Of Love and Valor

39: The East Gate

"Here we are. The port of Orenxiao," the Orenfior says to Zelphinon and me, as though we could not figure this out on our own, seeing all the docks on the Virella. We have accompanied him, his advisors, and a few Fiorzhanim to these docks, which are outside the wall at the East Gate. Squadron 317 has yet to be assigned to the East Gate, which is just as well, because the East Gate solely serves the port and the river; from what the Kazmiohni have told me, all the Orenzhanim who serve at the East Gate have been trained differently from the rest of us. All of them can swim proficiently, for one thing, and all of them have become adept at handling boats of various sizes in a variety of conditions.

The river is much narrower here than it is near what was once Passekara, which is not to say that it is narrow; I do not think I could throw a knife all the way across it. However, it is narrow enough that the largest trading vessels must anchor in the middle of the river, where it is deepest, and smaller boats manned by Orenzhanim and traders travel to and from the large one to load and unload goods and people. As we travel through the East Gate, we see one large trading vessel in the middle of the river and two smaller ones docked downstream, and five or six Orenxiao boats servicing the large vessel.

"Is what we're seeing now typical of activity levels in the port, Your Excellency?" I inquire.

"Merskior would know better than I," the Orenfior defers the question to one of his advisors. All of them were a little surprised when the Orenfior introduced Zelphinon and me to them, but they have been surprisingly civil, much more willing to accept the idea that I might have opinions worth hearing than any zaikarit or current member of the Molongun tribe have been.

"Yes, I would say so. Sometimes it's busier, sometimes not as busy, but like this more often than not," the advisor called Merskior replies.

"What's that beyond the river, at the base of the mountains?" Zelphinon questions, gesturing across the Virella. The stony terrain does indeed look quite odd, almost as though it used to be buildings of some kind.

"Old Orenxiao," another advisor answers. "Long ago, the city was built into the mountains. It was more secure, but as our population grew, we needed more access to arable land and fresh air, and so the city expanded across the river. For a while, both sides were inhabited, but such a design proved to be indefensible, and so to keep our crops the entire city shifted to this side of the Virella."

"Are the ruins still inhabitable? Defensible?" I ask. An idea is blossoming in my brain.

"We could certainly investigate that," the Orenfior responds. "What are you thinking, Azerai?"

"I'm still working on that, Your Excellency. The large trading vessel in the middle of the river, is that the largest they come through here?"

"It would be difficult for anything much larger to come this far upstream. The river is too shallow here to accommodate anything much bigger," Merskior tells me. "But the real threat that you're here to address would come from the North. The Virella's source is in Visserova, and the river can accommodate boats up to that size—" he gestures to one of the smaller trading vessels docked in the port "—at the Visserov border."

"They are likely to use something built more like this, though," another advisor tells me as he shows Zelphinon and me a very well-done sketch of a watercraft, sleek and wicked-looking, clearly built for speed and defenses.

"Is this sketch from life?" Zelphinon asks.

"Yes, but from several years ago. Visserova and Yrivvenna were united in trying to discourage piracy on the river, and these were the vessels they used. They were quite effective, though."

"How so?"

"Obviously the design is very streamlined, so they move quickly. They have both rowers and sails, so they can move in any direction regardless of currents or wind. They mix ironwood into the construction of these vessels to reduce the risk of fire, but not so much as to make them heavy enough to compromise their speed."