Page 65 of The King of Koraha
“We should.”
“Najib can help you with all the preparations. Just tell him what you need. Also tell him to sell one of the small gemstone mosaics. He’ll know which one.” The King waved away her protest. “I need to start collecting coins regardless. Don’t worry, he’s been doing a fine job discreetly selling the other treasures.”
The King moved the water so they could leave. He opened the door and asked a guard to fetch him something to eat. Shyla used thenot herecommand as they followed the guard from the King’s suite. They ran into Najib almost immediately. The advisor had been waiting for them.
“You don’t look shriveled. How did it go?” Najib asked.
She told him what they’d discussed with the King.
“There might be a caravan heading to Apanji. You could go as passengers. It’s cheaper than hiring a guide and less…obvious. I’ll check. Go get some sleep, I’ll have everything ready by angle zero.”
Before Shyla collapsed onto the very nice sleeping cushion in the King’s guest quarters, she wrote a message to Gurice. She needed to be careful with the wording, giving her friend enough information without revealing any secrets in case someone else read the scroll.
When she finished, she rolled it up and sealed it. It would take seventy sun jumps for it to reach Zirdai. Then she guessed another three to five sun jumps for Gurice to get ready and find a caravan. Add another thirty sun jumps to reach Apanji from Zirdai, and it would be a total of a hundred and five sun jumps until Shyla and Rendor would be reunited with the Invisible Swords.
It would take Shyla and Rendor forty-eight sun jumps to reach Apanji. That would give them about fifty-seven sun jumps to assess the situation in Apanji before the Swords arrived, and another eleven sun jumps before the tax caravan arrived—more than enough time.
A mere half a sun jump into the trip, Shyla and Rendor realized being passengers in a caravan was worse than being guards. Sitting on a wagon and having nothing to do was beyond mind-numbing. After they found shelter for the apex, Shyla told the owner that they planned to walk and keep an eye out for trouble.
“I’ve enough guards. I can’t pay you,” Tahir said.
“That’s fine.” Shyla put a hand on Rendor, stopping him from commenting. With eighteen wagons and only four guards, Tahir really didn’t have enough. He also didn’t have any muscles accompanying them, preferring to hire them to unload and load goods at each city.
As for “keeping an eye out” for trouble, no one should know they were with Tahir’s caravan. Before they left Qulsary, Shyla had kept her head covered and they each had arrived at different times. They had been very careful that none of the King’s guards or staff knew where they were heading. Najib would spread the rumor they planned to return to Nintri.
For the next eight sun jumps, all was trouble free as expected. Unfortunately, on the ninth sun jump bandits ran out from behind a dune to attack the caravan.
Nine
Of course Tahir blamed Shyla and Rendor for the attack despite all their precautions to keep their destination hidden.
“Is that why you wanted to help guard?” Tahir asked as he brandished a curved knife. “You knew this was coming!”
The bandits streamed down from the dunes on both sides of the caravan. Shyla counted sixteen. They wore light orange cloaks, turbans, and black veils. The clothing didn’t exactly blend with the desert’s colors, but it didn’t stand out either. Shyla sought more bumps hiding under the sands but didn’t find any.
The quickest of the bandits slowed when they approached, probably spotting Rendor and the four guards with their swords drawn. Then the others caught up and they formed a circle around the caravan, which meant thieves and not murderers.
A man pushed through to the front and faced Tahir. “This is my road. You must pay a toll. Once paid, we’ll let you pass.”
“This is the King’s road. It’s free for everyone to use.” Tahir’s brave words didn’t match the tremble in his voice.
“The King’s not here, is he? We are. It’s my road now.”
“How much?” Tahir asked in defeat.
“Fifty. Two osees per person.”
“I have no coins,” Tahir cried. “I spent it all on merchandise. I can give you rugs and cushions or—”
“Coins. Or you can turn around and go back.”
Except they would never reach their last shelter before apex—the closest one was ahead. Shyla tried to catch the leader’s gaze, but his attention was on Tahir and Rendor.
Tahir turned to her with a panicked look. “Do you have coins?”
She did and so did Rendor, but they weren’t about to pay a toll on a free road. And something seemed…off. Meeting Tahir’s gaze, she read his emotions. Despite his body language and tone, he wasn’t scared. In fact, he’d anticipated the ambush.
The son of a sand demon was in league with the bandits! He wanted to scare his passengers into paying the outrageous toll. Instead of seven against sixteen with some help from the wagon drivers, it was all of them against Shyla and Rendor. Too many for her to influence at once.
