloping off the premises toward the north.

“We have to hurry or we’ll be too late to prevent a disaster,” Rhaseris worried, looking around and searching for something. “There!” She pointed at a corral with several-dozen horses. “We need horses, too.”

Anjatta blushed. “I can’t ride.”

“Then you better stick tightly to my back because we will ride,” Rhaseris let her know. “Go! Get us a horse; we don’t have time to waste!”

Anjatta took a deep breath and nodded.

“You!” She approached the nearest soldier and pointed at the corral. “I need one of those horses.”

The soldier’s eyes widened. “Excuse me, my Princess, but...”

“No!” Anjatta interrupted. “I’m not interested to hear your excuses. Bring me a horse. I am a Princess of Ibanee and you will obey my command!”

The soldier obeyed and soon thereafter the Princess of Ibanee was desperately clinging to Rhaseris’ back, as they rode a monstrous black warhorse toward the north, following her brother.

“Did the army surround us already or do we still have time to escape without a fight?” Shinta asked the patch-man reporting to Evanis.

“Escape?” The patch-man and Evanis asked in unison.

Anseyla rolled her eyes. “Now you know why I had to come along. Escape is a concept unknown to Evanis and her patch-men are... , “ she stumbled, “ ... her patch-men. No need to immerse any deeper into that piece of insanity,” she finished and then she turned to Jabbit - at least that’s what she intended. “Where is he?”

“The ship isn’t unloaded yet so your Lord resumed doing the job he’ll be paid for,” Evanis wryly remarked. “You didn’t believe such a little thing as an army surrounding us would change his priorities, did you?”

“That’s not funny!” Shinta exclaimed. “We all could be killed here!”

“I’ll give you a tip,” Evanis threw over her shoulder while marching off. “If you get killed, stay by your corpse. It worked well for Kuwasi.”

“Do you still think Eva doesn’t believe Jabbit is a god?” Anseyla asked.

“I think you are all insane,” Shinta answered and then she followed Evanis.

Anseyla watched her sister, Shinta and twenty-one patch-men marching off against the Ibanee army, an army which apparently was about to encircle them. Then she looked around, searching for a target to vent her frustration. She quickly found one.

“My Lord doesn’t get paid enough to unload this ship all on his own!” She chided the men standing at The White Crest’s railing.

The men didn’t react and just stared at her.

“Stop gawking and unload this damn ship!” She yelled. “Or I’ll get one of my sister’s patch-man to help you along!”

The men finally moved.

The harbormaster was guiding the battalion along the waterfront; the calm waters of the Sanjaba bay to their left, a row of storage houses at their right, and a lightly clouded autumn sky above. Their column was passing a pier with a moored fish crawler. A few crewmen were unloading the catch and a flock of brash seagulls gorged every little piece falling aside. The soldiers in the lead could just espy the rig of The White Crescent, marking their target pier, when their approach was intercepted by a troop of armed men and two women.

“That’s her!” Phingul Stulghon called out, pointing at one of the women. “That’s the rude woman who threatened me!”

Avarro var Solbhan raised his hand and the battalion came to a halt.

“Who are you?” He asked when the woman and her troop came to a stop as well.

“I am Evanis Danjala, Commander of the Imperial Alorian Guard,” the woman announced.

“You are on the list of people I’m searching for,” the officer replied. “You’re not my primary target, though. I’m not ordered to fight or arrest you unless you try to impede the execution of my mission - the detection and arrest of a man by the name of Jabbit.”

Evanis shrugged. “I’ve no idea who you are but I’m at war with Ibanee. You look like an Ibanee to me.”

Avarro var Solbhan stiffened and the tips of his ears turned crimson. “You command not even two-dozen armed men. I have a battalion behind me. I order you to lay down your weapons. Surrender or we’ll attack!”

“Don’t you worry about numbers; I’m expecting reinforcements,” Evanis replied. “Just attack.”

“Sir,” the officer next to him tried for his superior’s attention. “We sent a message to the Prince Commander of our success in finding the man he’s searching for. I’m certain the Prince is on his way here and will arrive soon. It would be unwise to attack now. They can’t flee.”

“This woman and her troop are blocking our path,” Avarro var Solbhan ground out through clenched teeth. “Thus I can’t verify the harbormaster’s allegation that the man we are searching for is here.”

Phingul Stulghon immediately intervened. “In my official position as royal harbormaster of Sanjaba I assure you, the young Alorian man you described is on the pier where The White Crest has moored.”

“Remove this civilian from my sight,” var Solbhan hissed. “My orders are clear in this instance. The woman and her armed company are impeding my mission and any hindrance to my mission has to be eliminated.”

As two soldiers dragged the harbormaster away, he noticed the cool breeze and the world darkening as a cloud passed before the sun. He watched the seagulls, screeching, fled their feast when a large murder of crows appeared in the sky and circled above them all. He heard the officer’s command, “Attack!” and a woman’s responding order, “No one gets past us!”

The roared “Aye, Commander” still rung in his ears as Harbormaster Phingul Stulghon suddenly recognized that he might have been wrong before – this day would not improve.

Shinta was cold. The ground was cold, too ... and hard ... and she lay in something moist and sticky. She didn’t feel any pain, though. That was before the slap hit her face.

“Look me in the eyes!” The woman, whose face was hovering above hers, demanded. “I wasn’t joking. You are badly wounded but no matter, even if you die, Jabbit will bring you back. Stay with your body!”

‘Stay with your body’? Shinta thought. ‘What a silly advice. I don’t even know how to leave my body.’ Then she closed her eyes and her world went dark.

Evanis stood up and waved a patch-man over. “Carry her back to the ship and after Jabbit heals her, tell him to move his lazy ass here!”

The patch-man gave her their usual answer. She watched as he picked up Shinta’s body and carried her back toward the pier of The White Crest. Then Evanis looked around the battlefield.

The space between the waterfront and the storage houses was littered with corpses. More than a hundred Ibanee soldiers had fallen. The road slightly sloped toward the waterfront and thick streams of blood leaked into the Bay of Sanjaba. She kicked a body, the corpse rolled onto his back, and she noted even their commanding officer was dead. A few of her patch-men lay around as well. They weren’t dead - or at least no more dead than before the fight - but unable to move. The same as about another fifty Ibanee soldiers, who had survived the fight but barely.

The rest of the Ibanee soldiers were limping off and if they were healthy enough, they supported someone’s retreat from the battlefield who wasn’t. Evanis watched until the retreating soldiers reached the reserve company of their battalion - another two-hundred soldiers. Then she turned to one of the wounded Ibanee lying around.

“How many soldiers are in your unit?”

“Four companies with two-hundred men each,” he croaked in reply.

“All in all, how many are searching for Jabbit?”

“Two full regiments, with maybe seven or eight-thousand men, I guess.”

Evanis whistled through her teeth. “An army on a manhunt for a god.”

“Will I become one of the soulless dead in your god’s army?” The soldier wearily asked while he pressed his hands against the deep cut in his belly and his blood was seeping through his finger.

“He isn’t my... , “ Evanis started but then stopped. “No, you won’t. He won’t keep your spirit in this world. It’s only your flesh and bones he’ll take to serve him.”

“Thank you,” the soldier said and closed his eyes.

“Why do you serve a god who calls forth plagues and enslaves the bodies of the dead to serve in his army?” Another wounded man asked.

“I like him. Besides, I... , “ Evanis answered but a horn signal disturbed her.

The reserve company came alive and she noticed the banner of the royal family as a moment later a cavalry troop galloped onto the scene.

“Besides, I am a demoness and no one but a god can afford my services,” she absently finished her answer as she watched a seemingly heated exchange between a familiar-looking officer and a soldier wounded from the fight.

When their discussion was over, the familiar-looking officer turned and stomped into Evanis direction.

The princesses chased on the back of their warhorse through Sanjaba’s roads, forcing screaming passerby to jump out of their way. One man wasn’t quick enough but luck was on his side. His flight ended in the rosebushes of a front garden, after breaking through an apparently rather brittle, lattice fence.

“Faster!” Anjatta shouted in Rhaseris ear. “The crows are circling already.”

“We’re almost there!” Rhaseris yelled over her shoulder. She hit her heels into the flanks of their mount and spurred their already galloping warhorse.

“They are in the harbor?” Anjatta asked and Rhaseris nodded.

After sharply turning a corner, the Princess of Danuba fiercely pulled on the reins and their wheezing horse came to a slithering halt close to a group of guards blocking the road.

“Take me to my brother!” Anjatta loudly demanded of the soldiers.