“They must have started trading with the natives and moved closer to the village.”
“Look at this pottery, Talon. Why would they make it so large?”
“I’ve no idea.” I reply.
“Shall we go look for them?” Deonna asks.
“Knowing Korban and Noah, they would have carried on our tradition of building. Maybe they’ve done the same as we did to help Nahor. Let’s rest Deonna. We can go look for them in the morning.”
THE JAREDITE WARS
Fifteen years have passed since we last saw Talon and Deonna. We finally figured they have found a new life elsewhere and they too have moved on. We’ve helped Yoseph’s people build many buildings at the foot of a mountain. Each family has a dwelling, including us. Noah has married a native girl in the village and now has a family of girls and boys. He farms and trades with the villagers for other necessities.
Cassie and I love the Alpacas and have begun breeding the animals so we can harvest their fur for trading. Cassie also makes yarn from the fur and dyes it for colorful fabrics and rugs. We have all dwelt peacefully these past few years. But from time to time, we have had further troubles with Coriantumur and his people attacking the village. Noah and I have helped to build a wall to fortify the village. It too has towers at each corner where guards have been deployed to watch without the walls. Villagers from other parts of Yoseph’s father’s kingdom have come down to learn the skill sets to build similar dwellings. Yoseph’s people have honored us as heroes because of the protection the dwellings and walls have provided them.
The people have begun to prosper in spite of their enemies. They have traded amongst each other and their enemies have had no success coming against them. Yoseph is a good leader among his people. However, I’ve never really cared for Yoseph’s senior counselor, Tubaloth. Tubaloth mistreats his subordinates and explains his actions are in behalf of Yoseph. I question whether Yoseph is aware of this. Tubaloth is the son of a former counselor who was dear to Yoseph; and he has been his mentor. I’ve been meaning to talk to Yoseph about him. However, Yoseph is spending his time with the Elders in preparation for the upcoming council meeting.
THE TREACHERY OF TUBALOTH
“Tubaloth. Yoseph is alone in his chambers. It is time.” The sentry reports.
“Well done, Coriantumur will be pleased.” Tubaloth replies. “Remember Coriantumur has promised us power. I, Tubaloth, will become a ruler over this kingdom. I have always dreamed of ruling over this people. Now it will come to pass.” The sentry beheads Yoseph in his sleep, and the two men leave.
The Sentry asks, “How did you meet Coriantumur?”
“I was taken captive by Coriantumur’s men while out hunting. Coriantumur promised to spare my life if I gave him anything he asked for. This has since become a turning point in my life. I have made promises of power to others, like yourself. Through our secret society, we will serve Coriantumur throughout the villages. On this night, I, Tubaloth, will take control of what should rightfully be mine.”
Another servant enters Yoseph’s quarters to wake him. The servant discovers his beloved master is beheaded. Shocked, he stares at the once great man his people admired and he weeps deeply.
THE COUNCIL AWAKENS
Noah and I have been made honorary members of the council and today we are in the council chambers with other members awaiting Yoseph’s arrival so that tribal business can be conducted.
The servant runs into the council chamber screaming. “Yoseph has been murdered! Someone has killed him! Someone has murdered Yoseph!”
I’m astonished at the servant’s words and can’t believe it. “Who would have done such a thing?” I ask Noah.
At that point Tubaloth enters the room with others following behind him. He sits in Yoseph’s chair. Tubaloth being next in line behind Yoseph takes over the meeting.
Tubaloth stands up and begins to speak. “As you have all heard, a terrible thing has happened. It is true that someone has murdered our beloved leader, Yoseph.” The people in the room talk amongst themselves and become upset. Some are angry. Tubaloth holds up his hand. “My friends...my friends...” The room becomes quiet again. “We will find this murderer and bring him to justice!” All in the room agree. The chatter begins again. “The kingdom must go on, my friends. We must carry out business as Yoseph would want us to do. We must care for our people.” True to that fact, business does go on as usual in the council and the meeting is adjourned.
“What is next Tubaloth?” One of the men asks him privately. Tubaloth looks around to see who is with him. He is only surrounded by his confidants. “It is the nature of our people to be honest in their hearts and trustworthy. We will use politics to divide this people. In doing so, we will single out a group of people in the kingdom and portray them as evil, accusing them of killing Chief Yoseph. We will set one group against another unbeknownst to either, creating an atmosphere of disdain for the smaller group, our ultimate victims. From this point, we will simply point out the issues, push them, and profit from the issues, using one group to punish another while the people believe we are seeking the killer.”
One week passes by and no one has come forward with news of who killed Yoseph. The next council meeting begins. Tubaloth stands to speak.
“My friends. I have hired extra guards to protect me because I am fearful that I too will be murdered.” The council recognizes that as a possibility and agrees. Business again is conducted in the usual manner.
The next day another council member is murdered. Tubaloth replaces the counselor with one of his own choice. Rumors ensue. One of the other councilman informs Noah and me that he has heard from one of the councilors that we are being accused of murder.
“You must leave my friends,” the councilman tells us. “Your lives are in danger.”
“Where is their evidence?” I ask the man bluntly. “We sat in the chambers with you before Tubaloth entered.” I then look to Noah. “It seems there is a coup going on here.” I turn back to the councilman. “Tell no one we had this conversation.” Noah and I leave.
“Korban, if there has been a coup, our family’s lives are in danger. We could stay and fight. But there’s treachery here. We don’t know who we can trust except each other.”
“Agreed. Things are not in our favor. We must protect our own.”
It has been years since we left the old compound. Noah packs his family. Cassie and I leave everything behind. We depart into the night telling no one of our plans. Noah’s children are small. His wife Knorra carries an infant. Cassie holds the hands of their little girl, and I carry the oldest, a boy, on my shoulders. We travel all night to get to the compound and arrive weary. The children are crying and hungry. The compound is overgrown with weeds. The roof is somewhat caved in, and everything we left is in disarray.
“We can restore this dwelling to its original state,” Noah tells us. “The roof is still good. We have everything we need and we can hold off any attackers because the wall is still solid.”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t move further on down the valley,” I ask him. “Remember the villagers originally found us. They could do so again.”
“Right now my family needs stability. I can provide that stability here. What you could do is go back to the ship and find what we can use to make weapons from materials in the ship to protect ourselves.”
“That’s the best idea, yet. Tomorrow, Cassie and I will return to the Genesis and bring back those materials. I have some ideas.”
SAME PLACE, ANOTHER TIME
Deonna and I embark on our journey to find the village where Korban and the others must have gone to live. The vegetation hasn’t changed any. It takes us one day to reach the village. Again, I feel it wise to observe before entering the village. I lead Deonna up the mountain area where Korban and I had previously observed the village.
What I see next is terrifying.
“Talon...” Deonna looks away and cannot bear to look at the blood bath that lays bef
ore us.
I can scarcely speak. “There’s been a great battle here.” I remark. I think of Korban, Cassie, and Noah. Were they a part of this? Are they dead? How can we know? There is no movement. Even the animals are dead.”
“I don’t know if they were here for this. But by looking at the dwellings that are here, I would say Korban and the other two have lived here for quite a while.”
“Let’s go,” Deonna cries. “Let’s leave this place and go back home,” she says.
“Yes, you’re right.” I take her hand and we descend. Deonna weeps and can barely carry herself. We descend from the area back onto the trail.
“Stop!” A voice exclaims. “Who are you?” I turn around to see a man in some kind of armor. “Who are you?” he demands.
“My name is Talon Imhotep. This is my wife, Deonna. We are not from this village. We came from a faraway place. We have friends here who came with us. We came to find them, and instead we found this.” The warrior falls to his knees and wails mournfully. I’m confused. Is this man also from the village? How could they have advanced to armor so quickly? The man carries on and raises his hands to the sky praying. Then he collapses on a rock with his face in his hands.
“It was prophesied this would happen,” he says. “And I didn’t listen. I was a vengeful, power hungry man. I should have listened.”
“Listened to whom?” I ask. “We don’t understand.”
“You need to leave now,” he tells us. “There are a few of us left, and they will kill you. They will kill us all until there is only one man left. Leave now! While you still can. They are coming!”
We descend the cliff. As soon as we make it to the trail, we run as fast as we can.
“That armor was advanced, Deonna. I’d say we’ve gone into the future at least fifty years. They could still be alive. But they could have left the area and moved. We’ll probably never find them again.”
“Let’s go home, Talon.”
We make the long trek back to the compound. “I always thought we would see them again,” Deonna cries.
We finally arrive. But upon approach I see something I hadn’t seen outside the compound before. It is covered by trees and in a shaded area. “That must be another garden that Noah organized.” Deonna says.
“No, that’s no garden. It’s a graveyard.” I look over the area. “There, see? Three small graves, probably children. And two adults. Could that be Korban and Cassie? But what happened to Noah?”
Deonna heads inside the compound and screams. “Talon!”
I run into the compound and there are more natives. They have Deonna, and now, we are both hostages to the two men. Or so it seems.
“We won’t harm you.” One of them says. “Were you friends of this family?”
“A long time ago. My name is Talon Imhotep. This is my wife, Deonna.”
“They were my family also.” He tells us. “My father’s name was Noah. Knorra was my mother.”
“What happened,” I asked.
“I grew up in the village with my parents. My father and Korban were a part of the council when I was little. We left the village after there had been a coup and we came here.”
“We lived here for a while. I am the oldest child. My name is Pax. One day I was taken prisoner when I was out at the stream fishing with my father. They grabbed me and carried me away. I never saw my family alive again. I believe they went back to the mountain.”
“So you are living here?” I ask.
“Things have gotten much worse. There are only a few of us left now. You probably should go back to the mountain also. We would like to come with you.”
“What we go back to when we head up the mountain may not be so good either. There is a time portal up there. And right now it is winter on the other side. We would freeze to death. We need to wait it out until the season changes in order to survive. And then we never know how many years have lapsed in the portal. It could be 1,000 years or just two weeks.”
“The others will come for us.” Pax reminds us.
After much discussion, we decide to wait it out for two weeks. They can’t fit in the shuttle. And they wouldn’t survive the winter on the mountain, even if they stayed in the cave.
Pax and his friend help me fix the roof. At night we each take turns on the wall watching against the enemy. I thought back to the warrior with the armor. Pax was not dressed in armor like the warrior was. The warrior seemed so sorrowful for what he had done. I tell Pax about it.
“It sounds like you met Coriantumur. He’s a mad man. I’ve grown up around him. He tortures and kills our people. Then he regrets doing it. He’s a vengeful man, and he will kill you.”
“Pax, why would your parents make pottery so large? Is it for plants?” Deonna asks.
“They are burial chambers for the dead.” He answers. “We seal the bodies in the pottery and bury them.”
“Well, what about the shallow graves out in the back?” I ask.
“They were probably buried by the enemy. They bury their dead like that. That means they have been here before. And they will probably return.”
“I guess we’d better head up the mountain.” We pack light for the journey up the mountain. Deonna’s pack carries the stone box containing the Life Stone in it as well. We leave the compound and hike 60 feet before we are ambushed by Coriantumur’s men. Pax and his friend fight them off with their swords.
“Run! Deonna, run! “I’ll hold them off.” Deonna turns to run back inside the compound and she is hit in the back with a long spear.
“The impact knocks her to the ground on her face.”
I scream, “No!” I grab one of the attackers and take his sword. I start slashing the attacker and successfully beat two of them down. The last one flees. When I’m done fighting, I notice Pax and his friend are dead. I run towards Deonna.
“Deonna ...” I pull the spear out of her back and turn her over.
“Talon,” she says. She can hardly speak. I hold her close and kiss her forehead over and over. She finally goes limp. I sit there for hours holding her. I can’t believe she’s gone.
I’m angry. Devastated. I’ve lost my planet, my ship, my friends and family. Now I’ve lost Deonna, my wife.
I hear others approaching. Another group of friendly natives coming through. They are carrying a number of dead with them. Seeing my situation, they stop.
“How long ago were you attacked? How many were there?” One of them asks.
“There were about four of them. I killed three. They killed the two young men and my wife.” I cry.
“We are sorry for your loss. It seems we both have friends and family we must bury.”
“We have burial pottery back in the compound.” I tell them. How strange, I think. I would not have believed I would be burying my beloved Deonna.
We prep the dead by placing their bodies in each the large pottery in a sitting position. I place Deonna in hers and I place the stone box in her arms. I kiss her red hair the last time and seal the pot. It is too hard for me. The others dig huge holes in the ground and bury the pottery. It takes two days to bury all of them.
“What will you do now, Talon Imhotep?” The native asks me.
“There’s nothing left here for me.”
“You can join our people, Talon. We could use a fighter like you.” “Thanks. But at this time I need to be alone. Maybe I’ll join you later.”
“So be it, Talon. Peace be unto you.”
“And to you,” Ether.
Once again, I depart for the ship’s portal. When I arrive it begins snowing. I turn around for one last look down the mountain. And then I pass through the portal to the other side.
The little shuttle is still here. I get inside and again lose myself in grief because Deonna isn’t with me. I repose and start again. The shuttle ascends with my intentions to return to the other continent. All of a sudden, a large ship flies by me and misses me by a very short distance. It’s loud and it floats through the air li
ke the Genesis. Taken back, I check it out further and I’m satisfied it isn’t the slave ship. I follow it. It has people on it.
I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Towards the west, right on the coast there are bright lights everywhere all over the ground. There are metal objects with two lights in front traveling on the ground, hundreds of them. I change my mind about crossing over to the next continent. I have finally discovered an advanced civilization. I travel up the coast and see cities on the coastal areas with very tall buildings, and ships on the water.
And there’s a great canal built in a narrow neck of land with ships on the water passing between two oceans with one continent to the south and the other continent to the north. The same continent Deonna and I explored earlier. I decide to keep going and travel north to the upper continent and up its coast. Then I decide to travel back to the southern coastal region of the north continent along the gulf. Cities are everywhere.
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