by Shane Cogan
‘But… but—’
‘No buts! It’s time we returned to the centre. Breakfast will be served soon, and we have a long day of learning ahead of us.’
Fareth tried to come out of his meditation but could not open his eyes. He felt his feet burning. Dust was filling his nostrils. An image of a red swirling colour moved in front of his eyes. He pulled his head back sharply and he opened his eyes. He sneezed. But all he saw was the palace garden full of flowers and green trees. He was fully conscious now and his heart beat faster as he rubbed his nose. He looked at his hand and saw that it was dirty. Recalling his earlier thoughts, he felt he had unlocked an important old memory as he remembered how he had challenged the philosopher about the rare purple stone, remembering that day vividly now, despite it being over a hundred and thirty years ago. It had slipped from his mind until now.
This had to have a special meaning.
‘I see you have returned to the meditation stone, my king,’ a voice suddenly came from behind Fareth. He turned and saw it was Samarth, his brother. They greeted each other in the Tarracullan manner of a shoulder hug and blinking the eyes. He motioned his brother to turn and they walked back towards the palace square.
C H A P T E R 3
Triple Moons
The creature slowly opened its eyes as it woke from the long, deep sleep. Its body shook violently, but it wasn’t sure what was causing these sensations. Its mind gradually started to remember a dream, albeit barely. It could touch, feel and see, but was unaware of how these senses were created or what caused them.
Slowly crawling off the rock that had held its body upright while sleeping; the creature listened to its bones crack as each limb and muscle snapped into place. Holding its back with its hands, it felt a sharp pain all the way along its spine to its neck and jabbed it with its fingers, as it tried to ease the discomfort.
Surveying the landscape again, the creature saw that, just like the previous day, there was absolutely nothing to look at except dirt, dust and red rocks.
The swirling clouds were beginning to break into scattered clusters, allowing more light to pass through. The creature had seen this a few times in the past and wondered if it was normal—semi-light and then total darkness. It felt a need to work out when this light appeared and for how long. Surely that would guide it when to close its eyes and when to open them.
The creature’s mouth and lips were completely dry; it remembered from the previous day that it needed to find the liquid to curb that feeling of dryness. It needed to find more water and fast, although the fear of seeing its body in the reflection again was still fresh in its mind. Perhaps there was another pool. There was nothing else to do except walk and search.
As the creature walked, it recalled the dream it had had while sleeping on the rock. There had been other creatures—similar in shape to itself—and large stone structures where they sat and made noises at each other. The creature felt these messages had some importance; that they were connected to why it was alone.
It continued to walk for many hours until it caught a glimpse of a few larger rocks on the horizon. Quickening its stride in excited anticipation, the creature moved forward. Finally, something new. Quickly the shape came into view and the new discovery loomed over it. Excitement made the creature shudder.
It seemed to be a large structure in form, bigger than anything the creature had ever seen before. It had very large black slabs all bunched together on top of another, all connected in some way, almost jagged in shape. Nothing else appeared around this large collection, except big black rocks. Nevertheless, this was new and worth exploring. The creature sensed it was safe to approach and walk on. It carefully put its foot on the first big stone to test what it felt like. Nothing new. No new sensation.
The creature put its other foot on another black slab. Suddenly confident, it sprang from one stone to the next until it was high above the ground. It climbed further up before finally looking down and feeling dizzy as it glanced at the red dusty surface far below.
The creature continued with its newly discovered task in the hope of discovering something new. It was getting harder to climb as the rocks had sharp edges, cutting its hands. The creature placed one foot in a hole and pulled itself further up. It was close to the top now. Suddenly it slipped and slapped hard against a jagged slab.
A dark, red liquid began to pour from its foot. The creature made loud noises and its face formed new expressions. One of the creature’s toe nails had come off from the fall. Suddenly, from the edge of its eye, it saw a new formation that didn’t look like the black rocks at all. There was a large open gap between the slabs.
The creature touched the open space with its hand. It could enter this. First one foot, then the other, and then its whole body fit through. The creature entered the space with a combination of fear and elation. It was inside a cave!
******
Fareth disliked this feeling of paranoia. His wife for over a hundred years, Camellias, was not answering him. He tried to recall what happened that morning, as she had decided to go on a day trip to the lakes.
Fareth focused his mind, but failed to see or hear his wife. He went in search of other forms of communication around the palace. ‘Nothing,’ he muttered as he tried the sensory mobile to reach her for the fifth time. Still no signal. That’s strange. This has never happened before.
He raced out into the large grounds towards the vehicles, looking around for a guard.
‘Get one of my Hoyden’s ready immediately. I need to go the lakes to find Camellias and the children,’ he yelled at the first guard he found.
The guard yawned and rubbed his eyes as he only heard the last of the King’s words. He rose slowly and stretched his body before finally acknowledging the King’s presence. Fareth moved closer to the guard. Calmly, Fareth looked at the guard, nodded and smiled. The guard, wide awake now, responded more rapidly and leapt towards the Hoyden.
While waiting for the vehicle to be ready, Fareth sensed a problem. His feet were almost dancing. He looked down. What was this sensation of heat and dust earlier in the day? But he quickly dismissed the thought as he saw the guard quickly moving about to get the transport ready. His body started to spasm at the thought of his wife. He gave another assertive glance towards the guard. I need to get to the lakes—fast. The guard was now moving much faster.
The moving vehicle pulled up beside Fareth. The hoyden was levitating a few centimetres off the ground, just higher than his knees. Fareth touched the black electro flashing stripe down its side before entering the vehicle. ‘Are you sure you want to use the hoyden today, your Majesty? The skies seem busy,’ the guard asked. Fareth moved slowly towards the guard, his head almost touching the roof. ‘We have no choice. We need to move at vast speeds through the air rather than being limited to surface travel. And what is your tribe name, may I ask?’
‘They call me Suffas. As you wish, Your Majesty’. The guard signalled the engine into power. Its engine purred like wind trapped in a small tunnel. They lifted further away from the ground.
‘Head for the lakes! Fast!’ Fareth shouted.
The guard stretched his long neck and arched his back. He reached above his head with both hands and pulled on the vehicle’s lever. The hoyden jolted backwards for a split second before being released at speed. The guard was still not fully alert. ‘Focus, Suffas. But calmly,’ Fareth said slowly, as the hoyden swerved this way and that. Finally, Suffas got it under control and slowly gained some height.
Fareth tried to use his telepathic skills again as the driver navigated his way through the traffic to reach the lakes. Other hoydens dotted the air, and other Atisians used vehicles closer to the ground. Fareth looked down as they went about their daily activities. He felt at ease, looking out the hoyden windows. He watched as other fellow travellers passed him by – some he could view, while others not so, as he gently tapped on the window.
Finally, after 40 Atisian minutes, Fareth reached the shores
of the lake. He jumped out of the vehicle and inspected the area quickly. Nothing. There was no one on the lake’s shores despite it being midday. He removed his cloak and left it in the vehicle. Puzzled, he quickly walked along the shore searching for footprints. Nothing of my wife or... Then he heard the guard shouting. Looking up, he spotted him waving from the other side of the shoreline. With each stride, Fareth’s toes flicked small white pebbles out of the way, as he hurried over to where the guard had stopped and bent over. Has he found something?
‘Look at these footprints, Your Majesty!’
Fareth looked at where he was pointing. There were two sets of footprints. One more distinctive than the other. I would recognise those footprints anywhere. Four toes on each foot.
‘And this. I found it by the shore.’ The guard held a metallic object in his hand.
The object was as big as the guard’s index finger. Fareth’s expression reflected that of the guard’s - astonishment.
‘This is impossible. We have not seen anything like this since… the great war,’ Fareth gasped.
‘But what is it?’ asked the guard.
‘It’s… a bullet.’
******
The creature peered around the cave, first upwards, then sideways, then downwards. The new space was not that large. While looking up, it saw bright light coming through cracks in the black rocks that allowed it to see in the cave, though with some difficulty. It stopped as it heard a sound. Then it came again, almost in the same pattern and always with the same interval between each ping. What was it? Where did it come from?
The creature crept closer to where the noise was coming from and then shrieked with joy as it realised it was the liquid it had seen at the pool. However, this time it was coming from above its head, from the big back rocks. It was dropping abundantly, and the creature stuck out its hands as it tried to catch the water that fell through the air. The palms of its scrawny hands were quickly filled with water and the creature started drinking to quench its thirst.
Satisfied, the creature moved around the cave for a further inspection. Its body stopped shivering and it sensed the cave was helping its body in some way or another. The red liquid had stopped flowing from its foot. The creature felt at ease here and looked for a place to rest. A large, flat rock in the cave showed through the dim light. With a sigh, the creature stretched out on the rock, relaxed and closed its eyes, almost immediately falling into a deep sleep. But it was soon startled awake by the sensation of something crawling on its stomach. It opened its eyes in panic and stared at a strange insect slowly moving along the side of its stomach towards its neck. The insect was the size of the creature’s hand and had eight long, thin legs. Orange and red stripes slashed across its shiny black body. It had dark eyes and a nose that glittered with some kind of polished substance. Paralysed with fear, the creature lay rigid, staring straight into the beast’s magnetic murky eyes as it crawled closer to its face.
C H A P T E R 4
The Vanguard
Fareth was rubbing his forehead with his large thumb. He glanced at his reflection in the large hallway mirror and saw that he was a paler yellow than normal. He put it down to his over-thinking. He had not seen his wife now for over two days, despite repeated attempts at various forms of communication. She had all but vanished, he thought. Not even his most esteemed and trusted palace personnel could find a trace of her whereabouts in or around the revered great blue lakes. His head fell, and his eyes closed as he thought of her.
The lakes had been drudged five times, but nothing had come up, except for some metal debris. Not even the bones of any form of an animal had been found in the lakes, which surprised him greatly and he wondered what lay at its depth. He had also not slept since her disappearance. He had done nothing but to think and evaluate every word of the last conversation they’d had before she’d departed for the lakes, in the hope of some form of a clue. Nothing had materialised from all the searches. Everything drew a blank. Now he was beginning to feel nauseous at every thought. His attempts at establishing a core security team failed, due to a lack of experience on the subject.
He had no choice but to call an emergency meeting of the wise elders from the respected Vanguard. He shook his head at the very thought. He cast out other thoughts and only focused on his Tarracullan wife and children.
Her face was the picture of beauty that was befitting of any queen. My Queen. She had few enemies, if at all, so who could do this and why now? Fareth snapped out of this train of thoughts and prepared for the mental tasks at hand. He was in no rush. His steps slowed as he carefully thought about the imminent meeting and the Vanguard.
Words were crucial at this stage. They will quiz every aspect of our life.
The Vanguard comprised of six elderly men and women, equally balanced in gender. They were carefully selected by the kingdom’s leader. They served as both a council and an executive that offered advice and guidance to the leader. While Atis had a small senate of representatives elected by its people, it was in the Vanguard where real power rested.
Fareth glanced around as he said a few words as each member of the Vanguard took their seats in the great hall of the palace. They listened carefully to what Fareth The Great had to say, and the emergency meeting commenced.
Flylo spoke first. He asked for specific details regarding the last conversation Fareth had with Camellias. ‘What was she wearing?’ he enquired. ‘What was the tone of her voice when you last spoke?’
‘What does it matter what she was wearing? She has vanished,’ Fareth replied.
‘Everything,’ Flylo stated. He was a sucker for small details on every single issue, whether it was relevant or random. At 70, he was the youngest member of the Vanguard.
Fareth stared at Fylo as he listened attentively to what the dwarfish male was saying. Fareth had not paid much heed to his physical make-up before but noted his hunched back and extremely long neck that was out of proportion with the rest of his body. Flylo’s physique is not the envy of the kingdom, but he was extremely sharp on Atis political affairs.
Flylo repeated his first question. The other five members of the Vanguard agreed with him that this was an important first basis upon which to start the discussion.
‘Very well, but I have gone over this a million times in my head and it is always the same,’ Fareth replied.
‘Not with us,’ Fylo interrupted. ‘Every single detail, if you do not mind. We shall try not to interrupt.’
‘Yes, yes. I understand that it is important,’ The King said slowly. He began to tell the Vanguard all about the last conversation he’d had with Camellias, and described in great detail what she wore, what she’d said and her general mood of that morning in question.
He paused as he recalled that morning’s intense love making.
Should I really tell them every detail?
‘Camellias was a bit tired at breakfast, more because of a physical nature, I must admit. We had been making love rather passionately all morning. Uninterrupted,’ he added.
Upon hearing this, Fylo shifted in his small seat. His eyelids blinked faster than normal, revealing his full brown eyes.
Fareth continued, ‘She had been very hungry for my body, my physique, my tongue, my prowess and my, ahem, silver snake,’ he said.
‘Silver snake?’ one of the female Vanguard members, Tiffin, asked.
‘Silver snake is her pet name for my…’, but he was cut short again by Tiffin.
‘Ah, sorry. Yes, please go on but spare us the most intimate of details’, she said. The other members remained silent.
‘She insisted on every position that the Atis Love Volumes had taught us and wanted nothing less.’ ‘Again. Please your majesty, less details and more about her moods and actions,’ Tiffin asked.
‘Very well. She wanted my silver snake, sorry….’ Fareth paused and looked at the members of the Vanguard. No words. All eyes were on him. ‘It was like she wanted to be with me all over again. Like on the fir
st day that we had met.’
‘Okay, stop, we get the message very clearly. Our prodigious King is damn good at lovemaking,’ Tiffin stated. The Vanguard laughed at this comment, and it seemed to break the earlier tension in the room. ‘Please, continue telling us what happened after your love session,’ Tiffin requested.
‘Well, at first, we just lay in the bed, exhausted, hot and in awe at each other’s sexual endurance…’
‘Yes, we get the message, my King’, they all shouted at once. ‘Please, move on.’ They all sighed collectively.
Fareth went on to explain in great detail how the Queen conducted her early morning ritual of getting ready for the day. Only, on this morning, she got out of bed later than usual, when the sun rises over the Tarracullan lands in the East. ‘She wore a stunning light blue dress that covered her entire body from her neck to her ankles, but it showed all her curves and assets in all their glory. Her arms were not covered, and she wore her favourite necklace that I had bought her some years ago—the one with precious blue stones,’ Fareth recalled. He paused and took a sip of water from a jug that had been placed beside him. He noted that all eyes were on him as he drank from it and placed the goblet back down on the table. A slight ring echoed around the chamber as it was placed more heavily back on the table’s surface.
‘On reflection, a relatively normal dress code for the Queen, except maybe for the necklace, as she only wore that on days of absolute happiness,’ he admitted.
‘Must be all the intense lovemaking,’ intercepted Wormblack, another male member of the Vanguard. Fareth gave him a serious look. Seeing no smiles or hearing no laughs, Wormblack asked, ‘Any preference for shoes that morning?’
‘None. Her mixed genes of a Manith prefer to walk barefoot in the hot season,’ he explained.
‘What did she eat that morning?’ asked Wormblack.
‘For breakfast, we had the normal selection of fruit, soft bread and jackfruit juice. She had a good appetite and ate very well. We conversed well over breakfast and smiled at each other throughout the meal, as we fondly recalled the morning’s activities in our minds. Honestly, I had never felt so alive on that morning and I could tell she felt the same. We both seemed very relaxed, at peace and even more in love with each other on that morning. This is why her disappearance could not have been one of a voluntary nature. She must have been abducted,’ the King said, as the tone of his voice rose. His hands twitched and he placed them on his lap under the table.
