Saints: It Begins

3 THE ALIEN IS MINE

Nobody would have guessed that things would turn out the way they did. The streets were teeming with people from places as far off as Torto along the coast, a good distance due south-and-west from Tefe and other, not so far and yet not so near places like Bipor’ase, about a week’s ride from Kope by the slowest horse. They had come to trade, to site-see, to visit loved ones and other acquaintances among a host of other things that would draw any body to a city.

Kazu and his best friend (and Avanorvi – literally meaning ‘war brother’), Hamza were in the city when it all went to the dogs. Tefe was still abuzz with the news of the alien’s arrival, even weeks after the actual event.

They had come as visitors though they had been born and raised within the walls of the camouflaged city. Hamza and Kazu were drafted into the Kedi fighting force as the youngest warriors when they were only thirty years and, since then, have proven to be the pair with the most promise.

They went straight to Kazu’s home where they met Sedi. “Hey, donkeys! How far? How’s it been among the stiff protectors of our land?” Sedi said, giving each boy a warm familiar hug.

“They are not stiff. They just enforce a very high level of discipline.” Hamza said, but, after a sternly knowing look from both Kazu and Sedi, conceded, “Okay they are a little stiff – well pretty stiff – alright really, really stiff.”

“And he means ‘REALLY’. Can you imagine that we’ve done nothing fun all the while we’ve been there? Well except knock a few heads in during fighting drills.” Said Kazu, bringing a bright smile on Hamza’s face but the one on Sedi’s clearly told Kazu she was trying to hide her actual feelings. “Hey, what’s bothering you now?”

After a few moments of hesitation, Sedi started to spill what was weighing her down on her best friends. She spoke about her interest in joining the ranks of the hunters and the refusal of their father to consent to her becoming a huntress just because she was female. “The way you were talking about your time with the warriors your experiences with them only made me a bit wistful that’s all.” She said.

Kazu felt for her and knew exactly what she was saying about their father. He was about to say something but was cut off by Hamza, “Don’t worry too much about this. I’m sure the time to show him and everybody who thinks like him what you and any other woman are capable of will come.”

“Thanks, Hamza, but I’d already determined I’d be doing ju…” and that’s when things went crazy.

Hamza and Kazu jumped up with an alertness honed from self-defence training from childhood and enhanced by their training in the Kedi war academy. Sedi was also up quickly with alertness, which nearly rivalled that of the boys.

“What’s happening?” Hamza asked as he and the others rushed outside the house while arming themselves.

“Atiga is wailing. That’s a call to battle.” Said Kazu as the trio stepped out onto the streets.

Atiga was a big t – no, a gigantic – tree right in the middle of the city from which many assembly calls were made. At this moment, a steady repetition of three continuous booming sounds was coming from the direction of the tree – Atiga’s wailing call to battle.

The wailing was getting louder as they approached the center of the city where the alarms were being raised. There was chaos all around as the warriors and guardians did their best to juggle between fighting the intruders and keeping the citizens who refused to cower from their attackers who were endangering their city and families.

There were Ta’eki soldiers and droids all over the place wreaking havoc and destruction. A Kedi warrior had the bitter misfortune of finding himself on the business end of a battle droid’s bluster and was shot a few feet down the hard packed earthen street of Tefe, landing at the Kazu’s feet.

This knocked the three of them out of the stupor they found themselves in as they stood watching the chaotic events unfolding before them. Kazu went straight into action mode as he began giving out orders none of his companions challenged. “Sedi, take to the rooftops and cover us and anyone who may need it. Hamza, come with me to the Chieftaincy. I know what this is about.”

The group split up with Sedi deftly climbing onto the roof of the nearest building and the Avanorviwo tearing down the conflict engrossed, bloody street of the camouflaged city towards the Kedi Chieftaincy. A Ta’eki soldier confronted Kazu, swinging a laser sabre at his head. Kazu ducked, chopping his assailant’s hand off in the process. Another attacker was knocked unconscious after encountering one of Hamza’s easy-looking, heavy blows with the pommel of his battle blade.

There were Kedi braves doing their best to hold off the Ta’eki while defending the civilians. But the Kedi, being a battle conscious race, had all its citizens trained in the basic arts of self-defence. This, coupled with the generally stubborn nature of the Kedi, made it very difficult for them to be kept out of the ensuring conflict.

A bunch of Ta’eki soldiers fell before Kazu and his Avanorvi on their way to the Chieftaincy. Sedi also did a great job from the roof tops as she helped clear a path for the two boys and saved their, and a couple other lives along the way.

The outer walls of the Chieftaincy had a full-on battle raging, the heaviest of which was going on at the main gates of the citadel. A great horde of Ta’eki soldiers did their very best to overpower the Kedi braves who stood between them and the goal they sought in the Chieftaincy. The Kedi, though putting up a great fight and holding their adversaries at bay, were losing the battle one fallen brave at a time. It was therefore fortunate that Kazu, Hamza, Sedi and the combined forces of Kedi warriors, guardians and hunters, who’d managed to break from the chaos of the city wide invasion, had arrived to take on the attackers from the rear.

Sedi and a couple other archers dropped a great deal of the Ta’eki soldiers from the roof tops while the ground troops cut, slashed, smashed and savagely beat their way through the host of armoured Ta’eki soldiers and their metallic droid companions.

Hamza kept dealing out those hefty blows which ended up either incapacitating, amputating or decapitating the victims while Kazu also wove through the teeming crowd of enthusiastic invaders, cutting down whoever had that great misfortune of confronting him. They were both so engrossed in their numerous short-lived battles that they didn’t realize it until the familiar voice of Bozard, Kazu’s older brother, Kedi’s star warrior and the youngest to be made a War Knight, startled them as he drew closer to them while clearing a path through the Ta’eki.

“Deviwo, you’re doing a lot of damage to the enemy for a pair of war toddlers.” Bozard said as his fighting brought him to join his brother and his friend.

“Hey, Olu, hearing that from you makes my heart flutter with happiness.” Kazu said, laughing with his brother as they clasped hands and hugged. Hamza also joined the two in this very brotherly greeting as he clasped hands with the War Knight.

“Devi” means “child” and its plural is “deviwo”. This was the term of endearment used to tease Hamza and Kazu by virtue of their general youth and apparent inexperience in the art of war since they just recently graduated from the War Academy. Kazu and Hamza usually countered this with “olu”, the informal name for an old man who didn’t inspire a lot of respect from the younger generation.

By looking at the two boys, one needed to be told how closely related they were because Bozard and Kazu looked nothing like brothers. While Bozard was a spitting image of their father in the typical Kedi body frame and the even more impressive bone structure of their father, Kazu was said to have the relatively smaller stature of a Kedi woman which was impressive but not by Kedi standards for a man. Where Bozard and the rest of the Kedi men were tall, darker in skin tone, hairy and massively muscled, Kazu was less but the love between the brothers was anything but.

“When did you get into town?” Asked Bozard

“Today, a few minutes ago, actually.” Hamza replied.

“Good, just in time to see me be my amazing self.”

“How very modest of you, brother.”

“If you boys are done holding hands and singing a bunch of little girls’ songs, let’s draw our attention to the bloody battle going on around us, shall we.” Came the booming voice of the lord of house Zor’dril, the Head hunter, heir to the Kedi Chieftaincy and the father of Bozard and Kazu, Lord Throni. “In case you’ve forgotten, let me remind you that we’re under attack.”

The boys turned, and with familial affection written on their faces, smile and clasped their father.

“Where’s Sedi?” the old man asked “I hope you sent her some place safe before coming here.”

The boys hesitated a while before Hamza, after seeing the scowl deeply etched on the salt-and-pepper bearded face of the Head hunter, pointed to the dilapidated roof of a long abandoned sentries’ tower. Its walls were covered with deep cracks veining all across their surfaces like the wrinkles on an old man’s skin. And like this proverbial old man, the tower seemed to be leaning forward under the weight of its very advanced age.

It had been abandoned for so long that only people of similar age could remember why. And this is where Sedi was perched as she brought down more of the Kedi’s foes.

A mixture of emotions chased one another in and out of the old man’s face: awe, at how well she handled herself and her bow as she picked off her prey one after another, even taking some of them down in twos or threes; pride, at seeing how confidently she perched on that dangerously unstable tower, giving orders to other archers – some of them many years her seniors, both in trade and in life – who were helping in the combative efforts; fear, for her safety and also anger, directed at her ‘brothers’ for allowing her to endanger herself in this manner.

Within moments, all these were gone, as though they had never been there. All that was left was the Head hunter’s stone cold determination to get his prey and be done with the hunt.

“We will have a discussion when all this is over and done with.” The lord of house Zor’dril said in a tone which inspired no arguments from his sons.

The return to the battle was so smooth that it was as if there had been hardly any pause. Lord Throni left his boys and went off to join the Chieftain, Lord Tamidel of house Quorfu – who seemed to be enjoying himself greatly – while Hamza, Kazu and Bozard cleared themselves a path to the Chieftaincy’s entrance.

“Kazu,” Hamza said suddenly after dispatching yet another one of the Ta’eki soldiers, “you said you know what this is all about?”

“Oh, right. What about it?” Kazu, in the middle of avoiding a pommel blow to the head, said.

“Well, care to enlighten some of us, namely me, with your insight?”

“Sure. You see, after the alien had been relocated from the forest, news did not take long to reach the Ta’eki about its arrival. They sent a request to be allowed to study it, which Lord Tamidel refused. They later sent more and more messages with each getting sterner and sterner in language than the previous one.” Kazu said and sliced open the belly of his opponent.

“Yes?” Hamza inquired.

“Oh, yes. I heard – and this is coming from no credible source, mind you – that the latest message was an order by the Ta’eki queen herself to our Chieftain to hand the alien and all research findings pertaining to its study over to the Ta’eki scientists or face drastic consequences. It looks like lord Tamidel refused them once again and hence this attack.”

Hamza had shock and disbelief written all over his face and it looked like his jaws were about to drop. “So you mean we’re under attack because the Ta’eki want an alien?”

“Apparently so.”

“Well it’s about time someone stood up to those pompous stiffs and their cloud headed queen. Just because we lost a couple battles to them, they feel like they can boss us around. This ought to show them.” Hamza said while coming down hard, with the heel of his boot, on a battle droid’s head. “But what I don’t understand is why they would attack the Chieftaincy. We have many facilities where it could have been sent which are as heavily defended, so why the Chieftaincy?”

“They are attacking the Chieftaincy because that’s where the alien is being kept.” Bozard said.

Now, Hamza’s jaws did drop. “What?”

“Yes. The Chieftain, after the Ta’eki sent the first message, couldn’t trust that the alien would be secure anywhere else but under his direct supervision and protection. So he had it moved from the research facility in the forest to the secret one within the Chieftaincy.” Bozard said, and then paused to ponder something. “Only a select few of our higher ranks were aware of this. So if the Ta’eki knew to come straight here, then…”

“Then we have rats in high places.” Kazu concluded.

“Yes, and if that’s the case, then the alien is in danger of falling into the hands of the Ta’eki, most likely by means of their Kedi agents. Come on, this way.” Bozard said as he led Kazu and Hamza away from the fighting.

“Where are we going?” Hamza asked.

“Just be quiet and follow me.” Bozard said, suddenly all business-like.

Sedi join the trio about a mile or so away from the Chieftaincy in the direction of the eastern gates. “Boys, did you see me do good out there?”

“Yes, we did and so did the old man.” Bozard said

Sedi went quiet for a while as they run onward and Kazu, sensing a slight spike in her anxiety levels, said, “Don’t worry about it. No matter how hard he tried, we could all see how difficult it was for him to hide how proud of you he was.”

The tension that had suddenly built up in Sedi escaped from her on a sigh. She said:

“So Bozard, where are we going?”

“Just be quiet and follow me.” Hamza and Kazu said in a rough imitation of the reply Bozard had given them earlier. They then offered Bozard teasing smiles.

***

As they headed for the eastern gates, Sedi noticed that, although there was no fighting there, the soldiers were on full alert. There were five of them guarding inside the gates in an arrowhead formation with five more in similar formation towards the outside of the gates.

Sedi and her ‘brothers’ arrived at the position the inside guards were defending and they all snapped to stiff attention when they recognized Bozard - yes, that's what you get when you have a celebrity War-Knight in your group.

"Stand easy but remain alert." Bozard told them as they passed the soldiers station.

"Yes sir!" They said in unison, both on the inside and the outside where a similar exchange ensued.

The quartet ran a few miles into the forest, turned left, two rights, another left and a straight run to an abrupt stop under the branches of a Sokodua with a trunk as wide as three hefty, barrel-chested Kedi warriors standing arms stretched out touching fingertip-to-fingertip. The branches were very long and widespread with leaves so dense in population that they obscured the sun's light, casting a very dark shadow over a substantial area under the tree.

"Here we are." Bozard declared as all four of them stood staring at the trunk of this thick tree.

"Um, was the sun scorching so terribly that we needed to seek shelter from it or are we supposed to see something here?" Kazu asks his brother.

"Shut up and watch me." Bozard said seriously but with a slight undertone of mirth.

He raised his right hand to touch the trunk of the tree a few inches above his shoulder. After a second or so, Bozard winced but it was so quickly gone that, if Sedi hadn't been paying attention, she wouldn't have caught it. When his hand came away from the tree, there was a bloody handprint that looked like it was created by a hand which had been pricked by millions of tiny pins - which most likely was the case.

A moment later, the handprint began to give off a faint glow as an eerie feminine voice came out of it, like from a speaker but without the mechanics.

"Welcome Knight Bozard, are your companions friend or foe?" The voice said, surprisingly soothing.

"Mimaria, thank you and yes, my companions are friends." Bozard replied.

With that exchange out of the way, the handprint sank into the trunk of the tree and almost immediately, a white outline of a door appeared, fading that section of the tree out till what was left was a bluish-white energy door.

Bozard stepped through this "doorway", after a brief moment's hesitation, was followed by the other three. Kazu, awe-struck by everything, asked his brother;

"So what happens if you told her that we were foes?"

"Then, I would be the only one crossing this threshold alive." Bozard said, obviously full of glee with the terrifying revelation he just made.

Sedi laughed at Kazu's horrified expression and then turned her attention to observing her surroundings. She observed that they had just stepped into a hollowed out tree which didn't seem to have been made by any artificial means. It seemed to have grown from a sapling to this monstrosity of a tree, being hollow from the start.

There was a spiralling staircase that also looked like it had been a part of this tree from its younger days. There was also a sturdy looking pole running down the middle of this tree, from the crown to where ever the roots ended up.

And it is this pole that Bozard grabbed and began to slide down fast. The others hesitated a while and then Hamza grabbed the pole too and went down. Sedi followed and Kazu brought up the rear. The pole felt smooth with a powdery substance all over it - apparently to protect the users from burns.

Below, lights that weren't there before came alive and as they passed them, these lights went out so, there's darkness above and illumination below so that at the end, it looked like there was darkness above them and illumination below.

"Everybody stay close. I wouldn't want any of you wandering and getting lost around here. Father will not let me hear the end of it if that happened." Bozard said when their boots finally touched firm ground.

Sedi was a bit wobbly and woozy from the long slide down. The same could be said for Kazu and Hamza but if anything was off with Bozard, it was not obvious.

"So where to now?" Hamza asked after getting his bearings.

"This way!" Bozard said and started in a rightward direction.

The sound of their running feet against the hard packed earth of these underground passageways and corridors bounced off the walls in hollow echoes.

They made a few more turns and after what seems like an eternity, they stopped in front of a door which, even at a glance was obviously highly secured.

Bozard had to stop a few steps away from this door and waved his hand in on inwardly spiralling circle with three dots, one on either side and one on top, and tapped on the spiral.

An energy field appeared and then faded away, leaving the way to the door clear. The security system at the door was similar to the one they found at Mimaria's tree. Here, again, Bozard placed his hand on the door and a bloody handprint appeared once again.

"Welcome Knight Bozard. I have received orders from the Chieftain to let you in. But I see you are here with companions. Are they friend or foe?" The same voice from the tree on the surface came from the door.

"Thank you Kileila. My companions are friends."

"Very well. Then the only thing left is the final authentication."

Bozard reached into his tunic and pulled out a chain, attached to which was a silver key with a crystal at its tip.

As he brought it closer to the door, the crystal lit up while a keyhole in the shape of the crystal opened in the middle of the door. Bozard then slid this key into its slot and then, after a pulse, a click, with a whooshing hiss, the door slid up to reveal a room heavy with frost.

Sedi, Kazu and Hamza looked upon all this with awe and deep-set reverence etched boldly on their dumbstruck faces. All these things were lying just beneath the camouflaged city of Tefe? Incredible!

Bozard, looking the smuggest he'd ever looked in his life, turned around to ask;

"Any questions?"

Hamza, still awestruck, lifted his hand tentatively, like a shy child wanting to either ask or answer a question on his first day in class. “I thought her name was Mimaria."