For One Nen (39 page)

Without even cutting his eyes toward the one who had spoken Tapsi
n addressed the entire crowd.

“I am your god,
” Tapsin said with poison in his heart.

Tapsin was realizing the crowd was being brought to the breaking po
int. He was waiting for this.

“If you fight for me
I will be your Giver of Life.”

He had a plan.

An older Goweli, shouted from the crowd. “There is only one Giver of Life. And he has already given us life. You wish only to take our lives.”

Tapsin
, who had looked at the tall beautiful Goweli looked away without reply.

“Your future, yes your very survival depends on me and my leading. I will determine the good for all. I am your god.”

Tessin, a Hoth, who lives mostly in the deep water saw something strange about the two sparsing lines that were facing each other. In a gap of silence Tessin asked, “Why are there no Het in your sparsing?”

“Yes! Why?” came another voice. Then many voices rose up.

Tapsin held both hands outstretched toward the crowd.

“
Our kingdom depends greatly on Het strength. They are the lords of the Empire. We must remain well protected and they give their service for this cause. I declare the Het will never be a part of the sparsing.”

“It’s because he now controls them,” Pellin said to those around him.

Fbathin’s father added, “Yes, all but the Anthro, like you, hear him but it’s only the Het that will obey without question.”

Many shouts of protest went up. Many people raged against this declaration
, and even the sparsing itself. But then they realized the tactful position of the Het. They were indeed a part of the sparsing. They were just not in the killing lines. They were all standing guard. Their gentle giants had ALL become guards – in fact warriors.

“You can’t do this, my Lord. I beg of you to protect life throughout your Empire,” one N
en, small and swift, shouted.

Tapsin looked straight down into the Nen’s eyes and said calmly, “I can do this because I am god.”

His smile was condescending and barbarous.

He looked again toward the entire crowd, “Even all eligible Antip are sparsing today. My son Entic will also fight.”

Tapsin was willing to take the chance of losing his son to gain ultimate power over the entire kingdom.

Many at that moment, lost all hope of a future. Many at that moment, lost any inhibition they might have had in the presence of the emperor. Many at that moment, lost their minds. And in that very moment
, one gave a shout that rattled the very foundation of the celebration room.

Mollath had charged forth from the wavering line and rammed Entic to
the rocky ground.

“No,” Tapsin screamed. Yet his furry was belated. Entic’s eyes were never to open again.

All of Tapsin’s paranoia turned to revenge and outrage. He pushed the Het with vengeful thoughts from his mind.

“Het strong and proud, do not let anyone leave the sparsing line without a fight to the finish.”

Many Het took a giant step forward as they guarded the sparsing lines.

At first sign of their movement
, a courageous charge thundered from the outer circle toward the Het that were standing guard over the sparsing lines. Another even more courageous charge burst forth from the two sparsing lines outward against the Het. No one sparsed their foe that day but Mollath, though many lost their lives.

Dhobin was a fast runner. He raced to the entrance of the, now, killing ground, and dodged under a giant while he leaned past him for another poor soul. Others were pressed in from all sides trying to get past the giant Het guards.

“Dhobin!” Hrilla shouted from halfway across the grounds. She saw how he dashed under the legs of the giant Het guards and raced out of the single exit. She knew what he was thinking and she knew exactly what to do.

She gathered many Anthro, as the mayhem ensued, and led them to the opposite side of the grounds, from the entrance. There, in a darkened corridor, was the passageway to the place of the dead; a shallow room, no higher than a crawl space for the average-sized Anthro. There, among the centuries of bones and decay, Hrilla led her people to safety.

“Go on,” she urged as she stood next to the opening for the place of the dead. Many followed her directing. “You’ll be safe, hurry.”

The Het had their own cave for their dead because the communal grave was not big enough for the Het. No one could drag a giant once he had died
, but another giant. And with such a low ceiling in the place of the dead, no giant could manage the task of going in and also dragging another with him. Also, and more importantly, the Het had no idea there was a tiny passageway leading out of the place of the dead.

Hrilla saw her brother Asaph and pulled him near. “Guide them straight through. There’s an escape on the other side.”

Without a word, he ran through the entrance and on to safety, taking a steady stream of people with him.

Hrilla’s brothers passed by her
, rescuing others as they went. Most of her younger sisters were huddled by their mother crying. Hrilla left her post beside the entrance and raced for them. Picking up Sheila and Tzeitel, she screamed for her mother to come. Her mother grabbed the baby but hesitated when she saw her husband storm a guard who was coming for those escaping through the place of the dead.

Some Anthro were killed that day
, but Hrilla saved many. Hrilla’s own father was killed when he stood against two Het with the planting staff he often carried as a walking stick. He kept his two foes busy long enough for many to find their freedom. 

Mollath starred at Entic’s dead body even long after the terror had begun. He stood frozen; shocked at what he had done. The crowd poured around him as they tried to get out of the guarded entrance. The chaotic crowd finally pressed him back into reality.

After his senses returned, he gazed back to the hill where Tapsin had declared the sparsing – the killings. He was surprised and angered to find Tapsin was still there with two Het standing on either side and all three were watching the destruction unfold without the slightest movement toward gaining social order.

“He’s just waiting for us all to kill ourselves.” Mollath quietly ra
ged as he gritted his teeth.

He took his first step without thinking
, but with the second, his intentions were clearly defined within him. His eyes creased to slits. His eyebrows were furrowed so tight they almost met. His gills turned purple as his obsession made him forget to breathe for the time it took to climb the hill and stand face to face with Tapsin. Their eyes broke their gaze only when Mollath’s head flew back in a gasp for air, as his mouth and gills flew open. His chest rose with a full breath, and as his head lowered and caught Tapsin’s gaze again, he placed one foot back and pushed off in a thrust that projected him forward with a blow of full force in his fist. One of the Het guards caught his fist like the children of the surface play catch with a ball.

The Het forced Mollath easily to his knees just by simply squeezing. Tapsin who hadn’t even flinched
, began to slowly smile. His smile gave way to a terrible laugh that stole Mollath’s sanity. Mollath lunged forth again and again. The Het played with him like a cat would play with a mouse; until it so desired to bring it to its end.

“Now,” Tapsin said in an almost casual tone.

The giant snapped Mollath like a twig and then resumed his position next to Tapsin to guard his god.

Tapsin pointed to his dead son, Entic, as he pushed his thoughts toward one single Het. The guard picked up the boy’s body and carried
it out of the sparsing ground.

A great many of the royal Antip were lost because they fought instead of trying to flee. They knew the truth. If Tapsin was to give his own son to the sparsing
, there was no hope of protection for the rest of them. Tapsin had not given orders to aid the royal family that was in attendance.

Many were killed trying to get vengeance on Tapsin. Many others were killed by other tribes taking vengeance on the royal family. Tapsin's younger brothers were killed. His cousins and their husbands and wives were all killed; leaving several orphans
, which Tapsin declared to be his servants. All except Teth who he decided to save as a wife for his son Ekm.

Tapsin's wife, Mlaneth, and their other children had stayed in the palace that day; safe. Mar and Klana
, the girls, were only nine and ten. Sakish, Jakim, and Mekker were tiny boys, but Ekm was almost fourteen and his father's favorite because he obeyed exactly what his father told him. He was also left home while the war raged.

Tapsin would never let Entic join him on any of his political endeavors. Entic had come to question his father. He had seen his father push a Het’s mind and it scared Entic. It scared him so much
, that he never asked for his father’s advice again after that occasion.

Mlaneth was busying herself with the responsibilities of motherhood the day of the sparsing. She enjoyed being a mother, though Tapsin was mostly bothered by the children. She was actually pleased with Tapsin that morning for including Entic on his journey to address the masses. She had no idea her son would be coming home to her having breathed his last. He was carried by a Het servant that had been brainwashed by years and years
of being ‘pushed’ by Tapsin.

Mlaneth knew of Tapsin's secret internal paranoia. His fitful dreams would wake her most nights. They made him sweat and moan and thrash about in agony.

At first she would wake him and try her best to comfort him. Only lately, when she woke him from such nightmares, his eyes had a glaze of vacancy about them. He had grown angry and irritated by everyone around him. Many times she would find him in a dark room, alone and mumbling to himself about being overthrown. She never imagined that her husband would have their son killed because of his jealousy for the throne.

The guard laid Entic’s body on the ground at his mother’s feet and walked away without emotion. Mlaneth sobbed over her broken and lifeless son.

She pulled his body close to her own and rocked and screamed. Then with her own rage rising up within her, she left her dead son and raced to the sparsing ground.

Before she reached the entrance to the grounds she saw a few people running as if Ish himself were after them. Seeing the entrance blocked by giants she slapped one on the back to get his attention away from the roar of the warring crowd.

With her son’s death, her heart was broken. However, seeing the bloody sight before her now made her heart completely fall from her chest. She knew without a doubt this was the doing of her husband. She also knew that he had gone mad.

Mlaneth’s eyes darted over the crowd until she saw her husband high on a hill calmly watching his Empire kill itself.

She turned to run but, little did she know that Tapsin had seen her.

“Kill her,”
he pushed one Het.

The Empire never saw Mlaneth again.

Except for Mlaneth, the Het only battled the ones who tried to escape. They seemed content to let the battle rage. Their only focus was protecting the Empire, by protecting and obeying their god. They had been convinced they were given rank and stature by divine right, and they had been ‘pushed’ for so long their minds were no longer their own.

As the war raged on Hrilla stood at her post beside the only hope for safety, the entrance to the place of the dead. People dashed past her into the small opening.

Someone carried with them a stone of light. Tesla, a Nen, small and swift who had always been afraid of the dark, carried a bag with a small stone of light. Many people poured past her. She was afraid to go in and afraid not to.

“Aaaa,” she cried out as someone shoved her through the small opening to the place of the dead. She fell through the door to the ground
, and before even thinking of getting up again she took the bag and poured it out.

She had to wait only a moment before seeing the stone c
ome to light and life. It shone for all to see through the low ceilinged room; to the other side; to Hrilla; to the escape hole; to freedom. Though many were glad to be able to see, they were not prepared for what they saw. Many screams were hurled through the air. Hysterical people, who had just escaped from an atrocity they never could have imagined, set eyes on a scene, which lay with hundreds of years of death and decay.

“Follow me,” Hrilla shouted through the darkness. She crawled through the tiny exit that she had been through only once before. She scrambled to her feet
, as she found Dhobin just arriving to meet her. He had run all the way from the celebration entrance up to the servants’ passageway that completely encircled the Palace; up to where the passageway crossed into another tunnel, far from the celebration ground.

This tunnel split into five different passageways. Dhobin knew which one went down to the entrance to the dead. He and Hrilla had found some writings and drawings in tunnels just outside the palace and had followed it until it led to the back entrance to the dead.  By reading those writings
, they understood there were surface dwellers searching for those who had escaped to the underground during the nova. They had never told anyone of their discovery and now this worked to their advantage.

Dhobin and Hrilla knew if there was any hope for their people it would be
on the surface. Hrilla grabbed Dhobin in a full embrace. But it was short lived as Anthro poured out of the hole behind Hrilla.

“Quickly now,” Dhobin said.

“Follow Dhobin! This way, quietly,” Hrilla said to the scared and often sobbing escapees.

It was some
time before Tapsin realized that many had found a hiding place. This is what he thought the Anthro and others were doing, going into the place of the dead; hiding. He ordered two Het to seal the entrance with a giant bolder. He planned to leave them there. Tapsin had lost all hold on reality.

But Hrilla had changed the fate of hundreds of people.
She hastened after Dhobin with many people in between them.

After hours of walking a shout went up.