Westhaven by Rowan Erlking (best sci fi novels of all time TXT) 📕

This was the beginning of their lessons. Key met with the group every day after making swords and arrowheads or in between conferences and at meal times. When the other leaders of the camp found out that he was teaching any willing learner to read, most of them were first upset. But later most grew silent about their objections since Key insisted so passionately to teach everyone. Only the magician remained vocally angry with Key.

He followed Key from his smith shop to where they were going to meet again with the wizard and her three friends, grinding out over again why the common man should not be strained with reading. “It has been the tradition of our people to have the intellectuals read. The common man’s brain would be over taxed with such information. You’ll see. They’ll go mad.”

Stomping up the hill, Key had his fists clenched. “So, are you saying I’m crazy? I am just as much of the common man as they are.”

The magician moaned, shaking his head. “For the last time, you are not common. You are unusual.”

“My father was a smith,” Key said.

“A swordsmith,” the magician replied with bite. “There is a difference.”

“He couldn’t read,” Key snapped at him with a glare. They reached the top of the cliff, going straight into the cave. “Every Sky Child can read. Even the common ones.”

“They have a demon’s memory,” the magician said.

Key shook his head. “The brown-eyed’s can read. Their memory is the same as a human’s.”

“Your arguments are ridiculous, Key.” The magician rolled his eyes. “There is a reason some people can read and others cannot. The others’ minds simply cannot take it.”

Key rounded on him as if he wanted to smash the magician into the ground. He was certainly tall enough now to do it. The past month he had a growth spurt that surprised many around him. “That is a load of—”

“Key, we are waiting,” Sadena said. “Please sit down. We have much to discuss.”

Casting the magician a glare, Key closed his mouth and stomped to his seat around the table. All the maps of the surrounding areas and even the entire country of Westhaven itself were spread out on it. Sitting down, he hardly noticed the newcomers to their meeting. That is, not until Sadena the wizard introduced them with a gentle gesture. Before him, he noticed three men a woman, and a girl perhaps barely fourteen. They were dressed in clothing from Sundri, a coastal town north west of Calcumum. Mostly they wore a tan crinkled fabric of locally grown cotton with wool sweaters over them. The sweaters hung open to their calves, a woven print of brown and purple trimming it. Their faces were firm, solid, and too serious even for the usually grave Key. Their dark hair and somewhat paler skin gave the impression that they had seen too many cold winters and not enough springs.

“These five are my guests,” Sadena said, nodding to the rest. “This is Patriarch Solman Huro, his wife, Lady Renna, his aides, Perton Ibis and Kamfrey Gamon, and their wizard Lanona Loe.”

Everyone in the group bowed to them with a nod. Key watched the people from Sundri bow back. Then the leader of their group looked directly at Key and said to Sadena, “What is this boy doing here among your council?”

“I’ve seen his face somewhere,” Lady Renna, the woman, murmured, setting her finger to her mouth.

Sadena gave the patriarch a nod as Key squirmed, still glancing at the magician with whom his argument was not over. Sadena said, “He is our insight into the Sky Child mind. He used to be the property of General Gailert Winstrong. Key, if you please, show them the mark on your shoulder.”

Sighing, Key nodded to her and rose from his seat, rolling up his sleeve. He tucked it as far as it could go to show his branded and tattooed shoulder. The fivesome got a good look. The two aides stared hard at the mark, with the woman and the girl who then turned to look to the patriarch. The patriarch had a thin lipped-frown, his eyes narrowing. He then nodded.

“I see.” The patriarch from Sundri exhaled as he turned to Sadena. “Is that all he is here for?”

“I remember now,” Lady Renna said, gasping as she leaned forward to examine Key’s face more, her eyes trailing to his bandana. “He’s that wanted man. Ten thousand in silver for him.”

“I thought it was six thousand,” one of the aids whispered to the other, thinking more about the mark on Key’s shoulder.

Key sat hard into his seat, rolling his sleeve down with a huff.

Sadena chuckled. “Yes. He is that wanted man. And we want him here more than the silver in hand. General Gole knows that he is valuable.”

The patriarch of Sundri delivered her skeptical look as if he really doubted that.

“Now to business,” Sadena said. She nodded to the others. “Last time we discussed the possibility of putting in spies among the Sky Children. Edman had related the increasing suspicion among the slave watchers, and Luis had informed us of their growing presence in the central area. What have you discovered about General Gole’s troops in the Herra Hills?”

Luis, the swordsman of the threesome, stood up. He cleared his throat, weighing his words before speaking. “So far they have infiltrated the entire hill area. There is no going back for the Raiders as they had hoped.”

Those men from the Herra Hills slumped down, groaning. However, Key sat with an intent look, waiting for the rest of the report.

“The general is doing exactly what Key said he would, going from village to village to look for any insurgents while leaving a wake of fire.” Luis then turned to the leader of the Herra Hills camp. “You have to decide whether or not it is important to reestablish ties with anyone there. At present, the general is looking for Key with wanted posters and all that, which means Key must remain within the camp.”

“Fine by me,” Key said nodding. “I have no intention of going anywhere near General Winstrong.”

Luis smirked. “Yes, but your efforts in teaching the locals to read has proved to be a problem.”

“How so?” Key peered at him hard. He had gotten comfortable talking to these adults. They no longer scared him.

Nodding, Luis set a poster on the table. “More people can read this, and they will try to cash in.”

With that, Key snorted. He flicked his hand at the poster as if to shoo it away. “They could already read the vital parts. Everyone can read the reward offered.”

“Not your name,” Luis said, tapping it. “Besides, the poster doesn’t look anything like you. Even the poster of you offering six thousand for you doesn’t look like you, not now anyway.”

“It’s your bandana. You should change your head cover,” the old Herra witch said with a glance to the woman from Sundri.

Rolling his eyes, Key sat back. “Come on. Say it out loud. The real reason all of you are saying this is that none of you want me to teach anyone else to read.”

All the eyes turned to him.

“Well, I have news for you all,” Key said, leaning forward. “I am not going to wait until you come to an agreement. You can lock me up. I don’t care. But I am not going to just sit here and discuss plans without doing at least one thing to improve things. And reading is one thing I can spread among our people. What are all of you so afraid of anyway? That if everyone else can read they won’t follow you?”

The Herra chief rose to his feet. “How dare you—!”

“That’s exactly what’s going on. Isn’t it?” Key’s voice got louder, feeling indignant. He turned his eye on the magician. “You talk about tradition and brain power and the inability for the common man to do what you can do, but I think that is a load of—”

“Silence!” Sadena shouted.

Key froze, looking at her.

“You will be silent and listen, boy,” she said.

He closed his mouth but lifted his chin with an anger that had actually grown over the past month.

Exhaling, Sadena said, nodding to Luis, “Is there any more you have to report?”

Luis shook his head, casting Key a chiding look also. “No, my lady.”

She nodded.

The swordsman took his seat again.

Turning to Edman the witch, she asked, “How are things on your end?”

Rising, Edman said, “I have little to report. Activity in the Semple Forest remains, as always, tumultuous. Our allies there are in hiding. The captain of the Southwest Corner has not yet been able to find our operatives within the towns, so I am not worried about their status.”

“Who is the blue-eye captain of the Southwest corner?” Patriarch Huro asked.

“I don’t know his name,” Edman said.

“Captain Heron,” Key murmured with a glance outside.

“How do you know?” Edman asked, peering at him. “You left the corner before the general had retired.”

Looking up at the witch with tired eyes, Key said, “Captain Heron was second in command. It only makes sense that the Sky Lord would direct the general to leave the command in his hands if they did not call another general to take over.”

“Key, please refrain from interrupting,” Sadena said.

Shrugging before leaning on the table from boredom, Key muttered. “He asked.”

Still giving him a look to remind him to be silent, Sadena nodded for Edman to sit down. She then turned to the leader from Mistrim. “What have you to report, Mikal?”

The ex-porter from Mistrim stood up and gave a very porter-like bow. Key leaned on his elbow as he listened to the man speak in a thick northern accent. His tones round like a proper porter but were somewhat hard to make out as it was crisp and biting like the northern cold.

“…this time. Currently we have gathered small groups near Yarrding and even out to Harsall. Mostly we are still dealing with demon problems. We require wards made for us. The Sky Children keep destroying all our wards in fits against magic of any kind. But it has left us defenseless against the crows.”

Looking up, Key frowned. If it wasn’t one demon, it was another. There really was no end to it.

Sadena nodded, turning to Edman and also the Herra witch and magician. “Will you two make wards for him to bring back?”

All three men nodded.

“Of course,” Edman said.

“Our pleasure,” the Herra witch replied though Vang Gerrit the magician merely nodded.

Turning, Sadena asked Mikal if he had anything more to report. The man hadn’t. She then turned to Callen who had returned from Sundri with the five guests. He stood up and reported on the activity in Calcumum and the surrounding areas.

“General Gole has gone back and regulated the entire region,” he said. “Rumor has it, he has set up a way to clear out all spies. So, to be brief, we cannot go ahead and slip in spies to steal the technology. Sorry, Key.”

Key slumped against the table more. “There has to be a way.”

The bearded warrior sighed. “I’m sorry, no. Your idea sounded good. But you must understand, every human is under suspicion. No human would be allowed near their technology. We have to use magic or steal their guns, if that’s what will do it. But they are watching us so closely that no human can even learn a blue-eye’s trade.”

“What about in Kalsworth?” Key asked lifting his head up. “I’ve been there. Humans and Sky Children are nearly equal there, or at least on the surface. Can’t someone in Kalsworth pick up a Sky Child trade, learn gunsmithing?”

Edman shook his head. “Kalsworth is, as you said, only superficially open to humans for trade. But really, the blue-eyes rule hard there. Not one human could get his hands on a pistol.”

“Then how did that lone gunman get his?” Key muttered.

The men at the table grumbled, knowing Key had