The Bok of Syr Folk

by Russ L. Howard

  “Where in the hell is Khem?” He asked in his throaty voice. “Damn it Elf Beard,” Crooked Jack growled, “has the man got a kidney problem or what? Do I need to give him a caesarean or something?” While expressing his impatience, Jackie smacked his thigh repeatedly with a breadstick. Although Crooked Jack was gnarled, twisted, and hoary in appearance, with his head shaved half way back and the rest gathered from the top of his head into a long, thick ponytail, he was also wise, restrained, and a first class seasoned warrior. His staccato movements showed that Jackie sensed something was very wrong.

  When it was time to pack up, Jackie Doo said, “Ary, Red Fox, Heronimo, and Long Swan, you come with me.”

  The first rays of dawn were just appearing in the many colored east as they cautiously followed Khem’s tracks into the brush.

  “Look here, Red Fox,” Long Swan exclaimed, “Khem’s tracks are joined by several pairs of barefoot human tracks following him.”

  The crew went on full alert. Danger filled the air like smoke in a flask. This was not what they had expected, and it created intense unease. Ary caught a disturbed anxious look cross Jackie’s face. In a flash, a flock of birds exploded from out of the culms of the nearby bamboo grove, startling even Crooked Jack. He signed abruptly, ‘Be still.’

  Everyone froze. Ary held his breath to hear.

  Red Fox stared at the grove, straining his eyes with head far out in front of his body. “I’m not sure,” he whispered in a barely audible voice, “but it looks like spirits moving through those bamboo culms up ahead.”

  “Careful, men,” Crooked Jack whispered as he led them stealthily toward the bamboo. When they were within a man’s length of the edge of the grove, he signed, ‘Halt.’ Creeping forward alone until he reached the first culms. He signed, ‘Come forward, silently.’

  As Ary crept forward with careful steps, he spotted Jackie Doo bending over Khem, who was caught in some sort of net snare, bound, gagged, and kicking. Sunchild cut him loose. As soon as the gag was removed, Khem spat out hoarsely, “Watch out. The green men!”

  At Jackie’s signal, Ary and the others drew their blades and had their spears in the other hand. “Where Khem, where did they go?” Jackie asked in a low tone.

  “I don’t know. They were all just here, just as you came up the path.”

  Ary asked, “What happened?”

  Khem looked disgusted. “I was taking a piss and thought it was you and a couple of the boys still playing pranks on me for all the ribbing we’ve been giving you of late. So I just played along with the gag. Then it dawned on me, we don’t have no nets and these men are all painted green and very serious about their business. Before I could call out they had a noose around my neck and had me gagged and bound.”

  Jackie ordered Heronimo to run back and tell Elf Beard what was happening and to bring the hounds. After Elf Beard and the others arrived in haste, Xelph ordered Heronimo to stand guard over the camp and the mules. Xelph commanded all the young bloods to advance slowly and stand on full alert. As soon as the hounds got the scent they raced ahead with the young bloods in hot pursuit, Jackie and Elf Beard in the lead. Almost immediately Ary realized from the loud chorus of chops that the hounds had overtaken something.

  Khem said, “That’s them, see, five of them, those are the green bastards that captured me.”

  Ary was dumbfounded, “By the gods, you can hardly see them they blend so perfectly into the bamboo. It’s close to a perfect crypsis.”

  As they drew nearer, he spotted what appeared to be sparks from a flint in the bamboo grove. An instant later, one of the green men hurled a ball out at the hounds. It hit with a thud before exploding into a thick greenish smoke. Suddenly, the hounds staggered before they collapsed to the ground.

  Crooked Jack’s voice was frightening when he was in a cheery mood, but it was absolutely paralyzing when he was angry. It was like standing face-to-face with a roaring grizzly. Jackie was a monster standing there with his muscular shoulders and arms, his gnarled fingers, his hump back, and that wild grey hair tied up in a top knot at the back of his head.

  He roared, “Who in the hell are you?”

  There was no answer, but Ary remembered Crooked Jack yelling at a barking dog one time on a hunt and the dog just fell over dead of fright. He did not envy these green men.

  Chapter 9 : The Green Men

  Spears all pointing forward, the crew completely surrounded the five green men who offered up little to no resistance.

  “What have you done to my dogs, you vicious bastards?” Old Grokking bellowed.

  “Do not fear. They only sleep,” sounded the gentle, disarming voice of a young man who was, from all appearances, likely to be in his late teens.

  “Who are you?” Elf Beard demanded.

  “We are Chartreuseans.”

  As the sunlight shafted through the bamboo it made it easier to see their faces. To Ary’s amazement, their skin was not painted green as Khem had suggested, but actually had a natural green hue, as though they had been dipped in a vat of dye.

  Jack let out another more forceful paralyzing demand: “Why did you attack my man?”

  Again a gentle human voice answered, “We thought he was one of the Blue Men, come to harm us and we thought your vicious dogs were meaning to kill us. We were only defending ourselves. Please, we are just on a vision quest. Once we realized your man was black and not blue, we meant to release him, but you came upon us too soon. We mean you no harm.”

  “What in the hell is a Blue Man?” Elf Beard asked, looking back at Long Swan to see if he had an answer. Long Swan just shook his head.

  The tallest young green man replied, “You know, the Ceruleans, the people who live on the other side of the Aber Gael River, over there.” He pointed to the east where the first rays of sunlight peeped out from under a line of clouds in the distance.

  Jackie was not convinced and took a tighter grip on his spear, “We are strangers in this part of the island and know nothing of any Blue People.”

  “But we wish to know more of them,” Long Swan interjected with a pleasant smile. “What can you tell us about them?”

  The spokesman said, “They are the enemy, cannibals who eat human flesh. It is taboo for them to be on this side of the Aber Gael. If they come, we have been taught to capture them. It would have been a great prize. For no one has caught one for three generations.” He turned to Black Khem and bowed. “We are very sorry to have caused you distress. We didn’t know any other tribes besides the Ceruleans moved through these lands.”

  One of the other green lads took a step closer to Khem, as though seeking to touch him, then drew back and asked, “Are there anymore Black Men from where you come?”

  Before Khem could answer, another green boy asked, “How did you make yourself black?”

  Khem chuckled, his genial nature seemingly restored. “Once there were many of us, but now there are but few, and God, in his wisdom made us black.” He grinned. “We did not make ourselves so.”

  “He’s black so that he would stand out from all the pale faces.” Yellow Horse jested.

  Ary and the other young bloods laughed. Even Crooked Jack relaxed his grip on his spear somewhat as he explained, “We are called the Syr Folk, and are made up of many tribes who have established our settlements far to the north end of the island. It is not our way to do harm to those who would not harm us. But it is our way to defend ourselves with whatever force is required.” Brandishing his elf blade in one hand and shaking his spear in the other. “If you will give us your assurance that you mean us no harm, we will release you.”

  The lads exchanged looks before the tallest replied eagerly, “We willingly give you our assurance that none of us bear you ill will. We, too, are a peaceable people.”

  Crooked Jack signaled ‘at ease’ to the young bloods who had heretofore encircled the Chartreuseans with their spear points. Xelph alone kept his spear at the ready.

  Ary was intrigued with the young men who app
eared to be approximately his same age or perhaps younger by two to three years. “I am Arundel, son of Sur Sceaf, of Paloma’s hearth,” he said as he sheathed his elf blade. “We came here in boats from over the great deep. Once we lived in a wide land of many peoples, but now many of us make this island our home. We have been sent by my lord and father, Sur Sceaf, to explore this part of the island.”

  The lads exchanged surprised looks before the shortest green man asked, “Can anyone cross the great deep? Is that even possible?”

  “Yes,” Ary declared proudly, “if they have one of the large ships that travel the great deep.”

  The boy glanced at his companions. “That explains what we saw...” He was interrupted by an elbow to the ribs form the tallest green.

  “Explains what,” Ary asked.

  “If you don’t mind, we would prefer to leave that for a future conversation.”

  Long Swan, who was swiftly taking notes, looked up only long enough to ask, “What are your names, and where is your home village?”

  The tallest one said, “I am Yorel from the village of Arym Gael.” He pointed to the south.

  “I am Siwel,” the shortest one said. “We are brothers, the sons of Chief Eyf.”

  “And I am Haw-Ba,” the third replied. “These are my friends Nuclea-Ba and Nyrth-Ba. We are fledglings, who have been sent out by our village on a vision quest. According to our laws, we must become attuned to the forest wisdom before we partake of the Rite of Full Fellowship and are permitted to choose a wife. This region here, near the ka-pok groves is held to be particularly sacred for many purposes by all Chartreuseans. It is set aside as korban. That is why no one lives here.”

  Xelph frowned, “We do not know these words, korban or ka-pok. What are their meanings?”

  Pointing to a ceiba tree, Yorel said, “That is a ka-pok tree.”

  Nauclea-Ba added, “Korban means it has been set apart and consecrated by the sages for sacred purposes only.”

  Long Swan nodded, “That is as our haligwaecca and godhi do. We have our sacred groves as well.”

  Yorel appeared pleased, “We had just completed our quest in the Labyrinthine Grottoes before sunrise when we spied the black man moving through the bamboo.”

  One of the dogs began whining and tried to stand on wobbly feet. Elf Beard signed for the handlers to attend and leash them. He directed a fierce look toward the green boys, “You better hope they recover fully, my green friends. These hounds are like family to me.” He included all the green men in one terrifying glare.

  Xelph inquired, “By the way, what were those green balls you hurled at our hounds?”

  Siwel answered, “It is called a beast stopper. We use them to arrest an attack from dangerous beasts.”

  “Will they stop a man as well as a beast?” Crooked Jack inquired, appearing both eager and intrigued.

  “I’m not sure.” Yorel said, “Although man is a being and not a creature, he is little more than a beast with stronger Ka. But it’s never been tried. It’s not permitted to use them on a man.”

  Elf Beard now doubly inquisitive raised his eye brows. “How do you make these beast stoppers?”

  Ary saw that Long Swan was swiftly writing notes on his pad.

  “We do not know how they are made. It is a secret held by the Ele-Anorean sages and they are a witchy people. They traded them to us as a gift to our people even before I was born, but the people of our village, the Aber-Gaeleans, cannot tell how they make them.”

  Elf Beard frowned. “Ele what?”

  “Ele-Anoreans,” the tall green boy said, “they are the people from the great crater, the Big Bowl in the mountain, there to the east.”

  By now the sun had risen high enough to light a large mount off in the distance. Ary stared at it, a strong urge and pull from the ur fyr to explore it tugged at him. “Do these Ele-Anoreans have green skin, too?”

  Long Swan sat down crossed-legged in order to sketch the boys.

  “No, they are like most of you,” he shot glances at Yellow Horse and Khem, “at least the ones with the pale faces,” Yorel replied smiling at Khem.

  Khem said, “I might have known, but to think there are men with blue skin, now that’s what I have to see!”

  “We have never encountered Blue Men,” Ary spoke up. “It would be good for us to know why you consider them dread enemies and what evidence you have of their cannibalism.”

  Siwel answered, “According to our sages, they hate us for something our ancestors did to them long ago. The sages said the ancestors were a clever people, who through manipulation of the essences of blood created many marvelous things, but also some things that were so frightening that we ceased to even mention their monstrosity’s eons ago. So we don’t know for sure. All we do know is that the Blue Men were angry and they claimed our ancestors had manipulated them like freaks and treated them like livestock.”

  Khem said, “You mean like slaves?”

  “No!” Yorel said, “We have never enslaved anyone. According to what the sages tell us, after the earth changes, the Blues rose up in rebellion against us. Many on both sides were killed, until their leaders and ours agreed we could never resolve our differences and would forever walk separate paths. It was then agreed under the great peace that we were to remain on this side of the Aber Gael River and they on the other. That is the boundary that divides us.”

  Siwel spoke, “Our old ones, the sages, have said we must always honor this ancient law and never again cross the Aber Gael into their domain for they are a raging, wild people, given to savage appetites and brutal dispositions. In times past there have been Chartreuseans who wandered beyond the bounds proscribed by the sages out of curiosity. They have never returned to us. Also we are told it is taboo to pass the great rocks to the north, though we used to farm there and grow tree crops. Beyond great rocks became the Forbidden Zone.”

  Long Swan was finished with his sketching and now was racing to record everything the boys had just reported. “Why is it forbidden to pass the great rocks?”

  Yorel raised an eyebrow and looked sideways out the corner of his eyes at his compeers. Apparently, he was the leader as the others deferred to him. Relaxing his towering slim frame, he tossed back his greenish, ash brown hair. “According to ancient lore, the north land was once another island that rose up out of the great deep and crashed into our land. There was a time when our forefathers would go up there to plant, but by and by they discovered many strange and dangerous creatures dwelling in the forests and jungles of the north. We assume they went there after the earth changes. After several of our settlements in the north were utterly decimated, it simply was determined to be too dangerous and all colonists were withdrawn to Duminabith by the Sea. From then on a decree was given to no longer pass the great rocks. The passages that granted easy access to those lands were all sealed off and no one has been there in at least a hundred moons.”

  Siwel added, “But that was in the times before the Ele-Anoreans made the beast stoppers. Sages are now saying it might be possible again someday to open the passes and reclaim our great plantations.”

  “So these beast stoppers are effective against any beast?” Ilkchild mused.

  Nauclea-Ba answered, “We believe so. We’ve knocked down entire packs of drillenas with them.”

  Khem’s frowned, “What in God’s name is that?”

  Yorel got an intense look on his face. “They are vicious animals that travel in packs, bigger than wolves, frightful creatures with blue and red masks. They attack our livestock, people, and villages on occasion. So our dogs alert us when they are near.”

  Jackie Doo asked, “Beast stoppers can stun an animal, but are they capable of killing an animal?”

  Yorel frowned. “The Ele-Anoreans, it is said, can make them strong enough to kill anything, but only trade us the ones that halt the attacks and leave the animals stunned long enough to escape or kill. As they are presently composed they will only kill the smallest of creatures, squirr
els, rabbits, chipmunks.”

  Xelph inserted himself, “How do we get to these Ele-Anoreans?”

  The boys exchanged glances, then the others looked to Yorel who shook his head. “No! No one gets inside the crater. Not without the permission of the Witch Queen and only our elders are granted speech with her. Few of them have earned the right to even enter her veiled presence, but my father and sister have both been granted that privilege. She has taken a great liking to my sister and says my father is one of the few Ayrm Gaeleans intelligent enough to speak with.”

  With a glance at Long Swan, Ary asked Yorel, “Can you take us to your village?”

  Yorel answered, “Our village is much farther to the south near the sun-tato plantations. That’s at least another day or two’s journey from here and a day’s journey from the lands of the Witch Queen.”

  Xelph’s face lit up. “Sun-tato? What manner of plant is that?”

  “It grows tubers underground and has nutty seeds the size of my first digit on my thumb.”

  Xelph’s eagerness could not be disguised. “Please, take us to your village and the plantations, that I might examine them?” He darted a quick glance at Long Swan, Ary, and Ilkchild, before explaining, “We would like to get to know your people. I am studying the plants on this isle and I’m sure you could show us many new crops and probably answer a host of questions I have.”

  The fledglings looked at each other before Yorel spoke up, “I believe the sages would welcome you. So we are willing to take you with us, but be warned, you will be viewed as a very queer sight. And because you are the same skin color as the Ele-Anoreans, some will even have fear of you.”

  Haw-Ba said, “Especially you Khem, with your black skin.”