“Right,” Jackle nodded vigorously. “Let’s go.”

The two boys moved silently along the alley until they came to the street. Kenda peered out of the alley and saw no one. He led the way into the street as the boys moved swiftly towards the well. The dense fog muted the sounds of the city, but they could hear the fisherman making their way towards the coast. When they heard someone coming towards them, they darted into an alley until the person passed by. The fog was thick enough that they never did see the early morning citizen. When the sound receded, the boys continued their journey towards the well.

They reached the well without running into anyone. The boys quickly filled their flasks and moved away from the well in case some early morning risers came to fetch water.

“I bet the ships don’t leave port until this fog thins a bit,” stated Jackle. “It is much thicker than normal. I can hardly see more than a pace in front of me.”

“It is early yet,” replied Kenda. “As soon as the sun rises, it will burn off quick enough.”

The boys moved as quickly as possible through the streets of Duran. Several more times they had to hide while a citizen passed by, but they never actually saw anyone. Only the sounds alerted them to the presence of others. Within half an hour, the boys had left the city and were crossing the farms towards the Wall of Mermidion that separated Duran from the rest of the Sakova.

Duran was unique in that it was the only Sakovan city that was inaccessible by land from any other part of the country. It occupied a small shelf of land between the Wall of Mermidion and the sea. The Wall of Mermidion itself was a towering range of cliffs that ran along the coast of the Sakova for hundreds of leagues. Duran was an isolated city, but most of the residents preferred it that way. They were a close-knit group that had little dealings with outsiders, even when they were part of Omunga. During the war, the city had been the first Omungan city to swear allegiance to the Sakova in exchange for the promise of food to feed the starving citizenry. Ever since, the Sakovans had sent shiploads of food to feed the people of Duran until they were once again self-sufficient.