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Chapter 1 Part Two-Rafiq

Rafiq was startled from his sleep as he heard his door opening. He jumped from his bed and pulled his blanket down onto the floor with him as a slim man came into his room.

Rafiq back up against his window. His room was small; it had just enough space for a clothes press, a bed, a small table, and trunk that was tucked under his bed.

He silently cursed himself as he curled his hands into fists, since he didn't have any daggers near him. He crouched forward, expecting to be attacked, but when the figure moved into the small amount of moonlight that crept its way through his window, Rafiq saw a man with knowing hazel eyes. Unlike the Duani, these eyes reflected wisdom beyond his years, not just a understanding of everything going on and what was about to happen. The man held a dagger in one hand and a curious expression under his light brown beard.

"I take it you must be Rafiq?" The man spoke with a small lilt in his accent.

"Yes," Rafiq replied. "And you are?"

"I'm The Duani's friend, Harun." He smiled and slipped his dagger into a sheath on his arm.

"How do I know you're speaking the truth, Harun?" Rafiq watched the man for any sign of movement.

Harun straightened his tan body and smoothed his shirt. He tucked his hand into the pockets of his breeches and shrugged. "Either you trust me or you don't. Either way, I'm leaving in a few minutes. You can pack and follow me to begin this little jaunt, or you can stand there looking simple minded."

The man walked over to the edge of the bed closest to the door and leaned his hip against it. "If I were you, I would hurry up and pack."

Rafiq's brow creased in thought. Finally he gave in and pulled the trunk out from under his bed. He opened the latch on it and moved around the few things inside before going over to his clothespress and pulling out several articles of clothing, tucking them neatly into the trunk. Finally Rafiq set a couple knives into the trunk before pulling on a clean shirt to go with his breeches he already wore and stashed two more knives up his sleeves.

Rafiq looked over at Harun and straightened his back while pulling the small trunk up onto his shoulder in the same movement. "Well, where are we off to, Harun?"

"You'll see," the man said and Rafiq let the man lead them out of the room and down the hall so that they could leave the lodgings that were on the border of Downwind District, and Flowergarden District of two men walked through the city, going through The Honeypot to lose any followers.

The men stayed silent as they walked over land and through the local wilderness. They had made enough twists and turns in the dark that by the time the sun was finally rising, Rafiq was lost. He couldn't remember which way was Rajmuat, let alone the closest path to the sea.

Finally, Rafiq saw where they were headed and he felt dead on his feet. They had walked more than half the night and most the morning before they got to their destination.

"Moriji Cove?" Rafiq panted and looked at the man who, despite looking to be in his mid-thirties and getting almost no sleep, was stepping confidently through the brush.

"Yes," Harun replied and wiped the small beads of sweat off his head with the back of his hand as they descended into the cove and spotted a tiny ship rocking back and forth a little way out at sea.

Rafiq resettled his trunk on his shoulders. His face was bright red from exertion, but he didn't want to tell Harun that he was happy about almost being done with this little trek.

"I should have warned you to pack light, huh?" Harun asked over his shoulder.

"You could have offered to carry my trunk for a while at least."

Harun pursed his lips for a moment in thought. "No, you're younger than me."

The men walked on deck and saw that that only one other man was there. The man on board only had undyed linen knee length breeches on and they were stained from salt. He looked like he was in his early twenties and the lopsided grin on his face showed a missing tooth in the corner of his mouth. His light gray eyes looked at them joyfully under sandy blond hair that fell into his face.

He was also perched on the boom of the ship. "Ahoy, there lads!" The joyful young man slipped down off the wooden beam and landed lightly on the balls of his feet on deck. "Harun, ye ol' landloper, who is tha'?"

"This is the boy I needed back in Laryuat," Harun told the young man and pulled his breeches up past his knees before wading into the water. The man on deck laughed at Harun but he still threw a ladder down.

"We can't leave 'til tonight when the tides pick up," the man told Harun. "If ye'd let me pick ye up in Rajmuat, instead of here we wouldn't need the tides."

"I told you Moriji for a reason. Hurry up and get up here. Oh curse it." Harun looked over at the other man. "Do you have a rope for his trunk, Skip?"

Skip rolled his eyes and jumped over the edge of the deck. In no time he had Rafiq's trunk on one shoulder and was hurrying Rafiq up the rope ladder ahead of him.

"Skip, this is Rafiq," Harun told the sailor. "Rafiq, Skip here is a little more into the paid sailing."

"I like t' dip my toes in piracy," Skip told Rafiq. "But don't worry 'bout that. I sailed with a right fine crew back in Tortall with the Navy. They never did like me though."

^_^

Skip sailed out and in no time he had Rafiq pulling cords and ducking under the boom. All the while, Skip kept the helm nice and straight. The journey was fast and Harun finally explained that they were headed to Laryuat, the northern port on the Malubesang Island.

An island that was under complete rebel control.

When the boat docked, Skip left them on the well guarded dock and Rafiq hoisted his trunk back up onto his shoulder as his steps clicked across the wooden planks.

Harun looked around then looked back at Rafiq. "Here, let me take that for you." Harun took Rafiq's trunk from his shoulder and slid it onto his own.

"Thanks."

"Sorry about this, but orders are orders," Harun told him, and before Rafiq could question him, he felt a sting in his neck. He felt his head swim and he turned in time to see Harun slipping a small wooden dart into his belt buckle before darkness engulfed him.

^_^

"What? Where am I? Who--" Rafiq stopped talking and looked around the small room where he sat on a bed. He held his head with a hand and noticed that Harun stood over him with another man. Rafiq blinked several times trying to clear his blurry vision and regain his senses.

"Sorry, Rafiq. I was told to drug you as soon as we docked. This is Dekoyu, Dek. He's who take orders from. He helped me get you in here." Harun tucked his hands into his pockets allowing Rafiq to take everything in.

Rafiq looked at the broad man that stood next to Harun. The man was broad shouldered and had dark brown hair that was tied back in a short horsetail. His face was shaved and he had a scowl etched across his tanned face. Dek nodded at him and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Nice to meet you, Dek. I'm Rafiq." He extended his hand, which Dek grasped.

"Now that you're awake, you're going to be reporting to Ronzu, he's in charge of one of our raiding squads, which you'll be part of." Harun helped Rafiq stand up and steadying him so he could regain his balance.

Rafiq looked around and saw that he was lying in one bed out of a row of them. They were all in a small barracks by the looks of the rows of bed, each had a blanket and a pillow set on it. A few of the bed had a trunk under it, much like Rafiq's, while others sported a rucksack leaning against the foot of the bed, or nothing at all.

"Come on, Raf," Dek called as his loud footsteps crossed the room to the door. "We have to report to Ron."

Rafiq followed the other two men out into a small army camp. Men were calling out orders in the distance. Women were bent over huge pots that sat over a large outdoor fire, and buildings were in all stages of being erected.

The three of them crossed through the camp an entered a large meeting room where nine other men sat. One man was at the head of the table looking at a large map that was hanging from the wall behind him. Rafiq guessed that this must be Ronzu.

"Ron." Dek spoke to the standing man, proving Rafiq's guess correct. "Here is your new recruit. Rafiq. Originally from Rajmuat, picked up by our man Harun here."

Ronzu turned dark black eyes on Rafiq and all but glared at him. "Sit down," he barked. "We don't have time to play games here, we have a briefing to go over."

Rafiq learned quickly that it was best not to ask Ronzu questions; it was better to memorize every word he said as he said it. He had no patience. Within the day the squad of men were to head out onto the coast and raid a small group of Queen Dovasary's army. Rafiq also learned how different the opinions on this island were compared to Rajmuat. There, 'Queen Dove' was considered to be 'the one who is promised'. Here, Queen Dove was simply a jumped up raka dog who was shoved on the throne to keep the other dogs on their leashes.

Rafiq and his squad were working with Harun to raid supplies, while Harun went and found the information they needed from Rajmuat. The men attacked quickly, striking all of the men's supplies in the middle of the night. Ronzu hissed at them to move faster while Harun slipped into the tent closest to them.

Rafiq watched and shook his head at the older man; they wouldn't hide their best kept secrets on the edges of their camp. All their documents and paperwork would be in the center, the least likely place to be discovered. Rafiq made the decision to take matters in his own hands and slipped off into the shadows of the other tents.

As he crossed them he looked for one that would be considered some kind of commanders tent. That was when he almost ran right into the tent that had the crest of the front flap.

Rafiq slid inside and looked around, allowing his eyes to adjust. A desk was set up on the opposite wall of the tent, and the bed where the sleeping commander slept was off to his left with a small table next to him that had a candle that was about to burn out flickering. This was too easy for him.

Rafiq started to go through the papers of the desk, skimming over each letter and report before stuffing them into his shirt. He found several reports that were destined for the Duani herself. Rafiq smiled wryly when he saw these, there was just something about knowing what was happening before she did that sent a rush through his veins.

He took everything he needed and was leaving when he heard the alarm sound in the distance. men started yelling, and he heard Harun screaming for Ronzu to hurry.

The commander inside the tent woke with a yelp and when he saw Rafiq standing half in, half out of his tent, the commander through an oil lamp and it crashed open on his desk before the candle was thrown, too. The entire desk and its contents went up in flames that were hungrily licking at the walls to the tent as the commander rushed towards Rafiq.

Rafiq knew that in a battle against a sword, he was no match. He turned to run but saw a pile of ropes lying beside the tent and jumped over them. The commander didn't see the rope and fell to the ground. Rafiq was about to keep going but he saw that the commander had hit his head on a tent spike.

Seizing the moment, Rafiq reached down and pulled the commander up across his shoulders and jogged away to meet with the rest of the squad.

^_^

Harun had been injured in the raid; he had been the one to set off the alarm. Ronzu had yelled at the man as he sat there in the infirmary, only half conscious from the lack of blood. Ronzu whirled on the rest of the squad, and glared at them all until he looked at Rafiq.

"You're the only one that did anything right!" The man made even a compliment sound like Rafiq was being reprimanded. "You did his job for him."

Dek had been leaning in the corner listening the whole time, but when Ronzu said that it was Rafiq, he stepped forward, shoving his bulk off the wall. "This is the one that got all that paperwork and got the commander as prisoner?" Ronzu and Rafiq both nodded.

Dek looked Rafiq over like he was seeing him for the first time, then he glared at Ronzu. "Ron, find a new raider. Raf, you work for me now. Come on," Dek told the young man and left the building.

"Harun told me you knew what you were doing, I didn't believe him," Dek admitted. "But I should have trusted him. You'll be taking his place for a while. You get reports on everything going on around here so you know what to look for but other than that you will be in a lot of danger, understood.

Rafiq kept his step quick to keep up with Dek's long strides as they walked to a small room across the camp. "Yes sir."

"Good, you're going to be going back to Rajmuat, right under the Duani's nose. I want you to find everything about Rajmuat's defenses, information, allies, you name it. I've heard rumors that they're calling to Tortall for help, I want that confirmed or rejected right away." Dek started to pull a sack out form under the desk in the room. He pushed papers into it and a small pouch that jingled like it had money in it. He looked back up Rafiq. "If the Whisperman and The Duani have their heads together, I might as well report to them myself and explain our plans."

"I'll do all I can, sir."

"Then you'll do even more. You shouldn't have a moment of down time. You will find out troop movements and who is in charge of every squad. Their numbers. Their strengths. It will be hard but it's harder getting someone into Rajmuat as a spy in the first place. You were already there. As far as any needs to concern themselves, you're just coming back. Skip, is leaving with another man soon. Hurry up, someone will show you your way back to the dock."

Rafiq was shocked that this man actually knew how to speak instead of just grunt in response, but the man shoved the sack into his hand and out the door. He waved a messenger over and told him to take Rafiq to the docks and Skip's boat.

"Hurry up or you'll miss him!" were Dek's departing words to Rafiq as he and the messenger jogged down a path.

Skip greeted the tired man with a grin and a laugh before throwing a rope off deck, and they were sailing again. This time, Skip didn't make Rafiq help, but he let the young man sleep away the dark rings of exhaustion from under his eyes and rest his weary body. Skip told them that they would have a longer ride this time since they were actually going to Rajmuat under the story of him being a letter carrier.

Rafiq stayed down below deck sleeping most the time and didn't even realize they had docked until Skip came and woke him up. As Rafiq climbed through the city, he read some of the papers in his pack. one of them was instruction to get employment at the palace and a note to give to man that would help him.

Two days later, he was a royal grain clerk's assistant in the palace. He was sent out to run important messages or to oversee the shipments of grain that came into the harbor. He was leaving one of these jobs when he saw the large assembly of men, all dressed in uniform. They had been in one of the larger courtyards and were now leaving. He looked on their chests on saw the crown and sword in silver on their blue tunics.

Tortall has arrived, and it wasn't their normal army. They'd sent the King's Own.

Rafiq was starting to back out of the courtyard through the small doorway on the side for servants when he ran into one of the soldiers. He whipped around and was shocked to see the blue tunic on a woman.

Her bright blue eyes were taking in the sight of him as quickly as he was looking at her blonde hair, and tall frame.

"I'm Rafiq," he suddenly blurted out, startled by his own sudden introduction.

She gave him a small smile in return. "Lael," she told him and offered her hand to him.

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