Evacuation

by Sherry Foster

  “She said you would talk, and then talk some more. She understands people, she understands leaders, she understands how it works to lead people. She said you would get nothing accomplished for days.”

  Sarian snorted, “She does not know Darian. Darian does not like to lead, he does not like meetings, he believes in getting things done so he does not have to deal with people. If she wanted meetings she should have kept Darian in the meadow with her. She got one meeting, and it is over. You tell her whatever you think she wants to hear.”

  Sarian got up and headed for the doorway Frain had pointed to when he mentioned freshing up. When he got back he positioned the chair to lean back and soon was fast asleep. Looking around Malory saw everyone was asleep, or going to sleep. As the lights began to dim Malory made himself comfortable and called out to his dragon.

  Chapter 22

  It seemed Malory had just fallen asleep when Kane shook him. “Come on, time to go. The sun will soon be rising at Giliad’s. We gotta go. Riance is to meet us there at daylight. They are hours ahead of this island. Get up.”

  When Malory looked around he saw the others stretching and murmuring to each other. Soon everyone had stepped away but he and Kane. Before Kane grabbed his arm he told him, “When we get there I need to know what Tresimiaset has to say about what we are doing. You are suppose to be helping guide us with her advice. We will eat at Giliad’s.” Kane grabbed his arm and they stepped out near a large stone house surrounded by many outbuildings.

  Malory had no idea who this Giliad was, and again no idea what the plans were for the day. He had discussed with Tresimiaset what had happened yesterday. To say she was surprised would be an understatement. He had told her he had apparently missed a big meeting where all the planning had taken place. Although they were bonded so she knew he could not lie to her, she had expressed disbelief that he understood what he was told. At no time in their history, she had said, had any of the race ever made all the plans in one day. It could not be done. She had explained how he could keep the flow of information between them open so she could “be” with him the entire day. She had advised him to stay as close to Patro as possible as he struck her as being the smartest of the Lyra.

  Several people were walking to meet them. Soon many conversations were going on around him. Malory opened himself to his dragon and closed the gap between himself and Patro. The only thing he heard though was greetings and offers of food. He continued to follow the others into a large communal dining room where many others were already eating. People started murmuring louder when the Lyra walked in the door.

  Fixing his plate he stayed by Patro and prepared to be confused for a second day. When everyone was done eating a man he had never met called for attention.

  “Who is that?” Malory leaned over and whispered to Patro.

  “Shh, that is Giliad, he has the largest herd of anyone in our race.”

  Giliad was telling the ones gathered in the room the plans for the day. Malory had no idea how a herd was run so most of the plans for mustering and other things were beyond his knowledge. When Giliad finished talking he motioned to the Lyra and they headed outside.

  Soon they were walking toward one of the outbuildings where a couple of other people were waiting. When they walked inside Malory was surprised to find several people already in the room. Kervin was the first to speak, “Do you have the information we need?”

  Giliad, looking around the room, looked back at Kervin, “Yeah, we got it. We can’t do anything unless you get us the grasses and grains we need. Or get us a sample of the grasses and grains on the other side. We have run the numbers every way we can and we do not have enough food to last another year with the size herd we have, we certainly can not run two herds on two planets with the food we have. Until we get a sample of the grasses, we can’t tell you what we can do. Get us a sample, open us a portal and let us send a few animals through, get us those ice fences Riance said you could get us so they are protected and we will get you males and females you can send to various spots with a herdsman to keep check on them. They need a watering hole and grasses, we will see which grasses, if any they thrive on. If you plan on scattering them, we are gonna need a dragon to move the herdsman from area to area. They will have them mustered in by the end of the week. You need to get them across the portal soon after. We don’t have to food to keep them in one place very long. They have to graze. Find us the grazing land on the other side.” Having finished he passed some papers to Kervin, “This is the numbers we have, what we can send over now, the amount of food we have for them. We also put an estimate on there of how long it will take us to move everything and everyone. Everything you need from us in on that paper. We got work to do. Go away. Come back when you can get us more food for the herd, or a portal.”

  Turning he walked out of the room. Kervin stared at the empty doorway before turning back to Riance. “That was a little abrupt. Is he always that short with people? Or is it just us,” motioning to the other Lyra. “He didn’t ask any questions, he didn’t let us ask any questions.”

  Riance, the shire seat over this section of the land grimaced, “Yes, he is always gruff and abrupt. He has gotten worse over the last couple of years. He has lost a lot of his herd since the pattern of our planet changed. He is a no nonsense kind of guy. Not a lot of use for people who live in towns. His herd is the largest one of our race, he is responsible for more people than many small towns. Until we can get him more information, we are wasting our time trying to talk to him. Everything he has to say to us, is in these numbers on these papers. I am sorry, I did what I could. But he has a point, if we can’t get him the food, he can’t help us. His herd has to eat. If you can open some portals to get samples he can tell you more what he is capable of doing. Without knowing if he can feed them on the other planet, he can’t do anything. When can you start opening portals?”

  Kervin looked at Malory, then back to Riance, “I don’t know.”

  Malory, following along with the conversation asked Tresimiaset “What do I tell them?”

  Tell them to come see me when they leave there. I think I have misjudged them.

  Malory slid closer to Patro and whispered, “Tresimiaset wants to see everyone, as soon as we leave here.”

  Patro looked down at Malory then over at Darian. Knowing Malory could not hear him if he spoke to his bond brothers mentally, and not knowing if Malory had opened himself to Tresimiaset but willing to bet he had, he sent a message to his bonded Lyra. Darian was right. Moving forward with the plans without giving Malory enough information to relay to Tresimiaset has pushed her into asking for us, all of us.

  The others heard Darian’s mental snort, I told you it would work. That is one dragon that likes to be in control and to know what is going on. If Malory could not figure out what we were doing, he could not relay it to her. I will let Kervin and Trista know, go ahead and take Malory back to the meadow where she is, we will follow.

  A moment later Patro had grabbed Malory and stepped to the watch tower meadow.

  Darian looked around the room and turned to Riance, “We thank you for your work on our behalf. We have been summoned elsewhere so if you will excuse us, we have to go. We will get the information you need as soon as we can. Kervin, Trista, if you and yours would walk out with me?”

  When the eleven had walked a sufficient distance from the outbuilding and everyone else Darian turned to the others. “Malory said Tresimiaset wants to see us. Apparently now instead of four sun rises from today. We need to go. If we play this right we can get portals open by the end of tomorrow, maybe today.”

  Trista laughed, “I can not believe you are such a poor leader yet such a skilled planner. You scheme well, and too our benefit. Unless she is upset at us for keeping Malory in the dark. In which case we are all blaming you.”

  “I don’t think she will be upset once she finally listens to our plans.” Darian told her. “Shall we go?”

  With a smile on her face Trista told
him, “Lead the way. And try to keep your thoughts blank. I think I figured out what she doing before when she seemed to read our thoughts so easy. I think she reads the surface thoughts. Whatever we are thinking she can hear. So don’t think about what we did, just think about our plans.” Soon the area was free of Lyra as they all stepped back to the watch tower meadow.

  Chapter 23

  I am not happy with the way you have started your plans, but I do believe I have misjudged you, all of you. I based what you would do on what has been done in the past. I should not have done that. I apologize to all of you. Kane tried to get me to listen when he came to pick up Malory but I was so sure of how you would go about planning that I saw no reason to meet with any of you. After speaking with my bonded I see I have failed your people, and you.

  No one had expected the first thing they heard to be an apology. No one knew just what to say. Fortunately Tresimiaset was not done.

  In the past the leaders of the race have talked and talked and still gotten no where for weeks. From what my rider has told me you had a large meeting and then you spent the day yesterday on an island planning portals. He had no idea what else you were doing, and would not have known you were planning portals if he had not heard someone discussing the fact you had agreed on how many portals that island would need. He also informed me you had built ice storage on the island and were sending fleets out to fish more. He did not see the significance of what you were doing. He wondered why build only to move. I do see what you were doing. I did not expect you to have already started planning for your food supply on the next planet. I saw, through him, the meeting you had this morning. I did not expect you to be ready, or have even realized the importance of moving herd animals over a few at a time to find the best grazing. I think I need to hear those questions I refused to listen to yesterday. And I need to hear what you have planned and how you came to plan so quickly with so many key people. What other plans have you made?

  Kane, who still had the list of questions Malory had been unable to answer, quickly removed the list and began to ask Tresimiaset the all important questions.

  “What happens if another race already inhabits the planet?”

  That is often the case. Few times have we ever moved to a planet without another race already there. I do not know if another race is there. If so we will make peace. No time in history have we ever moved to a crowded planet. Always there is more than enough room for our race and the Lyriants and whoever came before us. I expect this planet to be no different. We will find land they do not occupy and settle there. If it turns out to be an unusual planet, but it will not. The Goddess Ariannia guides my portals, they open where she wills them to when it means moving the race. That is as it has always been and how it will always be.

  “So all we can do is pray Ariannia guides the path? Well, you hear that Darian? You have to start believing in the goddess. Let me see, next question. What if the food there is poison to our system? How will we know what we can eat or not eat?”

  Are you seriously using that as a question? When you have fire walkers?

  Kane blinked at the question and looked at the others. They shrugged, no one else understood the dragon’s question either. “We thought it was a valid question. We stand to lose many people trying to experiment with what we can or can’t eat.”

  Tresimiaset looked at all the Lyra gathered around her. Although she had their memories, if they did not know something she had no way of knowing because it would not be a memory. Apparently they were like the watchers, some vital information was missing from their memories.

  As a race you have lost much. Fire walkers are immune to poison. They can eat anything. They will feel the poison as it spreads through their body and they will then use their fire to burn the poison from their bodies. Any new food you may find on the other side can be tested by a fire walker. It may take years to test all the food. It may take years to find all the food that can be tested.

  The Lyra gaped at her as she relayed this information to them. Not one of them, not even the oldest of them, had any idea the fire walkers were immune to poison.

  Kane looked back at the sheet once he had recovered himself, muttering, “Well that takes care of several questions right there.”

  As the day wore on the Lyra discussed with Tresimiaset just what plans they had put into motion. And in turn she relayed to them what things they may have overlooked. There were not many things that had been overlooked. Most things were because of the questions they had not had answers to before. Kane had finished asking her the questions they had come up with hours before.

  After several hours of discussion Tresimiaset told them she was proud to be leading them to another planet. I did not expect you to have so many detailed plans already. I did not expect you to have reached this far in your planning. I have a question for you though, for all of you. How did you do something no one in your race has managed before. How did you put into motion a plan to move your people in just one day?

  The Lyra started shifting guiltily around till they had shifted behind Darian. Finally Patro, well able to think on his feet told her, “We give all the credit to Darian. We would not have been nearly so far along if not for his leadership.”

  Tresimiaset snorted, You could not even keep a straight face when you said that. In fact, the only person who kept a straight face was Darian, and even he looked surprised when you said his name and leadership in the save breath. I have your memories, I have your dragon’s memories, even I know leadership and Darian do not go together so if you wouldn’t mind, try again.

  Kervin surprised everyone when he spoke, “No, it is true, Darian has a um unique leadership. If not for his unique leadership we would not have gotten nearly the cooperation from the council and shire seats.”

  Tresimiaset closed her eyes for a moment, He threw fireballs at them didn’t he?

  Trista looked her in the eyes and told her, “Truthfully we never saw him throw the first fireball. In fact he did not speak in the meeting at all except to tell them to figure it out after we had given them the information.”

  I see. So he did not speak but he leads so well they just cooperated. I would guess he has thrown enough fireballs at them in the past they dare not give him any problems now. Throwing fireballs to get cooperation seems much more his style. If I were to search the memories I have from each of you I am sure I would find memories of him throwing fireballs at the council members. I do not have time to search down every memory I have been given at this time. Over the centuries I am with you I will make it a point to search out those type of memories. For now I will just agree it worked and we will get busy opening portals. From what you are telling me you want the first one opened on the island, but I can’t do that. Not won’t do it, can’t. You have a portal sitting in Central already. The first portal to anchor back to that portal needs to be in a suitable place to have your capital. It will be easier to link capital to capital just as I will link island to island and herd land to herd land. The plan to send Kervin and Trista and their dragons over with me is an excellent plan. Once we have a place picked out to build your capital city the soldiers, builders, and Elite can come through. Then and only then will I be willing to open more portals. You must have a government location first, a central location for your race. I am curious though. At what point were you going to tell the sorcerers and scientist what is going on? You have not mentioned them at all.

  At the mention of sorcerers and scientist all twelve Lyra looked surprised, the surprise quickly changed to guilt and remorse and embarrassment.

  A small whisper wafted through the air, “I forgot about them.” No one could be quite sure who said it.

  “Don’t tell the scientists anything. They can’t keep secrets.” Malory shocked everyone when with his sudden contribution to the conversation.

  “He has a point there, scientists can not keep secrets more than one day. If that long, not a secret like this. Even Darian can not scare them into keeping sec
rets like this. They know of the land on the other side, they know we are trying to find a way to go through the portal, but they do not know we are going to be taking the entire race through the portal soon.” Kane could not help but agree with Malory.

  “Yes but they need to work with the sorcerers to get a powered establishment on the other side. They both are vital to getting the power up on the other planet.” Patro told them after a moment.

  “How have you been keeping them quiet so far?” Kervin realized he had not seen any scientist since a few days after the portal secret was discovered by Darian and his Lyra.

  “The scientists are in the dungeons.” The sly look on Darian’s face should have warned him but Kervin was not looking.

  Kervin blinked a couple of times, “We have no dungeons at, no, great shadows tell me you did not build dungeons? Darian? You didn’t?”

  Kane and Patro started laughing, “He is kidding, we don’t have dungeons, not at Central.”

  “Wait, I am with Kervin, I have not seen any scientist lately either.” Kane turned toward Darian, “What did you do?”

  “Why is it, when something like this happens, everyone wants to blame me? Or accuse me of something? Did you ever think that just possibly it was not me this time?”

  “No, it never occurred to me at all. We spent a week meeting with scientists, sorcerers, and the other Lyra. We spent the next week searching this planet for our dragons with no thought to the portal sitting in the middle of the gathering room. I just realized in that week we never saw a single scientist. Nor did we see one these last few days since Tresimiaset came on the scene. So Darian, I ask again, what did you do?”