A Sinner's Eden

Chapter 155 - EVO

***Tirnanog, Thich Fortress City***

***Magnus***

“This is so horrible. I can't believe I allowed myself to be talked into this,” Seeker Linda complained while she and her partner, Elijah, steered the saherna herd towards Thich City. She gagged and waved her hand, trying to get rid of the smell that permeated the room in the summer heat. Her heightened senses took offence at the undeniable remains of a hard-fought battle.

I could only thank Gaia for having only a good, old ‘Version 1.0’ olfactory organ, not considering the slight improvements that came with my initial injections to allow me to survive on Tirnanog. I smelled the stench too and couldn’t wait to get out of here.

We had given our best to clean up after taking the caravan, but we could only do so much in an area with limited water supplies. The forcibly rushed nature of our attack had turned messy, as was to be expected. A battle tended to leave behind dead bodies with all the blood and other nastiness which came with it.

“I am sure you will survive,” Elijah encouraged his partner while he looked out of the window with a wary expression. Above us hovered an airship patrol of seven Thich ships, which had been dispatched for our protection as soon as we staged a desperate escape from an Aerie raiding party.

Truth be told, there hadn’t been much to it from our perspective. Just a few shots from the 12mm which was mounted on the back of every saherna to take care of flying critters. Of course, the other side shot back and even killed one of the smaller saherna which had been a predetermined sacrifice to make the whole affair more believable.

Soon after, the Thich ships arrived and ‘heroically’ drove off our attackers while we watched, surprised it had worked. Well, I felt a little bit bad for the sacrificed saherna, which was one of the few animals in this world which didn’t attack humans on sight, but I had already done much worse to achieve my goals.

Elijah wasn’t overly fond of our plan, but after lots of explanations, his people had agreed to help with the impersonation of their renegade brethren. The various Caravaner families had see-sawed back and forth a lot in their private meetings. The question was what to do with the survivors of the Southike family.

On one hand, they were Caravaners and the families valued this fact greatly. After all, if the Caravaners didn’t hold together with fervour, they would be nothing more than some trading groups commuting between the great clan settlements. Hardly worth mentioning in one sentence with the great clans.

On the other hand, the great treaty between the clans had given them the trading privileges they had enjoyed for so long under the assumption that they would ‘blow the whistle’ if they ever learned that one of the clans was up to no good. It was what their entire lifestyle was built upon and the Southikes had kicked these foundations with their feet when they collaborated with Thich and Vier.

In the end, this was the deciding factor to declare the Southikes a renegade family. The surviving adults were to be cast aside to seek their survival by foot and without their saherna. For most people, this would be a certain death sentence, but if the Southikes were still worthy of the name Caravaner, then they would be able to traverse the wilderness and maybe join one of the smaller settlements.

Those too young to take care of themselves or to be sent on such a journey were taken in as refugees and split among Aerie, Jeng, and Hochberg. Either way, they were never going to be Caravaners or carry the name of one of the families.

It was a harsh ruling, but probably one of the milder judgements they could have come up with.

Elijah voiced his utter surprise when he explained the decision to me. As he and many other Caravaners saw it, executing the entire family was up to serious debate. They had weakened the Caravaner’s standing among the rest of the clans for years to come. Given the circumstances, it was questionable whether the Southikes’ actions hadn’t already caused irreparable damage.

The Caravaners had enjoyed trust, exclusive trading rights, and other privileges among the settlements of the great clans. Like being allowed a winter shelter wherever they went, or permanent trading posts with protections that came close to diplomatic immunity.

Southike had proven to the great clans that no matter the amount of preferential treatment, corruption was not impossible. So it stood to question whether the Caravaners would still enjoy their autonomy once everything was said and done.

While Aerie, Hochberg, and Jeng were still upholding their pact with the Caravaner families and treating them no differently, those who thought ahead knew that the current balance of power would be a thing of the past once the war with Thich was over, no matter the outcome. The three clans would certainly re-evaluate the treaty and make changes, possibly ending the Caravaner’s lifestyle as they were used to. Many liked not to talk about such things, but despite their perceived power, the families depended a lot on the great clan settlements as safe havens. Maybe this was the exact reason for Southike’s fall, with their trading route being caught between two powers who had no scruple to pressure them.

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“It was certainly a factor,” Elijah admitted when I asked the big fellow about it. “With their trading route being stuck between powers which were working together, there was a lot of pressure on them. While we can give the saherna suggestions of where to go, they cannot truly be steered. They are commuting animals who get used to their routes and changing them takes months if not years of subtle influencing. It is not like the Southikes could have decided to suddenly travel to Jeng or change their route without anyone noticing.”

He shrugged and shook his head. “But that is only a part of the problem. They could have sent messengers to the other families. Instead, they allowed themselves to be slowly influenced step by step. At least that is what we could pick up from the survivors. The leaders, those who should be in the know, didn’t survive the battle.”

“If many of the Thich warriors were under psychic influence, then why would it be any different with the Southikes?” I suggested. “It may explain why their leadership fought to the last.”

Elijah only gave me a nod.

Gunnar, now in the very convincing guise of a Southike Caravaner entered the bridge. “Fellows, things are about to get real. The outlook reported that there is a group of those bat-riders coming in. She thinks we are up for an inspection.”

I sighed and adjusted the linen cloth and leather armour I was wearing, feeling strangely naked after I had gotten so used to the iobeetle armour which had become almost like a second skin to me. Not using the armour weave also left my filaments strangely itchy.

Alas, it couldn’t be helped. Aerie armour weave and treemonae filaments were highly suspicious features, as nobody but clan Aerie made wide use of them. There were some oddball travellers here and there who managed to get the mutation, but not enough to draw no attention. At the very least, openly displaying my filaments would mark me as someone who had been to Mount Aerie, and that was the kind of attention we could do without.

The patrol of ten bats landed on our lead saherna. Each was carrying two Thich warriors in full armour and they quickly spread out once their mounts settled down.

It was my first time seeing one of the bats up close and they were ugly things. Stinky too, though I had to amend my earlier judgement. On a second, closer look, their features were less bat-like and had more of a dog in them.

Linda and Elijah took care of talking to the Thich leader, a gaunt woman with a no-nonsense expression and a militaristic gait. Funnily, as Caravaners they were the best for impersonating Caravaners.

While Linda spoke with the Thich, Gunnar and I carefully observed the remaining members of the patrol. They were spreading out, questioning the other disguised operatives who joined our operation.

Seeing an opportunity, Gunnar stepped closer and nudged me.

I followed his gaze and saw two of the Thich following one of our men to the cargo area in the back. Falling in behind him, Gunnar and I followed the small group until we caught up to them.

“Show me the manifest,” one of the Thich demanded right as we arrived. She was a stout, grumpy-looking woman.

Our Caravaner brought out a bloodied booklet. “Some of this is hard to read. The previous warehouse keeper was killed during the attack. Lost many friends that day. Your guys saved our asses there.”

The Thich grunted and took the booklet, checking it against a small list of her own while her comrade stood by, glaring at us. He was an average-looking guy with roughly the same build as Gunnar.

“We only need to make sure the salt delivery from Vier is there. The city stocks have to be replenished before the expected siege. You might want to get your caravan as far out of dodge as possible before the enemy’s main fleet arrives.”

“Is the situation so dire?” Gunnar asked.

“Not dire, but expected, if the commanders are to be believed,” the Thich grunted and gestured for her comrade. “Check warehouse seven. It should be full.”

Gunnar gestured down the corridor and eagerly rushed ahead. “It’s this way.”

He and the Caravaner vanished with the second Thich inside one of the doors leading to the indicated warehouse.

Before the grumpy Thich could follow, I addressed her with a question. “Do you have a suggestion where the caravan should head next? We cannot exactly run off into the wilderness to avoid the airships.”

The Thich regarded me for a long moment before she answered. “I’ll be honest here. That might be the best thing you can do. Command is assuring us that we will win, but I know a few people in the fleet and none of them thinks this won’t be a fucking mess once everything is over. If your people fuck off into the wilderness you will have a hard time. If you stay at Thich City you will be caught up in the crossfire.”

“So no good choices there,” I summed up.

“Afraid not.” She shook her head before she turned down the corridor. “Raja, get your slow ass going! What does it take so long to check whether the salt is there or not.”

I threw a nervous glance over at the two remaining energy signatures inside the warehouse. Just a few more moments.

Following the Thich, I intentionally tripped over my own feet and face-planted as spectacularly and loudly as possible. “Fuck Gaia, damn my clumsiness!”

The woman turned around and glared at me with an incredulous expression.

“Ah, don’t worry!” I quickly got back up to my feet. “I bet they just opened one of the barrels or something.”

The Thich tilted her head and turned around, storming off to the warehouse just as her companion and the Caravaner stepped outside.

“What took you so long? And where is the other guy?” the Thich questioned.

‘Raja’, cleared his throat. “Ah, just had them open a few of the containers to make sure. The other one stayed behind to lose them up again.”

The grumpy Thich grunted and checked something on her list. “You knew we should be quick about this. Don’t take so long next time.”

“We should be diligent too,” Raja countered and gave me a wink while the grumpy one had her eyes on her list. “Just means we have to fly faster on the way back.”

The Thich growled and handed the manifesto back to the Caravaner before she stalked back the way we came, followed by Raja.

The Caravaner and I exchanged a meaningful glance before both of us looked back into the warehouse with a half-closed barrel and a cooling body inside it.

That had been a close one. If all of Gunnar’s plans had such a tight timetable, I had to wonder how he was still in business.