Chapter 7
Wanting to find out what was going on, Kai ran through the dirt paths of Whiteshore at full speed.
Several familiar voices were arguing in the village square. The slow authoritative tone of Elder Ruan, the mayor of Whiteshore, imposed itself over the rest—Kai suspected it was a skill. Republic law stated each town had to be led by a mayor, but the communities on the islands have always been ruled by an elder. Even if the official title had changed, the way people called her had not.
Reaching the square, a wall of people stopped his rush. It seemed every person in the village had gathered and was overflowing in the surrounding streets.
A strange unfamiliar voice stood out among the murmurs of the crowd. A nasal tone he didn’t recognize, but the accent rang a bell in his head. It was similar to his father’s, but more pronounced.
Kai squeezed between the crowd making use of his small size, until he found his parents near the front, not far from elder Ruan.
The old lady was known for being strict, but she always had a kind word when you needed it most. There were rumors she was well over a hundred, but she didn’t look a day over sixty. Now her lined face was a mask of ice, as if she wanted to rip the soul out of the trio she was facing.
“You have two weeks to prepare, this is a direct decree signed by the governor at the behest of the local council.” The speaker was a man with dark thin oily hair and the owner of the nasal voice.
He wore a black and white uniform with a silver crest depicting a soaring hawk on his chest—the symbol of the Merian Republic. His two companions had the same crest, but their black uniform spoke utility with fewer trimmings and a baton at their side.
The man continued as if reading a rehearsed script. “Refusing to comply is a penal offense, this is all for the greater good of our community. You’ll all be given new accommodations and be appropriately compensated.”
He seemed busy trying to avoid elder Ruan’s gaze, but wherever he looked, he didn’t find anything but furious glares.
It didn’t take long before a man in his twenties stepped forward and yelling, pointing his index finger at him, “You can’t do this! This is our land, my family has lived here since my great great grandfather. Go back to the hole you came from, you Republican dog!”
A series of insults followed, chanted by the whole crowd, swearing at the Republic and the three emissaries. From children to elders, they all joined the chorus.
The next thing he knew an excruciating scream split the chaos. Kai only saw movement in the corner of his eye and wasn’t sure what had happened at first.
The young man who first stepped forward was screaming on his knees holding the hand he had used for pointing, or what remained of it. His right hand had been ripped apart. After his wrist, there was only a broken white bone showing amidst a fountain of blood and twisted flesh.
The crowd suddenly turned silent. Kai stared blankly at the scene. One moment everything was fine, the next there was blood everywhere.
A wet sound attracted his attention. The only other sound apart from the screaming man.
Kai’s mind didn’t process immediately what he was looking at. Then he noticed some ivory fragments. Laying on the ground was the missing hand or what remained of it. A mangled mess of flesh, blood and bone would have been more accurate.
Raising his gaze, Kai saw the culprit. The man had been standing behind the speaker with oily hair a few moments earlier. A scar ran from his left cheekbone to the corner of his mouth. But it wasn’t that or his hulking build that made him stick out, it was his expression.
There was no anger, bloodlust or guilt. After having maimed another human being, he looked almost bored. He ignored the screaming man and the flesh mess at his feet. He instead stared at his own blood-soaked hand with annoyance, like that was the most important matter.
Did he actually do that barehanded!? Kai’s view of what was possible in both violence and physical might was being rewritten by the moment.
“Assaulting an officer of the Republic is a serious crime, I’ll let you go with a warning this time.” He said with a deep sneer, taking out a cloth to wipe the blood off his hand.
“Thank you for your zealousness, enforcer Gregor.” The speaker said, looking at the spectacle with mild disgust, before turning to the crowd. “This matter is not up for debate. You should be thankful the governor was so generous to give you two weeks to prepare to be transferred. This land has been claimed by the Merian Republic for the future development of this Archipelago.
“If you refuse to comply there will be much more unpleasant consequences. I’ll leave the details to the mayor.” The man concluded by shoving a pack of documents to elder Ruan and hurriedly walking away.
The crowd didn’t part, the shock and fear had left way to anger. They seemed ready to throw themselves at the trio.
“Let them pass.” elder Ruan said.
No one moved.
“C’mon. You heard me.”
People reluctantly parted, throwing murderous looks at the three people and spitting where they passed.
“Cowards.” Enforcer Gregor said with a smirk. The man with oily hair glared at his companion, while the other enforcer readied his hand on the baton at his waist.
“Stop!” Elder Ruan didn’t shout, but her voice resounded through the whole village, carrying an almost physical weight.
Everyone froze, the three emissaries included, even if for a moment. Kai felt like he was nailed to the ground, he had to stay put no matter what.
“If a chicken clucks at you, only a fool clucks back. Don’t lower yourself to their level.” The old woman said, suddenly looking much older and tired.
Gregor seemed to want to say something, but the other man grabbed his arm and dragged him away.
After they were gone, people turned to elder Ruan once again.
“Why did you stop us after what they did to Nal? How is he going to work without his hand? We could have taken them.” A disgruntled shout came from the crowd. The voice was soon joined by many others.
The old woman waited for the crowd to settle down before speaking.
“It’s true we could have won, but then what?” Elder Ruan’s gaze dared anyone to speak up.
“More would have come, and no man, woman or child would have been spared.”
Kai recognized Ana’s mother step forward, “We could ask for help from the other villages.”
Ruan turned to face the woman, her expression hard as stone, “And do you think we can outnumber them? If we call a hundred people, they can gather a thousand. It’s not a battle we can win.”
“So what? Do we let them take everything they want? They are taking our home, what are they going to take next.” Ana’s mother continued to speak filled with fervor.
Elder Ruan hesitated. “If it were just me, I wouldn’t care, I’d march right now to the governor to let him know what I think. But remember, if you choose this path, you are putting everyone you know at risk, they are not going to stop with you alone.” The old lady let the silence stretch for a few seconds.
“Are you willing to risk all your families and friends? My duty is to protect all inhabitants of Whiteshore and I’ll do it even if I have to eat my pride.”
This time the crowd had no answer, people looked around at their family and friends not knowing what to say.
An adult for each household remained to discuss the details of what they were going to do. Everyone else turned back to their homes, somber and defeated.
Kai had not understood everything that happened, but he was quite sure they were getting evicted.
* * *
When all the pieces fit together the picture wasn't promising.
The ‘tourism project’ had been so successful, they already had buyers for all those stupid villas. The governor was then able to convince the council in Higharbor to green-light his next scheme, which was on a whole other scale.
To grow the archipelago’s economy, the islands would be divided into districts. Large swathes of land were going to be reserved for exclusive resort destinations, plantations or to sell to private investors. To make space, the smallest villages would be grouped into bigger settlements. This way they could also ‘find new opportunities’. A nicer way to call what was forced urbanization.
Many believed the true reason was to clear the best parts of the archipelago for wealthy people from the continent, who might not like having the poor islanders around. At most, they preferred to look at them from afar for a more ‘rustic’ experience, like they were some kind of zoo animal.
The truth hardly mattered. The fact was that Whiteshore would cease to exist, and the villagers would be sent to different settlements, some of them not even on Yatol. They had two weeks to gather what belongings they could carry and choose who went where. The governor’s generosity truly knew no bounds.
Only now Kai understood that when his mother told him the laws of the Republic only protected you if you were worth it, it was meant literally.
We are being fucked over and we have no voice in the matter.
* * *
Two weeks of frenetic activity with lots of tears and goodbyes followed.
Keandra threw more than a few fits, swearing they would pay for it. Kai had wanted to do the same, but his parents had enough to worry about without him throwing tantrums. He silently cursed the governor and all his cronies, while keeping an eye on Keandra and Eleni to let them rant to their hearts’ content.
Not only did they have to leave their homes, but they were also getting divided into five groups, only two of which would stay on Yatol. After many discussions, Kai’s family was assigned to one of two groups heading to Yanlun, the largest island of the Baquaire Archipelago.
They weren’t going to Higharbor on the north-east coast, but to Greenside, a smaller town on the southern tip of Yanlun. From what his parents knew, it wasn't a very notable town, but it must have expanded recently to have survived the culling of smaller settlements.
His friends’ families were also going to Yanlun, but they were part of the other group that would be going to Higharbor. He was going to be stuck in Greenside alone. Hopefully being on the same island meant they could still see each other.
On the dawn of the 14th day after the announcement, a group of envoys from the Republic showed up. They were led by a woman with a cold smile, who sported a silver hawk on her uniform. The rest of the entourage was made up of stern-looking enforcers in black with white crests and other officials in gray uniforms with black crests. Kai didn't care about the different ranks of officials and neither did they care to explain.
The woman presented herself as deputy Marlyn and immediately started directing the groups. She seemed used to ordering people around and expected them to follow her schedule to the letter.
Amidst disgruntled comments and a rain of angry glares from the villagers, who made a point of taking their time for the final goodbyes, the exodus began.
That was all the leeway they could afford. The row of enforcers stood menacingly as a reminder of the violence the Republic could unleash if they didn’t comply.
They were about to abandon their homes and most of their possessions and there was nothing to be done. They were powerless.
The three groups leaving Yatol were led to the beach, the tide was high—likely the reason why they had been given two weeks to prepare. Two large ships were waiting in deeper waters, while a squad of six smaller vessels ferried people back and forth.
To deputy Marlyn's great annoyance and his satisfaction, it was well into the afternoon when they were finally ready to set sail.
Kai’s family boarded the bigger ship heading to Yanlun. He had learned a couple things about navigation from the sailors, but the small rafts they used to fish had little in common with this three-masted ship. Its white sails proudly displayed the blue soaring hawk of the Republic.
They really like putting that on everything.
To their great fortune, deputy Marlyn came with his group. They were piled one on top of the other, told to stay put and not to annoy the crew. Yanlun wasn’t too far from Yatol, if they were lucky, they would get there in a day and a half.
Kai had seen a map of the Baquaire Archipelago in Elder Ruan’s house, but he wasn’t sure how accurate it was. Alana promised him they would do a tour of Yatol when he was older. That was one more thing the Republic had taken from him.
He had truly thought he lucked out in this life, but no matter how hard you want to believe something, it doesn’t make it true. His home was being destroyed and he couldn’t do anything about it.
He tried hitting the floorboard of the ship, but it didn’t make him feel better, his hand just hurt like hell.
With almost a hundred passengers plus the sailors, there wasn’t space to move or anything to do except stare at the endless blue expanse.
As they left the shallows, Kai saw many big dark shadows moving under the surface, but they stayed clear of the ship to his great disappointment.
Even the weather seemed to spite him. While his life fell to pieces, the sun shone brightly overhead, and the sea was calm. Now he would have preferred storm and thunder. The quietude of it all was unbearable.
He knew all too well that life wasn’t fair, but then why did it still sting all the same every time fate decided to punch him in the face?
He wanted to scream and throw the tantrum of the century, but even now his dumb brain couldn’t help but think of the consequences. Best case scenario someone would beat him up till he shut up. Worst case, his parents got caught in the middle and things escalated.
Stupid brain!
He was about to try punching the ship one more time, when his friends came to sit beside him. The twins tried to crack a joke, but he wasn’t in the mood. He knew he should say something to make them feel better, but he couldn’t find the will to think about it.
Lou sat beside him in silence and gave him a hug. “I’m gonna miss you,” he mumbled.
Kai was stunned for a moment. It didn’t take long for Ana to join in, she still had big red puffy eyes from all the crying. This was going to be the last time they saw each other in a long while. But what should he say? That everything was going to be fine? He didn’t know that.
The twins played it cool for a few more moments, before joining the group hug. Nothing more needed to be said.
I did luck out, only not for long enough.
They had already said their goodbyes in Whiteshore, now they sat in silence staring at the ocean. He was going to miss them, but at least they would have each other. They all fell asleep in a small pile fighting for the two blankets they shared.
Opening his eyes, the next day his body protested the rough floorboard, and he wasn’t the only one. The villagers were getting crankier, only kept in line by the presence of the enforcers.
Judging by the few snippets he understood from the sailors' weird jargon, they were going to reach their destination before dusk today.
The waves were calm as was the norm in the Shallow Sea, another beautiful day to travel if you disregard literally everything else. Luckily for him, he had four grumpy children to take care of. Three more than enough to keep him busy.
An irritating duty any other time turned into a welcomed challenge to keep his mind off depressing thoughts.
Somehow the day passed both too fast and too slow. Kai had the awareness to understand this was the bleak end to an important part of his second life. Who knew what the next step would bring, but he wasn’t too optimistic.
They reached their destination a little after dusk. They should be more than close enough to see Yanlun, but the clouds shrouded the moons with darkness. A string of lights in the distance was the only visible sign of their new home, Greenside.
Kai was at least glad he would get the chance to stretch his legs.
“Everybody, listen! Deputy Marlyn is going to make an announcement and she won’t repeat it.” An enforcer yelled, making more than one person jolt from their sleep and complain out loud.
Waiting a few seconds for people to quiet down, Marlyn stepped forward. “We have reached our first stop, Greenside. Since the hour is late, you’ll be spending the night on the ship and be led to your new accommodations in the morning.”
Fuck my life!