Path of the Crushed Heart: Book Four of the Serpent Catch Series

by David Farland

  In the second half of the series, I drew my inspiration from a number of artists, primarily from illustrations by the Russian painter Sergey Poyarkov. His works, which speak of the brutal bosses in the pre-1991 Soviet Union, echoed my own sentiments in a haunting way, and so I have to thank him for the inspiration that led to the Cage of Bones, and the Death’s Head Train, along with some images that loomed large in my mind but never made it to paper.

  So this tale was a meditation on change. Can a person change? Can one person really change the world? Should we destroy our society and start over again?

  The answer to all of these questions, I believe, is yes.

  In a sense, this book was a meditation on the power of art—not only to affect an artist, but to infect the world through the artist.

  In the end, I think that we become our best only as we allow ourselves to be open, to be touched deeply by others—whether through songs, or stories, or paintings. All art is merely an attempt at heightened communication, the desire to express the ineffable.

  Sometimes, if we are lucky, we create art that can move others, too. And as we do, we become better people, and begin to build better societies.

  I have a great deal of hope for the world. You’ve glimpsed a bit of the future I imagine—a world where people have heightened intelligence, endless lives, and greater chances for happiness.

  That’s a shadow of the society that I hope someday comes, even if it arises long after I’m gone.

  ***

  Glossary

  Anee—A mineral-poor moon 11,000 miles in diameter that circles a gas giant named Thor near a type I star 1950 lightyears from Earth. In the year 2681, the Alliance of Nations began terraforming Anee in order to create a terrestrial zoo—a place where genetic paleontologists could store specimens of animals recreated from the Jurassic, Miocene, and Pliocene Eras. Each of three continents stores representatives from one of the Eras.

  Creators—A race of highly intelligent beings, part machine and part biological organism, designed by genetic paleontologists to maintain the ecosystems of Anee. The Creators are living DNA synthesizers. To control animal populations, they frequently design and give birth to predators and parasites. The Creators are strictly programmed to perform their specific jobs. After the death of the Creator named Forester 1, the Creators designed Dryads to protect the forests.

  Dire Wolves—Canis Dirus—A heavy-bodied dark gray wolf common during the Pleistocene, short on cunning but long on tenacity and viciousness.

  Dragons—Warm-blooded flying carnivores that were created by the Starfarers to be an eco-barrier. Each continent has several varieties of dragon in various sizes—from the giant great-horned dragons to the tiny hawk dragon. Each dragon is born with a genetically transmitted memory that encourages it to destroy species that it recognizes as foreign to the environment.

  Dryads—A being made by the Creators to maintain forests in Pliocene areas after the Creator Forester 1 was killed in an earthquake. Dryads are humanoid females with long life spans and strange abilities. The abilities, size, and coloration of the Dryad depends upon the type of forest it was created to maintain.

  Eco-barriers—Certain animals have the ability to migrate across oceans. For example, many types of semi-aquatic carnivorous dinosaur could easily make such journeys, and the introduction of such animals into an area populated by Pleistocene sabertooths could be disastrous, since the sabertooths could not compete with the larger predators. The paleontologists who terraformed Anee recognized the danger such transoceanic migrations could cause. Therefore, they erected a series of “eco-barriers” to prevent migrations. These barriers consist of artificially engineered predators: primarily, the deep-ocean “sea serpent” to patrol the waterways; and various species of “dragon” to patrol the sky. Both the sea serpent and the dragon are ruthless predators without equal in nature.

  Eridani—An alien race that went to war with humans in the year 2902. Using small faster-than-light drone warships, the Eridani successfully stopped all extraplanetary travel between human settlements within a matter of four years.

  Hukm—Homo-gigantis. A race of large apelike humanoids with long brownish-red or white fur. The Hukm, one of several races of giant hominids once native to Earth, were originally restricted to a small region of Northeast Asia, and the species thrived only for a few thousand years. Fossil evidence indicates that the race probably died out about 396,000 BC. Extinction appeared to occur due to climactic changes between glacial periods, and may have come about as a result of inter-species warfare accompanied by starvation. When reintroduced into the wild on Anee, the Hukm showed themselves to be highly social vegetarians who quickly domesticated the woolly mammoths.

  Kwea—Emotional resonance. Often passionate feelings aroused by memories. Neanderthals have specific words that can refer to hundreds of different kinds of kwea, based upon the types and degrees of emotionality, but these are ignored in translation for simplicity’s sake.

  For a Neanderthal, every object, every experience, every memory carries an emotional weight, a value of kwea. While some things, like the tale of Adjonai, are so universally known that nearly all Neanderthals feel a similar type of fear of him, in most cases the weight of kwea is based upon personal experience.

  For example, a common knife may be considered sacred or of great value to one individual because of his associated kwea, while for another the same object would seem plain and unimportant.

  Mastodon—On Anee, any of eleven species of pachyderm that inhabit woodlands and grasslands in every climatic region.

  Mastodon Men—Homo rex. A race of carnivorous humanoids of low intelligence, averaging some 8.5 feet in height and weighing 500-800 pounds. Mastodon Man originally inhabited mountainous areas in Asia from 250,000-75,000 BC. On Earth, the Mastodon Man apparently did not compete well with smaller humanoids, but on the fecund world of Anee they quickly gained a strong foothold.

  Neanderthal—Homo neanderthalensis (see also Pwi, Okanjara, and Thrall). The Neanderthals are a distinct species, similar to modern humans in size and build, but differing from humans in their DNA by .285%. Neanderthals tend to be larger and stronger than humans, and have slightly shorter arms and a muscular build. The Neanderthal spine has less curvature, so Neanderthals stand straighter than humans do, and their large toe is curved inward, allowing them to run faster. The Neanderthal’s chest cavity is larger than that of a human, and their arms rotate at a greater angle. Their skulls are thicker, hips slightly wider.

  Neanderthals have sandy yellow to red hair and green, blue, or yellow-brown eyes. They have heavy supraorbital ridges that give their eyes a deep-set appearance. Their teeth and palate tend to protrude more than that of a human, yet they completely lack a chin.

  The hands of a Neanderthal differ in structure from that of a human. The hands of a Neanderthal are larger and stronger than those of a human, with large robust knuckles. The human thumb is tilted at a forty-five degree angle to the fingers so that tip of the thumb can touch the tip of each individual finger; however, a Neanderthal’s thumb is not tilted at an angle to the fingers, and the Neanderthal is therefore far less dexterous than a human.

  Differences in the Neanderthal palate, larynx, and sinus cavities do not allow them to vocalize most long vowels or semivowels used by humans. Instead, the Neanderthals shorten long vowels and tend to speak through their noses.

  The cerebral cortex of the Neanderthal brain is slightly larger than that of a modern human, and they are fully the intellectual equals of humans. However, the Neanderthal hypothalamus, the area of the brain responsible for processing emotions, is three times as large as that of a human. For this reason, Neanderthals tend to lead a very complex emotional life. Because of the way that the Neanderthal brain processes information, memories frequently carry very strong, emotionally-charged ties.

  Because Neanderthals feel their emotions more powerfully than humans do, they feel a consuming need to express these emotions. Neanderthal dialect
s vary by region, but their languages have some similarities. Any noun or verb can be modified by various suffixes to express the Neanderthal’s feelings about an object or action. The order of the suffixes always goes:

  noun or verb + emotional indicator + person + emotional degree indicator.

  For example instead of saying “the sky is gray,” the Neanderthal might express his feelings about the subject: szerzhoaFava ah femma. This sentence literally reads “Sky-love-I-generously is gray,” and would be translated “The gray sky which I love completely.” The first word in the sentence, szerzhoaFava, is translated below:

  Emotional

  Noun Base + Indicator + Person + Degree Indicator

  szer (sky) zho (love) a (I) Fava (completely)

  The degree indicator is often a noun itself. For example, the word Fava means “pear tree.” On Anee, several varieties of wild pear bear fruit in late autumn. Neanderthal legends often embellish this, telling of heroes starving in the wilderness who are saved by pear trees that magically blossom and ripen in mid-winter when the tree “sees” the hero coming. Because of this reputation for generosity, Fava then becomes synonymous with generous. When used as an emotional indicator, Fava means “given with all the heart.”

  Okanjara—The Free Ones. (Literally, “I am free!”) Any Neanderthal who has escaped slavery after a long period of time is an Okanjara.

  Phylomon—The last living human who was not born on Anee. The last of the Starfarers. A man who, because he still benefits from the technology of the Starfarers, has survived for over one thousand years.

  Pirate Lords—When an interstellar war between mankind and the Eridani first stranded the genetic paleontologists on Anee, a political argument soon developed over how mankind should treat their creations—specifically the Neanderthals. Certain technicians believed that by conscripting Neanderthals for use as laborers, humans could be left free to build the plasma missiles they hoped could destroy the Eridani warships circling Anee. Others correctly believed the effort would be wasted. Those who favored enslaving the Neanderthal formed an independent colony upon the island of Bashevgo. After two centuries of building, the Lords finally attacked the Eridani drones. The Slave Lords and their colony were nearly decimated in a counterattack, yet the offspring of the Slave Lords of Bashevgo still survive both upon Bashevgo and in the nation of Craal, and the Slave Lords prey upon both the Neanderthal and their human cousins.

  Pwi—Neanderthals who have never been enslaved by the Pirate Lords call themselves Pwi, the family. By the time that the first humans were forced to move to Anee, the original colony of Neanderthals had covered most of the Eastern half of the continent they called “Homeland,” and Neanderthals numbered about two million. Pwi dialects and customs were diverging, and they were on the verge of splintering into several large tribes. But as the Neanderthals found themselves battling a common enemy, they regained a sense of common identity and called themselves only “family.”

  Red drones—Orbital warships piloted by artificial intelligences sent by the Eridani to patrol the skies above Anee. Their neutron cannons destroy any mechanical vessel or organic being that climbs over four kilometers into the air. Originally, four warship were stationed over Anee, but two were destroyed by the Pirate Lords.

  Sabertooth lion—Smilodon fatalis—a large tawny lion with very long, serrated canines. The sabertooth lions live in prides in grassy and low, wet areas. Because of poor eyesight and teeth that are not adapted for small prey, the sabertooth primarily hunts large herd animals. Some of its favorite victims are the bison, giant sloth, the giant beaver (a semiaquatic water rat weighing up to 500 pounds), the mastodon, the hippo-like toxodonts, and the giant capybara. On Earth, the sabertooth was such a successful predator, that when it overpopulated in 8000 BC, over-predation coupled with climatic instability caused the extinction of over a hundred other species. With its food base destroyed, the sabertooth soon became extinct.

  Scimitar cat—homotherium. A solitary but powerful lion with yellow and brown stripes. Because of its elongated front legs, it runs with a bouncing gait, much like a jackal. The scimitar cat inhabits mountainous areas and hunts large prey by pouncing from a tree or rock. A female scimitar cat will often kill a young mastodon weighing 600 pounds and then drag it two miles so she can feed her cubs.

  Sea serpents—Giant eel-like carnivores created by the Starfarers to keep animals from migrating across the ocean from one continent to another. Sea serpents can vary their color to conform to background, can grow to a length of 380 feet, and can attack prey in two ways: by swallowing the prey whole, or by strangulation. Thorn-like protrusions on the serpent’s armored scales tend to slice prey open when the serpent attacks by strangulation.

  Young serpents are less than a meter in length when they hatch in the spring. They feed on fish for the first several months, and in their feeding frenzy drive great schools of fish up the rivers. Within six weeks the serpents grow to a length of sixteen feet and head for open waters and larger prey. At the end of their first year, serpents often measure over a hundred feet in length.

  Slave Lords—Humans who enslave Neanderthals and other humans. Shortly after the red drones forced the human Starfarers into exile on Anee, some of the paleontologists began enslaving Neanderthals for use as miners, field hands, and domestic servants. The human Starfarers believed that if they could concentrate on developing weaponry to fight the red drones, they could escape Anee within a few centuries. But when their efforts failed, most of the Starfarers were killed, and much of their technology died with them. The few degenerate descendants of these Starfarers set up the nation of Craal, based upon a slave economy, and became known as the Slave Lords.

  Starfarers—The genetic paleontologists and their crew who first began the work of terraforming Anee. By 2816, mankind had been engaged in genetically and mechanically upgrading himself for so long, that the Starfarers were, in a sense, no longer human. The Starfarers had hairless bodies of various colors, depending upon the shade of the symbiote they chose for their skin; had total recall of all they saw and heard; with mechanical aid could achieve virtual immortality; and the Starfarers had a genetically transmitted “dictionary” that gave all members of their race a knowledge of English and mathematics. When the Eridani destroyed the Starfarer’s space station above Anee, the Starfarers lost the technology that would allow them to pass their extended life-span on to their descendants, but some of their genetic upgrades remained.

  Tantos—A powerful Slave Lord who rules the island of Bashevgo.

  Terrazin Dragontamer—A Neanderthal psychic who used his powers to overthrow the island of Bashevgo.

  Thrall—Any Neanderthal or human who is held as a slave. Generally, it refers to anyone who has spent years in slavery. Over generations, the Thralls developed a moral code and a society far different from that of the Pwi. In general, the Pwi consider the Thralls to be untrustworthy and brutal. Many tales tell of Thralls who practice cannibalism or who have become so accustomed to slavery that they themselves engage in it. Thralls who eventually escape their captors call themselves Okanjara, the Free Ones.

  ***

  About David Farland

  David Farland is an award-winning, international best-selling author with over 50 novels in print. He has won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Special Award for “Best Novel in the English Language” for his science fiction novel On My Way to Paradise, the Whitney Award for “Best Novel of the Year” for his historical novel In the Company of Angels, and he has won over seven awards—including the International Book Award and the Hollywood Book Festival, Grand Prize—for his fantasy thriller Nightingale. He is best known, however, for his New York Times best-selling fantasy series The Runelords, which will soon be made into a graphic novel and, likely, a movie.

  Farland has written for major franchises such as Star Wars and The Mummy. In the video game industry, he has been both a designer and a scripter and was the co-leader on the design team for StarCraft: Brood War.r />
  As a writing instructor, Farland has mentored dozens who have gone on to staggering literary success, including such #1 New York Times Bestsellers as Brandon Mull (Fablehaven), Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time), James Dashner (The Maze Runner) and Stephenie Meyer (Twilight).

  Farland judges L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future, perhaps the largest worldwide writing competition for new fantasy and science fiction authors. He has worked in Hollywood greenlighting movies and doctoring scripts. He set the Guinness World Record for the largest single-author, single-book signing.

  David Farland has been hailed as “The wizard of storytelling” and his work has been called “compelling,” “engrossing,” “powerful,” “profound,” and “ultimately life-changing.”

  ***