Palatinii Cycle

by G'vonni Avner

  “Interesting,” was all that Katie had to say on the matter. She moved over to Tyson and brushed the sand off his shirt. “I never learned that in school.”

  “What do you ever learn in school on Earth?” Cyrus asked rhetorically. Katie wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

  Tyson coughed and nodded. “Thanks,” he said to Katie after she got most of his back free of sand.

  Cyrus started walking towards the trees. “Up here is a supply of food, water, and clothes. I had someone leave it hidden while I went to get you.”

  Katie and Tyson followed him. They ventured into the thick of the jungle, where the atmosphere almost immediately became much warmer and the moisture was so dense that the three of them looked as if they had been running for hours, drenched in sweat.

  Cyrus had a look around several trees until he found what he was looking for. The tree was no different from the rest; tall, vines hanging down like ragged ropes, winding down the trunks like snakes, and each tree dressed in large green leaves. This one, however, had a large hole that had been carved into it. There were four different sporty-looking bags, though they were made of something that resembled straw. Cyrus grabbed three of them.

  “This one will be for Katie,” he said, handing her a bag that had a slight pink tinge to it. “And one for me,” he said, placing a brown one by his feet. “I intended to give this one to John, but things didn’t work out that way,” he said, handing a black one to a guilty-looking Tyson.

  “None of us are at fault,” Cyrus said after noticing the look on Tyson’s face.

  Katie opened her bag and tried to distract herself. Tears formed in her eyes. She stared into her bag, not taking anything in mentally. Katie shook her head to snap herself out of it and took a deep breath.

  “You okay?” Tyson asked, concerned.

  “Yeah,” she replied, a little shaky.

  Katie looked through her bag to see what was in it. There was a pair of long pants, a few loose shirts and a jacket that looked like leather but had a different feel to it. She also found the oddest pair of shoes she had ever seen. They were an unattractive brown color, blended with uneven black spots. The material was thin but durable. The shoes didn’t go up very high, but the rims had extra padding around them.

  “You must wear the clothes I’ve provided,” Cyrus said, “If you were to show up in one of the cities or towns, or even cross paths with the wrong stranger, you would be attacked and executed, or at the very least thrown inside a prison. The people on this planet have a very keen sense of who and what belongs.”

  “So, essentially, you’re saying that we would be aliens,” Tyson said. “Well, just me, I guess.”

  Cyrus gave Tyson a look before nodding. “I’m saying that both of you are aliens. Katie may have been born here, but she grew up on Earth. She is no less of an alien to this planet as you are.”

  Silence stood between them for a bit. Even with what Cyrus had said, Tyson felt different. He felt separated as if he didn’t belong.

  “Well, where do we go from here?” Katie asked, turning to face Cyrus.

  “First, we will need to change. I don’t want you wandering off so we’ll just go behind the nearest tree and change here. Once we’ve changed, we’ll start deeper into the jungle to reach the other side of it,” Cyrus said.

  Tyson and Katie nodded and turned away from each other to find the nearest shelter.

  “Remember, we are in a jungle, and a lot of creatures dwell here. You two are also on an unfamiliar planet, so you will likely have allergic reactions to even the smallest bug bite. Don’t go running off to save your modesty.”

  He took a few steps and turned away as well, warning them, “Stay away from the large purple and red flowers. If you see one, get as far away from it as possible.”

  With that, Cyrus disappeared behind a large trunk. Carefully, Katie and Tyson walked off in separate directions. Katie stepped over a fallen branch and some loose vines. She was wary of the bluish-white flowers that floated in the air beneath the leaves.

  When Katie felt that she was obscured from the others, she dropped her bag and pulled out the clothes. There weren’t any shorts in the bag which Katie didn’t like as the jungle climate was boiling and humid.

  She wondered if she would have to change her undergarments. She sorted through the clothes and found a new bra, olive green and looked as if made from a reptile. There were no lower garments in it so she kept hers on.

  Katie glanced around to make sure she was out of sight again, and quickly changed into her new clothes, save for the shoes, and looked down at her body, checking herself out. The clothes felt light and comfortable, even nicer than Earth’s clothes. Though the colors were a bit on the dull side, Katie could see the artfulness in which they were designed and soon she realized that she would almost look normal if she were back on Earth. The only difference in these clothes was the material they were made of.

  Katie sat down on the stump of a large root. There were no socks in the bag, but the shoes looked comfy enough to wear without them. She took her socks off and placed them back in the bag with the rest of her old clothes. Katie slipped on a shoe. It too, like everything else she wore, was lightweight and soft. These shoes did not require socks to be comfortable. Even though there were no laces to tie, the shoes were a perfect fit.

  As she was putting on her other shoe, something stung her in the arm.

  “Ouch!” she said and slapped her arm. There wasn’t anything there. She tried to ignore it but the stinging hurt too much. It felt like whatever had stung her had injected a fiery venom into her veins.

  “Ow!” she said again after putting on the shoe.

  “Everything okay?” she heard Cyrus yell from a group of nearby trees.

  Katie looked up and almost screamed in terror. Six large wasp-looking creatures were hovering right above her. Each was about a foot in length. She saw one open its mouth. Katie thought she could hear an indistinct sound but was so unsure she believed to have imagined it. The wasp-like creature whipped its long tail around and hit Katie on her cheek. The same burn pierced her cheek as the other two stings burned her arm.

  “Help!” she let out a yelp before getting up, turning around and running. She didn’t make it far as she tripped on some overgrown roots. She lifted her head and saw a large, hardened leaf. It was red with purple spirals. Katie picked herself up, and with a brutal memory of Cyrus’s advice, she found herself face to face with one of the large flowers Cyrus had warned her about. There were four more nesting giant wasps in there.

  Katie held her breath. None of the wasps had noticed her yet, and she desperately wanted to keep it that way. But no sooner than she turned her heel one of them looked up at her. It started to brandish its tail. Katie noticed the yellow sap oozing out of the pointed end of the tail.

  “Aahhh!” she screamed and fell back. The creature’s long skinny tail just missed her. Then she felt arms lift her and found herself roughly pulled back behind a tree. She turned around and saw Tyson, who had a look of terror on his face. He too was fully changed into Narque clothes.

  The wasp-creature soon found Katie again and was buzzing midair in front of her, just ten feet away. Tyson stepped in front of Katie. The bug whipped its tail around, then slammed into a tree towards the side and fell onto the ground dead.

  Katie and Tyson looked up. Cyrus was standing there with a small tube made of dark brown bamboo.

  “Those are called Stagners. They are like overgrown wasps with long and slender stinging tails and they nest in those large purple and red flowers. Other than stinging intensely, the poison is harmless except in very large quantities,” Cyrus explained.

  “What do you consider to be a large quantity?” Katie asked, terrified of the answer. She was leaning against Tyson’s chest.

  “Usually five or more stings,” Cyrus answered, casually shooting the rest of the Stagners dead. “Three or four usually cause excessive swelling and extreme hallucinations. Anything less
than that is fairly mild or feels like a long-lasting sting. That is, as long as you aren’t allergic.”

  Katie rubbed her cheek and arms in the places that had been stung. She was stung three times and dreaded the possibility of having hallucinations.

  “I have an antidote here,” Cyrus said. He pulled from his pocket a small vial of thick, blue liquid and handed it to Katie. “Just dab a bit, very little, on the stings and soon the burning will subside which means that there isn’t any venom left in your blood.”

  “Thanks,” she breathed. Katie sat down against a tree and dabbed just a bit more than a grain of sand on each sting. “How will we know if I’m allergic?” she looked up at Cyrus.

  “I’m not as worried about you as I am for Tyson,” Cyrus said. “You’re native to Narque so there’s a good chance you aren’t allergic, even if you didn’t grow up here. Tyson is the one who should be careful. One sting could painfully kill him within an hour if he is allergic.”

  Tyson swallowed and cleared his throat. “I will be careful, then.”

  “Good,” Cyrus said. Let’s get moving. We still have a ways to go. Staying here won’t do anything except attract more Stagners.”

  Katie got to her feet and they all started walking further into the jungle. The heat of the sun blazed down and, even with the frequent shading from the trees, Katie and Tyson could feel the rays of the sun slowly burn into their necks. But the clothes they wore were light, comfortable and cool.

  For a few hours, they trudged over the rough, uneven ground and thick, overgrown roots that battled each other for dominance of the jungle floor. Katie was on high alert for Stagners, glancing around constantly with an almost wild look in her eyes, mainly for Tyson’s sake.

  Tyson was silent the entire time. His face was set yet his eyes also darted around for any sign of something that didn’t exist on Earth. Cyrus and Katie talked occasionally, which Tyson half-listened to until Katie said that talking made her feel tired.

  Now and then they would stop for a small water break, but otherwise continued at a steady pace.

  Soon enough, the bright afternoon sun melted away into a brilliant pink and orange sunset. They couldn’t see much of it but in the rare spots where the branches and leaves left a clearing above them, they could see the beautiful sky, like a painting one would stare at for hours in a museum.

  But before they knew it, the sunset disappeared and left them in darkness, and their only light were the stars and two moons above.

  “There are two moons in Narque?” Katie asked.

  “Yes,” Cyrus said. “Well, there are three moons, but we can only see one of them at certain, yet unpredictable times, and only in the northern lands of Narque. You could never see it here. We’re too close to the equator.”

  “Do they have names?” Tyson asked. Katie jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. Even though she knew he was there with them, she didn’t feel like he was there because he had been so silent.

  “The closest one to us is Dormita,” Cyrus explained. “The second closest is Taliah. Those are the two you see now. And the third, which always shines a royal blue color, is Ayza. That is also my daughter’s name.”

  “You have a daughter?” Katie asked.

  “Yup,” he said. “And a son. We named him after the exclusive comet, Koran.”

  “Koran?” Tyson asked.

  “Yeah. It is also the name of a river that runs through the Forest of Verdina. Its spring is in Viscar Mountains. They say the water has powerful properties because of the comet’s influence over it.”

  Katie looked at Tyson. “There’s so much meaning here,” Tyson said. “Back on Earth, everything seems so boring. We name things and places after who discovered them or fought for it. Nothing that means anything.”

  They walked into a small clearing. Many small vines had been separated from their trees and fallen on the floor. The heat and humidity felt the same, though more bearable without the pounding sun.

  “I don’t believe that the things on Earth have no meaning,” Cyrus said as he slowed to a stop. “I just think we have lost their meanings over the years, or people have forgotten them.”

  Cyrus dropped his bag and opened it.

  “Earth is a dying culture,” Katie said. “Art and beauty don’t mean the same as they once did. And if we’re not careful, Narque, I mean, the same could happen to us.”

  “True,” Tyson said softly.

  “One can always change that though,” Cyrus changed the topic abruptly as he pulled out his sleeping bag, “We should stop here for the night. We’re almost through the jungle. Hopefully, we will be out of it before noon and soon after that we will enter the gates of Ilon.”

  “Cool,” Tyson said. “Sounds like we won’t catch the worst part of the day. But can we have some food now? I’m starving.”

  Well, that explains a lot. Katie thought, though she did not speak, as she was hungry too.

  Cyrus chuckled. “Sure, check your bags. There’s food in there. And pull out your sleeping bags while you’re at it,” He said and pulled out a small, bright red fruit with a hairy skin that, other than its color, resembled a kiwi fruit more than anything else.

  Katie and Tyson obliged. Katie found a similar odd fruit in her bag.

  “What is it?” Katie asked, examining the hairs on the red skin.

  “It tastes similar to Earth fruits, and something else I can’t remember,” he answered. “They’re called Wella fruit. Don’t worry. The taste is pleasant, and they are good for you. Lots of vitamins and nutrients in them.”

  “Is there any meat?” Tyson asked.

  Cyrus shook his head. “No, I won’t do that to you yet. One, the meat would’ve gone bad by now and two, you both aren’t used to Narque yet so feeding you animals that we have here would probably poison you. Fruits don’t matter because they are relatively light. You’ll be eating meat in no time, though, so don’t worry. Just not today.”

  The fruit tasted like oranges with a hint of something similar to strawberries, Katie relished the familiar flavors. They ate in silence for the rest of the time; the only sound was that of chewing and slurping particularly juicy bites and the occasional rustle of leaves as something went by.

  When they finished eating the fruit, Katie and Tyson felt oddly full and satisfied. They both lay down on their respective sleeping bags and looked up at the sky. Hundreds of stars were visible. Most of them were sparkling white, but some resembled more of a pearl or a swishy mix of white and cream. A few stars glowed blue or yellow and one was even green.

  “Are they planets?” Katie asked.

  “All the white or nearly white ones are stars,” Cyrus said. “But all the odd-colored ones are planets.”

  “Are there constellations on Narque?” Katie asked.

  Cyrus looked at her, incredulity plain on his face. He had his arms wrapped around his legs. “Of course. Constellations on Earth were discovered by a native Narquian. He went to Earth and saw similar patterns in the sky, so he just brought over the names.”

  Katie continued to admire the night sky. She looked over to Tyson. He was looking up as well but turned his head to face her. He smiled. His teeth shone brilliantly like the stars above. Katie smiled too. He looked at peace and she felt the same.

  She looked back up. Cyrus soon fell asleep but for another few hours Katie and Tyson just star gazed. Katie imagined different patterns in the sky, making her own constellations in her head. She saw a shooting star.