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TWENTY YEARS AGO...
Cholsan regarded the remains of his troops and, as the blazing Rizajor sun beat down upon them, decided to wax philosophical about the situation. "It's not uncommon to desire killing a teenager," he said. "However, it's not often that one feels the need to send warriors to do the job."
His men regarded him with a surprising amount of good cheer. It was surprising that they had any left, for the battle between themselves and the Rizajors had not only been brutal but also extremely unsatisfying. Although not particularly unsatisfying for the Rizajors.
They were a somewhat bedraggled lot, these survivors. Their armor, and their clothing, hung in tatters. Their weapons were largely energy-depleted, and when they had fled the scene of their final rout, they had done so depending heavily on short swords and knives to hack their way to safety (or what passed for it). Weapons that hung at their sides largely for ornamentation, for decoration, for a symbol of achievement. Most of them had never touched the bladed weapons except to polish them for display purposes. Not one man in fifty could remotely consider himself proficient in their use. As Cholsan studied the barely two-dozen men remaining to him, it was as if he could read what was going through their minds.
Cholsan drew himself to his full height, and as he was six and a half feet tall, there was something to be said for that. His skin was a dark bronze, as was that of all the people of his race. His build was an interesting combination of both muscle and economy. There was no denying the power in his frame, but it stretched across his body in such an even manner that---despite his impressive height---it was easy to underestimate just how strong he was. His hair was long and black, and usually was tied neatly, but now it hung loosely around his shoulders in disarray. When one is beating a hasty retreat, it's hard to pay attention to keeping one's hair properly coiffed.
His eyes were solid black, his nose was wide and flared, and his incisors were particularly sharp, like vampire teeth.
"Maybe we deserved our fate," he said tightly.
His men looked up at him in surprise. If these were words meant to comfort an already dispirited band, they weren't doing the job.
"We have ruled the Rizajors for over three centuries," he said tightly. "Never, in all that time, has there been any rebellion that we were unable to crush. Never has our authority been questioned. And because of that, we've allowed ourselves to become sloppy. Become overdependent on melee weapons." He was striding back and forth in front of his troops. "We came to believe," he continued, "that we would be able to win battle after battle, not because we were the better prepared or the better armed----but just because we were entitled to do so, as if by divine right. Well, the Rizajors showed us differently, didn't they?"
"It was that damned boy," one of the warriors muttered.
Cholsan spun and faced him, his dark eyes glittering. "Yes,' he said, voice hissing tightly from between his teeth. "That damned boy. That damned boy. The one who rallied his people. The one who outfought us at every turn. The one who anticipated our moves, who was not intimidated by us, who gave his people hope. Hope, gentlemen. The worst thing people such as these could have. Because hope leads to action, and actions lead to consequences. And the consequence of these actions is that we are now faced with a people who stand at the brink of liberation. We fight them and fight them, and they keep coming back and defeating us. Our government, gentlemen, has made it clear to me that they are beginning to consider Rizajor more trouble than it's worth. And that damned boy is the reason why."
Cholsan had been standing on the uppermost reaches of a plateau. Now he pointed out at the forbidding terrain before them. It stretched on for hundreds of miles, seemingly in all directions. The ground was hard and cracked. Small mountains dotted the landscape, and there were small bits of vegetation here and there clinging desperately to life.
"He's out there, gentlemen. Out there in the Pit. Providence has potentially put him within our grasp. His vehicle was seen spiraling out of control in that direction during the battle's waning moments. He's separated from his troops, from his followers. He's alone, and no doubt scared. But he's also very likely dangerous, as would be any trapped and injured animal." Cholsan turned and looked back at his men. "I want him. Alive, if possible. Dead, if not. But if you take him alive and he 'accidentally' meets his demise in transit, make sure that all injuries he sustains are to his body. I want his face pristine and unblemished, easy to identify."
One of his warriors frowned. "I don't understand, sir. Surely he could be identified from DNA records in any event."
"True," said Cholsan. "But I'm referring to being able to identify his face....when his head is stuck upon a pole in the great square of Rizajor." he surveyed the terrain one more time and then said, "Find him. Find N'klaraet---and let's put an end to this rebellion once and for all."
N'klaraet felt his left arm stiffening up again. The blood that covered his biceps had long since dried; the large piece of metal that had embedded itself in his arm had cut him rather severely, and it had been a hellish few minutes to pry it out of where it had lodged itself. That wasn't the major problem, though. The big difficulty was that he had dislocated the damned limb. The pain had been excruciating as N'klaraet had braced himself and, agonizingly, shoved it back into place. It'd been so overwhelming, in fact, that N'klaraet had fainted dead away. When he came to a few minutes later, he cursed himself for his weakness.
He treasured the small bit of shade that he'd managed to find for himself as he extended his fingers and flexed them, curved them into a fist and straightened them once again. "Come on," he muttered to himself through cracked lips, expressing annoyance with the uncooperative portions of his body. "Come on." He worked the fingers, the wrist, and the elbow until he was satisfied with the movement in them. Then he surveyed the territory, trying to assess his situation.
While Cholsan was wild of mien by the moment and by happenstance, N'klaraet had that look to him all the time. His skin had a burnished look to it, but had more of a leathery texture to it than Cholsan's, most likely due to the fact that he spent so much time out in the sun. His hair was wild and unkempt. The Rizajors had a reputation for being a savage people, but one look into N'klaraet's purple eyes bespoke volumes of intelligence, cunning, and canniness. Nobody who thought him a simple scrapper could hold to that opinion if they looked into his face for more than a moment.
One would never have thought that N'klaraet was merely nineteen. The two years of hardship he'd endured gave him a weathered look, with several deep creases already lining his forehead. And more---there was something in his eyes. Whatever innocence he'd once possessed was long gone.
Those savage eyes scanned that section of Rizajor called the Pit. It was an area approximately thirty miles across that was well known to the people of N'klaraet's home city of Rush as someplace from which people should---under ordinary circumstances---steer clear. For starters, it was extremely inhospitable, filled with small lifeforms that had developed abilities needed for surviving in the desert environment. Moreover, the weather was severely unpredictable, thanks to a combination of assorted fronts that would slip in and become trapped within the mountains that ringed portions of the terrain. Fierce dust storms would whip up at any time, or torrents of rain would fall---sometimes for days---to be followed by such calm and dryness that one would think that there had been no precipitation there for ages. In some areas the terrain was cracked and dry, while in others the ground was exceedingly malleable.
Beyond the physical challenges the place presented, there was something else about the area as well. Something that bordered on the supernatural. Those who were advocates of pseudoscience would claim that the Pit was a source for a rift in reality. That it was a kind of nexus, an intersection for multiple realities that would drift in and out as easily as dust motes caught up in vagrant breezes. Those who were not of a pseudoscientific bent just figured the place was haunted.
Either way, it was the most unpredictable piece of real estate on Rizajor.
But although modern Rizajors gave the Pit a wide berth, centuries previously it had been part of a fundamental rite of passage among Rizajor youth. When a Rizajor reached a certain age, he or she would trudge into the midst of the Pit to embark on what was called the "Quest for Everyways." It was believed that, if one wandered the Pit for a sufficiently long enough time, visions of one's future would reveal themselves and one would come to understand one's true purpose in life.
But the Quest for Everyways began to take a significant death toll as young Rizajors would fall prey to the dangers that the Pit presented. As a consequence, the Quest disappeared from the practiced traditions of the Rizajors. This didn't mean, however, that it vanished from practice altogether. Instead, it went underground. A sort of dare, a test of one's bravery and character----and, if truth be told, ego. Those who felt that they had a destiny---whatever that might be---would take it upon themselves to embark on a Quest of their very own. Parents would try to emphasize to their children the folly of such actions, just as their parents had before them. And in most cases they were no more successful in dissuading their own children than their own parents had been in discouraging them.
By the time N'klaraet was thirteen, he had no parents who could try and talk sense into him (although, to be far, even if his parents had been alive, the odds are that they would not have been successful). Loudly proclaiming to his peers that he was a young man of destiny, N'klaraet set out for the Pit to discover just what that glorious future might be. As the (unofficial) tradition dictated, he went out into the Pit with no supplies save for a supply of water that would last him---under ordinary circumstances----one day.
Even with rationing, by the fifth day he'd used up the whole supply.
It was day eight when his big brother Daeq'b found him, unconscious, dehydrated, and muttering to himself. Daeq'b broguth him home and, when N'klareat was fully recovered, he told his friends of the remarkable visions he'd seen. Visions of his people free from Sendarian rule. Visions of a proud and noble people rising up against their oppressors. And he recounted these visions with such force, such conviction, and such belief that they were attainable goals, that it became the basis for the eventual uprising of the Rizajor people.
The truth was, he hadn't seen a damned thing.
It was his great frustration, his great shame. It was the last thing he wanted to admit. And so, when his friends had pressed him for details of what---if anything---he'd seen, he began to string together a series of fabrications which grew with every retelling. In fact, somewhere along the way even N'klareat permitted himself to believe that his claims were reality.
Deep within him he knew this wasn't so. But, like most men of destiny, he wasn't going to allow trivialities such as truth to stand in his way.
The Sendarians made their way through the Pit's northwest corridor. They moved with caution, surveying literally every foot of land before them. All of them knew that the Pit could be merciless on anyone who didn't keep his guard up at all times.
Cholsan kept a wary eye on the skies overhead, trying to be alert to any sudden change in the weather. He'd never actually explored the Pit, but its reputation was formidable.
Cholsan's aide, Gaidar, suddenly stiffened as he studied the readings from a sensor device. "What is it?" Cholsan demanded.
Gaidar turned and looked at his superior with a grim smile. "We have him," he said. He tapped the sensor readings. "He's stationary, approximately one hundred yards west."
"Moving?"
"No, not at all."
Cholsan frowned at hearing that. "I don't like the sound of it. He could be sitting there, knowing we're looking for him, trying to lure us into a trap."
"But isn't it just as likely, sir," suggested Gaidar, "that he's injured? Helpless? That he's resting in hopes of staying in hiding? How does he even know he's being pursued, sir?"
Thoughtfully, Cholsan stroked his chin and stared in the direction that the sensor indicated. He stared with such intensity that one would have thought he could actually see N'klareat with unaided gaze. "He knows, Gaidar."
"With all respect, sir, you don't know that for sure...."
Cholsan fixed his gaze on Gaidar. "When our warriors moved in for the surprise raid on Rush---he knew, and the city's defenses repelled us. When we were sure that we had them cornered in the Plains of Pleilbube----he knew, outflanked us, and obliterated five squadrons. When my top advisors assured me that the Battle of Kha could not possibly be anticipated, that it was---in fact---the preeminent military strike of the century..."
Gaidar's face darkened. "My brother lost his life at Kha."
"I know," said Cholsan. "And the reason was that N'klareat knew. I don't know how. Maybe he trucks with the spirit world. Maybe he's psychic. All that matters is that he knew then, and he knows now."
"Let him," said Gaidar fiercely. "Let him for all the good it'll do him. If you'll permit me, sir, I'll rip his heart out with my bare hands."
Cholsan studied him appraisingly. "Done."
"Thank you, sir," Gaidar snapped off a smart-looking salute.
With confidence, the Sendarians headed after their prey.
The confidence lasted until they moved through a narrow passageway that led to the hiding place of N'klareat. Then there was a faint rumble from overhead, which quickly became far more than faint. They looked up just in time to see a massive landslide of rocks cascading toward them. There was a mad scramble forward as they tried to avoid the trap. Screeches were truncated as warriors disappeared beneath the heavy stones. There was a brief moment of hesitation as the Sendarians tried to decide---with death raining down around them---whether they should advance or fall back. Cholsan was shouting orders, but was having trouble making himself heard above the din.
Cholsan, in turn, did not hear Gaidar's shout of warning. All he knew was that suddenly Gaidar slammed into him, knocking him back against a wall. For a split second his breeding objected strenuously to such handling, but it was just a split second that he felt that way. Because a moment later the boulder that would have struck Cholsan instead landed squarely on Gaidar, who hadn't been able to get himself out of the way in time. Gaidar vanished under the boulder, wearing an expression of both outrage---and satisfaction.
All of it happened within seconds. Ultimately the Sendarians overcame their hesitation and did indeed drive forward, or at least the handful of survivors did.
They plunged headlong to safety, or so they thought.
In fact, what they plunged headlong into was ground that gave way beneath their feet. Cholsan, bringing up the rear, stopped himself barely in time as he heard the alarmed howls from his men. The rumbling of the rockslide behind him was fading. On hands and knees Cholsan slowly edged forward and peered into the hole. Far below he saw the glint of some sort of underground cavern, and the broken bodies of his men down there. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw assorted hands and feet sticking out from between the rocks from the avalanche.
"Bastard," he hissed between clenched teeth.
N'klareat mentally patted himself on the back. He couldn't have picked a better spot for an ambush. In the week he'd spent in his futile (and yet, curiously, productive) Quest for Everyways, he'd familiarized himself with much of the Pit. When he'd taken refuge there now, he'd done so knowing that he was capable of outthinking and outmaneuvering anyone who might be so foolish as to try and chase him down. A simple, small explosive charge which he'd detonated from hiding was more than enough to do the job of bringing the rocks down.
As for the hidden cavern, N'klareat himself had almost fallen victim to it several years previously. Fortunately he had, of course, been alone, so his far lesser weight resulted in only one leg going through the insubstantial covering above the caves. It had scared the hell out of him when it happened, but a scare was all it had been.
For the warriors who had been pursuing him, however, it had been a good deal more lethal. Still, caution was called for. He had no intention of making the same kind of foolish mistake that his enemies had made.
N'klareat left the hiding place that he'd staked out in the upper reaches of the passageway and slowly made his way to where he could see the devastation. He peered down; thirty feet below, there didn't seem to be anyone moving. There were limbs protruding from beneath rocks, and farther beyond, there was the massive hole through which the remaining warriors had fallen.
He nodded approvingly, but decided that it would probably be wiser to maintain altitude where he could. The high ground was always preferable, after all.
So N'klareat began to make his way back to his home, back to Rush. He wondered what sort of reception would be there for him. He further wondered---hoped and prayed----that the Sendarians had finally had enough. That this latest and greatest defeat had finally convinced them that the Rizajors would never give up, never surrender, never stop believing in the rightness of their cause. Sooner or later, the Rizajors would have to get the message. If it took repeated pounding in of that message, then so be it.
He sniffed a change in the air around him, and he definitely didn't like it. He had the hideous feeling that a storm was starting to brew, and he knew from firsthand experience just how quickly such things could come up. There were outcroppings of rocks around him, plenty of places where he could anchor himself and not risk being carried away by the fierce winds that a typical Pit storm generated. As a matter of fact, he had passed what seemed to be a particularly likely sheltered area only minutes before. Smarter to retrace his steps and secure himself there until the storm had passed.
He turned around and, sensing danger, came within a millimeter of losing his life.
The blade was right at his face. It'd been sweeping around, aiming toward his neck. If he hadn't unexpectedly turned at that very moment, the blade would have severed the jugular vein. As it was, he reacted just barely quickly enough to survive as the gleaming blade sliced across his face, from right temple down across his cheek, down to the bone. Blood fountained out across the right half of his face as N'klareat backpedaled frantically. But with him blinded by his blood, with pain exploding in his mind, the ground went out from under the normally surefooted N'klareat. He fell, landing badly and aggravating further the already existing injuries to his arms.
And during all that, not a sound escaped from his lips.
"No cry of pain," Cholsan said, pausing to survey his handiwork. As an afterthought, he wiped the blade of his short sword on his garment. "I'm impressed, young man. As impressed, I should hope, as you are by my ability to have crept up on you without you hearing. With what your being a savage and all, I'd think you'd pride yourself on your instincts and ability not to be surprised. So---were you surprised by being surprised?" he added, unable to keep the smugness from his voice.
N'klareat didn't say anything. He was too busy denying his deep urge to scream. He fought for control, breathing steadily, pushing away the agony that was eating away at him, dulling his senses, making it impossible for him to concentrate on the simple business of staying alive. His right hand was slick with blood; he was literally holding his face together. "Did I take the eye out?" asked Cholsan, in no hurry to finish the job. He had suffered far too many losses at the hands of this young twerp. In a way, he was glad that he had missed the initial killing blow. That had been generated as a result of rage and---he hated to admit it---a tinge of fear in facing this crafty killer man-to-man. This way was better, though. Worthier. It was the best of both worlds, really: he could face his victim, and at the same time, not worry about him. "Perhaps I'll take the other as well. I could give you that intriguing choice. Kill you----or leave you, but alive and blind."
Truthfully, there was so much blood, so much pain, that N'klareatcouldn't even tell if he'd lost the eye altogether. His red-coated hand was clasped over the right side of his face. He felt himself dangerously close to succumbing to the ungodly torment that threatened to paralyze him. And he also knew that there was no way, despite what Cholsan had just said, that Cholsan was going to leave him alive. Oh, he might blind him first. Watch his progress with sadistic amusement and then kill him. Desperate for time, N'klareat said, "I have---no love for my eyes." "Indeed?" said Cholsan. The steadiness of N'klareat's voice was slightly disconcerting to him. "And why is that?"
And N'klareat started to talk. Every word of his mouth felt thick and forced, but he spoke and kept speaking to focus himself, to stave off the pain, to buy time---maybe even to remind himself that he was still alive. "These eyes," he said, "in their youth----saw rebel leaders punished by having their unborn children---ripped from the wombs of their mothers. They've seen villages burned to the ground. They've----they've seen 'criminals' convicted of minor crimes---punished by having limbs lasered off---one at a time, screaming for mercy----receiving none----They've seen my---my father tortured in the public square, punished for crimes against the state----a punishment ordered by you, you bastard----my father, beaten and whipped until a once proud man---was reduced to screaming even in anticipation of the blows----They----they saw the look of pure shock on his face----just before his mighty heart gave out in the midst of the beating....The last thing my father ever heard----was my begging him not to leave me----begging for a promise he couldn't keep---" His voice choked as he said, "These eyes---have seen the hand of tyranny----and before I grew to manhood, I wanted to lop that hand off at the wrist...."
N'klareat's words made Cholsan exceedingly nervous. Despite N'klareat's continued ability to outthink and out scheme Cholsan's own war chieftains, he had always harbored the image of N'klareat as a grunting savage, operating mostly out of luck and a native wit beyond anything his fellow tribesmen might possess.
But what he had heard was hardly the speech of a barely articulate savage. What the hell kind of person was capable of sounding erudite while losing blood out of his face by the pint? Suddenly all thoughts of toying with his victim, all intentions of dragging things out, evaporated. He just wanted this---this freak of nature dead, that was all. Dead and gone, and his head as a war trophy.
What Cholsan hadn't realized, however, was that N'klareat's little speech served one additional purpose: a stall for time that allowed the coming storm to arrive. The storm that N'klareat had sensed, which Cholsan was oblivious of. But he was not oblivious any more when the full blast of the storm abruptly swept down upon them.
It roared across the near plain, up through the canyons, and hammered down around N'klareat and Cholsan just as Cholsan was advancing on N'klareat to carve him to pieces. The wind was howling around Cholsan, and he had no idea which way to look. Without having any time to prepare for it at all, Cholsan was suddenly at the heart of a whirlwind. He staggered, buffeted by the powerful forces around him, and insanely he actually tried hacking at it with his sword. The wind, in turn, knocked the sword away from him. He heard it clatter away, turned in the direction that he thought it'd fallen. Instead he found himself helplessly staggering around, unable to seek it out. He snarled, "I hate this planet!" under his breath, and at that moment came to the conclusion that the Sendarians were welcome to this damned place. If he never saw it again after this day, he'd count himself fortunate.
He couldn't see anything. He went to one knee, squinted fiercely, and bowed his head against the blasting of the wind. He felt around, hoping against hope that he would be able to locate his weapon. He'd probably have to track down N'klareat all over again, because certainly the little barbarian would use this convenient cover to escape. That was the problem with Rizajor: Nothing on the planet was ever simple.
And then wonderfully, miraculously, his questing hands discovered his fallen weapon. As the wind shrieked around him, his fingers brushed against the unmistakable metal of the blade as it lay on the ground. He let out an exclamation of joy and tried to reach over for the hilt so he could pick it up.
Suddenly the blade was lifted off the ground and for a moment he thought that the wind had tauntingly snatched it away once again. He lunged after it.....
....and suddenly found that it was buried in his chest, up to the hilt.
And there was a mouth speaking softly in his ear, a nearness that almost seemed to imply a degree of intimacy. A voice that whispered, "Looking for this?"
Cholsan tried to reply, but all he managed to get out was a kind of truncated gurgle. The sound of the storm diminished, replaced by a pounding in his head that blotted out all other noise. And then he rolled over onto his back, and the last thought on his mind was----unsurprisingly---the same thought he'd had only moments ago...
I hate this planet!
ns 15.158.61.7da2
