Page 56 - North Star Magazine 2022

majority of my crops. My plot of land is the main supplier of food for these people. Dozens will starve if you do this!” Rilos had cracked his lowly accent in a fit of passion and rage.
”It is important to note, that as we begin the rainy season, the population in the west and south are more likely to need a surplus of food. Come the dry season we will be doing the same thing to them so I can assure you it’s fair.”
”What’s fair is how the capital will feast on the fruits of my labor while my people starve here.” Rilos said.
”Dozens of lives do not equate to thousands,” Lou stated.
“Who are you to say the dozens of lives here are insignificant compared to those thousands of lives? Do their lives not matter? Was it your ministry who decided to play God, or your Empress?” Rilos held his chin high. His nostrils flared and his eyes had come alive. He glared at Lou with a deadly look, who in turn reflected an ominous smile, as if he knew something he did not know. Blink sat upon his post with his mouth gaped in awe of the audacity.
Lou sat up in his chair and locked his eyes on the leather portfolio. His eyes quickly snapped from the withered item back to his target, Rilos “I would like you to explain something to me, Saun. Why is there no official record of your purchase of this land in the capital archives?”
”I traveled here from the west. Gryth’s men pulled back to secure the capital and bandits took mah village and family. I fled; don’t know if there were any other survivors. I wandered to the coast until I found a ship that agreed to take me east. Once I got here I wandered inland for a day, found this village and a little abandoned house outside of town. I cleaned it up and have been calling it home ever since”.
”We asked the villagers what was on this hill prior to your arrival. They claimed this land was dead. Folk had tried cultivating it for years using animals, fertilizers and everything else in their fiscal grasp, yet nothing. You come along out of the blue and all of a sudden, the land is producing three times as much as neighboring towns.”
Rilos could feel his heart rate picking up, only this time it w as from fear.
She had sent them. She knows we are here. This is how I die.
“She does not know we are here, you need to breathe. Calm yourself, or he will know
something isn’t right,” Blink communicated, trying to calm him down.
He felt a single bead of sweat drip down the back of his neck. Blink was