Inside the site they were careful to only walk and travel along one path so as to not disturb what history might still be locked here. And even though most of what had been here was constructed of wood and had long disappeared over the interval of time that had passed, there would be other such things that would remain. But these thoughts at this time were the furthest thing from his mind. Sabohl would be doing something to take back this site so that he could claim it as his own. It had become obvious to Kal that this one was very smart to have been able to maintain his position of the learned and leader in his field and at the same time be ruthless in the background to maintain his leadership. So he really had no idea what would transpire and had to depend on Trehe who appeared to be experienced in dealing with Sabohl. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard one of Trehe’s team yell out that someone was approaching. Looking up from the log that he was dressing, removing the limbs and smoothing so that it would fit into the hole that had been dug, as it was to be the support for the gate, the one that the rest attached, he paused.
Leaning back and stretching his back and twisting his neck to relieve the pain from bending over so much, he looked towards the trail where any that came here would have to approach, and watched as Trehe and the rest headed down to the tree line and disappeared. He turned at the sound of approaching footsteps and saw that Jura was approaching with a questioning look. Shaking his head he said, “I don’t know.”
She came up and stood beside him shaking from the cold a little. “Getting away from the fires makes one appreciate them,” she said. For now she had taken over the cooking duties, not that she couldn’t have assisted with the building of the gate, but someone needed to do this chore, and right now to build this thing required brute strength and she hadn’t been blessed with that. So together the two of them stood looking over the tree line waiting to see what would happen. Turning once again and facing Kal she said, “I barely heard the yell, couldn’t make out the words really. But the others took off quick. You didn’t go with them?”
With his arms folded and continuing to look out over the lower area he said, “No, Trehe signaled me to stay here, so that’s what I’m doing. They didn’t look worried so I don’t know if there was only a couple of whoever it was or maybe something else. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Looking at her he could see that she was shaking so he put his arm around her. At this moment from the work he had been doing he wasn’t cold, but suspected that if they stood around too long that he would join her. “Why not head back to the fires. You can at least look over at me and I can either yell to you or signal to you what’s going on. Truthfully it’s no fun being cold and I have to say this makes me appreciate my ancestors much more if they faced this every Season of the Cold. Suspect that they probably spent most of it inside their shelters anyway. I know that I would.”
“Okay, I have to admit that I’m very cold just standing here. But, well, if you keep me informed I guess I’ll head back.” She gently pulled away from his embrace and reluctantly headed back to the fires. She had to admit that this place was so much colder than where she had grown up.
As he waited he found that he was beginning to cool down and soon he would have to join her by the fires if there was no sign of what was transpiring soon. Turning so that she could see him he smiled, although from this distance he didn’t know if she could see that or not, then signaled that nothing had changed. He turned back around to see Trehe emerging from the trees and with him there were now at least nine others that he had never seen before. Alarmed now, he turned and signaled Jura that he wanted to meet her and hurried in her direction as she did his. “I don’t know what’s happening but we have at least twice the number that we did just a short time ago. I truly hope that they are really here to help, because if we’ve been fooled there will be no way out for either of us.” This raised the tension level on both of them, but there was nothing that they could do to change it now. “It would be so easy for us to disappear and never be heard from again, and with all of this open land our bodies would never be found, and we’d just become what so many others have. Darn! I know I’ve said it before, but I almost wish we were back just working the bakery and ignorant of this, being warm and safe, maybe looking to the day when we became a family. Yet, here we are.” Shrugging and shaking his head he was silent. Why us? Why has things just gone this way? Was I so naïve that I couldn’t see this coming? Well stupid, obviously the answer is yes.
Jura remained silent she was at loss as to what to do. While Trehe had appeared to be just who he said he was, there really had never been any proof one way or the other, leaving both of them unsure. Sure everything seemed to be in order all the way back to when they began to contact them through the notes and bakery, but all of this had been beyond her and so subtle that it was well beyond her grasp. Were they now to be at their mercy, and especially she since she was the only female here, to be played with as these wanted? It was a scary thought, and one she wanted nothing to do with. But she was learning that one could easily walk into something completely ignorant and then pay the price for that ignorance. She looked at Kal and asked, “What do you want to do? It’s not like we could just get up and walk out of here. In fact with the ones who were here we were never really alone. There was always someone with one or the other of us. And now there are more.” Closing her eyes and grimacing, she quietly said, “I can only hope that what we’ve been told is true. Otherwise I believe that we are in a very big mess that there’s no way out from.” I thought that at the beginning of all of this we would be having fun, well in a sense fun. We’d be having an adventure that in our old time we could look back, tell stories about that time, and smile as we made the adventure seem so much more than it truly was. But now is there even going to be an old time for us? Are we going to leave a next generation to learn, to grow, and to discover things that we’ve never dreamed of? Or, is this where it will end for us? Well, I guess we’ll know shortly. “Let’s go back to the fire, I’m getting cold.”
Together with arms around each other’s shoulders they strolled back to the fires and sat down on one of the logs that had been dragged here for just that purpose and waited. After all, what else could they do? In moments they would have their questions answered, one way or the other, and in the end it probably didn’t matter since they had no control on either the answers or the outcome. They didn’t have long to wait as the much larger group approached the campsite and both of them could hear the pleasant conversation and some laughter that was being spread among the group. Jura’s ears perked up as she thought she heard some higher voices. Did that mean that they brought children with them? Now Jura that doesn’t make any sense, she admonished herself. Well, if not young ones maybe a couple of more females? She wondered why she had come to the conclusion that there was more than one. Since she only had heard the voices. The voices that was it. There was more than one. Hmmm, this could change that foreboding feeling I’m having. If they have brought other females then maybe it’s just as Trehe has said. She laughed inwardly at this conclusion. Now that really was stupid. Not all females have mates, or are nice. They could as easily be here just to service these males and make something for themselves out of this.
Jura and Kal didn’t have to wait very much longer as the combined group reached the fire. Along with the group came a couple of pack beasts fully loaded with supplies, and now counting all the new faces there were a total of eleven, making the group that was part of Trehe seventeen. They definitely were outnumbered, very easily could end up being prisoners, but as he looked over the group saw that there were three females with them. Okay what were they doing here?
Trehe looking at the two of them could see a little fear and a very questioning look. He smiled and said, “I know that this was unexpected, and I wasn’t sure that we’d be able to get them to come. That’s why I didn’t say anything to the two of you. But now that they are here and obviously made it I can bring you up to date. When the four left
to get those additional supplies, part of what they needed to do was to send out a call for help, but again as I just stated I didn’t know if we would get any help and would be left on our own. Again we’ll go over the introductions later, but let’s just say that the ones who joined us will help in the protection of this place, and begin the real research here. We need to do both if we are to establish this as an official ancient site.” He could see that Kal was about to say something and he held up his hand and shook his head. “Kal just let me finish please. I know it appears that we are trying to take over your discovery, but you did discover it, and all the records will reflect that. And we know, unofficially, that this is an important site. But until we can prove it by doing digs here, it is only conjecture. And to keep Sabohl from claiming that we took this away from him we need the proof as soon as we can get it. So this is why it was important to get these people in here.”
He looked at Jura, and continued. “Look I knew that once this group arrived that it would look very bad to you. After all you’re the only female here, so along with the request for this help I stated that you were here and because of this any who wanted could bring their mates along. I felt that it was important for you not to feel either so isolated or threatened by there only being males here, and having other like-minded females would help put your mind at ease. We really are who we said we are. I know that with some of what’s been happening, it’s hard to remember that. I hope that this helps put your mind, both of your minds at ease, and what we’ve said all along is the truth.” Trehe waited with patience knowing personally that having this go the way that it had that he would feel much the same way, have the same doubts, and of course, fears. While he wasn’t a female so couldn’t know exactly her feelings, still it had to have been real fear and worry. Had they been bad ones then she would be paying a horrible price for making the mistake of being here. In truth, no matter how careful one was, it was still too easy to step into something unexpected, and find one in serious trouble.
Jura and Kal looked at each other, and then Kal took a deep breath, again paused before speaking. “I know you keep reassuring us that you and the ones who are here are on the up and up, but it surely is difficult to believe it. Every time we turn around you’re surprising us with something else, some new revelation. Of course we’re on edge. What did you expect?”
Jura thought, I really am worried. What other surprises are they going on spring on us? “I really don’t understand this. Is the threat that Sabohl presents that great? After all he is only a male, and yes one of the learned, but only one person.”
Pausing before replying Trehe said, “One male, one person yes. But he fought his way to the position that he’s in. He is smart, and has no allegiance except to himself. He uses whoever he can, and when he has what he wants then he dumps whoever it was that helped him get that piece of whatever it was. And, not that you don’t already know this, he can and does put on a front of a learned that is willing to help any who want to learn, to find out things, to research to help unlock our past. Then he pounces, takes whatever work and effort that these did and claims it as he own. And he’s always looking for ways to cement his power and to remain the one who is the only information that will be accepted for the way our past is. A very narrow view of the world, don’t you think? But that is unimportant to Sabohl. Just as long as he has the power to shape things in the way he sees it that’s all that matters to him.
“Have you ever wondered why he has no mate, or companion?” Trehe looked directly at Jura when he asked the question. He knew that it was something that she had noticed, and had actually pointed out at one time. “Because, first off, no female could stand his selfish ways, his air of superiority, and secondly if he needs to take care of his physical desires he takes it from some adoring female in one of his classes, or delves into the underside of the villages and townships and gets a female that sells her services. From his point of view, that’s what a female is for, and that’s all she’s worth. He could have easily survived back at the time in our history where we only had the clans and tribes. In some ways he’s a throwback, someone out of time. And he fights to win, no rules but his own. Yet none of this can be seen from the outside, by his students, by our society. He appears to be friendly, always willing to lend a hand to help, one who only wants the truth about our past to be learned so we can truly understand where we came from and where we can go. Always willing to listen to a student, answer their questions, and direct them where they might find the answers.
“Yet, in the end, one only has to look up those he stepped on, and continues to step on to learn the truth. But even here he’s very careful to make sure that any of these victims are placed in such a way that they become ineffective and thusly not a threat to him, or if he sees that they can and will be a threat, well then through some accident or other situation they die or disappear, very conveniently and in such a way that it can never come back to him. We’ve followed his ties to the underworld, but he is so very careful. While we and our network are quite aware of his movements, his contacts, and his life, he has yet to slip up allowing us to catch him. And since he has isolated himself as he has it makes it easier for him to keep those slipups from happening. And while I know that this has been a long winded explanation, it was necessary so that you can understand why it was necessary to bring these others in here.
“If anything, Sabohl is consistent – predictable really. You see this isn’t the first site that has been found by someone else. But are they around, are they still alive – probably not. Once he has confirmed this or that discovery, and he has his ways of keeping track of what’s happening in the field as we call it, he has his underworld contacts come into the site, take it over, hold it, and then moves his own teams in, announcing to the world of this new discovery that he’s made. And you’ve had personal experience, so you know that what I’m saying here is the truth. You were watched the whole time you were searching for this site – the whole time. How do I know this – simple really. We have teams whose job it is to keep tabs on his contacts from the underworld. They follow them wherever they might go. And there were two constantly dogging your searches, and it was only through accident that you discovered this when you found the trail to this place. Again, how do we know this, because one of our teams was there when it happened. So in some ways it was you two out searching being spied on by Sabohl’s people, while we followed them.” At this point Trehe laughed, “Look, in a way while this area usually has none of us around here since it’s so isolated, for a while there it was actually crowded, and unfortunately before this is over it’s going to get even more so. In fact it may look much like it did when this site was occupied with an attacking force trying to get inside to claim it as their own. And remember we are very isolated here. So whatever happens and the results from the actions that happen here will never get out. And the only information that the world will hear will be what this site is and what it represents, nothing more.”
Looking again at the two of them Trehe looked as if he was about to go and join the newly arrived members, but instead stopped and began to speak again. “Look what we play here – although play is probably not the best of words – is a very old game, one that has been played out here from the very beginning of time. And what I mean is this, there was a time, and not one of us knows when that was, we became conscious thinking creatures. I suspect that at the beginning we only survived because we could think and outsmart the other predators that were looking for a meal. But eventually we started to get together to form what eventually became our clans and such. And at this point we had become the top predator out there and began to fight with each other. Probably the competition was one of the reasons we continued to grow, to improve in our abilities to think, to act. I guess the pressures of the times kind of forced this growth on us.
“I know this is getting a little long winded again, but I think once you hear me out that you will see that while the times have changed, we really haven’t
. Maybe it just dressed up and a little more sophisticated than it was in the past. But if you strip away everything that it hides behind, then it’s really no different than what we were when this site or any of our other people during that time was here. The only difference now is that it happens more with words than with the long knives and bows. This is not to say that those are no longer used. All of us know better than that. And I suspect sometime in our future because we’ve descended from warlike people that this is still in our blood and as such we may find ourselves in wars of unimaginable size compared to what it was, again when this site was occupied, or even what we can imagine today. And because we can see that we’ve advanced one can only assume that our weapons will do the very same thing – which means that our ability to cause misery and death will increase.
“I suspect that the ones who will live during those stressful times in our future will wonder why we do this and why it is so, and this is why the past is so important. So important that one person shouldn’t control what is put out there, to make sure it is only his ideas that control. Because it is our past that leads us to our future, and to interpret it correctly requires many disciplines and much thought and study at the very ancient sites such as this one. Then this information, as it is gathered, must be passed out to as many of the learned as we possibly can get it to. Because we never know who will find that one key that will unlock a mystery that no one else had been able to solve. So in a sense we are fighting just as our ancient ancestors did. Only here the battle is for knowledge, and who knows, it still may be survival, but again knowledge. Since having the knowledge and the understanding that sites like this can provide, allows us to understand who we are, where we came from, and possibly where, in the end, we will go. But when one like Sabohl is controlling all of it then none of this is happening and as long as he can control this, we, as a people, as a society, will be the losers.
A Taste of History Past Page 19
