A front of storm clouds was coming in from the sea, lighting dancing in their charcoal-coloured depths. Everyone in the meeting room could see it despite the swaying palms in the way.
The wind blew in salty sea air that mixed with the smell of freshly poured wine and caused the candles in the paper lanterns swinging from the ceiling to flicker.
Without having to say a word, Rak Balt Ralok's wives closed all the doors and windows, plunging the already dark room into greater darkness, the dim light casting shadows over drawn faces. From his position at the head of the table, Rak could see all of them.
A deep throaty chuckle came from further down the table. The only smiling face belonged to Pretto Manta.
"Come now, everyone, we are about to receive rain. Is that not a great blessing? Despite the storm, I see this as a good omen."
Rak found himself grabbing onto that small thread of hope the Manta Clan's head dangled in front of them all. He needed everything he could get.
He glanced at Salasa, noting the weariness in the Onaga matriarch's eyes. Her less than jovial expression was a sign that things had deteriorated since they'd last met. That made this meeting even more important.
The heads of all Three clans had come tonight with a handful of their closest and most trusted advisors, though Rak was one short and he didn't have the benefit of Lias to take his secret notes for these meetings so he would have to pay special attention and rely on the collective memory of his wives to fill any gaps in his own.
"Shall we just get into it then?" Rak asked the room. Nobody made any obvious affirmative gestures, but he felt their desire to just get the meeting over and done with or at least stop stalling and give them the bad news.
Rak sighed and lifted a sheet of paper off the table, read a few things to refresh his mind then spoke. "So, believe it or not, I do have some good news. Our delegation made it to the homeland and they've already made contact with the government regarding our situation. As of this report, they've just pleaded our case."
"See?" Pretto lifted his glass as if in salute and laughed. "It told you it was a good omen."
Rak couldn't help but grin a little. The old ray's positive attitude was infectious. "I suppose that is good, but I'm not done. Maximius has confirmed the situation over there, at least as it currently stands. He's still learning details but here is the gist of it.
"Our people, that is the Octarians, have indeed returned to the surface, or are at least in the process of doing so. But it's not because they achieved peace with Calachora, it's that Calachora doesn't exist anymore."
People twitched around the table in surprise, some were utterly slack jawed. Calachora had been a wealthy nation with the largest trade network and merchant fleet in the world. How could such a nation suddenly disappear?
"I almost didn't believe it myself," he admitted. "But it's true. The Octarian Empire, Calachora, and Perlugen, have all merged into one country called the Soren Ascendancy. I'm sure at least a few of you heard of it by now."
A few heads nodded, including one of his own advisors, Smeern, who slightly raised his hand to speak.
"I do know of it. Recently, some product came through the port marked as being from there. We always make a point of noting whenever product comes in from a place we don't usually hear about. Mostly old magazines though, stuff you'd see in convenience stores and such, but there was an awful lot of it."
"Can we wait before we go on too many tangents?" Salasa pleaded. She looked unusually tense.
"I only point it out because it's unusual, Matriarch. We've heard only rumours and whispers about it before now but suddenly we're getting a large shipment of their product. I'd be surprised if we didn't see more of it soon."
Rak rubbed his chin. "We'll get back to that. The important detail is that the Octarian people have a queen now and she does have a strong desire to help us and says she'll to do whatever she can to do that."
People exhaled around the table. Apparently some had been holding their breaths. Salasa wasn't so easily relaxed, however.
"I'm sensing a caveat."
Rak nodded. "Since she's a new monarch, I would have to swear fealty to her, per Octarian protocol and tradition. Apparently, people there are worried I might try to undermine her and take the throne for my own family or otherwise start a conflict."
"They sound paranoid," Sicro muttered.
"Cautious," Pretto said. "It is not an unwarranted concern. This queen sounds as though her rule is quite fragile."
Rak nodded. "Like I said, she's new. According to the report, she's been on the throne less than a year, but, as the report puts it, she has a 'borderline fanatical' support base among the people. Apparently, the people of the homeland practically kiss the ground she treads upon. Maxi assures me that this means that if she decides to help us then the people will do everything in their power to make it happen."
"So what's the catch?" Salasa asked, somewhat repeating her earlier question. "Having to swear fealty doesn't sound all that bad and you were probably prepared to do that anyway, weren't you?"
Rak pressed his lips together. "Unfortunately, that only applies to us octolings. Internationally, she can make the claim that we are her people and thus any attack against us would be a declaration of war on the Ascendancy, but that doesn't apply to the Manta or Onaga clans."
People amidst Salasa and Pretto's sections had dark expressions and one of the mantas leaned forward as if to utter a protest, but Pretto put his fin on him and gently pushed him back.
"I take it then that there is still something that can be done about this, yes? You wouldn't have called us hear to talk about it if there wasn't some way the same protection could be extended to the rest of us."
Rak smiled thinly, glad Pretto had realized it right away. "That's what Maximinus is looking into right now. Apparently, the queen isn't actually the one in charge, she only rules the Octarian people. She's subordinate to the Empress, who rules the entire Ascendancy. The queen got them an audience with her so they'll be able to plead with her directly, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Manta and Onaga clan would be expected to make a similar oath of loyalty."
Pretto nodded. "I see you have already made up your mind then."
"Not completely. I want to see how this Empress treats you first. Maximinus seems to have a good opinion of the queen but apparently this Empress is the mastermind behind the shattering of the Grand Consortium and apparently she used an army of children to do it."
He shook his head, hardly believing the words coming out of his own mouth. The idea of forming an army of children and throwing them into a desperate battle sounded truly monstrous. They were the actions of a cruel tyrant of myth whose name would be invoked to frighten unruly children. Honestly, it sounded like the sort story their enemies would spread, so he was skeptical about it's validity. Even so, the sheer absurdity of it meant there had to be some truth to the story.
"I'm not pledging anything until I know exactly to whom and what I'd be pledging. The queen is one thing, but she's subordinate to the Empress."
"Sounds like a pretty ugly rumour," Sicro remarked. "Though it seems a bit farfetched, I think what we need to know is whether or not joining this… Ascendancy is a better choice than every other one we have."
Rak scratched the side of his head. "Unfortunately, Maximinus says he's experienced so much whiplash just being there that he hasn't been able to figure out exactly what they're like. He just sees Octarian buildings going up, people happy, but there is a kind of 'uncomfortable urgency in the air', he says."
"I think we can all relate to that," Salasa said sourly. "It sounds like we may inherit their problems if we join."
"That would only be fair," Pretto remarked, folding his fins close to his chest. "Are we not asking them to take on our own problems? We want their power and influence to save us from other countries, which means they might be brought into conflict with them."
"And there's no guarantee they'll be able to do anything even if we do join." Salasa shook her head, dragging her hands over her face. Now Rak was sure something was plaguing her, something significant. He decided to wrap up his report.
"Maximinus says he'll be sending more information in a few days time. The real problem is that he's only able to get these reports to us in a fairly roundabout way, which adds delay. Not ideal when we need to make a decision relatively soon. Have any of you noticed anything we should be aware of?"
Salasa lifted her head and exhaled slowly, calming herself. "Well, we have noticed some unusual activity around the land port recently. Apparently somebody stole one of Black Steel's landships. They've upped security since then and we can see all three of the larger companies getting ready for something big."
Rak frowned. "Like what?"
"Based on what I've been told, it sounds like an excavation, a big one. I don't know where but it's definitely bigger than anything we've seen them do before. It's possible they'll be competing for it but I'm willing to bet they're more likely cooperating, for now, to get it before anyone else does."
Sicro rubbed his hands nervously, the multitude of possible consequences no doubt running through his head like a speeding train. "Do we know who stole the landship? They're going to want it back."
"Well they haven't gotten it back yet. They've been sending out scouting parties to look for it. As for who stole it, I can only assume it was some group of Outlanders that finally got pushed too far. Nobody in the city would have done it. What would they do with a landship?"
Smeern replied, "I'm almost afraid to find out, but if it keeps the Scrap Corporations distracted for a while, I can't complain. A few days might make all the difference with how they've been pushing us lately."
Thunder rumbled overhead and the sizzling sound of falling rain started to whisper into the room.
"It is coming soon," Pretto agreed, his tone deadly serious. "One way or another, it's going to happen soon. We had best decide even sooner how far we are willing to go to save ourselves and Splatsville. We may have to decide between the lesser demon."
"Alright, a little more, turn it a little more."
Neo grunted, twisting with all her might until, mercifully, the air filter came loose, popping out of its mounting and spilling a pile of sand at her feet.
Grunting, the inkling kicked her feet free and then overturned the cylindrical filter to dump its sandy contents onto the ground three stories below.
"Anything else you see in there?"
She barely heard Tahlm reply over the sound of the blasting air nearby. The dark clouds overhead didn't help things either. If they didn't get the landship moving again soon and it actually rained then they might never get out.
"Tiyes, got another one!"
Tiyes was standing on the rear deck. He was the source of the blasting air as he used the landship's onboard air compressor to clean out the air filters.
Neo leaned down and handed Tiyes the air filter, he handing her back the one he'd cleaned. "Best I can do I think. That was a lot of dust."
That might be the biggest understatement Neo had ever heard in her life.
It had taken them a while to realize that the Precursor building had completely exploded. The explosion had been so massive and sent so much sand into the air that the wind had carried it and almost buried them. Before the sand had even passed them Frye had been forced to shut the engines down to prevent them from ingesting too much dust. Now, their landship was covered in a thick layer of the stuff while they tried to make it operational again.
Frye was using a broom to sweep off the windows and cameras, Big Man was unclogging some of the other filters, including the one for the air conditioning unit. Shiver was inside cleaning what sand managed to get into the interior, sweeping it out the door.
Lil' Buddy was sweeping off the roof lights with his tail and shoving sand off the roof whenever he felt like it.
Neo went back to put the filter in. Having Tahlm in a position to help her line it up was helpful.
"Okay, that's number three done. Just leaves one more."
She looked around them, noting how much darker it was getting. The approaching clouds roiled and grumbled. They were dark too, with lightening arcing across their fat bellies.
"I hope we get finished soon," Tahlm said. "I'd hate to get caught out in a rainstorm."
"We need to get onto harder ground," Neo said, searching the horizon. "Nothing around here but there's got to be something in range."
"Have you been caught in a rainstorm before?"
"No, but I've heard stories. You always hear stories of landships that got swept away in flash floods or sinking in the sand until it completely disappears and becomes a home to sand eels."
Tahlm swallowed. "You think sand eels will appear?"
"They usually do when it rains. It forces a lot of their usual prey out of hiding and stuff."
Tahlm shuddered. "I don't want that to include me. At my size even – ah!"
Tahlm jumped and nearly fell off the air intake box. Lil' Buddy, apparently bored with his own chores, tilted his head at him, wondering what could possibly be wrong. Neo fought to contain a fit of giggles.
"Aww, you don't have to worry about Lil' Buddy." She rubbed the salmonid's back and patted his head. "He's harmless. Here, let me show you."
Neo picked the tiny octoling up between her thumb and index finger then gently put him on Lil' Buddy's back. "There, see? You can ride his back and he won't mind."
Tahlm appeared frozen in place unsure of what to do. Lil' Buddy was looking at him with one of his bulging eyeballs. It was just too funny.
"Neo, I'm done!"
Tiyes call forced Neo to refocus and she quickly grabbed the newly cleaned filter. She got lucky with her positioning and didn't need Tahlm's help that time.
"Okay, guess we're all done here. We'd better get inside. Come on, Buddy." She belatedly realized that Tahlm was still astride the Salmonid's back so when she called him Lil' Buddy hopped down to the roof from the air box, eliciting a surprised yelp from the tiny octoling, then rapidly slithered across the roof and hopped down the roof hatch.
Neo couldn't help but laugh then followed Tahlm's scream down the ladder.
Two hours after they began moving again, the rain came down upon the scorched ground of the Splatlands, creating puddles and streams that forced many animals to the surface, only to be devoured by predators. Had the rain not been so thick, Tahlm wondered if he would have been able to see wild eels coming up from below the desert to feast.
The rain was coming down in sheets, turning the surface of the dunes into a thick slurry as newly deposited sand was swept off the older, more densely packed layers beneath. It smashed down on the roof and splashed against the windows, the sound occasionally split by the crash of thunder and a flash of lightning that illuminated the desert around them.
They had parked the landship on a piece of high ground, a small rock formation that had been marked on the map. Neo had remarked that the map was surprisingly detailed this far out. Tahlm wondered if that was an advantage of the map being electronic.
He sat on a corner of the map table, tempted to turn it on and investigate but he didn't want to disturb his companions.
Big Man lounged on the bench seat, worn out, Tiyes had his nose buried in another of his books, the pair of spheres nestled in the rack next to him. Neo sat on the bench on the opposite side of the room from Big Man. Lil' Buddy slept on her lap as she gently stroked his back, her eyes looking somewhere far away, or perhaps she was just listening to the rain.
Shiver and Frye were in the galley making dinner. Neo seemed to make a point of not going in and helping them, planting herself there as if it were some kind of statement. What that statement was, he wasn't entirely sure.
She said she didn't want to be cooped up at home. If he remembered one of their earlier conversations right, it seemed as though she saw being a wife as being trapped or stuck somewhere. Was that the norm in Crater's Edge? That didn't make any sense to him, especially since inklings were typically matriarchal.
Before he had a chance to contemplate it further, Frye called them to the galley for dinner.
Big Man sat up and yawned, stretching his huge fins out, making him look like a big, grey kite for a moment. His deep yawn jarred Tiyes from his reading. Neo gently pushed Lil' Buddy off of her, causing him to grumble, so she picked him back up and placed him where she'd been sitting, where he happily curled up and settled down to resume his sleep.
First time I've seen a salmonid more tired than hungry, Tahlm thought.
Big Man graciously offered Tahlm a lift and they moved into the next room aft to the galley where a large table was set for all of them. The smell was pleasant but nothing spectacular. That wasn't surprising though since this landship wouldn't have been stocked for anything but a short-term work crew.
"Thanks for making dinner," Tahlm said as they all sat down. He had been given a spot in the centre of the table.
Frye gave him a smile. "We didn't have much to work with but at least it's something edible."
"We're down to about two days of food though," Shiver pointed out. "After that it's the emergency rations."
The food was something like oatmeal with a few spices and crackers added. Tahlm's bowl had been fashioned from a bottle cap, so it was a little crude, but it served perfectly well.
"Based on what I've researched," Tiyes said, "I would be surprised if the next location is more than a day out. There would be too big a chance we would miss it otherwise."
"I just hope this one doesn't blow up," Big Man shuddered. "I'm glad I stayed with the ship."
"It was pretty exciting though," Neo chirped. "It's the kind of thing you only read about in books but we're living it! It's the kind of adventure I've always wanted to have!"
Frye chuckled at that. "Are you an adrenaline junkie?"
Neo grinned and stuck her chest out proudly. "I'm an adventurer. Braving danger, exploring ancient ruins, fighting evil, that's the kind of girl I am."
Shiver arched an eyebrow in her direction and asked, "Do you expect evil to be wherever you go?"
Neo's mantle flashed red. "No, but it's here for sure. We're fighting evil doing this little treasure hunt, aren't we?"
Shiver nodded, though more in acknowledgement than agreement and returned her gaze to her bowl. "Of course."
Tiyes shook his head, his mantle turning a variety of dark reds and browns.
"You can't just fight them, Neo. This isn't like the stories where the hero always wins. If you make one wrong step they'll get you, and there won't be anybody able to rescue you."
Neo huffed, her mantle reddening. "I can take care of myself."
"Like you took care of yourself when those motor sleds were chasing us? If Shiver, Frye, and Big Man had been hostile, do you think you would have been able to save yourself?"
Neo fixed him with a hard stare. "You mean if I would have been able to save you, right?"
Tiyes face flushed and his eyes flashed with anger. "You never would have found the shrine if it wasn't for me and if I hadn't been cautious, we might have gotten caught by those motor sleds before we even reached the defile, and that's just the stuff that's happened lately. The only reason your parents don't have you chained inside your house is because I'm around to keep an eye on you and stop you from getting yourself killed!"
Tahlm shrank as the two inklings traded barbs, wishing he could be almost anywhere else at the moment. Big Man looked worried enough he was unable to eat. Frye's eyes were alight, apparently enjoying the drama, while Shiver acted indifferent.
"You're the one who has to worry about getting killed," Neo snapped back. "The only reason you don't get beat up as much is because I'm there to save your funnel. You can't hunt, you're too weak to work as a scrapper, and you cower like a little baby every time someone throws so much as a nasty look in your direction. Do you have any idea how many people made fun of me for being your friend?"
"I could say the same about you," Tiyes bit back. "You act all spoiled and entitled, thinking yourself as some big hero when you haven't done a cursed thing, you don't even help your mom with simple chores that everyone else does. You didn't even lift a finger to help Shiver and Frye with dinner."
"Oh, so because I'm a girl I'm expected to make dinner for you, is that it? You weren't the one doing the physical work climbing up and down the ship replacing the filters. As a guy, isn't that what you should've been doing?"
"I was doing the work I was capable of doing."
"Yeah, because you're the only guy in Crater's Edge who can't even maintain a motor sled. Don't gripe to me about doing chores you–."
"That's enough." Shiver made a chopping motion with her hand across the table, cutting off their argument. She gave them both a hard look before she drew her hand back and spoke again. "We all have to work together here. Clearly you two have some unresolved feelings but now is not the time to work them out. We're on a mission here."
Tiye's head drooped. Neo scowled and stood, picking up her bowl and marched with it back to the map room.
Shiver made a disappointed shake of her head and resumed her meal.
Tahlm looked at Tiyes, seeing the misery in his eyes, the embarrassed flush of his face, and the darkness of his expression. Neo's words must have finally sunk in and cut him. It didn't sound like his life had been at all pleasant.
Big Man gave him a pat on the back. "Don't worry, not everyone fits the mould. If you want to come back with us to Splatsville, I can think of a few places you could get a job once we get to the treasure."
Tiyes glanced up at him, his eyes cautiously hopeful. "Do you think so?"
"I know so. My family runs the museum and I'm sure they could find someone like you useful. Don't need to know how to fix motor sleds in the city either."
"How did that even happen though?" Frye asked, fixing the inkling boy with her own hard stare. "I didn't think parents in Crater's Edge would ever allow a son to be raised not knowing how to do that kind of stuff."
Tiyes looked back down at his bowl, as if his next words floated inside it.
"I've been weak since I was young. I didn't even get these spectacles until I was ten. Having eyes that could only see close, reading was one of the few things I could do on my own. All that made me an easy target for the other kids growing up. I couldn't fight and I couldn't do much physical work but I was smart. My parents got me all kinds of books over the years from Splatsville, hoping that I would be smart enough to somehow make a living doing something where brainpower was what counted most, but they didn't know what that could be."
Shiver nodded, smiling appreciatively. "Your parents were planning for your future, saw that you didn't fit, but instead of rejecting you or trying to pound a square peg into a round hole, decided to actually try and prepare you for a life you could actually live. Quite smart, and an unexpected way of thinking for people from Crater's Edge."
"You're not kidding," Tiyes said bitterly. "A lot of people talk bad about my parents for the way they raised me. I just want to make them proud or at least be able to look after myself so they don't worry. If I could get a job in the city I think that would make them happy. I'd like to be able to look after them when they got old too. I'm sure I could help them somehow."
Tahlm could relate. He too was obviously weaker than everyone else and had grown up being highly dependant on others. Honestly, thinking about it, this little adventure had been oddly uplifting. He had been the one to get the information about the map in the first place, not to mention some of the other information about Black Steel's plans. He'd helped hijack the landship too. He hadn't done much since then, admittedly, but they had thought it worthwhile to bring him along. His mother never would have allowed it. She was always trying to keep him out of harm's way, no matter how innocuous something might seem.
That last thought caused him to think. Neo had been the opposite in her treatment of him, letting things happen and believing he'd turn out alright. She hadn't exactly tried to stop the salmonid from jumping all the way to the deck from the landship's roof. In fact, she hadn't been the least bit delicate with him at all. Had his mothers seen how she'd treated him he was fairly certain they would have broken something in her. Even Shiver, who was effectively his boss, had, more than not, treated him with fragile care. So why didn't she? She didn't give him the impression that she didn't care about his well being. Did she just have a different impression of him from everyone else? Because she was an inkling or was it something other than that?
Tahlm finished his bowl and set it down. "Thank you very much for the meal. If you'll excuse me."
He walked across the table to where Neo had sat and hopped onto the bench then to the floor, running out of the galley towards the map room.
Tahlm found Neo sitting on the same bench she had earlier. She was feeding Lil' Buddy pieces of soaked crackers as he rested with his head against her thigh.
Tahlm climbed up the padded wall to reach the bench and walked along until he was close to to her. She lazily tilted her head to look at him then looked back ahead.
"What?" She asked tartly.
"Just wanted to talk, I guess." Tahlm's voice wavered a little. He still didn't know Neo and he hadn't interacted with inklings enough to fully understand how to deal with them. With their societies so different, some of the norms he was used to wouldn't apply. Did she expect him to act with deference? How much? Tiyes certainly didn't give her any, but they knew each other, so he couldn't use that as a basis.
Neo turned her head away, her mantle turning red. "I don't feel like talking."
Tahlm forced himself to keep calm and consider his next words more carefully. "Would you mind letting me talk? You don't have to, I just wanted to thank you."
She looked at him again, confusion etching her face. "Thank me?"
"I told you before that I knew how you felt being trapped in a box, right? My mothers have always treated me like something that would break if the wind hit me in the wrong way, never letting me go out unless it was under some very strict rules and I always had to remain on my mother's person. I've always known some of it was by necessity but I always hated being so dependant."
Neo shivered, jostling the contents of her bowl. "I can't even imagine that. I think I would go nuts."
"I think I definitely started to. Everyone's always treated me like some kind of precious, glass ornament. You're the only one who treated me more like you'd treat anyone else. I finally felt like something of a normal person. I'm not really sure how else I can explain it."
Neo just stared at him for several heart cycles then reached over and picked him up. She deposited him on the backrest of the bench, close to her head and smiled faintly. He took that to mean he had worked his way past her outer defences.
"So, you like adventures, right? It sounded like you've had a lot."
Neo's mantle flashed grey, then showed some spots of warm, sunny, orange. "Not as much as I should've, but, yeah, I've had a few. This is definitely my biggest adventure so far though."
"Me too. I've really only had one or two real adventures before this."
Neo lifted her chin. "What kind of adventures? I never read any books about adventures from a tiny person before."
Tahlm shrugged his tentacles and lightly rubbed the side of his head, feeling oddly embarrassed. "Maybe one day I'll write one. I never thought someone would be interested in seeing what the world looks like from my perspective."
"Well I am." Neo's mantle throbbed with more warm colours, a smile touching her lips. "So tell me about 'em."
Tahlm smiled back. "I guess I can tell you, as long as you keep it secret for now." And as Tahlm began to tell his tale, he suddenly felt good seeing Neo genuinely interested, seeing someone take him seriously while also treating him with respect.
When all this was over he hoped he would be able to keep seeing her. Maybe they would go on another adventure together. Given that they didn't know what would be waiting for them in the vault, anything was possible.
Nrowall found himself looking out his office window yet again. It was definitely a habit by now. He wondered why he did it. Maybe it was the view he typically saw. Back in the Urchin Kingdom, the land was so mountainous that one's view was often limited to just a few kilometres. In the Splatlands, one could see vast expanses of land all the way to the horizon.
Despite the late hour he had remained there, wanting to keep a tight hold on Black Steel's operations and not feeling confident enough to venture home in this downpour.
He had been in Splatsville for eight years and he had never seen it rain like this for so long. It had begun as little more than a drizzle, but now rain came down relentlessly, blown about by a merciless wind, as if the clouds were there to punish the world below. He could appreciate that.
The city had never been designed to handle so much rain water, leaving most of its drainage beyond capacity, turning every street into a fast flowing river. Every flash of lightning to the north of the city illuminated the ground just enough to let him see the torrents spilling out of the city and sweeping through the slums, carrying pieces of shack and helpless people out into the desert. It was a pitiful sight, but nobody could have done anything about it. Even money had its limits. Nature could be manipulated, held back, even made sick, but it could not be bribed.
Nrowell tore his gaze away from the stormy view and met his security chief's eye.
"They're still moving?"
Joowan nodded crisply. "Our trackers managed to find them and some high ground before the storm hit. They looked like they found something then they left in quite a hurry. Then there was a huge explosion that blocked their signal for a while until all the sand settled down. That far out though we'll need to use helicopters to resupply them."
"Do whatever you have to." Nrowall wasn't concerned about the logistics of keeping track of the hijackers. "As long as we know when and where they find the vault."
He dug his hands into his jacket pockets and glanced out the window again. Lightning flashed, lighting up the distant rock formations to the north. The thunder was barely a murmur but the time it reached them. The storm's wrath seemed to be abating somewhat.
"Sir," Joowan ventured, "have you heard anything about the Ascendancy and what their intentions might be?"
Nrowell rubbed his chin and looked back at Joowan. The other urchin's face betrayed just a hint of anxiousness. Was he that concerned about the Ascendancy or was it something else?
"I have, actually. It's nothing overt or even out of the ordinary, but I have been informed that two of their ships are heading for the Sando Islands. Calachora often sent ships there to keep an eye on the trade routes through that area, but it's less than a week's travel from there to Splatsville."
"Coast guard?"
"Supposedly. The easiest way for us to get new supplies and people is by sea so that's what they would want to cut us off from first."
"But surely they can't do something that blatant," Joowan protested. "It would be considered a hostile act by the Kingdom, Lanc, and Birgus."
"Doesn't mean they won't do it," Nrowell said grimly. "Oh, it will be a big political mess alright, and I do expect the Ascendancy to get an absolute beating in the international community, but their leadership is young and stupid, and naive, blind to how the real world works. But they are also bold and ambitious, which makes them dangerous and hard to predict."
Joowan's eye half closed. "You think the clans are playing both sides?"
"What choice do they have? They can't outwit us but with the Ascendancy they might overpower us. That's all they need their help for. Once that's out of the way, the Big Three can clean up whatever's left, and after the Ascendancy is forced to leave by the Council of Nations, they'll be free to run all of Splatsville as they see fit once again, and that will make it much more difficult for anyone to get back in."
Joowan bit his lip, glancing left and right as if looking for phantoms. "So, our time table is as long as it takes those ships to get here?"
"I think we can safely assume so. They'll probably stop at the Sando Islands for a day or two before they make their way here but I have little doubt that they are coming. It may just be posturing – a bluff of sorts, but I'm inclined to believe otherwise."
Joowan took another step towards the desk and asked the obvious question, "how long do we have?"
Nrowall looked at him grimly. "Little more than a week. They'll reach the Sando Islands in less than three days. I imagine they'll be in a hurry once they're start towards us, so let's call it another four days from there."
"Are they waiting for something once they get to Sando?"
Nrowall turned back around, staring out into the black. A bolt of lightning broke the sky like a crack in reality. The thunderclap seemed to shake the whole building.
"A good question. Probably for the Big Three to make their move." He removed his hands from his pockets and looked at Joowan squarely. "Maybe I should have another chat with our partners. Maybe if we act fast, we can keep the Ascendancy away."
Nrowall stood straighter. "Sir, I have another score of security personnel coming on the next ship. They'll be here in three days."
"Good, we'll need them."
The rain outside began to dissipate, coming down in staccato drops against the windows instead of a constant roar.
"It's time we changed the rules of this little game we've been playing anyway. Rather, I think we should change the game entirely. It's so much easier to win against opponents who don't know the rules."
Joowan smiled thinly. "It is, Sir. Would you like me to propose some plans as part of your discussions?"
It was Nrowell's turn to smile. Dependable employees really were worth the money. "Yes, I think that is a good idea. Let's show the people of Splatsville what a real turf war looks like."
Author's Notes:
Neo and Tiyes have a little bit of tension going on between them. Frye's just entertained by the drama while Shiver feels too much like she's home.
The Clan Heads clearly have some things to worry about. How would you react if someone used an army of children to fight a war?