Dragons and Destiny (34 page)

“Dedta domta,”
she intoned in a formal voice. “Dedta rtath Sindya.”

“Thank you,”
the Lai replied with care. “We are pleased to be with you after so
long. My name is Haru. Those with me are named Chizu and
Malaku.”

Sindya seemed
unable to say any more and lapsed into silence. Niaill was
convinced that everylind was holding his or her breath, in fact he
was sure that some would die of asphyxiation.

Haru gazed
round, blinking.

: He is a
dragon :
insisted Niaill.

: So you say
:
replied Taraya
: but I say he is a Lai :

It was Inalei
who broke the silent deadlock. He had met the Lai before. He bowed,
first to Haru then to Chizu and Maluku.

“We would be
pleased if you would eat with us if you do not wish to hunt.”

“That would be
best,” Haru answered, “we do not wish to, how do you say it,
advertise our presence? This is why we come when it is getting dark
and have taken a route so as not to fly over the rtathlians of your
brothers and sisters. We will be honoured to eat with you.”

“If you would
follow me?” asked Inalei.

“We have
gathered good things to eat,” said Sindya, recovering her voice.
“We have readied a place for you to sleep also, in the lian as
Inalei requested.”

“Good,” said
Haru, “lead the way young Lind,” and he began to follow Sindya, the
other two following.

“Young Lind?”
murmured a surprised Niaill, “Sindya’s almost pure white, quite
possibly the oldest Lind I have ever met.”

“Perhaps age is
relative,” Taraya replied.

Niaill wondered
again if Lindish was the mother tongue of the Lai and naturally,
Taraya ‘heard’ what he was thinking.

: Tradition
say Lai taught Lind to talk :
she reminded him.

: I’d forgotten
that :

: If they
taught us :
she continued
: is logical that their language
is similar? :

: There is such
a thing as lingual shift, I remember one of my teachers talking
about it :

: That is not
the issue here, Inalei told us that they have never left us. I
think my Niaill that you will find that their Lindish is as good as
yours :

: The Larg?
:

: That will be
where the lingual shift will come in. The Larg were separated from
us when the waters between north and south rose high for a long
time. Their language has ‘shifted’ more than ours but not as much
as we cannot understand each other at need :

* * * * *

Haru had
indicated that he needed to talk with some of the Lind (and
Niaill).

He gathered
round him and the other two Sindya, Inalei, Vanlya, the Eldas,
Niaill and Taraya.

“A long time
ago we Lai lived on a planet very like this one except that there
were five main continents, not three. On each continent lived what
you might call a rtath; in the north lived the blue skins, the Rai,
in the west, the black skins, the Brai, in the south the red skins,
the Sbnei, in the east the golden skins, our ancestors, the Lai. In
the centre lived the green skins, the Dglai.

The day came
when our planet began to die and plans were laid for some of us to
leave to seek out another where we could all settle.

Five
space-ships were built, one for each rtath and the day came when
the space-ships left our planet and began to search.

The search was
not an easy one and as the years passed some of us grew great with
disillusionment and fear that we would never find a planet.

First the Rai
left us, thinking it would be better if we were to split up; to
enable us to search a wider area. The Brai, the Sbnei, the Dglai
and we Lai remained together, for a time.

The Sbnei were
the second of us to leave, having come round to the Rai’s way of
thinking. They stayed in contact for a while, as had the Rai but
the distances were great and eventually they too lost touch.

The Brai, the
Dglai and we Lai continued and then we did find a planet suitable
for colonisation. There was water, land and a viable eco system,
perfect for us but there was a problem. It was already inhabited
and a few of these inhabitants had a burgeoning sentience. The
Dglai wanted to land, to wipe out those on the planet, to lay our
claim to the planet. We Lai and the Brai said no. There was an
argument and the Dglai left us, saying that they would seek
elsewhere. The Brai and we Lai discussed what had happened and
decided that the Dglai were not to be trusted not to return when we
were gone. We agreed that one of us should remain and guard the
planet while the other should go on. The Brai remained and we Lai
continued on our quest.”

“That was
Earth, where we came from,” decided Niaill with a flash of
inspiration.

“Possible but
there is no way to be sure, Niaill of Vadath.”

“Our mythology
tells of great fire-breathing dragons,” insisted Niaill, “you
visited the planet didn’t you, then left? There were no geological
traces but why else would there be stories and from all round the
globe? And you talk about a sentient species, what if that was our
earliest ancestors?”

“It is
possible,” Haru admitted. “We Lai travelled far, from star to star
for many years and investigated many different planets. We were
beginning to think we were fated to travel so forever then we
arrived here. Like you we found water and land and creatures, small
four legged creatures of various types. None were obviously
sentient.”

“How did you
know what planets to look at?” asked Niaill.

“We sent out
the Botons.”

“But that’s
what Vanlya called that long pole we found,” exclaimed Niaill.

“Yes. The Boton
is designed to look for suitable planets, ones with viable
atmospheres and other programmed parameters.”

“Is that what
me and Taraya found then, your Boton?” Niaill marvelled, “and still
working after all this time.”

“Unfortunately
the one that you found is not ours. It has long since
disintegrated.”

Niaill nodded,
it had been thousands of years since then. “So whose is it?”

“It must be
from one of the other four ships but we do not understand why or
how one could have survived for so long.”

“Repaired,
rebuilt?” hazarded Niaill.

“Perhaps, but
we believe one of the other four ships must still be travelling
through the stars.”

“Searching for
a planet?”

“May I
continue?”

“Yes, yes, of
course, sorry,” said Niaill.

“Once we
decided to land and make a new life here, there was no way we could
get in touch with the other four ships to tell them. We could not
return to our home planet as there was not enough power left to
make the journey.”

“But which one
of the other four is it?” asked Niaill, unable to stop himself.

“As I said, we
do not know,” answered Haru, “nor do we know how they have survived
for so long. They could be moving from planet to planet, taking
what they need then moving on, still searching but you and Taraya,
Niaill, could perhaps by describing the Boton you found, tell us
more.”

“If we can,”
answered Niaill.

“Under the part
of it that was glowing, did you see any signs?”

“What kind of
signs?”

“Glyphs I think
you would call them.”

“Like little
pictures you mean? Well, there was one, very faint, I didn’t think
it was important.”

“Describe it to
me.”

“It was a
little circle with a sort of wedge cut out of it.”

Haru drew in
his breath. “It is as we feared. It is a Boton of the Dglai.”

“The rtath who
wanted to invade Earth? That doesn’t sound good.”

Haru said
nothing. He looked troubled.

“Are they
coming here, these Dglai? When? What will happen?”

“They might
pass by,” answered Haru in a voice devoid of emotion, “though I
fear they will not. The Dglai were always the most warlike of us
Daiglon and it is that knowledge that frightens me the most.”

“Will they
come?” pressed Niaill.

“That is the
question which is at the forefront of my mind and the minds of
every other Lai. We must accept the fact that they might and make
plans in case they do.”

“Will there be
any warning?”

“When the
Nahoko come,” Haru answered.

“And then?”

“If the Nahoko
come the Dglai will invade. They would not waste five Nahoko on a
planet they were not interested in. Always warlike they were.”

“We have to
stop them,” declared Niaill. “
How
do we stop them?”

“We Lai no
longer have the means,” answered Haru. “What weapons we once had
are long gone to dust, together with the space-ship we came in. We
had no need of them.”

“But you can
make more. Surely you can make more?”

“That knowledge
is lost. Were you not listening?” Haru sounded exasperated. “What
has survived is in the Gtrathlin’s cave.”

“I saw some
strange objects. Are any of them weapons?”

“There is still
hope. That is why we are here.”

“Hope? How can
that protect us?” expostulated Niaill. “You’ve just told me these
Dglai will land on our planet, conquer it and destroy everything
unless we can find a way to stop them, that
is
what you are
saying, isn’t it? Like the Larg.
Their
aim has always been
to rule over all.”

“The Dglai do
not wish to rule, they wish to take and the Larg do not wield
weapons that fire flame nor do they have light that kills. They
fight with tooth and claw. Your swords will not stop the Dglai,”
said Haru.

“They’re all
we’ve got,” answered Niaill in a dry voice. “If they’re not enough
then there is no hope, none at all.”

“You humans
knew of other weapons once,” Chizu reminded them as he edged closer
towards Niaill, Taraya and Haru. “Before you came your kind used
them but such knowledge has also disappeared. We hoped that the
writings of Tara would tell us of them.”

“Disappeared?”
queried a confused Niaill, “how disappeared?”

“That is not
precisely true,” interrupted Haru with a glance at Chizu.
“Forgotten but not vanished. The knowledge is hidden.”

“Where?” asked
Niaill.

“I am not
sure,” old Haru admitted, “but Tara and Kolyei knew.”

“Tara and
Kolyei? They’ve been dead for centuries.”

“But perhaps
the knowledge did not die with them,” suggested Haru. “There is
still the writings that you have read.”

“What makes you
think that? I saw nothing that mentioned any kind of weapon.”

“They told me,”
was Haru’s simple answer. “They spent their last years with us.
Tara said that she wrote down a lot that Susyc Jim and his Larya
told her. It had to be recorded, in case it was needed. It is
needed now.”

But Niaill was
staring at Haru in disbelief.

“You knew Tara
and Kolyei?” he spluttered.

“I did, we Lai
live a long time. I was very young when I knew them.” He sighed,
“many long years have passed.”

“Ok,” said
Niaill, “I can cope with that, now you say we had knowledge once to
make weapons that we could use to defend ourselves? But why has no
one thought of making these weapons again? Our world isn’t what you
could call exactly peaceful.”

“Any that did
think of them were persuaded to cease their enquiries and to stop
thinking about it.”

“Persuaded?”
Niall’s question was sharp and Haru responded to the sharpness with
an irritated flick of his crest.

“It was for the
best to keep the peace.”

“To keep the
peace!”

“The Avuzdel,”
explained Haru. “They have known for long about the danger that
lurks within the human mind and over the years have taken steps.
You humans are inventive. It was feared that you would use such
inventiveness to make weapons that might destroy us.”

“I think you’d
better explain,” ordered Niaill, beginning to feel that he was
standing on his head.

“They would if
necessary kill to stop you humans doing this,” continued Haru.
“Strong minded Lind can take over the human mind, in much the same
way as a mother will control her young to keep them out of danger.
It would be preferred if this did not become the knowledge of all,
it might start panic. The Larg are the same.”

“The Larg?”

“Them too. It
was not in their interest either to have such weapons in the hands
of humans. In fact, they are past masters at forcing their will on
others.”

“So for the
last six hundred years the Lind and the Larg have been controlling
us?”

“No. They have
been stopping you from making weapons that would turn our planet
into a bloodbath of killings. It was to keep the peace, no more.
There have been battles and fighting, yes, but the deaths and
killings were only a fraction of what would have happened if you
humans had had access to the weapons you could have built when you
arrived on our planet.”

“We have
technology, electric power, looms and other machinery.”

“You have no
ballistic weapons but somewhere, hidden, the knowledge is there to
create them again.”

“How long will
it take us to find the information, to make the weapons? How much
time do we have?”

“That I do not
know but you Niaill have read the writings left by Tara and Kolyei.
The knowledge is there, my sire told me this. He was not thinking
only of the Dglai but he knew that enemies might in the future
arrive from the stars. As you know, I was young when I knew Tara
and Kolyei but my sire was a great friend for the short time they
were with us. He told me that in the writings is written how the
Dglai or any other invader can be defeated.”

“I have read
the books, but I don’t know that what I read will be of much
use.”