The First Riders

by David Ferguson

  "Exactly. These people had their freedom taken away and the wall was built to symbolise that."

  "It seems a lot of work for little reward," Wath-Moll commented dubiously.

  "Yes, it does. Whoever built this wall is authoritarian to the point of insanity. They are also very skilled at building walls and destroying villages," Ombissu said drily. "I wonder where they are now."

  "Over there," Wath-Moll said, pointing to the distant ridge where the track ran. "They came from over there and that is where they are now."

  "I expect you are right, Wath-Moll," Ombissu said. "They are probably the enemy, and now we will march to meet them."

  The going was easy. They rode along the track, four scouts ahead. Soon the valley narrowed and they were among rounded hills. They began to leave the river as the track wandered along the side of the southern slope. The ferns, lush at the valley bottom, were more sparse here on the drier hillside. There were no animals but a few birds called nearby.

  From up here they could see the wall far in the distance, an alien straight line among this rounded scenery. It looked just as strange as it had when they first saw it and it made just as little sense. Clouds were forming to the west and soon the sky became overcast. The chanits assumed it would rain before long.

  The track had levelled. They were riding easily when the scouts came racing back. They had seen buildings further up on the hillside on the far side of the river. Before long they could see them for themselves.

  Halfway up the slope on the north side of the river, on an area that seemed to have been levelled, was a group of large buildings. Some were low and flat-roofed while others seemed to be pyramids. A faint track led off to the left in their direction. The officers studied the buildings carefully through telescopes. There was no sign of life.

  Wath-Moll said to Eln-Tika, as if they were with the octet, "Is there danger?"

  "No, there is no danger. I don’t think there is anyone here," Eln-Tika replied.

  Ombissu smiled at this, then said to the whole party, "You all heard that. I think our exploration starts here. Reffurio and Eln-Tika, you go ahead with four others. Fallassan, you take up the rear with another four. We’ll go carefully."

  They rode down to the river in single file. The brown water rushed past a line of large stepping stones.

  "Well, that’s nice," Reffurio said, "but I don’t think we’ll be needing them. He signalled the party to ride across the shallow water.

  On the far side, he dismounted. The blenjis had had a tiring day and they needed a rest. The hunters had drummed into the sailor’s heads that blenjis were not designed for long, arduous journeys, but for short hunts. They needed to be rested wherever possible, which meant that at intervals through the day the riders had to walk. This was particularly so when the journey was uphill.

  They walked up the slope under an increasingly overcast sky. They were glad of the sudden coolness for this was hot work. Eventually they reached the wide terrace where the buildings lay.

  It was now obvious that the terrace was artificial; it was too regular for a natural feature. The building complex consisted of three low buildings joined together to form the three sides of a square with the open side to the east. Inside the area bounded by these buildings were seven pyramids, a large central pyramid surrounded by six smaller pyramids. The low buildings had oblong entrances at frequent intervals. Just below the roofs were small vertical slots. An intricately carved frieze ran all the way along these buildings. It was immediately recognised as being similar to the carvings the sailors had found on the island. There was no sign of life apart from clouds of swallows flying in and out of the entrances.

  They tied their blenjis under a group of large ferns then began to explore this strange structure. Ombissu and Eln-Tika wandered around together.

  "Do your powers extend to establishing the purpose of this place?" Ombissu asked.

  "No. This is only stones and earth and trees. There is nothing I can sense. I have no idea what these buildings were for."

  "Worship - that’s obvious. They have no practical purpose that I can see, therefore this is a place of worship - or ritual, if you like."

  "Ritual? What does that mean?"

  "The ceremony attached to worship."

  Eln-Tika looked dubiously at the strange buildings. "It seems a lot of work for something that is not very useful."

  "It may not have been useful, but it must have been important to these people. Like the wall. In fact, I would say the wall was built by the same people who built this. Look at the craftsmanship. The stones of the buildings fit together in exactly the same way. And the carvings - superb."

  They had reached the base of the central pyramid. It had steep steps up three sides, but the fourth side - the one facing the open side of the square - was smooth. In its middle was a great channel that reached all the way to the top so that one could jump from the top and reach the ground without hitting anything. They stared at this for a long time in puzzlement without coming to a conclusion as to its purpose.

  Ombissu looked at the sky and said, "It looks like rain. I wonder if we could shelter inside these buildings. It would save putting up the tents."

  They walked over to the nearest entrance and went inside. A dim light trickled down from the narrow slots high in the walls. They waited until their eyes had adjusted to the gloom then began cautiously exploring. Eln-Tika’s reassurance that there was no danger helped Ombissu’s peace of mind slightly, but only slightly; he had yet to reach Wath-Moll’s level of belief. The floor was dry earth, seemingly without stones. Make a fire, and it would be a comfortable enough place to spend the night. They returned to the entrance where they discovered that rain was descending in sheets.

  They peered outside to discover that everybody was standing in the entrances in the dry.

  "This is where I pull rank," Ombissu said to Eln-Tika. "I don’t see why we should get wet. They can come to us."

  "Somebody needs to get the equipment from the blenjis," Eln-Tika said. "They will get very wet."

  "That’s true," Ombissu said unfeelingly as he produced his whistle. "But it won’t be us."

  *

  It was a convivial company that gathered inside the building. A fire was blazing away. It was an unusually pleasant fire for the smoke, by some mysterious means, was being sucked upwards and out through the slots high in the walls. It was dry and warm and comfortable, and made even more pleasant by the fact of the rain that was hammering down outside. It was a good feeling to be sheltered on a night like this. After a meal and a discussion, Reffurio arranged a rota of guards and they went to bed.

  Eln-Tika woke to the smell of damp earth. The sun had yet to rise but the oblong of the entrance was no longer deeply black. She slipped out of her sleeping bag, put on her moccasins and walked quietly to the entrance. She briefly greeted the sailor who was on watch. The stars were fading in the pre-dawn. It had stopped raining; the sky was clear, the breeze light. It was a good morning to be about. She walked out of the building into the strange arena.

  The sun was emerging from behind the ridge of hills on the far side of the river. Long shadows stretched across the ground. As the sun rose, the contours of the carvings on the building walls made an interesting contrast between the protruding areas in the sun and the recessed areas in shadow. Eln-Tika turned slowly, directing her gaze around the vast arena, at the central half-pyramid and the six pyramids that seemed to protect it. She stared at the intricate friezes that guarded the arena from the surrounding wilderness, once more trying to make sense of the complex abstract shapes. Then, as the shadows shortened with the rising sun, the pattern was no longer abstract. Interspersed amongst the strange geometric shapes were carved broad-bodied flying insects. And then she had a revelation.

  "Hello. I can see you’ve thought of something." The voice was Ombissu’s.

  Eln-Tika pointed with excitement to the nearest pyramid.

  "How many sides does that pyramid have?" she
asked.

  Ombissu looked at the pyramid, studied it carefully, then said, "I don’t know. More than four."

  "Six."

  "All right, six. What about it?"

  "How many pyramids form the circle?"

  "Also six. I can see that you are about to make a point."

  "Yes. Take a look at that frieze. What do you see?"

  "Meaningless carvings. Rather beautiful meaningless carvings. Oh, I see what you mean - insects, insects with wings."

  "They’re bees."

  "All right, they’re bees."

  "Now - how many sides do the cells of a honeycomb have?"

  "What? I’ve no idea."

  "Six."

  Ombissu stared at her then at the six six-sided pyramids.

  "No, I can’t believe it. You think this is all about bees? You think they worshipped bees?"

  "Yes."

  "Why on Earth would anyone worship bees?"

  "Why not? It’s no sillier than the worship of wooden idols - less silly, in fact. Bees are industrious, useful insects. They’re quite admirable."

  "You wouldn’t worship one, though."

  "No."

  "This country gets weirder and weirder. We must tell the others."

  "But the bees have gone. Look - the shadows are so short now that the patterns have disappeared. These carvings were designed so that you could only see the effect at this time of day."

  Ombissu looked carefully at the friezes and said, "You’re right. As I said, weirder and weirder."

  *

  They spent another day at the pyramids but saw nothing and learned nothing more. The following morning they recrossed the river, rejoined the track up the valley and continued on their way. For much of the morning the path climbed gently. The river was now well below them in a steep sided valley. The tops of the hills seemed nearer. The group was leading their blenjis, having been instructed to do so by the hunters, when, without warning, they reached the summit. The hills fell away rapidly to a huge plain far below. It disappeared into the haze of the distance.

  The silent contemplation was broken by Eln-Tika shouting, "Danger! There’s danger!"

  The group stared around them in consternation. Suddenly, without warning, an arrow shot between Reffurio and Wath-Moll and bounced off a large boulder to disappear from view. Everybody instantly dived for cover. Reffurio and Wath-Moll fell behind a group of large rocks.

  After a lengthy pause for breath Reffurio said, "Well, that’s encouraging."

  "Oh?"

  "For a start, it was an arrow and not a bullet. And for second, he missed. That was the first shot when you have all the time in the world. We are obviously dealing with a nation of incompetents."

  "I hope so. The blenjis are in full view. If they’ve any sense they’ll kill them."

  Reffurio looked at Wath-Moll in consternation. "You’re right. We've got to get them behind those rocks. We sailors must keep them occupied while you hunters get the blenjis."

  "Oh? Why must the hunters do the dangerous bit?"

  Reffurio patted his rifle. "We have the superior weapons. Now let’s tell the others the plan." He began shouting.

  Under a hail of fire, the hunters ran to the blenjis, gathered them together and led them to shelter in a group of large rocks. A few more arrows whirred past to bounce harmlessly off the rocks but soon even this stopped. Cautiously they emerged into the open. Reffurio took charge.

  "How many of them were there, do you think?" he asked.

  "Four or five," Fallassan said. "It was difficult to tell because they kept popping up and down. Not many, anyway."

  "Did we get any?"

  "I thought I saw one fall," one of the sailors said.

  "Ah. That will give them something to think about," Reffurio said grimly. "Serves them right for being so unfriendly."

  "That was a bit pathetic, when you think about it," Ombissu observed. "A few badly aimed arrows then a hasty retreat. They should never have fired from that range. Most incompetent."

  "True," Reffurio said. "However I think we should proceed with the utmost vigilance."

  They rode slowly down the track, now rather steep, scouts to the front and rear, outriders to the side. When they were about half way down the slope, the leading scouts came racing back to the main body.

  "There’s no danger," Eln-Tika said to Ombissu. "I don’t understand."

  Fallassan, who had been leading, made her way to Ombissu and Reffurio.

  "We’ve seen buildings on the plain, far in the distance. They are like the buildings we were in this morning except that they are much larger - at least twice the size. We think they may be in the middle of a town."

  Ombissu smiled. "Excellent. Things are about to get interesting."

  Reffurio said, surprised, "We’re going on? This people is hostile, as we’ve just found out."

  "Certainly we go on. Eln-Tika says there is no danger. I believe her."

  But Reffurio did not reply. He was looking down the track at a group of strangers who were walking slowly towards them. With a quick movement he lifted his rifle.

  Eln-Tika had also seen them. She said quietly, "They are not dangerous. I think we should walk slowly towards them and greet them. Also - at least one of them is telepathic."

  The others stared at her.

  Ombissu was the first to break the silence. "As I said, things are about to get interesting. Let’s meet them."

  Ombissu, Reffurio, Fallassan, Wath-Moll, and Eln-Tika rode slowly towards the group approaching them.

  Chapter 28

  The strangers had stopped on seeing the riders approaching them. There were six of them. They wore strange multi-coloured clothes. The four riders rode slowly towards the strangers until they could speak without shouting.

  Eln-Tika suddenly felt the strong emotions of the stranger who was a telepath. It was an extraordinary feeling. For the first time she had met a telepath who was an adult, who had powers that matched her own. The feelings and thoughts she felt were very clear.

  Eln-Tika said, "They are apprehensive but determined. They want to speak to us, but they are unsure how to go about it. They do not know how friendly we are."

  "Are they the ones that attacked us?" Ombissu asked.

  "Oh, yes. They attacked us, but now they regret it."

  "Do they now? Well, why did they attack us? We’re no danger to them."

  "They mistook us for someone else - their rulers."

  "Eh? Why would they attack their rulers? Are they rebels?"

  "Yes - that is exactly what they are."

  The others looked curiously at Eln-Tika. Reffurio put their thoughts into words.

  "This is very detailed information, Eln-Tika, much more than usual. What is going on?"

  She explained how she was talking by thought to one of the strangers. There were no words, just emotions and ideas that passed from one brain to another without the use of speech.

  "That’s useful," Ombissu said drily after he had taken in the implications. "I don’t suppose we can understand each other’s language." He said to the strangers, "My name is Ombissu. We are travellers from a distant land."

  There was a blank silence. Eln-Tika said, "No, they didn’t understand that at all. In fact they found it a little frightening."

  Reffurio said to Ombissu, "I can see we are going to be talking - or rather, exchanging thoughts - with these people for some time. We ought to find somewhere suitable."

  "Yes, I agree. However we ought to determine a few facts before we trust these people completely." He turned to Eln-Tika, and asked, "Are they only six? If not, where are the others? Do they just have bows and arrows? I see they are not armed - where are their weapons? That’s the sort of thing I’m after, Eln-Tika."

  There was complete silence. The only indication that anything was going on was a remote look in Eln-Tika’s eyes which even Wath-Moll had never seen before. The silence ended with Eln-Tika giving a great sigh.

  "That was incredible,
" she said. "I have never felt such emotions before. They are lonely and desperate and brave and determined. We should help them."

  "Eh?" This was Ombissu. "Help them? Well, before we even think about helping them we have to know if we can we trust them. That’s what we need to know, Eln-Tika."

  "Oh yes, we can trust them. They will be our allies in the struggle ahead. There is a good place a little way down the hill where we can talk. The other ten are waiting there."

  Ombissu, Reffurio, Wath-Moll and Fallassan looked at each other. It was Wath-Moll who spoke.

  "What struggle, Eln-Tika?" he asked quietly. "You must remember that we have no idea what you and this telepathic stranger are saying to each other."

  "The struggle against oppression and brutality. I’ll explain when we get to the place where we can talk. By the way, it seems they are all telepaths."

  "And there are sixteen of them."

  "Yes. They will be great allies."

  Ombissu had a feeling that things were going far too fast. A race of telepaths who, apparently, were rebelling against their leaders was far too much for one morning.

  Blowing on his whistle, Reffurio gathered in the scouts and together they rode slowly down the slope, keeping behind the strangers, who were walking. They turned off the path along a wide, level shelf until they came to the other ten strangers. They had been sitting but now they stood up to greet the riders.

  "They told them we were coming in peace," Eln-Tika said to the others.

  "You mean you can listen in to their thoughts among themselves?"

  "Yes. It is very confusing - but exciting and wonderful."

  The riders dismounted and tied their blenjis in a suitable spot. As a precaution, Reffurio ordered two of the sailors to guard them. The riders sat in an arc facing the strangers.

  Reffurio said to Ombissu, "This is just like our first meeting with the hunters. We ought to start by introducing ourselves. If they are anything like Eln-Tika they will be speaking our language in no time."

  Ombissu agreed. He said to the stranger in the centre of the group, who appeared to be the leader, "My name is Ombissu." He introduced the others.