The Isle of Ilkchild (The King of Three Bloods Book 4)

by Russ L. Howard

  “Muryh, one of the first things I want you to do when we settle here is to build a brewery so that Govannon can ply his magic in making us more heavenly ale. I want Godeselle to have the best brew house in all the land.”

  Elijah was unwrapping some of the left over honey cakes. “What kind of temple dost thou foresee here, Muryh?”

  “Oh, it will be a temple raised up to all the tribes. The Roufytrof will want it to be a house of prayer, a house of knowledge, and a house of light unto all peoples.” He tore at his hard tack, chewed and swallowed. “It will have one large dome just as Sur Sceaf scryed with an occulus in the center ensconced in two mighty swan wings patterned much after the ewe foot banners at Shepherd Hall. It is what we Herewardi call the Holy Core or Holy Heart.”

  “Surrey has explained to me that the Eye of Howrus is the light of the Holy Core. And the city, how will you build it? What will it be like?”

  Muryh’s eyes focused into blank space. “First off, I envision a white city, made of limestone with tall round towers circling it, surrounded by a mighty stone-walled fortress within which is a palatial jewel, like unto the one I built in Syrus, up in east sound of the Sand Wand Islands for King Pyrsyrus.”

  As Muryh spoke, Sur Sceaf reflected on how it was exactly as he had scryed it in the stones and marveled at Muryh’s insightful abilities, realizing for the first time, that his foreknowledge in having chosen him had been rooted in the deepest of spiritual inspiration.

  Hartmut laid the meat over the fire and it was soon sizzling, “Anyone for roast beast?”

  A round of laughter followed the hissing of the meat over the hot fire. Hartmut smiled, “The bread will be done in a few minutes. In the meantime, why don’t you pass around some of those honey cakes, Elijah.”

  Elijah passed out the cakes and the men ate like they were starving. “My only concern is that the Herewardi already seem so haughty. Indeed that is the first thing anyone among the Quailor say when we have our meetings. They say the Herewardi are too arrogant and vain-glorious for us to join and they shall surely overshadow us if we do. Won’t such edifices make you exert that haughtiness over the other tribes even more?”

  Muryh furrowed his brow. “That is a fair question and an honest concern. Fortunately, the Council of Three Tribes anticipated such a concern and thus instituted the rule of law and a system of checks and balances in the constitution. But it would be a vain effort to try to curb the nature of the Herewardi. They are always striving for beauty, excellence, light, and harmonious alignment with nature and the ea-urth. Altogether, my dear Quailor we are a very ambitious people. It is our essence, built into our seed code. Yet if properly checked and balanced, I trust, it will compliment all peoples. Architecture has a way of elevating any people, and it lends a permanence and continuity to society. Even though it will be a Herewardi temple, my intention is to incorporate something significant to represent all tribes. We will all benefit by that, and” he paused and smiled, “Brother Elijah, we’re counting on you to keep Herewardi haughtiness in its proper place.”

  Crooked Jack laughed, “And that coming out of the mouth of the least humble of us all.” The others joined in his laughter.

  * * *

  They were just finishing up their meal and Sur Sceaf was discussing with Mendaka and Red Fox the plan to explore the lake and perhaps some of the nearby forests. Elijah and Hartmut were clearing away the remnants of the meal and talking about Fromer being such a spoiler and Xelph was granted permission to explore the flora within the length of a bow’s shot. He eagerly began pulling up forbs to examine and then placed them in his collector’s bag.

  “Look at this rock fundament,” Muryh said to Khem. He chipped away a piece of the rock with a small hammer. “Who could ask for a better base to build on? This is solid granite of the highest quality?”

  “Too bad, it doesn’t have gold in it.” Khem leaned back on his elbows and leisurely surveyed his surroundings. Suddenly, he sat erect, looking up. “What is that up above at the eleventh point of the medicine wheel?” Khem scrambled to his feet and shielded his eyes. “Look, there’s movement just at the crest next to those twisted spruce. Is this isle inhabited?”

  Hartmut shaded his eyes against the glare. After a moment, he exclaimed. “That is Turtle Duck and Raven’s Tongue. And there’s the little urchin, Shark-Moon-Boy. I see the Jywd dressed in black. What’s his name? Zeru-Herewardi.”

  The men shielded their eyes with one hand and began waving their arms.

  “Do you see Govannon yet?” Crooked Jack asked. He removed his red bandana and waved it over his head.

  Following Jackie Doo’s example, Hartmut tied his white handkerchief to his spear and waved it. “Yes, I see his long white hair, beard, and bald head. And there’s Herman the Giant and looks like he’s examining the frogs just like we did.”

  Sur Sceaf cupped his hand around his mouth and yodeled and waved his arms. Soon Zrael answered with a blast from the Quailor horn and everybody above waved their arms.

  “Sign for them to come down here,” Sur Sceaf ordered. “We’ve done enough climbing to last...”

  He was interrupted by yodeling coming from below. Startled, they turned around in unison.

  Red Fox exclaimed, “There’s Ilkchild’s golden head and the rest of his band below us.” He pointed, “And oh, yes, there’s the Pious One. Looks like he’s limping. See, there he is down there by that large tree with the broad canopy.”

  Khem nodded, “Those groundhogs made it up through the caves after all.”

  Sur Sceaf yelled out the call to unite, “Ho-Uh,” and waved his arms. Ilkchild immediately responded in kind, “Ho-Uh.”

  “Elijah, please record in your Journal what’s happening here. Be sure to report that all three groups of men converged here on the south of the mound.”

  “Consider it done, my lord.”

  The rest of Ilkchild’s crew stirred from their nest in the rock formations and emerged from beneath the ceibe tree and yodeled that they were there as well. Sur Sceaf took a quick count. “Everyone is alive.”

  Elijah observed, “Alive yes, but note how Fromer moveth rather gingerly. Methinketh he hath had a fall.”

  Jackie Doo laughed, “Probably bitching and dragging his ass all the way up the tube, I suspect.”

  Hartmut squinted, “Probably has sore feet, he is flat footed. Chicken farmers aren’t used to the farm work we other farmers do.”

  Sur Sceaf gestured toward the troll skin, “Let’s spread out our trophy. Show off our prize when they all arrive.”

  It took some time for Elijah and Hartmut to spread the entire skin out and position it for best effect. For the first time Sur Sceaf realized just how enormous the beast was.

  Hartmut declared, “It is unbelievable that a creature this size walketh the earth.”

  Mendaka and Red Fox bent over and each held up a clawed paw. Dak noted, “The really unusual thing about this beast is that it looks so much like a bear but these claws can retract like that of a cat. And look at their size, I’d say, close to six inches.”

  Muryh said, “I hope to the gods we never meet another one.”

  Sur Sceaf looked up to check on the progress of the groups when he noticed a body slung over Elfdane’s shoulder. For a moment he thought it was one of the crew, but soon realized it had a tail dangling.

  “It looks like Ilkchild’s band has a trophy of their own to show off.”

  Red Fox noted, “It has the makings of a cat, maybe a panther, but with coloring more like a jaguar.”

  While they waited impatiently for Ilkchild’s group to rejoin them, they traded ideas as to what creature the boys had killed.

  Mendaka pointed out, “I know of no panthers that are that red and spotted.”

  Elijah stated the obvious, “Well, we’re going to know soon enough, they’re chust about here.”

  Xelph was the first to intercept them. From his reactions, they could tell, Ilkchild had bagged something very unusual. After t
hey arrived and briefly greeted one another, they commenced displaying their trophies.

  Elf Beard declared, “Just like a bunch of lack beards to compare kills. Well, we’ve got ‘em on this one.”

  Upon Turtle Duck’s crew’s arrival, everybody greeted one another heartily, with back slapping, punching, and shoving. They all talked at once except for Fromer, who slumped down on the ground and brooded.

  “I warned you,” Fromer said, “God is angry and going to punish us all. We’ve gone beyond the reach of God’s protection. We aren’t supposed to be this far out to sea. It’s too far beyond the ends of the earth. We must leave now or incur the full measure of his wrath!”

  * * *

  Old Grokk reared back and raised his hands in the semblance of cat claws. “It wasn’t long before we realized we were outnumbered, out of our territory, and low on torches.” He winced as Red Fox applied a healing balm to the claw marks on his forehead. “We sought sanctuary in one of the smaller caves and that’s when Sunchild got ripped into.”

  Sunchild, wanting to tell his part of the story interjected. “Fortunately Ilkchild is an excellent blade master, or I wouldn’t be here now and my bones would have joined the other bones we found in the middens deep in that dark cavern.”

  Shark-Moon’s eyes popped out like a frog’s. “Were there any man bones in the bone pile?”

  Ilkchild answered, “Not that we could see. Not that we had much time for study. So far we haven’t found any signs that there are humans on this island or ever have been. But these cat-men are strong enough to take an elk down. Saw their remains in the midden.”

  “So, if they are so dangerous,” Shark-Moon said, “how did you get away?”

  Ilkchild declared, “We kept them at bay with our torches. We had no choice but to keep pressing forward until we found a way out before our torches burned out and they got us.”

  Red Fox tied off the linen bandage.

  “I tell you, Surrey,” Elf Beard continued, “if you can get rid of the wyrm-kats, there are some mighty cave chambers in that hill, might be very useful some day. I’ll simply say, a dragon could not wish for a greater place to stash its hoard, if you get my drift.”

  “Well, what about this cat-man?” Shark-Moon asked. Once again he scrambled to his feet where the wyrm-kat was stretched out next to the hide of the grass beast. He squatted next to Long Swan who was seated cross-legged on the grass having completed a drawing of the grass beast. The boy was so utterly enthralled that he took a pad and pencil from his pack and began drawing his own picture of the wyrm-kat.

  Raven’s Tongue said, “It’s obvious this one is a male. Hung rather well. But I can’t tell if it’s more man or more cat.”

  Yellow Horse said, “I’ve skinned a bear, but look at its manly parts. His willy is longer than any cat or bear I’ve ever seen.”

  Zeru-Herewardi, also called El Yid, tossed his payos back. “Looks just like a man to me. That is, if you ignore the tail, ears, and teeth. I’d say it has the makings of a hairy man.”

  “Enough!” Elf Beard said, “This is a monster alien spirit. It’s nothing more than a damned troll. Probably one of those bastard creations from the Amerikans, transhuman tros or one of Loki’s kin out of Hellheim.”

  Fairchild scrunched his lips together then blurted out, “It has the eyes of a man and a nose half way between man and cat, but those ears are definitely cat ears.”

  El Yid picked up the tail in one hand. Its reddish fur and black spots clearly delineated into a beautiful pattern. Looks to me like it weighs a hundred and twenty or thirty pounds. “I’ve seen this pattern before.”

  “Well, not in these parts,” Xelph declared. “At least not anywhere in Herewardi or Sharaka realms.”

  “It was in a Mexus merchants wares. Sold it to one of my friends in the Yeshiva. Called it a jaguar.”

  Crooked Jack grumbled and almost growled, “Ain’t no damned jaguar. The damned thing has a cock like a man.”

  Xelph stooped down by the were-cat for closer inspection. “It’s definitely a mix of both man and cat. It has smooth skin on the palms like a coon.” Then lifting the creature’s lips back. “Teeth like a panther’s.”

  Long Swan sketched in the black spots along the length of its long torso. “I wonder if it thinks like a man?”

  Xelph grabbed the head and moved it side-to-side, “It’s got lots of room in this head if it doesn’t. My guess is, it does think.”

  Long Swan studied it thoughtfully. “From what you told us, it sounds like these trolls launched a coordinated attack.”

  “Well, yes and no. It’s hard to be sure.” Elf Beard frowned and said, “For the most part it appeared to be random attacks, but there were a few times when it sounded like one of them was giving orders to the others followed by another attack.”

  Turtle Duck wondered aloud. “Does it run on all fours as well as upright?”

  Ilkchild answered. “From what I’ve seen, they do both. I saw one spring twenty feet in one leap and then run up the sides of the cave like a spider on all fours.”

  Sunchild interjected, “The one that attacked me was definitely standing on two feet.”

  El Yid declared, “If you ignore the teeth, the ears, and the tail, it has all the makings of a man. Do you think it has a soul?”

  “Enough,” Elf Beard said, “It is a monster alien spirit. It’s nothing but a troll. Probably the freaks from the Poisoned Lands.”

  “Never!” Crooked Jack shrugged. “No one has ever been to this isle before us. Just ain’t possible for the people of the Poisoned Lands to get here.”

  Govannon grew pensive and said, “I rather think its just more works of the Amerikans; one of their many experiments of trying to breed new types of warriors. Did you see any females among the cats?”

  Sunchild nodded, “One, I saw, had breasts just like a woman. Looked like the girl from Hrusburg that Ilkchild used to date.” Everyone laughed.

  “Yeah,” Yellow Horse said, “but not as hairy as the one you dated from Stonyford.”

  Sur Sceaf mentioned, “Last night I thought I heard a cry like two panthers fighting over a kill, but it wasn’t repeated. I imagine these cats come out to do their hunting by night. Perhaps we should be thinking about building a safe space. You all see what they did to Sunchild.”

  Red Fox said, “Well, you did mention you had heard what sounded like panthers this morning at breakfast. We logically assumed they were just panthers, but now it seems more than likely, that like all cats, they come out to eat at night, especially at dusk and dawn.”

  Old Grokk said, “I think you’re right. From the piles of bones we saw they appear to drag their kills back into the caves for eating, probably to keep the big fellow here,” he pointed at the grass beast, “from eating all their kills.”

  Sur Sceaf surveyed the area. He saw oak groves, timber bamboo groves, and groves of redwoods in almost every direction he looked. He determined that the redwoods would be the easiest material to work with and thought they should avoid the bamboo groves, as they felt it might be part of what the grass beast was feeding on though they found no contents of it in the bowels of the beast. “Most assuredly this land is crawling with trolls such as none of us could have imagined. We need to secure ourselves against nightfall. We need to pack up and move over to the redwood grove as quickly as possible. We must master this land and thus we must master our fear. One of the first lessons in warfare is to protect ourselves, anticipate the enemy’s actions, and not compromise our safety in any way.”

  Fromer’s eyes were darting about fearfully. “I can’t believe thou art planning on staying here with all these demons traipsing through the night. Didn’t I tell thee this is a god forsaken place. Brother Elijah, it’s the Devil’s playground and we ought to be getting out of here, if we have to swim.”

  Yellow Horse said, “You have made your point, Yellow Belly. If you want to swim, no one is going to stop you. I doubt you’d make it one league before some shark made
short fare out of you.”

  Fromer glared at Sur Sceaf, “Art thou going to allow him to speak to me like that.”

  “He is our jester. No one, not even the king, can censure him.”

  Sur Sceaf caught a glimpse of a smile on Elijah’s face before he said, “Just be glad thou art yet alive. Look about thee. Canst thou not see the beauty and fertility of these hills and vales. Thou wouldst make a hell of a heaven. As for me, I believe it is like unto the Garden of the Lord.”

  “I tell thee it’s a trap, it’s all just a trap,” Fromer said with wide eyes and shallow panting breaths. “I should have never come on this god-forsaken adventure. What was I thinking?”

  Chapter 13 : Ilker’s Journey Home

  Long Swan’s Log: It is the seventh day of the Moonth of Weeds, in the year of 584 H.S.O. We spent much of the day exploring the Mound of Godeselle and its surrounds. It is the third night on this mysterious island Lord Sur Sceaf has named the Isle of Ilkchild. He was vigilant to have us build large bonfires about us and set watch that no trolls, grass beasts, or wyrm-kats might molest us in our sleep. Rotating shifts were given to individuals to keep the fires well fed.

  By Sur Sceaf’s order, the first order of the morrow will be to build a hall or cabin in which we might be safe from such harassment or molestation that might come.

  In addition Sur Sceaf tasked Muryh with laying out the hall, and the building of a forge. A safe place was found in the redwood grove to build the hall. Under Muryh’s direction, select timbers were marked for harvesting. Xelph with the help of Shark-Moon-Boy began an inventory of the plant life that could sustain life until crops can be planted and harvested. Govannon, Herman, and El Yid scouted the rocky areas for ore deposits suitable for forging tools.

  Others were set to the task of amassing firewood to feed the bonfires that would keep danger at bay. Crooked Jack supervised the making of coke for the forge. We gave thanks to our various gods that we all are here and had been given this uninhabited garden world. Perhaps this isle is a new chance to finally halt the progress of the Pitter Empire.