Refugees Page 9

“That’s okay, Ceila," I said. “They are tall.”

  “Why don’t their cats eat them?” she asked, wide eyed.

  “I…I don’t know,” I answered. “I suppose they tame them, like we train magpies.”

  “But why…” Ceila began.

  “That’s enough, Ceila,” my mother broke in kindly. “You can talk more with Brina when she gets back.”

  But my little sister started to cry. ”What if she doesn’t come back?” she asked. All the talk about Klala had frightened her.

  The words went through me like a splinter. “I’ll be back later tonight,” I promised.

  Papa and I leapt from our terrace for our flight to the meeting hall. As we approached, I could hear melodic sounds rising and falling. Numerous other villagers were landing on the porch that surrounded the large wooden hall. Papa and I entered the nearest door. As we entered, we each took up one of the strands of the song being sung, adding the layer of our voices to build the synergistic harmony. Just as the air currents lift our glides so we can soar, so the voices lift our spirits to float on high with the spirit of the Forest. Musicians played their pipes, lyres and drums.

  Once inside the halls, Papa and I stepped into the line of dancers that encircled the room, moving to the rhythms of the music. As we circled the room we danced past the ornate silk tapestries covering the walls, which told the story of the Forest about which we sang. The center of the floor was the base of the trunk of a large mesmeringa tree. The many rings revealed that it had lived over a thousand years. Above, a large slice of the same tree was embedded in the ceiling. On top of the tree base, curved benches were arranged in circles, like the rings that show the age of a tree trunk, with each circle getting smaller toward the center of the room. In the very center was a tree stump that stood about a foot off the ground. Upon that stump, the person to be questioned would face the council. There were also wooden benches arranged around the outer edge of the room, against the walls, for spectators.

  The Seven Elders were already sitting on the most central benches. A few other council members were already seated, but most were still making their way to their seats. I started to notice the presence of many members of my troop, along with Sir Garwin, and soon realized that they were all present. The sight of them rubbed in the raw fact that Klala was gone, causing my heart to fall to my stomach. Once all council members were seated the song came to an end, and everyone else moved to the benches at the edges of the room. Sir Garwin was called to stand on the stump, and to my surprise, two men led the rest of my tribe out of the room and instructed us not to talk with one another. We waited nervously in silence. Then, one by one, we were called into the room.

  When it was my turn, Papa went with me and stood by me as I stood on the stump. I had thought tonight would be the night that I was commissioned for my journey, but instead I was here to be questioned about Klala’s death. I recounted the events of the night just as they had happened. The elders and the council seemed most interested when I told them what the cat riders had said, because of course, I was the only one who understood the words. The others would have just said that they heard them talking. A gasp went out across the room when I told them that the captured cat rider had said, “Looks like there may be fresh flier meat here, we should try and bring it back for the cats,” when he saw Klala’s body.

  After my whole tribe had taken their turn at the stump, they were escorted out of the room, but I was asked to stay. The stranger was lowered in a net from the vines that were strung across the top of the room, after passing through one of the eight windows near the ceiling. Several men approached him, removed the netting, and even helped him to his feet so he could stand with some degree of dignity, but they left his hands still tied behind his back with vines. Once he was standing, the boy, or young man, for I could not be sure of his age, looked about the room, taking it all in silently. I saw the rising and falling in his throat as he swallowed deeply. He had wavy, tawny hair, a cleft in his strong chin, and strange, light colored eyes. I might have even considered him handsome, in a wild sort of way, except, of course, he had no glides stretched between his wrists and ankles, which made him look as if he was malformed.

  I breathed deeply and glanced at my Papa, hoping I would be able to translate correctly. A man stood to each side of the cat rider to guard him. One of the men from the outer ring came to where I was sitting on the bench to escort me within the circles. I asked if my Papa could come with me, and the man nodded.

  I was led to a position only several feet from the cat rider. I could see now that his eyes were a greyish blue like a stormy sky. Papa stood beside me.

  One of the elders spoke to me in a gravelly voice, “What is your name?”

  “Brina, daughter of Palana,” I responded.

  “Those who lie will be the poorest,” he stated.

  “Those who lie will be the poorest,” I repeated.

  “Only the truth pleases the Forest.”

  “Only the truth pleases the Forest,” I repeated

  From there on out, he told me what to ask, I repeated it, the cat rider answered, and then I translated it in as loud and clear a voice as I could manage.

  “Who are you?”

  “I am Metlan of the Samalitan tribe of the Grasses,” he said. I repeated the names just as he spoke them and translated the rest.

  “Where did you come from?”

  “I rode toward the new star for many days, from where my tribe is encamped in the grasses,” he answered, and I translated, feeling startled by his mention of the new star. It further confused me, because his directions seemed off.

  A murmur went out among the crowd.

  “Why?”

  “When the new star appeared, my tribe knew it was important, so I rode towards it to try and find out what it meant.”

  “How many rode with you?”

  “As many as all of my fingers and my toes.”

  “Why did you enter the forest?”

  “I had to pass through it to follow the star.” As he said it, I glanced at my Papa, but I repeated it back accurately.

  “What happened?’

  “We were trying to find a path through the forest. I have never been in a forest before, so I got lost. When I heard a sound like someone crying, I went toward the noise. There I found my friend lying on the ground riddled with arrows. I jumped off my cat and rushed to his side. He was dead. Then I saw a cat that was bleeding and went to help it. As I got closer, I saw one of your people lying by the cat and I went to try to help her too.”

  “What did you and the other man say from the time you spotted your friend on the ground?”

  “I will try my best to remember. I know I told the man with me to cover me, because I was worried I would be shot too. When I noticed the cat bleeding, I said that I thought you people did not kill lions.” He paused while I translated, but I think it was also for emphasis.

  “The other man was afraid and wanted to go. After I checked our injured friend, I reported that he was dead. The other man wanted to leave, and started to ride away. That’s when I noticed the girl on the ground and started to go over to help her.”

  “What did you say when you saw her?”

  I said, “Looks like there may be a living flier body here, we should try and bring her with us to get help. “

  I heard him say it, but I did not translate. It was similar to what he had actually said about Klala before, but it was not the same.

  I looked at my father. He nodded at me and whispered, “Go ahead Brina, do your best.”

  “I must ask him to repeat it,” I announced to the crowded room.

  “Please repeat what you said,” I pleaded with the cat rider.

  He looked at me and smiled, the same smile he had given me when he was hanging from the net.

  “I know our language can be difficult,” he said. “What I said just before I got caught in the net was: ‘looks like there may be a living flier body here, we should try and bring her wit
h us to get help.’”

  I turned to my father. “I don’t know what to do,” I whispered. “I know he is lying.”

  “You are not to blame if you repeat a lie, you are only translating. You must translate honestly.”

  I took a deep breath and announced, “He says that he said: ‘Looks like there may be a living flier body here, we should try and bring her with us to get help.’”

  A murmur went out across the crowd again.

  “What if someone said that you had commented on the girl’s body as fresh food and wanted to feed it to your cats?” The elder told me to ask him.

  It was very hurtful to have to translate a question that implied that I was incompetent or a liar, but I faithfully did my duty.

  The cat rider acted horrified. “I would be horrified!” He responded vehemently. “Who would do such a thing?”

  I was again forced to announce words haltingly that only served to make me sound like a terrible person. I wanted to run out of the room. I looked at my father. He seemed confused and upset too.

  Then the boy spoke without being asked a question.

  “May I explain?”

  “Please do,” the elders leaned in for his explanation.

  “This translator has trouble with my language.”

  It was very hurtful to have to translate him insulting me, but I did.

  “Ask him why he thinks the translator has trouble with his language,” the elder directed me.

  “When I was dangling in the net in the forest, she almost got me killed because she did not know that we have a separate word for bow and friend.”

  There was that cat rider word again: Plushka. I had not known it before. Of course, now I had to translate it by saying “the thing that shoots arrows” and then I used the Glider word for “friend,” because otherwise, in our language, I would just repeat the same word twice, and nobody would understand.

  “Is this true, Brina?” the elder turned to me and asked.

  “I did have trouble earlier, but I fixed it and no harm came to him.”

  “What else do you think she got wrong?”

  “Just as apparently your word for ‘thing that shoots arrows’ is the same as your word for ‘friend,’ our word for the ‘animals we ride’ is the same word as ‘help,’ since the animals we ride are our helpers. Our word for ‘food that is unspoiled’ is the same as our word for ‘living.’ And we refer to your people as ‘bodies who fly’ just as in the compound words ‘somebody’ or ‘everybody.’”

  “Liar!” I wanted to scream, but instead I faithfully repeated his cat rider words in our language. Baskrod would have told me if these things were true. I knew their word for cat and it was not the same as help or helper!

  “May I have a different translator please?” he asked, politely, but as I tried to repeat it, my voice choked and my eyes welled up with tears.

  “Tell him that we do not have another interpreter,” the elder instructed me brusquely.

  I did as I was told, keeping my voice even and steady but I looked at my enemy with eyes of ice.

  The cat rider replied in a smooth tone, “Then I will have to do my best with this one.”

  “Do you have anything else you would like to tell the council?”

  “Yes, thank you for your kindness. Even though I am your prisoner, you have treated me well,” he said, his voice dripping with honey.

  The elder actually smiled at that.

  “We do so to honor the Forest.”

  Then the prisoner spoke again. “Did the girl live?” he asked, looking concerned.

  As if being shot with a hundred arrows, I had to answer him. “No, she died.”

  “I am so sorry,” he said. I think I might have killed him right there, if I had had my bow.

  The elder instructed me to explain to him that the council would have a decision about his future soon, but that he would be blindfolded for now and sent back to his treetop terrace.

  He politely thanked the elders and the council for giving him the opportunity to speak.

  Then he turned to me. “I’d like to thank you as well” he said, with just the slightest smirk upon his lips.

  I did not translate it, but answered in his language “The Forest has heard you.”

  “What was that about?” an elder quickly interrogated.

  “He thanked me as well and I acknowledged his thanks,” I explained. It was true after all.

  I said a quick prayer to Adon and hoped that the Forest had heard me too. I braced myself for what was to come.

  The cat rider was blindfolded, lifted into the air and transported back out of the room. I believe he had quite mesmerized the entire room with his charm. Everyone except for me, that is. Every eye followed his progress from the room in silence. I was unceremoniously dismissed and my father and I walked back to the side of the room and sat on one of the benches. Then everybody started talking among themselves at once. Finally an elder called the room to order with the sound of a magpie.

  With the full attention of the counsel and audience, Elder Soartu rose. His green silk robes were ornately embroidered with colorful birds of the forest. A long thin beard dangled from his chin, reaching nearly to his waist. Before speaking he raised both his arms elegantly to reveal the flow of his silk-covered glides.

  He began to speak: “The Forest requires absolute truth between all members of Kalpok. Lies lead to discord. When the Forest is happy, the Forest provides for us abundantly. Discord in Kalpok upsets the Forest, so the Forest will not provide. Lies are punished by banishment.”

  I held my breath and started to feel dizzy. Was he talking about me?

  Elder Soartu sat down. Elder Lepton rose next. She was dressed in a similar fashion, but instead of a beard, loose skin dangled between her chin and neck. She had recently become quite frail, and when she raised her arms before speaking, I could see they were shaking slightly. Elder Lepton put her arms back down to her side, and then, still standing, began to speak: “Before reaching any decisions related to the incident that led to Klala’s death, including a decision about our prisoner, the council has other equally pressing business. The ship for the journey to colonize a new forest has arrived. Many of you have been invited here tonight because you have been chosen to become a part of our first colony. Please wait on the terrace while the council negotiates our final decision.”

  With everything else, I had almost forgotten about the new colony that had been planned. The large wooden doors to the council hall were opened, a musician began to play a flute with a merry tune, and those of us not on the council all filed out to the terrace. I felt like a zombie, just putting one leg in front of the other. My father reached for my hand as we walked out, and I was thankful for his warmth which gave me strength for the time being. I knew that because I had spoken on the stump, I was not allowed to talk with the other villagers while a decision was being made, especially not to others that had spoken. I wanted to ask my Papa why the council failed to mention the new star or my commission. Shouldn’t this have been my big night now that the star was here? The only one who had mentioned the star was the cat rider! Although I had dreaded it, I had also dreamed about the honor I might bring to my family by having been chosen.

  Now it was all but forgotten. Even I had almost forgotten about it. Not only did I not feel like someone chosen for some great task, but I felt in danger of banishment. Banishment. It was every person in Kalpok’s greatest fear.

  Strange to think then, that some of our people had actually volunteered to leave Kalpok. Our village was almost perfect, except that over time it had become crowded. It was more like a small city now. A complicated water system had to be put into place. As new generations came along, new homes were built in the trees. More and more sons and daughters had been born and needed homes in mesmeringa trees. The council had decided to accept an offer from the rivermen, who came from far to the north. The rivermen had agreed to meet us with a large ship at the Vargar River, and then sail it in
to the unknown forests far away to search for other clumps of mesmeringa trees appropriate for settlement. In exchange, we would provide them with silk, honey and mesmeringa tree products. The colonists would take mesmeringa seeds and plantings with them, so, with the passage of time, their new home would grow to be like Kalpok. If this colony thrived, then more new colonies would follow.

  I had marveled at the thought of those who had the courage to volunteer for such a journey into uncharted territory. What if there were no more mesmeringa forests out there? We could certainly live in other forests, but we would not enjoy such an abundant lifestyle without the mesmeringas. I knew that other people lived scattered in various trees in other locations, but their lives were difficult and fraught with hunger and danger. They were sometimes even forced by conditions to live on the ground. I shook my head, revolted at the thought of such a life.

  Then the irony of it all struck me. Here I was, more terrified of banishment than death itself, and yet just last night I was bracing myself to be ready for a journey away from my friends, my family and Kalpok. Why had that always seemed so different? One scenario was romantic and breathtakingly exciting because Baskrod had told me that I had been chosen for a good purpose. From the time when, as a little girl, I had first been told about my future, I had dreamed of faraway forests with magnificent trees that reached the clouds, and how I would ride on magical creatures to reach above the clouds and find secrets that would mean safety and peace to my people. Of course, along the way, there would also be a handsome prince, who would fall in love with me.

  What a silly little girl I had been! The world beyond Kalpok was, no doubt, filled with flatlands and deserts without trees, and populated by horrible warlike monsters like that cat rider.

  I heard the music begin again and knew it was time to return to the council.

  Chapter 15

  Grass - Metlan

  As his net lifted him out of the council chamber, Metlan felt good about his fate. Although he was blindfolded in a net, a captive being shuttled high in the forest, far from his tribe, he felt proud that he had handled himself well. So far his plan was working. Although he didn’t want to admit it to himself, deep down inside he knew that he was trying to prove something to his father, who had never seemed to have time for him. He wondered if his father would even send anyone to look for him, or would he just give him up for dead? Anyone could see that the only way to penetrate this forest was as a spy from the inside. Those scouts running around the perimeter looking for a weakness, might as well be target practice for the fliers in the trees high above. And thinking about fliers, his people’s perceptions about the fliers had been so wrong.