The Purlieu Experiment
Chapter 25
Copyright 2015 & 2021
The vision began as Celyn climbed into bed. She sat on the bed and leaned back, letting the vision lift her into the darkening sky. Below her was a place she had never seen. The hills and valleys were tree covered and there were many lakes. She swooped down on a ridge, startling a feline. It snarled at her and watched as she lifted into the sky. Its attention returned to some equines in a small valley. One of them was a beautiful spotted animal. She descended lower to get a good look.
The equine snorted and tossed its head. Under an overhang nearby, some people were making a camp. The feline screamed and one of the men stood. His green eyes were wide with fear and he said something to the others in a language she could not understand. One of the men walked over to the spotted equine. He was tall and lean, wearing a dark blue uniform with a gold flower on the sleeve near his shoulder. She glided down to get a closer look and he glanced up at her. It was Donte!
The spotted equine snorted again and danced away from her. She soared away from him as a man in a light blue uniform joined him. Donte pointed at her and said something, but he spoke in a language she had never heard. As she flew away from them, the feline came to the edge of the overhang. Donte spoke to the man again and suddenly lightning flashed, striking a rock beside the feline. The ground exploded, sending rocks and dust high into the air. Bombarded with rocks, the feline turned and ran.
Celyn soared up and out of the vision, tumbling from her bed to the floor. She cried out in pain as her elbow hit the stand beside her bed. Footsteps outside her door announced that someone had heard her cry. The door opened.
"Celyn?" Glyn said as she came into the room. "Are you hurt?"
Celyn sat up, clutching her elbow and moaning. "I fell out of bed."
Neirin came into the room. "What happened?"
"I fell off the bed," she repeated. "I was having a vision. A feline was going to attack Donte, but lightning scared it away."
Neirin sighed. "Donte again. Where was he this time?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. There were a lot of trees and lakes. He was with some people. One man had red hair and green eyes." She frowned. "Donte was wearing a uniform."
Glyn finished examining her elbow and helped her back into bed. "She only scraped it a little. She will be fine."
Neirin pulled the covers up to her chin. "What color was the uniform?"
"Blue...dark blue. There was another man with him and he had a light blue uniform."
Neirin nodded. "Bergen. He's been home. Go to sleep. The man in the blue uniform will protect him."
"His uniform had a gold flower on the sleeve." She added.
Neirin frowned. "A gold flower?"
"On his shoulder." She pointed high on her arm, near her shoulder.
He nodded again. "Go to sleep. We will talk in the morning."
He left the room with Glyn.
Later, in his room, Neirin lay on his bed; his hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. When Celyn first started having visions, it had frightened him. Gradually he became accustomed to it, but now it was starting to get scary again. Her visions were dominated by Donte. Sometimes he wondered if they were merely dreams. Tonight, he had no trouble believing it was a vision. Celyn had never seen the uniforms of Bergen. The gold flower on his shoulder was puzzling, though. He had only seen that once, on the commander of the Moeder. The dark uniform with the gold insignia was worn only by those in the highest command. If Donte was wearing a dark uniform and accompanied by someone in a light uniform, that meant he was in command. The country Celyn described sounded like what he had heard about Lochfowk. If that was true, why was Donte in Lochfowk dressed in the uniform of Bergen? Why did he go back? Had he delivered the message? He said he would be back for Celyn's birthday. Hopefully he would have information about who would attend the conference - if they ever got the conference together. He tried to convince himself that Donte hadn't had time to notify everyone, but this vision.... He pushed the thought from his mind. There was nothing he could do about it tonight. He would have to trust Donte. What choice did he have?
***
Akira rode beside Quade; Donte in the lead on his spotted equine. Donte kept glancing up at the hills, as if he knew someone or something was there. It was spooky. When they were traveling in Anialwch, he sensed that the Nyumbani raiders were following them. What did he sense now? His two guards, Edzer and Felte, rode behind them. Akira glanced back to see if they noticed Donte's sudden attention to the hills. Edzer was watching him. He said something to Felte and urged his equine forward until he rode beside Donte. He rode in silence for a few minutes before talking to Donte. Akira glanced at Quade, who was obviously concerned about their conversation.
"What is happening?" she asked Quade.
He shook his head. "I'm not sure. Donte senses something out there. He says he doesn't think it is human, but he thinks it is stalking them."
Chill bumps invaded Akira's arms. "He would know."
Quade looked at her. "You have seen this happen before?"
She nodded. "When the Nyumbani were following us in Anialwch. He knew they were there - not once, but twice - before there was any indication. He knew when the Anialwch were there and he knew when Kenyon found us. I don't know how he knew, but he did. If he says something is following us, it is. If he says it isn't a human, it isn't." She shivered. "Sometimes he's spooky, like Celyn."
Felte rode around them and joined Edzer and Donte. Once again, they spoke. Felte rode ahead and Edzer stayed beside Donte.
Chait pulled his equine beside Akira's. "What's going on?"
"Donte thinks something is stalking us." Akira said.
Chait gave Akira an amused look. "He's starting to get nervous already. There wouldn’t be any patrols in this area right now."
Akira glanced at Quade and found him watching Chait. It was impossible to know from his expression whether he was annoyed or what. She turned back to Chait.
"I traveled with him long enough to be concerned when he is." She inclined her head at the two guards. "They're concerned."
Chait studied the two guards for a few minutes. "What do they expect to find?"
Quade finally spoke. "What kind of animals do you have in this area that might stalk a man?"
Chait looked at Quade, obviously beginning to feel concerned. He gave a nonchalant shrug. "Maybe an ursidae or a lupus. It might be after the equines, but I don't think it would do anything with all these men around."
Quade nodded. "All the same, we'd best not lag behind."
They urged their equines and caught up with the others. Quade rode up beside Donte and spoke to him for a few minutes before dropping back with Chait and Akira.
"He says there is an overhang ahead and some water nearby. We'll camp there for the night."
They reached the overhang before dark and had time to set up camp with the light of day. The equines were watered, unsaddled and secured within sight of the camp.
Donte and Quade began cooking the evening meal. Akira got up to help and the next thing she knew, Chait was helping. Edzer and Felte kept watch for whatever might be out there. She was beginning to wonder if Chait might be right. Maybe the mission had put Donte on edge and he was more anxious than intuitive. Whatever the case, he had Quade spooked enough to instruct Akira to sleep nearest the wall and let the men sleep on the outside. If it had been anyone but Quade, she might have resisted, but she wasn't about to contest his instructions. Even Chait didn't argue with him. In fact, once she thought about it, no one did - apparently not even Pieter. And yet, Quade was the kindest person she had ever met. Even when he scolded them that first day, he had not threatened. He had merely told them, in no uncertain terms, what was going to happen. She had no doubt the council would concur. Frankly, she didn't want to be in the room if they didn't. She had a feeling that Quade could handle almost anything that came up. Quade had made it clear that Donte was in charge of that chore. Still, if Donte stumbled, she had no doubt that Quade would back him up.
She wasn't being entirely fair to Donte, though. If what she had heard about Quade was correct, he had over fifty years of experience on Donte. To stay in office that long, he would have to be an effective negotiator.
She was rolling her blankets close to the wall where Quade had indicated when a tall figure stopped beside her. She looked up to find Quade with two tins of food. He handed one to her and squatted beside her.
"I'm hungry enough to eat whatever is out there." He said, his lips permitting a wry smile.
She accepted the food and sat cross-legged on her blanket. "I'm beginning to wonder if anything is out there."
He responded without looking at her, focusing his attention on the food on his tin. "Something is out there. I have no doubt of that."
At that point a frightening scream filled the night. It was impossible to tell where the mountain feline was, but it sounded close.
Akira scooted closer to Quade. "I retract that last statement."
Donte set his tin on the ground and stood, looking around. When his equine snorted, he cautiously stepped out from under the overhang and looked up.
Donte wasn't sure what was following them until he heard the scream. They had mountain felines in Bergen, but they generally stayed away from people. This one had been stalking them for hours.
When Schilderen snorted, he moved toward the edge of the camp.
"Monomi," a voice spoke softly behind him. "Be careful."
He shouldn't have brought Schilderen. The unusual color probably attracted attention. He slowly stepped out from under the overhang, searching the hill above them. He saw nothing, but then, he didn't expect to. The feline was probably staying in the trees.
He turned and walked to Schilderen and Felte quietly followed him. As he approached the equine, a whisper of sound alerted him and he turned in time to see a beautiful white strigiforme swooping down on them. Flapping its wide wings, it flew off into the night.
Schilderen snorted and stepped back. Donte pointed after the strigiforme, speaking to Felte. "Did you see that?"
Felte nodded. "I've never seen one so pure white."
Donte checked to make sure all the equines were secure and turned to go back to the camp. That was when he saw the feline. It was crouched, ready to leap.
"Felte!" Donte called.
But Felte had already seen the feline. He palmed his weapon and shot a beam, all in one smooth movement. Donte wasn't sure if he meant to hit the rocks beside the animal or he missed, but the results were spectacular, either way. The beam exploded against the rocks, sending a shower of rocks and dirt on the feline. Frightened, it snarled and turned, running into the forest.
"That should keep him away for a while," Felte said.
Felte and Donte returned to the camp to find Chait staring at them, his expression a mixture of amazement and fear.
"What was that?" Chait asked Felte.
Felte looked at Donte. They had intended to keep silent about the weapon, but the feline was out of the pouch now, so there was no point in further secrecy.
Donte stooped and retrieved his tin of food. "It's a laser weapon. If you remember, we explained that capability when we were on the Moeder."
Chait swallowed audibly. "I remember, but I thought..." He shook his head and turned to look at Akira. He looked a little pale, but Akira didn't appear to be shaken at all. "Did you know?"
Akira shrugged. "No, but I'm not surprised. I wondered how they would protect Donte when they had no weapons. I guess now we know."
Chait frowned, turning to Quade, who was quietly putting away his food. "You knew, though."
Quade looked up at him. "I knew and I approved. Surely you didn't think we would come into unknown territory unarmed."
Color returned to Chait's face with a sudden rush of anger. "You made me a party to a plot against my colony. I wouldn't have led you here if I had known...."
Quade stood and looked down at his face. "You didn't lead us here." He said with quiet authority. "Donte did. It was my understanding that he was told he could return any time he wished to do so."
"On his own," Chait corrected. His wrath turned on Donte. "You planned this. You betrayed our trust."
Donte would have responded if it had not been obvious that Chait spoke out of fear. Chait felt vulnerable, which was exactly why Donte wanted to come alone. He wanted the Lochfowk council to turn over the captives because they had the opportunity to do so without repercussions, not because they were forced to do so. However, if Felte had not been present, he might have been killed by the feline. Sometimes the enemy wasn't where a person expected it to be.
Chait watched Donte, his aggression slowly fading as he realized Felte was watching him. Chait wiped his palms on his trousers and looked nervously from Donte to Felte.
Quade squatted and resumed his meal. "That's right, Chait. Felte was only protecting Donte. You would do well to keep that in mind."
Donte squatted and lifted his tin of food. He looked up at Chait. "Pieter sent Felte and Edzer with weapons for the purpose of protecting me. They were not intended to be used as negotiation tools."
Chait studied Donte. "Lochfowk has never given you any reason to fear us."
Donte met his gaze. "Chait, when you hold captives, it is an implied threat. You held my brother captive for thirty years. That was a threat not only to me, but to my father as well." His attention returned to his food and he concluded with an afterthought. "I’m not afraid of you or Lochfowk."
He wasn’t concerned about whether Chait thought he was frightened or not. He did want Chait to understand that he didn’t view Lochfowk as an immediate threat.
Soft Science Fiction
