Veiled Planet (Hidden World Trilogy Book 1)

by Teagan Kearney

  She kept her worries to herself. Rishi had enough on his mind with the non-appearance of his tribe and anxiety about his family’s welfare. She did her best to ignore his pacing as he battled his impatience. Helplessness was something he was neither familiar nor easy with, but there was nothing they could do except wait till Hitam gave permission.

  Farah’s expression was sympathetic as she silently delivered and later collected their lunch. During the heat of the afternoon the air in the tent became hot and humid, and a stillness stole over the camp, a lull, a gathering in and building up of energy to be expended later. They dozed, having little choice but to do exactly as Hitam wanted.

  As evening approached, Hitam himself arrived with an escort of stone-faced warriors. He entered their tent with two huge guards, pure slabs of muscle, on either side. Tonight he wore a blue cloak richly covered with patterned pelts and intricate embroidery.

  Kara noted the detail and assumed he was wearing a ceremonial chieftain’s garment. She smiled inwardly at the idea of the leaders competing in an exhibition of their women’s skills.

  "My apologies," he effused, his eyes flicking reptile-like from one to the other. "I have good news for you, young man."

  Rishi's iron control impressed Kara. Not a single twitch displayed his fury and exasperation.

  "Your tribe approaches," Hitam continued, beaming at them. "You will see them at Rahu's tide." He gazed magnanimously at them as if he had personally arranged everything for their benefit.

  Rishi gave a slight bow. "Thank you, Shanwatah Hitam. I will be sure to let Ikeya know of your solicitous care of my wife and myself."

  Hitam’s eyes narrowed at the choice of words, but nothing in Rishi’s expression indicated anything other than absolute respect. The leader gestured toward the exit, “I would consider it a great favor if you, as your tribe’s representative, and your good wife accompanied me."

  "It would be an honor."

  Kara lifted her shawl over her head.

  Hitam nodded at the cloth. "She has no need to cover her head tonight." He swiveled on his heel, and his robe flared, revealing the elaborate designs on the back as he exited the tent.

  Kara looked askance at Rishi, whose eyes had lit up with relief. He shrugged his shoulders, and mouthed "soon," before indicating she should precede him.

  Blazing torches, flickering in the onshore breeze, ringed the central space as they'd done the night before, but tonight a smaller circle of torches stood within the outer ring. Inside the second circle, the torchlight illuminated a group of white-robed men and women standing motionless.

  "They are the Inner Council, our most senior Elders, one from every tribe.” Rishi murmured, just loud enough for Kara to hear.

  Hitam had judged his entrance, like a master performer, to gain the greatest impact and as he made his way to the front, Kara could see they had arrived last. Every eye turned in their direction as he swept regally toward his place at the front of the outer circle. As they walked behind him, a whispered ripple passed through the assembled gathering. She didn’t know whether it was because a young desert warrior walked immediately behind a powerful mountain chief, or because a foreign devil was attending one of their most momentous celebrations. She would bet it was the latter. She walked next to Rishi, taking comfort as his arm brushed hers, kept her head high and her gaze fixed on Hitam’s back.

  No sooner had they settled in their places when an elder, his long braids white with age, approached them.

  "Explain." He demanded of Hitam, as he waved a hand disdainfully at Kara and Rishi. "Why does this warrior not stand with his own tribe? And why do you bring a foreigner here without permission?" He might be old but his eyes were sharp, his tone commanding, and he pitched his voice to carry; he meant all the Elders in the inner circle and the tribal leaders to hear.

  Despite the fierceness of the Elder's scrutiny, Hitam didn’t flinch. "I found them abandoned in the desert and I merely gave them shelter, Honorable One." He bowed in deference.

  Those near the front held their breath. Those at the back shifted restlessly as they attempted to see what was holding up the ceremony. The old man moved past Hitam and stood facing Kara.

  She quailed inside, and stared at the large gold medallion on his chest, studying its design. She didn’t know if eye to eye contact with an Elder would be considered disrespectful, but this way she could hide her anxiety.

  "This woman, known as Kara of the Colonies, O Honorable One, is my wife," Rishi spoke with humility, but Kara picked up an edge to his voice, and judging by the look that flashed across the Elder’s face, he did too.

  The man turned back to Hitam. "You and I are not finished," he said, and stalked back to his place.

  Inside the circle one of the Elders raised both arms high, and started singing.

  From where they stood, Kara noticed Lemnas’s effulgence rim the edge of the plateau. As the chant increased, the bulbous resplendent sphere rose into the sky, illuminating every detail in brilliant silver clarity. Soon Ostara would follow. Was this what Rishi meant when he spoke of a once in a hundred turns event? Though close, both moons had slightly irregular orbits, and to her eyes, it looked as if this particular turn brought them simultaneously closest to the planet.

  The realization struck Kara: the Maruts understood the moons’ planetary orbits enough to predict tonight’s occurrence—this Rahu’s Tide—and must keep records going back long enough to predict when the next close orbit occurred. She reached out for Rishi’s hand. As his fingers tightened on hers, a jolt of power surged through her. Everything slowed. Rishi’s heart beat in time with her own, the breath moving in and out of his lungs became her breathing, the salty fragrance on his skin mirrored hers. He turned and smiled at her.

  “You are my life, and my heart. Without you, I am nothing.” His lips didn’t move, yet she heard his voice in her head. She looked at him in wonder. Rishi withdrew from her mind, and the moment of intimate awareness receded.

  As Ostara appeared and the two moons rose higher, the drums beat louder and faster, and the singing took on a deeper, more resonant tone. The chant increased in pace and the Elders filed out in a single line heading toward the ocean. The moons’ radiance made the path ahead easy to see, and the people followed.

  Kara and Rishi, prodded by a guard, walked behind Hitam, and behind him, his guards walked in a protective semi-circle, followed by his tribespeople.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rishi casting around, trying to locate Ikeya.

  As the mass of people reached the cliff edge, they spread out in their allotted places on either side of the Elders and their leaders. The chanting became hypnotic, and Kara found it impossible to resist the sway of the beat. Everyone chanted, and swayed in unison as they stared fixedly at the horizon.

  Under the hypnotic chanting of the combined tribes, a low muted growl rumbled through the ground beneath them. The earth paused, trembled in anticipation.

  As Kara felt the reverberation in her bones, she looked down at the beach below, her brain refusing to grasp the evidence in front of her eyes. The sea was disappearing, sucked back from the land by some greater force, and she stared blankly at the line where the darkened sand marked high tide. Beyond that, where the sea should have been, the shore dipped and sloped out as far as she could see. She studied the sea floor, noting the rocks and hollows in the sand, searching for signs of marine life till Rishi squeezed her hand, and she looked up at the horizon. She caught her breath in wonder and fear, as a black line in the distance swept toward them, and she sensed his pride in being a witness to this incredible event.

  The heaving dark mass of water, that had just retreated, surged back toward the land, the front wave arcing toward them at a speed she would not have believed possible. Above the waiting line of watchers, the swollen moons illuminated the power of the ocean as it raced toward them; the closer it came, the more obvious it became—this was a tsunami of unbelievable proportions.

  She ten
sed. Surely the tribe had come here to witness it, not to be destroyed by it?

  Rishi held her hand tight, calming her fears.

  Abruptly the chanting ceased, and the tribes stood silent, watching and waiting as the ocean rushed toward them. As the colossal tidal wave drew near, its deafening roar drowned out everything else.

  Kara stood frozen in awe, unable to shift her gaze from the unfolding drama. The accumulated mass of water crashed against the cliff face with a deafening thunderclap. The earth beneath their feet shuddered with the impact. And held. The sea surged up, spewing white foam high into the air, drenching everyone—and kept rising.

  Kara couldn’t breathe. How far up would the waters rise? She sucked in a deep breath of stinging spray, and watched as the sea battered itself against the rock face, seeking to conquer the barrier to its forward motion. The surge crested just below the edge of the cliff as the immoveable landmass forced the water back on itself.

  Kara’s legs sagged with relief, and Rishi slid his arm around her waist as they watched the sea below churn and boil with unspent energy.

  The Elders raised their arms and began a high wailing chant. Slowly the men, then the women and children joined in. The link with Rishi blazed, flooding her with emotion, and she understood the song's meaning. This was a lament, but not just an expression of grief for a glorious lost past, but it also conveyed a deep, enduring sadness for the future their race had lost.

  Kara found herself unable to control her reaction, and tears poured down her cheeks. The song brought up her unresolved grief at the loss of her mother. Tears shone on Rishi’s cheeks, and on the faces of everyone she could see. This was a communal grieving. After a while the lament ceased, and the hidden unhealed wound in her heart eased.

  The tribespeople stood silent watching the gibbous moons’ rippled reflections. The water no longer roiled with power but lay high against the cliff.

  Kara contemplated how long it would take for the water to recede. She felt honored to have witnessed the Maruts’ observation of this planetary phenomena. How much of this would the colonists have been able to predict? However much they managed to record, it could never replace the experience of watching a tidal wave sweep toward you, fling itself at the land, reach up a cliff, and stop a scant hand’s span away from where you stood.

  At length the drums took up a fast beat, and the Elders walked from one end of the line to the other offering blessings to everyone.

  “Is it over?” Kara asked.

  “Yes. We return to the circle for a final prayer, then we have completed the pilgrimage. We are blessed. Only one in every four generations witnesses this miracle.”

  The Elders preceded the procession back to the circle.

  “There,” Rishi’s voice whispered in her ear. “Look, left, it’s Ikeya!”

  Kara spun around and there, some distance away from them, stood Ikeya, and Yleni. Her heart leapt. She couldn’t distinguish their faces, but knew the two smaller figures beside them were Makel and Masir.

  “At last,” breathed Kara.

  “Tonight,” Rishi’s eyes shone, amber gleams in the moonlight. “We sleep amongst our own.”

  Her feelings for Rishi had grown stronger from the time they’d survived their kidnapping, and he occupied a large space in her life and her emotions. She was looking forward to her new role as Rishi’s wife. Maybe Ikeya could discover who had been behind their kidnapping.

  Hitam had likewise seen Ikeya. He turned to Rishi, his expression one of complete affability as if he’d not kept them prisoners from the second they first met him. “If you will just stay with us till the final blessing, then I will take you to your tribe.”

  Rishi’s expression betrayed nothing as he bowed. “Of course. I know Ikeya will want to thank you himself for saving our lives.”

  The guards remained close, and Kara questioned whether it was the other leaders or the Elders that Hitam feared to warrant such protection? None of the other leaders appeared to have surrounded themselves with warriors.

  Hitam came last as the tribes filed back into the circle. As they walked behind him, Kara heard another noise; a low humming sound that got louder and louder.

  The buzzing came from above them, and like everyone else she looked skyward, searching for the source of the disturbance.

  “That's a shuttle,” Kara grabbed Rishi's arm and pointed. “What’s a shuttle doing here?”

  She was never sure quite what happened next.

  The noise of the shuttle as it passed over was so loud that everyone panicked; mothers grabbed their children, and the men ran to the tents intent on getting weapons.

  Rishi looked at her. At that instant, Hitam’s guards surrounded him, grabbed his arms and hauled him away from her.

  Two more men seized her arms, holding her back. "Let me go!" She twisted and writhed, trying to free herself. "Rishi" she shrieked, watching him give a sideways kick to one of his attacker's knees and managing to free one arm as he struggled to reach her. The last she saw of him as her captors dragged her away, was one of Hitam's men swinging a wooden staff hard against Rishi’s skull and knocking him unconscious.

  She screamed.

  Chapter Twenty-Two: The Debrief

  Colony Settlement Rule 101 Section 3A

  The safety of the majority is the priority when considering

  the welfare and treatment of unstable individuals.

  Kara woke with her head pounding as if an entire tribe were doing an enthusiastic sand dance in her head. A thrumming reverberated through her body. Where was she? She opened her eyes a fraction and squinted around, then opened them wide in shock. She wasn't in a Marut tent, instead she lay on a bunk, a blanket covering her, in a tiny cabin, and the reverberations came from the shuttle’s engine. Where was Rishi? At the thought of him, she jerked as a severe pain lanced through her. She wrapped her arms around her waist and curled up into a tight ball as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her last memory was of Hitam stalking toward the transport vehicle with two guards hauling her along behind him. She’d been vaguely aware the keening high-pitched sound came from her own throat.

  Several uniformed personnel from the colony had emerged from the shuttle, and dashed down the extended staircase toward them. She’d screamed hysterically for Rishi, and kept up her struggle to break free of the guards' restraining grip, but a medic had run forward, and slapped a sedpatch on her arm.

  “How are you?”

  Hearing the man’s considerate inquiry in Universal eliminated any ideas that this was a bizarre dream and confirmed the drastic reality. She looked up, recognizing the medic who’d sedated her, flinching as he placed a euthomach on her arm, and took her temperature and pulse. He looked at the readings. “You appear extremely healthy, Kara, and no unfamiliar bacteria have been detected. We’ll be giving you a full check when we get back to base. Okay?”

  Kara didn’t answer him, but turned and faced the wall. After he left, she heard him address someone outside. “Poor girl is in shock. Who knows what those savages did to her?”

  Rishi. The sense of separation was physical, tearing through her chest and burning her throat. Fresh tears sprang to her eyes, but she blinked them away. Savages—that's how they thought about the Maruts. She was the expert, knowing more about them than anyone else in the settlement. She thought about the people she’d met and developed relationships with—Yleni, Ikeya, the children—she owed them her life. Somehow, she'd find a way back to Rishi, even if she had to walk out into the desert by herself. She would play whatever game the authorities wanted, but she'd keep these thoughts to herself.

  Her father. She had to see him as soon as possible. He would understand and help. Would he even believe her if she told him about the Artefact? Her brain refused to work. She didn't understand how they had been able to rip her away from Rishi like that. She tried to stay awake but the last image of Rishi, helpless, surrounded and being attacked, followed as sleep claimed her, and haunted her dreams.

  W
hen the shuttle arrived back at base, the medics escorted her to the research center in an enclosed transport pod. They clearly had concerns she might be carrying something infectious picked up during her stay with the natives, and weren't taking any chances. She snorted to herself. In the past, it was always the incomers who brought diseases and death to the inhabitants of newly colonized planets; accidentally or otherwise, they’d often destroyed whole hominid species by infecting them with viruses to which man was immune. Those days were thankfully gone, but racial memory left her people cautious concerning such matters.

  The colonists had been trading with the indigenous people for fifty cycles and when entering the base, the Maruts had to pass through a decontamination unit. Despite endless analyses, the colonists had never found any disease in either species that threatened the life of the other.

  The doctors and other specialists would question her, wanting to extract everything she'd learned about the Maruts. In return, she would ask a few questions of her own. Especially regarding Hitam. Upon arrival at the medical facility, she was escorted to a long low building. She noted it was next to the viral research block.

  One of her escorts explained, "You understand, Kara, we're bringing you here because you’ve been living with them. The natives. But I have to say, you appear the very picture of health, however, rules have to be followed." He guided her inside the bland antiseptic building and handed her over to a female medic.

  "Of course," she said meekly, thinking that colonists who’d been off-world weren't put in isolation units. The sooner this was finished and done with, the sooner she could go home and make plans to rejoin Rishi. Her desire to return to the Maruts and be with him had crystallized. No longer did she want to live an existence imprisoned within walls, and examine life only through a microscope, she wanted to be out under the wide sky breathing the dry dusty smell of the desert surrounded by open spaces.