by Foy W Minson
“But, while Lila was gone, Ronald stunned us by saying he wasn’t human. He said he was a gllurik, beings that the kryls use, and that they are shape shifters. They don’t really look like kryls. He said he was one of a secret group on Earth that is here to help us humans. Then he said he had a bunch of information to give us that was vital for us humans to have, for the next time the kryls came. But, because he was dying, he didn’t have time to tell it to us. And, since Raven had already shown she’s a telepath, he would transfer it to her mind from his. So, he did. It only took a couple of minutes, but it laid Raven out flat. Plus, if you remember, I said she was dying, too.
“About that time, Lila came back with Vonnie and Dad and some others. When Vonnie confirmed that Ronald was dying, Lila went nuts, ‘cause she really liked him. She went to work on him, all the while crying and sobbing, and first thing you know, his wounds were all healed up. Then, while everyone stood around with their mouths hanging open, Lila — little, seven-year-old Lila — went to work on Raven. In a couple of minutes, Raven was able to stand.
“In fact, that’s when she started pushing everyone away from Ronald. She told us that since he was a gllurik and not a human, he was still dying, and we all had to get away from him. The last thing he said, other than good-bye, was that she was correct, and that we should believe whatever she told us. What convinced everyone was when he suddenly just burst into the hottest flames I’ve ever seen.
“Later, after she had a chance to process at least some of her new knowledge, Raven explained that the glluriks cause their bodies to self-combust at the instant of their deaths so they can’t be identified as being from out there.” She pointed her finger straight up. “Apparently, they’ve been here on Earth for hundreds — no, thousands of years, studying humans and our magic.
“Does that about cover it, Raven?”
Raven stood and looked about the table at everyone. She peered at each one before drawing her dagger, Raven’s Claw, and, leaning on it with its point sinking slowly into the tabletop, she said, “Enough, at least, to explain what needed to be explained. And, now, would you folks like to tell us which one of you is a gllurik?”
CHAPTER 15
Sherri clutched Daryl to her breast with one arm and Sarah with the other.
Dagar stood so quickly he almost fell over backward, but he recovered himself and in same instant had his own dagger out.
Woody spun his legs around and away from the table and bench on which he had sat. By the time he had completed the spin his big Bowie knife was in his hand and pointed at the two strangers still seated at the table.
Emmie kept to her seat, but her dagger was in her hand, and her mind was cocked, as she often described it when she was primed and ready, on the instant, to exert her full telekinetic power. She glanced at Raven then back to cover the two men.
Raven remained leaning on Raven’s Claw at what appeared to be a relaxed pose, but Emmie knew her friend was a mere blink away from whipping her blade up to deal with any threat. Without taking her eyes from the two men sitting immobile before her, she spoke to Emmie. “Personally, I vote for Raymond. Of course, I don’t know how the other glluriks behave, so I’m just judging by what I remember of the one I did know. Remember how Ronald seemed? Like he was the last person in the world you would expect to be any kind of threat? Everyone wanted to take him under their wing. Everyone thought they had to protect him. He was just this little, unobtrusive person passing through, totally safe, even around small children. The ideal baby-sitter. Now, that certainly doesn’t apply to Dan. But, I can see a lot of Ronald in Raymond. What do you think?”
“Uh huh,” Emmie nodded. “Now that you mention it.”
Dagar and Woody remained silent, but their vigilance never wavered.
Dan glanced at Raymond who returned it with a smile after which he returned his own gaze to the table surface. Still smiling after a few moments, the little man looked back up to return the gaze of each person at the table, then, to Raven he said, “Did you really know Ronald Newman? Did he really...connect with your mind and — I’m not aware it has ever been done before. Successfully, that is. And, you say you were on the brink of death, yourself, at the time? I’m rather surprised he chanced it. But, then, as you said, he was dying and didn’t have much choice. If you had died, too, it would have been tragic, a loss of unimaginable depth. It’s well that you didn’t. He was adamant about wanting to be more open with humans. The majority has always been reluctant to come out with our identities, but for a long time, now, he has said that it would be the best way, that for too long we have remained in hiding, keeping our secrets from you, losing sight, he claimed, of our primary mission, which is to educate and prepare humans to fight the kryls, to repel them, to defeat them. He insisted we have become too entrenched in our own secrecy. But we don’t really have a leader or hierarchy — we just make policy by consensus. So, any change must be approved by at least half of us. Although Ronald presented some passionate arguments, and he had many converts, me among them, we had not yet reached a consensus on this issue.”
With a flick of the tip of his knife toward Dan, Woody asked, “So, did you have any idea you were traveling with a gllurik? Or did you even know they existed?”
Dan eyed the knife pointed at his face from only a foot away. “Whatever I tell you probably won’t be believed, so why bother?”
Woody came back, “Because I’d like to know just how honest you are. If you knew he wasn’t human, and you still stayed with him…”
“Now, Woody, back off a minute,” Raven said. “I know you never met Ronald, but you know about him. Since Raymond is one of Ronald’s kind, I see no problem with Dan —”
“But how do we know Raymond is like Ronald? All we have is his word. He could easily be a spy for the kryls, searching out communities where we practice magic openly. How do we know he hasn’t already sent a message back to them? They could be arriving at any time.”
Raven turned to face her husband directly, reaching out to cup his face in her hands and peered into his eyes. “Because, my darling, I have just been in rapport with Raymond. Not as extensively as I had with Ronald, and totally different from what I am able to do with Satan, but enough to know his beliefs and ethics — his heart. He told us the truth.”
“And Dan did not know I’m a gllurik,” Raymond said. “We met just this side of Portland, Oregon. He was good enough to rescue me from a gang of men who thought it would be amusing to suspend me from a lamppost by my heels with a burning tire around my waist. As is our standard of operations, I never told him of my true self. I’m sorry, Dan, if you feel betrayed.”
“I’m not sure,” Dan said. “I’ll have to think about it. To answer Woody’s question, no I’ve never heard of glluriks until Emmie described them — you.”
Raven said, “They work for the kryls because they must. The kryls tolerate them only because they are of use to the kryls in controlling their empire. Without glluriks, kryls would have a hard time finding or identifying magic-using humans. But if the glluriks refused to do the kryl’s bidding, the kryls would have no reason not to annihilate them. However, some of them see us humans as the only species that might have a chance to dethrone the kryls. Apparently, the kryls rule their empire and the various intelligent species within it to their own, sole benefit. If they don’t benefit the kryls, they see wisdom in eliminating them altogether. They would have wiped humans from the galaxy if they hadn’t developed a passion for hunting us for sport. So, now, the only value humans have, as far as kryls are concerned, is to provide a steady stream of game quarry for them. If only we didn’t have this annoying little trait of using magic. It plays hell on their thrill of tracking us down for the kill. They just don’t know how to combat it. And, really, there is no way to combat it. If our abilities developed to high degrees and we were prepared to use them as weapons, we would be formidable in battle. That’s why they do their little visits to cull us, destroy our cities and push us back into cave
s, and, using their pet glluriks — sorry, Raymond — they hunt down any of us that show any promise of developing magic.”
Raymond nodded to Raven as acknowledgment of her apology, then he said, “You have described the situation fairly well, though briefly. But, of course, to cover it fully would take more time than anyone here would care to spend.”
“But, why haven’t kryls been seen before?” asked Sherri. “If they came here before to hunt us like deer, why didn’t we see it all over the newspapers and television? I would think that would have been quite a story.”
“Because they only came here to capture specimens for transporting to special hunt-worlds, not to hunt us here on Earth.” Raven said. “Like a very dear friend of mine who was taken during the cull six years ago. Other than during culls, they would come secretly, covertly, only to outlying areas. They’d pick their targets when they were away from their villages or towns, isolated even for just a few minutes. That’s all it would take. And if they didn’t take too many from one area, the disappearances were hardly noticed except locally.
“The old world was full of myths and legends, but always from some far away place or time, remember? People loved that sort of thing, to tell each other, to try to scare each other. But no one ever believed those stories, not really. The kryls didn’t want the earth’s populations to be aware of their presence, or even of their existence. The last thing they wanted was to have us waiting for them and prepared to fight another war.
“Apparently, after the first war, long, long ago, it occurred to them that they might have lost. If the humans back then had been better prepared, better trained and experienced in the use of their powers as weapons, actually prepared to use them in war instead of just building a better world…”
“Yes, these last millennia might have been quite different,” Raymond finished for her.
Sherri answered with a shake of her head, “And you say these powers are normal? Why don’t more people have them? Why not everyone, if they are normal?”
“Well, maybe they do,” Emmie responded. “Maybe everyone does have some kind of power. Maybe it just takes time and usually some kind of incentive for them to emerge.
“My own didn’t come out until I saw my dad was about to be killed. I was with him at the time, so I would have been killed, too. But what drove me — really drove me — was that he was going to die.”
“Yes,” Raymond said. “That is one of the things we have learned, the human magic emerges at an instant of great need. But, of course, not always. As human civilizations and technologies advance, the use of magic declines. Another human trait — and most puzzling, too. You humans do tend to be a confusing lot. Even those persons who may be capable of doing magic do not use their abilities for fear of being seen as different, a freak to be taken aside and studied perhaps for the rest of their lives, and in times past of being burned at the stake or stoned to death. After a time, the magic simply fades into the deeper recesses of the human minds, lying in wait for the urgent need to be there at a time when it is safe to use, or when a need is so great the risk is worth it. It doesn’t happen often, but, for instance, there have been reports of mothers doing amazing feats in order to save a child in peril.”
Dagar said, “That’s pretty much the way you explained it, Raven, after you got whatever it was that you got from Ronald.”
Raven’s answer was with a short, wistful laugh. “And I’m still trying to make sense of a lot of the stuff he packed into my head. I’m always thinking something and wondering how it is that I know whatever it is I’m thinking. Things that have nothing to do with kryls or what happened six years ago. Things like from a thousand years ago, things that I know happened without having any idea how I know. I tell myself I must have read it sometime. But, when I think about it, I know that what I’m doing is recalling something that Ronald had witnessed and passed on to me. Maybe he was there when it happened, or maybe he just learned about it from his friends. He did tell me that glluriks live for a very long time, barring accidents.”
“Or human intervention,” Raymond added. “That is why the roles we always assume are those of peaceful, non-aggressive types. It is better to run away than to fight and be exposed. And we can run very fast — too fast, if we’re not careful. And, Raven, I am still fascinated that Ronald Newman was able to make such a connection with you that he could give you so much. This may open a whole new area of exploration for us. Why did we not try it earlier? But, of course, we know why. Too many were reluctant to expose ourselves to you. But, it is fascinating to consider the possibilities. You say you were next to him at the time; but I wonder if it could be done over a distance, and how much of a distance?”
“So, now that we know about you, do you have to kill us?” Woody’s question was asked in a light, kidding manner, but his gaze was deadly serious.
“Goodness, no!” Raymond answered. “I would very much like to remain in your village and observe the use of human magic without having to conceal my interest. Like I said, there are many among my kind who believe we should be open with humans. Raven’s ability simply reduced my options.”
“Why don’t we all take a walk?” Dagar said as he looked at Emmie. “Before we broadcast our discovery from the Village Center, maybe we should let a couple of other people in on this, like, for instance, your dad and maybe The Judge.”
CHAPTER 16
Jason glanced over at The Judge seated beside Jason’s desk in his office and nodded. Then, peering back into Raymond’s eyes, he said, “Yes, I can see a bit of Ronald in you. And if Raven says you’re like Ronald, I’ll accept it. I can’t speak for everyone else, but some of us knew Ronald and liked him. The others have heard of him, but that’s no guarantee they’ll accept you. I’m not sure we should reveal the truth about you just yet.”
“That will be fine with me. As Raven understands, we seldom revealed ourselves even to those we’ve studied for years. I would like to have access to those among you that have shown abilities — covertly, of course. I may even be able to identify others whose abilities are still latent. I would like to determine if, with encouragement, they may be able to bring them out without the stimulus of intense urgency that so often comes too late.”
Jason turned to Sherri then and said, “It looks like you’re going to be in on our little secret. You can understand our need to be discreet, but Sarah is young. How’s she at keeping secrets?”
Sherri started to say something but caught herself. She smiled down at Sarah standing beside her and said, “She’ll keep your secret.”
“Meanwhile,” said The Judge as he nodded to Dan standing beside Raymond, “until we can identify slots you can fill, please remain as our guests. Jason, do you have any ideas on placement?”
“Sure, we can fit ‘em in. Dagar, would you get Dan and Raymond settled in the O’Hara place? It’s been empty since Travis moved up to Riverhill. And, Emmie, how about taking Sherri over to Juanita’s? I’ll bet she’d like some adult company, for a change. She’s got lots of room, and her little boy is about Sarah’s age.”
Twenty minutes later, Dagar paused on his way out the door of the O’Hara cabin and said, “If you need anything, give a holler. You’re welcome to come to the dining hall for all your meals if you don’t want to fend for yourselves. And, here’s something else to think about. In a little under a week, a good part of Wolfehaven is going to take a trip upriver to Riverhill for a two week stay. The two villages have begun a tradition of annual meetings. They’re sorta combinations of family and friend reunions and county fairs. They came here last year. Also, it’s a good opportunity for folks to meet prospective mates. That’s what happened with Travis O’Hara. Got himself a lovely new wife and ready-made family and moved there instead of bringing them all back here. And, it’s just good sense to stay friendly with the neighbors. You two are welcome to come, if you’d like. Or, you can stay here if you’re tired of traveling. There’s always some that stay behind that’ll keep you company.�
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After taking an hour to settle into the house Travis O’Hara had given up for his bride, Dan and Raymond strolled down to the open area near the river to discover what else their destinies had led them to. They approached a small crowd near a slightly leaning flagpole with a multicolored pennant hanging limp at the top. In the small space in the middle of the crowd, Charlie was holding a clipboard and making marks on a paper. Erin stood beside him and occasionally asked questions of those in the gathering.
“Dad’s leg is still bothering him,” a woman said as she shook her head. “Lila did what she could for him, but I guess she can’t do a lot about a man getting old and wore out. Hate to think what this next winter’ll do to him. We’d probably both better stay here.”
Charlie made another mark on his paper, and Erin said, “Okay, Darla. We’ll miss you both, but you know best. I’ll do the best I can to get you a good trade on your quilts. Anything special you want?”
Darla thought for a moment then replied, “I could use some new leggings. Tried to go on the cheap with the last ones and they didn’t hardly get me through the winter. Ask Missus Olefield to show you the kind I almost took last year. She tried to tell me, then, that quality makes a difference.”
“I bet I know the ones you’re talking about. They have a floral pattern engraved into the leather around the bottoms, and the leaves are dyed green?”
“That’s them. Aaron Jaeger’s had some for three years, and they’re still good. Mister Olefield has the best leather. Even his low quality stuff ain’t all that bad’; it just don’t last. It’s too bad we don’t have anyone here that knows tanning.”
Erin turned to Charlie with a soft voice. “I was just told, too, that Tina doesn’t want to go. Too soon, I suppose. She and her mom will stay.”