by Shane Cogan
She does indeed possess the same ability. I hear it deters and disturbs the other males greatly on the planet. Is she really like her Father? Only a few of the Yarracullans can do this. And it was Vanguard policy not to use this during our meetings.
Kassobra shifted her eyes away from the Kings gaze and twitched in her seat. Taking in a deep, slow breath she moved back to sit upright. She felt the King now was uncomfortable with her presence. She noticed that Tiffin had started to draw the King away from the table and out of the great hall. He stopped and glanced over his shoulder, looking only at Kassobra. He said: ‘What do you mean by no longer with us?’
She thought hard before replying and even glimpsed again at the rest of the Vanguard for assistance. None came. ‘I mean, your children were taken from us almost ten years ago. I’m sure today’s events have just made you forget that,’ she said.
The King carefully collected his thoughts and said, ‘Of course, I remember now. I do apologise. Indeed, you’re right; today’s events have just brought that day back to me and clouded my choice of words. I am also in much need of sleep to ease my worry and thoughts. Please excuse me. Let us re-convene at a later time. Again, I apologise to all of the Vanguard for my unusual trail of thought.’
As the King left the room, the Vanguard remained behind.
‘Did he really mean that?’ asked Flylo. ‘I am hoping that his last comments were actually real and not just a quick correction for his mistaken outburst earlier? Surely, he must realise they are long gone, likely dead at this late stage?’
Collectively they needed to react and hoped for someone to take the lead, but everyone was again silent on the matter. Finally, someone spoke up and suggested a solution. It was Wormblack.
‘This is a very serious development, and we simply cannot avoid the issue. We must act quickly,’ he said. He paused and then added, ‘Perhaps one of us should speak with his brother and most loyal friend, Samarth?’
‘Indeed, Samarth is greatly respected and held in high esteem among the Vanguard and in all high political circles in Atis,’ Fing replied.
******
Aluum felt the need to find out when the light outside the cave vanished and when it appeared. And sensed this would be useful to determine when to go outside, and when to return to the cave. Aluum had already divided this time into light and dark periods, when both together, being what Aluum called ‘a full circle’. There had been a few light times since the spider lesson. No more dreams had come to Aluum in the meantime. The spider lesson had taught me a lot and I need to put these into practise. Aluum continued to drink from the falling water pool, but kept recalling the spider and the small creature trapped in the web. I also feel the need to find a small creature and put it into my own mouth, as I feel that my body needs it. Each time Aluum thought of putting something into its mouth, a strange noise came from the stomach.
Light became dark and dark became light. Aluum kept a mental note of each period. And noted that it took the spider a short part of the light period to complete its work and that there were ten of these web making times in the light period, and ten in the dark period. Aluum thought it was about the same time it took to climb from the surface area to the cave. Based on this, Aluum could go outside for about ten web times; be safe, could look around, explore and be back in the cave before the dark period arrived.
It felt uneasy in the dark period and rarely went outside during this time. The cave’s floor area was full of small hard objects, and Aluum placed one of these near the entrance each time after coming from back from outside. It decided that each of the small hard objects would represent a combined light and dark period. Upon returning back to the cave after another visit outside, Aluum noted there were now four pieces at the cave’s entrance. It placed one more and entered its shelter. Aluum spoke to the spider, as had become the custom each time it returned to the cave.
‘How was your light period? Any other creatures come into our cave?’ Obviously there will never be a reply, but it feels like a friend and we need each other. Exhausted, after yet another long walk outside on the barren dusty landscape, Aluum began the pre-dark period ritual of drinking from the water, splashing lots on its body, and then resting on the large hard surface of the cave. After one final talk with the spider, Aluum closed its eyes and feel asleep.
‘I see you’re making huge progress following your spider lesson, Aluum,’ a voice said. Not knowing at first where the voice was coming from, Aluum realised it was the guide. However, its tone seemed different.
‘Yes, I have learned a lot. I have tried also to capture a small creature, but I have not been able to make a web in order to do so.’
The guide asked, ‘So you think it is important to also eat small creatures in order to keep going? Is the water not enough?’
‘Eat? What do you mean by eat?’ Aluum asked.
‘You have learned the water is needed for your body in order to survive in the heat outside the cave. You have taught yourself this. The spider, as you may have noticed, does not join you at the water pool. It manages to get its water in other ways, but eats small creatures, or what we call ‘food’, in order to survive. This is your next lesson, Aluum,’ the voice said.
Aluum replied, ‘Yes, this food you speak of… it’s the small creature, and I have been looking for it outside. I realise I need to put this in my mouth. You call this substance, food… but where can I find it?’
The guide told Aluum that the food it needed was not in the cave, as it was too dark for anything to grow. The guide explained to Aluum that there was food growing outside the cave, but it needed to walk a long distance to find it.
‘What does this food look like?’
‘It is mostly green, but also red, brown or any other colour. You will know the moment you see it. Look for other creatures, similar to the spider. Watch them carefully. Study what they eat, drink and where they sleep. They will teach you,’ the guide replied.
‘So I need this food and I eat it through my mouth?’ Aluum asked.
‘Yes,’ replied the guide. ‘The food will give you strength; it is needed for your body to be strong. Your body is very weak now, Aluum. That is why you sleep so much. That is why you feel weak. That is why your body feels cold in the dark. You need the food to keep you warm. Go find some food. Leave the cave. You have learned all you can from the spider and it will not miss you. Search the planet for answers and watch the other creatures. Follow what they do.’
Aluum had so many more questions, but did not know where to begin. ‘This light-dark period that I keep seeing, is it important?’
‘Yes, these are called days, one half being night and the other being day, and you have been very smart in using the small stones to calculate each day and each hour. Now count them, using the fingers on each of your hands. For example, you have now been in the cave for five days. Do you understand?’
Aluum hesitated, while looking at its hands and then counting each of the fingers and said, ‘Yes, yes. This makes sense.’ Aluum was growing confident in the dream and wanted to learn more from the guide. ‘Who are you? I need to know this. Why you are my guide?’
‘All in good time. You have much to learn, my dear friend. Your journey on this planet has only just begun and I can only act as a guide. Don’t you remember what I told you in the last dream?’
As if finding its new purpose, Aluum asked the guide, ‘If we can speak to each other, using these words, how come the spider cannot? Am I the only thing different on this planet to the spider? Where are the other things that look like me?’
‘I never said there were other beings like you on this planet.’ The guide went silent briefly. ‘But I never said there were not beings or entities like you either. You will need to find them, as I have told you. The words from your mouth come from a language, similar to the numbers I told you to use on your fingers. It is called a tongue, a language, or a form of communication. You need to rest properly now. No more dreams and no more lessons f
rom me. Sleep, Aluum, and awake fresh with all you have learned. Repeat all the important words I have mentioned to you before you go deeper into sleep. And do this each time after we speak and you will remember them after you wake up. This is crucial’.
Aluum drifted into a deep sleep, but not before the words ‘day’, ‘night’, ‘food’, ‘stones’, ‘people’, ‘tongue’ ‘communication’, ‘cold’, ‘warm’ had being repeated in its mind over and over again.
Aluum slept soundly and did not wake again until the daylight appeared.
C H A P T E R 7
Wormblack
Wormblack yawned. Fully dressed, he rubbed his eyes as he glanced out of his east-facing study room towards the rising sun in the distant. He could see all the other houses below dim their lights. One by one, each house light clicked off, as the sun began to rise – just like every other day before. Little do they know, as they rise for another Atisian day. Nothing. I envy their ignorance. He needed to think clearly and fast. He could hear his wife moving around in the dining area downstairs, preparing the morning breakfast. She rarely disturbed him if he was in such a mood, so he took the opportunity to do what was needed. The previous day’s meeting of the Vanguard and the issue of the King’s missing wife were all he could think of all night.
Why did he bring the issue of the children up again? Did he suspect something?
Wormblack started to search through his precious library, book by book, shelf by shelf.
‘Where is it?’ he snarled. ‘Damn it, my mind is not what it is used to be. I cannot remember where I put it,’ he muttered. He ripped the top shelf down with a purpose. He then proceeded to the next shelf and then the next. His face saddened as he saw each shelf fall away together with the contents of it. He had no choice, as he had to move swiftly and did not have the time to search each one individually.
A voice called from below, ‘What are you doing up there and what is all that noise?’ His wife was shouting up the staircase.
He opened the door to his study slightly and shouted back, ‘Nothing. Some books fell off the shelf, and I am trying to pick them all up again. I’ll be downstairs shortly.’
He heard his wife’s words, despite her moving away from the stairs. ‘You love your books more than you love your own family.’ She continued with the breakfast preparation.
Wormblack was a Yarracullan, one of the purest ones, he always told people. For the past 300 years, ever since the Tarracullan’s had come to power, his family had been on the Vanguard, at the insistence of the current King and his father before him. Wormblack was like most of the Yarracullans, around one and half metres tall, with most having the same physical characteristics. His fingers rubbed his tired light blue eyes again and he brushed back his brownish hair between his fingers. He looked at his belly with disapproval, but felt he was still in good shape, considering he was 95 years old. He touched the scar above his right eye with affection. He smiled as his finger ran along its deep incision. It had never properly healed, and he had refused numerous opportunities to hide it with the Atis doctors, loving the unique identity that it gave him. Almost a warrior look. He chuckled to himself. He focused his attention back on the destruction of his library.
Ten large shelves and their contents of numerous volumes of books lay scattered on Wormblack’s library floor. He reached out and picked one of them up and dusted off its dark cover to reveal an old picture of his grandfather. A tear came to his eye, as he fondly recalled the impact his grandfather had had on the Yarracullans and the planet’s political history.
He picked up another book and brushed off the dust to reveal its title, The Rise and Fall of the Yarracullan Empire: How had a technological giant been so soundly defeated? He held the book to his chest.
Wormblack looked at the ancient book and reflected on times past. He loved his planet’s rich history but felt guilty at his own tribe’s historical subjection over the Tarracullan and Manith minorities and, in particular, the dirty secrets of the last conflict. He knelt and wept quietly while looking at his grandfather’s picture.
‘This was our downfall. Our total obsession with the Tarracullans mixed gene pool, our own misgivings, our own horrid secrets, our endemic corruption, and our own filthy depraved lust for absolute power. It had to stop. Our reign had to cease, but why did my grandfather have to die in the process and pay the ultimate price? Why, oh why?’
A hefty clear tear landed on his grandfather’s image. Wormblack, realising his emotional state, quickly got up, wiped his tears away, and placed the book back on the top shelf. He snapped back into life and ridded himself of the emotional nostalgia, as he had found the key that he was looking for and proceeded to open the safe to get to its contents.
Past words and thoughts now flooded his mind. Wormblack believed in the current Atis. He believed in the peace deal that had given the Tarracullans the necessary power to rule. He consistently advocated for this, both in public and at all Vanguard closed meetings.
It was no secret, as most people know the history between my family and the current King. They know there is bad blood, certainly a lot had been spilled, but no one knows the reasons for these personal grudges. He hesitated, as the key seemed to get stuck in the lock of the safe.
‘What if I am wrong? What if the King is just tired and simply mixed the events up? No, I must do this,’ he mumbled to himself.
The safe was hidden behind an old chest of drawers in Wormblack’s library. The hinges groaned as the door sluggishly opened to reveal the contents. Reaching in, his small three-fingered hand grabbed the only item that was inside. His pulled out a black holder. He closed the safe and pulled the contents out of the black holder. Then he put a notebook and a small bottle of liquid into his bag and went downstairs to join his wife for breakfast.
To get through the imperial fence, one must bear an identity credential that bore all personal details that could be tracked once inside the city and again upon leaving it. Wormblack realised this was a problem as he set out to leave the city.
He tried to remain calm as he pulled up in his rented hoyden at the only departure exit, on the east of the city. The security guard asked him to provide his ID.
‘Where are you going? Will you be leaving the city for the whole weekend?’ asked the guard.
Wormblack had to dig deep to lie. He paused and replied, ‘No. I hope to return later this evening as I need to visit my sick father.’ A standard reply.
The guard studied the ID carefully. ‘Have a nice trip, Dr Stripuldum,’ the guard said.
‘Thank you.’ Relieved, Wormblack put his fake ID back into the small bag he’d retrieved from the safe earlier. He drove on to his destination without any further checks or interruptions. He had chosen the eastern gate as it had the least amount of traffic and the guards were therefore more docile. He estimated it would take him a few hours to reach his destination.
He parked the hoyden at a safe distance from the mountain houses and proceeded to walk the rest of the way. He was almost at the door when it swung open.
‘You took your time. I was expecting you yesterday,’ said the occupant.
‘A hello would have been nice, rather than a complaint,’ replied Wormblack. He took off his black boots, hung them on the hook outside the cabin door and entered the building. They looked at each other before embracing.
She seems tired, despite the mountains and the peaceful surroundings.
‘So, I guess we need to discuss our urgent point of business?’ she asked.
‘Unfortunately, as you may have deduced from your telepathic powers, the King brought up the issue of his children at the Vanguard meeting yesterday,’ Wormblack replied.
‘I had sensed this, but I cannot read their emotions, as you know. I need to know what the rest of the group are thinking.’
‘Nothing. Things have not changed. Everyone—and I mean everyone—suspect the children merely drowned in a river or in a lake that day. It has been over ten years ago. By all purposes
, they are presumed dead. Gone,’ stated Wormblack.
‘So what is the issue? Case closed. We should be discussing the issue of the missing wife. Why are we meeting?’ she snapped.
Wormblack pulled out his black holder bag and handed her the notebook. She flipped the first page on the book, then the next. She gasped and looked back at Wormblack and said, ‘Where did you find this? I though you said you burned it ten years ago? This is evidence, you foolish little man.’
Wormblack had lied. He had never burnt it. ‘It cannot be burned; it’s made out of the planet’s precious material, azu. If burned, it simply re-appears. I tried several different ways to burn it. There are reasons why such manuscripts are used and the paper upon which letters are inscribed. It’s simply protected,’ he said.
‘Why did you bring it here?’ she snapped.
‘Look at the fourth page. Look at the gene line that it illustrates. Look at who is specifically mentioned,’ Wormblack said, jabbing his smallest finger at the page.
She scrolled on to the stated page and studied the passages carefully. ‘What?’ she cried out loud. ‘How did they find out about my blood line?’
Wormblack was trying hard to calm her. He touched the palm of her hand tenderly. She responded and held his in equal measure. They looked at each other in silence. ‘We need to bring her back.’ He thought carefully about his next choice of words. ‘If this book is found by the King’s people, all shall be lost forever. Our plan, our vision, our history together…’ She remained calm while studying him. He was now very nervous and his body shaking. He asked, ‘Can you bring her back? Where have you sent her?’
She paused, then grinned slightly to disclose her stale black teeth. ‘Camellias is far from here. It is too late. The plans have been put in motion and she simply cannot be brought back,’ his sister replied.
