Bazza'Jo

Chapter 17

Suddenly the air tightened around her as it had back in the tent city, and the voice of Megatta Brughar surrounded her. This time, nobody flinched, but instead kept jogging as their leader spoke to them.

"Bola, Gedron and Sayeed; east block with hunters. Joram and Veena; runners. All other formations will follow the south road to the target. Silence, my warriors, and we will not be seen."

Gedron waved to them and turned a sharp left. Two other groups did the same. Everyone else kept going. When they had run a short while and were out of sight of the bulk of the little army, Gedron dropped back between Kal and Raina and told them with a low voice:

"Looks like I was wrong - we'll get to see a little excitement after all, hey? We will keep to the rear, but it is on us that this raid hangs. The others will destroy the target, and it falls to us to be sure that the Keissarians do not harm them."

"What," Raina couldn't stop herself from asking, "What is the target?"

"I don't know," Gedron answered, "I have never been in to the Keissarian city. It's the center, they tell me. Where all their caravans go, and where they come from."

The storehouses, Raina thought. Where all the Baz was stored. The source of all their crops, their food, and their power. Her father's storehouses.

"This is the East Wood." Kal cut in before Gedron returned to his place at the head of their group. "Doesn't Megatta fear the brughar here?"

"We will not be seen." Gedron winked at them. "The Bazzaman takes care of that." He picked up his pace and jogged ahead. Kal bit his lip. Raina knew that one had to hurt. Her Uncle was helping these people conduct their war right under Kal's nose.

They emerged from the woods amidst Mr. Campbell's fields. They looked wildly different by night, from her current vantage as a Kreel woman assaulting the town. The calm, blue-green seedlings of the Ice crops were lined up like ants swarming the verge of the forest. In the distance she could make out the bazoil lamps lining the streets of the town, giving the whole area a reddish halo as if the town were on fire. The only sound was the rustle of the occasional breeze through the crops.

They ran straight into the heart of town, unheard and unseen. They passed Capt'n Galloway's, a public house, on the way, and though the doors were open and people came and went, no one saw them. No one even looked at them. They were silent because of careful footing, but Raina understood that they were unnoticed by virtue Bazza'Casting. This was Ibli's stealth on a massive scale. She couldn't believe her uncle could cloak all of them on his own, and from so far away too. It hinted at power she could barely get her head around.

Raina saw the storehouses ahead. They were the biggest buildings in town: six giant block-like warehouses filled from wall to wall, ceiling to ceiling with crates of Bazza'Jo, each decorated with the logo of the variety. A pretty but daunting brick wall topped with latticework surrounded the area, broken only by the giant wrought-iron gate and the large white house that served as the gatehouse. The wall was designed to keep thieves out, but also to hide the big, ugly buildings from sight. The wall was maybe ten feet high - not high enough, Raina now saw, to keep a strong, agile invader out. It would, on the other hand, have been difficult to get a crate of Bazza'Jo back out.

The three groups - two dozen people - spread out now and leaped up onto the walls. Every man and woman amongst them could, from a stand, jump up onto the ten-foot wall. Raina followed Kal to a spot and, when no one was looking, he helped her climb up onto the wall. Then he jumped up himself.

The six storehouses and the area around them were very well lit by high, bright bazoil lamps. Raina didn't see anyone in the complex, but she knew there was one guard who kept an eye on the area overnight. She couldn't see the rest of the Kreel who had left the tent city with them. She wondered if the Bazza'Casting made them invisible to her too.