Winds of the Ozeros | PT | Ajax-Only

[Tulura]

Barriset Isle, Gulf of Naabri in the Ozeros Sea
June 2nd, 1621

The dreary, wet cave was adorned with the dim light of lamps carried by the small party of Yenist, contrasting in jagged creeping shadows against its rocky walls. Entering the cave, they left the forest behind them, leaving two spearmen to stand watch at the holy cave’s entrance. An Imam-Priestess, by the name Aberei, led the harrowing party in partial dark, placing her feet carefully and intuitively as if she had memorized this path.

Shuleek, the self-proclaimed Calipha of Barriset, followed closely behind the Priestess. In her eye twinkled another light at the end of the cave they were headed. Behind Shuleek, were her closest confidants and followers, the self-proclaimed Ahari lords that swore their clan's fealty to her. Chief Bakad of Garul, one of the Shuleek’s closest advisers, turned to Chief Maalin with a weary whisper. “I do not trust this Priestess, why is she leading us so far?” Bakad was a burly bearded man of great stature, who constantly dodged the lowest cave-ceiling stalactites with great annoyance. His eyes darted around, with an existential dread screaming through them. I hate the dark, his inner, child-like subconscious screamed

Maalin, the Chief of the Keylid, contrary to Bakad, was a thin man who’s robes merely hung off him, instead of befitting. He was calm, and non-suspicious of these circumstances. “We are following the light, brother.” he plainly assured with a small whisper. He, like Shuleek, only focused on the glimmer ahead, each step as faithful and meaningful in it's movement as the last. God is my light, he whispered internally to himself. Wardi, the Chief of the Madar, was a short, old and frail-seeming man followed behind the whole group. He did not utter a word, for he was a quiet and collected man.

The group traveled deeper within the cave, until the entrance behind them was a mere glimmer of light in the distance. Aberei stopped the group of warrior-chiefs at a glistening cave puddle, illuminated by beams of light dawning from peering holes above, they had arrived at the holy spot which had teased them from a distance. Bakad, let out a deep sigh of relief, as the simple puddle glistened with a smooth calmness to it.

They all intuitively gathered around with their lamps, watching as the Priestess knelt before the still, luminescent water. She pulled a small, ornate wooden bowl from her satchel, decorated in Gombakori text; what Yenist islanders consider to be the holy writing. Aberei started to sing a hymn, gradually escalating in volume as she gathered the water with refined and elegant motion into the ornate bowl.

She sung;
As tawaquf ends

the Calipha’s holy crusade begins

with the winds of monsoon

comes God’s storm

The accolade of Aberei’s melody kissed everyone’s ears, it’s lyrical content covert in a facade of beautiful song. The droning-on Priestess stood with the bowl in-hand, holding it out before her in the middle of this small Yenist assembly. Shuleek’s party now knelt before her, “Now repeat after me.” the Priestess implored, dipping her fingers into the bowl and dashing water upon each individual. They joined in, repeating each verse Aberei sung. The echo sounding in booming reverberation with each devout breath.

The heretics shall be cast into the sea

it is the only way

they can be close to god

Finally, the Priestess lifted Shuleek’s head by the chin. “Blessed Calipha, you are the chosen one to liberate this divined isle, this refuge of god, from the heretics.” she then poured the remaining bowl of water upon Shuleek’s head, continuing to sing. Shuleek, then motioned to unsheathed her gorade carefully from its scabbard. It was a long curved sword, with it’s pummel dressed in Gombakori text inscribed ornately in gold. “Please, divine my weapon, for if I fall, whoever bears the Sword of Barrisset may take my place.”

“Very well.” Aberei answered, cupping cave water in her hands and gently streaming it along the length of the shimmering blade. “If you fall out of the God’s favor and are struck down, your successor shall bear this sword.”

The assembly now stood, holding their hands and bowing their heads before the Priestess. “I do appreciate you doing this, Holy One.” Shuleek said. “I do hope you and your flock will join us in our grand crusade.”

“It is what god wills, my allegiance is yours, Shuleek-Calipha. Our people can no longer remain idle in the face of pillaging heretics. The reconquest is upon us, I believe.”

“God is here.”

[Mutul]

Uni Qhi looked from the bidge of his ship at the port of around him. Local slaves were discharging the precious cargaison that the “Mutuleses” had brought with them, cottons and chocolate to be exchanged in Barriset for coffee, velvets, ivory and some precious woods, like ebony.Uni Qhi’s ship was not the only one who did the long travel from Oxidentale to Scipia through the Makrian and the Vespanian : beside his, there were three other ships waiting in the port, each transporting various goods like tobacco, vanilla, ember, various spices and dyes.

He sighted. It was a long and perilous journey to reach the “Far West” as the Mutulese called Ozeros sea and neighboring regions, and Ndeyu’s travel was far from over : now would start a long and tedious journey from port to port, step by step, to exchange all of their Oxidentaleses products for Scipians and Ochraneses luxury goods while waiting for the winds to allow the trade expedition to once more leave the Ozeros and return home.

Finally, it was his turn to leave the ship and after a quick verification with his quartermaster and translator that everything was in order with the owners of the storage warehouses and of the docker-slaves. The Mutuleses had no building of their own in Barisset, and so had to go through a lot of intermediaries before they could sell their products. It was annoying but in the end, it was just a matter of raising the prices in consequences to still make a profit. Once he was sure everything had been handled correctly and that there was no problem, he took the direction of a nearby private “hotel”, while he was flanked on both side by two “Tulotairi”, “Cottonmen”, Nadipathans soldiers in the employ of Uni Qhi’s Company. They were all together bodyguards, security agents, and enforcers of the Mutuleses traders all around the Vespanian and especially in Nadipatha were they were organized into their own militias and police forces in the various trade posts owned by one company or the other. But here in Barriset, they were just here as security agents, to protect the boats and the traders once they landed, and they were barely allowed to have any weapon on them.

The private hotel was a fine example of Barriset classical architecture, taking inspirations from both Orthodox and T’uluran styles, yet adapted to the equatorial climate of the island. The house-slaves at the entrance, once they saw him, opened the gate and allowed him to enter. In the garden, another Mutulese man was already sitting on a stone bench, watching the birds in the palm trees. When he saw Uni Qhi arrive, he smiled, stood up, and greeted him with open arms. It was Tutuxanat, the Consignor of the expedition, shareholder in the K’akitz’ Company, close friend to one of the three directors of said company, and more importantly, Ndeyu’s own boss. The two men greeted each other warmly, as it was far from their first travel through half the world and they had the time to build an healthy working relationship between them and the the other captains of the Expeditions, all employees of the K’akitz’ Company, which specialized in trade with Scipia and the Far West. They all greeted each others, all made happy by an eventless travel through the Vespanian, and then entered the Hotel, all behind Tutuxanat who dominated the group both by his rank and his presence.

The decoration of the Hotel was rich and elegant, and House-slaves led them to a relatively large room, lavishly decorated as a display of wealth and taste. A rather large man was waiting them here and welcomed them, inviting them to take place around the rectangular table at the center of the room. From the quality of his slik clothes to his many jewelries, and also by his stoutness , Hodan made no attempt to hide his position as one of the richest businessman in the island, with a long lasting partnership with the Mutuleses. They took the time to discuss about what they’ve all down since the last time they saw each others, how everything was going on at home, and generally having a good time discussing nothing and everything while house slaves brought various beverages to refresh the guests and their master. This light-hearted discussion was only possible because Hodan took the time to learn “Western Mutli”, the language the captains used when “in service”, for the simple reasons that few of them shared the same maternal language. uni Qhi and his co-workers were also taking the time to learn greek, the lingua franca of Barriset and the Ozeros in general. Both sides were good enough in these two languages that they could transition to “businesses discussions” without any need for translators.

Tutuxanat made a sign and Uni Qhi read the records of the Mutuleses cargaisons to Hodan, and soon, after a small negociation on prices and various costs of the exchanges, a first agreement was found and written down by the House slave Hodan kept as a secretary. Once done, the traders and their hosts were all left alone, with house slaves or servants coming in and out.

“Now, let’s talk about our other business, shall we ?”

“Indeed.” Tutuxanat answered. “So, can we hope any return on our little investment ?”

Hodan nodded and took one of the purse at his belt and presented what it held to the Mutuleses : an handful of gemstones, sapphires and rubies. Immediately Tutuxanat took them and presented them to Uni Qhi who then turned toward the window and looked through the gems, using the light to notice any imperfection that would decrease their values. When he finally put them down on the table, he nodded to Tutuxanat.

“This is only a first payment. The rest will come through via the traditional network. There is for 277000 gold dinari worth of gemstones, from diamonds to rubis.”

The traders looked at each others. It was a good new indeed. While these gems are worth a lot on their own, they will be able, on their travel back to home, to stop in Taizhou to exchange them for quite a lot of jade. Then, they would return to Oxidentale with this jade and turn an even larger profit there, as jade was considered more valuable than gold in the Mutul.

“I must say, dear friend, that I am impressed.” complimented Tutuxanat. “Few men are able to repay such a loan in its entirely, interests included, in what was it ? A year ? Yet you’ve been able to do so quite reliably since we know each others.”

Hodan laughed. “What can I say, I have a good nose for business. But I also have good friends who are reliable on their payments. It took time to create the right scheme but now they, and therefore I, have a good stream of income. Which is great because they are quite demanding.”

Tutuxanat snickered, something only he could allow himself to do in such discussions. “For the past ten years we’ve lend you money, you then made a profit on it, repaid us, and then convince us to lend you this money again, or even more, depending on the years. And now here we are, with a total value of around 2200 Pounds of gold in play.These are not small investments you’ve made, nor secure ones if I dared to say so.”

Hodan nodded. “Indeed, which is why I paid of my own pockets when there was less benefits than expected. It was risky but you didn’t needed to know the exact details. After all you knew me, you knew how I worked, and trusted me enough to grand me my wishes. And in the end, didn’t it paid off ?”

“But as I said my friends are quite demanding” he continued “And I now think that you should be aware of what their operations entails to. In fact, I believe that a meeting between you and them is in order. So please, do as we’ve always done : stay in my home while we all wait for the market day. But I would really appreciate that, in the meantime, you consider my demand and meet their representative in person.”

The Mutuleses looked at each others. Uni Qhi going as far as frowning his eyebrows. He did not like the tone of Hodan’s voice, nor the little light in his eyes. This was more than business for him. Under all the words and subtle tricks of the language and of the emotions, Uni Qhi was still able to tell that Hodan cared a lot about his “friends” project. In fact, Uni Qhi had seen that glimmer in the eyes before : under all the gold, the overweight flesh, and the sharp business mind, Uni Qhi could swear that Hodan was a true believer, a mystic with a clear goal and purpose. Which is odd : the Hodan they’ve met a decade ago never had such concern. Something happened, he was convert. But a convert to what ? Uni Qhi surreptitiously tapped the arm of Tutuxanat in what was between the two men the secret code for “something is wrong”.

Tutuxanat too was well aware that something odd was at hand. He was nonetheless intrigued. Hodan was a ruthless merchant, as bold as he was efficient. Whatever it was that he was preparing, it would be enormous. And more than likely, profitable.

“Fine. We’ll meet your friends if you think it’s so important. Then we’ll be able to accept… or not. But as always thanks for your hospitality dear Hodan. I think it’s time we go to our rooms.”

“Of course, of course, make yourself at home. I hope you'll stay for diner tonight ?”

The Mutuleses agreed, saluted their host, and went for their room. On their way, the five traders started to discuss. They all arrived to the conclusion that it was indeed very sketchy, but Tutuxanat had the last word and he decided that they would at least give these “friends” an ear. Until then he would refrain from having an opinion.

Not reassured, Uni Qhi looked through a window. Outside, above the oceans, he could sea massive clouds gathering in a giant sky wall. A good sign for a Mutulese, yet somehow this time he couldn't help but feel it's weight,

The Monsoon was coming.