by Paul Lucas
Lerner's betrothal announcement was in less than an hour, when he would formally declare his intention to become my Mate. I had already made my formal declaration at the council meeting; now it was his turn. He was recovered enough from his injuries that no one would question his ability to declare such a thing with a sound, untroubled mind. I had to hurry. I secured the other lines for the wing, carefully threading the control cord to the anchor point next to the body sling. It would bend the wingtip to help with control when in the air.
I had told Feather I had a special errand to run, and that I would return in time for Lerner's announcement. She had given me an odd look, but said nothing. Though we had told little to anyone, everyone knew what Lerner's announcement would be. I had spent every night of the past two weeks in Lerner's quarters, and everyone knew by now what we did there. Surely, I imagined Feather thinking, not even Gossamyr would miss her Mate-to-be announcing their betrothal. But there was much more going on today than Lerner's declaration.
Our affair had of course been the talk of the entire community for the past two weeks. It had shocked and surprised many, but--perhaps thanks to Windrider and her unmovable opinions--most came to accept it as inevitable, yet another oddity in the strangeness of the past year. The majority thought of Lerner as a friend, and it appealed to many that he would officially become part of our community by Mating with one of our own. In fact, it became a fashion of sorts to compete with how accepting they had become of the human; of how this person had invited him to their quarters for an evening meal, of how another had talked to him often at length, of how still another knew all along that he and I were intentioned for one another. Most such assertions were merely talk, of course.
But some were heartfelt. Feather could not resist talking excitedly about my eventual Mating day and wanted to know every juicy detail about the intimate nights I spent with our human guest. Everyone had of course by now seen him naked when he bathed in the orchard streams, and more than a few had made sly asides when they had first seen his intimate parts. He was only average for a human, but humans were big by Myotan standards and everything was in proportion. Feather slyly mentioned her surprise at how I did not now constantly walk bow-legged.
There were those who spoke out against it, of course. Azure, Cloud, and their faction were most vocal about having this outsider, this alien, commit acts of abomination with me, a poor innocent victim in all this. But Windrider, and, suprisingly, Flier, now shouted down such opinions whenever they heard anyone so much as speak such words. To my adoptive father, the matter had been settled as soon as I had told them all of my longing to join with Lerner's spirit for the rest of my life. Flier, for all his gruff demeanor, was in truth an unrepentant romantic. He has stood up for other unlikely matches in the past where he thought true feelings were at stake, such as with Windblossom and the much younger Sharpclaw, and he would not back down now when prejudice would stand in the way of the true joining of two spirits. Especially when one of those was the daughter of his heart.
Oh, our chieftain had a long talk with me one night over the decision I was making. A long, long talk, not as a chieftain to a tribal member, but as a father to his daughter. He wanted to make absolutely sure I would be happy with my Mating.
I loved Flier dearly, but I never missed my real father more than when our chieftain hugged me good-bye that night.
So Azure and the others became quieter, or I should say, more subversive, about their opinions. No longer did they shout it to any who would listen but grumble or sneer hatefully to themselves whenever I passed by, or make sure I was "accidentally" bumped when carrying a heavy burden to make sure it sprawled to the ground. I endured their abuse in silence, unwilling to give them the satisfaction of seeing their efforts rewarded.
But Lerner intended this day for much more. He was worried too many now mistrusted him, and would therefore mistrust any other human they encountered. He was determined to come clean with Flier and the rest of the Elders after his announcement, to not only tell them of the gliders but to prove their worth to the community. And the only way he could do that was by demonstrating how they worked. In the air.
We had argued late into the night about his plan. He was adamant. It was his idea, his project, his responsibility. He would take the risks and pilot the glider. It was insane. He was still too hurt from Cloud's beating, and, human technology or not, he was not an accomplished flyer. He could quote to me a great deal of the mathematics of air flow and wind resistance, but he in truth knew little of their practical reality.
But I did. I was a much more logical choice to pilot the glider for its first flight. I was lighter, and had been riding on the winds since I was three. Plus, I had been there for every stage of the glider's construction; I knew as much about the machine as he did.
But he would not hear of me putting myself in danger on a untested contraption. As if that excused him to do the same!
But I managed to convince him to save the demonstration for after the announcement, which he promised everyone would be at midday. That would give me plenty of time to slip off to our test cliff, assemble the glider, and fly it home.
I snapped the last strut into place and at last my artificial wings were ready.
I pulled the large triangular craft to the edge of the cliff, bracing it perpendicular to the ground with my own weight against the winds buffeting it. My heart thumped in my chest. At an earlier time in my life, looking over such a precipice would have been preceded by a delicious anticipation of launching myself off and spreading my wings to catch the updraft. Now I was scared. Were I to fall, my wings would serve no more than to slightly slow my descent, perhaps just enough for me to merely shatter my spine instead of killing me outright.
The human-designed glider in my hands bucked against the breezes that slid past me. Would it truly allow me to fly again, or would it simply hasten my death?
I slipped under the glider, strapping myself into the flexible body sling, grasping the control bar and wrapping the wing cords around my palms. My reluctance to do this was silly, I kept telling myself. I had seen, many dozens of times, the wonders human technology was capable of. Surely this glider would be no different.
Yet for many long heartbeats I stared hard over the cliff edge, my throat parched.
I realized that if I did not go soon, I would lose my nerve completely. Trembling, shouting incoherently to drown out my own sudden fear, I ran to the edge of the precipice and jumped over the edge.
And fell straight down.
I screamed. My instinct was to spread my own wings, but I bit back hard at the reflex. That would have been disastrous, causing the whole rig to spin wildly out of control.
I had other wings now. I quickly shifted my weight to bring the fabric and hide wings above me to better catch the updraft.
They caught the powerful winds flowing up over the cliff and I was whisked up, breathlessly, into a vast ocean of blue sky.
The wind rushing past me, the ripple of air through my fur, the wisp of clouds and Shards that now seemed so much closer. The feelings were so familiar, so indescribably pleasurable. The skies around me blurred as I squeezed out tears of joy. I was flying! Great Spirit of the Sky, I was flying again!
It was not quite the same, of course. These were not my wings that filled with the breath of the Sky Spirit. But it was close enough. I banked right, then left, whooping in glee at my newly-reclaimed freedom among the winds.
I arced toward the Tower, its silver-black metal reaching impossibly high into the sky until it seemed to brush the Shards themselves. It had taken me hours to walk to the precipice where our glider lay, but it took me just a handful of minutes to reach our Tower's immense clearing. Below, I saw my people, mere dots against the green, clustered here and there, some spotting me and pointing upwards. Many youngsters took wing and flew up to me, to investigate this strange new presence in their skies.
They swooped close, Brightwind in the lead, gasping in astonishment.
“It's Gossamyr!" Cloud’s little brother shouted to the others. “Look! It's Gossamyr! And she's flying!"
They wheeled and danced around me as I slowly circumnavigated the Tower. They, with their natural wings, were far more agile in the air than I could ever hope to be strapped into this clumsy human contrivance. Still, I joined them in their squeals and laughter, grateful for even this humble semblance of true freedom.
I could have stayed in those skies forever, but I dared not. Reluctantly, it was time to end my flight. I slowly spiraled toward the ground. Many of the people of the community, who had gathered to hear Lerner's announcement, ran after me as I swooped low, chasing my shadow on the short green scrub grass below.
Lerner was in the front of the pack of followers, his long human legs propelling him faster than the others. I turned to smile at him, his words ripped away by the wind zipping past me, and that became my undoing. A sudden gust of wind blew across my flank, upending the glider and sending me tumbling out of control toward the ground. I tried to compensate and right myself, but the spinning descent completely disoriented me. The grass soon filled my vision, and the glider and I hit the surface hard, tumbling end over end. My chin plowed into soft soil, and I tasted more grass roots than I ever intended to in my life.
Within a heartbeat Lerner was tearing the glider's harness apart with his bare hands to get at me. "Goss!" he shouted. "Gossamyr, are you okay?"
I spat out a mouthful of grit and plant fiber. "Yes. Of course. I am fine, Lerner" I looked around me at the smashed wooden frame and torn fabric. "Oh, no! The glider-"
"Who cares about the glider! Stay still and don't try to move!"
“But I am not hurt!" I said petulantly. I tried to sit up, but Lerner held me down as hands roamed over my limbs and elsewhere, checking for broken bones. I was feeling giddy with so much adrenaline and excitement surging through me. I couldn't help but giggle at his touch. "Lerner, spirit-heart, now is not the time for such things, with everyone watching!"
Many of the people surrounding us exchanged amused smiles.
Lerner brushed my ankle and I winced, not at any pain but at the complete lack of feeling there. The human frowned and probed deeper. This time I felt a strange kind of grinding, not quite pain but certainly not pleasant, either. "Ouch!"
The human nodded. "That ankle's broken, I bet. It's numb now but it will probably start swelling and getting sore soon. Everything else seems to be okay." Without ceremony he effortlessly lifted me in his arms. "C'mon, I see Windrider coming up. We'll take you inside so she can tend to you right. Shards, Goss, whatever possessed you to pull such a fool stunt? When you crashed I swear my heart almost stopped."
"Wait!" I said as he took his first step forward.
"What?" Lerner asked, with some alarm. "Are you in more pain? Geez, I should have examined you better--"
"No, no, it is not that," I said. "What about your announcement?"
"Goss, that can wait."
"No it cannot! A female waits all her life to hear the words of betrothal from her destined Mate. Everyone is just about assembled, and I do not want to wait anymore. My ankle will keep."
"But--"
Flier and Windrider finally caught up to the main mass of people and pushed their way to the front of the crowd. "Gossamyr! Are you all right?" Flier cried incredulously, seemingly oblivious I was being held horizontally by Lerner. "You were flying! By the Sky-Spirit, you were actually flying! How?"
"It is a gift to our people that Lerner and I have been working on for many months. What I flew was just a test model. Within a few years we can have one for all of you." A collective gasp went up from the assembled crowd, the meaning of my words sinking in. Would it really be true, that they could fly again, as I did? "I will tell you all about it, in a minute or so." I glanced meaningfully at Lerner. He sighed like a martyr, well aware of over two hundred pairs of eyes drilling him expectantly.
“Okay, okay," he said. He then spoke the words, with all the community watching. The growing throbbing in my ankle was quickly forgotten as his speech wound down and he looked deep into my eyes, the crowd sounding a cheer around us, ragged at first, then hearty and deafening. They converged upon us, congratulating and wishing us the best in our life together. In the hearts and minds of everyone assembled, Lerner had truly become one of us.
And that was when Cloud tried to kill him.
FOURTEEN
If anything will prove to be the KN’s undoing, it’s not that we have too many secrets, but that we don’t have enough friends to share them with.
--Rebecca Iyeyasu, Outland Exploration Commission (OEC) Executive Director.
* * *
I heard the whistle of the arrow just before it sliced into Lerner from behind just above his shoulder joint, into the meat of his flesh. On a Myotan, the shaft would have carried right into the joint, making the victim lame for life, unable to flex his wing fully. A cruel maiming. But Lerner, with his larger human muscles, did not have as pronounced a ball-and-socket joint as we did. The arrow only sliced muscle.
I felt the impact shudder through Lerner’s body even as he fell forward from it. He dropped me, and I landed on the ground, rolling back several feet from the momentum, wincing at the new pain the violent jostling was creating in my own injured limb. When I looked up again, I saw Lerner sprawled on the ground, groaning and clutching his wounded shoulder. The wound bled, but not as much as I thought it might. The shaft itself must be holding most of the blood at bay.
The crowd parted to see Cloud stride forward with his bow, leading a small but well-armed party of hunters and sympathetic tribe members. The Chief Hunter was nocking another arrow. “We have had enough of this foolishness!” he yelled, eyes fixating on Lerner. “This ends now!”
Flier growled, stepping between the Chief Hunter’s party and their human target. “Cloud! What do you think you are doing!”
“What I should have done months ago!”
“I will not allow you to do that!”
Windrider joined him at his side, raising her hands high. “Nor I!” She began chanting a spirit-calling, one that would no doubt put an swift end to this rebellion.
At that moment all dozen or so of Cloud’s follower pulled out human-made guns. The lengths of dull gray metal and wooden stocks brought forth a shocked gasp from the crowd. Even Windrider’s chanting stumbled to a halt, her concentration broken.
We had all seen a gun’s ability, backed by the power of the humans’ technology. The superiority of the human way of making things had been imprinted into their minds in the past year. To everyone, even Windrider, Cloud and his group had instantly trumped anything the Chieftain or the Shaman could try.
I looked around, desperately trying to find some way to help, but I could not even stand on my own. What could I possibly do?
I spotted Brightwind close by. I beckoned him to me. Cloud’s followers paid the youngster no mind.
“Help me,” I whispered as he approached. With his awkward help, I began to haul myself to my feet.
“We traded these weapons from the last human helistat,” Cloud yelled. “See what the humans have kept from us? See what they wish to hoard only to themselves? They have so much power, and yet they refuse to trade it with us!”
Lerner sat up as best he could, hand trying to stem the streamers of blood from his shoulder. “That’s not true,” he gasped through gritted teeth. “We have always tried to be generous. We’ve given you medicine, food, farming techniques, tools, the gliders...”
Cloud strode up and picked Lerner up by the lapels. “Lies!” he shouted in the human’s face. “That glider is made of hides and sticks. Why not let us trade for airplanes? Or jets? Or helistats, for that matter?”
Lerner goggled at him in surprise. Cloud continued. “Oh, yes. Gossamyr is not the only one who can look at your human books. We know what you are capable of, what you deny us. Why do you do it? Does it make you feel superior, seeing how much you have and what little we possess in c
omparison? Or did you just think us stupid and primitive? Yet we certainly learned how to use your guns quickly enough.”
“And look what you use them for!” I shouted.
Some of Cloud’s followers turned angry looks at me and clenched their weapons tighter. I thought for a moment that perhaps my outburst would buy me a bullet in the gullet. Cloud turned to regard me, but instead of seeing his usual flint-hard anger I saw a look of almost-pity cross his face. “Gossamyr, please. Not one of us blames you for what you have done--”
Azure spat. “Like the dark spirits we do not. If it were not for her lust for this alien, she would never have led so many others astray.”
“That is enough Azure!” Flier snarled, but was quickly shouted down by the other gun-wielders. Cloud also yelled at the elder.
Azure was momentarily defiant, setting his jaw, but quickly acquiesced under the Chief Hunter’s unwavering glare. “Ignore what he said, Gossamyr. Most of us do not feel that way. You are one of us. But Azure is partially right in that your impetuous feelings has blinded you to what is really going on between our two peoples. Forget about your affair with him and come back to your own people, to the way things used to be.”
“The hell I will.”
“I do not know what ‘the hell’ is, but eventually you will see that I am right, Gossamyr.”
“You are right? About what?" Flier spat at him. "Trying to murder Lerner just now? You commit this kind of atrocity and you seriously expect any of us to listen to you? He has just given us a tremendous gift.” Our chieftain gestured violently toward the ruins of the glider. “One that will allow us to ride the winds as adults! And this is how you repay him?”
I turned to Brightwind as the males argued. “Take me to my betrothed.”
Slowly, haltingly, Cloud’s younger brother helped me to hop-step through the crowd. I would show Cloud. I would stand with Lerner even in the face of his guns.
