by Candy Rae
Niaill
“Why are you here, Niaill and Taraya of the Vada?”
“Need is the answer, Vanlya, Gtrathlin of the Lind,” answered Niaill while Taraya stood quiet beside him, quite overcome at meeting the pre-eminent Lind of all together with a company of some dozen white Elda.
“How is this so?”
“Taraya and I have found an object in the lian to the south-west.”
“A dangerous object? It can harm?”
“No Gtrathlin Vanlya, not dangerous in itself, at least I think not but in what it is. Taraya feels that it is what it portends that is the danger.”
“Portends?” Vanlya queried, “I am unfamiliar with the word.”
“Omen? Catalyst?”
Vanlya shook her head and turned to Taraya.
“Show me,” she commanded.
Niaill felt the tingling sensation which heralded the ‘feeling’ that his mind was totally at one with hers. She was always there, a warm presence and had been since they had become vadeln-paired but this meant that he would see, hear and feel exactly what she was seeing, hearing and feeling.
He blinked at Vanlya who lowered her head in acknowledgement of his presence in the mind-link that had formed between her and Taraya. As the two Lind were physically so close to each other the energy required would be minimal and only the Elda accompanying her would be able to overhear; if Vanlya included them. Niaill rather thought she would. His suspicions were confirmed when she opened the network to bring them in.
: Show me all that you have seen : commanded Vanlya. : from the beginning :
Taraya told the story of how they had arrived at the woods and of the light and buzzing they had seen, heard and investigated.
: It is tall and thin : she continued : with a blue light that flashes at the top :
: Show me closer : Vanlya demanded.
Vanlya stepped back in horror, a shock and dismay shared, Taraya and Niaill realised by the other Elda.
Vanlya lowered her head and stared at the ground at her paws. Niaill had heard of people paling under their tans when something frightened them, he had even seen a few but he had never seen a Lind go pale under the fur like this.
Why does she react like this?
Vanlya raised her white head and looked at Niaill and Taraya.
: I know what you have seen. I know what it means. You must both come with us :
Taraya and Niaill accompanied Vanlya as she turned and made her way deep inside the domta until they came to a cave mouth, high but narrow. Vanlya squeezed herself inside and Taraya and Niaill followed. It was dim but light was coming from somewhere. Try as he might he couldn’t discern from where exactly.
Vanlya pointed with her paw to one side of the cave wall and to Niaill’s utter amazement, he saw another long pole, dusty, rusty, but undeniably the same.
“Look close,” ordered Vanlya. “Is this what you and Taraya found?”
“Yes, yes it is,” answered Niaill after a careful look. He didn’t like to touch it, it looked so old and what was it that the technicians called such things? Unstable, yes, that was it.
Vanlya shut her eyes.
: The Boton has come :
Her mind-voice was filled with dread.
: The Boton? : queried Niaill and Taraya but Vanlya did not answer.
: Inalei comes :
: Inalei? Who is Inalei? : asked Niaill of Taraya but she did not know.
: Inalei of the Avuzdel : Vanlya supplied the information.
Niaill had forgotten that his and Taraya’s inner thoughts were not their own at present. With an inaudible snap, Vanlya severed the mind-link.
Inalei appeared, a heavyset Lind with a nondescript colour pattern.
Niaill and Taraya waited in silence as Inalei and Vanlya had a long telepathic conversation, Inalei looking over at Niaill and Taraya every so often.
“The Susalai must be told,” he said at last.
: The Susalai, who or what is that? : Niaill asked Taraya but Taraya did not know that either.
Inalei closed his eyes and Niaill realised that he was initiating a mind-send of a great distance. Taraya confirmed this but she did not know what information was being ‘sent’.
Niaill and Taraya continued to wait. At last Inalei opened his eyes and turned to Niaill and Taraya.
“I have spoken to Hansei, the Susalai of the Avuzdel,” he began, “and with the speaking has come permission to both ask and to answer the questions.”
“Okay,” said Niaill, “you’ve spoken to this Susalai, what does it all mean?” He and Taraya had after all, been waiting a good number of bells. “Who is the Susalai?”
“The Susalai is the overall commander of the Avuzdel,” Inalei answered.
“But I thought that was Susa Gsendei,” said a confused Niaill, “my brother Danal and his Lind Asya are serving with the Avuzdel.”
“There is the Avuzdel and there is the Avuzdel,” replied the enigmatic Inalei, confusing Niaill more. “I know of Danal and his Asya. You wish me to explain?”
“You’re going to have to so that I can make some sort of sense of all this,” said a rueful Niaill, “and take it slowly, my brain is in a whirl already.”
“The Susas of the Avuzdel are under the command of the Susalai and do his bidding.”
“Susas? Not Susa? How many are there?”
“I have been given permission to tell you and Taraya only. Vanlya knows but even the Gtrathlin knows only of their existence, not what they do.”
“May the other Eldas learn of this as well?” Vanlya enquired.
Inalei nodded, “but one else, yet.”
“The Avuzdel,” he began, “has been in existence for a very long time. There are two types of Avuzdel, the one you know of and the one you do not. The three Susas of the Avuzdel are part of what we call the Daki. They are responsible for keeping the lands safe and to stop the fighting between the Lind and the Larg getting out of paw. This is the Avuzdel. When humans arrived, you also became part of their duty, to stop the war between the northern and the southern continent from escalating out of control.”
“But who, where are these three Susas?” asked Niaill.
“Gsendei you know. He is responsible for this continent. There is another on the other two.”
“In the south?” asked a surprised Niaill.
“Especially in the south,” agreed Inalei, “and please do not interrupt so often because I have a great deal to tell you.”
“Sorry,” said a contrite Niaill.
“Susa Gsendei, Susa Maddei and Susa Zaoaldavdr, all three report to our Susalai.”
Niaill gasped.
“And you are right to be surprised Ryzcka Niaill, Zaoaldavdr is the Susa of the Avuzdel of Larg. He is a Larg. All three Susas and their Avuzdel have worked for generations to keep Lind, Larg and Human from destroying each other. Controlling the latter has taken a great deal of time and effort. Now, before I go on, do you have any questions?”
“Plenty,” said Niaill, “but they’ll wait. I want to hear the whole of it. The Daki has three sections, one in Largdom, one in Vadath and one on the other northern continent. I understand. Go on.”
“The other part of the Avuzdel is the Raki. The members of this have an extra duty and one most secret. Apart from the Susas, the rest of the Avuzdel know nothing of this. I am a member of the Raki. We also report to the Susalai, but directly, we neither have nor need a Susa. There are not that many of us you understand. We Raki look for the Boton, in all three continents. You and Taraya have found it.”
“Is Taraya right? It is dangerous?” asked Niaill.
“The Boton is the Summoner of Death,” Inalei announced in a melodramatic voice.
Niaill gulped. Why do I feel that I’ve suddenly landed in the middle of an epic fantasy?
Having delivered his bombshell. Inalei continued in a more normal voice, “Niaill and Taraya, I must ask you some detailed questions about your finding of the Boton. First, how long do you think it has been here?”
“Quite a while,” Niaill answered, “the undergrowth around it was pretty dense.”
“There were signs of old burning,” added Taraya.
“So there were,” agreed Niaill.
“Do you think the Boton was there before the burning?”
“Inalei, I don’t know. I didn’t take much notice, I was more concerned with covering the thing up and getting here.”
“No matter,” said Inalei,” the next question is relating to what it was doing. It was flashing blue?”
“Yes it was.”
“A steady single long flash with big gaps or quick flashes and smaller gaps?”
“The second,” answered Taraya.
“A sequence of five and a fairly smallish gap,” answered Niaill at the same time.
“That is not good news,” pronounced Inalei and he shut his eyes as he initiated another long distance conversation.
His eyes snapped open.
“We must alert all the Avuzdel, not just the Raki,” he declared. “The Nahoko come and we must find them.”
“Nahoko?” queried Vanlya. She looked as confused as Niaill was.
“Five of them there must be. They must be found. The Avuzdel must scour the land and find each and every one.”
“What do they look like?” asked Taraya, “and where?”
“Round they will be and also blue flickers. I am ordered to find them at all costs, find then cover over and guard so not to alert who has sent them.”
“Who has sent them?” interrupted Niaill. “What is all this about?” He looked at Taraya and Vanlya, “I don’t know about you two but I’m getting way out of my depth here.”
“It will become clear in time,” promised Inalei, who it has to be admitted didn’t sound as if he understood the last part very well himself. “Meanwhile Niaill of Vadath, you must read what Tara and Kolyei left.”
“What they left?” asked an overwhelmed and confused Niaill. All I seem to be doing here is asking questions.
“They are here safe,” announced Vanlya. “We of the Gtratha have kept them safe for many lives of Lind and Human.”
“It is time to give them to the one who will read them,” said Inalei.
“Me?” squeaked Niaill.
“You Niaill of Vadath. They contain many secrets so read them very carefully.”
“It is the Tara and Kolyei?” queried Niaill, “the authors of Tales of Rybak and the Histories of the Lind? That Tara?”
“The same,” answered Vanlya. “You have read the Tales and Histories?”
“All of them. They wrote the history text book we read as children as well.”
“You must now read about the things that she and Kolyei did not write in the books.”
So what I suspected when I was younger was right. Niaill had always believed that there were gaps in the history textbooks and in Tara and Kolyei’s other writings.
“The Susalai tells me that the knowledge they contain is important, may be vital to our survival,” added Inalei.
“Survival?” exploded Niaill. “I still don’t understand. How can this Boton and these Nahokos threaten our survival?”
“As I said before, it will become clear in time. First though, Taraya will lead me and some others to the lian where the Boton is so that I can inspect it and you Niaill will remain here and read.”
Vanlya led Niaill deep into the cave to a natural shelf at the very back, passing some strange objects on the way which she ignored.
“These are they,” she said and Niaill reached up to take the oilskin packages. There were some old papers underneath but they crumbled to dust as he touched them.
As Niaill opened the last of the four oilskin wraps that which had remained hidden for so long lay revealed. There were four hardback volumes, three large and one much smaller. The latter looked as if it had once had a red cover but the others were brown and looked as if they always had been brown.
“These are the originals? Actually written by Tara Sullivan?” marvelled Niaill reverently. He was almost afraid to open them.
“Yes indeed. Tradition tells us that she and the great Kolyei compiled them and left them with us for safekeeping. When they left what you humans call Vadath, when she and Kolyei were old and tired, she went west. When she passed through she told us that we would be told when to show them to the person who was to read them.”
Niaill leafed through the closely written sheets of what he presumed was the first volume. “The pages are remarkably well preserved,” he noted, “paper.” He felt it between his fingers, “but it feels peculiar, not like ordinary paper. Not all of the volumes are like that, the later ones are more like the paper we know. That is brittle, not like the first.” He tugged at one of the sheets. “It seems to be impregnated with something to make it tear resistant and durable. Our ancestors knew many things that have now been forgotten.”
He opened the cover of the volume which was made up of the strong paper. “This will be the first that was written,” he said as he looked at the words, “yes, it says Volume One.”
He turned the page, “ah, a message from Tara and Kolyei. Will I read it aloud?” he asked Vanlya.
She grinned at him.
“I would like to hear what my ancestor had to say,” she said, surprising Niaill with her comment.
“Kolyei is you ancestor?”
“Yes he was, please read.”
Niaill began:
‘Kolyei and I hope these words I now pen will never be read; that the paper they are written on will crumble into dust but Jim Cranston put his trust in me a long time ago and now, thirty-five years on, I complete this, the charge he put upon us.
I and my Kolyei are leaving these volumes of notes with our old friend Afanasei, the present Gtrathlin of the Lind who promises that he and those who come after him will keep them safe from prying eyes. Please use the knowledge you will learn within these pages with due caution and only use if you have dire need. Of course, I have forgotten, if you are reading them there must be a dire need.
Much of the information I have written down in the pages that follow will be known to you as long as my stories in the Tales and the Histories (they will probably be long forgotten) are still in circulation but others you will read about for the first time.
As you will see, there are three volumes and each has an index at the front referenced to the page numbers. I have marked with a star the ones that have been used in the Tales and Histories; the others were deemed too dangerous or inappropriate to be included. It is these unmarked ones you must peruse first.
The smallest volume belonged to a friend of mine and was given to her for safekeeping by her father shortly before his death. I don’t know how much use it will be but I thought it best hidden with the others.
May the Lai fly in our hearts for evermore.
Farewell
TS and K’
“I’d better start with these indexes,” Niaill pronounced, “if you wait a moment Vanlya, I’ve got pen, ink and paper in my pack. I might need to make some notes.”
* * * * *
Niaill found the writings Tara and Kolyei had left behind absolutely fascinating. Vanlya couldn’t bear to drag herself away either and insisted that Niaill read much of it aloud. Niaill was glad of the company as Taraya was away showing Inalei the Boton.
“I think this bit could be important, it’s certainly not in any of the Histories” he continued.
“‘… Captain Howard of the prison ship Electra did hide the ship’s core, that which powered it. He and others buried it deep within the sands of the southern desert for fear that the convicts would find and use it. Although it is not large, in the wrong hands it could cause a great amount of destruction.’ She then notes down what she calls the gridref, don’t know what it means but here it is. Perhaps you can make sense of it.”
“I have never heard of such a thing,” said Vanlya but she leant forward the better to hear what a gridref might be. “What does it sound like?”
“It is a list of numbers and letters, ‘9649E 2713S’.”
“It means nothing,” said Vanlya, disappointed. “I’ll pass it on to Inalei, perhaps he knows.”
Her eyes closed as she initiated contact. A few moments later they opened and Vanlya spoke again. “Inalei says that he knows nothing about the gridref but he is very interested about the core you mentioned. He is on his run back.”
Inalei and Taraya returned from investigating the Boton. They only stopped for a quick bite to eat before they appeared at Vanlya’s daga.
“We wondered what had happened to the core. A long time ago we were sent to look for it but could not find it,” said Inalei when Niaill had told them what he had discovered so far.
“What is the core exactly?” asked Niaill.
Inalei’s reply when he answered made it clear to Niaill that he was repeating what he had been taught. “A core is the mech-an-ism that powered the space-ship that brought humans to our planet. We shall come back to it later. The Susalai has been in contact and wishes to learn what else you have learned from the writings of Tara and Kolyei, about the core and other matters.”
“Well,” Niaill considered, looking at his notes, “there was lots and lots about what Tara called the secret pack which guards what she described as, ‘what must be protected and guarded at all costs’, whatever that means. Their rtathlians are located right up at the edge of the mountains at the edge of this continent, ‘at the nearest point to the other continent’.”
Inalei looked neither amazed nor surprised at this and Niaill suspected that he had known about the secret rtath all along. This suspicion was confirmed by Inalei who answered in the affirmative when Niaill asked him if that was where the Susalai was.
“She also talks about the other northern continent. She says that she and Kolyei have been there. She didn’t write much about it further than that though.”
Inalei looked neither amazed nor surprised at this either. “Is there anything else written about hidden things?” he asked.
“Hidden things?” queried a tired Niaill, picking up on Inalei’s emphasis on the last two words. “What sort of hidden things?”