by Capri S Bard
“Hrilla,” he yelled with all his might. After traveling for a while he heard his call answered.
Seeing a very faint light far up ahead, he threw his own stone of light on the hard ground and broke it into smaller pieces.
Hrilla,” he called again.
“This way,” was the faint answer. “This way,” the call came again.
Aiming toward Hrilla’s voice Dhobin threw one stone. Taking aim in the same direction he threw another stone even farther. Again he threw one with all his might.
Now his path had direction. When he got to the third stone he stopped and repeated the process. At the end of that line of stones he began to smell the salty sea air and hear the waves crashing into the shore.
“Hrilla,” he screamed with all his might.
“I see you,” she called. “Come straight ahead.”
He caught a glimpse of his love walking toward him, clasping hands with Fbathin. There were many other Hoth surrounding them.
“When the light comes we will help you build,” an old Hoth said.
“What light is coming?” Dhobin asked.
“He speaks of morning,” Fbathin explained. “This world is Reen and there are two suns. They wake with the suns light and sleep when the suns go away and darkness comes.”
“Does Ot not live here?” Dhobin asked.
“The old white haired Hoth answered, “There is no Ot here that you speak of.”
Dhobin held out his hand with one last small, stone of light. “This is part of Ot. He flows slowly into the water and we take the stones of light for heat, for cooking, for light and protection when danger comes.”
“There is no Ot here,” the old Hoth said again.
“There are lights in the city. We make fires in stoves for cooking and for warmth. When danger comes we drive it away.”
“What dangers do you have here?” Hrilla asked.
“The city often has wild dogs that invade the trash heap looking for food. Sometimes they come close to the houses. We have black bears that do also the same. Never feed a wild thing unless it traps you, then you should only hope you have food enough to satisfy because you will fill its belly one way or the other.”
The old Hoth clapped his hands to the sides of his legs and gave a slight bow. “I am Regal,” he said. “You have been only a fable until now.”
“What do you mean?” Hrilla asked.
“Some of the deep divers of the past have told stories of seeing other Hoth in the deep near a tremendous light where the water is warm and clear,” Regal explained.
“That’s Ot,” Fbathin said. “So you know where this place is? We must get back. Many are in need of rescue. The water is the only way. They will have the tunnels guarded. We must go.”
“It is very dangerous to go that deep and only a few Hoth ever have. Until now I had not believed their stories,” Regal admitted.
“You must take me to see those who know of this place,” Fbathin said.
“Tomorrow,” Regal said. “For tonight many of us have come to help stand guard over you, and tomorrow we will help build.”
“Do you have poison lizards?” Hrilla asked nervously pulling at her ear.
“I do not know what you mean,” Regal answered.
“Small dangerous creatures,” Hrilla said as she showed the size with her hands.
“Our dangers are much larger,” Regan said.
“Well at least there aren’t poison lizards,” Fbathin said to Hrilla. Turning back to Regal she added, “But tomorrow you must tell me of the ones who know of Ot, so I can swim to the deep and rescue my people.”
Hrilla grabbed her friend’s arm and whispered with concern, “You heard him say how dangerous diving in the deep can be. I don’t want you to go.”
Fbathin took Hrilla’s hand and said, “You saved many of your people this day. Now it’s my turn.”
“But Love,” Hrilla began her complaint. “If anything should happen to you,” she held Fbathin’s arm even tighter. “You affect the rhythmic beating of my heart. You are the ebb and flow of my very soul finding its balance. This danger is too great.”
Fbathin gave no verbal response. She only reached up to her taller friend and pulled her close for only a moment before letting her go.
Hrilla wanted with all her heart to protest even more. Instead, she squeezed Fbathin’s hand and understood her plan.
“I will help you,” Hrilla said.
Patting her hand and stroking Hrilla’s braids, Fbathin said, “No my lovely one. You can only use your gills for a short time before you need to resurface. This is a job for Hoth. I must go.”
“Come,” Regal said as he led his Hoth toward the direction of Hrilla’s band of refugees.
The Hoth sat among the group, guarding these scared, overwhelmed and displaced people.
“Regal,” Dhobin whispered as the sky birthed a gentle light. “What is that?”
Regal, who had watched over Dhobin and Hrilla through the night, faced the direction Dhobin was staring.
“Mountains,” Regal said like a teacher. “They hide most of the sunsrise. When we are far out into the water we can see the many colors that the first sun brings.”
“What’s the sunsrise again?” asked Dhobin trying to shake the sleep from his head.
“Our planet revolves around two suns. It grows very bright and hot when they rise over those mountains. You will need protection. We will help build,” Regal said as a good teacher would give encouragement and guidance.
A tiny point of light broke through a small space between the peaks of the mountains and fell in front of Dhobin. Quickly he jumped to his feet and moved back in fear.
“It’s coming at me,” he whispered to Regal.
“It will not harm you,” Regal said. “But if it touches your skin for a long time, it will burn you. We must build soon.”
The stream of light steadily moved toward Dhobin who had maintained his place as he watched the light come to him.
The small stream of light was swallowed by one glorious wave of light like Dhobin had never seen. In fact no former underground dweller had ever seen light like this before. There were screams among the people just waking. The screams were caused by the near blinding light, by the birds flying overhead, by Nen growing faint, and by the large creatures grazing in the fields beyond their camp in the lush meadow.
“We must build and gather food,” Regal said.
“We should organize the people,” Hrilla said to Dhobin just waking up and hearing Regal’s concern.
Dhobin stood, held up one hand and called out orders.
“We must build shelter. The Hoth of the surface have come to help us. All those who are strong enough to build, come gather with me. Those who need food, just stay where you are and the Hoth will gather for you and disperse adequately.”
The tiny Hoth who had been sitting among the people for all the night, began to move quickly as if they knew what their job was. Some Hoth carried a satchel hanging at their waist. They walked in the direction of the mountains before them, where they came to a nearby stream. They filled their satchels with water and cut down tall leafy plants in great numbers before returning to the hungry crowd.
One young Hoth drew his bow and placed an arrow on the arrow rest, took his draw, and anchored his right thumb on the side of his chin, then let the arrow fly.
A grunt was heard from the large creature, which now held the arrow in his heart. Its wide mouth opened before its body plopped to the ground in a heap.
“What is that thing?” Dhobin asked Regal.
“It’s a varan,” Regal said walking away from the crowd to a heavy wooded area. As the Hoth cut through the thick brush and chopped down small trees Regal continued to teach Dhobin, who was hungry to learn.
“Rarely do we eat the varan,” he said. “They are kind to us and never disturb us or our gardens. They graze in the meadow and our children play with them.”
“You let the children close to those
large beasts?” Dhobin asked in dismay.
“They often ride them. Children find it great fun,” Regal said with a laugh.
Before the suns were high overhead everyone had been fed and even the Nen were now helping to build shelters for all the people.
Before the suns’ last sliver of brightness fell off the horizon, Fbathin, once again, went to Regal and petitioned him to take her to the ones who had seen Ot.
When the Hoth left the band of new arrivals, Fbathin went with them; back to the valley, through the meadow and into the water.
Swimming to a rocky outcrop, Regal showed her where the Hoth lived. Their houses were made of stone, which had been hewn from giant boulders. Their tools were not primitive like what they had used for building shelters for the new arrivals.
“Why didn’t you use these instruments to build the shelters?” Fbathin asked.
“They are for rock, not for wood,” was his only explanation. She didn’t question him any further on the subject because she was staying single-focused. Her determination was to save her people from the tyrant from whom they had escaped.
Regal stepped into a home of rock, with Fbathin following close behind. Inside, she found the sights breathtaking. There was a sink with a shiny tube over it where water came in a steady stream. A woman filled a large pitcher and brought it to a long table.
There she filled cups and gave to those gathering around.
Regal offered Fbathin a chair.
“This is Festus, and this is Sdakan,” Regal said. “They have seen the light you speak of.”
“Tell me,” said Fbathin. “How do I get there? I must save them.”
“It is too far,” Festus said slowly.
“But tell me. I must go there.” Fbathin stood up with her last words.
“Show her, Sdakan.”
The tiny middle aged man took a scarf from his neck and revealed his deep purple scars where his gills once had been.
“He almost didn’t make it back to us when he got curious about the light in the deep. He swam so close to the clear warm water that his gills couldn’t find air,” explained Festus. “He was fortunate that I saw him bobbing at the surface and pulled him out. He will never dive again. Can’t you go another way to rescue the others?”
“Emperor Tapsin has guards in the tunnels, but not at the water’s edge. I must dive to the deep. Please tell me where the path is to get there. I am fast and strong and I know my gills can survive the warm clear water.”
“How do you plan to rescue your people?” asked Regal. “You are only one Hoth.”
“Yes,” Fbathin said as if she hadn’t thought about that important point.
“I will find more,” she answered.
“I will go,” Festus said. “I just wanted you to know the risk is great.”
“I will ask the Hoth of my people and we will dive in two days’ time,” Fbathin said.
Their fourth evening on the surface Fbathin gathered on the shore with 120 Hoth, both from her tribe and the surface Hoth.
Fbathin and Festus led the way as they dove into the shallow water and swam out to the surface of the deep. They tread the surface of the water a moment.
Hrilla gave her best friend one final wave.
Fbathin ducked her head back into the water and came up with her hair slicked back. Her lovely smile could easily been seen but her expression grew serious and focused when Festus’ short gathering call was heard.
He gave one strong leap that shot him out of the water. Then falling back to the wet surface he dove as if the water itself had opened for his tiny body to slide through.
The others followed suit and the group dove fast into the depths of the clear water; racing past sea creatures both big and small. Schools of fish split formation and darted away.
A large squid appeared quickly then shot like lightening out of their way. Down, down they went, until Fbathin thought her gills would burst from being over worked but then she saw it. The light of Ot was brilliant and inviting. She swam harder and faster, cutting her body through the water like a sharp blade.
She pointed out in front of her to show Festus where to surface in the large underground lake. There was a place along the edge of the water where they could hide easily.
Tiny heads sprang from the depths with their gills flailing open as well as their mouths sucking in the much needed air.
With half of her body out of the water she called softly to some of her friends who knew the tunnels of Tapsin’s Empire.
She whispered to those she had made leaders. “You,” she pointed, “Go to the Hoth tunnel and take twenty with you. Get all of the Hoth here and show them the way of escape. And make sure you bring my sister.”
“You, Shan,” she pointed to a boy. “Go on the planting trails and bring back the children of the Goweli, Tsila and Anthro.”
“But I thought we were here for the Hoth,” Festus quickly asked.
Shan remained motionless.
“I’m taking all the children,” she said with focus. “If we leave them they will be slaughtered by that tyrant. Now go, Shan,” she demanded to the Hoth to whom she had just given instruction. “And take twenty with you as well. When you return here, take them to the surface.”
“But only those that can use their gills can come that far in the water. The others will be lost,” Festus argued.
“We will give them our air,” Fbathin said as if she had already thought it through.
“You will not survive,” Festus said.
“Maybe not,” she said in a hiss. “But I will not allow them to be sacrificed.”
Shan still remained in his place as his eyes dashed from Fbathin to Festus.
Festus grew exasperated by Fbathin’s change in plans.
“I didn’t agree to this. I don’t want to die,” he said almost as a plea.
Fbathin took a long breath and said, “Who’s with Festus?”
Festus and Fbathin looked around the group that still surrounded them. Not one Hoth moved from their position.
“Alright then,” Festus said. He held his hand out to Fbathin and they pressed them together. After a springing action Festus leaped into the water and was gone.
Fbathin looked again to the others as if waiting for followers.
Still no Hoth moved.
“Yes, alright then,” she echoed Festus’ words.
Shan dashed off down a path and more than twenty Hoth joined him.
“You,” she pointed to a young Hoth with wet black hair down her back.
“Nora,” the young girl said, “Yes, Nora. Take forty and find the Nen. You know where to go. Make sure they eat before entering the water. I don’t want to lose anyone today.”
“The rest of you, follow me,” she said with fire in her eyes. As she left the beach and entered the tunnel that ran past the celebration ground and on up to the palace she picked up a random staff someone must have lost as they tried to escape on that treacherous day.
“Where is she taking us?” one Hoth whispered from behind Fbathin.
She spun on her heel and pointed the staff at the one who had spoken.
“We are taking the Empire from the madman,” she said. She twirled around again and the tiny Hoth leader walked straight up to the gates of the palace and climbed over a rock wall and followed the edge of the smaller body of water that was hidden from sight by the tall walls of the palace.
“Who’s there?” one giant Het guard called out into the darkness. He fumbled with his purse hanging at his side and pulled out a light stone. However, by the time it grew bright enough for him to see, forty, tiny, and soundless Hoth had gotten past him.
There were no guards by the water’s edge of the palace.
“I’ll go in first and find the path,” Fbathin said.
She quietly slipped into the water’s depth and was gone a short time before her head surfaced long enough for her to motion with her hand to follow. The other Hoth didn’t make a sound as the water accepted them
. Fbathin took her crew through a water-filled tunnel and upward where there was a large pocket of air. There she instructed them where they should go to find all the children.
“He must have stolen the children of his slaughtered kinsmen. But we shall steal them away from him. They will not be sacrificed like his son.”
They scattered as they left tiny wet footprints on the stone floors. Snatching the children out of bed they tried to quietly go back the way they came. Some however were not so cooperative, some screamed loud enough to alert a Het guard outside the front gates. He stormed into the foyer looking for the reason for the commotion, but he found nothing. The children had all been taken and the trail of watery footprints told them the direction they had gone. The Het raced to tell others.
When Tapsin was informed of the kidnapping he mentally pushed several Het at once, “Find who did this and destroy them.”
The Het lost the trail at the outside lake on the palace grounds. It wasn’t until another child screamed that the Het charged down the tunnels after them. But it was too late. As soon as the Hoth had reached the shore line they let the stolen children latch onto their gills to breathe their way to the surface. With one final breath the Hoth dove into the deep with the children.
Not even halfway to the surface the Hoth grew weak especially the ones who carried the older children. Fbathin carried two Antip children. One attached to each gill. She was fading quickly because her body was depleting quickly of its oxygen. She could feel her head swirl. Her sight faded and she kicked her body one last time to get the children safely to the surface.
“There she is,” Hrilla stood on the shoreline of the surface and screamed in terror.
Pressing her hand over her chest she tried to force air into her collapsed lungs. Yet, even before her breath had returned she dashed into the water and pulled the children off of her dearest and best friend. Handing the children off to awaiting helpers she dragged Fbathin back to shore. She lay her down and saw her gills had already grown cold and blue. With tears she looked back into the water as the scene played over and over again; tiny Hoth bodies bobbed to the surface with a child and sometimes two.
Many people tried to rush to the dying Hoth and others grabbed the children from the water. Along with Fbathin all but nine Hoth that had latching children sacrificed their lives that day for the sake of the children they rescued. It took almost an hour to fish the dead bodies of the Hoth from the water.