The Panids' Children_The Panids of Koa

by Lee M Eason

  The man kept on walking and was followed by six others. They roughly dragged two travellers from their seats and pulled in more chairs. One shouted at the innkeeper for drinks.

  Jac had stopped laughing angered by their treatment of the travellers. “UruIldran,” he lowered his voice noting the sharp Urukish features that distinguished them from Ildran.

  Gwen looked to Bryn, “The rider from the road.”

  Bryn nodded. “What brings them back this way?”

  “Two large bodies, just off the roadside,” Carrick guessed.

  Jac had stepped forward. “Whatever they’re up to they should show more respect to others. I’ll ask them to move.”

  “The two travellers have found seats.” Bryn put a hand on his shoulder. “They’re fine.”

  “That’s not the point. You don’t treat people that way. I’ll be polite,” Jac smiled.

  “You?”

  “Yes, me. It’s my other name.”

  Bryn gave him a weary look. “You’ve so many. I’ve lost count.” Bryn looked at the UruIldran’s, like everyone else they’d left any weapons with the innkeeper, as was the law in Sancir. He gave up. “Oh, go on. But don’t start anything. You always swing the first punch and then I have to rescue you.”

  Gwen pulled a face. “Is this a good idea?”

  Bryn shrugged. “Maybe a good thump would do him some good or at least let him vent some emotions.”

  Gwen wasn’t convinced. “Hasn’t he had a good thump already?”

  “Yeh,” Bryn said brightly, “And look at how much better he is.”

  Carrick turned back to the bar. “Time for one more drink then.”

  Jac ambled over to the table and pulled over a chair. The UruIldrans looked at him. He smiled back and pointed at the sign. “This table was set aside.”

  The UruIldrans continued to look at him without expression. Jac leant forward and picked up the sign reading it out in less than perfect Ildran.

  Carrick looked at Gwen. The three were now stood in a line. “What did he say?”

  Gwen was concentrating. “I think it was ‘this bed swims’, though I could be wrong, my Ildran’s not good.”

  Bryn finished his drink. “It’s better than his. I hope he doesn’t try anymore.”

  Gwen’s hand lifted. “No, he is.”

  One of UruIldran’s had said something to the others, they all laughed. A few more phrases where exchanged and the one opposite Jac stood up. “You think I am a dock?” the UruIldran spoke Koan.

  Jac’s brow furrowed in thought, “Did I? I meant co…”

  “Perhaps it would be good for you to sit elsewhere Cian,” the UruIldran’s accent was heavy.

  Jac shrugged. “No here is good. But you can stay if the travellers don’t want their seats back.”

  The UruIldran looked at his men. “And I suppose you’re going to make us move.”

  “My friends might help,” Jac pointed. “Though the big one said I should be polite.” The UruIldran looked over. Gwen couldn’t resist a small wave.

  The UruIldran’s face remained expressionless. “No. You will go,” he talked as if speaking to a child. “But your woman friend can join us.”

  Bryn had walked over. The UruIldran had to look up. “You could ask her yourself. But I don’t think you’d like the answer.”

  “Hallorn woman are always ripe for picking. She looks no diff…”

  Bryn’s fist ended the UruIldran’s sentence. Catching Jac off guard. “I throw the first punch!” he shouted in exasperation as the table erupted.

  “It’s a quiet place,” Kellim was telling Aaron and Jenna, “But the food is go…” they pushed past onlookers and stopped in the archway to the room.

  The innkeeper had leapt over the bar and was frantically shouting about damages. Other diners were making rapid exits carrying their food. Bryn and Jac were in the middle of an angry UruIldran cloud. Carrick and Gwen were stood at the bar occasionally ducking flying glass.

  Jenna and Aaron stood agog.

  “Dear me,” Kellim tutted, “this is like a night out with Meg, Halleck and Ollce.”

  “Should we do something?” Aaron asked urgently.

  “Yes. It will hold up dinner.”

  Kellim stepped forward rolling up his sleeves and headed for the fracas. The room became filled with the now familiar static feel that accompanied field use. One by one the UruIldran’s vanished until only Jac and Bryn remained, both stumbled as their respective opponents disappeared.

  “Gentlemen,” Kellim greeted.

  Bryn and Jac straightened, somewhat disorientated and stood breathing heavily, still glancing round the room.

  Jac raised his hands in mock exasperation looking at Bryn. “Be polite, he says. You always throw the first punch, he says.” Bryn had folded his arms, a bemused expression on his face. Then Jac turned to look at Gwen who had walked over to Aaron and Jenna. “I hope you realise that was all your fault,” he pointed, a smile forming on his face.

  Chapter 6

  Jenna and Aaron were surprised the first time a sky ship scudded overhead and ducked as its bulk cast a shadow that rippled over the ground as it passed. It glided stately onwards, the air rushing through its sails and fins, a mere thirty feet above the summit of the hill they climbed.

  “That’s amazing,” Aaron sat on his mount open mouthed watching the vessel sail off in the distance. What it must be like to be on one, the freedom the excitement.

  “They’re so big,” Jenna said as she caught up with Kellim. “How does anything like that stay up in the air?” Jenna asked unable to keep her eyes off the 60-foot ship. Its strange, slender hull cleaved through the sky and masts supported an array of vast angled sails. At the back two sets of long horizontal and vertical fins kept the craft stable and allowed it to manoeuvre. They were called sky ships but their resemblance to the sea going vessels was scant. The silhouette it presented from the ground was more like that of a wide sword.

  “They used to be a lot bigger,” Kellim replied wistfully. “But even the greatest of our sky ships were dwarfed by other wonders we created. The field once made so many things possible. As it is they are still a triumph of The Clave of Makers and their ingenuity.”

  Jenna seemed to be struggling with which question to ask first. “The field, well… the energy that’s used for all of this,” she gestured after the ship and waved her hands about as if she was trying to levitate something. “Where does it come from? I mean really come from. Orla would just say it’s everywhere, but I think she didn’t really know.”

  “Quite right too,” Kellim noted. “A bird does not need to understand the mechanics of how its wings work it just flies. Nevertheless…” Kellim could see that Jenna wasn’t at all happy about this answer. “…current thought favours the idea that the energy is contained in your bones, your eyes, even in your eye lashes. It’s present in that leaf, that stone, even the tiniest spec attached to a fragment of dust lying on the ground, all of Koa and of course the planet itself. In short it is as Orla said, everywhere. Everything contains energy, there to be tapped into and that is the field we draw on with our will. How it gets there we don’t know. However, we do know it’s all interlinked and we are able to manipulate this energy to affect the world around us.” Kellim straightened himself in his saddle. “There now,” he concluded rather satisfied with his explanation and nudged his mount forwards.

  Jenna sat for a while. Her mount took the opportunity to chew at some leaves it had been considering, flicking its tail lazily as it did so. She looked after the ship, now some way in the distance, as a waterfowl frantically flapped its way across her view.

  “What were you talking about?” Aaron asked conversationally as he reached her.

  She closed her mouth and considered her answer, looking from the duck to her brother, her lips pursed in thought. “You know, I have absolutely no idea,” she said finally.

  It had been several days since they’d left Leet and made the cable crossing over
the southern branch of the River Gort. Since then Carrick, Gwen and Kellim had taken turns to keep a constant check on the area around them. Bryn, Jac and Lewen had kept a sharp eye and Jenna and Aaron rode in the centre of the group. It had been a long, tense ride and all were relieved when at last they crested the hill and came in sight of the city of Mel Akor. This truly was a city, a rich city of grand buildings and wide avenues, a city of spires, of parks and bustling markets. But all were dwarfed by three immense port towers. They stood amongst them like giant stone trees, colossal buttresses transferring their weight into the ground. Each was a huge octagonal structure that reached two hundred feet into the sky. Their plateau like tops crowned by long wooden suspension bridges that jutted out at right angles, forming jetties for the sky ships to moor at. A cascade of ropes and cables hung from the towers’ parapets like vines, lifts transferring cargo and people constantly ascending and descending them. Around them large ships and small boats glided and manoeuvred like great birds.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jenna said shaking her head in disbelief.

  “It’s incredible isn’t it,” Lewen smiled watching someone see the wonder for the first time.

  “We’re actually going to travel on one of the ships?” Aaron turned to look at Carrick. “We’re really going on one?”

  “Yep. One of Bryn’s in fact.”

  “One of Bryn’s?” Aaron echoed in disbelief.

  “Oh yes,” Jac replied patting Bryn on the back. “Mr Money chest here has a whole fleet of them.”

  Bryn rolled his eyes. “It’s a good job I’m so patient and good natured and…”

  “Rich!” Jac grinned.

  Bryn muttered something and then shaking his head, set off at a trot down the hill to the city’s main gate. The others smiled and in turn followed.

  They worked their way quickly through the busy city despite Jenna’s habit of stopping to look at anything of interest. Aaron noticed a subtle change in the interest show in their progress, or rather that of Kellim’s. They had travelled in relative anonymity across many countries but here, closer to Hallorn, it seemed Kellim’s face was well known and his passing was noted with interest. The old man paid little attention occasionally nodding politely as a few individuals offered their respect. Eventually, however they reached the first of the port towers. The relatively narrow street they had been riding down opened out into a vast paved area that surrounded the base of the tower. Warehouses and administrative buildings edged the square. Aaron’s neck swivelled from one thing to another as he struggled to take in as many of the sights, sounds and smells as he could. The square was a mass of activity. Carts and people transported goods to and from the warehouses and tower, clusters of market stalls sold produce straight from the ships, passengers collected tickets and queued at lifting points and goods were being loaded onto platforms that rose at an alarming rate up the over bearing bulk of the port tower.

  Bryn and Jac were near one of the lifting points talking to a man in a smart uniform, the style of which Aaron didn’t recognise. “Who’s the man Bryn’s talking to?” he asked Jac when he returned.

  “He’s the second in command of one of Bryn’s ships. Our friend has several that fly between here and Naddier. We’re lucky this one is almost loaded and ready to set sail later today.”

  “I still think it’s amazing that Bryn owns ships. If someone had said guess what he does for a living that wouldn’t have been at the top of my list.”

  “Looks can be deceptive. He’s a very successful merchant,” Jac said with some pride. “Set up his business from scratch and built it into one of the biggest in Naddier and you’re right it wouldn’t have been my first guess either.” Jac looked over at him. “Wrestler perhaps…” Jac said with a mischievous smile, “but not merchant.”

  Aaron tried to picture Bryn without a sword, dressed in the rich attire of a merchant. The image didn’t work. “So how come he’s out and about with you and Carrick and everyone. Shouldn’t he be buying things?”

  “His sister does that. She’s quite a force to be reckoned with, scares the life out of me, but really enjoys it. Bryn got bored and went looking for adventure and boy did it find him. He Carrick and Gwen have been together for about fifteen years now, I think.”

  “So how did you meet them?”

  Jac scratched self-consciously at the stubble on his chin. “I wish I could say I rescued them from a marauding horde but the truth of it is Bryn removed me from an argument I was losing, badly,” he winced at the memory.

  “Losing?” Aaron grinned.

  “Let’s just say I got into an argument with two guys who thought they were being funny. I’d have won if their mates hadn’t joined in.” he seemed quite convinced by this. “And boy did I start losing. Bryn was there with Gwen and he came and gave me a hand at being more…err, persuasive.”

  “It was a brawl Aaron,” Gwen butted in dryly as she passed. “A bar room brawl. Don’t let him spin you otherwise,” she smiled expectantly at Jac and continued on her way.

  “Hmm,” Jac watched her walk away and then turned back to Aaron. “I was in the habit of getting into trouble a lot in those days.” He pulled at an ear slightly embarrassed by the admission. “I suppose you could say they showed me a different life. And now I tend to win more arguments,” he smiled.

  “Right folks!” Bryn shouted back over from the lifting point. “Let’s get going.”

  “I hope you’ve got a good head for heights,” Jac pointed at the platform and its lifting cables. “It’s a fast, high ride.”

  Aaron followed the thick cable up, craning his neck to see its end in the mass of wooden structures way above them and started to feel less enthusiastic about the whole thing. “Is it meant to wobble like that?”

  “You can let go now,” someone was saying. “Hey Aaron,” Jac’s voice was nearer. “You ok?”

  Aaron opened one eye in the direction of Jac’s voice. “Are we there yet?”

  Jac smiled. “Yep we’re there. It’s over and it’s totally safe.”

  Aaron opened the other eye experimentally and took a careful look round. No drop, just the lift housing around them and the open deck of the port tower stretching out beyond. Only the passing clouds and the lack of a horizon gave away the fact that they were some distance up into the air. The others were walking off the lift carrying their packs.

  “Seriously, it’s ok,” Jac said following after the others. Aaron released his grip on the railing and as casually as possible picked up his bag. Jac stepped off and waited for him. “See it’s just like any other port. But instead of sea we’ve got sky. You can’t even see the drop.”

  “Yes but it’s still there!”

  The deck was enormous and stretched off in all directions like a natural plateau. There were wooden buildings, small warehouses, cranes, carts and cargo. Amongst all this, people worked or made their way to and from ships. Some way off, moored to the suspension platforms that radiated outwards were several ships. They were like conventional ships in that they had a hull, deck, masts and sails, all of which seemed very delicate and slender but as he got closer to the nearest one he could see the hull was quite different, being shaped to allow the craft to travel through air and not water. The huge array of fins at the rear of the ship, were unlike anything Aaron had seen before and he marvelled at their design. Bryn was leading the others onto its deck and shaking hands with a man Aaron assumed was the captain.

  He was introducing the others when they arrived, “… and this is Aaron, oh and Jac, who of course you know,” Bryn added less politely. Jac lifted his hands as if to say what now?

  “It’s a pleasure to have you all on board sir,” the captain laughed. “Your sister will be glad to see you returned home safe. Though you seem to have had a rough time of it.”

  “His fault.” Bryn gestured. “What time do you intend to set sail?” he asked ignoring Jac’s grumbling as he boarded.

  “Before noon sir. We’re nearly loaded a
nd I want to make the most of the easterly winds.”

  “Good. Then we’ll get out from under your feet.”

  “The boy here will show you to your cabins and I’ll have you informed when we’re about to leave. You might enjoy the view. Sir, ladies if you’ll excuse me.” At that the captain took his leave and the young lad, he’d indicated, showed them to their cramped accommodation.

  After what seemed like a brief opportunity to rest they assembled on deck, chatting in twos and threes as the captain shouted commands and the crew sprang to activity. The gangways were hauled in and ropes untied. The call went out that the ship was free floating and the captain turned to his Master Conveyer. Aaron had been aware of someone drawing on the field and he could now trace it to this man. It was then that Aaron realised the ship was under his guidance as it slowly glided out into open air. Once clear he manoeuvred the large craft into the correct attitude, where it hovered calmly. He felt the Talent release his will; leaving the ship’s field engine to do its job. With a signal from the captain the ship’s array of fins were deployed; further orders sent crew scurrying to release ropes and climb the angled masts to unfurl the ship’s sails. At first they rippled and billowed in the wind but more orders soon had them under control and with a soft thud they caught the air and went taught. The ship lurched forward slightly, heading away from the port tower and out over the city hundreds of feet below. Once completely clear the captain issued more orders and the attitude of the huge rear fins was altered; the ship began to climb higher into the afternoon sky, picking up speed as she did. Aaron watched everything, making a mental note of the procedure and the commands that accompanied certain actions. His concentration was only broken by his sister’s shout of delight.

  “Amazing,” Jenna said excitedly as she turned to Gwen and Carrick. The view stretched for miles to the distant and faint horizon. “Absolutely amazing!”

  The rest of the day seemed to pass quickly and as night fell the stars came out, clear and bright against the deep of the sky. The air was particularly still and the night peaceful. The ship skimmed its way over a fog bank leaving a swirling wake behind it. Jac was leaning out on the ship’s side lost in thought, catching glimpses of the dark landscape way beneath them. Aaron walked over to him and was about to lean on the side but then changed his mind.