Chapter 6 (Part I): All's Fair in Love and War

Come one, come all to the East Central Caelia Tri-County Equine Entertainment and Crafts Festival in Gerault! Fun for the whole family, sponsored by Kerwyn Livestock Traders, Agricoal Biomancy Enterprises, and the Kingstown Lending Company!

-          Promotional flyer advertising the annual summer fair in Gerault.

Kaira and Vidi had ridden very nearly from dawn until late into the evening, each day, for ten days; ten days of riding at such a pace that it was a considerable work out, even for the rider.  They'd even ridden through rain storms that would have sent most riders looking for some sort of shelter. That rain had left the crumbling, decaying highway a muddy mess, and it took all the effort they could summon to offset the mud left by the storms. It sucked at and clung to the horse’s hooves with each step, wearying the animals and slowing the pace.

This morning, the evaporation of the glistening dew had made everything seem a little cooler, but barely an hour past dawn the invigorating chill had been replaced with humidity. It wasn’t too bad yet, but Kaira knew that it would be downright unpleasant by midday.   

Kaira urged her horse along at a brisk pace. She knew she was probably pushing their animals too hard, but her Gnoman communication device had stayed with Azraea, and without it she had no idea how fast things were unfolding. She imagined that the news of Defiance’s liberation could zip right to the dragon’s ear and set her off like a mule that’d been slapped, or it might slowly leech its way across the country to her, only to be received with the apathy and laziness she used to associate with the dragon. Having seen Syliva’s temper tantrum in the marketplace days ago, though, she now imagined that ‘slapped-mule’ would be more accurate. She could imagine the dragon racing overhead any moment.

She was trapped in that worrying frame of mind when they crossed paths with her nascent romantic interest, Thrakaduhl.

“Kairumina!” he shouted from up ahead and came riding down the road at full gallop.

His shout snapped her out of her mental sinkhole and, for the time being, brought her back to the reality of the present. She urged her horse to pick up its pace and hurry forward to meet him. After months of imprisonment, he’d been a mess when they rescued him from his father; a muscular, perfectly symmetrical mess, but a mess nonetheless. Cleaned up and adorned with colorful paint, he’d looked much better the next day when he’d engaged her in ritual combat to ‘avenge’ his father’s death by initiating her into their clan. 
Now he looked thumb-bitingly good. The weather was warm enough that he’d evidently decided his brown tunic was too warm; not only had he packed the garment away, he’d undone the laces on his loose white undershirt. Obviously she’d seen his glistening, emerald green bare chest before but it was one of those things that just hadn’t gotten old yet.     

They reached out to each other and clasped arms when they met. Thrakaduhl’s grip was strong, his large hand easily wrapping around her slender arm, but after a brief squeeze he loosened it and affectionately slid his fingers down the inside of her forearm to meet her hand. The way it made her feel did nothing to alleviate her confusion over the kiss Azraea had given her when she left Kingstown with Vidi. That confusion aside, Kaira was relieved to see him. 
“I’ve been in the dark for over a week now,” Kaira said, “Please tell me there isn’t any bad news?”

Thrakaduhl was amazingly perceptive when it came to the concerns of others. He had a sense of empathy that Kaira didn’t think she could ever match, “Azraea is fine,” he said, immediately targeting the focus of her concern, “Though she constantly calls in to ask if you’ve shown up yet.”

“And Ochsner?”

“I see less of her than I’d like,” Thrakaduhl said, “but she seems oddly happy. I reckon she’s about as anxious as a fox caught in a henhouse, but she either thrives on stress or she really enjoys playing with twenty ton phallic objects that can level a building from two miles away.”

“The ballpipe works?”

“They tested it two days ago. I spent yesterday helping old man Clasky raise a new barn.”

“They targeted some poor old guy’s barn?” that seemed pretty cold for Ochsner.

“Targeting isn’t really something they can do yet,” Thrakaduhl said, “One might say the old building was smote down by the hand of fate, just as much as by the arms of dwarves.”

“Well, that’s something we’re going to have to work on…”

Vidi, who had continued his slower pace, finally caught up to them, “Is there an estimated time of arrival for the dragon?”

“No,” Thrakaduhl said, “In fact she’s become remarkably difficult to dislodge from her perch. According to Vinny she’s become involved in politics, of all things, and seems to be enjoying that so much that she’s ignoring our little insurrection out here in the east.”

“Any ideas how to motivate her?” Vidi asked.

“I reckon we ought to aim to make our insurrection a bit less little,” Thrakaduhl smiled at Kaira, “That’s why I’m so far out of Defiance. There’s rebellion that needs doing.”

Vidi had orders to return to Defiance, and running off for improvisational heroics wouldn’t have been acceptable, so he continued his ride on down the highway as Thrakaduhl led Kaira back to a side road they’d just passed.

“I’d hoped I’d meet you,” Thrakaduhl said, “but I didn’t think I’d be so lucky.”

“Do you mean this morning? Or in life in general?” Kaira asked.

Thrakaduhl simply smiled, “How is your horse fairing?”

“Probably not up for anything too dramatic,” she said honestly, “Lolila here has been strong, but she could use a vacation.”

“Well, by good fortune, I may have the means to give her some rest,” Thrakaduhl said, “Provided she doesn’t mind meeting some new friends.”

“Why, Thrakaduhl da Tharka, your rebellion doesn’t entail horse thievery now, does it?”

“I would prefer we call it equine liberation. Though the nobility of our endeavor lies chiefly in whom we’re thieving from, not in the pretty words we use.”

“Oh, do tell.”

“Lionel Kerwyn,” Thrakaduhl said, “Owns a ranch just outside Gerault, to the south of here. Lionel has been Sheriff of Gerault for over fifteen years, after inheriting the position from his father.”

“His family must run quite an election campaign.”

“Given his family’s reputation as thieves, murderers, and rapists, I would have to think there’s more to it than that.”

“How bad?”

“Gerault has good grazing land, so his isn’t the only ranch. Has lots of cattle, some oxen, and the Kingdom’s best horses. There are people there whose families have been breeding and training horses for hundreds of years. Kerwyn’s family has the best horses of all, because they forcibly trade with the other ranches.”

“Forcibly trade?”

“The Kerwyns 'trade' their slowest, weakest, mangiest horses in exchange for their neighbor’s fastest, strongest, finest horses. Needless to say, it’s not a favorable deal for their neighbors, but the Kerwyns back it up with the authority granted by Lionel’s office, and the violence of his mercenaries.”

“The man has mercenaries? Our back country less-than-a-gentleman has hired soldiers?”

“He has some local sell outs, but mostly he’s protected by lackeys he’s hired from outside and deputized.”

“And the highway guard?”

“Oh, I reckon that title Lionel’s paid for comes with some perks,” Thrakaduhl said, “But even if jurisdiction and authority aren’t issues, I imagine they would be reluctant to tackle the sort of force that Lionel has at his beckon call.”      

“But we will?”

“Oh, while I figure the best solution to Gerault’s problems would be to take the sonuvabitch head on, we’re a little short on time, so I think we’ll have to rein in our ambitions.”

“So that's why we're stealing his horses.”

Thrakaduhl nodded, “I haven’t seen his books, obviously, but my guess is that a big portion of his wealth is tied up in those animals.”

“So his empire is built on those horses. Yank that foundation out from under him and it collapses.”

“That would be the idea,” Thrakaduhl said.

“You can’t possibly steal all of his horses, though,” Kaira said, “Maybe kill them, but round them up and run off with them? With just the two of us?”

“No, but we can steal his best horses. Doing that might be enough to cut into his mercenaries’ paychecks, and if they abandon him, he might not be able to maintain his grip on Gerault.”

Thrakaduhl’s decision to pursue this minor quest was not completely random. Gerault was currently hosting a week long horse show, and Thrakaduhl was certain the Kerwyn’s used the opportunity to ‘talent scout’ for the next set of horses they’d be forcibly purchasing. Kaira thought there might be more to it than that, though. If the Kerwyns’ finances were more complex and diversified than Thrakaduhl imagined, then the horse show would be a fine opportunity to network, make some deals, and show off the family’s public assets to some shady investors. Under-the-table business was not Kaira’s forte, of course, but she’d learned more than a bit from her parents.

Either way, the horse show would be a fine place to spread their rebellion. At the very least there’d be a great many locals present to see their oppressor humiliated and, if they took Lionel Kerwyn down a peg in front of some of his partners, it might seriously compromise his off-the-books business. Most importantly, the stunt would show that what started in Defiance was spreading, and that would rub Syliva's scales the wrong way, especially if the dragon was serious about involving herself in the kingdom’s politics.
That was assuming, of course, that they succeeded.