Olwen heard the curtain rustle.
"Hey,” Clinormant said. "How are you?"
"Bored," Olwen said. "Wondering when I can take this blindfold off, wondering when I can go home, wondering what my friends are doing." Olwen sat up in the hammock.
"Grandmother thinks maybe the day after tomorrow."
"For the blindfold or going home?"
"For the blindfold. She has the guards of Ojaveda watching out for your uncle."
"And if he doesn't go to Ojaveda?"
"Word has gone to the guards in the other cities. If he goes there he'll be sent here."
"I'm glad somebody thinks he's coming."
"Why do you doubt that he'll come?"
Olwen flopped back. "Because he hadn't come yet." She turned her head towards Clinormant. "I'm going to be here a while. Tell me about these gods of yours. "
"There are two, Talad and Laanx. Both are young gods. Yliakum was created by both of them under the guidance of Vodul. While exploring they found our world. On it is a giant crystal obelisk that penetrates deep in to the earth. They followed it down and found an immense cavern. They hollowed out the stalactite at the end of the crystal and expanded the top. They redirected rivers, laid down fertile soil, and set loose many animals. But they did not have any worshippers. They asked Vodul to bring them some. Vodul agreed in exchange for their service. However, it would be many, many years before they would arrive.
"They served Vodul faithfully. Then Vodul disappeared leaving only a message for them to wait for his return in his palace. But, they grew impatient and returned to Yliakum. When they came back they saw that there were still no worshippers there for them.
"During their time of service to Vodul, Laanx had learned some of his secrets. She took the energies of the crystal sun and created the lemurs, the first race in Yliakum. Something they have always been proud of. I think annoyingly smug about.
"Talad saw this and marveled at it. He gathered the energies of the crystal to try it himself. But he either didn't know the secrets or didn't have the control that Laanx had. The magic went wild. A portion of the magic struck Laanx in her face destroying it. She fled in pain and rage. The remainder struck the rocks and created the kran. They have since been very loyal to him.
"Laanx fled deep into the cavern outside the stalactite, beyond Talad's reach. Some of the lemurs followed her. There they build the city of Kadaikos. She decided that since her beauty was destroyed that she would forsake all of her femininity. He then began to wear a mask to cover the scars."
"Wait," Olwen said. "So Laanx got her face blown off by Talad. And then she decides to become a guy?"
"Yes. I know it is strange but the gods have mysterious ways.
"Okay..."
"Over the next centuries Talad sent him messages to try and get him to return. But he has yet. However Vodul did deliver on his part of the bargain. The remaining seven races were guided here through the portals by him."
"Nine races?" Olwen tried to wrap her head around it. There was no such thing as races, only people.
"Ten actually. After the kran and the lemur were created the dermorian, klyros, nolthrir, diaboli, stonehammer, ylian, and enkidukai. Thanks to the power of the crystal the ynnwn were born here, a blending of the diaboli and dermorian."
"So there are ten countries in Yliakum?"
"No, we are all governed by the octarchs and his vigesimi"
"Ten provinces then."
"Provinces?" Clinormant thought about the word for a moment. "I don't know what a province is. But, there are eight levels; I think that is close to what you mean. Each of which has its own vigesimi."
Olwen frowned. "Tribes or clans then."
"No," there was a bit of frustration in his voice. "For the stonehammers there are two clans, and there are the six packs of enki. I'm sure the other races have similar groups."
"That's not what I mean." Frustration coloured Olwen's voice as well. "Race is a stupid concept used to segregate and oppress people."
"No it isn't. It is a plain and simple fact."
"There is no such thing as race," said Olwen with righteous certainty.
"Yes there is,” Clinormant said. The chair scraped on the floor. The curtain slapped the wall as he left.
--------------------------
The next morning Claye sat at a table eating some fried sausage and bread. He looked up two guards walked in. he slowly chewed the sausage in his mouth as he watched them talk to the barkeeper. He nodded towards Claye. They walked over. Claye kept his hands still on the table. He continued to slowly chew the sausage.
"Lieutenant Claye of the Viscosan Regiment," the one on the left asked.
Claye took a drink from a tankard of water. He swallowed to clear his mouth. He placed the tankard down, but did not release it. The one on the right looked vacant. But, Claye noticed that he watched both of Claye's hands.
"I was released from the regiment," Claye said. "Some time ago."
"Perhaps," the one on the left said. "But that is not our concern, right now. Mistress Aliisha has requested your presence."
"Mistress Aliisha," Claye said thoughtfully. "How is it that a former solider came to the interest of the head of an enki clan?"
"I do not comment on her methods, but it is sufficient that she has interest. However, she said to give you the following message. Claiming his kinship can be dangerous these days."
"Only dangerous to those that cannot back the claim." Claye gulped down the remainder of the tankard. "Let me get my gear." Claye stood up and picked up the remainder of the bread. "Don't be too disappointed," he said to the guard on the right.
As Claye walked out of the main room he heard, "no, but he'd know it was a fight afterwards," from the other guard.
Claye walked into the audience room. At the head is seated an old female enkidukai. She waved gestured him forward. He stepped forward, the two guards right behind him. He stopped short of the chair. He bowed on one knee. "Greetings mistress," he said in enkien. "May your clan be fruitful and prosperous in the field and in the hunt. You honour me with the privilege of your presence."
The enki chuckled. "You honour me with the old forms in the old tongue. Many of the young ones would do well to learn the forms at least." She chuckled again. "But your accent has grown thick, and your enkien was always bad Claye." She stood up from the chair and walked over to Claye. "You may rise."
Claye stood up. "It has been a while since I have had to speak it, Ali. How have you been?"
Aliisha gestured the guards and attendants away. "Well, I wouldn't have thought being head of the clan would suit me. But, we have done well. How are you? Is Robinea with you?"
"She died, several years ago."
"I'm sorry."
"Thank you. It has been long enough for most of the pain to heal." Claye shook his head, "I probably didn't take it as well as I could have." His face clouded in memory. "With the mess that I was... I'm glad I had good friends to help me through."
Ali placed her hand on his shoulder. "It is always good to have friends. And family."
"Yes." He shook his head again. "Speaking of family," he said brighter. "It sounds like you have found my wayward niece."
"Yes," she turned and began to leave. "Come, she is anxious to see you."
He chuckled as he followed her. "That wasn't her opinion when she arrived on my doorstep."
"Take Lieutenant Claye's items to Calikoh's," Aliisha said as she walked by one of the attendants. She continued by without waiting for the "yes, mistress" in response.
"A problem with her parents?"
"No. Just the usual of someone wanting to be a grown-up while still a child. Her parents had to go on a trip without her and she thought she could look after herself."
Aliisha shook her head. "She doesn't look that young."
They stepped outside into the bustle of the streets.
"They grow up slower back home," Claye said. "They don't have to grow up fast, like we did." He gestured around him. "Or like they do."
"No, some things have changed since you left." Aliisha turned her head towards him. "The Octarchs have risen to power, some forty years ago. There is peace. Only bandits prowl outside the walls." She looked forward again.
"And the companies?"
"Most are gone. Those that remain provide protection for caravans against bandits and wild animals. It is still a dangerous world outside the walls. But, they operate at the octarchs' pleasure.
"He had a hand it at the end. A pebble that changed the course of a river. Without him, and the companies that listened to him, they would have lost that battle. The octarchs have not been foolish people. They know what their rise to power was based on. They knew it then, and they know it today. They keep a tight leash on the companies because they still serve a purpose."
"Him, a pebble?" Claye chuckled. "A great stone when he stood in someone's way. How did he fare with the changes?"
"Made a general before the end." She shook her head. "Presumed killed in his last stand."
"I can't imagine anything short of a god taking him down... Even then..."
"No one who scries the death realm or this one can find him. So maybe Dakkru laid her full claim. But, there have been occasional rumors of a traveling smith with exceptional sword skills. Those of us who knew him hope he's still out there.
"What he bought though was peace and unity. The octarchs encourage a Common language, a common script, the guards aren't corrupt, neither are most of the leaders." She gestured around at the market place they were walking through. "We have a chance for prosperity. And not just us every city in Yliakum." She paused and smiled. "Sorry, a habit I've gotten into. There are some even now that chafe under the octarchs' yoke. We traded some freedom for our security."
Claye thought back to the towns and villages when he was here last. They were all hunched in. Any stranger was feared and mistrusted. They were, as often as not, someone who brought violence and death. Ojaveda was dim, grey and worn despite the beige wash on the buildings. He blinked and looked around. The walls were a bright beige tinted blue by the sun, patched but cared for.
"Back home someone once said, 'those who trade security over freedom deserve neither.'" Claye held up a hand to forestall comment. "What he didn't say, and I've learned over the years, is those who value freedom over security have neither." He turned his head and looked back at the crowd in the marketplace. The crowd was filled with young people. "All they see is the yoke. They don't see the furrow behind them. If this is an example of the octarchs' rule, then he made a good choice."
"A good one, but there are better ones out there," Aliisha said nodding. "They don't know what it was like. The gods willing, may they never know." They walked through one of the side gates. "Sometimes I wonder if it will be the right choice in the future."
"That will be the future. For now it is the right choice. And if the octarchs are half what it sounds like, than it might be the right one then."
"And other solutions if not?" Aliisha said carefully.
Claye frowned. "That is always a solution. But, if it is a least worse one depends on the problem, and those making the choice." Claye closed is his eyes for a moment. The memory of burned villages, sometimes with his hand on the torch, came forward in his mind. "But, Yliakum would burn. You know this. You know what it would mean."
"Yes, I do Claye." She smiled. "It is good to talk to someone that understands"
They walked past green fields. "How many days has it been since you found Olwen?" Claye said changing the subject.
"This is the sixth day. She spent three days asleep with fever. A reaction from the clacker venom and the antidote."
"That bad?"
"As bad as any I've seen, and I treated yours. We should be able to take the blindfold off tomorrow evening."
"She hasn't seen anything?"
"Not really. She was pretty far into the effects of the venom when she got here. You think there will be a problem?"
They walked into a group of houses and a small shop clustered around a well.
"Maybe. We don't have races as you understand the term, or even as I understood the term when I first came here. Some of the other races have a different connotation attached to their appearances."
"It is good that you are here then. I think she will need all the help she can get to make the adjustment."
--------------------------
Olwen woke when she heard the sound of the curtain moving.
"Good morning little kit," the old female voice said. "I have a visitor for you."
"Who is it?" She said, trying to wake up.
"Your uncle," said a male voice.
Olwen sat up. She wanted it to be her uncle. But the voice was slightly different. It was younger. But, it had the same kind of tiredness to it. She frowned. "You sound kind of like my uncle but you sound younger."
"Yes, I thought that too," the old female voice said. "The years have been much kinder to him than me."
"Until yesterday, they had been greatly unkind," he said. "Some whim of the gods I guess. How can I prove I am who I claim I am?"
Olwen hadn't considered the question. She thought for a moment. She her thoughts kept coming back to the cliché of a trick question that her uncle would know, but her hosts would not. "What did I say after my parents ... Rode off in... their wagon?”
"You complained about how there was hardly any cell service there," was his quick response. "And it wasn't a wagon, it was a blue sedan."
"Uncle, what's going on? Who are these people? Where am I? How did I get here? When are we going home?" Olwen blurted.
She felt a hand placed on her shoulder. It had the familiar human feel to it. It squeezed gently and released. She heard a chair pulled over and it shift as some sat in it.
"Olwen," Claye said, "you've probably asked and been told about Yliakum."
Olwen nodded.
"I'll leave you two for the moment," the old female voice said.
"Thanks Ali," Claye said.
"Probably not much more that I can add, until the blindfold comes off tomorrow."
"How did we get here?"
"The crystal in the marker. Many years ago Robinea and I traveled here thanks to it. Somehow you managed to activate it."
"So it is possible to go home?"
"We made it back didn't we? If the way hasn't closed over the years we can get home."
"If it has?" Said Olwen with concern.
"Then we find a different way. There are many paths into Yliakum, we just follow them back. We'll start back when you're able to travel. It's going to be a long walk."
"Walk? You didn't drive here?"
"Drive?" Claye said puzzled before he remembered she hasn't seen anything. "We're not in Kansas, Toto. We have to get to a portal back to Earth first. Then we can drive back if we have to."
"Back to Earth? We’re on some planet on the other aide of the galaxy. We have to find a spaceship that will take us home. And on the way we have all sorts of exciting adventures?"
"In some other planet, actually. But, sorry no spaceships. And if we are very lucky no exciting adventures." Claye thought back to the four thugs last night. "But, I don't think we'll be that lucky."
Olwen heard something in her uncle's voice. "Who are these people?"
"Family of a good friend. Aliisha, who just left is head of one of the packs... Clans of enki here."
"They seem nice enough, but are they as backwards as they seem? They believe in gods, that the sun is a giant crystal, they even enforce the concept of race."
Claye chuckled. "Race isn't enforced, it simply is. And don't forget it wasn't that long ago that the concept was considered seriously back home. There isn't a better word to describe things here though. Species might be better if it wasn't equally as wrong. It like that bar scene, in that one movie... where they are buying transport on the Million Flagon, or something like that. Where that one guy keeps hearing 'choose the fourth one, Luke'"
"It's 'use the force, Luke', and we're surrounded by a bunch of scoundrels and villains?"
"No, by a bunch of aliens."
"But you said there aren't any spaceships. How did they get here?"
"You've been told about the portals?"
Olwen nodded.
"That's how."
"If they exist, then so do these gods. Why not just ask the gods to send us back."
"I wish it worked that way. Besides I suspect the cost would be too high. It was high enough without their help."
Olwen shook her head. "I don't understand."
Claye chuckled. "Don't try just yet. Just accept. There will be more to have to try to understand, and it will be easier when you can see."
"Uncle, you're sure this isn't like some sci-fi movie."
"Yes, very. It's pulp fantasy."