by C. W Tickner
‘Surely there is someone more willing to to attend,’ Harl said.
‘Why?’ Vax said, clearly he was disappointed at the refusal.
‘It is the politics,’ Veel said.
Drake let out a booming laugh. ‘Sensible,’ he chuckled.
‘It is true, Mother Veel,’ Harl said. ‘I have a life here and for that I am very grateful. I want to keep the happiness I have found here. I fear if I attend then things will go badly.’ It felt like a silly excuse to him even after all he had wanted before, but that was a long time ago and now he needed security.
Vax looked put out but nodded. ‘We understand, Harl,’ he said, ‘Maybe you, Damen, will take his place?’
Damen shook his head, ‘I’m not cut out for it,’ he said ‘Kane or another will be willing to go. Perhaps I could ask him?’
‘Do this,’ Vax said. His tone was harsh, even through the translator.
Harl wondered how Kane would take representing every human on the planet to the leaders of each Aylen faction. Probably run away or freeze up, perhaps both at the same time. He knew he would probably do the same.
Drake lounged back in his chair, its metal frame creaking under him. ‘I’m hungry and must rest,’ he said. ‘Is that all?’
Harl nodded. As he turned the platform around he could feel a tugging in his mind. Something intrusive but the feeling vanished as he twisted around to look back at the three Aylen.
Chapter 5
There’s no way to know if the crew are asleep yet but I’m out of water and sick to death of living in this god-damn box. It’s time to get out. What can they do if they find me? Kill me?
They left the Cathedral’s main room in silence, heading out passed the smiling receptionist and out into the corridor.
‘What was that?’ Damen asked toying with the braid at the bottom of his beard.
‘What?’ Harl said. Of course he knew what the man meant but he needed time to think.
‘Don’t give me that,’ Damen said. ‘For years you’ve protested human rights and now you get the best chance we have ever had and you turn it down.’
Harl sighed. ‘I know,’ he said, ‘it’s just this place.’ He looked around at the giant blooms trailing up the pillars as they slowed to a halt by the desk. ‘It’s perfect and I want to raise Elo properly, not go gallivanting off trying to save the species.’
Damen barked a laugh. ‘Many would jump at the chance.’
‘I’ve done it before, Damen and it nearly cost the live of everyone I care about. I feel rooted for once in my life and I want it to stay that way. I’m happy working to build the city but when it comes to meeting those who have enslaved us for so long…’ He took a deep breath. ‘They’re the last creatures I want to politely talk to.’
Damen failed to hide his surprise from Harl. ‘Then we’ll let someone else go,’ he said.
Harl knew the hunter wanted to say more.
‘What?’ he asked.
‘You say you lost people trying to get here?’ Damen said, ‘You’re not the only one.’
‘That’s what I mean,’ Harl said wondering why the man couldn’t see the death Harl had brought to so many. ‘Even you have lost friends because of me.’ Harl was thinking of Oscar, who had sacrificed himself to let them leave the planet. ‘If I hadn’t gone around trying to save the human race so people would still be alive. A waste of life.’
Damen jumped up from the seat and rounded on him. ‘How dare you!’ he said, turning red as his fists clenched.
Harl was dumbstruck by the anger in the man and said nothing as Damen ploughed on, raising a fist in front if Harl’s face and extending a calloused finger.
‘You did not make my decisions for me. I chose my own path, as did all the others who left the tanks or Delta. Don’t you dare make the sacrifices of those who died less important by giving up because you want a normal bloody life! Well guess what?’ Damen roared, and jumped off the platform, ‘That ain’t how things work out, Harl. Just wishful bloody thinking.’
Harl watched in frustrated silence as he stormed off.
An Aylen entered the doorway and Damen yelled at the foot as it almost squashed him. ‘Watch it you!’ The Aylen looked down and muttered what must have been an apology at the tiny man fearlessly screaming curses up at him.
Harl understood the anger and his own was just boiling under the surface. Damen had no idea the trouble and upheaval Harl had gone through to find something close to a peaceful life for Sonora and Elo. He had promised Gorman to make sure they lived in a good home with roots that were not fed by the blood of the dead.
A few moments later the shuttle blasted past in a gust of wind as Damen left him stranded.
Harl waited for a long time. He ran through all the arguments in his head until he was sick of debating with himself. The choice had been made and Damen be damned, even if it meant he was stuck in Aylen territory.
He walked the perimeter of the Cathedral until his legs ached and eventually reached a small human market set under a glass roof that protruded from the main Aylen building. The glass allowed any passing Aylen to see them when they came around the corner and avoid the buildings being trod on.
The first time he came here he was fresh off the ship and with everything going on he’d been too preoccupied to take it all in. The market was surrounded by human houses, like miniature versions of the circular white washed buildings of the Aylens complete with glass roofs.
Harl stepped under a large sheet of canvas that had been strung between several shops to provide cover during the heat of the day. Tables and chairs had been placed underneath to serve the few customers in the marketplace.
Slumping into a seat outside a food stall, he stared around. Most of the people here were originally from the Island and had been here long before Orbital crashed. He took a deep breath as the smell of fresh cooked meat drifted over from one of the grills where a wiry man was tossing diced vegetables and meat slices into toasted bread wraps.
Most of the people had been brought here by the Aylen over the years to help them with tasks too small or awkward for them to do themselves and as a result places like this had sprung up to deal with the influx of workers.
It was the same with those in Gorm. Aylen would send out messages via the work guild to the population, calling for people to work temporary jobs for them. Everything from hunting pests in their houses to fixing small objects. Damen had been particularly pleased to receive all the pest hunting jobs, fulfilling them until he almost put himself out of business. There was a limit on what he could kill and how many could be destroyed to keep numbers under control.
Harl muttered a curse to himself. The cook who’d been looking over at him glanced away. He needed to stop thinking of the man who had just abandoned him here.
A chorus of jeers broke his thoughts as a group of rowdy men came over to the longest table and ordered a vast amount of food from the serving girl who swept about in her apron trying to fill all their mugs.
‘Should have seen his face when the glass roof cracked,’ one man said to the others, elbowing a fresh faced boy in the ribs. ‘Nearly dropped his scraper and soiled himself.’
‘Worth the pay though,’ another said. ‘Enough wood and stone to build a new home further from the forest.’
‘I got notice to move three weeks ago,’ a bulky man said. ‘Just up and move at their request, ain’t fair.’
‘It’s fair, Lumey,’ the first said. ‘Wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.’
‘I’d considered moving to Gorm,’ Lumey said. ‘Hear they got it good out on the shoreline.’
‘Everything but protection,’ one said, taking a long drink. ‘But who’s gonna clean the big un’s roofs if we all move there?’
Lumey noticed Harl looking over at them and frowned. Harl turned away from the brutish looking man, he didn’t need trouble here of all places. He signalled to the serving girl and she moved to the counter to fill a plate with the wraps.
‘
Hurry up with them drinks,’ one of the men called. It was Lumey, the one who’d eyed Harl. He caught his look.
‘Problem boy?’ he asked, shifting his chair back as if ready to stand. The men around him tried to settle the man, offering him more of their drink to ease his temper.
Harl just shrugged and turned back as the girl returned. He didn’t care for petty men like him any more. He’d seen enough danger and fights to not have as much fear as he’d once had, even so he didn’t take on trouble if he could avoid it.
‘Name?’ the girl asked, pulling out a small flat, hand-held computer.
‘Harl Eriksson,’ he said. She placed the tablet on the table and he stuck his palm down on it to initiate payment. It would record what he had ordered and transfer the rights to a particular amount of resources to the owner of the food stand. It was an ingenious system.
‘Drinks!’ Lumey roared from his table and a glass flew through the air, just passing Harl and the girl before smashing on the limecrete floor.
‘C’mon Lumey,’ one of the men with him said. ‘Give her a chance to get around to us.’
‘She’s too busy with pretty boy over there,’ Lumey said. ‘Maybe he should order the drinks for us as a way to apologise.’
Harl stared coldly at the man, hoping he would see some sort of reason and change his mind. Why had Damen left him here?
‘Well pretty?’ Lumey said, as if Harl was hard of hearing. He mimed tilting a glass back and grinned. ‘Drinks.’
Harl had had enough. ‘Get your own.’ he said.
It was all Lumey needed to hear to be goaded.
Harl heard the girl suck in a small gasp as Lumey slid his chair back and stood. Harl didn’t wait for the man to act, instead he knew the element of surprise would be best. He jumped up and sprinted at the man. The girl jumped back and Harl tossed chairs aside, and before Lumey could react, he shoulder barged the man backwards over the table.
Plates smashed and tumbled to the floor, forcing the others slide chairs back and stand. When Lumey tried to get up Harl snapped out a foot and felt the man’s nose crack as his boot landed squarely in the face. Harl glared at the others, expecting them to rush him but they looked as shocked as Lumey, who was clamping a hand over his nose. Blood was seeping through the gaps between his fingers.
Harl turned to leave the men to it, annoyed he had snapped but glad the training with Damen had paid off, even if it was with a drunk bully.
‘Easy Lumey,’ a man said.
Harl turned to see Lumey had drawn a short knife and was slowly walking towards him, blood dripping from his nose.
‘No need for that,’ the cook said from behind his grill.
Why hadn’t Harl brought his sword or a pistol? He scanned the tables for a weapon but before he could spot one, a familiar face walked around the corner.
‘What’s happening here then, boys?’ Sky asked taking in the scene with a raised eyebrow.
‘Just finishing some business,’ Lumey said, taking a step forward.
Sky put two fingers in her mouth and blew. A high pitched whistle sang out and a huge feathered beast poked its razor sharp beak around the corner of a nearby house. It shrieked and hopped over under the canvas. Its hand sized talons scratched the limecrete floor around the stall and it cocked its head at the group of men, as if sizing up a tasty worm.
‘I don’t think you’ll have time,’ she said as the men froze.
As one, they all scrambled backwards, knocking over chairs and spilling ale to the floor. She strolled over to their table and plucked a slice of meat from one of the remaining plates.
‘Watch,’ she said and the bird waited patiently eyeing the men as she walked around the mess of chairs to Harl.
‘Thought I might find you here,’ Sky said, scratching her short spiked-back hair, flattened by the brass goggles propped on her forehead.
‘Find me?’
‘Hear you boys parted like rain and sun,’ she said. ‘An I’ve been given the task of picking you up.’
‘Maybe a drink first?’ she said looking around for the serving girl who was hiding under a table. ‘Maybe not,’ she said. ‘Seems you like to cause a stir, Harl Eriksson.’
‘Only when I’m left to fend for myself.’
Sky looked at the giant bird and the men as they cowered. ‘Flick, off,’ She said and smiled at their shocked faces. Flick squawked and hopped out from under the canvas to the path that wound around the human zone. The bird cocked its head up, scanning a passing Aylen as the vibrations clattered the broken cutlery scattered on the floor.
‘Come on Lumey,’ one of the men said. ‘Lets get out of ere.’
Lumey growled, his eyes flicking from Harl to the bird then the exit. He wiped his bloody nose on his arm and left with the others.
Sky grinned at Harl as she grabbed a seat and swivelled it around to face the other way before sitting with her leather clad legs on either side.
‘Didn’t think Damen would up an leave you all alone,’ she said, snatching the mug from the serving girl, who had regained her confidence and brought drinks over.
‘Neither did I,’ he said.
‘Does he ever mention me?’
‘How’d you mean?’ he asked.
She downed the drink. ‘Can’t hang around,’ she said, slamming the glass down and standing. Another whistle drew the bird inside the marketplace. It bent a leg and lowered one side of its bulk so Sky could hop up. She twisted to arrange a space behind her, shoving coils of rope and leather bags aside to make an extra seat.
‘Get on,’ she said.
Harl clambered up. It felt strange to grab the thick shafts of the feathers as they moved up and down with the creature’s breathing. He slid in behind Sky wondering what would happen if he slipped off.
‘Put your arms around my waist.’
Harl hesitated until she sighed, grabbed his wrists and wrapped them about her waist.
She made a clicking sound and Flick bounded forwards, blowing air over Harl as it beat its wings and soared high into the air.
Chapter 6
I have been kicking the lid to this crate for what seems hours and it seems my time inside has taken its toll on my body. I need to build my strength up if I can get out.
They rose high enough to see the forest in the distance and Harl fought an overwhelming urge to not be sick as the creature tensed and relaxed beneath him, in time with the wing beats.
He glanced down and a wave of vertigo washed over him as the ground rushed past.
‘Not so tight on my tender bits,’ Sky said and he eased his grip a fraction.
The Aylen buildings shrunk until he could make out individual circular houses. The glass roofs allowed him to see inside each building and he watched as Aylen moved about underneath. He stared down at one for too long and a wave of vertigo hit him. He fought the urge to grip hard again and tried to breathe deep. Shutting his eyes for a moment helped ease the momentary nausea.
Sky encouraged Flick by subtle movements on a small reign until the bird was lined up with the distant forest.
Leaning forward, the bird responded by plunging them between the boughs of the giant pines and into the dimly lit hollow space under the canopy.
Sunlight beamed down between the huge branches like giant spotlights, lighting up plants in the valleys below. A wide, slow moving stream wound between the exposed roots of the pines that arched into the water like the ribcage of a dead Aylen.
‘Won’t the birdmen come?’ Harl asked.
‘They wouldn’t dare,’ Sky said. ‘I knows most of them and even if one was rogue, Flick’d see em off. She patted him affectionately, he’s a pure bred. They’ve already spotted us any ways. Up there.’ She pointed to a pair of birds resting on one of the highest arches above the river.
She urged the bird up towards a gap where the light shone through, until they broke through the canopy.
They soared over the forest until a plant covered Aylen roundhouse came into view between
the trees.
‘What’s that?’ he asked.
‘That’s where we’re going,’ Sky said, leaning Flick down towards the dull white building.
The circular house had been overgrown by the forest around it, but strangely it worked in harmony with the structure to give it an ancient feel. If the building had once been like the other houses and kept away from the forest then it must have been here an incredibly long time for the majestic trees to sprout up around it. Harl knew the other houses had been given over to the trees as the Compassionates encouraged the spread of nature, retreating to minimise their impact on the island.
The glass roof on the building was the only clean part, the rest was covered in flowering vines with hundreds of striking multicoloured petals each as big as a man.
Sky guided the them down to the glass roof. It was not a single clear pane but made from a lattice work of much larger panes. The inside of the building was divided into three sections, two quarters and a half. Harl wondered how they would get inside. The glass was coming up at them fast and he held tight, expecting to smash through. It was then he saw the hinged pane, propped up to allow airflow into the building.
Flick did not slow but dived head first through the open pane and down into the biggest and brightest lit room. The walls were painted pure white, giving the open space a sense of fresh tranquillity. Against the walls was a series of large plants nestled in golden pots that stood a hundred metres tall from the grass covered floor. Stone furniture was placed in parody of an office. A giant desk and bench rested up against the flat wall, beside a closed door. Opposite the door was a wide curving window. It was unusual in an Aylen house but aside from the tranquil forest outside, his gaze was drawn to Veel. The female head Aylen was lying on a chaise-lounge wearing a silver cloth that was wrapped tight around her head and draped down the back of the chair. He felt a sense of foreboding as they flew down. The way she had practically read his mind in the Cathedral was unnerving and he took a deep breath trying to calm his racing heart.