Chains of Mist (15 page)

The girl, who had no idea what had just happened, seemed to suddenly lose her patience with this silent, slow-witted outsider. She dropped down from the boulder and walked so close to Austin that he had to crane his neck to keep eye contact. “Hello? Did you hear me? What are you doing all the way out here?”

Austin hesitated. Technically it was still against Federation mandate to interact with the natives of Espir; the scientists who had come here had done all of their research under strict orders of non-contact. It was a little late to be worrying about that, though
. I’m on the ground, now, which means sooner or later I’m gonna have to deal with the natives on some level or another. Might as well get started now.
He met the girl’s wide-eyed gaze.
Besides, what else am I gonna do? Ignore her? It seems unlikely that she’s going to use this encounter to enact a revolt against the Federation.
“I could ask you the same question,” he replied.

The girl cocked her head, brows furrowing. “How come your mouth doesn’t move right when you talk?” she asked. “How are you doing that?”

“What? What do you—?”At first, Austin had no idea what the girl was talking about, but then realization dawned. “I’ve got a device in my ear, and another one in my throat,” he said, pointing to the respective body parts. “The one in my ear translates your words so I can understand them, and the one in my throat translates my words so you can understand them. So the two of us can talk even though I can’t speak your language and you can’t speak mine. You see, to me it looks like
your
mouth doesn’t move right when you’re talking.”

The girl’s eyes were so wide that it seemed they were about to pop out of their sockets. “
Kopana
!” she breathed, a local expression of amazement that had no analogue in Federation Standard. “Where’d you get them—does everyone have them where you come from?”

Austin laughed. “No, not quite. Well, I suppose they
could
if they wanted to, but where I come from everyone mostly speaks the same language, so we don’t really need them all that much.”

A look of wonder came across the girl’s face when Austin said ‘where I come from.’ “Are you from Lai’kar?” she asked in an excited whisper. “Daddy says that everyone on Lai’kar is a god, and they can do anything they want and look like anybody or any animal, whatever they want. But sometimes I think he’s just telling stories, and Lai’kar doesn’t really exist. Are you a god?”

“No, I’m just a regular person like you. My name is Austin Forgera. What’s your name?”

“Katrina,” said the girl proudly.

“Nice to meet you, Katrina. As for where I come from…” Austin glanced up towards the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the stars, but the canopy of tree branches was too thick. “When you look up at the sky at night, do you know all those little tiny points of light you can see?”

Katrina gave him the patented child’s ‘what are you, an idiot?’ look. “Of
course
. What kind of a god are you?”

It was remarkable how fast a child could go from cute to petulant, but Austin had plenty of experience dealing with young children, and he kept his voice calm. “Well, each of those little points of light is a star just like your sun, and I’m from a planet orbiting one of those stars.”

“Wow.” Just like that, Katrina’s expression shifted back to wide-eyed wonder. “So you
are
a god!
Kopana
! Are you here to save us?”

“No, I told you, I’m
not
a god,” said Austin quickly, mentally berating himself.
Should have seen that coming. ‘Lai’kar’ probably translates as something like ‘sky realm’.
“I came here in a spaceship—uh, like a giant metal boat—that can travel between stars—well, it crashed, so I—”
Very smoothly done, Austin. This isn’t the time to try to explain interstellar flight to a little kid, for gods’ sake.
“The point is, I’m
not
a god. I don’t know where Lai’kar is, but that’s not where I come from.”

Katrina was silent for a moment, chewing her lip as she stared quizzically at Austin.
Probably trying to figure out if I’m crazy or not.
Finally she made a strange clicking sound with her tongue. “Okay, I guess you’re not a god. So what are you doing here, then?”

Austin breathed a sigh of relief.
That one I can answer.
“I’m chasing a very bad man. He’s already killed a lot of people, and he’ll kill more if I don’t stop him. A few days ago, I was part of a team that almost stopped him, but he escaped and came here. He also took one of my friends hostage, so I’m here to rescue him.”
Actually, I’m
only
here to rescue him. Admiral Ortega came for Rokan Sellas…but I’m here for Justin.

“Oh.” Katrina smiled knowingly. “So you’re a
fai’la’if.
” Whatever a
fai’la’if
was, it also didn’t appear to have a Federation Standard counterpart, so the chip in Austin’s ear didn’t translate it. “My daddy says that only a
fai’la’if
is allowed to kill people outside of battle, and anyone else who does has his soul go straight to A’Lai Mar.” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “But he also says that even a
fai’la’if
can go to A’Lai Mar, if he kills someone with rage in his heart. So be careful, Austin-Forgera-Not-a-God.”

It’s remarkable how many times I’ve seen that exact same philosophy throughout the galaxy, on worlds with every conceivable level of technological advancement. Maybe they’ve got something there.
“Your daddy sounds like a smart man. I promise, if I kill this man, I’ll make sure to do it without anger. Besides, I probably won’t even be the one to kill him. I came here with two other men, who are both much, much more experienced than I am. One of them will probably be the one to kill the bad man.”

“Three
fai’la’ifa
!” Once again, Katrina’s eyes grew wide as saucers. “This man must be really, really bad. I heard that there was a man named Grakal who was so evil he had
two fai’la’ifa
chasing him, but I think my daddy just made him up to scare me.
Three
!
Kopana
! So what happened to your friends? They can’t be anywhere nearby, or I would have seen them.”

“Actually, I’m not sure where they are. Our ship…uh…broke, so we had to jump out, and I got separated from them. They could be anywhere within a hundred kilometers of here. And, since I still don’t know where
here
is, I don’t know how to find them.”

“I can look for them!” said Katrina excitedly. “I can find anything—just ask anyone. If they’re around here, I can find them!”

“I’m sure you can. But, like I said, they could be just about anywhere. Besides, we made a plan as to what we should do if we got separated. We know where the bad man is, so if I go there I’ll find my friends. Thank you for the offer, though.”

“Sure! Is it far? Because I can take you—” She suddenly broke off, and her head turned towards the huge mountain looming over them through the thick canopy of trees. “Ah, Kil’la’ril! Yeah, that’s it! That’s where you need to go, isn’t it?”

Austin vaguely remembered the ‘Kil’la’ril’ was the local name for Nembane Mountain. He nodded. “That’s right. That’s where the bad man is.” He turned back towards the mountain, trying to estimate the distance, but from current his vantage point he couldn’t tell for sure.
Could be ten kilometers, could be a hundred.
“Say, Katrina, you know the area a lot better than I do—how long should it take to get there?”

“Not long. But—” and the girl suddenly lowered her voice to a whisper, as if afraid someone might overhear “—I can’t take you there. To get to Kil’la’ril, you have to go into the land of the Traika. They’re bad people, very bad and very strong, and they don’t like outsiders on their land. The last time I tried to sneak in, I got caught, and I got in
a lot
of trouble—Daddy had to promise the Traika all kinds of stuff to get them to let me go. Sometimes I go right up to their land and sneak around on the border a bit—but I
never
go too far inside. Certainly not far enough to get to Kil’la’ril.”

Austin’s heart sank, and he fought to keep the disappointment from his voice. “I see. Is it possible to go
around
these ‘Traika’? Maybe—”

Katrina was already shaking her head. “The land of the Traika goes nearly all the way to the sea, on both sides. It would take…oh, many, many days to go around. Besides, they control the land on the other side of Kil’la’ril too, so that wouldn’t do you any good at all.”

Austin weighed his options for a few moments. “Well, I have to get there. I’m pretty good at moving unseen—maybe I can sneak through—”

Once again, Katrina cut him off. “You can’t,” she declared firmly. “The Traika land is
full
of traps and really dangerous animals, and their
to’laka
can
sense
when someone enters their land. You’ll
never
be able to sneak through.” Her face scrunched up in what looked like righteous anger as Austin wondered what exactly a
to’laka
was. “But I
have
to get you through. Daddy always says that
nothing
is more important than a
fai’la’if
—I’ve got it!” Her expression brightened immediately, as if someone had ignited a tiny star behind her face. “I’ll take you to Daddy—
he’ll
know what to do! He’s the smartest man in the whole world—
everyone
says so. If there’s any way at
all
to get you to Kil’la’ril,
he’ll
know what it is.”

Austin thought for a moment, but, as it seemed was the case with every decision he’d had to make today, the choice was obvious.
I can try to trek through several kilometers of dense forest while trying to avoid detection by these Traika, or I can get the help of some people who actually know how to survive on this planet. Provided they don’t think I’m a spy and kill me on sight.
“Are you sure about this? I don’t want to be any trouble—”

Katrina waved her hand dismissively, as if his statement was the most ridiculous thing in the world. “No, don’t worry about it, he’ll be
glad
to help—”
I wouldn’t be so sure about that
, thought Austin wryly, thinking back to all the times in his life when a young Jordin had volunteered him for something without asking him “—he’s
always
helping people like you—well, I guess not
quite
like you, but anyone that needs help. I
promise
, it’s no trouble at all.”

Already, Katrina was practically pulling Austin after her. “Okay, okay,” he said, “I’ll go—just give me a moment to gather my things.” He freed his hand from her grasp. “How far is it to your village?” he asked the visibly impatient girl.

“Not far at all. Let’s see…” She counted off on her fingers. “From here to Felhai is two, then to Belayas is three, so that’s…five
korunna
.”

Well, that clears it right up.
“How much time will that take?”

Katrina shook her head. “Not long! You don’t know the paths as well as I do, so we’ll have to go slower, but we can
definitely
make it in three
feliai
.”

Austin gave himself a mental slap on the head.
Come on, Austin, you’re smarter than that. Even
within
the Federation, you’ve seen plenty of cultures that use their own standards of measurement, which are usually very hard to equate to Galactic Norm. Okay—it’s reasonably early in the morning now…how long is Espir’s day again?
He couldn’t remember. “Can we get there before it gets dark?”

“Oh, yes, of course we can.” Katrina gave him that look, uniquely the possession of young children, that said ‘
you’re
the adult, you’re supposed to
know
these things.’ “I think that…uh…
dee-vayze
in your ear must be broken. It’s obviously
not working right.”

“Yeah, well, I never said it was perfect.” Austin finished re-packing the rucksack and strapped it across his back. “We’d better get going, then.”

“I know that.” Katrina scampered back towards the rock on which she had been sitting. “Are you
always
this grumpy?” And she disappeared into the undergrowth.

“Not always,” muttered Austin. “But by the time we reach that village, I might be.”

Steeling himself for the unknowably long journey ahead of him, Austin strode off after Katrina.

-8-

They had been walking for just under two hours when Katrina suddenly stopped. She glanced around for a few moments, scanning the horizon, and then said, “Wait here.”