by Robert James
“Do not be alarmed, I am Lord Robert of the human’s Supreme Family” I telepathed to the startled pachyderms “Will you converse with me?” I asked. The gigantic animals all stood stock still, looking down at me with unreadable expressions, also, I heard nothing in my head. Suddenly, the biggest of them, tusks at least five metres long, started to lumber towards me, each foot fall shaking the earth beneath my feet. But I was invincible, so I had no need to fear. The four story tall behemoth stopped only a metre in front of me, a telegraph pole sized trunk brought two dustpan lid sized, wet and curious nostrils to within inches of my face. I looked up into huge limpid brown eyes.
“You have no fear?” The behemoth queried telepathically.
“We are not enemies, we need not fear each other” I replied the same, silent way.
“We fear no one, least of all one such as you” The male scorned.
“With the wild people gone, I can see why” I replied “But they are coming back, tenfold!” I advised the giant creature. That news thoroughly upset the whole herd.
“The white humans will get rid of them, they always do” The big elephant shifted uneasily.
“I am the Supreme leader of these white people, this time it will not be so” I told him.
“Why not?” He asked “They serve no purpose” There was anger in the gigantic elephant’s telepathed question.
“Because it is time for humans of all kinds to live in harmony, with each other and all that is in the world around them” I told the truly enormous male elephant.
“And that means back to the days when we were hunted by all humans” He snorted, and then swung his massive trunk at me. I made no attempt to get out of the way and, just before it actually touched me, the gigantic elephant froze and cried out loud in pain.
“You are no better than they” I told the now shaken giant, adding “You follow their might is right philosophy”.
“You are bigger, so you can sweep me aside, and yet, that’s not so easy after all, is it?” I asked, glaring up into his massive eyes. Then I took off and flew some meters, to hover over the enormous animals head, I was now looking down at him, his confusion grew.
“What are you?” He telepathed, his fear becoming noticeable.
“He’s already told us fool” A female, nearly as big as the male came over and looked at me. “Lord Robert you said?” She asked.
“That’s right” I confirmed, adding “I am not here to harm anyone”.
“Please excuse Big Bull Lord Robert” She asked, adding “He’s old and not one to change easily”.
“I can speak for myself” Big Bull cut in angrily.
“No doubt you can, but it sounds like we are in trouble” The female shot back “I think we are going to need friends, not enemies, powerful friends” She looked straight into my eyes.
“There is no need for anyone to be in trouble” I told her “Harmony is usually the result of compromise” I telepathed to her.
“The wild people are well named Lord Robert” The female told me silently “They attack every living thing in the jungle, how does one harmonise with that?” She had real doubts.
“Perhaps, like your friend here, they may need some special convincing” I agreed “But, as you can see, I am quite well equipped to provide such an education” I told her grinning “Where are the nearest wild people that you know of?” I asked the female elephant, then floated over to a sturdy branch and sat waiting for the huge creature to answer.
“We haven’t seen any for twenty years or more” The male answered, his tone subdued, but not quite respectful “Some friends say they have moved to the mountains, we heard there were some still living west of the pipeline’ The male continued “So, where is this horde of them coming from, if you don’t know where they are right now?” He asked belligerently.
“You had better hope I find out before they get here” I told him.
“What if you don’t find them?” The female asked me nervously.
“I’d have no choice but to witness a lot of unnecessary bloodshed” I answered “I can only do what is the will of those involved”.
“You wouldn’t prevent it?” The female elephant was surprised.
“For there to be harmony among the white and black humans, and the creatures of the jungle, there must first be the will to find and to sustain that harmony” I continued explaining.
“You’ll find little will for peace among those savages” She said, clearly she was convinced of the wild people’s inability to rationalise. All I could do was hope and pray that she was wrong.
“Which way are these mountains?” I asked the two elephants.
“Due East of here” The female replied. I thanked her, said goodbye to all of them and flew off into the Eastern sky. From several hundred metres in the air, the view was spectacular. I could see the outline of the mountain ranges to the East and, far beyond the garish ribbon that snaked its way West, I could just make out what seemed to be the coast line. But the one thing I was looking for I didn’t see. I saw no smoke.
Although the vast expanses of almost unbroken jungle vegetation below me had to be teaming with all sorts of life, to the best of my knowledge, only humans used fire. Those mountains seemed to be the best bet, but I wanted a closer look, so, I dropped back to treetop level, gliding swiftly and silently east. The patches of bare tundra I had noticed turned out to be many decades old, man made clearings, easily big enough to have been tribal villages, with a limited agriculture. The trees were full of chattering monkeys, chirping birds and, occasionally, small family sized groups of almost man sized gorillas. I found it odd that they looked much more like their smaller cousins, the chimpanzee, than any gorilla I’d ever seen. Suddenly, I had company.
Two magnificent golden eagles, their bodies the size of a pony’s, with wing spans that had to top fifteen meters, where gliding along on either side of me.
“How does he stay up?” A graceful female voice queried.
“The white humans have great technology now you know” A deeper male voice replied.
“He doesn’t seem to mind us, he’s not afraid” The female commented “Do you think he could harm us?” She asked, a note of apprehension in her tone. Time for me to butt in.
“I neither fear nor desire to do you any harm” I transmitted silently “It is truly a great joy to share these skies with you” I told them.
“You people have learned to communicate with us?” The male’s surprise was rather clear.
“Only myself to my knowledge” I told him truthfully.
“Why? Who are you?” He asked congenially, as the three of us glided silently over the treetops.
“What do you know of human culture?” I inquired of them.
“Only that black humans are always killing and eating every living thing they find” The female replied “And that white human technology seems to dominate and very often change the whole environment of wherever they choose to live” She added. I briefly explained the human propensity for having Gods to guide them and found that they too revered the Creator. But theirs was reverential gratitude, for all that the Creator had already provided, not prayers for even more.
“So you are an emissary of the Creator?” The male asked, awe creeping into his tone.
“In a way you could say that” I agreed “But I have no authority, or ability, beyond the will of all those whom I’ve come to help” I hoped they understood. I told them who I was looking for and, of course, they knew where the wild people were living, but they were extremely reluctant to take me there.
“We’ll all end up looking like dead porcupines” The male warned.
“I’m told it’s worse on the ground” The fearful female contributed.
“You can communicate with all the animals down there?” I asked.
“No, only other avian creatures” She replied “There are a few who can’t fly, poor things”.
Sure enough, as we reached the foothills of that mountain range, we saw plume
s of smoke. The eagles bid me farewell, as I cautiously approached a small circular village of grass dwellings. In all, twelve huts, three metres in diameter and linked by an above ground pathway, were built on metre high stumps. Four of the dwellings turned out to be the source of the smoke and, from the smell of it, it was lunchtime. Though I could hear people’s voices and general noises, I could see no one. I landed gently on a thick branch, a metre over one of the smoking huts.
“I don’t like this guerrilla style stuff” A man’s voice complained “We’ve got the numbers, we know they’ve gone soft I think…”.
“Hey man, no one cares what you think” A similar aged voice cut him off “Martin knows what he’s doing” A deeper, older voice affirmed the second man’s opinion. “Why waste our blood?” Another male voice agreed, then came the sounds of a group of men eating noisily. It appeared that there were no women in that hut. After flitting from branch to branch, like a big, awkward red bird, so that I could listen over each one, there were no women in any of the others. The eight non-smoking huts were completely empty. The ground below the circle of huts had been completely cleared, out to a three metre band around the perimeter, and steps led down from all four sides. While I was still debating whether to wait and continue listening in secret, or zoom in and say hello, all of the men came out of the four huts simultaneously.
The twenty six, huge, half naked black men all carried ridiculously small, cross bow type weapons, which they all fired straight at me! The twenty six, pen sized missiles all found their target, not too surprising, given the close range, and then they disappeared! It happened too quickly for me to think about it, or get frightened.
“You guys are not very hospitable are you?” I pointed out to the dumbfounded group of warriors, all wearing body paint as armour.
“Not even the giant elephant could survive such an assault” An older member of the group said softly, clearly awe-struck.
“Perhaps you should check before you shoot next time” I suggested rather coldly.
“We were not told that white men had such technology as you have displayed” A man whom I recognised as the deep voice from the first hut said to me
“I do not see any weapons, are you an emissary?” He queried, obviously hoping for a positive answer.
“Should I so choose, all of you would cease to exist” I answered grimly “That is the normal penalty for firing upon any member of the Supreme Family of the New World. Futile though that act might be” I told them. Instantly, all of them fell to their knees, their weapons clattering onto the metre-wide boardwalk, then falling onto to the ground below.
“Forgive us Excellency, we would never have contemplated such impudence had we known Sire” Somehow I didn’t believe him, because, despite their fear, I could sense their anger at this unwanted extension of white dominance.
“Martin is your Commander or the Chieftain?” I asked.
“He is our hereditary Leader Your Excellency” He answered.
“I will speak with him” I commanded authoritatively.
“Clearly we are defenceless against you, Excellency” The big, forty something black man conceded, adding “Kill us all if you so choose, but not one of us will guide you to our people, or our leader” There was no doubt he believed his words to be truth. I thought of my recently made friends in the sky, assuring them no harm could come to them. Within seconds, the two gigantic eagles glided into the clearing and sat atop a hut each, dwarfing the simple round structures.
“I want you to take this one for a lip loosening ride” I told the male, pointing at the apparent leader of this little band. The man’s low voice shot up several octaves, when the huge bird’s mighty talons clamped both his shoulders, drawing copious amounts of blood in the process, and flew him to a few hundred meters.
“Who’d like to join him?” I asked the rest of them. The female bird waited eagerly. With their once confident leader screaming like a spoilt child, high above them, the twenty five men, still on their knees, heads bowed, were thoroughly cowed and confused.
“Either I get directions or my feathered friends will pick you up, one by one, and drop you out there” I pointed to the thick jungles all around “Then you can become the food of those you kill so wantonly” I told the frightened group of warriors.
“You speak of the beasts as if they were humans Sire” One of the older men spoke out, not willing to lift his head.
“You know” I told him “I heard that said of you, just this morning, by a white man who was one of those who sought to eradicate your people three decades ago” I added coldly “Now all of you stand and look up at your colleague” I ordered. He hung limply, silently.
“Just fainted” The huge avian assured me. I told the men to go down into the centre of the village and form a circle, then, I had the male eagle bring the seemingly lifeless body back down and drop him in the middle. No-one moved forward to try to help the man, as he groggily fought his way back to full consciousness.
“Do you think you would still be alive were I not compassionate?” I asked the still-sitting, still-hazy, low voiced leader.
“I do not wish to do harm to you, your people or your leadership” I told him “Quite the contrary, I am decreed to prevent harm to all, especially the weaker and the defenceless” The once proud and confident leader, now bleeding profusely from six ugly wounds on the front and back of his shoulders, looked decidedly weak.
“I have no understanding of your powers” The big man looked up at me, all fear gone, just an acceptance that death was near, which, without medical attention, was true. That distressed me greatly.
“Do not trouble yourself so Sire” My circling male eagle sensed my distress “This man and his kin have caused much pain and suffering throughout this jungle for many decades” He added.
“It is just and fair that he should die in this way” The female eagle contributed. Still, I desperately wished that I could undo the damage I’d done. Suddenly, a white powdery cloud of smoke enveloped the mortally wounded, two metre plus black leader. His twenty five colleagues leaped back to crouch, terrified, around the supporting stumps of the huts. I floated down to investigate. As soon as my boots touched the ground, the thick cloud, which had hidden the man completely, began to dissipate. By the time I walked over and looked down, the mist had all but gone, and I looked down on a peacefully sleeping, slightly smiling, completely uninjured man! His eyes opened slowly and he raised his hands to his face, looked at his now undamaged body then looked up at me.
He, like the twenty five other men and two massive eagles that circled above, obviously attributed this miracle to me. All I’d done was wished he hadn’t been mortally wounded, I had no idea how it had happened, but I was really grateful that it had.
“Until now, I had believed the white man’s Gods were false” The man’s voice was deep and reverential “I was wrong” He apologised, looking at me expectantly.
“Do I look like an eagle?” I asked as he knelt, head bowed.
“No Sire” He replied, not looking up at me.
“Yet can I not communicate with them that I may know their will and express mine?” I asked. This time he did slowly bring his head up to look at my face, his was a look full of questions.
“Must I therefore be black, before I can speak with your people” I asked “So that I may know your will and express my own?” I watched some understanding grow in his huge brown eyes.
“So you are not here to protect the white invaders?” He asked, deep voice still deferential.
“I am here to stop all killing, no matter what the perceived justification may be” I told him sincerely “They will never again trouble your people and yours will not be allowed to trouble them. What is past is past; revenge will only keep the cycle of killing alive into the future, for your children and their children” That might not have been what he wanted to hear, but there was no way he wanted to argue with me.
“I cannot pretend to understand Sire” He stated fra
nkly, his head back down “But I am not so foolish as to question your word. What is it you will have from me Sire?” He asked, his voice both strong yet supplicant.
“Only knowledge about your ways and directions to your leadership’s location” I told him.
“What would you know Sire?’ He asked me curiously “How can I know what someone such as you does not Sire?” He wondered.
For the next hour or so, I quizzed him on his people and what he knew of their history. Though he was just a small child at the time, he remembered that they used to farm on small plots, breed cattle and pigs and only hunted a small part of their food requirements.
The few adults left, after the white man’s massacre nearly forty years ago, created small villages in the foothills of the mountains, just ahead of us. Though they still had small vegetable plots, they had to hunt for their meat now, because all their stock had been killed as well. Starvation was still the single most serious threat to his people. There were two tribes, as far as he knew, the Lowlanders of which he was one and the Highlanders, who lived in the mountainous country that surrounded this whole area. Martin, the hereditary King and Commander of all the Lowlander clans, had allied with all the tribal chiefs of the nearby Highland clans. They were now ready to start hit and run attacks on the processing and port facility and sabotaging the pipeline itself.