Chapter Fourteen—Organization

“All right,” Kanu said. “We have been waiting for some time, and we do not know how long this will take. We must get organized!”

He glanced over at Ali, who in a way, was the second person heading this quest, which surprised Shiro, since, as adventurers, he was one of the least among them.

But he has a sound mind for this.

Ali nodded. “Yes, of course. We must go about as if we belong to the stations we were assigned.”

Something came to Shiro, then. “Ali?”

He turned. “Yes?”

“You said you had the sultan present you with a sword. Will you not be recognized about the palace?”

“Ah, yes,” he chuckled, then scratched the back of his head. “Well, you see, the… ‘presentation’ was more of a—“

“What he means to say,” Razul interrupted, “is that he never actually saw the sultan.”

“What?” Shiro asked, surprised as he glanced between the two Bashur brothers.

“Ugh!” Ali growled.

“Is this true?”

“Yes!” Ali admitted. “So it is not a problem. And even had the fool handed me a sword personally, I doubt he would ever recognize my face.”

“Yes,” Kanu said. “Now you,” he pointed to Daro. “You are a slave.”

“Yes,” Daro rasped. “You cannot be seen wandering the halls without heavy things in your hands. I suggest that you head back outside the palace and maintain the carriages.”

“But he will be useless out there,” Ali complained. “We need his cat eyes.”

“For what?” Kanu asked.

Ali shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“If he is seen outside the corridors, he will cast suspicion upon us.”

“He is right,” Razul said. “Be gone, fur ball.”

“Hey,” Ali said. “Do not call my man a fur ball.”

“Why not?” Razul asked. “He’s a slave.”

“He’s my slave.”

“Whatever. Fine,” Razul said, waving his hand. “Be ready. We may need to make a quick escape.”

Naro looked to Ali for permission to carry out Razul’s order. “Go on,” Ali said with a nod to Naro. The cat eye bowed and strode out of the room without a word.

“You may continue to wait here,” Kanu said to Shiro. “You are our lady’s bodyguard. And you,” he indicated Razul, “are her bed servant.”

“What?!”

“Well,” Ali said with a chuckle. “You are pretty enough, Raz.”

Growling, Razul said nothing against the ploy, since it was just an act.

“And what of me?” Ali asked.

“Hmm,” Kanu said, stroking his chin.

“Why did we not decide this before?” Shiro asked.

“There was no time,” Kanu said. “Don’t you remember how quickly we had to leave?”

Shiro nodded. “I suppose so. Perhaps Ali should be Shai’na’s scribe.”

“No,” Kanu said. “Hahlia already has that duty, and it is in truth that she holds that position.”

“She can fight?” Shiro asked.

Kanu nodded.

“Then I can be her physician,” Ali said brightly.

“Are you a mage?” Kanu asked.

“Well no, but—“

“No, that won’t work.”

“Then,” Shiro said, “Ali must be her runner and courier.”

“Hmm,” Kanu said. “Usually a task left to me, but I suppose you are right, I have many other duties to attend to anyway.”

“All right,” Ali said. “That is easy enough.”

“Hmph!” Kanu scoffed. “Just wait.” He then snapped a bracelet off his wrist. “Here. Take this. You know what it does, I take it?”

Ali’s mouth dropped.

“What is it?” Shiro asked.

“It’s a messenger stone,” Ali said. “When Shai’na infuses her own with magic, this stone will flash.”

“Really?” Shiro asked. “I had heard of this before, but I did not know they were real.”

“In a world of magic,” Ali said, “never believe anything untrue.”

Kanu nodded.

The bracelet was cast in silver with a large plaque on the top that housed an incrusted sapphire stone. Ali snapped it onto his arm.

“Ha! It looks quite good on me, does it not?”

“Sure,” Razul said. “But look at mine.”

They turned and watched Razul lift his sleeve. He had a larger bracelet on his upper arm. The jewels there were incrusted in a grouping shaped as a diamond.

“Hmm,” Kanu noised. “You have a veritable fortune, bed servant.”

“I can’t believe this!” Ali said. “Where do you get such a thing? Are you stealing from the palace? Already?!”

“No,” Razul said.

“Are you that rich?” Shiro asked.

“Well?” Ali asked forcefully. “Tell us where you got that.”

“Later,” Kanu said. “The rest of you, do as your assigned duties entail. I will have the rest of our party positioned throughout the palace as they go about their own duties. Gorrah has a messenger stone as well. If we need him, he will bring the others. Each one of them is a master at their craft.”

Surprisingly, Kanu ended his statement with an encouraging wink of his eye.

“We just need the weapons,” Shiro said.

“And with that,” Kanu said. “We await the Black Cobra.”

Shiro sighed heavily. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Debaku to deliver the weapons, but he had to swim up a canal with an extremely heavy sack, and then drag the weapons across the lawn in the gardens and bring it up to Shai’na’s room. All without being seen or detected by the guards—of which there were many.

“What if he cannot?” Shiro asked.

“You only ask that because you are worried, Shiro,” Ali said. “Do not worry, my friend.” He put a hand on Shiro’s shoulder and grinned. “This will be easy, yes?”

Shiro raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kanu said. “If your friend cannot bring us the weapons, we can raid the lower barracks.”

Razul laughed.

“Yes,” Kanu said. “Normally I would have been quite cross with you, even if you are a superior adventurer to myself—but you did well, Razul in scouting out an alternate source of weapons for us.”

“Thank you, Master Kanu,” Razul said, then he bowed pompously. “As an obedient bed servant, I try to do my best.”

“Pffha!” Ali scoffed.

“But even without those weapons, we still have one good sword among us.”

“What?” Shiro asked, confused at Razul’s statement.

“He is talking about his camel-sized—“ Razul began, but he was cut off.

“Indeed,” Kanu interrupted. “Now, do not do anything stupid.” He looked at Razul. “Any of you. I must depart to be at my lady’s beck and call. If you should need me, infuse the stone I gave you.”

“With what?” Ali asked. “None of us can use magic.”

“Debaku can,” Kanu said.

“And he’s not here.”

“Then get him here,” Kanu said with finality, and left them in the sumptuously decorated chambers, shutting the door heavily behind him.

“Well…” Ali said with a shrug. “Who is up for a game of tiles?”