Planet Walkers

Chapter 4

Chapter Two

The New Diviner

She looked around and saw him running.

Rough terrain crunched underfoot. Small branches clung to his legs.

He couldn’t move fast enough.

The bushes behind her rustled.

“NO!” he screamed, NO!

Ten prehensile fingers exploded outward. Red streamers wrapped the lean explorer in an unbreakable grasp. The giant plant’s nest of teeth scythed downward and a bloody stump bloomed where Joumelät Enna’s head should have been. Her body twitched and jerked as if it still fought. Viscous fountains sprayed the monster’s leaves red. Joumelät’s death-cry brushed his cheek with icy psychic fingers as it passed …

Huldar woke with a gasp. The sound of snapping bone echoed in his mind. He threw the covers aside and staggered to the washbowl to splash his face with cool, clean water, then wiped it off savagely as if blood and gore still stained him.

The image in the mirror was haggard. Helpless to stop himself he repeated the mantra: Why hadn’t she sensed it? She ought to have known it was there. Why was she so reckless? If only she had scanned as he’d asked her to do – time and time again.

He leaned by the window and watched the dark streets below. The moons had long since set, and high above the Imperial City stars peppered the ageless skies in a web of silvery trails.

Had it been his fault? The healers said no, but they weren’t there at the time.

Tomorrow he would meet Joumelät’s replacement. He knew she was Trianogi, and quite accomplished, but what would she be like? How would she take to life in isolation from the Realm? Would she fall prey to monsters as yet unknown, or even the monsters within herself? Many of her people found the inner silence too much to bear, but on this assignment, once they’d arrived, it would be too late for a change of heart.

He suspected the new planet’s unique and very harsh climatic pattern would test the hardiness and ingenuity of his team to the limit. Would the new explorer survive? And for that matter, would they?

The stars had no answer.

With a groan he padded back to bed, but sleep was slow to return.

His first choice for Joumelät’s replacement had been a Nhadu, un-Marked, but very experienced, however, while the Overlord dithered, he had taken another position.

There had been another applicant from Clan Enna. Huldar had nothing against them, but so soon after losing Joumelät – the team would be constantly reminded of her loss. And if he was honest, the average Tiamäti came with an abrasive sense of entitlement and took direction poorly. Joumelät had been no exception, and now she was dead.

Andel of House Trianog was highly credentialed, but lacked experience in survival situations. They were to meet as she arrived in the Imperial Bays.

Everyone has to start somewhere. He sighed. Let’s hope she has better luck.

Brown hair caught back in a fourth-level braid; gait … a little unsure.

“That’s her there, Casco,” said Huldar.

Tsemkarun Andel of Trianog recognized him and made her way through the travelers and piles of cargo that crowded the Imperial translation bays.

Huldar weighed up the immediate cues and added them to what he already knew.

His logistician, Casco, waited with him – no doubt summing her up as he was.

Casco leaned closer. “She seems a bit delicate.”

Huldar tipped his head. Perhaps Casco was right, but on paper she’d made it to the top five on his list. “She’s a Marked Tsemkarun with experience in the field, and she was keen to sign up.”

“In the fields, maybe,” Casco retorted. “A novice. Knew no better.”

“Some Trianogi find the isolation a little overwhelming,” he conceded, “but she looks determined, and she’s been briefed on the conditions.”

If the Guild has chosen wrong, it’s you who’ll take the blame.

“Casco!” Mind-speech in public was frowned upon by polite society, and especially between classes – all very well once they were away from the social strictures of the Imperium, but not there.

“Still true,” Casco muttered.

Huldar glanced toward him. “So, what do you think?”

“Not what my kind are paid for,” Casco grumbled. “And who’d listen anyway?”

The diviner hesitated as if steeling her nerves, then advanced the last few paces with her papers clutched tight between her fingers. Her mind leaked tinges of excitement. Huldar stifled a scowl. First Casco, now this one – was there something about him that invited people to take liberties? But when her buoyancy was suddenly contained, he regretted his moment of annoyance.

Casco gave a barely audible grunt.

She bowed and offered the credentials. As he took them, he noticed her hands were small but not soft. She was used to working outdoors then.

“Tsemkarun Andel of Trianog.” He bowed in turn. “Welcome to the Uri’madu.” He turned to his friend. “This is Casco, our logistician.”

“A fellow Lethian, I see?”

Her eyes were a warm tawny-brown, like her hair. She waited and he blushed, realizing he’d forgotten to introduce himself.

“Yes … my apologies. I am Shamkarun Huldar of Leth.” He made another small bow.

Her eyes danced. “I have heard of you,” she said. “When I found I was accepted into the Imperial Explorers and to be part of your team, the Uri’madu, I –”

More excitement leaked from her mind’s veil and Huldar didn’t know whether to be shocked or embarrassed.

She smiled an apology. “I can hear my mother now – always one for decorum – but I hope you will excuse me, this once? It has long been my ambition to join the corps of the Explorers’ Guild and today, despite her lack of faith, I have realized that dream.”

“Dream?” Casco snorted. “Might not be so thrilling when we’re alone in the wilds and shitting in the woods.”

“Casco!” Huldar snapped. “You forget yourself! Tsemkarun Andel of Trianog is an archangel, and Marked.”

Casco bowed deeply. “My apologies, Lady Andel. Our last diviner died horribly, and the shock has not yet left me.”

The diviner accepted Casco’s defense with a gracious nod, but when their eyes met again her excitement was withdrawn behind a veil of steely calm.

“I am new to your team, Shamkarun Huldar,” she said evenly. “I have presumed on my acceptance and I am sorry if my exuberance offends. However, I have some experience of new planets and I am aware of the conditions we shall be working under. As I said, this is my dream appointment, and I have, I hope, trained for every contingency, even, as your friend so eloquently puts it, shitting in the woods.”

Too late, Huldar realized that her show of emotion had been a gift – an early invitation to find out more about each other. Were her feelings hurt? Now that her psychic emissions were impeccably controlled, he couldn’t tell, and he sensed it might be a long time before he would get the opportunity again.

“The Uri’madu leave from the Imperial Bays at daybreak in one week from today,” he said. “Shamkarun Kandät Enna will be our navigator. The recommended kit list is included with your acceptance papers. Please try to keep personal belongings to a minimum. If you have any particular charms or substrates you need for your work, please ensure the list is discussed with Casco here.” He paused. “Any questions?”

“If I may?”

He opened his palm. “Please.”

“Why the limitation on personal effects? Not that it is a problem,” she added. “But things stored in personal Qalān can have no effect on our manifest or a navigator’s song.”

“A few things are good, but too much can impede our acceptance of exploratory conditions …” He hesitated, not wishing to sound harsh, then explained, “It’s something I’ve observed. Life in isolation from the Realm can take some adjustment.”

“I see.” She nodded. “Well, I will bear that in mind, and I need no special equipment that is not already listed, thank you.”

“Very well. Please, contact me if you think of anything else. Otherwise, I’ll see you here at daybreak, seven days from now.”

A touch of frost had crept into her gaze. She bowed with almost mocking precision and inwardly he sighed. It was only as she was walking away that he noticed how small she was.

For the next three years, the Uri’madu would be beyond contact with the Realm and utterly dependent upon each other, and if the group were not compatible, those three years could become an eternity.

“What’s next?” Casco asked.

He tipped his head vaguely toward the Explorers’ Guild. “Meeting up at head office.”

“Just to make your day complete.” Casco sniggered. “What’s it about?”

He gave a cynical snort. “Can’t wait to find out.” He pictured a group of shiny-pants officials who had never strayed from the Imperial City, telling him how best to run his assignment.

“The joys of leadership.” Casco smiled. “Will Duvät Gok be there?”

“Most likely.”

Casco nodded sagely. “The honey in the cake.”

A broad grin spread over Huldar’s face as he imagined their pompous Overlord as a spongy confection. He shared the image with Casco.

“There’s one dessert I won’t fight you for,” Casco chuckled. “Did I tell you about that clunky old desk he’s insisted we lug along? Had to ditch one of our kitchen trestles to make room.”

“Only the spare, I hope?”

“Still … what if one gets broken? Can we use his desk?”

“Might have a struggle on your hands! Still, we have to keep the esteemed Gok happy, I suppose. Perhaps I can bring it up at the meeting.”

Casco shook his head. “See you later down at the Red Weyfal? You can tell us all about it over a jar of ale.”

Huldar waved his friend goodbye and strode through the familiar streets of the Imperial City toward the Guild’s offices. A persistent grin spread through his mind as despite the puzzle of the unwelcome desk and lingering disappointment over his interaction with the new diviner, the ridiculous image of Duvät Gok as a cake wouldn’t leave him.