by C. Litka
02
We had just reached the edge of the jungle at the mountainous end of the island when I seemed to feel, more than hear, a low, throbbing whine. Siss must've heard it too, since she stopped swimming to swing her head about searching.
'What's that noise?' I asked, looking about as well.
'It could be that,' said Cin, pointing up the mountain side.
I saw something just poking over the top of the little mountain. It slowly grew in size as more and more of it drifted into view. The little mountain peak was not more than five hundred meters high, and the object, a ship of some sort, drifted just over it, covered a large swath of the sky overhead. By the time it cleared the peak it looked to be at least three times the size of the Starry Shore - say 600 meters in length and 400 wide.
'A Dragon Lord's ship,' I whispered.
'For a fact?' asked Cin, louder over the increased whine of the great ship as it slowly drifted down after crossing the peaks.
'Well, no. They're said to be vast? Vast enough to push islands out of the way. So perhaps not. But what could it be?'
It grew dim around us in the shadow of the great vessel; the low pulsing whine took on a definite physical aspect, setting the leaves on the trees vibrating. It was oval shaped, with a rounded lens-like profile. Set along each side were at least two dozen short wings mounting streamlined pods, each the size and shape of a ship's boat, say 15-20 meters long. They appeared to be larger versions of the pod we'd seen in the wreckage, and from the lack of anything else in the nature of rockets or propellers, it seemed that they were the driving force of the vessel. Like the wreck, the hull had once been a pale blue to closely match the sky, but was now faded, scarred and dented, more dull grey metal than pale blue paint.
'Whatever it is, it's likely come to view the wreckage. Two of a kind,' said Cin, as it drifted slowly over us and on to the plain. 'It looks every bit as battered as the wreck. They certainly didn't waste any time.'
She was right; the great ship slowed to a stop at the far end of the island.
'Right. We'll have a better view from the gig,' I added. I didn't know how much protection the gig would provide, but it would be more than what we had at the present. 'And we might want to keep out of sight until we know more about the ship and who's in it.'
Cin grinned, but didn't argue, so with Siss in the lead, we started off, pushing our way up a wide ravine and through the storm-battered jungle, trying to stay under cover as much as possible.
'Could that be the Dragon Lords?' asked Cin as we wound our way up through the jungle - branch to branch, vine to vine.
'No clue. I gather that the Cimmadarians take the Dragon Lords, the ultimate rulers of the Pela, rather seriously. They're said to be very powerful and technologically advanced, and best avoided. Glen Colin hinted that the Cimmadarians are a hermit kingdom in part to avoid attracting their attention. That ship and the wreckage sort of fits the pattern - powerful, advanced and old. However, legend has their vessels being so large that they brush islands out of their way as they travel at great speeds. I rather doubt that can push islands out of the way, though it looks like it tried. But really, it could be any one of 10,000 civilizations yet to be discovered in the Pela. The Pela is vast enough to have that many great and advanced civilizations in it, without them ever crossing orbits. I'd say this is one of them.'
'Whoever they are, they're not keen on maintaining their ships - at least in their appearance. What does that say?'
'Certainly looks ancient, and yet it got them to this isolated island within a round of the storm's passing, so they're either local or can travel fast regardless of how the ship looks.'
'And they knew right where to find the wreck.'
'Aye, there's that too...'
It took us ten minutes to get through the jungle and onto the lower slopes of the little mountains. From that height we looked back over the savanna to see the great ship hovering low over the wreck. Cin drew out her survey glasses.
'See any one? What do they look like?' I asked, seeing specks moving about.
'I have a feeling you've met them before,' she replied, handing me the glasses.
With the glasses I could see a swarm of figures gliding about - red figures, like animated crosses with their arms spread in flight. At full zoom I had no doubt I had met one already.
'Could explain the fact that two wrecks ended up on this little isolated island,' said Cin, as I handed back her glasses.
'What do you mean?'
'It seemed funny that the storm deposited two boats on our small island. But if that ship was keeping watch over us, that might explain how we both ended up here.'
'Perhaps, but why would they be interested in us? And if they are, why didn't they just contact us?'
She shrugged.
'Given the power of the storm, I'd say it's more likely pure chance. Who knows how many hundreds of islands the storm swept through before reaching us. It could've picked up that ship far, far away, along with hundreds, if not thousands of other boats and ships,' I added.
Cin shrugged, 'If they're not the Dragon Lords pushing islands out of their way, then that ship arrived too soon to have come from far away.'
'Aye.' I glanced back at the great ship and the darting dots. Dozens of the red feathered beings seemed to be soaring further and further from the ship. 'Let's continue this discussion aboard the gig. I've no desire to meet them again.'
We set off once more up and down the canyons and ravines, following the gig's beacon on my com link.
They must have either sharp eyes or used telepathy, since they found us as we reached the canyon containing the gig. We had just entered it when the first one glided overhead. Siss hissed a warning. Cin drew her darter, as did I.
'Best not start something, we're vastly outnumbered,' I whispered, as we picked up the pace, a half-run along the vines that carpeted the canyon floor and walls. 'Let's just push on and see if they care to stop us.'
Cin turned and gave me a mocking grin. 'Right. Charm them.'
'I'll try, but I've had better luck with dragons.'
The red feathered being wheeled and settled onto the pile of debris that hid the gig. He drew his bow from its case that he wore on his back, and fitted it with an arrow, held it pointing in our general direction. Within seconds, more shadows glided along the canyon floor, as more of the tall, silent beings arrived to land alongside the first one. And like the first, they drew their bows and notched their arrows. Ready, but not threatening. So far. However, we'd have to push past them to gain the gig, which looked iffy.
We came to a halt before the wind-deposited debris that filled the end of the canyon. Siss wound herself around the both of us, as leery as we were about what came next.
'What next, Litang?' asked Cin.
I could've replied that since she was the owner, it was her decision, but in the interest of peace, I said, 'I guess we talk.'
'About what?'
A good question. I looked around and counted eight figures lining the debris pile and canyon walls next to it. They had us more or less surrounded - and from beyond my usual darter range at that.
'Greetings,' I said in a loud voice, and a smile. 'We meet again.'
No response. Not that I expected any.
'Was that one of your ships that was wrecked in the storm? We're just coming back from inspecting it. I'm sorry to say that a pair of talon-hawks beat us to it, so that there was next to nothing left of the crew, at least that we could see.'
No response.
'So, what can we do for you?'
No response. They simply stared down at us with their large black eyes. Like the first one I met, they all wore the collar with the smooth black gem in it. This time, I quickly noted it and glanced past it.
'Don't look at the gem on their collars. That's what seemed to initiate the whole mind-sucking experience,' I whispered, and then added, as still nothing had happened. 'Siss, do you get any reading on what's going on?'
'We can't wait here all day,' said Cin, who could hit her targets on the canyon ridge above us. 'I think we should just push on and see if they try to stop us. Put'em to sleep if they object.'
'You're forgetting that massive ship on the other end of the island. If it was just these fellows, maybe. But we've no defense against something like that ship.'
'We'll give them a few more minutes and then push on to the gig. We can't just stand here forever.'
'I'd think that was preferable to getting smashed by that ship, but you're the owner.'
Even as I said that, another red feathered figure glided overhead. The others before us shifted to let it land amongst them.
'The boss bird has arrived,' whispered Cin.
He looked no different than the others, save that he didn't bother to draw his bow. He stared down at us for a moment, and suddenly, it seemed we lost our ability to look away, or to do anything at all. The black gem on his collar seemed to draw my eyes to it. To look away from the black gem at his throat took more effort than I could summon. I knew what was coming next...
'I think..." I said, but could get no further, as I suddenly fell into blackness. I felt my thoughts fleeing, like wind-driven leaves. It was familiar enough to know what came next.
Blackness.
They were all gone when the blackness faded back to milky light. We were, as we had been, swaying gently in the breeze, still attached to the carpet of vines by our toe clawed boots, Siss still wrapped around the two of us. It may've been a dream.
'Are you okay?' I asked, turning to Cin and Siss.
Siss hesitated and then hissed a soft affirmative, Cin shook herself, and said. 'I believe so. Strange friends you have, Litang.'
I couldn't argue that. Instead, I said, 'Let's get to the gig. We can discuss things once we've a D-matter hull between us and the Pela.
Siss didn't wait, but started up to the pile of debris. Cin and I followed, climbing up the ragged side until we reached the top. Turning about, we saw that the savanna was empty. The great ship had gone.
'How long were we out?' I asked, glancing at my com link. 'It had been only minutes before, I think, but this?' I wasn't sure when it had started, but it seemed to have been more than a few minutes, especially with the ship, and any sign of the wreck, now gone.
'The better part of an hour,' said Cin.
'Neb! What is going on? What did they do?'
'I'd say that they stole our memories.'
'Why?'
Cin shrugged. 'Maybe that's how they live. On other people's memories. They weren't exactly vibrant people?'
I glanced at her. She was mostly kidding. 'Well, they're welcome to them. Hopefully that's all they stole,' I added, starting across the tangle of debris for our little tunnel to the gig at the far side.
The gig seemed to have been untouched at the bottom of the great branch pile. We pulled ourselves down through the tunnel and into the gig, closing the hatch behind us.
I let out a sigh. 'Home, sweet home. I'm glad you decided to stay with the gig.'
'For all the good it did us, this time,' Cin replied. And then, looking at me, asked, 'What is it about you, Litang?'
'What do you mean?'
'Why is it that you've not been in the Pela more than a couple of months and one of the most mysterious myths of the Pela - the great ships of the mythical Dragon Lords - just drifts overhead. What attracts this weirdness to you?'
'Neb, I wish I knew. Though, as a minor point, I'm pretty sure that wasn't one of the mythical Dragon Lord's ships. Too small. Besides, I wouldn't call those red feathered fellows dragons, much less Lords.'
'Point taken.'
'Still, you're right about being a magnet for weirdness. I've crossed orbits with dream dragons, black dragons, sentient machines that should have been in the Inner Drifts eleven thousand years ago, and quasi-religious mercenaries. I've been attacked by drift navies and drift hawks, assassins, military fanatics and the last of the Four Shipmates. And that's all before I found myself in the sea of the mythical Tenth Star - castaway with you and all its strange and savage people and creatures, slavers, dragons, talon-hawks, and an annoying sentry-serpent,' I concluded, with Siss swirling around me, clearly begging to be included in the list.
'It's very weird. Were you born in space? In some sort of weird space?'
'No. I was born on Faelrain, in the ordinary way. My theory is that somehow, for some reason, the Dark Neb picked up on the fact that in my first years of being a spaceer, I took all the wild and improbable tales told by old spaceers as pure fiction, and the Dark Neb just decided to prove me wrong - leading me from one weird and dangerous thing to the next. I'm not sure if I fear or hope that I've only scratched the surface of the Nebula's inherent weirdness.'
She gave me a glance, 'And why is that?'
'Because if I've only scratched it, I've still got a long time to live.'
She laughed, 'Be careful what you wish for, Litang.'
'Ah, too true. I never learn.' I really, really needed to learn that. Then I looked at Cin and realized, not quite yet.