The Worlds of the Sheaf

Place-of-Toil - Part 1

     "The Fu Nangians have been using giants as slave labour for centuries," said Jop Sonno, gesturing at the wizard with a fork. "They breed them for strength and docility..."

     "For the sake of the Gods!" hissed Thomas urgently, looking over his shoulder to see if the felisian had overheard. "That's exactly what they don't need to know right now!"

     "They know already, if their spies have been in Fu Nang as well as Belthar," pointed out the cavalryman, however. "They may well know more about the Fu Nangians than we do."

     "Then they know that we have nothing to do with them and revile their whole way of life," said Thomas. "Ask yourself this. If you were a felisian, would you be afraid of us?"

     "Quite frankly, yes," replied Jop Sonno soberly. "I don't believe Belthar would treat these people dishonourably, but what would happen if people from all the lands of Tharia and all walks of life could come and go freely between our two worlds? Just think of the kind of people you see in a typical alehouse."

     "That's never going to happen," said Thomas, however. "You can't teleport between different planes of existence, and you can't walk the planes from our world to this one because of the spatial distance between them. Our ship and those possessed by the felisians are the only way of getting here. There's not going to be any mass invasion by ordinary people."

     "Thank the Gods," agreed Lirenna. "All they have to worry about is the University and the Beltharan government."

     She glanced across at Thomas and their eyes met for a moment before she looked away again. Yes, thought Thomas. She probably understands the felisians better than any of us. Her homeland, the valley of Haven, was in very much the same situation, facing the constant threat of an invasion by outsiders.

     The plight of the felisians was worse, of course, because they had already suffered the horrors of an occupation and their enemies had shown a complete disregard for the lives of their slaves. Their minds must have been permanently warped with fear and mistrust. A trauma that was afflicting the entire race. How terrified they must be to have the Tharian ship orbiting overhead!

     Lirenna glanced across at the waiter and her eyes suddenly glowed with such sorrow and compassion that Thomas felt his love for her rising to heights they'd never reached before. All she wanted right now, he saw, was to hold them in her arms and promise them everything was going to be all right. But was it? What if their fears were well founded and the Beltharans had an agenda they hadn't yet revealed?

     After dinner the felisians showed them to their rooms. Thomas and Lirenna were delighted to find that they'd been given a double room, with a luxurious double bed of a size and softness they hadn't enjoyed since leaving Haven. They were tempted to try it out right away, but first they decided to see something of the city. This was, after all, their first chance to explore the homeland of the people they'd been speculating about ever since the sabotage incidents had begun.

     The felisians were surprised to see them leaving, and for one anxious moment Thomas feared they might try to stop them, but the doorman merely suggested they take a couple of bodyguards with them, in case they came upon any of the wild animals that occasionally entered the city. Thomas suspected he was really afraid that some of the felisians they would meet might react aggressively to seeing them, perhaps thinking that they could drive these new invaders away with a sufficient show of force. He played along with the doorman, though, not wanting to cause an incident, and assured him that they could easily defend themselves against any 'wild animals' they might meet. The doorman nodded. He held the door for them as they passed through, and the two wizards stepped out into the streets of Place-of-Toil.