The Blue of Antyllus

by Michael E. Gonzales

  There was no fire in the pit, just a pile of glowing embers.

  The blue-eyed woman tossed a hand full of dried leaves onto the embers. They ignited and a puff of blue smoke rose into and hung in the air. The blue-eyed woman reached out with her hands palms up. Tanny reached through the smoke and the two clasped hands. Instantly, Tanny felt a powerful sensation race up her arms and enter her head. The blue-eyed woman frowned at Tanny then jerked her hands back. She looked at the taller woman and said angrily, “Uncoo han Tuva ti ukse?”

  Calmly, the taller woman said, “Han tarvet say outtau.”

  “What’s the matter?” Tanny asked.

  “My daughter asks me if you are a friend or an ukse. The ukse are the ones who drained the blood of our people.”

  “I am not one of them!” Tanny said adamantly.

  “Mexi han viha petika?” the daughter asked.

  “Why do you hate us?” the mother translated, biting off each word.

  “I don’t! I—” Tanny stopped then lowered her voice. “I don’t know. I wish I did. You’re tall, and you’re all those different colors. I don’t understand myself.” A tear ran down from Tanny’s eye.

  The daughter reached out again through the smoke, and again they joined hands. The daughter closed her eyes and tilted her head back and began to hum. After a moment, she slowly looked again at Tanny. “Oil’Et tasa sudamine—”

  As the daughter spoke, the mother translated, speaking as one voice. “You are in love. You are in love with a conflicted man, but a man who loves you more than life. You have denied your love and refused him all because he loved another before you.

  “You are called Tanny because your name is difficult for those who speak American to say.”

  Tanny’s eyes grew wide, stunned at the depth of this woman’s apparent mystic ability.

  “Tanny…you pretend to have high beliefs, but you lie to yourself. You have many times had halo vat with mates you call beaus.”

  “That’s none of your business!” Tanny now jerked her hands back. “Just how do you know any of this?”

  “Did I not tell you my daughter is Poh’palm meas?”

  The daughter rose and went to a shelf. She returned with a half of a shell as large as her hand. It was filled with a reddish putty or paste. With a stick, the daughter scraped some out then grabbed Tanny’s left hand and smeared it on her wrist. She then demonstrated to Tanny that she should rub her two wrists together.

  Tanny rubbed, and as she did, she tasted a minty flavor in her mouth. She asked the mother, “What is this?”

  “This is log ah teary, you say medicine. This will clear your mind and open your eyes to yourself.”

  Tanny stopped rubbing. “Now…I am afraid.”

  “What is it you fear Tanny…that you might see yourself for who you really are?”

  The daughter’s eyes rolled back in her head, her lips parted and her voice could be heard, though her lips did not move. “Keyrow han…Darveatsand han dulevisonten.”

  “My daughter say, she will need you in the future.”

  “What does that mean?” Tanny asked.

  “We will know only when we arrive in the future.”

  Chapter 7

  HEARTBREAK

  Several days had passed since Joe had seen or spoken with Nista. He had become very concerned how she might perceive his apparent avoidance, when Joe suddenly felt an inexplicable desire to venture outside. He knew that Nista was calling to him. At the time, he was sitting in a meeting with his company commander and the other officers and NCOs of the unit. They were discussing a classified report from the CDF commander regarding a proposed response to the mercenaries.

  As soon as the meeting ended, Joe was out the door, and twenty-five minutes later, he was standing at the hut. He reached for the curtain but somehow, before his hand touched the cloth, he knew no one was inside. He stopped and turned around.

  Ourinco was low in the western sky. The top of the pyramid was aglow with the evening’s worship of Lu’aya. The E’meset were thanking their deity for the day passed, the looming night, and the day to come.

  Joe stood for a moment trying to hear the voice that called to him. Trying to know where to go. As he began to walk, he felt pulled toward the east. He passed through the gate and entered ‘the blue’…the great cyan-colored forest. It crossed his mind that all he had to defend himself with was his pistol which had already proven ineffective out here.

  Beyond the gate, he was drawn due north. He walked faster and faster. At a point, he knew he had to head toward the northeast.

  Between the setting sun and the canopy of the forest, the world had grown dark. Joe activated the night vision element of his mask and the world around him became considerably brighter as if the sun had been brought back to its zenith.

  Joe was aware that the night hunters were now afoot, but his desire to join with Nista was greater than his desire for self-preservation.

  Joe was moving fast, though not quite running. He had traveled several kilometers when, ahead, he began to see a distant light. Somehow, he knew this was his goal. He was running, now.

  The light was a fire…no, several fires. He did not seem to be getting any closer. He pushed harder and thrust his body through the vegetation. He dodged trees and plants, and leapt fallen logs. He was focused on those fires to the total exclusion of all else.

  At last, he burst into a clearing. Before him was a pool of clear water at the base of a low cliff from which fell a stream of effervescent water. Atop the cliff were three fires, and standing near the center fire was Yalga.

  A movement below in the shimmering water caught Joe’s eye. Nista was slowly emerging from the water, her hands pulling her hair back. To Joe, she was a silhouette, the embodiment of beauty, tenderness, and peace.

  In the moment their eyes met, Joe felt his love for this woman surge through his chest and explode in his mind. Suddenly, none of his many concerns mattered any longer.

  Joe swallowed and whispered to himself, “God help me.”

  They ran to each other. Joe grabbed her wet body, ripped the respirator from his face and kissed her. As he did, his mind separated from his physical being and he was no longer a denizen of this dark, blue world with its monsters…human or otherwise. The two of them were together in a forest of sweet water and condress fruit.

  ○O○

  As the fast-moving moon Pen’E Ku swiftly crossed the firmament, Joe, his mask firmly in place, and Nista lay by the fire. Joe was peeling what looked like small purple oranges for Nista and she ate them in the warm glow that each exuded.

  Yalga entered the dome of light around the fire and squatted down near the couple.

  “Joe, I am knowing this even from the time in Koor adusa Eya’Etee Ki Kee, at the bottom of the cave Toy E’vahn. You halo vat Nista then, and now you two are sudamine.”

  Joe looked at Nista and was completely consumed by the reflection of the flames dancing in her blue eyes. “Yes, Yalga. I am in love with her. I only thought I knew love before Nista. I did not. But I know it now.” Joe then gently caressed Nista’s face in the palm of his hand.

  “Yalga,” Joe asked, “how do you say I love you?”

  “You do not need to say. She knows.”

  “But I want to.”

  “En sudamine sena are the words, Joe. But we do not show it in this way. Open your heart side hand and press it to her heart and just say, sudamine.”

  Joe placed his left hand against her bare skin and they both felt that electric sensation of pleasure. Nista’s eyes dilated. “Sudamine,” Joe gasped through his respirator, “my beautiful sudamine.”

  Nista pressed her hand to Joe’s bare chest and whispered, “Equa ninen sudestaya.”

  Joe looked to Yalga for a translation only to see a look of confusion on her face. “What?” Joe asked. “What did she say?”

  “She called you her eternal love. But Joe, this is not words we use together. Equa ninen is to mean eternal as in the grea
t eternity in the forest of great joy at the conclusion of this life.”

  “Ask her what she meant,” Joe requested.

  Yalga asked the question and Nista responded smiling. Yalga looked at Joe and sat upon the ground. “She said that you, Joe, must know that love passes through the gate.”

  “What gate? The east gate of New Roanoke?”

  “No…she speaks of Onellametsa Porr tie. The gate to the forest beyond. The forest of great joy.”

  “What is she talking about?”

  Yalga directed Joe’s attention to Nista’s eyes. They were widely dilated and looked enormous.

  “Joe,” Yalga said in hushed tones, “Nista does not say. She is a vessel for Lu’aya. The message is from Lu’aya and meant for you.”

  ○O○

  The next morning, Joe woke before Nista. The cryptic message from the E’meset’s “creator of all things” prevented him from sleeping soundly. The words kept repeating in his head, eternal lover…passes through the gate. The forest of great joy. Yalga probably had a clear idea of what it meant, but Joe was not sure he wanted to know.

  Yalga was already up collecting the few things they had brought with them out here. Joe went to help her when he noticed that Yalga seemed frozen with her eyes staring at a spot below the cliffs. Joe turned to see three very large E’meset males at the edge of the pond looking up at them.

  “Who are those guys?” Joe asked.

  “Joe,” Yalga said quietly, “stay here, and do not move.”

  “Why? What’s going on, here?”

  From down by the pool the larger male shouted up, “Yalga, Nista cuvatean meanulay! Mitaseena teathet?”

  “Lu’aya an san alute moonyah.” Yalga shouted back.

  “What’s the deal, here?” Joe asked.

  The shouting had awakened Nista, who ran to Joe’s side, and she grabbed his arm. She looked down at the three E’meset men and shouted, “Isso, menell poise!”

  “Yalga,” Joe spoke calmly, “you really need to talk to me.”

  “That is Isso Tekkmah,” Yalga said. “Many rains ago, Nista was promised to him. But the day Nista helped you down in the cave, U’alline toy e’nahn…that day, Lu’aya changed all destinies.”

  “So, I take it this guy is pissed?”

  All this time, Isso had been shouting up at Yalga.

  “He says he cannot fight Lu’aya for Nista, so he will fight you.”

  “Is that right?” Joe asked, setting his jaw. “Where, how?”

  “Joe, Isso is much larger than you, and a skilled So torrie, a soldier,” Yalga said.

  “I see,” Joe said still using his calm voice. “Okay, then you talk him out of his desire to kill me.”

  “None can do that.”

  “All right, then, how do we proceed?”

  “You would fight Isso?” Yalga was incredulous.

  “You can’t talk him down, I can’t out run him, and I won’t give up Nista. What do you suggest?”

  “Okay. I will tell Isso you are happy to fight him,” Yalga said.

  “That may be a bit overstated, but go ahead,” Joe told her.

  Yalga shouted down to Isso. Isso reacted by lowering his arms and straightened up from the attack crouch he’d been in. Perhaps he thought Joe would give up after seeing how large he was by comparison.

  Isso wanted a hand-to-hand contest. No weapons. Joe agreed.

  Nista was beside herself and pleaded with Joe not to do this. Through her mother, she said she would rather submit to Isso than see Joe killed.

  “Yalga, tell her I would rather die than be seen a coward in the eyes of her people or be remembered by her as afraid to fight for her.”

  The three walked down from the cliff toward Isso and his companions. As they did, Yalga informed the other two E’meset that she would curse them and their posterity if they intervened.

  Isso handed his war club to one of his buddies. Joe had not thought about his pistol because his mind was racing, trying to figure out how to fight this guy bare-knuckle. He could not tire him out by running around— hell, he couldn’t outrun him if he wanted to. Joe was pretty certain that his hardest blow to the man’s face would hardly be felt.

  As they drew close, Isso again adopted his attack stance. Then, he stopped and stood up. He shouted to Yalga that because Joe was so very small he would allow Joe the first blow.

  Yalga relayed the offer.

  “Okay, tell him he must get on his knees; otherwise, I can’t strike him a blow worthy of such a powerful warrior.”

  Isso nodded and went to his knees. Joe was looking him straight in the eyes now. Isso lifted his chin and offered his throat.

  Joe advanced on Isso and stood there a moment. Then with all his might he kicked Isso in the groin. Isso grabbed himself and bent double.

  “Joe!” Yalga shouted. “No E’meset would ever do that!”

  “He’s not fighting an E’meset,” Joe shouted back as he punched Isso in the face as hard as he could and followed up with a blow to the warrior’s mid-section. Neither of these punches had the slightest effect on the E’meset.

  Now, Isso rose up. The anger in his face had changed to rage. With a lightning movement, Isso grabbed Joe and tossed him through the air like a baseball. Joe hit the ground hard and rolled three meters. Once stopped, Joe rolled painfully over onto his back and shook his head, trying to clear his vision.

  Grunting like a beast, Isso advanced rapidly toward Joe, stopping just long enough to pick up a huge rock. He raised the stone over his head and strode forward with his teeth bared.

  “Ey!” Yalga and Nista shouted together.

  “Ey Lopa!” Nista screamed.

  The crack of Joe’s pistol brought everything to a halt. The bullet struck the stone near Isso’s left hand causing it to spin free of his grip. Falling, it struck the big E’meset on his right shoulder before it hit the ground.

  No one moved. Joe’s pistol was now leveled at Isso’s chest. Joe got to his feet never taking his eyes from his target.

  “Yalga,” Joe shouted, “remind him that he’s the one who said no weapons. Where I come from a rock is a weapon.”

  Yalga translated.

  One of Isso’s buddies said, “Veell I’ya, Oileatsay hip eyaticy.”

  Yalga translated, “He has been told, as he knows, that he has shamed himself.”

  Joe tossed his pistol aside and raised his fists. “Okay, handsome, let’s finish this!”

  Isso watched as the pistol flew from Joe’s hand and landed in the dust. He then walked slowly up to Joe and knelt down again. He looked over at Yalga and beckoned her over. “Ut’ah, Cantaah.”

  “Joe,” Yalga said, “he asks that I say his words for him.”

  Isso looked at Joe and spoke. As he did Yalga’s translation was nearly simultaneous. “You have proven to be the better of us two,” Isso said, then glanced at the pistol lying on the ground. “And the more brave. I am shamed, and will fade into the forest.”

  “Yalga,” Joe said in the boldest voice he could muster. “You tell Isso that if he leaves the village, I will hunt him down. Tell him our fight with the Ukse is not finished, and that I will want him by my side in the coming fight. Tell him his only shame was not to expect a dirty trick from an Earth man, and that in the next battle, he should remember today.”

  Joe took hold of Isso’s arm and bid him stand. Isso rose to his full two hundred and thirteen-centimeter height. He looked down on Joe and spoke slowly and in a low voice. Yalga again translated instantly. “I know that Nista will be with a better man ― being with you.” He motioned to his friends and they started off. A few meters away, Isso stopped, looked back, and said, “Key’Etos.”

  Joe understood. He turned to Yalga and said, “Tell him we’ll meet again.”

  Yalga nodded and shouted, “Isso, Joe san’no tap ah mayalain.”

  ○O○

  As the three of them headed back toward New Roanoke, Yalga spoke with Joe. ”Isso wishes to make the Ilannan, the bo
nd of lives, with Nista. He has lived a long time in anticipation of their union.”

  “You’re talking about marriage? She’s not going to, right?” Joe asked. “I mean she has me, now.”

  “Joe, you have halo vat for Nista and you are both sudamine. It is beautiful. But Isso will make the Ilannan with Nista. He has built a home for her and he owns many animals. You offer sudamine, but nothing else.”

  “Wait, you said it yourself ― Lu’aya has changed everyone’s destiny.”

  “Lu’aya can change destiny and still see my Nista married to a person who will be with her always.”

  “Yalga, I can’t live outside among you.”

  “True. But Nista can live inside with you.”

  There it was, Joe thought to himself. He just knew this was coming. What kind of life could he offer such a sweet woman inside the tin can among the animals? What would she do in there? How could they possibly have any kind of life at all?

  They were now walking along the side of the great wall of the city heading south toward the east gate.

  “Joe,” Yalga said, “you have remained silent.”

  Joe stopped and leaned against the wall and mindlessly adjusted his respirator. He looked up at Yalga trying to figure out what to say.

  “Listen…Inside the city, it’s very much different than out here. The air is manufactured, the light is fake. Hell, Yalga, the people are a bunch of fakes, too. Nista wouldn’t be happy. There is no place for her in there.”

  “What is it you say to me, Joe? You will not make the Ilannan with Nista?”

  “How can I? Marriage to me would destroy her. I couldn’t take her from this life of freedom and put her in a cage. Don’t you understand?”

  Nista had listened to every word, and she understood. Her eyes filled with tears and she got in Joe’s face screaming, “Seenu sudamine olee Vulga hey!” She meant to slap Joe in the face, but stopped and slapped his arm instead, and then turned and ran off into the dark blue forest. Yalga turned to follow, but stopped and looked at Joe. “She has said that your love of her was a lie. Joe, I do not want you to see my daughter ever more.” Yalga turned and ran, following Nista.