Chapter Four: The Die Is Cast

.... the assistant decides

Laoakan could not sleep.  He had been pacing the worn floor boards of his room for the past two hours.

“The fool,” he said under his breath, “the stupid, stupid fool!”

The assistant knew that his plan of getting rid of Falcon Eye and taking sole possession of the school was in danger.  So, too, was his plan of taking revenge on Calmando and that weakling, Lemuel.  The untimely death of Reynante, the governor’s son, had put all of Laoakan’s dreams in jeopardy.  It was to have been so easy, Reynante assured him; the farmer’s son would not even last a day and a night out in the Medero: Bagwis, Reynante’s friend, would lie in wait for Calmando before the high cliffs and an ambush out in the desert could easily be made to look like an accident " and without the strong arm and stout heart of the farmer’s son, there was no one who could protect Falcon Eye and all the simpering students in this broken down school with its antiquated ideas of love, wisdom, justice and equality.  Equality!  That was what Laoakan hated most of all.  There were quite a number of wealthy families who sent their sons and daughters to the school and to ask for a small donation from them would surely not have been out of place.  But Falcon Eye had frowned on the idea.  These families would have expected something in return, the master explained, thus the very idea of equality would be lost to their children even before their education started.  The assistant had pleaded with Falcon Eye, the extra income would have been a huge help, he said, but the old man would not be persuaded.

“You are not head master yet, Laoakan,” Falcon Eye had said.

Laoakan sat on the edge of his bed.  It had not been hard to plan the take over with the governor’s son and his friend, Bagwis, the assassin and the same young man who had been expelled from the school.  They both had their reasons: Reynante wanted the land on which the school stood and Bagwis hated Calmando.  The sudden storm had ruined everything " Bagwis lost sight of Calmando in the downpour and when the rains stopped, could not find the farmer’s son anywhere " “swallowed by the cliff walls!” the idiot had said when they met at the stables. 

The assistant stood up and began to pace back and forth again.  No one knew of his plans, except Bagwis.  Hmmm, it would not be difficult to convince that young man to fall in with a new plot.  Bagwis’ thirst for revenge would be fuel enough.  But Laoakan needed to persuade Lemuel to agree to his plans, too; that would be hard, the governor’s nephew did not trust him, he needed leverage.  Of course, Mariquita!  Lemuel had a soft spot for the lovely daughter of the mayoress, he wouldn’t want her harmed in any way.  Laoakan could still come out of this mess with some prize.  Maybe his plans would still work out.  If he could get Lemuel to sign some deeds, then both the school and the land would be his!  For the first time that day, the assistant smiled, then he walked to the small commode beside his bed, opened the last drawer and drew out a flask of whiskey.  Alcohol was strictly forbidden in the school, of course, but Laoakan had managed to keep his drinking a secret for many years.  He raised the flask to his lips.  He had something to drink to after all.   

 

 

 

“We should have brought a torch, Lemuel,” Mariquita’s voice trembled as she and the governor’s nephew made their way down the path that led to the high cliffs.  She knew that path so well, she must have walked it a thousand times in her three years at the school, but those trips had been in broad daylight.  Now, in the dark, the well worn path was both unfamiliar and menacing.  When they were still new to the school, Laoakan delighted in frightening them with stories of the poor souls who had lost their way in the Medero, of how only pieces of their clothing were left on the path as evidence of their disappearance.  She clutched Lemuel’s arm even tighter when they heard the baying of a wolf.  The governor’s nephew drew her closer.

“Laoakan might have discovered us, Mariquita, if I’d gone to the stables for a torch.  Don’t worry, I remember enough of Master Falcon Eye’s lessons in astronomy to find our way through the dark tonight.”  Lemuel hoped he sounded convincing, but he could not help feeling more lost with each step they took away from the school.

 

 

 

“So, where do you want me to start, sonny?”  Magdalo asked.

“The beginning, hermit.  You say you are the master’s brother, but I have never heard Falcon Eye mention you, nor any other kin.”  He broke off a piece of stale bread which Magdalo had packed " provisions, the hermit had said, and bit into it.

Magdalo stoked the small fire they had lit.

“No, Falcon Eye would never mention me.  I’ve never had any problems with our blood bond, but your master was always uneasy about our…relationship, seeing as we had different fathers.”

Calmando swallowed the bread, then turned to the hermit.  Magdalo gave a soft chuckle.

“Oh yes, your master is, how shall I say it…more " legitimate?  His father was married to our mutual mother, but she was not to mine, of course.  Seems as if she was often left alone to amuse herself, so she did, with the gamekeeper of their estate, my father.  It was not hard to pass me off as a second son, though.  The husband never found out and died thinking he had two sons.  It was only at our mother’s deathbed was the truth finally revealed.  Falcon Eye was devastated.”

“And you, Master Magdalo, how did you take the truth?” Calmando asked.

“I think I took it rather well,” the hermit chuckled again, but there was sadness in his eyes.

“I think you are more troubled by that than you let on, Magdalo, and if you deny it, then you are only lying to yourself.  Here, let me do that,” the young man said softly, taking the stick the hermit had been using to stoke the fire, “you had better get some sleep, we must make an early start tomorrow to reach the governor’s palace in two days.”

“The governor’s palace?  That is a peculiar destination for a student of Falcon Eye.  May I ask why we need to go there?”

“I have a message for the governor from your brother, sir.”

 

 

 

Bagwis had been dreading to meet with Laoakan again.  In fact, he had been afraid of the assistant since he was a student at the school.  But he had no choice now, he was in too deep.  He had been excited when Laoakan and the governor’s son had first approached him.  Their plan, had it worked, would have solved all of their problems: he would have gotten his revenge on Calmando, the assistant would have been headmaster and Reynante would have had the land.  Unfortunately,  Calmando had been saved by the storm and now Reynante was dead.  Bagwis knocked on the door of Laoakan’s room.

“Well?” the assistant asked as soon as the door was opened.

“They’re gone, master.”  Bagwis answered.

“Gone?  They could not have gone far, they were both at evening meal.”  Laoakan tried to hide his impatience.  Bagwis was not an intelligent fellow, that much had been evident even when the lad was still a student, but he had a vicious streak that the assistant liked, and which he now needed.  Laoakan pulled Bagwis into the room.  Both of them needed to think " and act fast.  They had to reach Lemuel and Mariquita before the pair found Calmando.

“Do you think you can find them before they find Calmando, Bagwis?”

“If it were not for the storm, I would have Calmando’s head before you right now, master.  Don’t worry, I will not fail this time,” Bagwis said.

The assistant nodded. “I want only Lemuel and Mariquita alive, Bagwis, if there is anyone else with those two…get rid of them.”

The assassin nodded and left.

 

 

 

Calmando was awake long before sunrise.  He sat up and saw the hermit still asleep beside the fire.  He rose and shook Magdalo’s shoulder.

“Wake up, old man.  We have to go.”

Magdalo stirred, sat up and yawned.

“There’s still a good two and a half hours, at least, before sunrise, Calmando.  Traversing these cliffs in the dark is foolhardy, if you ask me.”

“I am not asking you, hermit,” Calmando replied, “I’m telling you…”

A woman’s shriek shattered the silence.  Then a wolf howled in the distance.  Calmando opened his coat and drew out a long blade tucked beneath it.  Then he and Magdalo ran to the cliff edge.

 

                                                              

“Enter,” Falcon Eye said when he heard a knock on the door of his study.  Laoakan entered.

“You never cease to amaze me, master,” the assistant said, “you stay up half the night preparing lessons then you are awake at the crack of dawn.”

“What do you need, Laoakan?  Is something amiss?”

“Nothing is wrong, Falcon Eye, nothing at all.  In truth, today might just be the luckiest day of my life,” the assistant answered.  He suddenly reached into his pocket and drew out a long kitchen knife and pointed the sharp end at the master.

“Come with me to the cellar.”