The Blue of Antyllus

by Michael E. Gonzales

  There in the pale light of Elpis 229 B stood Le'ha and her children, and Nash’s son, Day’Ka.

  As Zolna exited the PC, he stood for a moment and noticed for the first time just how much Hondar and Kawness had matured. She was a young woman now and he a strapping young man. Both were now taller than he. On seeing him, they both came running.

  "Isn't it exciting, father Zolna?" Kawness asked.

  "I brought my sorke, father Zolna." Hondar brandished his war club. "I will defend us all from the lehasoy ah esta."

  Zolna put his hand on his step-son's shoulder. Smiling with pride at the young man's courage, he said, "With any luck we won't run into any flesh eaters, but if we do, I will know that we are all safe because we have you and your sorke."

  Le'ha stood, looking up at the brilliant star in the night sky. She looked down at the blue blanket of the forest as it lay over the hills below them.

  Le'ha turned to face her friends. As she spoke, her voice sounded ethereal. "We are being called," she said. "We must make a journey."

  "Where to?" Mitch asked.

  "We must go to the very edge of life and look beyond. But we must not fall from the edge, for none of us are yet welcome there."

  "Baby," Zolna said, "none of us understand."

  Le’ha looked at Day’Ka who answered, "We will journey to Onellametsa Porr tie. There, you will understand."

  Cassie turned to Mitch and whispered, "The gate to the forest of great joy. Mitch, for the first time, I'm afraid to go there." She then addressed Le'ha. "When do we leave?"

  "When Ourinco has chased the dark behind the mountains and all life is reaching for his face, we leave."

  "In the morning, then," Mitch said. "I'll prepare the PC for the trip."

  "Oh, no Mitch," Le'ha said, "we must walk."

  ○O○

  With the dawn, Mitch, Cassie, Nash, Tanny, Day'ka, Zolna, Hondar, Kawness, and Le'ha all started out through the east gate and continued east down the trail toward Vortain Val Leasa.

  "Funny," Nash said, "I'd have thought we would have headed south along the river, then gone east, and down the path by the falls."

  "First, there is a place we all must visit," Le'ha said.

  The rest of the day's walk was quiet, even somber, with only words spoken out of necessity. It became apparent where they were headed—the big cave where the refugees of the CDF hid that night so long ago. The cave the E'meset called u'alline toy e'vahn, the cave of hope.

  They followed Le'ha down the dragon's throat into its depths. They squeezed through the narrows and crawled through the low places until they reached the gallery were the five tunnels led off in different directions. Le'ha led them into the passage under the image of the winged creature.

  They next entered the room filled with works of art, and just beyond the gallery where the stalagmites had been carved into the images of E'meset. Here, Le'ha stopped.

  "Le'ha, isn't this is the chamber you call Ornya a kunya, the home of the honored?" Cassie asked. "Dave told us of this place. We had planned to visit together one day. These are carvings of your ancestors who were heroes to your people, right?"

  Le'ha only nodded, then with her left hand, indicated a spot to their right.

  Mitch moved closer to the place and, as he did, his glowing Volessa stone illuminated two new sculptures. The chips of rock still lay at the feet of the two carved stalagmites. As the light touched them, Mitch, Cassie, Nash, Tanny, and Day’Ka all froze. The two statues were images of Kathy and Dave.

  Mitch slowly looked at Cassie who was already looking at him, both were lost for words. Mitch finally found his voice and whispered to Cassie, "I didn't know SUBs could get goose bumps."

  "Me, either," Cassie replied.

  Nash, Tanny, and Day’Ka were all embracing. Tanny wiped tears from her eyes. Nash said softly, “I am so thankfully that in these last, oh-so-few years, we became their friends.”

  They slept for a few hours in the same curiously warm chamber where Le'ha had provided comfort for the CDF as they fled from Wilmington, so long ago.

  ○O○

  It was almost two days before they emerged again into the light of Ourinco. They had come again to the surface from under the huge stone near the once abandoned village of Vahn'Ha Poh where Le'ha and Kathy were attacked by the V-tols. The mouth of the cave had been cleared many years ago to allow the eastern E'meset access to Koor adusa Eya'Etee Ki Kee.

  Vahn'Ha Poh had been completely restored, and a vibrant population of hunters and farmers resided here. These were the recently reunited Cea Ahnato E'meset, Le'ha's people, and the Keheber Das E'meset from the east.

  From Vahn'Ha Poh, they headed south and crossed the great river Hau by means of a ferry poled across by the Keheber Das E'meset. The eastern E'meset had a lot of questions as they had heard only stories. Le'ha chose not to speak, but Cassie answered their many questions as best she could. They were still asking about the fire in the sky as they reached the other side. Cassie asked them to just visit New Roanoke and hear the story.

  They explained that they feared the metal city as they had heard that flesh-eating monsters with a thirst for blood were caged in it.

  Nash told them that the people who live there now chased away the monsters and were friends to all E'meset.

  Cassie invited them to visit. "Please," she said in her best E'meset, "tell everyone there is nothing to fear in the metal city any longer."

  Le'ha then spoke, also in E'meset. "My friends, here, speak true, brothers. After our journey is complete, our sadness will have passed and we will be pleased to welcome you with food, drink, and fire."

  The tallest of the ferrymen approached Le'ha and placed his hand on her chest saying, "Yuhes tuva an."

  From the ferry, they went south, walking just west of the jagged mountains that were the weathered remains of the wall of the great crater. Two days did they journey until at last they came to the two tall twin hills that straddled the river. This time, everyone negotiated the three-rope bridge on their own terms. Le'ha and her kids, of course, just walked across; the others had to hand-over-hand across. For Tanny, the experience was extremely frightening. Zolna produced a new net from behind a stone, and Tanny was pulled across as they had done before.

  They followed the remains of the causeway until it turned east toward Vortain Val Leasa. They knew that, from the causeway, it was but a few more kilometers to the monastery of Onellametsa Porr tie where it sat on the small strip of land between the base of the mountains and the bank of the river.

  ○O○

  Cassie O'Connell and the rest of the party entered the courtyard of the monastery just as Ourinco dipped behind the lip of the western mountains.

  Zolna walked directly to the skull of the U'won Kowana he'd killed that night so long ago, and just stared down at it. The event seemed ages ago, despite his ability to replay it in his mind in vivid detail.

  Le'ha walked up behind him, took his hand in hers, and said, "It was a very brave thing you did."

  "It was going to kill you," Zolna said as if in a trance.

  "It was the first time I saw you defeat your own fear," Le'ha said.

  "Oh, I was afraid," Zolna said, shaking his head.

  "I did not say you were fearless, for he who is without fear is a fool. I said I saw you defeat your fear."

  Le'ha stepped in front of everyone and lifted her arms straight out to her sides. "Please, all must follow me to the Ouk'Ko."

  Cassie, Mitch, and Nash, all fluent in E’meset, exchanged quick glances. "Le'ha," Cassie asked, "none of us find that word in our dictionary."

  "Ouk'Ko?” Day’Ka replied. "No, you would not. It is a very ancient word…a sacred word…it is the name of the gate to Onellametsa, it is the Porr tie."

  Before they left the courtyard, Le'ha asked for a large fire to be built. Then, they started.

  They entered a wide, deep room, carved directly into the hill, with a ceiling just high enough for Le’ah and Day’Ka to stand in.
At the far end of this room, there was the carving of the gate in the living rock and illuminated by two large Volessa stones. All about the base of this wall were a myriad of small bowls, containing offerings to the departed.

  Le'ha stood before the image of the gate and started chanting a song. As she did, she got onto her knees. Cassie, Mitch, Hondar, Kawness, Day’Ka, and Zolna, who had all learned the song from Le'ha, also took to their knees and sang with her. As they chanted the words, a strange white misty light began to glow before the carved stone gate.

  Slowly, Le'ha got to her feet, her eyes glued to the mist.

  Chapter 20

  HEAVEN

  "Kathy?" a voice called out. "Kathy?"

  "I'm right here, Dave," Kathy responded.

  "Do you see them, honey?"

  "Yes, I see them."

  "I can't really hear them very well."

  "They are all singing an E'meset song."

  "A song?"

  "Yes, darling. It is a song proclaiming their love for us, they’re telling us how much they miss us."

  "I love them, too," Dave said. "I hope they know it. Do they see us?"

  "Yes, but not as we were. The more we all concentrate on our love for one another, the more clearly we will all see. Le'ha knows this and will tell the others, won't you Le'ha?"

  "Think hard on your love for Dave and Kathee," Le'ha said, "and watch the mists."

  "You see, honey?" Kathy said to Dave.

  "Of course, it would be Le'ha, she always seemed to have some sort of second sight."

  "No, dear, she is just more spiritual and closer to nature, closer to Eya'Etee Ki Kee. And she is beloved of Lu'aya."

  They watched their friends before them suddenly recoil, their faces displaying utter amazement, as the mists formed into the apparitions of Kathy and Dave. They were all startled…with the exceptions of Le'ha and Day’Ka.

  "They see us now, Dave; they see us as we were."

  "Yes, they know we are happy and they know we want their happiness, too." Dave spoke in a whisper.

  "Dave, Kathy…you defeated Wilmington," Mitch spoke rather loudly. "There is peace here, now. The E'meset are Cea Ahnato once again."

  "There is so much to say,” Cassie almost shouted. “We miss you two so much," her voice cracked with emotion.

  Tanny sobbed quietly, Nash took her hand but could not stop looking at Dave.

  Le'ha stepped forward. "My friends," she said, as tears poured down her face, "all here is well, we are all very happy. Our love for you reaches through the rains of death and will follow you into Onellametsa. Go, then, with it, and send yours back to us."

  Kathy took Dave's hand. "See, I told you, we can go on, now."

  "It's just that I…I wish you and I could stay and help. Stay and enjoy our friends."

  "We'll see them again."

  They both turned to face Onellametsa, as the gates opened to them.

  They passed between them and into the forest of great joy. Here, nothing that they were before had meaning, no military rank, no professional accomplishment. Here, it was their love that defined them. As the gates closed they looked back to see their friends, all smiling through their tears.

  ○O○

  Everyone watched in silence as the apparitions of Kathy and Dave turned and walked beyond the gates. They all stood now in the light of the Volessa stones. No one moved a muscle.

  At length, Tanny asked, "Where have they gone?"

  Day’Ka replied, "They have gone to the forest of—"

  "Heaven," Zolna interrupted in a raised voice. Everyone looked at him. "They’ve gone to Heaven."

  Behind them, the pale light from Elpis 229 B came through the openings and, by this light, they made their way back to Zolna's fire.

  Here, Le'ha and her children prepared some food. After eating, Le'ha suggested they all go up into the tower so as to pass the night safely away from any lehasoy ah esta, night hunters.

  Zolna had not been in the tower since…since he'd shared that small space with Kathy, Dave, and Le'ha…a lifetime ago.

  Zolna sat on the floor and, again, his lap became Le'ha's pillow. Hondar and Kawness got comfortable close to their mother and step-father.

  Soon the three of them were fast asleep. Mitch and Cassie stood near the large window and watched the fire slowly die. Nash and Tanny curled up in the opposite corner, with Day’Ka close by.

  "Look how soundly they sleep," Tanny observed.

  "They have expressed their love to Dave and Kathy, and now they can all be at peace," Day’Ka replied.

  "Peace," Cassie repeated. "It's really true, isn't it? With Wilmington finally destroyed, and that mercenary rebellion crushed…we have peace…true and total peace here. I wonder if we have to worry about the other three deep spacecraft the IIEA have."

  Zolna looked up as he gently stroked Le'ha's hair and said, "Based on what Wilmington said, the IIEA is under new management, and it probably has to answer a lot of questions from the new governments of several nations. It's likely that organization won't survive the trials.”

  “That’s right,” Nash added. “And that Independent Space Agency…it died with Wilmington. I don't think we need worry about deep spacecraft for several generations."

  Mitch looked toward the northwest and the great waterfalls. "I don't know," he said, "seems there are an awful lot of fish in the sea."

  About the Author

  Mike Gonzales was born in Long Beach, California, back in the 20th Century.

  He spent twenty years’ service in the Army and over thirty as a museum curator. Now he has embarked on yet a third profession—that of fictionist.

  Mike’s mind has always been a fertile place, where at the sight of an oddly shaped cloud, or some other anomaly, he would ask himself, what if?

  At last, he has exhumed his imagination from the mental sarcophagus in which it had been so long entombed, and set it free. It now roams through caverns in the Moon, the blue forests of other worlds, and the WWII battlefields of North Africa, only to arrive on the Isle of Apples at the foot of Arthur’s tomb.

  If you have no fear of murderers, aliens, wyverns, and phantoms—if the embrace of a lover's arms is your desire—if solving a mystery is to your liking—If you see tear drops on the page as a mark of the depth of your empathy…then come along on the many adventures this vibrant new author has given rise to.

  The Unborn Galaxy: Book One

  Dark Moon Rising

  Nothing is as it seems—not even the valiant soldier, determined to save the woman he loves and the band of humans from a DARK MOON RISING…

  The Unborn Galaxy: Book Two

  The Battle of Broken Moon

  With the war in Oceania now contaminating the Moon, will the complete destruction of JILL—and Earth itself—be far behind? How can a handful of soldiers hold off the hostile forces in this unforgiving realm that seek to destroy civilization?

  The Unborn Galaxy: Book Three

  Across a Sea of Stars

  With billions of lives at stake—including those who have joined him in the deadly fight against advancing evil forces, Cris embraces a destiny he could never have anticipated from light years away ACROSS A SEA OF STARS...

  The Unborn Galaxy: Book Four

  The Vampires of Antyllus

  A distant world in orbit around a binary red star set, light years away, holds the promise of humanity’s future. It also contains a deadly secret that unleashes the worst of all greed and the unthinkable—those who would kill for blood.

 

 

 
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