The Humming Sphere

[arfindel]

[size=-2]The sphere is a favourite form in
Zoraï, symbolizing individual unity,
completeness and integrity.
[Encyclopaedia excerpt][/size]


When Yle was born the Hathy family was not so old in Farihaven. The market in Avendale thinned, that's what the father used to say so they all had to put all their belongings in the mektoubs sacks and slowly swim over the lake to the bigger city.The Hathy family was not a usual one: most of them worked late at night and it must have been a hard and dangerous work as a lot of them came back with bruises and - not once - even hurt. Still the kids didn't know a lot about such things, they played happily with other tryker kids and lived a comfortable life.

Yle must have been around 14 when he has first met Fai. She was a slender blue zorai girl crying her soul out somewhere on the south beaches of the city. He had seen other zorais in his life so was not amazed to see somebody masked. But has never seen somebody so distressed and desperate. The girl at first didn't want to tell him anything not even to talk to him, but seeing him so kind and caring in the end she told him her story. Her father was a kami sage invited as high zorai reprentative in Fairhaven. Among other small things to remind him and his family of the beautiful lands they called "home" he had brought a decorated gold sphere hanging on a golden chain. Her father never wore it nor he let anyone of the family ever touch it. He only said it was a kami artefact that protected the faithful keepers but the powers of it were too big that a any homin should wear it just like any jewel.

That morning Fai was to meet some friends and spend some time together. It was the birthday of one of her best friends. As her mother was gone shopping and her father left early in the morning with some tryker officialities, the girl thought she could borrow the sphere for some hours and show it to her new friends without any danger and nobody noticing it missing.
They went together, laughed and played as usual, but when she was just to go back home, she realised the sphere was gone. None of the other kids knew anything about it, none had seen it dropping ... They even got offended and anxious that she might have thought one of them had taken it, so one by one all left her and went to their houses. She was now desperate.

Yle was touched. Deep inside he realised he could have done the same mistake anytime. Actually he even had done so taking one of her mother's jewels to show to a friend. And he remembered well what a tragedy had his parents made out of this. He took his little new friend all along Fairhaven and they looked together to every corner, searched ever square inch of the bridges, but her kami sphere was nowhere to be seen.

They finally parted after Yle made all he could to make Fai feel better about it. Long hours of waiting for the disparition to be noticed lied in front of her. Her mother was supposed to go to a theatre representation during the evening, and her father was not expected untill midnight. Yle went to his home thoughtful.

He tried to read a bit, then tried to play with his younger brother... but got bored fast and couldn't stop thinking about Fai and her sphere. Then he decided best thing would be to take one of the nice jewelry tools that his father had and play a bit with them. Even if they were expensive and hard to find, the family was always encouraging him to learn their usage. It was a nice future proffession he was told.

His father was deeply sleeping in his room. Yle moved silently to his chestboard and drew one of the drawers. The tools he was looking for were not there. He opened a next one he had never tried before and... his eyes grew wide: the drawer fas full of beautifully carved jewels of all forms, dimensions, made with all kind of stones. His father moved in his sleep and Yle froze for a second. But he didn't leave. Not yet. On top of the jewels was ... a sphere, a sphere of gold decorated with tens of small weird marks, similar to those he had seen on Fai's clothes.

He had no doubt the sphere was the same his new firend was talking about. The trykers were never making such forms. He was a clever boy and the sphere on top of all those jewels he had never seen his mother or sisters wearing ment much more than a pile of shining objects. But he was not so moved by that, after all he knew that more or less explicitedly. He moved slowly his agile hands, grabed the sphere, put it fast in one of his pockets and slipped away from the room.
The sphere felt strange in his clothes, like being much heavier than it should have been. He remembered it was a magic artefact so he avoided the temptation to look at it or even his fingers urge to touch it.

Darker than the night shadows he slided along Fairhaven streets to the Zorai embassy. He jumped from the bridge and tried to float around the windows. It was hard to see anything inside. Still his trained eyes saw only one blue contour walking from one side to the other of the room and then he knocked in the thick glass. Fai might have not heard his small hand knocking but at the same time the sphere in his pocket got somehow moved by a water current and touched the window making a deep humming sound. Fai came to the glass and saw the tryker swimming there and making desperate signs.

She ran upstairs in a second and opened the door for him. She couldn't belive her eyes when Yle soaked wet gave her the still humming sphere. The tall zorai girl bent and gently kissed the rose tryker cheeks. His smile was filled with happiness, but inside he was sad, he knew he will never meet her again. He didn't want her ever to guess where and how he has found her artefact.

Some two years later Yle was already a strong and nice lad with lots of friends in Fairhaven and crystabel, he was friendly, swift and clever, and almost forgot about Fai and her weird sphere. Not that young lads would make sentimental tragedies of such stories, and tryker lads even less.

Rumours of the kitin invasion were filling the souls with dread, higher and higher were the number of refugees, first fyrosians and then matises. Yle couldn't care less, he and his friends felt safe in their dear Trykoth and like most young people they felt sad for others but felt themselves as untouchable.

...Till one night when their sleep was torn to pieces by people screams and groans, and most dreadfully, by the sound of the insect heavy legs over the Fairhaven bridges. That night Yle had again a surprise about his father. The old Hathy had everything prepared. While all the other trykers were busy helping refugees, he seemed to have packed most everything. He took the two little girls, the boy and their mother in a hurry asking Yle to follow and guard their back. Among fighting guards, dieing homins of all races, and enraged kitins - led by the ferm will of their father - the family made it to the stables not even knowing how they managed to sneak.

The mektoubs and mounts were pepared. They all ran like mad, over the small islands, over the lakes, over so many happy places where they spent so many bright times. The girls cried for a time then they fell aslept exhausted. Mrs Hahty was sighting at times. Old Hahty grund his teeth in front of the small caravan. To the West they were heading, fast as they could.

As the morning light started to show on their way they could see the dimensions of the disaster. Windermeer that they had reached was covered with half eaten bodies. Even on the limpid waves of the lakes more bodies were floating. A foul smell of death was lingering over the city.

As they approached resting Water they could realise they were not the only family with luck, more trykers were riding in front of them, more coming from the war fileds. Some wounded, some crying for their relatives lost in the battles. All heading West.

It was a hard way, they united with many other fugitive trykers, matises and fyrosians but despite all their efforts the distance between them and the kitins grew smaller and smaller. Some mounts died of effort, most children were now ill and too few men were there to defend the fugitives. Most remained to try keep the invasion out of Trykoth, most of them probably dead by now.

They could even hear the ground trembling with the huge kitin march behind them, always approaching, never to stop.
And behold in front of them they finally saw the saviour Zorai walls. All the refugees started to run like pushed by new strength. Those walls were to defend them all and defeat the ugly insect army.

On the walls the blue warriors watched sadly. The last refugees were already caught and slaughtered, the kitins were too close. If they opened the gates now nobody could tell them if they would ever be able to close them anymore in front of the first insects rows pressuring the refugees. With the guards lots of other zorais watched, watched how their brothers were denied refuge and how their own death was approaching.

Old Hathy and his family were siding the crowd. Instead of running ahead to the gates he led them apart and watched forwning the still locked gates and people crushing towards them. "Not good" he mutterd and turned his mount to the North. "Follow me!" he howled and all the family despite the mesmerizing mirage of the gates, the safety, the thick walls turned their mounts too and followed him. Some of the loaded mektoubs got caught in the crowd. "Leave them and follow" shouted the old tryker again.

When the night came, they were alone, in silence of their meks hoofs, along the wall, somewhere in the wild zorai lands. They were all silent as usual. Never was a lot of talk in their family. Yle made a small fire, his mother started to prepare some food out of the rests they still had in their packers. Old Hathy was grinding his teeth on his old pipe. "If you can die tomorrow, it's always better than today, heh!" He laughed grimly.

They were less than two hours of march of the kitins army, to the north the wall was rising without any hope. Sooner or later the kitins will come after the smell tray of some homins who didn't run to the gates...
After eating and putting out carefully the fire, Yle was lieing on his blanket asking himslef what will they do there, where should they go...

And in the silence of the night he suddenly heard his name. He jumped as it was a stranger voice. But nobody around. Wondered if the tiredness and seeing so much blood and horror didn't make him have nightmares. But no, there was a voice calling his name precisely and it was... it was coming from the above, from up there... from the wall.

He saw nothing up in the dark but the voice told him: "I am Fai don't be afraid. Don't stop here, people say they have split the army and chasing along the wall. Wake up your family."

Like in a dream Yle did what he was asked to do. Old Hahty wanted to hear personally the girl. But in the end they took all packers, mounted again and crushed tired they started to run farther to the North.

"I cannot run so fast as you do" said Fai. "But keep following the wall untill it has an inlet to the West. There you wait for me"

They did that, and even if they got attacked by some najabs, torbaks and ragus they only got some more meat to eat or preserve. In the end they stopped and made a new fire waiting for kitins to eat them or Fai rescue, whoever was faster.

And from a bush, close to the wall, the second day, Fai appeared smiling sadly. "The sphere taught me what I shall show you now" she said. And she led them inside the wall. The Hathy family didn't know how to thank her. "it's nothing much" she said. "The wall has fallen in the South. The kitins might be feasting on my kin's flesh right as we speak."

"Go farther inside along the wall, there are no homin dwellings there, maybe they won't look for you. I have to go back and fight for my people."
Yle took two of the mounts.
"You can lead them to safety, father, I am sure you can." His bright teeth smiled once more."I'll go fight next to Fai. If we couldn't defend Trykoth maybe we can at least kill some of them here, in these weird lands".

Nobody has seen Fai or Yle ever since, his family rose them a small altar. His young brother and sister only years later have dared to cross the wall again and visit Trykoth. Only after a long time have they met any other homins. But over this all time their wounds have healed and they still lead their village close to the zorai wall, where never have the kitins looked for homins. As a grateful sign to Fai and her golden sphere they took the kami religion even if they were not corsairs by kin.

Their old Fairhaven proffessions are long ago forgotten, most of the Hathy villagers are now hunters in the deep jungle. Their lads still wait a long time before marrying, much longer than usual trykers.

[meloner]

a wonderful tale ! thank you !

PS : Wasn't the famous zoraï wall built in the old lands ?