The Rule Of Lorques
Chapter One
A drinking house materialised up ahead and, keeping his distance, Jonas trailed his father into a short alleyway beside it. It was dusky, filled with beer barrels stacked high and sheltered from the heavy rain by vines above, the stench of spilled beer still strong from earlier that night. Jonas saw his father entering a courtyard at the end of the cobbled street and followed after him.
‘Where was his Dad going?’ he thought as his little legs found new life and he sprinted forward.
He approached the courtyard and heard voices. He held himself back and hid behind one of the many beer barrels to check it was safe. As he peered beyond the barrels, he noticed the grapevine continue, forming a ceiling from which someone had taken the time to suspend little, coloured lanterns that flickered in the cold air. Small tables and chairs, dotted around, made the nature of the place apparent and in the middle, more or less out of the rain, Jonas’ father met with a hooded figure. They both shook hands and spoke with Jonas’ father doing most of the talking; his hands exaggerating the words in his usual fashion. There was a pause in the conversation and Jonas’ father removed a metal jar from his briefcase, passing it to the stranger. The hooded figure held the base of the jar in one hand and unscrewed the lid with the other. He put the jar down on a table and they both waited. In the light of a red lantern, Jonas saw a large, unknown insect rise up out of the jar. Its translucent, electric-blue body looked like an archer’s arrow with a large, rounded arrowhead at one end and a long, straight tail which hung down behind it. Two antennae extended from its head and a set of delicate, watery wings unfurled on its back as it rose up out of the jar and hovered alongside the two men as they continued to talk. Jonas’ father was gesticulating heavily with his hands as he was trying to explain or describe something to the hooded figure. Then, to Jonas’ horror, he witnessed a series of events that would forever haunt him. Without warning, his father’s leg gave way and he staggered, catching hold of a table for support. Breathing hard, he leaned on the table and shook his perspiring head in a frenzy. The hooded figure grabbed his father’s left arm to support him and, as he did this, the insect glided down onto the back of his fathers’ neck…and disappeared. The cloaked figure said something aloud and Jonas’ father stood up straight as though nothing had happened. For a moment, his father seemed well again. Then, as if someone had flicked a switch inside his head, his father fell to the floor.
For a moment, Jonas didn’t grasp the severity of the situation. He looked at his dad expecting him to get up, but nothing happened. The cloaked figure looked around erratically and then immediately bolted through a slatted door at the back of the courtyard, while the insect hovered All alone, Jonas’ fear took control, and he ran to his father crying out to him. As he reached him, he pulled on his dad’s shoulder rolling him onto his back. His father’s face lolled towards him.
“Daddy!” he shouted through tears as he shook his father by the shoulder trying to wake him, “Wake up…Please wake up!”
Then, as quickly as it had disappeared, the insect emerged, hovering for a moment above the body. Anger and hatred gripped Jonas and he swiped at the insect with his bare hands.
‘Why did you hurt him?” he shouted trying to kill the insect, but the creature was nimble and easily evaded his attacks. Afraid that the insect might kill him as well, panic gripped Jonas, and as it came towards him, he turned and ran back down the alley. He ran out into the storm and never looked back; tears flowing down his cheeks for his father.
_____
Jonas came to and opened his eyes, squinting against the bright sunlight that shone through the tinted windows. That dream…that stupid dream. It was as lucid as it had ever been. For the last ten years, it had come back to haunt him when he was down, never letting him forget. He dreamed it so vividly, it could have happened only yesterday.
He wearily lifted his head off his arms and glanced around to see where he was. When he remembered, he gave a disappointing sigh. He was slouched at his desk, in the middle of class. Fortunately, no one had noticed.
School to Jonas was like land to a fish. It suffocated his imagination and forced him to behave in a way that didn’t feel natural. He had shown willing and expressed to his Kemina his desire to study Arts, yet the Kemina flouted his efforts telling him that such a subject was a pastime, not a subject to learn in school. Instead, he was to suffer geography, mathematics and other such menial subjects until he could prove that he had the drive to learn. Then she may allow him to do some extra-curricular activities. He was an imaginative child just as his Dad had been. He was his father’s son. Or was he? He didn’t know. Closing his eyes and shaking his head, he pushed the thought of his Dad from his mind. He didn’t like to think about his death anymore. When he opened them, he felt a little better and he glanced out of the window looking out over the Encampment. The Encampment was the Capital of Hala and Jonas’ home - a vast city that stretched from the mountains as far as the eyes could see. At the city’s pinnacle, the Citadel stood unyielding and mighty; an enormous construction of solid stone built into the mountainside. It was the home of the Halan ruler.
Jonas brushed his fine, long, black hair away from his face and sighed again, refusing to engage with the class just yet. He was a small boy with an almost mauve pigment in his eyes, which often got him in trouble at school and earned him the nickname of Albi. It was not something that concerned him: he gave as good as he got. Though this did ostracise him, he didn’t mind, it was only his close friends he actually cared about. “Jonas, are you paying attention?” called the Kemina from the front of the class, “or shall I fetch you a pillow?”
She looked at him knowingly.
Caught out, Jonas sat up lazily in his chair and re-engaged with the class. The Kemina was taking them through some revision. She was a young woman who would have worked very hard in order to get her status. A Kemina was like a teacher, but more so. They belonged to an order that advocated the importance of wisdom and made it their duty to impart knowledge to others. The order rewarded and promoted those members that continually studied, causing Keminas to hold positions of respect within the community. The ultimate position was High Priest Kemina: the ruler of Hala and the order. “Geography. Who can tell me the name of the waters that flow continually around our equator,” she said casting her eyes over the room. A little boy named Torsa put his hand up.
“The Southern Borders, Kemina,” he said.
“Very good, Torsa,” the Kemina encouraged, “Ok. Astronomy. Who can tell me the names of the six other planets in our solar system?” she said, again casting her eyes around the room.
Jonas studied a 3D image that had appeared above his desk in front of him. In the centre was a brightly burning star. It was large and fiery and Jonas knew that it was their equivalent sun - Callosia. What seemed like quite a long way out and orbiting the star was a large, yellow planet covered in vast oceans and mountain ranges, labelled Hala – Jonas’ planet. Beyond this were six other planets all circling Callosia. They were unlabelled.
“Anyone?” urged the Kemina
It was Meluna who called out the names as the Kemina highlighted each one in turn.
“Samas, Adecar, Juni, Hippal, Myter and Rayn” she offered enthusiastically. Meluna was Jonas’s best friend. He looked over at her and mimicked her being a teacher’s pet. She raised an eyebrow back at him and smiled, sweeping her long fair hair away from her face. She was good at school and always encouraged Jonas with her competitive demeanour.
“Very good, Meluna. Interplanetary Politics. Apart from Myter, what other planets are inhabited and what are their styles of government?”
“The Juniren live on Juni,” Jonas piped up taking Meluna’s challenge, “and they live in a Monarchy. Samas has only small towns since the war wiped them out. I think their system is Tribalism. The Raynin live on Rayn and live in a Democracy like what we have here on Hala. No one lives on Hippal or Adecar.”
Meluna glanced at Jonas and poked her tongue out jokingly.
“Like we have here on Hala, Jonas, not like what we have here on Hala”.
Jonas sank down in his chair.
The Kemina paused making sure she had everyone’s attention. “So that brings me to Myter,” she said slowly, a glint in her eye and a smile spreading across her face. “Today, I have a little bit of a surprise for you. You have all spoken about how much you would all like to go to Myter. Well, the cost of taking you all is unaffordable to this school and I could never justify it, so instead I have brought Myter to you.”
She opened up the classroom door and, bending down, in trudged a rusty red, ogre looking being. It was a Myterian.
_____
Stomping to the front of the classroom, the Myterian turned and faced them. Like all male Myterians, his skin was dark, rusty red and his shoulders were extremely broad supporting arms bigger than Jonas’ waist. He stood eight feet tall with reddish-black hair and a very ugly face; no nose or ears. His oversized brow made him look angry, hiding his cool blue eyes in darkness, and on the sides of his head were large air vents that looked like air-intake ducts from an aircraft. These he flapped open or shut to breath, smell and hear. He stood staring at them all for a while making sounds similar to a bull before its charge.
“Good afternoon, students,” the Myterian eventually mumbled. His voice was deep and gravelly. There was not a sound from the pupils. They all knew about Myterians but had never actually met one. Some of them felt a little fearful for a Myterian was extremely ugly and primeval. The Kemina stepped forward smirking.
“Now everybody, this is Carpucia Parmeus and he has flown all the way from Myter to speak with you today. I would like you all to give him a very warm welcome by wishing him a good afternoon.” The commanding voice of the Kemina brought them all to their senses. “Good Afternoon,” the students mumbled together.
Parmeus stepped forward grinning and exposing rows of well looked after, ivory white teeth. “Thank you. Your Kemina has invited me here today to speak to you about the Myterians,” he looked around the room making eye contact with each one of them, “The first thing I would like to say is that we may look aggressive to you, but we are, in fact, not dangerous.”
The class relaxed a little. “Let me tell you a little bit about our planet. There is an abundance of Myterian Red Copper on our planet. For a lot of younger Myterians it is the bane of their lives, for it taints everything with its rusty red pigment. However, for us older Myterians it is what gives Myter our unique quality and we adore it. The longer we live the more red the pigment becomes, so you can tell the age of a Myterian just by looking at them. You will always see Myterians wearing armour, as you can see here, decorated with the colours and patterns of their family and stage of their training,” Parmeus rapped his knuckles on his breastplate coloured in a yellow, green and white structured design similar to Japanese writing, “Myterians train continuously throughout their lives, learning everything from the many different skills of our ancestors.”
He stopped for breath, eyeballing the classroom as though he was going to pick a fight. The students all sat motionless.
“One of the weapons I first specialised in was the Rimer Shield.”
He looked enquiringly at the Kemina who nodded her approval and he pulled a shiny pistol type weapon from his belt. Jonas watched closely. There wasn’t much to the weapon. It had a handle shaped like that found on a garden spade with a cylinder in the middle. Parmeus held the pistol by the handle, aiming the barrel towards the back of the classroom.
“Now, please don’t worry,” he rasped, “this is not loaded and the safety catch is on. The advantage of the Rimer Shield is it is both a gun and a shield.” Again, he looked around the room looking each one in the eye and smiling. Jonas could not see how the weapon produced a shield but before he could ask the question, Parmeus pushed something on the handle. A red, translucent shield shimmered into place with the weapon still protruding through the middle of it. The students stared in awe.
“This gives me the advantage of being protected, whilst I shoot at my enemy,” Parmeus explained, “I have no need to duck behind cover, as you can see, the shield covers me entirely.”
He disengaged the shield.
“The skills required to use this Rimer Shield are learned under the first stage of learning, the Doria stage.” He continued and pulled another instrument off his belt whilst keeping the weapon pointed at the back of the class.
“Now this is a motion detector,” he said as he switched it on and pretended to scan the room, “it can scan up to thirty metres away meaning that a Myterian is never surpr…”
He stopped all of a sudden, seeming surprised. The scanner was beeping at him and he was examining the device curiously. He looked up at Jonas, and then he looked back at the scanner again. Jonas felt a little nervous and went pale. The Kemina stepped in.
“Is everything alright Carpucia Parmeus?” she asked stepping forward with an unsure smile on her face.
“Er…yes…,” said Parmeus distantly, “it just seems that…,” but as he was speaking, he was dropping the scanner on the floor and was charging the Rimer Shield; his eyes fixed on Jonas.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion for Jonas. Perhaps feeling a little unnerved by the Myterian reaction, but certainly not feeling threatened by him, Jonas found suddenly that he was moving from his chair and darting across the room. He could not understand why. The Myterian, watching Jonas like a hawk, began to bring the Rimer shield to bear on Jonas as he moved.
“Carpucia Parmeus, what are you doing!” shouted the Kemina as she realised something very terrible was about to happen and she stepped in to grab the weapon. Using his free hand, Carpucia Parmeus hurled her back out of the way and fired the weapon just as Jonas jumped across the room behind some of the other desks. The charge shot across the room missing everybody as it went and blasting the wall at the back of the classroom in a huge explosion. Jonas hit the floor, rolled over his shoulder, and came up facing Carpucia Parmeus. Time seemed to slow down.
“Pa la vak!” he shouted through gritted teeth as he thrust the palms of his hands towards Carpucia Parmeus. Orange bolts of lightening immediately began to jump between his fingers. A breeze built into a hollowing gale, blowing books and papers across the room. The Myterian slowly began to re-aim the weapon. Then the energy built to a climax. With a loud bang, a force hit the Myterian square in the chest and hurled him backwards as though a bungie rope had yanked him from behind. He slammed into the wall at the front of the class, losing his grip on the Rimer shield, and dropping to the floor in a crumpled heap.
Everything returned to normal.
The class was in shock. The Kemina was half dazed by the force of the throw, some of the girls were screaming and crying and the rest of the class just stared at Jonas with very pale expressions. They all looked wind-swept.
The Myterian did not seem to be moving but Jonas was not about to wait until he started to do so. Confused about what had just happened, he got to his feet and ran out of the class. The Head Kemina was coming down the corridor.
“What’s all the commotion, Jonas?” asked the Head urgently.
“There’s been an accident, Head Kemina,” said Jonas thinking on his feet, “the Kemina needs your help. Quickly.” With that he brushed passed the Head and made his way out of the school.
Once he was out, the fresh air hit him. The sun was hot on his skin and the air was dry, yet still he began to shake with terror.
‘What on Hala had just happened in there with the Myterian?’ he thought to himself, ‘Had he really just tried to kill him?’ The thought made him feel very queasy and he ran to the fence just in time as sickness overcame him and he began to wretch.
He heard movement behind him and turned to see Meluna running out after him, tears streaming down her face. She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his chest.
He held her for a moment, enjoying the comfort. Then she looked up at him.
“What, for the Gods of Hala, just happened in there?” she demanded. Jonas realised she too was genuinely scared. “I don’t know,” he said, “…I really don’t know,” and tears began to roll down his face as the terror overcame him. Meluna waited.
“One minute I was listening to the Myterian drone on about his pistol, the next thing I was running for my life. And what’s more, I was moving before I even knew anything was wrong,” he said half to himself.
“He tried to kill you!” Meluna said, tears welling up again, “Why did he try to kill you?”
“I don’t know, Meluna…don’t you listen,” said Jonas, “I was just sitting there listening and then I was hurling myself across the room and being shot at.”
She looked at him, searching his face for any clue that might explain what had just happened. When she spoke again she was calmer.
“The Head has called the City Police. They’re on their way. The Kemina is concussed and dazed. The Myterian hasn’t moved since you left. Somehow you hurled him across the room.”
She looked at him waiting for a response.
Jonas just shrugged.
“Sorry,” said Meluna sympathetically and backing off, “It’s going to be ok. The City Police will sort it out and they will arrest the Myterian. They will get to the bottom of all this before you know it.”
Jonas wasn’t convinced.
She gave him another hug and he began to relax a bit more. She was warm and he didn’t want to let go.
“I’ll go and speak with the Head Kemina and then I’ll take you home,” she said gently sweeping the hair from his face.
She smiled at him, and for a moment, everything was fine.
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