21. Chapter 21
The story the other khadahrs were filling me in on sounded unbelievable like a tale of hunters and gods from a time long forgotten. I probably wouldn't have believed it had I not known the males for many years and admired most of them. Males of courage and honor. Males who wouldn't mislead me.
"Bzun-Lhan is dead?" Dzar-Ghan told me that they had voted to have our High Priest and his Grand Master sealed up in the very cave where many of our gallies had died.
"By the mercy of the gods"." Dzur-Khan shrugged.
"If not yet, they will be soon," Tzar-Than added mercilessly.
I sat back in shock. The priests were our path to Vorag and the other gods. Our means of communication with them. At least, that's what most Vandruk believed. I had given that up when Mynarra… Mynarra, the thought of my sister being alive shot through me like a hot iron. Alive!
Alive and locked away for ten years , my mind reminded me. I ground my jaws. Ten years!
"How was she?" I asked Dzar-Ghan, afraid of his answer.
"She looked good," Dzar-Ghan answered right away. He didn't ask who I was talking about. "I mean, considering… but she wasn't mistreated if that's what you're asking."
I still had a hard time coming to terms with my sister being alive and not mated to Dzar-Ghan. But I held my tongue. Vorag was guiding us on different paths, all different from what we had envisioned ten years ago.
"What happened to all the gallies?" I asked, not up for a talk about the future of Vandruk because right then, it looked bleak. Not only would we suffer a catastrophic religious upheave, but we still had to fight the humans.
"The priests had them locked up in a part of Temple City that was off-limits to most people," Tzar-Than explained. His jaw tightened. "Some, like Illug, were mated to Vandruks in secrecy. As soon as this is over, I'm going to find her and make sure she is all right."
Illug was the gallis he had chosen to mate. I remembered her because she had been a beauty and friends with Mynarra.
"Mostly, they only mated the low-born gallies to Vandruks who agreed to keep them… in secret," Dzur-Khan said between pressed teeth. "We will find those and hold them accountable for their actions."
I nodded, adding this to the growing list of things that had to be done and set right.
"There was much suffering, too much to count off tonight"." Dhar-Ghan pulled us back to the task at hand. "One thing at a time. You took Weidenhof prisoner. Tell us your tale"." He handed me a skin of skoff.
I took a long sip and allowed the vile brew to heat my stomach until a pleasant warmth spread through me. "I planned on going through the portal and killing him," I confessed.
"What changed?" Tzar-Than wanted to know.
"Everything. I started learning about the humans"." I shook my head. "They're fascinating but also a threat so great, I decided I needed to find out more about them."
Tzar-Than nodded in agreement. "They're a formidable foe."
"Only by their weapons, which they can't use on Vandruk. Vorag has made it so"," Dzar-Ghan proclaimed.
"Hear, hear"." Szur-Than, another khadar, nodded, raising his flask of spirits.
"Don't underestimate them," Dzur-Khan warned, holding up what looked very similar to the guns I had seen on Earth. "They changed the material, but their guns are just as deadly."
"Where did you get this?" I reached for the weapon, and Dzur-Khan handed it to me, grip first. I recognized the material as some kind of polymer. Under Carl's instruction, one of the IC guards had taken me to what the humans called a gun range, where I had been introduced to all kinds of weapons. Weapons that had made me realize how strong of an enemy the humans were despite their puny sizes.
"The IC guards accompanying Tzar-Than's group had them hidden on them," Dzur-Khan explained. I pulled out the magazine and inspected the very sharp rubber bullets. I was sure there was a lot more to Dzur-Khan's tale, but for now, I wanted to keep our attention on the humans and their weapons.
"They showed me many of their weapons," I filled the others in. "They can kill from a great distance. We need to fortify the area around the red fog."
"Already in planning," Dzar-Ghan agreed.
"What else did you find out?" Tzar-Than prodded me on.
"Besides the pretty gallis you brought with you," Szur-Than's eyes wandered to the group of gallies, where Rachel sat with the other human khadahrshies. She fit in with them well. A wave of pride swelled my chest. Rachel belonged here, with me.
"Carl offered me the position of king of Vandruk"." I stared into the flames; the silence after my words was telling.
"Damn!" Vzar-Khan, the khadahr of Markum, raised his skoff skin. "King Ghan-Zahr."
Subdued laughter followed his words.
"What do you think the humans are planning?" Dzar-Ghan's voice killed the laughter.
"My Rachel is a reporter ," I used the English word since we didn't have one in Vandruk. "She is like a historian, but mostly for things that happen right now, like she would write about what happened at the cave and distribute it among the people so they…" I stopped as an idea occurred to me.
"Excellent idea," Tzar-Than praised, having come to the same conclusion.
"What?" Dzur-Khan looked from Tzar-Than to me.
"That's how we will let our people know what happened at the cave. A written statement"," Tzar-Than elaborated.
"We'd have to carefully word it, not to incite a civil war. Or break down our religion completely"," Dzar-Ghan warned.
"We need to find priests we can trust. They can tell the people"," I asserted.
"A good plan. Matt would be excellent at wording it." Tzar-Than nodded at the human male sitting away from us.
"What's with him?" I inquired.
"I took him prisoner a few years ago. He taught me about the humans and their language," Tzar-Than filled me in. "He became a friend."
"So why isn't he sitting with us?" I was confused.
"Do you read English?" Tzar-Than asked, pulling out a sheath of paper.
I shook my head. "Nek. I tried, but it was too much to learn. I didn't have enough time."
Tzar-Than nodded, holding up the little booklet. "Gwyn tasked him with making something she calls a pamphlet ." He handed it to me. "She wanted the humans to make more of these to give to any future brides."
Tzar-Than had already told me he had originally demanded human gallies from our enemies in exchange for allowing human scientists passage to Vandruk to explore our world. With finding most of our gallies alive, that plan was now obsolete, I imagined.
I looked through the pamphlet and admired the painstakingly painted pictures depicting Vandruks in all forms of life.
Tzar-Than moved closer to me, pointing at the pages. "Here is a dictionary of important words like water, food, shelter, and sick."
It looked like one of the tables I had seen Carl use, and I nodded.
"Here is a summary of our religious beliefs, our history, the… cave-in"." He faltered for a moment. Making me realize that sa, his sisters had survived, but he had lost his mother and aunts. "Different occupations, a rough layout of our lands"." I stopped him there. Maps of Vandruk had been around for many years, but this one wasn't just excellent; it also left a large question open, one I had been pondering a lot lately. "All this water"." I pointed at the ocean surrounding Vandruk from all sides. "Do you think there are others… more people out there? More land?"
"Something to consider for the future"." Tzar-Than nodded.
I burned to talk more about it, but just like other particulars we had poked at, this one, too, needed to be filed away for now.
"This is… nice. But we won't need this any longer. What does it have to do with Matt?" I returned to the original question.
Tzar-Than flipped the pages until he reached the one he was looking for; he cleared his throat and read it out loud while pointing at the paragraph.
Communication
Understanding the Vandruk customs and language is crucial. Vandruks have a unique way of conveying messages through stories and metaphors. Pay close attention to the tales shared during gatherings, especially the one about the god Savell.
I looked up, creasing my brow. "I don't understand. We don't speak in metaphors. We make our opinions known, and we don't have a god Savell…" I broke off. Savell in Vandruk meant secrets .
Tzar-Than flipped a page, pointing once again.
A special note on security
Dangerous predators called xythrax and vorathar roam the wildlands. It is important that you never venture out alone. Always stay with your group and alert a Vandruk as soon as you lay eyes on a maskatel. Maskatels fly high in the sky and have eyes on everything. Its hearing is especially good, and it can converse with its brethren over long distances.
I will always be here to answer any questions.
"We don't have any flying predators and I've never heard of a maskatel before."
"Say it backward," Dzur-Khan implored me.
I wasn't in the mood to amuse him and the others, but his stance was serious, so I indulged him. "Letaksam." I shook my head. But then I stopped. "Le ta ksam."
Dzur-Khan nodded. "The enemy's eyes and ears."
"Matt?" Matt was a spy? But how would he have been able to inform Carl of what he thought and heard?
Tzar-Than looked furious, like a demon from dagghar. "They implanted him with a device that records everything he sees and hears, which is why he had to write this pamphlet to let us know what's going on."
"How did you figure this out?" Now that I knew what to look for, I saw it, but I hadn't seen it when Tzar-Than had read to me at first. Not until I started thinking about the bird. Now, it made sense. The pointing out of the usage of metaphor, which we didn't have, and the god Savell, which we also didn't have. It was clever, I gave him that. Carl's scientists would have watched Matt write this, but they wouldn't have known the hidden meaning because they didn't know about our gods and customs.
"It wasn't me," Tzar-Than said, looking over to where the gallies sat. "It was Dzar-Ghan's khadahrshi, Amber, who noticed it. She's a very smart warrior."
Dzar-Ghan's chest visibly swelled. "Sa, she is."
"So that's why Matt is holding himself away from us?" I checked.
Tzar-Than nodded. "Sa, he worries that Weidenhof's scientists will begin translating our language, and he doesn't want to pass on any information."
I turned to look at the lone human male, who, even though I hadn't met him yet, had earned my respect.
"The humans already have such a device," I filled them in.
Tzar-Than didn't seem surprised. "It was to be expected."
"Let's get back to what we think the humans are planning," Dzar-Ghan directed the conversation back to a few moments ago, and I realized that I had forgotten all about it. Too many life-changing events were taking place too fast to stay on track of one.
The back of my neck prickled, and when I looked up, my eyes met Rachel's as she was watching me. There was so much heat in her gaze that my cock swelled inside my pants. Gods, I wanted this gallis. I would do anything to make Vandruk safe again, just for her.
"What is their plan, King Ghan-Zahr?" Dzur-Khan bowed his head mockingly, bringing me back to our conversation.
"Rachel pointed out that IC kept the humans unaware of our existence for the past ten years," I explained. "If they don't want to lose face in front of their own people, they cannot allow us to live and tell a different story than their narrative."
Tzar-Than nodded. "I'm afraid I agree with you."
"Why would he offer to make you a king then?" Szur-Than asked.
"He wanted more information from me and my cooperation. He didn't think I would see through his scheme until it was too late. He thought he could bribe me with that promise; in the end, he would have me exterminated like everyone else."
"What do you mean?" Szur-Than didn't seem convinced. "I mean, sa, they attack us, but we attack them too."
"I think your khadahrshies and Rachel might be able to explain this much better than me," I suggested.
"Let's take a break, get something to eat and sleep. Tomorrow, Amber will interrogate Carl, and then we'll reconvene our talks"." Tzar-Than stood.
"Amber?" I questioned.
"She is the most bloodthirsty, persuasive person I have ever met," Dzur-Khan said as his chest swelled with pride.
My eyes trailed back to the gallis in question. She looked stronger than the other gallies, taller too, but she was a gallis.
Dhar-Ghan's fist knocked on my shoulder. "Trust me, in a real battle, you want her at your side."
I had my doubts, but I had known Dhar-Ghan for a long time. By dagghar, he had almost mated my sister with my blessing, so I took his word for it.