He didn’t expect the accipitridae to speak, of course, but he hoped it would do something to give him a clue. She had always shown up when he was in danger. What danger was there now? When he spoke, the accipitridae leaped from his arm, flapping its huge wings as it flew into the air. It circled above them and screamed. The sound made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He hoped he lived long enough to talk this one over with Rianne.
The man was looking at him in a strange way. Finally he moved forward. “Follow me. It is not far.”
They climbed higher into the mountains until they reached a pass; there they turned their equines down a trail along a narrow ledge. He didn’t see the cave until they were at the entrance. An overhang made it blend into the rocky outcropping. He followed the man into the cave and at the back they dismounted. There was a whirring sound and suddenly the back of the cave opened up. They stepped into what looked like a lift and the doors closed.
He had the sensation of weightlessness for a minute. Eventually the doors opened again to a long lighted corridor. He was taken to a door that led down another corridor. At the end were two men – guards of some kind in light green uniforms. They stood at attention while the door opened. He stepped into a large room with an elevated bed in it. An old man lay on the bed and he beckoned to Donte.
When Donte stood beside him, the man patted the bed. Sit where I can see you.
Donte did as he was told.
“You don’t know me, the man said, but I know you, Donte.”
That wasn’t too surprising. There were a lot of people he didn’t know who knew him. They didn’t all live inside mountains, though.
“You must be Niall,” Donte said.
The man closed his eyes for a moment. “I am Niall, the last of the original spaceship commanders.”
Donte glanced around the room. “What is this? Why are you here?”
Niall coughed. “I am dying.”
Donte’s gaze came back to the man. “That’s what I have been told, but I don’t know why you asked for me.”
Niall looked him in the eye for a moment. “I think you know.”
Donte had an awful feeling that they were going to do something he wouldn’t like. He met Niall’s steady gaze. “Suppose you tell me why I’m here.”
Niall started with a laugh that ended in a fit of coughing. Finally he looked at Donte. “I knew I would like you.”
Donte waited for his explanation. He couldn’t imagine what Niall found so amusing about his answer or why the man decided he liked him.
“You see the white aves.” Niall finally said. “You know who they are.”
Donte continued to wait. The guide could have told him that much.
“You have the blood of three colonies in you – the ave gene.”
Actually, it was only the blood of two colonies. Bosvrouwen was still a part of Bergen, even though they had their own government. It was also information available to anyone. Except… For the first time he made the connection between the white aves and his ave gene.
“What does it all mean?”
“You are not of one colony. You are concerned with all colonies. You have the knowledge of the tongues.”
Donte waited through another coughing fit. At this rate the man would die and he would still have no idea why he was brought here. “All these things everyone knows.”
Niall grinned. “Except for the white aves, yes? Not even Rianne knows about those…and the Anialwch connection.”
Hearing Rianne’s name on the lips of a dying man in the bowels of a mountain was disturbing. He frowned “Even I don’t know about the Anialwch connection.”
Niall laughed and coughed and coughed. Finally he tried to sit up. “You are the connection, Donte.”
Donte gently pushed him back to the bed. “Take it easy, Monomi.”
“Celyn.” He finally said. “You and Celyn will lead the colonists when they return.”
Donte didn’t like the sound of it. “When the colonists return? From where?”
“When the Parliament returns.” Niall coughed again. “But more important…the Fontalo.”
“The Fontalo?” Donte echoed.
“You have been to the library on the Baigh?”
Donte shook his head. “No, the Moeder. I’ve never been on the Baigh.”
“Search the records on the Baigh. Look for a file named The Purlieu Experiment. The password is skarrach.”
He began to cough again. Finally he squeezed Donte’s hand. “You are the connection.” He repeated.
His breathing became noisy and labored. “You did not ask for this, but it is yours.” He patted Donte’s hand. “Tell no one of this place.” He lifted his head “You will know when it is time. Ask for Dalziel. He will know who you are.”
His head fell back on the pillow and his eyes glazed over in death.
Donte stared at him. That was just great. When the time came, whenever that was, Dalziel would know who he was, whoever Dalziel was. In the meantime, it would be nice if he knew who he was. Oh yes, the Anialwch connection, whatever that was. He and Celyn would lead the colonists? Would that be in her aves form or human? What about Rianne?
When he left the room, the guards paid no attention. The messenger was waiting for him. “Who is Dalziel?” he asked the man.
The man bowed to him again. “He has passed, then. When it is time, you will come here and ask for Dalziel. Dalziel will be the master until you return. You will know when it is time, Monomi.”
Donte was getting frustrated. Why did everyone talk in riddles? “Who will be the master after I return?”
The guide looked at him in surprise. “It will be you, Monomi. You will lead us to freedom.”
Freedom from what? The Fontalo? Who or what was The Fontalo? What was the Anialwch connection…oh yes, he was the Anialwch connection. What did it all mean? He had to get to the Baigh as soon as possible and read those files. That was when it hit him. Of course they knew about Rianne. She served on the Baigh for three years. How much did she know about all this? Did she know he was the Anialwch connection? His stomach made a painful twist. Was she part of it? Was that why she exchanged vows with him?
He pushed the thought from his mind. Rianne would never be a party to anything bad. But then, what was bad about leading all the colonies to freedom? The guide said he would be the master – of what? He wasn’t to speak of the place. No, that wasn’t what he said. He wasn’t to reveal its location. Logic allowed that revealing its existence could lead to the discovery of it. He could trust Rianne. He was certain of it. He would need her to get to the files on the Baigh. The password was skarrach. Did the password give a clue? It meant a quick shower of rain or snow.
The guide started to lead him back to Libertad and he shook his head. “I will visit my grandfather in Bergen and take the tram back from there.
The guide looked at him. “You know the way, Monomi?”
Donte gave him a sour smile. How did they expect him to come back? “I know the way.”
He left the guide and rode across the valley. He topped out on a ridge and looked back. Across the wide valley from which he had emerged, on the flat top of a butte stood a lone equine and rider. Between them a snow white accipitridae soared.
“Celyn,” he said in a quiet voice. “I wish I could figure out how you fit into all this.”
They would rule together…was that what Celyn had mistaken for vows – or maybe they would have to make vows before they could lead the colonists. But the bigger question was, where were they supposed to lead the colonists…to a network of corridors in the middle of a mountain? What kind of existence would that be?
He turned his equine and headed down the ridge, away from the guide and all the questions. He would be in the colony of Bergen in a few hours and home with Rianne by nightfall. He urged the equine faster.
Chapter 34
Donte came over the pass and looked down at the colony of Bergen in its summer clothes. Green fields dotted w
ith white bovines spread across the slopes and kissed the trees. All of that rested at the base of a snowcapped mountain. It was a scene that always took his breath away. It was unexpected and filled him with longing. Libertad was beautiful, but there was nothing quite as stunning as Bergen.
He rode down to the colony and stabled his equine. The next tram to Libertad wouldn’t be in for another couple of hours. He hadn’t seen Saskia and Pieter since the day he returned the uniform. He walked to the Groot Thuis, simply because he wanted to have more time to digest the beauty all around. He stopped at the pond and tossed a few stones into the water, watching the ripples move out and blend into the surface. Anatidae swam on the surface, occasionally dipping their heads into the water for food. He picked up a stick and ran it along a wooden fence, enjoying the rat-a-tat sound as it leaped from one plank to another.
When he reached the Groot Thuis, he walked into the lobby. A few people looked up and stared at him. They probably wondered why he was there. More people he had abandoned. He wandered down the hallway to the commons, unwilling to interrupt the nostalgic moment with the reality of a visit upstairs. He ran his hand over the box of word chips, thinking about his games with Rianne. He smiled.
Sitting at one of the tables, he poured chips out and began building words. There were many possibilities, but the first word he formed was Rianne. His fingers poised over the C and finally slid it to the center of the table. He slid an H beside it. He hadn’t allowed himself to think about the name in the last month, much less say it. He found an I and a K. The word stayed that way, incomplete, while he formed other words. Love, baby, betrayal…he slid the last U up to the name in the center of the table.
“Chiku.” He said and was surprised that he could say it without that lump forming in his throat.
He spelled out the words he wanted to say to her. “I am sorry.”
A wheel creaked behind him and his hand froze over the chips. Pieter rolled up beside him. For a moment Pieter sat looking at the words on the table. Finally he looked at Donte. His voice was quiet, more gentle than it had ever been.
“No uniform. No commitment. Just come back and we’ll start over.”
Donte leaned back in his chair and studied his grandfather’s face. He looked older and his eyes had lost their fire. He missed that fire.
“Rianne is going to have a baby.” He said, as if it had anything to do with the conversation.
“I love you.” Pieter said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that. I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever said that to you either.”
Donte put his finger on a chip and slid it around on the table, not looking at Pieter’s face as he spoke. “Sometimes our eyes say everything that needs to be said.”
Pieter was silent for a few minutes. “Yes.” He finally said. “When you called me Farasi, it was like a hot knife.”
Donte looked at him. “I’m sorry papaw.” He wanted to explain, but the fact was; he said it because Pieter reminded him of Farasi at the time. Whether or not he meant to say it or it was true was irrelevant. Sometimes a person opened their big mouth and said things they shouldn’t. In this case it couldn’t be retracted. Still, it might help if Pieter understood the source. “Farasi was always trying to force me to call him Monomi. I wouldn’t. It slipped out. You are not like Farasi.”
Pieter reached out and touched the C. “I was wrong. I had no idea how you felt. I should have had faith in you.”
Donte stared at the chip. He couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. It was amazing what a bunch of chips with letters on them could reveal.
“We didn’t talk.” He finally said.
“I didn’t listen.” Pieter countered.
Donte scooped Chiku’s name off the table and put it in the box. “She begged me not to go…like Liana did.”
Pieter said nothing. He was listening.
“I felt Liana’s pain, and on the beach…with Rianne, I felt Chiku’s fever. I couldn’t get to either of them in time.” He scooped all the words from the table except Rianne. “I love Rianne, Papaw. I don’t know what I would do without her. I don’t think I would want to live. I felt that way with Liana.” He ran a finger across the letters. “Sometimes I feel like my life is one continuous cycle of betrayal. I don’t know how to stop it.”
Pieter finally spoke. “Perhaps your definition of betrayal is too loose. Perhaps your sense of loyalty is too strong.”
Maybe it was true and maybe not, but it felt good to tell someone. He had never even told Rianne. It wouldn’t surprise him if she knew, though.
He looked at Pieter. “Have you ever heard of a man named Niall?”
Pieter watched Donte a moment. “He was a Lochfowk spaceship commander.”
Donte nodded. “I was with him when he died.”
Pieter stared at him. “Where?”
“I can’t say.”
“They came to get you?”
Donte frowned. “Who are they? Why me? He said I was the Anialwch connection.”
Pieter looked startled. “You, Donte? But I thought…”
Whatever he thought, he apparently decided to keep it to himself. Donte persisted. “What is the Anialwch connection?”
Finally Pieter looked away. “Folklore. Nothing but folklore.”
If he thought it was all folklore, he’d never seen the underground network. What he needed was documentation. “I need to look at the files on the Baigh.” He said.
Pieter frowned. “The Baigh? I thought you already went through the files on the Moeder. Wouldn’t the information be the same?”
Donte shrugged. “Apparently not, but the information I got was from the library, not the files.”
Pieter rolled his chair back. “It would be dangerous for you to search through the files on the Baigh.”
“Why?”
“Pieter glanced around the room and rolled closer to Donte, speaking in a quiet voice. “Only The Parliament and the Fontalo know what is in those files.”
“What is the Fontalo?”
Pieter sighed in exasperation. “Let it alone, Donte.”
Donte wasn’t sure whether he meant he should let the investigation alone or his questions. He chose to do the latter. It would be far more dangerous not to know what he was up against.
When Donte didn’t say anything more, Pieter relented. “I can’t help you, but maybe Quade or Rianne could.”
Donte scooped the last letters off the table and held them in his hand. “If it’s dangerous, I don’t want Rianne involved.”
Pieter looked at him, some of the old fire in his eyes. “Are you making decisions for her now?”
Donte smiled and dropped the chips into the box. “Not if she finds out.”
Pieter chuckled. “Bring her here. We can protect you better here.”
“How?”
Pieter looked at him. “There are ways. I am not at liberty to say.” He slowly rolled his chair away and then stopped. He turned around and looked at Donte again. “Unless you are the next ruler.”
Donte stood and shook his head. “I don’t even know what’s happening. How do I know where to pledge my allegiance?”
Pieter nodded. “Fair enough. Go to the Baigh and find the information you need…then come back and take your rightful place.”
Pieter knew more than he was willing to reveal. If he thought it was dangerous to read the files on the Baigh, why didn’t he simply tell what he knew? Maybe he wasn’t sure. Apparently he wasn’t ready to accept the idea that his grandson was The Anialwch connection. Why?
Donte visited with Saskia and Donica for a little while and then took the tram to Libertad. He walked from the station and it was dark when he arrived at Quade’s house. Rianne was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book. She looked up when he entered and abandoned the book as she stood. “Donte!”
He folded her into his arms. “I missed you.” He said.
She hugged his neck. “I thought it was going to be another long lonely nigh
t.”
He released her and placed a hand on her stomach. “How are we tonight?”
She put her hand over his. “Much better now that you are here.”
“Are you eating enough?”
She made a face. “Who wants to eat when it’s just going to come back up?”
“It must be a girl.” He said. “They are so finicky about food.”
She giggled. “I’m so glad you’re home.”
He held her close again for a moment. “How would you feel about moving back to Bergen?”
She pulled back and looked up at his face. “You talked to Pieter?”
He nodded. “What do you think?”
She smiled. “I miss the mountains and the people.”
For a few moments they were content leaning on each other. Finally she looked up at him. “How was your trip?”
He kissed her. “Strange.”
She took his hand and led him to the table. “Tell me about it while I fix us a hot drink.”
He sat in a chair and watched her put water on the stove, all the while wondering how much to tell and where to start. When he didn’t speak, she glanced up from the kettle.
“I’m listening.”
“I know,” He said. “I don’t know where to start.”
She smiled as she sat in the chair across the table from him and folded her hands. “This man from Lochfowk came and took you with him.”
He smiled. “And my mate told me she was going to have a baby.”
She propped her chin up with her hands and studied his face. “And you left with him for three long days. Where did you go?”
He leaned back in his chair and lifted a foot to his knee. “I was instructed not to disclose the location.”
She nodded. “I see. So what did you do?”
He gave her a wry smile. “I watched an old man die.”
She searched his face. “Who was he and what did he tell you?”
He wanted to tell her everything – not because he needed to tell someone, but because this was Rianne and she would tell him everything she knew. He hesitated and decided on slowly feeding the information.
“Dad said you served on the Baigh.”
She nodded. “While you were in Nyumbani.”
The Purlieu Experiment, Book 1 Page 30