“Nah” Brendan replied taking off a boot and shaking gravel and muck from it. “I’s far too far away fer that. Still I’d like t’know why yer bothering so much about these people an’ why y’didn’t just drop me in it t’get out of this?”
Sabian nodded. “You think me imprudent for allowing your presence to go undetected. You think perhaps I should report it to my Lord in return for wealth and privilege?”
Brendan shrugged and leaned back smiling. “Why not?”
Sabian stared at the mercenary. Why did he, a senior officer in the most powerful army of the modern world and an upholder of the law, feel the need to justify his actions to an outlaw mercenary?
Across the island, Darius found Kiva sitting at the desk. Were it not for the bandages it would be hard to tell that that the general was wounded at all. Certainly his demeanour was all business.
“What is it?”
Darius strode over to the desk, his sheathed sword swinging at his side.
“I’ve been listening closely to one of the new sergeants” he said, beginning to unbuckle his sword belt. “They’re not a friendly lot. They’re going to settle in tonight and sort their barracks out, but tomorrow everything’s going to change.”
“In what way” the general enquired, placing his stylus back on the desk and looking up at the tall youth.
Darius placed his sword and belt on the desk and stepped back. “They want to do a complete contraband check on the whole island. Anything they think prisoners shouldn’t have they’re going to confiscate.”
“So you’ll need to hide a lot of stuff” the general nodded to himself.
Darius leaned over the desk, his face close to Kiva’s. “I think you missed the point. A complete check of the whole island will turn up more than they bargained for” he said pointedly, gesturing at the general.
“Hmmm.” Kiva tapped his lip for a moment. “We’re going to have to do something soon then. They won’t start anything until Sabian and his other men are already on their way back to the city. I think we need to move before they do and as soon as Sabian’s left, whatever the commander’s timings are.”
Darius nodded. “Shall I ask everyone to come here for a meeting?”
Kiva shook his head. “Too dangerous. Get everyone down to the orchard near the graveyard as soon as it gets dark. That’s a long way away from the guard quarters in the Peacock Palace. Tell everyone to wear robes and move as unobtrusively as possible. Get all the off-landers and Sarios. Sabian too if you can get to him.”
The young man nodded again.
“We’re leaving tomorrow aren’t we?”
Kiva tested his weight on his stick. “There’s no other choice.”
Chapter XXII
Darius’ heart sat heavy in his chest as he watched the boat bucking in the foam, moving slowly away from the dock and back toward Velutio. Sabian stood at the stern rail in his full regalia, impressive and powerful, with the men of his veteran units standing behind him in formation on the deck. Sergeant Cialo stood to one side, a hand on the rail and close to his commander; his face was bleak and unhappy. He’d become quite close to a number of the folk on the island and had as good as made a home there in the short time of his assignment. He was not happy to be leaving, and had confided as much to Darius during their last conversation not long after dawn this morning. He didn’t trust Velutio’s guard and, although he’d been informed of the plans for the island, was still sceptical about the decisions his commander had made.
With a quick glance over his shoulder, Darius could see Velutio’s guard lined up in their ranks of black and white, with a frowning sergeant standing to one side. He knew what was coming. The sergeant was only waiting for Sabian to be out of earshot before he launched into everyone. The lad turned again to face the departing boat. If Sabian was taking the army out on campaign for months and everything was about to come to a head here on the island, it was very possibly the last time Darius would ever see either him or the grizzled Cialo and the degree to which that made him unhappy was a touch disturbing. He’d never really had family, at least for his thinking life, but the commander, the sergeant and their men had become as close to him in the last few weeks as anyone on the island had ever been. He sighed as the boat gradually moved further away until the commander was a red smudge in the general brown and grey of the boat. Only a moment later, a voice behind them all called out in a rasping, deep tone.
“I am Sergeant Caris of the army of Velutio and from this moment on I am taking command of the island of Isera. I intend to enforce the standard rules of prison control, along with a number of other strictures that will apply due to the nature of the prison and its occupants. There will be no more of this open control and free access that was permitted under ‘sergeant’ Cialo.”
With a crack, the sergeant brought down the cane he was holding against the metal greave on his leg, then lifted it and pointed at the group near the dock.
“There will be a complete search of the island as soon as my men have organised the watches and duties. Any contraband or illegal objects found will be confiscated and locked away until the next boat from the city, when they will be taken from the island. After that there will be random searches carried out on a daily basis by different patrols each day. Anyone found with contraband today with be given a number of lashes proportionate to the offence. As of tomorrow, if any search turns up any contraband at all, I will consider the severing of a hand in the Pelasian style. The same sentence will apply for theft or malicious damage.”
The man stopped for a moment and cleared his gravelly throat. Darius couldn’t help noting the nasty glint in the man’s eye and the smug but hungry faces of the guardsmen behind him.
“Furthermore, there will be a roll call every morning, with today’s at lunchtime due to the lateness of the hour now. Anyone missing from the call will be punished. At the first such meeting, each prisoner will detail his duties to be noted down. Once these are dealt with, all prisoners will be confined to the places where they eat, sleep and work. Anyone found where they are not supposed to be will be punished. The walls of the palace are your absolute boundary. Anyone found outside them will be…?”
“Punished!” chorused the guards behind him. A vicious grin had now split the sergeant’s face.
“The guard will be you wardens and your superiors and will not be working to the benefit of the prisoners. As such you will put aside a proportion of all food and drink that is grown or created on the island for your wardens. Other rules will be applied as they become necessary, but for now you need to relay all of this to any other prisoners who are not here and prepare for the first complete search and roll call.”
A low growl issued from the sergeant’s throat as he straightened again. “One last thing: I am unconvinced as yet that my captain’s unfortunate demise was an accident. I understand that the bath house has been in a bad way for some time and that work had been done on it recently, but my suspicions are still there. I will be having my engineers investigate the building and my medic examine the body. After that we will be interviewing a number of you about the circumstances surrounding the ‘accident’. If there is anything to find out, be sure that I will find it out.”
“That’s it” he said, folding the can beneath his armpit, “go about your business.”
The islanders looked at each other, sharing a great deal of unhappiness and ill-feeling until Minister Sarios cleared his throat. “Very well… back to the palace everyone.”
The group shuffled off dejectedly toward the Gorgon Gate, with Darius and the minister at the rear. The young man looked across at the elder and sighed heavily.
“What are we going to do now?”
The minister raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”