Searches

originally posted November 12, 2006

A few fellows auditioned for the role of Agamedes this past week, but I have yet to find the right man for the role. In Phineahas, I have the proper wit and timing to carry off a believable Julian, but there is a certain quality to Agamedes that has, to this point, eluded those auditioning for the role. He is a tortured soul, filled with angst, and at a point in his life when he must make difficult decisions. A fork in the road, so to speak, that must be addressed. He cannot turn back. He cannot wait. He must choose. At a desperate ahn, he must secure the straps of his shield, loosen the sword in its scabbard and march forth. The difficulty in playing such a role is maintaining believability in the face of the antagonist Julian. Julian has the ability to 'steal' the production and, in the first run of this production, in Venna, Nikos of Tyros did so. To the dismay of the arguably more skilled Locutius, Nikos won the favor of the Vennan audiences. So much so that when the play opened to audiences at the En'Kara Fair, Locutius usurped the role of Julian from Nikos. It will be difficult to cast the role, but I am confident it can be done. I think the decision to send Mathor forth with Tasta was a sound one. It has been about a hand since the first girl of the Boarding House was given her task and I have not, as yet, heard word from Samos of Port Kar. There has not been a further deposit in my account on the Street of Coins either. I do not know when I will hear from Mathor, but I do not suspect it will be soon. The scent of the slave being fetched is on both roads leaving my city and, too, in every major city in its vicinity. While I cannot imagine she will be found in any of these cities, Mathor will have his work cut out for him, deterring her from the many false leads they are bound to come upon. In the days before he left, we spoke at length about where she would likely have been delivered, assuming she was not simply executed when she had outlived her usefulness.
"She will not be within the boundaries of Ar," I posited.
"It is a large city," Mathor countered. "It would be a bold stroke to hide the woman 'in plain sight' so to speak."
"It would," I agreed, "but she would not be able to hide within the city for long before she might be recognized"
"Her appearance could be altered," he countered.
"Not to the sleen," I said. "Granted," he agreed.
"For this reason," I said, "I do not think she will be in the vicinityof Ar. Not in Torcadino. Nor Venna."
"That is a reasonable assumption," he concurred.
"Were I Samos, I would put her in the Tahari. Or Turia. I might sell her to the Wagon Peoples, even," I said.
"She is quite fair," he remarked. "She would stand out in such places. She would be easier to find than, say, Nirah or Emily."
"I had not thought of that," I admitted. "She is most likely north of the Vosk."
"And south of Kassau," he said assuredly.
"South of Kassau?" I asked."Her skin is very fair, which would serve to conceal her well, but certain features of her physique are less than common for a slave girl serving bond in the north," he explained.
"Ah," I understood then. Her bosom, while perky, was hardly that of a bond maiden. "She will not be in Thentis," I said.
"No," he agreed.
"Ko-ro-ba?" I mused.
"Possibly," he agreed. "She might have been taken to any of the cities along the Roads of Clearchus or Cyprianus."
"What of the Vosk towns?" I offered.
"Not Jort's Ferry, but perhaps cities west of there," he answered.
It made sense. Jort's Ferry was on the Pilgrim's Road, the path to the Sardar. Too, it was known that we were in the city of Lara quite recently, which is east of Jort's Ferry. For that reason, we did not think she would be in Vonda or Port Olni either.
"There are many cities west of Jort's Ferry. Point Alfred. Jasmine. Victoria," I said.
"Sulport. Hammerfest. Port Cos," he nodded, naming more.
Through supposition, we had narrowed his search considerably, but it was by no means an easy task. We had not mentioned the Barrens. Or Cos. Were she in such places, it would be nearly impossible to retrieve her. White men are discouraged, quite emphatically, from traveling in the lands east of the Thentis Mountains. Men of Ar, similarly, are discouraged from trodding the soil of the land of Lurius. In any case, I will have my property returned.