The Reader

Chapter Four - Ogai's Plot

Chapter Four.

Watching from the safety of a sheltered clifftop, Ogai observed the activity below. He saw the wagon enter the compound, noting the lax way the guards at the gate failed to check the driver's pass. He then watched it park before a low-roofed building that had a plume of smoke curling from its chimney. It was the only building with such a feature, and he deduced it, therefore, to be where the food was cooked. Useful information.

The rock was hot from being in the sun all day, but Ogai ignored the burn and leaned his palms against its smooth face. Intent black eyes raked over the landscape, storing the details he saw. The fort rested in a wide pass between where the Savar Mountains ended and the first of the Three Sisters began. These bare-faced buttes were believed to be where the triplet daughters of the Sky God landed after they committed suicide by flinging themselves from their kingdom in the clouds.

Nonsense of course.

Commotion from the Fort distracted Ogai from his reconnaissance, and he flicked his sharp gaze back to the towering walls. There appeared to be some sort of scuffle occurring inside. The soldiers on the battlements were frantically firing arrows at a wagon, which was being driven recklessly around in a wide circle. Upon closer inspection, Ogai realised it was not being driven, per se, but careening wildly out of control. Someone in the driver's seat was wrestling with a soldier in the blue tunic of a captain.

He saw the driver deliver a staggering blow to the attacker, then draw the soldier's sword with a slick schick that made Ogai shudder with eagerness. He wanted the driver to plunge the sword into the soldier, longed to see the tip emerging through the cloth on the man's back, stained red with blood.

But, much to his disappointment, the driver leapt up and, with a salute, dived through the air directly onto the back of a black horse. Much as he admired the skill by which such a maneuvre had been performed, Ogai still wished the driver had stabbed the captain. Escape was such a boring way to thwart someone.

His dissatisfaction was alleviated somewhat when the wagon crashed headlong into the cooking building, flinging the captain like a limp ragdoll into the wall. A chuckle rumbled up in his great bull-neck. Very amusing.

He turned his attention back to the plight of the woman, only to discover she had been wrestled off the horse and was being sat on by three soldiers By the way the soldiers were being thrown about, their attempts to hold her still seemed to be in vain. Ogai admired her spirit, she would make a useful ally once he controlled the world.

Now that the action was over, Ogai swiftly lost interest. He craned his head back to locate the sun and noted that there were only two hours of daylight left. A sinister smile crossed his great ugly face, twisting a deep scar in his left cheek. In two hours the Book would be his.

With a delighted chuckle he slipped back off the prow of rock and got to his feet. With a last look below, to where his destiny awaited him, Ogai turned and brushed aside the brittle twigs of a snarlberry bush, ignoring the bite of thorns. He revealed a narrow slit in the rock, barely wide enough for him to scuttle sideways through, and proceeded into it. A few scorpions crunched underfoot as he followed the twisting slit deep into the belly of the mountain.

It wasn't long before his nostrils caught the scent of unwashed humans and horse sweat, and the clink of chain mail and weapons came to his ears. The slit opened suddenly out into a deep ravine whose high, undulating walls burst straight upward from the sandy ground. A sliver of the late day sky was barely visible at the top, throwing scant light onto the troops gathered below.

Ogai stepped forward and was met by a short, stocky man in full battle gear. Weapons glinted dully from every corner of the soldier's body, a war axe here, a broadsword there, his helm laced with deep scars from vicious battles. Shrewd, cunning grey eyes appraised his leader.

"Well, my lord?" the soldier asked.

"We attack at sundown," Ogai replied.

A satisfied grin crossed the man's face and Ogai couldn't resist mirroring it. All the years of searching, of planning, had climaxed to this moment. The Book was so close that Ogai could taste it. Success was mere hours away, and once he had the Book he would rule the world.

Not long now.

Impatiently he checked the sky for streaks of gold, but it was stubbornly blue. A lazy cloud scudded over the gap, chasing the high winds to the north. The breeze didn't reach the bottom of the thin canyon, where the stench of men and beasts hung heavy in the air. The heat was oppressive, but that didn't matter. Nothing mattered. All the hardships he and his troops had suffered on their journey ceased to exist. The deaths, the injuries, the illnesses. Gone.

Ogai stepped toward where the men were lounging; they duly noted his approach by leaping to their feet and sinking onto one knee in a low bow. Ogai swept past them to where a small ledge jutted from the face of the cheer cliff wall and stepped up onto it, placing himself where all could see him. The men remained on their knees.

"Men," Ogai called out to them, his powerful, deep voice echoing through the confined space. "Ready your weapons, your horses, yourselves. For tonight we attack Fort Savar!"

The men cheered, a thunderous sound that pressed heavily into Ogai's ear-drums. He spread his arms regally in order to hush them; it wouldn't do for the fools guarding the Fort to discover where they were hiding. It wouldn't do at all. To take such a stronghold they would need the element of surprise.

"Tonight is the hour of our glory!" Ogai continued, dropping his arms back to his sides. His massive hands gripped the edges of his heavy maroon cloak, an unconscious habit. "Tonight we avenge the deaths of our comrades at the hand of the Reader all those years ago. Tonight we become heroes!"

More cheering, this time carefully controlled. Some men pumped the air with their fists; others drummed their spear-ends against the sand. The horses picketed at the head of the gully strained nervously against their tethers, eyes rolling wildly, mouths agape. The general atmosphere of the camp was one of eager anticipation.

Ogai stepped from the ledge and joined in the premature celebrations. A slap on a man's back here, a handshake there, he moved through the mass like a shark cutting through the sea. The soldier he had first encountered upon re-entering the gully fell into step beside him, weapons clinking dully.

"My lord," he said. "It will be an honour to serve alongside you tonight."

Ogai wrung another hand before turning to the captain. He fixed the man with as fond a gaze as a war-lord might give anyone.

"The honour will be mine, Ransyn," he replied. "You have been a good friend to me since we were children. When I rule the world you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams."

Ransyn licked his lips hungrily, no doubt imagining the riches soon to be bestowed upon him. Ogai clapped an affectionate hand to the captain's shoulder, then continued through the gully to where his horse waited. Another casual glance skywards revealed the first streak of gold from the setting sun and caused a satisfied smirk to cross his face.

Not long now.