Fourth Vector Ch. 08

"Jack! Come over here for a moment, please?"

Jack slid the bag off his shoulder, and it landed with an audible clank against the floor. "What do you need, Kat?"

She gestured back over to Barak's body. For the last few minutes, she'd be going through his pockets, pulling out just about everything that was left on his corpse. In a small pile on the floor were several personal effects, such as a compass, a coin purse, and a few documents. Kat grabbed the coin purse on the ground and shook loose a few coins into her hand. She handed one off to Jack.

"Does this mean anything to you?"

Jack looked the coin over. There were several markings around the front side of the coin, but it was a language he didn't recognize. The profile on the coin wasn't easily identifiable either.

"It's a foreign coin by the looks of it," said Jack. "But I don't recognize who would have issued it. Is it Sorellan?"

Kat shook her head. "Sorellan coins don't look anything like this. This coin came from one place only. Swabia."

"Swabia as in the Swabian Empire?" asked Jack.

Kat nodded. "That's the place. They're all Swabian." She spilled out the rest of the coins, all bearing the same likeness of the person on the front of the first coin. "This language isn't known to very many people but it's Old Swabian. They don't even speak it anymore but their coins all bear the same inscriptions."

"So Barak was being paid off by the Swabians," said Jack. "But why?"

"Perhaps this can shed some light on the subject," said Kat. She put the gold down and picked up one of the letters that had been concealed within the man's pocket. Jack grabbed the letter, and seeing it was in the common tongue, he began to read.

ATTN: BARAK

FIRST MINISTER OF EAST SORELLA

BRING THE GOLD TO THE APPOINTED TIME AND PLACE. A SUCCESSFUL DROP OF THE GOLD WILL EARN YOU A REWARD BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS.

DO NOT FAIL.

LORD REGAULFUS AVILA

LORD GOVERNOR OF CORMFELD

"This was the plan all along," said Jack. "Barak sold out his own people to the Swabians."

"We need to tell Heron," said Kat. "He needs to know about this right away."

Together, the two of them tracked down the Sorellan king as well as Elektra and Nikias and broke the news to them. Jack handed the letter over to Heron and let him read it in his entirety.

"So, he's not only a traitor to his king, but a traitor to his people as well. And now the Swabians are involved," said Heron with a disgusted look.

"Do you know this Lord Avila?" asked Jack. "Who is he?"

"I've only heard the name once, and that was in passing," said Heron as he shrugged. "Other than that, the name means nothing to me. Although, I have heard of Cormfeld. That's one of the Swabian islands."

"I've heard the name before," said Kat quietly.

"Who is he? What does the man stand to gain from interfering with Sorella?"

"Cormfeld is one of the closer Swabian islands to Sorella," said Kat with an agreeable nod from Heron. "This Lord Avila is a nasty man. He's been rising quickly in Swabia, and he has a vile reputation. I've heard that he has ambition. Perhaps he wants to be emperor someday."

"Is he related to the royal family of Swabia?" asked Jack. "Is that possible for him?"

Kat shook her head. "The Swabians don't have a royal family per se. The emperor is a position for the strongest lord who can attain it. Their culture rewards ambition and aggression, but likewise looks down upon weakness, especially in areas of authority. The short story is that any ambitious lord can kill the current emperor and take over the empire."

"That sounds a little chaotic," said Jack. "Is their society constantly at war with that many egos?"

Kat shrugged. "It can be chaotic at times when they are weak. However, when they have a strong emperor at the top who can keep in line the various lords, the Swabians are at their most dangerous. All that aggression gets channeled outward, with predictable results."

"That current emperor has been there for a long time," said Heron. "It seems he's finally decided on vengeance for the black eye we gave him all those years ago."

"Or it's possible that the emperor knows nothing of this, and this Lord Avila is doing his own bit of scheming. Anything is possible with the Swabians," said Kat.

"And if his plan would have succeeded, we would've been in serious trouble without the gold," said Heron. "With a good number of our people dead from the civil war and nothing to rebuild ourselves with, we would have been easy prey for the Swabians, and that's even taking into account the Sorellan fire."

"We should get back to your capitol as soon as possible," said Jack to Heron. "I'll radio to my ships to be on high alert for any nefarious activity from the Swabians. We may need to call your army back up. I imagine once this Lord Avila finds out we spoiled his plans, he may be inclined to act out in frustration."

"We need to move with all possible haste," said Kat. "This only means one thing to me—they are preparing for war."