The New World (The Last Delar) (18 page)

He takes a deep breath and holds on tightly to the only thing he has brought with him, Leotie's lock of hair.  He starts to walk into the jungle with no idea where he is or where he is going, but for the first time in his life he has a purpose.  He looks down at Tib, who looks back up at him with his large eye.  Taeau bends down and lifts Tib onto his shoulders. Tib hugs Taeau’s head and his markings begin to flutter.  Taeau looks up at Tib and smiles before breaking out into a run and disappearing into the wild.

CHAPTER TEN

Un-Nabus moves through the mist of a marshland surrounded by steep mountain cliffs, followed by his servant Gynok.  The air is thick, and bubbles escape from the mud releasing gases that turn the flames on Gynok's torch blue.

"Master, these lands sting my smeller."

"Why do you think they are called the Putrid Marshes, worm? What you smell is the slow rot of both plant and beast.  With few winds and no run-off for the water, the stagnant stench of death fills the air.  Few fish swim here, mostly snakes and bottom-feeding creatures like yourself call these marshes home.  This is one of the last territories of the Oota-Daboon, an ancient warrior race created by the first Hhtuno lord.  They are now shadows of their ancestors, scattered and divided.  Many of the surviving Daboon are here, for few outsiders ever venture into these marshes.  It is here where I will restore them to their old and rightful glory.  This is why we have entered these marshes.  Bother me again about another one of your discomforts, and I will feed you to a strangling snake that will digest you until the next season. "

"Yes, Master.  Thank you, Master.  What does one of the Daboon look like?" Gynok asks with a look of disgust as he thinks of being eaten by a slithering marsh constrictor.

"They are covered in long, thick hair, and a few of the strongest Daboon still have the poisonous quills on their backs.  Their powerful arms have grown longer than their legs, and now most Daboon walk crouched on all fours.  Over time, they have evolved a short rat-like tail, which stores fat and helps them survive long periods without food.  They have rodent-like teeth and their claws, once sharp and lethal, have become dull and curled for digging and traveling.  Puddle looks around and stumbles as he tries to catch up with his master.  "Gnyok, do you see that island of tall grass to the west?" Puddle looks ahead, shaking his head.  "Continue there alone.  I will meet you in the center.  Do not turn around or flee, or merciless your punishment will be." Un-Nabus looks down at Gnyok's torch, and it goes out.  Un-Nabus covers his head with his hood and transforms into the Hornbill.  He flies high into the murky sky, disappearing into the fog.  Puddle lowers his head and shivers. He trudges alone through the thick marshes without the protection of his master.

The grasses grow taller, hiding him on his journey.  The sun is setting, and the dim light within the marshes grows darker.  Puddle hears noises coming from inside the grassy island.  He moves closer, slowly parting the vegetation.  The noises grow louder and more intense.  He sees the silhouettes of moving creatures and hides behind a dead tree stump.  Slowly looking over the stump, Puddle sees large beasts feeding on a marsh lizard.  The beasts' bodies are covered in mud, and their heads and arms are soaked with blood as they rip the carcass apart.  One of the beasts stops eating and raises its head, sniffing the air.  It begins to slowly creep away from the kill, moving closer to Puddle.  Puddle hears a sloshing behind him and turns to see a shadow with two bloodthirsty eyes approaching.

"Ahhhh!, Master, help me, help!" Puddle yells as he tries to flee from the approaching shadow, but as he turns to escape, the other two creatures rush toward him.  Puddle is frozen with fear and he shakes in the mud moving his head back and forth between the beasts.  He quickly curls in a ball, hiding under his tough leathery back.  Puddle can hear the beasts communicating to each other in their growling language.

"Don't eat me, beasties.  I mean you no harm.  I have no meat on my bones.  That lizard would taste better."

"Foolish Muddler, such a soft and tender morsel you will be. I will enjoy feasting on you, little one."

A bellowing echoes from above the marshes, followed by a darkness that surrounds Puddle.

"Thank you, Master," Puddle murmurs as tears streak down his quivering face.

The beasts begin to roar and splash water toward the darkness.  From within the dark cloud, Un-Nabus appears.  His voice is soft, but the ground shakes beneath him, "Sons of the Oota-Daboon, bow before me and rejoice, for your master has returned to you."

The largest of the three Daboon speaks, "I bow, slurp, to nothing." Then in his own language he growls, commanding the others to attack.

Un-Nabus raises his hands at the two Daboon, and the darkness covers their heads.  They begin to scream, falling to the ground and tearing at their faces in terror.  Puddle cries out and covers his ears as he hears their blood-curdling screams.

"Feel the true power of a Hhtuno lord, my children.  Let great fear and pain seep into your souls. Cower once you hear your master's name for the first time.  I am UN-NABUS, Lord of Hhtuno." The two beasts run off into the marshes, consumed with fear, bellowing in the night.  Un-Nabus turns to the Daboon whom he has spared.

"This is a day of days, for your master has returned, and I will restore to you the power and strength of your race." The Daboon slowly creeps backwards, looking for a way to retreat. "Bow to me." Un-Nabus points his staff at the Daboon, and the darkness forces the beast to his knees.  "I heard you speak the common tongue.  How is this?"

"My father taught me before I ripped out his throat.  It is how I control my territory."

"You are a descendant of the great Daboon warrior Mar-Ra, and your blood is strong.  I offer you this, my servant . . . swear yourself to me, and I will give you the power to unite all of the roaming clans.  Once they have either joined or fallen before your might, you will then bring them to me.  No longer will the Daboon have to scavenge and live in filth.  Join me, and together we will assemble the greatest army in all the world.  Deny me, and only pain and suffering will you endure before your death."

The beast looks up at the man shrouded in darkness.  " I will join you dark one."

Un-Nabus smiles behind his hood and walks to the side of the Daboon.  He touches his staff to the beast's head.  "You will be reborn tonight, and from this moment on you will be called Un-Ra." Un-Nabus takes a stone from his belt and drops it to the ground. A bloody light rises out of the mud.  "Your hand, Un-Ra, give it to me."

Un-Nabus raises a finger, and his nail grows into a claw. He uses this claw and slices the Daboon's hand.  "Now reach into the mud and grab the stone that I have dropped, and be reborn." Un-Nabus raises his hand and a mist seeps out of his dark mark, taking the form of the Book of Ixkin.

"Lower your head."

Un-Ra lowers his head as his new master commands.  Un-Ra reaches into the mud and feels the cold stone in his grip.  The pages of the Ixkin begin to shuffle, and then a page rips out from the book, shooting into the air before floating down to the crouching Daboon.  The page begins to burn, sprinkling its ashes over the Daboon's back.  Un-Nabus lowers his staff into the mud and walks around the Daboon, creating a line that circles the beast.

"Raahhh," Un-Ra roars, "pain! Great pain!"

The Ixkin closes and dissolves into darkness seeping back into Un-Nabus's mark.  Un-Nabus raises his arms, and the marsh engulfs the Daboon in a cocoon of mud.  Un-Ra struggles inside, trying to free himself as the cocoon suffocates him.  Soon he stops resisting and becomes lifeless and still.  The cocoon bubbles and swirls until it hardens around the beast. Un-Nabus sits besides the muddy shell and waits for the surface of the cocoon to begins to crack.  Once the cocoon has dried and changed color, Un-Nabus lowers his staff and taps it against the cocoon.

"Rise, Lord Un-Ra, and show yourself to me."

Un-Nabus takes a step away from the mound of dried mud.  The hardened cocoon begins to crack and shatter and Un-Ra slowly ascends from his mud-baked prison.  His fur is dripping with a dark liquid, and his body swells.  Un-Ra has grown and his shoulders have become broad.  His quills have light-colored tips that drip and begin to harden.  His re-made claws and teeth have become like blades, smooth and black, fierce and deadly.  His eyes have evolved, growing wider and closer to his snout, and their color has turned from white to blood red.  The beast raises his hands and touches a large stone helmet that he now wears.  The helmet has images of tortured men and burning Hhtuno symbols covering its black surface. On the front of the helmet the upper jaw of a Daboon hugs Un-Ra’s forehead.

"Lord Un-Ra, a powerful creature you have become.  Now bow before me." Un-Ra bows without hesitation.  "You will search out all of your kind, and they will join you, or they will die.  You will take your army to the black shores where each Daboon will fill a sack with as much sand as it can carry.  Once you have done this, you will march west toward the Whispering Canyons.  You and your followers can kill and plunder all in your path.  There you will wait for me at the Broken Stone.  Never have you been to any of these places, but the helmet of your ancestors that has been remade will guide you.  Do you understand?"

"Yes, my Lord, it will be done."

"Now go, and do not fail me." Un-Ra stands tall and roars loudly into the night, arching his back and brandishing his quills.  Each quill echoes loudly and they strike each other as his back convulses.  He then turns from his master and runs toward the other Daboon.

"Come, Gnyok.  Our final journey together begins.  We travel to the lowlands of Escamacu.  It is there where we will claim the Len of Ituha.  Once I posses that, your freedom I will grant." Puddle timidly uncurls from his protective ball and slowly follows his master as they leave the marshes.

---

Puddle and his master have sailed down the Catawba river, through the forest swamps and the land of the Kusso-Natchez on their quest to the southern shores.  Now in the early morning, Puddle stands at the edge of the forest smelling the ocean on a light breeze that blows inland.  Standing under what shade he can find, he licks his skin that has become irritated from the salty wind.  Puddle knows his orders are to not stop until his feet touch sand, but he dares not leave the comfort of the forest.

"I wonder to myself why my slug of a servant has stopped and disobeyed my commands."

Puddle yelps in fear, curling into a ball at the sound of his master.  He quickly uncurls and crawls to Un-Nabus's feet, begging, "Please, Master.  I do not mean to disobey.  It is the nasty sun and salty wind little Gnyok fears.  It burns and dries my skin." The darkness around Un-Nabus picks Puddle up by his back, moving him away from his master's feet. "Better the burning of the sun than my dark grip digging into your slimy flesh." Un-Nabus watches with pleasure as his slave shakes at the thought of his master's punishment.

"Stand, Gnyok and stop your sniveling. Follow me to the water's edge." Puddle hesitantly follows his master toward the ocean.  Crouching as he walks, Puddle tries to protect himself from the ocean winds.  Once they reach the shore, Un-Nabus raises his hand, and Puddle watches as darkness spills from his master's dark mark and forms the book of Ixkin.

Puddle has never seen an ocean before and is confused by its vastness.  He steps back watching the waves crash against the sandy shores.  He looks up and down the shoreline, seeing nothing but sand and water continuing to the horizon. Trees that once covered these shores have been uprooted and are slowly reclaimed by the approaching waters. Puddle looks at these trees and fears the power of the ocean. How could water rip trees from their roots he wonders.  What a place this is, horrible and evil. He looks back to the forests and years to leave these wicked shores.

The pages of the Ixkin flip, and Un-Nabus begins to read.  "Yes, Yes, I see . . . it will be done to perfection." Un-Nabus looks down from behind the book.  "Gnyok, have you ever seen an ocean sponge before?" Puddle looks up with a blank stare.  "Look here, worm, and do not forget what I say, or my dark fingers you will feel." Un-Nabus touches his staff to the shore, and the sand grows black.  Puddle watches in wonderment as the sand begins to take shape, mimicking his masters words.

"Once you have dived along these ocean mountains, you will come to a place where light cannot touch.  You will continue to dive, searching for a ledge on the mountain.  There you will kill your companion.  Once its blood stains the water, it will show itself to you.  What you seek is a very rare blood sponge.  When you see the sponge, you will wrap it in this water satchel.  After you have done this, you must swim with all of your strength to the surface.  Have you understood what I have spoken?"

"Yes, Master, but what companion?"

Un-Nabus reaches for his hood, pulling it over his head and transforming into the Hornbill.  With his talons Un-Nabus grabs Puddle by his shoulders and soars out to the open ocean.  Covering his eyes in fear, Puddle feels the claws of the bird open, and he screams as he falls toward the water.  He waits for the pain of the crash, but it never comes.  With his eyes still shut, Puddle can feel the ocean water splashing against his back.  He opens his eyes to see that he is lying on the ocean, moving with the flow of the waves.  Puddle flinches seeing Un-Nabus standing on the water next to him.  Un-Nabus opens the Book of Ixkin, and Puddle watches the pages begin to turn furiously.  A page shoots out from the book and floats in the wind.  The page hovers for a moment, then in a burst of light it shoots toward Puddle, striking him on his stomach.  His heart starts pounding, and his muscles start to spasm.