In the meantime Noot had ideas of his own. He had
set off down the road running parallel to the spinal column in the centre of
the valley, his heart torn between duty and loyalty to the Ahram, and his debt
of gratitude towards the humans. He knew by instinct that a grim fate awaited
them, and he knew only one person in the world who might be able to help them,
if he could only get there in time. He had his doubts about his own abilities
but he kept his face pointed resolutely in that direction, his plodding feet
following on behind. Noot limped and loped on as fast as his crippled back
allowed. The few Ahram that were still awake watched him go by with puzzled
expressions on their faces. Ahram never really went anywhere at night and were
never in a hurry unless it was a matter of life or death.
Noot wondered if the person he was going to see
still lived in the same place. Garm had been his tutor when he had been in
infant school and had been very kind to him. Noot’s disability had made him a
scapegoat for the other boys to take their frustrations out on, and Garm had
always defended him and stopped them from bullying and teasing him. Noot was
not without his misgivings about his quest though. In those days Garm had been
his friend and teacher, but now he was an important person in the
Administration and one of the advisors to the Seesh, the most frightening figure
amongst the Ahram. The Seesh had ruled the valley and the Ahram race for more
than four hundred years it was told. His age might have been a myth; no-one
knew for he rarely appeared in public. And those few who had seen him didn’t
say anything, being too afraid to speak of him lest he should somehow hear
them, for it was rumoured that he could cross death’s divide and defy the laws
of place and distance. This was the man that Garm worked for. What if he
couldn’t help him? What if he was duty bound to report him to the Seesh? Was Noot
merely putting the humans in more danger by coming here? But he didn’t know
what else to do. He had to take the chance.
Pondering all this and plodding along with his
head down, he was surprised to find himself, after only some ten hours on the
road, in the sprawling city surrounding the Cantave, the Cathedral-like
structure which now towered high above him. All around, and stretching out for
miles in every direction, was a veritable maze of makeshift dwellings. His
heart sank when he saw how the slum had grown and become an unfamiliar place. A
smoggy haze now hung over it. Open fires burned here and there, twinkling in
doorways. This was extremely dangerous, but the workers were forbidden to own
any bone artefacts for heat or light, so they had to resort to these methods.
These rudimentary shacks were where the workers and builders of the skyscraper
lived out their miserable lives. Here they slept the few hours allotted them
before going back on the job. Even now, in the middle of the night, a shift
change was in progress and the dog-tired men slouched off home, while the
others, eyes blurred and red rimmed from too little sleep, went to take their
place.
Only children, old men and cripples like Noot,
enjoyed the delights of dwelling in the rural countryside. All the able bodied
young men who came of age were forced to labour long and hard at the Cantave –
the Seesh’s palace. The worker’s huts were often no more than a hole in the
ground with some sticks or cloth as a roof. They were fed on the job, usually
only just enough to see them through.
Noot guessed there were something like half a
million workers in that hell-hole now – often ravaged by disease caused by the
offal and refuse which ran in the ruts between the hovels. Or else fire, which
would decimate large sections of the slum before being put out. A place of
misery and pain. He took another wrong turn and found himself hopelessly lost.
Garm’s quarters lay just inside the Wall opposite the North gate, among the
more luxurious housing schemes set aside for the overseers, architects and
designers. But it was such a long time since he’d been there, and the slums had
grown so huge, that it was long after midnight before he finally found the gate
he wanted. Soon he was standing at the door of the neat little hut belonging to
Garm.
It was open when he arrived, so he hooted and
waited anxiously.
“Who
is there?” came a voice from the darkness within.
“It
is I, Crouch – an old pupil of thine.”
“Yes,
I remember,” said the smiling face that appeared at the door.
“Good
greeting to thee Garm.”
“Greetings
Crouch. What a pleasure to see thee again. I have missed thy company. Come in.”
He practically pulled Noot in by the arm and plumped him down on the
couch.
“For
that I am glad. It has been a long journey”
“And
would thee like some refreshment? I have some nectar…..”
For a while the two of them talked and chattered
easily with one another, happy to be in each other’s company again.
“”What
brings thee here? Some desperate circumstance I vouch.”
“Indeed
I have a pressing problem and I need thy help. A little while ago our patrol returned
from the forbidden zone where we had captured some strange creatures.”
Garm’s lazy lidded reptilian eyes flickered
upwards in interest
“What
kind of creatures? What do they look like?”
“Ugly
– beyond words ugly and obscene – with pink pig skins and arms and legs like a
tree-rat. They also have hairy growths on the top of their heads. Oh and worst
of all, they have no snouts. Truly they are terribly deformed.”
“Just
dumb animals then? Perhaps a species that survived out there in the nether-lands
unbeknownst to us?”
“Nay
– not dumb, for a fact they speak with one another – albeit it crudely. I have
been able to communicate with one of them through thoughts. I…” Noot
didn’t quite know how to convey his involvement with them.
“They
saved my life. And they are in need of help. I feel it is my duty.”
“Indeed.”
Garm’s interest was definitely piqued for his big
legs were now thumping about the room and his hands clenched behind his back in
thought.
“Are
they dangerous?”
“Absolutely
not; they have such spindly legs they can hardly walk much faster than a grob,
though they have strong arms and hands.”
“Where
are they now?”
“In
the tree-rat stockade at the end of our village.”
Garm stopped his pacing for a moment and pulled
his thoughts together.
“This
does not bode well for them, but I shall try to help as much as possible. Is the
Counsellor there? What does he do?”
“He
is in residence at home – finding them no more interesting than a five minute
perusal, for they do no tricks or acrobatics and are as dull as dirt-water for
the most part.”
Garm put a finger to his snout and roused a
faraway look to his eye.
“Good.
Then he thinks them of no import. I need to see them right away. Thou canst
rest here until thou feels fit again and I…”
“I
feel fine and ready to go. No, I will accompany thee”.
“Good.
We must see what we can do for the poor creatures, before the Seesh gets wind
of them.”
Noot nodded seriously, glad that he now had someone
who could help him.
The two Ahram scuttled down the road, kicking up
a cloud of dust with their sweeping tails. Quietly they wound their way through
the sad slum and away from the citadel. Noot shivered at the thought of the
Seesh. Not a place he’d want to visit too often.
Garm too was wrapped up in his own thoughts. He
had known from the moment Noot had mentioned the aliens that they could only be
Earthlings, and a strange excitement rose in his chest. There had been rumours
about an earthling being hidden by the women in the caves after they had
rescued him from the moon-rock. Although he had not seen him, he had heard
stories of how ugly the creature was and this fitted with Noot’s description of
the newcomers. Probably they came here to look for their compatriot, but Noot
had mentioned no space-ship or weapons. Garm thought of the Seesh and
involuntarily increased his pace even though Noot was going at top speed, for
the Earthlings were in great danger. True, being an advisor to the Seesh gave
him a certain amount of freedom and access to the court, but in truth he held
no real power. No-one advised the Seesh. All the Advisors and Viziers were
merely cosmetic and purely for show. The Seesh ran the place at his own whim. Garm
could just imagine what he would do to the earthlings.
His mind ranged back as his feet ran on
automatically, and he remembered when he had first met the women…or the woman,
long ago when he had been very young. His mind went back to a lazy sunny
afternoon lying in the grass watching a giant Batasaur circling on an eddy of
up-draughts, the wind tugging at its stretched-skin wings, its heavy jaw
hanging low under its body, piercing eyes searching for prey. Some people say
they’d seen one take a baby Ahram in its claws and fly away with it over the
mountains; but that was just an old wives tale designed to scare naughty little
boys. But still, he kept a respectful eye on the soaring creature.
After a while however, as is the wont of all
little boys, he got bored and went scrabbling amongst the stones near the
river. He loved collecting pebbles, especially the brightly coloured ones which
he used to draw on rocks and such surfaces as could be found. He had collected
a good pocket-full of these wandering along the riverbank when his eye caught
sight of the perfect canvas for his creativity; a gleaming white wall, standing
higher than he would ever reach, and as long as you like. With great excitement
he scrambled over some rocks and bushes till he stood facing it, hands
trembling with anticipation. Taking out his coloured stones he carefully laid
them out in a row at the base of the wall so he could easily choose the one he
wanted. Then he stood for at least a minute staring at the blank wall. Who
knows what goes on in the mind of an artist when he stares at his Tabla Rasa
for the first time? Whether some full-blown vision presents itself to his mind
to be translated into a picture, or whether he can see it in the wall in front
of him in the vein of shadows and intimations? One doesn’t quite know; but
whatever the process, he suddenly bent down, full of purpose, and selected a
bright ruby red pebble. And then the sky seemed to fall on his head and knocked
him to the ground. Scrambling to his feet rather unceremoniously, he found
himself face to face with a creature of similar size and form.
Four beady little black eyes peered at each other
for a long time, sizing up the situation. Neither child moved for fear of
startling the other. It wasn’t a little boy; that he knew for sure, so it must
be a girl. He had never seen one before and his heart raced with excitement for
these were forbidden creatures.
“Who
are you?” he asked.
“Do
not be so rude. Thou has to say ‘thee’ because I am a woman.”
“No
you are not. You are a little girl.”
“Well,
thou art not a grown man either so I shall not call thee ‘thee’ or ‘thou’.”
All this thee-ing and thou-ing was starting to
make his head ache.
“Where
did you come from and why did you jump on my head?”
“I
jumped down from there,” she said pointing at the tree-branch
sticking over the wall. “I did not know thou
wast there.”
They looked at each other for a while, and then
glanced around them, not quite knowing what to say next.
“Where
are you going?” he asked, hoping she had some interesting place in
mind.
“Nowhere,
I just wanted to see what was on the other side of the wall. We are never
allowed out, and the women are always talking about it, how wonderful it
is….and how dangerous.”
The boy pursed his lips. “Not really dangerous. I mean, there are no wild animals or anything
like that. I suppose you could fall off a rock and hurt yourself but you would
have to be pretty stupid to do that.”
The little girl’s eyes compassed the landscape.
“It
does not look much different from inside; only bigger….and more untidy.”
Silence again as the boy surveyed his dirty
domain.
“I
know a Cawl’s nest with eggs in it – and a Sith-hole,” he
said proudly.
Her eyes came back to him and travelled up and
down his body. He was no surprise to her, inasmuch as she’d seen a man
before…but she had never seen a boy.
“Alright,”
she said and the two of them set off at a lope.
Many fun filled hours later they were back at the
wall, tired, scratched and dirty.
“I
must return now before they miss me. Here, help me up so I may grab the
branch.”
“Will
I see you again?”
The girl thought long and hard, weighing up the
afternoon.
“Yes,”
she said eventually. “I had an
enjoyable time.”
They arranged to meet every few days at her
convenience and spent many an idyllic hour together discovering new adventures,
exploring as far as the distant hills, but always taking very good care that
they were never seen; not up close anyway where the girl might be recognized as
such. This went on without a hitch for many returns of the moon, the two of
them becoming firm friends and companions.
“Why
dost thou not kiss me?” she asked him one day.
“What
is that?”
“I
have seen my master do it to his handmaidens. Thou puteth thy mouth against
mine and we rub them together.”
“Sounds
silly.”
“Does
not.”
“Does.”
They had come to a stalemate.
“I
will give thee these,” she said, removing a leather pouch
she wore around her neck and opening it. Inside there were some carved bone
counters from a game that the women played inside the compound to while away
the time. This game was all he knew about life on the other side of the wall,
for the little girl was very tight lipped about what happened there. This much
she had shared with him. She had taught him to play the game and he had become
quite good at it. He surveyed the counters suspiciously, and then looked at her
snout as if weighing the one against the other.
“Alright,”
he said finally. “But not long.”
Truth be told, kissing was a pastime he grew
inordinately fond of, and soon it was she who had to refuse his avalanche of
requests; and he the one who had to find more and more exotic gifts to win her
over. Then one day, with just one such rare treasure in his pocket, he waited
for her as she climbed over the wall.
But something was wrong. When she arrived, tears
were streaming down her face and she was sobbing and hiccoughing uncontrollably,
hardly able to speak.
“What
is wrong?” he asked, but she was a long way from talking
coherently. So he put a comforting arm around her and sat them both down to
ride out the tide of her distress.
“It
is my birthday tomorrow,” she said finally.
This wasn’t much of an answer for him and he
remained looking non-plussed.
“It
is my THIRTEENTH birthday,” she said meaningfully.
Still no light came on in his brain. How dumb can
a boy be?
“I
will not be able to see thee anymore. I will be going away.”
“Where?”
was all he could manage
to say.
“Where
all girls go on their thirteenth birthday; well most of us anyway. I am afraid
I am not pretty enough to remain here and become a handmaiden.”
“But
where?”
“To
become a Worm-bride,” she said mournfully and collapsed in a heap of
sobs again.
Vague legends and stories circled in the back of
his mind, and he remembered whispered adult conversations late in the evening
about the great Worm ceremonies that took place every year, but of which he was
still too young to know.
“I
know it is an honour,” she said, “and I know I should be proud, but I do not want to go. I have heard
terrible stories – how a monster comes out of the ground and ravishes the
girls.” She paused to let this sink in.
“What
is ‘ravishes’?” he asked.
“I
do not know, but it sounds terrible. I just do not want to be a worm-bride.” After
which she was inconsolable. In the end, Garm began to fear for her health; he
was sure she was trying to cry herself to death.
“I
have a solution,” he said in her ear; at which she ceased the
waterworks immediately.
“What?”
“You
could escape. I know where you could hide and no-one would ever find you.”
“Where?”
she asked hopefully.
“The
caves.”
She was no stranger to the caves and it’s
labyrinth of tunnels leading deep into the mountain, for it was their favourite
haunt. There were many little caves and caverns where she could hide quite
safely and comfortably. They had even furnished a few of them for their games,
with knick knacks and bone lights and moss matting for the floors. The cave
entrance itself was a small crack in the side of the mountain well hidden from
view and very hard to find unless you knew what you were looking for.
“You
can hide there and I can bring you food and water. We can even still go on
adventures as long as we are careful.”
The breeding dens, where she lived, were where
specially selected women lived with the sole purpose of procreation. Men,
specially chosen for their merit, were briefly introduced to inseminate them
and then removed. Male children were removed after they had been weaned and
given to the care of the old men outside the walls. Only the most gifted and
beautiful female children were allowed to stay on and become breeders; the
others taken away. The beautiful ones remained prisoner until they could breed
no more, then they too disappeared.
There were many of these dens dotted around the countryside.
The high walls kept the women in and the men out. That is except for that
little girl, and the subsequent women who got in touch with Garm from time to
time as his reputation spread and it became known that he was the person to contact
if you wished to escape. Since then he’d helped more than forty girls to
disappear into the subterranean tunnels. They led a reclusive life, but none
more than what they were used to. They fetched their own food and water from
the valley when no-one was about, and were generally self-sufficient. Over the
years he had spent quite a lot of time with them and had come to know them and
their ‘dream-walking’ talents very well. They had told him stories of their
extra-terrestrial travels to Earth and the things they had observed there. He
also knew that, from their contact with earthlings, the women had grown very
fond of them and would be more than happy to help hide and accommodate this
little band.
His mind drifted back to the present and he
concentrated his efforts at getting to them quickly.
WILL GARM AND NOOT BE ABLE TO RESCUE THE EARTHLINGS? DON'T MISS NEXT WEEKS THRILLING EPISODE.
