“Where exactly is Lyra?” Malafar asked as he continued dressing.
“She is in StarCity,” Goral responded. “Don’t you want to see her?”
“Is she well?” inquired the father of the Sakovan Star. “Is she a prisoner?”
“She is very well,” smiled the gentle giant. “She is not a prisoner and free to leave whenever she wants, but I do not think she wants to leave.”
“And what makes you think she would be happy with a bunch of killing savages?” snarled Malafar.
“I don’t think she would be,” admitted Goral. “Is that what you thought of Rhodella, that she was a savage?”
Malafar whirled with his teeth bared and his hand started to rise, but he caught himself at the sight of Goral sitting casually on the stump and merely clenched his fists. “If you are trying to anger me,” growled Malafar, “you are doing a good job of it.”
“I am not trying to anger you,” assured Goral. “I am trying to understand you, but I cannot. I am afraid that I am a little slow with such complicated things. Your wife was a famous and well-respected Sakovan and I heard that you loved her deeply, so I cannot understand how you can hate Sakovans so much.”
“Because they are dedicated to destroying the government,” Malafar hissed through clenched teeth. “Rhodella gave up those revolutionary ideals when we married. ”
“I am sorry Master Malafar,” pleaded Goral, “but that makes even less sense to me. If being Sakovan means that you are a savage, can you just renounce being a Sakovan and then not be the same person you were before? I mean does wanting to hurt the Omungan government make one a savage and when she didn’t want that anymore then it was okay?”
Malafar sighed and shook his head. Why was he wasting his time talking some half-witted thing that was twice as tall as anyone should be? “Yes, Goral,” he said calmly. “She didn’t want to hurt the government anymore so it was okay. Don’t you have something to do?”
“No,” Goral shook his head, “but I still don’t get it. I am Sakovan and I have no desire to hurt any Omungans, but you are Omungan and killed the Katana. Does that make me okay and you a savage?”
Malafar stared at Goral and raised his eyebrows. Slowly his eyes fell to his feet and he mechanically finished dressing, his mind whirling with the simplicity and truthfulness of Goral’s statement. He had killed the Katana, the Holy Leader of Omunga. But the Katana had Alfred killed. But Alfred had chosen to become a Sakovan. He shook his head and slumped to sit on the stump across from Goral.
“I don’t know, Goral,” he admitted. “Did you know my son, Alfred?”
“Yes,” smiled Goral. “He was a great person. I only knew him for a short time, but he was my friend. I liked him as I like Lyra. I would like to feel the same way towards their father, but I get easily confused. You have so much hostility towards the Sakovans, but I do not think you even know them.”
“I don’t need to know them personally,” Malafar snapped with renewed irritability. “I know the things they have done and that is enough.”
“You don’t know anything about what I have done,” frowned Goral. “Does that mean that you can like me even though I am Sakovan?”
Malafar met Goral’s gaze and pressed his lips together tightly. “What is the point in this Goral?” he asked. “I have killed the Katana and you would only be a friend of a dead man for it will not take them long to find me.”
“They will never find you in the Sakova with Lyra,” cheered Goral. “The Omungans don’t come into the Sakova much anymore except for the groups of assassins that were chasing Lyra.”
“Assassins?” questioned Malafar. “They followed her into the Sakova?”
“Yes,” nodded Goral, “but they didn’t get her.”
“Well at least I know it wasn’t the Sakovans who raided the school then,” mused Master Malafar.
“Oh no,” protested Goral, “it was someone high up in the Omungan government. HawkShadow made one of the assassins talk.”
“Someone in the government?” echoed Malafar, his eyes closing as the words kept repeating. “The Katana, I bet.”
“No,” assured Goral. “SunChaser spoke to the Katana just before he died. We are sure it wasn’t him.”
“One of your spies spoke with the Katana?” asked Malafar with an incredulous tone. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m sorry,” frowned the giant. “You know her as Cherri, but her real name is SunChaser. The Katana knew she was a Sakovan spy, has for years.”
“Then why didn’t he have her arrested?” questioned Malafar.
“He said we provided a good service to him,” explained Goral. “He was more afraid of people in his own government than the Sakovans because we only wanted information and his people wanted power.”
Malafar clasped his hands and wrung his fingers as he shook his head. “This doesn’t make any sense,” he sighed. “Goral, I do not mean to be rude, but I cannot believe what you are telling me. It is incomprehensible that the Katana knew about one of your spies and did nothing about it.”
“I though so at first too,” confided Goral, “but just look at what happened.”
“What do you mean what happened?” inquired the mage. “I killed the Katana is what happened. What does that have to do with his people?”
Goral’s eyes widened with the thought that he had said too much. He was not sure what Malafar would do if he knew the truth and having him run back to Okata to try and kill Alazar would not do anyone any good, so he didn’t answer the question.
“Goral,” prodded Malafar. “You know something you are not telling. I want to know what it is.”
“I can’t,” refused Goral. “You might do something wrong.”
“Goral,” insisted Malafar, “I am not a little …” He stopped and remembered StarWind’s words to him not long ago. He was acting like a child she had said. He had been, he admitted to himself. A little child throwing a tantrum and he was about to do it again with Goral. He inhaled deeply and calmed himself. “Goral,” he said softly, “I must know what you were going to say. What did my killing the Katana have to do with anything else?”
Goral shook his head and fiddled with his beard. “Will you promise me something if I tell you?” Goral finally asked.
“What do you want me to promise you?” Malafar asked skeptically.
“That you will go with us freely to see Lyra before you do anything else,” Goral blurted out.
“Into the Sakova?” cried Malafar. “If she is free to leave, why can’t she come to me?”
“Would you endanger her by having her meet you while you are being hunted?” questioned Goral. “You do not have to be afraid of the Sakova, I will protect you.”
“Protect me?” laughed the Master mage. “There is nothing in the Sakova that frightens me.”
“If you do not fear the Sakova then you have no reason to refuse to go,” smiled Goral. “Your daughter will be relieved to see you again.”
“You suckered me,” pouted Malafar shaking his head in disbelief. Finally he smiled at Goral. “Very well,” he agreed, “I will go see Lyra before doing anything else. Now that I have made your simplistic self happy, enlighten me about what it is that I should not know.”
“Have you ever heard of the drug Quetara?” Goral asked.
“Quetara,” mused Master Malafar. “I have heard the name before, but I cannot place it.”
“It is an evil drug,” Goral explained. “It causes one to become confused and susceptible to manipulation. You were under the influence of this drug when SunChaser rescued you after the assassination. You have been under its influence for some time.”
“Preposterous,” challenged Malafar. “I don’t use any drugs, especially ones that could affect my magic skills.”
“I didn’t say you took the drug,” continued Goral. “I said you were under its influence. It was administered to you while you were in the mage cells.”
“But that means,” Malafar began and stopped abruptly.
“Did you know that Alazar is now the Katana of Omunga?” asked Goral.
“Inconceivable,” growled Malafar. “He is the one who set me free.”