“That might work,” mused General Manitow. “One has a tendency to discount a ship that can only carry three or four people, but thousands of them can move quite a few people.”

“If we used the boats from Alamar and Tanzaba to transport the people fleeing this city,” mused Lyra, “the road would be cleared fairly quickly.”

“I don’t know about quickly,” interjected Temiker, “but it could be done. There are also many fishing villages between the two cities.”

“Once the road is cleared,” Emperor Marak added, “start the evacuation of Tanzaba. Move the people to Okata. We will need spotters along the coast to see what the Motangan fleet does. If they find Tanzaba empty, they may not proceed any farther along the coast.”

“And if the spotters see that they are going farther,” nodded Lyra, “we can begin the evacuation of Okata before the enemy arrives.”

“Exactly,” agreed Marak. “In the meantime, my ships will carry some of the refugees to Khadoratung to ease the food supply problem. I think this can work, but some of the small boats must be preserved in this area as well. We do not want to end up with all of our boats in Okata.”

“I know you, Marak,” Lyra interjected, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the Torak. “You are contemplating something else that you have not mentioned. What is it?”

Emperor Marak grinned and shook his head. “It is an outrageous thought,” he shrugged. “Imagine how much easier these evacuations would be if we had just one of Vand’s ships. “We could transport a thousand people to Khadoratung at a time.”

“What will Vand’s ships be doing after the armies disembark?” asked HawkShadow. “Will they stay and wait for the armies? Will they return to the Island of Darkness for more soldiers?”

“I truly don’t know,” conceded the Torak. “With the number of ships that Vand built, I can’t see the ships going for more armies. My guess is that the ships would be used to bring in supplies to aid the armies already here. I can envision a fleet of them making constant trips to Duran. Perhaps some of them would be detailed to make runs between Duran and the Island of Darkness. As Vand draws supplies out of Duran, those items must be replaced.”