Margins of the Wild
The margins of the
wild seem much closer here.
I couldn't help but feel pity for the
stray mongrel from the woods that stared at me, its ribs shockingly
apparent on its starved torso. It eyed me with a mixture of wariness
and desperation, wondering if I was the sort to kick it or feed
it.
I opened my satchel and withdrew a
strip of dried meat, part of the travel rations we had purchased
in Elfhome before making our way into this Pancreator-forsaken
country of Jyandhom. Hargard has proven every step of the way
that it is not one of the Known Worlds. I threw the strip at the
mongrel's feet; it leapt backwards before realizing what it was
I had offered. It lunged greedily at the meat and gobbled it in
an instant, and then looked to me for more.
I sighed and turned away, looking into
the thatch hovel where Erian and the rest of our group held converse
with the local matron. We sought a meeting with the infamous star-thane,
Haldon Boldeyes, in the hopes of acquiring his patronage as an
escort and guide deeper into Vuldrok space. While the idea of
allying with one of the raiders who routinely pillaged Hawkwood
space was initially abhorrent to me, it's necessity is now obvious
after weeks of failure to obtain jumpkeys to other Vuldrok worlds.
Our lack of knowledge about these planets
and their people proves a constant hindrance as we betray our
ignorance to the locals with every word we speak. What little
information was provided us by fellow Questing Knights and Cohorts
has taken us this far and provided us with a number of potential
guides, along with some murky idea of what other worlds lie further
beyond Hargard's gates. But it has proven terribly incomplete,
full of hearsay and bigoted opinion relayed as fact.
I felt something tugging at my satchel
and looked down to see the mongrel had advanced upon me from behind
and now held my bag in its teeth, attempting to wrest it from
me. I yanked it away, crying "No!", but it clung tighter
and growled evily. I pulled again and freed its jaws, but the
beast, boldened by its taste of meat, leapt at me, barking.
I jumped back, afraid it would bite
me and bring a host of infections, but it whimpered and ran, quickly
disappearing into the nearby woods. I recovered myself, wondering
at its sudden cowardice, and turned to enter the hovel - only
to run straight into Onggangarak, my Vorox friend. He had silently
come from the hovel upon hearing my cry to stand behind me. No
wonder the mongrel had run off.
He chuckled and smiled, shaking his
head. "A lesson about wild beasts: if you feed them, they
will see you as food."
"Well, I it didn't seem completely
feral. I mean, it did approach me. Surely it's been around the
people of this village long enough to become somewhat domestic."
Ong smiled. "I know something
of 'becoming domestic,' and it is but a thin veneer over a surface
of instinct. Some would say it is not worth the effort, but I
disagree, appreciating greatly the wonders of civilization. I
can thus see the lack of contrast between the two more clearly,
perhaps, than you, little father. You have lived long among those
schooled in morals."
"Is not certain morality inborn?
While dire circumstance may try even the best of us, does not
even a cub understand and seek love?"
"Perhaps. It is hard to remember
what I thought before I was taught to think in the known manner.
It is an argument without ready propositions."
I laughed. "Ong, you could argue
theology before the Metropolitan of Kish! Most men are not so
familiar with our own language as you."
We were interrupted by Julia, exiting
the hovel followed by the rest of our party. "Enough philosophy,
you two. We've got to head into the valley; there's a fortress
where we can supposedly find this fabled Vuldrok we're looking
for."
I turned to Erian, who looked perturbed.
"My lady, did you get all the information you needed?"
"No," she sighed, tired after
these weeks of frustrating attempts to pretend the Vuldrok informers
she interviewed were not peasants but equal peers. She had quickly
discovered that her typical noble airs aroused only hatred here.
"These people know how to hide secrets from the Hawkwyrdedda,
as they call us. But the woman swears that Haldon's steading is
in the valley below - if he's not away raiding Hawkwood fiefs."
She marched past us toward the woods,
to the thin trail that wound downwards. Cardanzo quickly moved
past her to take the lead, and Ong dropped to all sixes and bounded
into the trees to the right side of the path, scouting our flank
and remaining hidden in case the need for surprise arose. The
rest of us, I, Julia, Sanjuk and Lt. Gosado, followed behind our
liege.
Lt. Gosado is still new to our company,
but her military discipline has served her well in our strange
surroundings these past weeks. Her presence among us has calmed
Erian, for she is a soldier sworn to Erian's uncle, General Hanmei
Usaki Li Halan; it is almost as if the old warrior were here himself,
so well does Lt. Gosado know his proverbs and tactical wisdom.
It was a cool day, but not as cold
as it was rumored to get in this region. I pulled my robes tighter,
but had no need for anything thicker. As we marched through the
woods, I found time to reflect on the immediate environment and
took some pleasure in its peaceful beauty. Green conifers dominated,
but the occasional open meadow displayed brightly-colored flowers,
with the slight buzz of insects about. Birdsong rang through the
trees from various distances, undisturbed by the sounds of any
human-made thing - there was no whine of flitter or skimmer, no
jangling even of horse-tack or horse-drawn wheelcarts. While this
is not unusual even in the Known Worlds, it was new to me to experience
this nearly uninterrupted for weeks. Even the poorest fief in
the empire has some form of craft or tech to eventually disturb
the silence.
We soon came into the valley, and the
trees opened up to reveal a broad meadow with a trickling stream
cutting through its center, its source revealed as a thin cascade
from a rising mountain chain on the far side. In the middle of
the field was a stone fort, supposedly built - according to our
recent village informant - years ago by the earliest Vuldrok settlers.
It was an old ward station marking the boundary of a now extinct
thanedom. The only sign of modernism to it were the ceramsteel
planks bolted to serve as shutters on its windows, stolen, I surmised,
from some spaceship hulk.
Children ran and played in the stream
and mud ponds around the fort, excitedly pointing at us when we
broke through the trees. Their commotion summoned bored-looking
soldiers from within, who immediately gained some energy upon
seeing us. They called more of their kind, and waited patiently
but glowering by their home as we approached.
Five of them moved forward as we neared
the door, each handling his or her (there were women soldiers
among them) sheathed or slung weapons, an assortment of swords,
axes and even a blaster-axe, much notched and scorched but probably
in fine working condition.
Erian greeted them and explained our
goal, promising Imperial riches and rewards to Haldon Boldeyes
if he consented to see us and guide us to other worlds. They seemed
unimpressed, but sent a man inside to inquire of their chief.
He eventually returned, this time smiling, and gestured for us
to enter the fort.
It was surprisingly cosmopolitan inside,
its walls hung with fine hangings and fine art paintings - loot
from Known Worlds holdings. A short passage opened to stairs on
either side (upwards to the left, down to the right) and forward,
into a main chamber, where a hearty laugh greeted us.
A man in a worn but well-kept Charioteer
jumpsuit opened his arms and smiled at us. His chest was studded
with patches and badges, both Merchant League and Vuldrok, and
an array of weaponry (blaster pistol, dirk and skinning knife)
and tools hung from his belt - including a key ring with at least
12 jumpkeys.
"Aha," he cried. "Julia
Abrams! Little Jules!"
Julia stared aghast at the man, and
finally stammered out a reply. "Gordon Samothrace? It can't
be you!"
"It is! It is! In the flesh and
healthier than ever!"
"But the travelwaste disease!
You were dying of radiation poisoning last time I saw you at the
Academy on Leagueheim. Pancreator's mercy, that was nearly 10
years ago!"
"A lifetime. Time enough to be
born anew. I have put weakness behind me and live with gusto,
Little Jules, my best pilot in the whole squadron!" He turned
to Erian, as if she were but one among many of us, not the obvious
noble she was. "Nobody took to tax collection maneuvers like
Jules! The Reeves were ready to graduate her then and there as
long as she signed on with the fleet. But not Jules! She had her
own gig going already! What was it? A contract with the Li Halan
worlds for a Rampart-Kish mercantile route was it?"
"Something like that," Julia
said, not wanting to talk about her past sour contracts. "What
the hell are you doing here? How did you get here? How long have
you been here?"
"Oh, going on seven years I suppose.
I wanted to go out fighting, Jules, not die in some sickbed racking
up Apothecary bills. I hired on with a Hawkwood noble seeking
revenge against some Vuldrok raiders. It was a suicide mission
for all us, but I had nothing to lose."
Erian coughed. Samothrace seemed to
remember where he was. "Ah, what a host! C'mon, sit down."
He gestured to the benches surrounding a large throne, what looked
to be a captain's chair torn from some starship deck. He sat on
a fur-covered ottoman beside the throne, while we spread out on
the benches.
"To continue my tale," he
said, winking at Julia. "I came here to Hargard intending
to die in a glorious space battle against barbarian hordes. Well,
we got boarded instead. I was knocked out cold and woke up captured
instead of dead. Sold as slaves, we were separated and sent on
deeper into Vuldrok space."
Erian again coughed. Samothrace smiled.
"To make a long story short, I worked my way into the trust
of our ship captain - helping steer the ship after its own pilot
got himself shot got me many kudos. I was eventually freed and
offered the position of pilot on Haldon Boldeye's ship. Those
were hectic times. So harried that I almost forgot about my disease.
It seemed to disappear. I learned that I loved this new, reckless
life, with no idiotic bureaucratic authority from on high to tell
me what to do. I haven't had a disease symptom in three years.
The life of a raider has cured me."
Julia shook her head, staring in wonder
at him. "Amazing."
I prodded Julia. "You seem to
have an awful lot of old acquaintances scattered across the stars.
Are you going to properly introduce your friend to our liege?"
"Oh! Uh, yeah. Sorry about that.
Commander Gordon Samothrace, this is Lady Erian Li Halan, currently
serving in the Emperor's service."
Erian nodded at the pilot and began
to speak, but he cut her off. "Another Questing Knight? Been
a lot of you guys around here lately, poking around, asking questions,
all trying to get to the Vuldrok heartworlds."
"My mission of diplomatic embassy
is a noble one, commander," Erian replied, hiding her annoyance
well. "Is it so wrong to greet one's neighbors with visits?"
"Considering that these neighbors
- including me - have been pillaging your Emperor's holdings for
some time now, yeah, it makes some of us suspicious."
"And what of Haldon Boldeyes?
Do you speak for him? Or does he hide behind pilots, fearful to
meet us himself?"
Our new friend frowned, not a look
of anger, but disappointment, as if a dinner guest used the wrong
fork. Before he could continue, one of the soldiers who had brought
us in spoke, stepping further into the room.
"Fear? Haldon fears no one and
no thing! He has spat in the eye of Satrar himself, and screamed
in rage at his power when others broke down like milksop boys
seeing their first bare woman's breast! No, he does not hide,
but neither is he stupid enough to announce his presence before
strangers who have earned no rights by him."
Erian stood and bowed to the man. "I
meant no insult, star-thane. But impatience can prove to be a
virtue, as it has here."
The soldier stared warily for a moment
and laughed. "What an odd way to speak! I like it. Too many
of your kind demand things or beg them. Few speak honestly of
them." He walked past us and spun around as he dropped onto
the throne. So this was Haldon.
"You are persistent," he
said. "My people have watched you and sent word of your seeking
me these past weeks. I told them to delay you, to test your resolve
and demeanor. So far, you have proved yourselves able enough.
Perhaps you would not be so annoying on a long star journey as
I at first though, eh? Gordon, how say you to their request?"
Samothrace smiled at us, looking longest
at Julia. "I say honor it, thane. There is much to be learned
on both sides."
Haldon nodded. "It is done then.
You want me to guide you into the Vuldrok Star-Nation. I want
you to tell me of your emperor and pay me 25,000 firebirds."
"What?!" Julia cried. "That's
robbery!"
Both Haldon and Gordon roared with
laughter. "You think I got my jumpkeys for free?" Haldon
said. "They cost me in blood and broken tech, and they'll
now cost you."
"A high fee," Erian said.
"One we shall pay. On one condition: our portion of any raids
you involve us in goes towards this fee."
Haldon was shocked. "Ah, I'm seen
through. How did you know I intended to raid with you aboard?"
"You can't afford to travel far
without stopping for booty. If we're with you, you'd surely expect
us to pull our fair share of the duty."
Haldon nodded and narrowed his eyes
at Erian. "Aye, I would. And if you turn against me, to protect
one of your own kind, the deal's off and I leave you in the void."
"Conditions accepted," Erian
said, smiling slightly.
I was astonished. I could not believe
my lady intended to engage in piracy to achieve her goals. I looked
to Cardanzo and saw that he was not surprised at all. Surveying
all my friends, it appeared that only Ong was equally surprised,
but he smiled at the prospect of action while I paled at it.
"We leave for Khotan at the end
of the week then," Haldon exclaimed. "And then on to
Frost."
It appeared that the margins of the
wild were not only close, they had engulfed us.