Legacy

Chapter 4 - Simple Traders

The meeting with the village elders had gone about as well as Kane had expected. They had talked about the same subjects so many times now that Kane felt as if his brain was going to melt. All the arguments had already been voiced, opinions long since weighed, measured, and discussed to death. No one had said anything new or had come up with a great new insight for a long time. Instead they covered the same ground over and over again, talking in circles.

Kane could feel the elders' frustration and had more than a fair share of his own. It was simple – until the prince reached his naming day and could be smuggled safely from the village to a new place to further his education and destiny, things would have to remain as they were. End of discussion.

Praxis was a dangerous foe and it reached too far and wide to merit any other response. It may make life difficult in the short term but things would be better in the long run. The endless arguing had done little to shift the point. Things would stay as they were. Some provisions would have to be made, as some had argued. New fields needed to be cleared if they were to be ready for people to begin building new homes next season.

Kane could see their point and could see no reason not develop the back woods or some of the low hills but that had proved unpopular with the youth movement. They wanted to expand around the village and along the river leading towards Three Lakes and the Imperial Hunting Lodge.

Just thinking of the last two hours was giving Kane a headache and it had nearly drummed out any thoughts of the new arrivals but he knew he couldn't afford to ignore them. So he made his way back to the market-place attempting to let his frustration drain away in the warm autumn air.

Kane had to plan his next move carefully. From their first meeting Falstis had seemed an ambitious trader and meddler out to further his own gains, while his wife Heather was disarming and as non-threatening as a person could be. But she also gave orders without a second thought and expected them to be obeyed. If they were agents of Praxis, what had they already gleaned from seemingly casual conversations with the villagers? A seemingly offhand comment could quickly prove disastrous if it led them to uncover a trace of the prince.

He had no choice but to rely on the people of the village remaining guarded in their conversations with strangers. Each and every one could be counted on, when all was said and done. They may have differing views but they were all loyal supporters of the empire. The village would not have existed if it was not for the empire and the joy the emperor had taken in hunting the great beasts that roamed the ancient woods. From the deadly razorback to the massive ursa with its thick pelt of brown fur and armoured hide, the more dangerous and challenging the prey, the more the emperor had enjoyed the hunt.

He would spend a month or two each year at the Imperial Hunting Lodge escaping the rigours of power and surrounded by a small army of Protectors and retainers. He was never one to be deprived of luxury. The lodge was large and grand with a great room that could seat a hundred people and decorated in ancient wood hewn from the forests. The walls were covered with trophies of kills or prized weapons. The last time Kane had set foot in the hall had been when old Demus Garius was still alive. The hall had been closed for years, the trophies still hanging in places of honour but now covered in a thick layer of dust. All but one – the wall behind the emperor's chair was blank – what had once hung there had been disposed of when the empire fell.

The people present in the village had grown up supporting that lifestyle. They had cooked the bread and roasted the meats; cleaned the rooms and tended the grounds. It was an hour's walk each way to the lodge through the forest, but they made it happily for the privilege of serving the emperor.

But there was another side to the lodge – whether it was Rebi's idea or Haggin's Kane was never sure – but the emperor had seen the value in it. A select few had been trained as scouts or runners in these very mountains; trained to live off the land and blend in with the world around them. They had been the eyes and ears of the emperor; hunters of not just wild beasts but of men who would threaten the safety of the empire.