The Entean Saga - The Complete Saga

by C B Williams

  Eloch nodded. “She is our home, our mother. I am Her Champion. I go where She needs troubles soothed.” He nodded to the shuttle, now engulfed with vines. “That was a trouble. It is not a part of Her, and She wants it gone. She wants you gone.”

  “But,” Aiko said, “it cannot fly the way it is. We can’t leave.”

  Eloch’s grin transformed his face. “When you are ready to go, it will be ready to fly. Where are you from, and why did you come?”

  Aiko shook herself. His power was a heady thing, especially when he smiled. “We come from Spur. It is the capital of the Ring.”

  “And why are you here?”

  “I am on a scouting mission. To see if this planet supports life.”

  “It does. Now you may go,” Entean’s Champion told her.

  “We will go,” Aiko said. “But others will come.”

  “Whatever for? This is not your home. There is no place for you here.”

  “Our home is crowded, and we seek new homes for our people. Yours is not the first planet we have colonized. It won’t be the last.”

  Eloch frowned again. “Others are not welcome. You must stay here so others will not come,” he decided.

  Aiko shook her head, suddenly afraid. “It will not matter. They will come even sooner to discover our fate.”

  Eloch sighed and leaned on his staff, studying each of them in turn.

  “To whom must I speak to make sure no more will come?” he asked, watching the shuttle warily, as if someone else might appear.

  Aiko shook her head. “You would have to go to Spur to find anyone who has sufficient power to halt the colonization of your planet.”

  The man paled. It was the first time Aiko had seen any uncertainty.

  “I must think about this,” Eloch said. “You will remain here.”

  As he spoke, thick branches thrust themselves up from the earth and surrounded the three off-worlders. Within minutes they were completely caged.

  “You can’t do this!” Aiko cried.

  The Champion grinned again. “It is already done.” He turned and headed back into the forest. “Eat,” he called over his shoulder before pocketing the translator.

  “Hoi!” Genji said, looking down at his feet.

  Aiko followed his gaze, dumbfounded to see a feast spread before them.

  “Can we eat it?” Etsuo asked, eyeing it warily.

  Aiko shrugged. “If he never lets us out, we’ll die anyway,” she said, squatting down and reaching for a piece of fruit.

  “Okay, then,” Etsuo said, lifting a flagon of ale. “Here’s to yer knack,” he said and took a healthy draught.

  Eloch had not gone far, just far enough away from the distraction of the off-worlders. As Champion, he knew what he had to do, and it terrified him.

  I will be with you, Entean reminded him, Her energy swirling around him, offering comfort.

  Eloch smiled and relaxed. He knew She was curious. The translator and the—what had the woman called it?—shuttle? Yes, the shuttle. Entean was fascinated with them both, and after quickly absorbing their essence, nature and functions, She had shared the information with Eloch.

  He crouched down, drawing circles in the dirt to help him think. Such a dilemma. As Champion, it was his duty to speak with this Spur authority the woman had referenced and demand that Entean remain untouched. And as Champion, it was also his duty to stay on Entean to do Her bidding. She required his presence in both places. If only he could be! Eloch paused, as he looked at the two figures he had drawn. His face lit up and he laughed. “All I need do is ask,” he said, rising to his feet.

  Producing a knife, he sliced his palm and allowed his blood to drip on the ground. It stung, but he knew Entean would heal the cut quickly. Already the pain was lessening as he felt the wound close. He asked Entean to create his twin using his blood as a blueprint.

  A man rose from the earth, large and broad-shouldered, with dark hair and green eyes. They stared at each other. Then Eloch smiled, and saw his twin smile back. It was like watching himself in a mirror. They both laughed with delight. Eloch reached out, as did his twin, and clasped the man’s head between his palms, drawing him forward until they stood forehead to forehead.

  “I give you all I know,” he told his twin.

  “And I willingly receive it,” his twin replied.

  With the power bequeathed to him by Entean, Eloch shared his knowledge with his twin until they were one and the same, perfectly identical.

  “You will be safe now, Entean,” he told his planet. “One of us will go speak to the man of power, and one of us will remain.”

  The energy flowing through him confirmed Her pleasure.

  Eloch and his twin walked to the skiff, where Eloch lifted his backpack, pulled out a change of clothes, and offered them to his twin. He’d never been able to watch himself in action, and he was pleased to note his twin’s smooth, efficient, and athletic economy of motion. He nodded in satisfaction when his twin pushed the skiff into the water, settled into the seat, and used the paddle to hold the little boat in place. Slinging the backpack over his shoulder, Eloch gently placed the staff in the bow. After a moment’s hesitation, he handed the translator to his twin. The shuttle had others, and if not, Entean could make him a new one.

  “Say hello to Thaif and his milkmaid for me,” he said.

  His twin grinned.

  “Return soon,” the twin replied before setting off to the east, where a herd of wild beasts was causing trouble near where Eloch’s old mentor, Thaif, lived.

  Pleased with his cleverness, Eloch shouldered into his backpack, which held his personal belongings and went to rejoin the landing party. He frowned, already missing the familiar weight of his staff. Before he could request a replacement, Entean produced a perfect replica.

  “Ready to go to Spur?” he asked Her.

  His connection with Entean was fading!

  It happened so suddenly Eloch was caught off guard.

  Once the probing vines had withdrawn, the shuttle took off without mishap. He and Entean, through Her connection with him, had been fascinated with the docking process as the shuttle was absorbed within a larger orbiting vessel.

  But while Aiko and the others busied themselves with preparations, Entean was transfixed by the sight of Herself floating in space. Just as Eloch had been delighted with watching his twin, Entean was getting a breathtaking, all-encompassing view of Herself. He felt Her pleasure like happy little flutters, flitting and dancing down to a cellular level.

  And when they changed course, heading out into deep space, Entean’s delight was palpable.

  The stars blurred and the ship jumped.

  Eloch felt the severing.

  “No!” he shouted out his agony. “No! Please!”

  But after a final burst of images and instructions, all traces of Entean’s consciousness vanished.

  Eloch groaned so loudly that Aiko shot a worried glance in his direction.

  “The shuttle!” he shouted, catching her eye. “Take me to it.”

  At first she refused, thinking he would attempt to escape, but then she realized it was impossible while they were in hyperdrive, sluicing through a wormhole. Her craft was sealed shut. Locked down.

  “Take him,” she nodded to one of the crew who stood idly by. “Find his translator. Make sure it’s turned on and working,” she added. The man was babbling like a lunatic.

  When they got to the shuttle, Eloch shoved past the crew member.

  She shouted.

  He paid no attention.

  The crew member shrugged and trailed timidly after her charge.

  Eloch went directly to where Entean had left the gift She showed him in that final burst of communication. There it was, tucked deep within the wiring for the landing gear. It was a seed, which Eloch promptly swallowed. He choked when it stuck in his dry throat. He swallowed again, and kept swallowing and choking until he felt the seed reach his stomach. He sank into an available seat and glanced at
the bemused crewmember.

  “Leave me now,” he told her, his voice hoarse. “I crave solitude.”

  She nervously shook her head. “I can’t keep the shuttle open. You must come with me. But first….” She reached into the shuttle’s small galley and handed him a container of water.

  He nodded his thanks and drank it all, sighing his relief.

  “Keep it,” she said when he tried to return the container. “Now, come with me. I know a place.”

  In spite of his need for immediate solitude, Eloch followed the girl out and watched, fascinated, while she locked down the shuttle.

  She glanced over her shoulder, making sure he followed, before she left the shuttle bay and headed to the crew’s galley. Until the next shift, he would have his solitude. She pointed to a table. “Sit there. I will tell the captain where you are, and someone will retrieve you when we’ve got a berth ready.” She didn’t know what the plans were for their guest, but she felt she had to tell him something. She stood watching him a moment longer, a little disappointed to realize this very handsome man had already forgotten her.

  The seed was sprouting. It left Eloch deaf and blind to the outside world while it took root, grew, and flourished within him, pushed and thrust up and out to fill him. The pain was so intense it was a blessing when he lost consciousness, leaving the growing plant to surge unimpeded up his central nervous system, into his brain, winding within the soft, spongy folds, where it fastened onto the neurons and spread through the connecting dendrites.

  As he slumped to the floor unconscious, information flooded him—terms, functions, labels, languages, names of places and titles of people, mathematical equations, measurements of distance—all spiraling out of the seed, into the plant, and into Eloch’s mind, all the information Entean had absorbed from the shuttle while She explored it with Her vines.

  But the seed didn’t merely transfer the collected information. Throughout his whole body, the plant pushed and coiled, redesigning Eloch’s senses, attuning him to the natural world in a way he had never known before, but in the way Entean knew, allowing Eloch to interpret the subtleties and nuances of his natural surroundings as Entean would.

  When the shift changed and members of the crew entered the galley, they found the strange man sprawled on the floor, his legs tangled in chair legs. Thinking he had died, Aiko ordered the fallen Champion to be taken to Sick Bay, where he was laid on a pallet. Someone draped a sheet over him.

  Aiko reported the incident in her log, disappointed she would not witness his confrontation with the Ring Colonizers. She also instructed Genji to report in his science journal the possibility that, if removed from their planet, the inhabitants would die. The Ring Colonizers would like that.

  While they flew onward to Spur, Eloch dreamed an endless stream of dreams, memories orchestrated by Entean as final instructions to Her Champion.

  Eloch’s skiff bumped gently against the mossy bank. Murmuring a word of thanks to Entean, the planet Who loved him, he slid his paddle under the wooden seat and climbed out.

  With the towrope in his hand, he stretched the kinks out before fastening it to a low-hanging branch, and swore when it sprayed icy water down his exposed neck. Droplets slid down his back, adding to the chill and discomfort. It had rained unceasingly for days, and he was sure moss would begin sprouting from his sodden clothes any moment now.

  Eloch adjusted the waxed-soaked canvas sacking he used to cover his meager supplies. He didn’t need much when he served the planet Who loved him, he thought. The essence of a planet, he corrected himself.

  When he was satisfied the canvas would keep the dampness at bay, Eloch straightened. He stomped and shook the water off and, rubbing his hands together, looked around, squinting into the gloom.

  He knew his mentor was somewhere nearby. He felt his presence.

  After five years of traveling the face of Entean, wending his way through Her waterways—for the voice of Entean, when She whispered Her wisdoms to him, was female—he was eager to talk to Thaif. He had many questions for his mentor, and even more adventures to share.

  The scent of wood smoke and something else that quickened his hunger caught Eloch’s attention. Taking careful note of where he left his skiff, Eloch wended his way through the thick foliage and finally spied a small campfire with a blackened kettle hanging over the flames. A familiar figure rested beside it, smoking a long-stemmed pipe with his legs stretched out toward the warmth.

  “Thaif!” he called.

  His mentor straightened, peering into the gloom. “That you, Eloch?” he asked before taking another puff from his pipe. “Took your sweet time getting here. The porridge is near burned. I’ve been keeping it warm.”

  Eloch chuckled. “Burned or no, it’s a welcome sight,” he replied as he stepped into the circle of light created by the fire.

  “Well, come in. Sit down,” his mentor said, making room. “Hang that sopping wet skin you call a coat on that branch there,” he added, gesturing with his pipe. “Don’t want it to drip on my sweet fire.”

  Eloch did as he was told. Shivering from the wet and cold, he hastily moved closer to the fire, immediately feeling his muscles begin to relax when its warmth greeted him. He sighed with pleasure and sat down across from his mentor to pull off his boots.

  “You don’t know how I’ve yearned to be dry,” he told Thaif while he arranged his boots by the fire. “She’s not taught me this trick yet.” He looked up and saw the rain was still falling…everywhere except within the fire’s circle of light.

  “Not a trick, Boy,” his mentor said, watching Eloch tug off his socks and wring them out. “’Tis a gift from Herself. All you needed to do was ask.”

  Eloch snorted, shaking his head as he draped his socks over his boots and watched the steam rise when they began to dry.

  Thaif barked out a laugh. “You didn’t think to ask, did you, boy? Thought all things were done with a command, didn’t you?”

  Eloch looked up at his mentor from under the shock of thick black hair clinging and dripping onto his forehead and neck. “I did, I suppose,” he answered sheepishly.

  “Oh, boy!” Thaif chortled as he tossed a bowl to Eloch. “Fill your belly and tell me some of your other crazy mistakes. I know I trained you well, but Entean has Her ways to keep you humble, and it looks like She’s found an easy target in you, all right.” He laughed merrily as he watched his student tuck into his meal. “You’ve not thought to ask for food, neither, I suppose.”

  “I’ve asked for game and grain,” he replied, his mouth full. “I’ve asked for a safe and easy journey and a dry place to rest,” he continued after he swallowed. “Thanks,” he said, accepting ale from his mentor, the ale that had magically appeared in the old man’s hand. “But I never thought to ask for a meal. Nor for a warm, sweet fire. And to be sure,” he said, after taking a swallow of the smooth, bitter draught, “I’ll be asking for some ale now I know.”

  “As Her Champion, lad, all you need to do is ask,” the old man replied. “You already do much for Her, and will do far more in time, and She loves you for it.”

  “I’d do it for Her anyway,” Eloch replied.

  Thaif smiled softly. “Aye, we all would, and She knows it, too.” He lifted his pipe to his mouth, “That’s why all you need do is ask,” he said before he drew in the aromatic tobacco.

  Eloch set down his bowl and leaned back against a log. He smiled with contentment while he watched his old mentor blow smoke rings as the rain continued to pour down outside their circle of warmth. “I’ve missed you, Thaif.”

  “Have you, now? Well, I’m here. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve learned since last we met?” Thaif blew another set of rings, watching them expand and dissipate.

  The two talked long into the night while Eloch told of his adventures. He’d visited every village and city along the lakes and waterways of Entean. He described the wonders of all Her peoples, the diversity of lifestyles. He spoke of the marvelous animals, plant
s, and trees, and how they arranged themselves along the latitudes and longitudes according to their preference. He spoke of the bounty everywhere, and then he was silent for a while, deep within his memories.

  “I almost caught up with you a couple of times,” he told Thaif.

  Thaif lifted an eyebrow. “Indeed?”

  “Yes. At Thule, and then again at Falk. Both times they said the Champion had just passed through. At Thule you created a dam. And at Falk you discouraged a dragon from feeding on their livestock. At Falk you had turned east, they told me. I tried to catch up, but I couldn’t find you.”

  “It was not yet time for me to be found, boy. But now’s the time.”

  “I’m glad, too. I’ve grown weary of traveling alone.”

  “But you’re never alone, Eloch.”

  Eloch ran his fingers through his hair, which had finally dried. “Aye, I know. But, you know what I mean.”

  “I do, boy, I do.” Thaif replied, relighting his pipe and puffing till the dottle glowed. “But ye best get used to it, although ’tis better when you truly step into my place. Your time is nearly here.”

  Eloch sat up. “Me? Champion?”

  Thaif grinned. “I’ve only a few things left to teach you. And then I will be leavin’ to set down my roots. I’m thinking about Vernoch. I like how lazy the river is there, and the milkmaids are all rosy-cheeked and willing. One once promised to wait for me,” he mused, taking another puff. “She would be nearing her twilight years by now. Perhaps she’d enjoy ending her days with the likes of me. And if not?” Thaif shrugged.

  “But Master, I’m not ready. Not nearly,” Eloch exclaimed. “You’ve only just told me. These past five years, especially when I heard about your deeds—the things you have yet to teach me,” he shook his head. “Not nearly ready.”

  “Eloch,” Thaif said quietly. “It’s not up to me to determine your readiness. It’s up to Her. And She says it’s now.”

  Thaif produced two bedrolls and tossed one over to Eloch. “Get some sleep, lad. We will discuss it some more in the morning.” Thaif put another log on the fire and then squinted up at the rain. “I suspect it’ll dry out now you’ve learned to ask.” He chuckled as he settled himself on the ground, laying his pipe near the Champion’s rune-clad staff.