Free The Awakened Book Two by Jason Tesar Page B

the channel, following the southern coast of Tur’cen to the outpost.”
    “What then?” she asked.
    “There,” Thaddius continued, “we would make a temporary encampment for the slaves. I figured it would take several months for myself and a few of my men to travel to Orud and make arrangements to bring everyone safely and secretly into the city.”
    “Do you have any specific ideas about how you will accomplish this?”
    “I did. But that doesn’t seem to be the most immediate concern.”
    Maeryn looked out across the waters of the bay while choosing her words carefully. “Somehow, the present difficulty can be overcome. But I want to know how the ultimate goal of this venture will be accomplished. If that isn’t figured out, then none of this,” she said, pointing back to the cave entrance, “really even matters.”
    “Alright. The slave trade has slowed considerably in the past ten years, but there are still ships coming in from the east on a regular basis. If we could gain control of one ship, we could smuggle all of the slaves into Orud without any suspicion. The Orudan guard would be expecting a ship of slaves and that’s exactly what would arrive. But, in order to make that happen, I would have to travel to the Resistance headquarters in Orud .”
    “In Orud ?” Maeryn questioned, unsure if he spoke correctly.
    “Yes, hidden in plain sight. It’s right under the nose of the great Orudan Empire, in its capital city.”
    “And where exactly is it?” Maeryn asked, sensing Thaddius’ discomfort at the direction of the conversation. “I understand your hesitation to tell me, but I think I’ve earned it.”
    “In the temple of Equitus, the god of equality.”
    “How poetic,” Maeryn said with a smile.
    “Yes. And once there, I would have to convince our leader to make the arrangements, for he is the only one with the connections to accomplish such a task.”
    “That sounds impossible.”
    “Yes, well, you asked.”
    “Who is the Resistance leader?”
    Thaddius shook his head. “I’ve never met him. In fact, I don’t know anyone who has. He keeps his identity hidden even from his own followers. It’s safer that way.”
    “How…” Maeryn began, but Thaddius interrupted.
    “No more questions. We’ve got to figure out how to get all these people to the island outpost.”
    Maeryn bit her lip, frustrated at the abrupt end to the stream of useful information. “Well, the quickest way would be for you to take the remaining boats and half of the slaves, and then come back for the rest of us. Meanwhile, we would march north, making your return trip much shorter.”
    “Does this mean that you are volunteering to stay behind?”
    “As long as you leave me a few of your soldiers…yes.”
    Thaddius smiled. “You do realize that this process could take several weeks and with three trips across the channel, our risk of being spotted by an Orudan patrol increases threefold?”
    “Do we have any other choice?”
    “I suppose not. Then we’ll set out in the morning.”
    “Agreed,” Maeryn replied with confidence, though in reality, she had never been so scared in all her life.
     
     

Chapter 8
    The night passed at an agonizingly slow pace as Maeryn found it impossible to sleep with all that was on her mind. She ran the numbers in her head over and over. They had set out from Bastul with nearly five hundred slaves. With seventeen boats carrying ten people per boat, it will be three trips with or without the Resistance soldiers. Which means there’s no other way out of this situation. She had already told Thaddius that he should take the first group and that she would stay behind, but her mind wouldn’t stop trying to come up with a better solution.
    Sometime in the early morning, she awoke from a nightmare. She had been dreaming that she was underwater, her ankle tied to the ropes that connected their escape boats. She could see the Syvak warship beneath her, disappearing into the darkness