Nautkia, and the South

[Sareth]

"Smugglers," Lillith whispered. "Maybe even the ones I was looking for." She continued to not look at anyone.

[Graybeard]

"You were looking for smugglers?" Sister Rose said. "Tell us more. This could be important."

[Sareth]

Lillith twitched, but remained in her downcast position of the wagon. Her voice, still quiet, began speaking into a monotone. "There's a group of half-elves like me here. They're from... up north. They've been here a while. They... help get things that are needed. Up north." She drew a breath with a shudder. "But now there's an elf here, and they need to get out. And they asked me to... to contact a smuggler group... that... that can be trusted... to... to get them... away... from..."

And suddenly she was clinging to Sister Rose, wailing like a child.

[Graybeard]

What do I do now? Sister Rose asked herself, then realized there was only one possible thing to do: she enfolded Lillith in the most comforting hug she could manage, and silently let the girl weep. Girl ... what an odd thought. Half elves mature slower than we do. This woman is probably close to my own age ... but it doesn't matter.

Another sudden thought struck her. This is probably what Kenny's people feel like all the time. Best not to examine that thought too closely ... or she'd be crying too. (Now why was Argus looking at them like that? Probably another thing best not thought about.)

She wasn't so overwhelmed with sympathy, however, that she couldn't think about the party's various problems and look for a solution. Lillith's half elves desperately needed a working vessel to escape the elves on. Father Egbert had arranged for a boat ... but they couldn't let him get on it. And Argus was under coercion to sink what sounded like that exact same boat. There must be some way of turning all of these things into a solution ...

... And then she had an idea. One that depended critically on getting the cooperation of ...

... Harker.

"Get these horses moving, fast," Rose told Brother Miguel, startling Lillith. "We're not going to have much time..."

[Drannin]

Argus suppressed a sigh. He really had no place there... at least Rose was being of comfort to her. But he was a bit surprised by the look in Rose's eyes. It was a strange mix of determination... and hesitation?

"You have a plan," he asked, sparing a glance at Lillith.

"Maybe," said Rose. "Do you think Harker will cooperate with us?"

Argus shrugged. "If I ask him, he will. What have you got?"

"I'll tell you in a bit..." Rose appeared to be thinking furiously. Argus decided to follow her lead. This town was clearly lousy with smugglers, and they had a hold on him, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Maybe she had figured a way out of this mess...

But what could Rose possibly want with Harker...?

***********************************************************************************************************************

"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU HAIRY LITTLE FREAK!!!"

A certain maid was having a devil of a time with Harker, who had judged her perfect for his latest 'masterpiece.' Seriously, where did those legs quit? Being repeatedly hit on the head with what appeared to be a mallet of some kind (Harker had no idea where the woman had gotten that) had no effect other than to make Harker change his offer slightly:

"So... how about posing naked with a rose bush instead?"

Pain.

"So... is that a yes?"

The continuing agony made Harker wonder if the woman truly wasn't interested.

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose reached a decision. Yes, that should work ... if they can just do it.

"Let me see that model you got," she said to Argus. He handed it over.

Rose nodded. "Now how realistic a full-scale mockup of this thing could you and Harker create between now and eight bells this afternoon? Or to put it a bit more bluntly: would it be realistic enough that, if you dropped a great big rock on it from the top of the cliff, it would produce some realistic-looking debris to float downstream?"

[Drannin]

Argus was floored. Weave that flows... brilliant... "As long as it was basically just the external shell... and we were working our butts off... then, yes, we could just about do it. It won't be easy... but I can do it." Argus' mind was already churning. Hell, he could just levitate some trees down to the river... or even the finished product! Moving the 'boat' would be no problem with a little elemental manipulation... yes, this could work...

Argus was already to the design phase.

[Graybeard]

"There's a lot to do, and not much time to do it in," Sister Rose explained. "We need the mockup of the boat for Argus to 'sink.' We also need to make sure the real boat stands off from Smuggler's Cove, which means connecting to Lucy Kankaniel somehow. Lillith, you need to get your people ready to go. I don't think it'll be hard to get the Kankaniels to take them; it's a paying gig, after all, and they should be grateful that we stopped the attack on their ship. And we need to find Egbert and keep him off the boat. We have about five hours to do all that."

Brother Miguel nodded and paused the wagon at the turnoff for the lane leading to the temple. "I think I see the plan. Argus, let's let you off here so that you can get started on the mockup. Lillith, can you drive this wagon? If so, why don't you take it back into town, gather up your friends and such belongings as they can carry, and bring them out here. Rose, that leaves us with the hard part. How are we going to get word to Lucy Kankaniel about what's going on?"

"I've been thinking about that ever since we got that second parrot," Rose answered. "The only way Bernie could have got the news about Kelso in time to get us that message was if there's a communications system around here somewhere. If we can use it, we can get word to this Commander Lauriel in Lorenzel and have him pass the word to the ship. I think I remember him from the Albigenish Incident. We'll have to move fast, but it's probably only an hour or so from Lorenzel to Smuggler's Cove by fast boat, so there should be enough time."

Miguel looked dubious. "Well, if you say so. We can work on that. But then, how are we going to find Egbert and intercept him?"

"Hey, one impossible problem at a time..."

[Drannin]

Argus hopped off and headed for the woods. "Get a hold of Harker and ask him to come find me, alright? If you need to kick him out a window... I'll understand." At that moment a shriek of outrage came from the direction of the temple. In the distance, a small furry shape could be seen running towards them at top speed. Close on its heels appeared to be a maid with a sharp implement in either hand, apparently in an all-consuming rage.

"Never mind."

[Graybeard]

"Well, Luminosita smiles sometimes," Brother Miguel said as he and Sister Rose left the abbot's residence. Sending word to Lucy Kankaniel had been easier than expected. Father Nestor had been entirely cooperative, and better, he had a surprisingly state-of-the-art crystal-ball communicator (smuggled in from Tsuiraku? probably) that talked directly to the military's less modern system. Getting word to Commander Lauriel had been a simple matter, and the Kankaniel fast boat was well enough known in Lorenzel -- they didn't want to guess why or how -- that Lauriel knew how to take it from there. Best of all, he had the discretion not to ask questions about the odd message he'd been given to pass along. Finally, somebody we can trust ... maybe, Miguel thought.

"Indeed he does," Rose said. "Now comes the hard part: we have to figure out where Egbert is hiding. Let's take a quick walk back to the river."

Once through the hedge (the ground in front of it had been churned up to the point of hiding any clues to Brother Kelso's death, Rose noted without the slightest bit of surprise), it took the pair only a few minutes to get the lay of the land. Rose's assessment the previous evening had been right: the only way down was the vertiginous trail down the cliff. Still, there had to be some other access to the inlet; contraband too large to be carried by one or two men would need to get moved from the landing into town somehow. "Want to go down there and see if there's a cart path?" Rose asked, hoping for a negative answer; that trail was nothing someone even slightly acrophobic wanted to be on.

"Not really," Miguel replied; he wasn't keen on heights either. "Still, I suppose we must ... wait a minute, what's that?"

Voices, several of them, were coming from the direction of a patch of disturbed ground fifty yards upstream. "Quick, hide in the hedge," Rose said, and the two made themselves as inconspicuous as possible -- just in time for a door to open where the disturbed earth was.

Three men rose to the surface, squinting at the light.

And one of them was short, squat, and dressed in the robes of the Veracian Church.