Banners of The Sa'yen Read online

  They came in a rush, bunched together with shields forming a solid wall before them. But two warriors were overeager to meet the Sa’yen and rushed ahead of their comrades to cut the almost weaponless warrior down with their swords. One warrior, a giant of a man, came forward, sword raised high over his head, shield up, and screamed in triumph as he slashed downward with his heavy blade. But the Sa’yen stepped to one side, an arm coming up to catch the wrist of the man’s sword arm, and suddenly the bearded giant was thrown bodily into the air. He went screaming to his death to the valley floor a thousand feet below, and stunned, I watched the Sa’yen bend down to pick up the warrior’s heavy curved sword just in time to meet the rush of the second charging warrior. The second warrior made a sweeping slash from the left to the right, but the Sa’yen calmly parried this, and tripped the warrior with one of His feet and free hand! He cut the fallen warrior’s throat with a calm dispatch, turned and faced the oncoming mass of Aggarian pirates as casually as I’ve ever seen a man do anywhere!

  There was the tremendous roar of the aft’mast crashing to the deck, engulfed in white, searing flames. Flames from the mast lit the rigging of the main’mast, and before anyone knew what came next, the entire ship was a roaring inferno. The shield-wall of the attacking pirates slowed, then halted, then turned and fled in panic. I grinned at their flight, the loss of blood making my knees weak and forcing me to kneel to the deck. I remember dropping my sword and shield to the deck, too weak to hold them any longer and my eyelids felt like heavy stones. I started to fall, the flames of the consuming fire licking close beside me, but I felt strong hands grab me and lift me from the deck entirely. As if I were a young child, He carried me from the burning pyre of the four ships lashed together. I grinned, looked up into His bearded face and thanked Him. I saw a face with a long, thin nose, dark blond hair and bright gray-blue eyes. His face was set into a mask of determination that I’ve never seen on another mortal, and as easily as carrying a newborn babe, He carried me through the smashed prow of our ship and descended down into the depths of the Yab’lal forest with a swiftness and agility I found amazing even then. And I closed my eyes and fell into a well of unconsciousness, too exhausted to care about anything anymore.

  I opened my eyes with the sudden sensation of something cool and wet being placed on my brow. I looked up and found that I was lying under the green canopy of a Yab’lal forest, with Him kneeling down beside me, smiling as He ministered to my wounds. For a moment or two, panic swept through me as I could not remember why I was here. But a restraining hand and the look of kindness in His eyes made me pause and swiftly the memory of the desperate fight filled my mind. Smiling weakly, I said thanks and found my mouth dry and parched. He frowned, then smiled, and held up a finger. From a large leather bag strapped to his waist He pulled out a strange object and held it up between us. He nodded, and, puzzled, I could only stare back at him. He smiled patiently, then motioned to me by pointing to His lips with His finger and then to the machine He held. He did that several times again, over and over, and for a moment or two I was puzzled. Was this apparition a mute? I found this impossible to believe, and hesitantly I spoke a few words.

  “What is it You wish me to do, Lord? I, I do not understand.”

  He nodded in satisfaction suddenly, and then the machine spoke! A strange sound came out of the machine and I almost jumped to my feet in fright But He put a hand out to restrain me and smiled. His smile had magic for all that He smiled upon. I relaxed hesitantly, hearing the strangeness of the sound coming from the machine He held between us. As I lay on the ground, the cool wrap over my brow, He spoke in the tongue of the Gods, and the machine translated into the tongue of us mortals.

  “Do not have any fears, warrior. You are with your friends and I mean you no harm.”

  I blinked my eyes several times, looking first at the machine He held in His hand, and then into His face, mystified at what I was seeing and hearing. He saw my confusion, smiled, and spoke again.

  ’This that I hold before you is only a machine, warrior. It is a language translator. It takes in your language and converts it over to a language that I can understand. Do not be afraid; nothing will harm you.”

  I nodded, still confused, relaxing somewhat from the strangeness before me, but cautious about whom I was speaking to. Yet I knew deep within me who this man-thing was. He was the Sa'yen! Our Lord and Deliverer!l Gulping, I hesitated before at last asking Him who He might be, telling him, “I am Magdar, called die Bull by my kind.”

  He nodded after the strange machine translated to the tongue of the Gods and spoke into the machine.

  “I am called Alexander; Alexander Synn.”

  I heard voices behind me, and turning, I gazed upon the faces of the five of my crew that escaped the clutches of the Aggarian pirates. They all had gasped in sudden realization when the machine spoke His name, understanding then as I knew all along what to be the truth. Had not the legends prophesied that He would come back to us in the flesh of a mortal disguised in a new name that yet was His name? Alexander Synn! The Sa’yen! I wanted to shout in triumph! I wanted to sing praises to His ears, but young Hagbash, the younger ship carpenter, suddenly fell to his knees and bowed three times to Our Lord in humble supplication. Quickly the other four old ship members fell to their knees and copied the devotions of young Hagbash. The Sa’yen looked at this sudden desire to fall and worship Him in dismay clearly written across His face, then turned and looked at me as He spoke into the machine.

  “What are they doing, warrior? What is the matter? Are they ill?”

  “No, my lord,” I said, grinning like a happy youth at last included in the ranks of manhood for the first time as I answered His query. “They are only offering you praise of supplication and gratitude. They are a few of your devoted followers, my Lord. And I, too, follow your banners as a humble servant as well.”

  “Follow my banners? What madness are you speaking of, warrior? Why are these men on their knees and bowing to me as if I were some kind of god?”

  Aye, then is when I wanted to laugh like a delighted child! Had not the prophets told us that Our Lord would act as He did when He first arrived among us? Had not the prophets said that even the Sa’yen would not know he was Our Lord when He first reappeared before our eyes again to lead us to the Halls of the Mountain Kings? Aye, I was so happy that day I wanted to shout and dance in delight! Sitting up slowly, wincing from the pain, He reached out to help me up with His hands, and 1 took a hand of His and kissed it excitedly.

  “What!” He bellowed, pulling His hand back quickly and looking at me as if I had gone insane. “Are you mad, warrior? What is the matter with you all?”

  “Aye, we are all insane, Lord! Insane with ecstasy! Our Lord, the Sa’yen has returned among us again to lead us. A thousand Ha’las to Your return, Lord!”

  ‘Amazement clearly on His handsome, bearded face, He sat before me as I and the five of my old crew began dancing and singing in our salvation. It was a madness that gripped us that day. Under the thick, green canopy of the Yab’lal forest we danced and praised the prowess of Our Lord, the Sa’yen. He looked on as if we six had left our senses. And in fact, we had. We were filled with a sense of deliverance that cannot be expressed in words. We were overjoyed! We knew that among us was the Promised One. The Sa’yen! What else could we do but sing and dance and praise Our Lord with every fiber of our being?

  I will never forget the look that filled His face as we sang to Him. At first He was mystified with our antics, then as time passed on and we continued with our joyous celebration, a look of deep concern filled His eyes. Here He sat, a bearded, dirty Forest Ghoul, in rags that hung to His hard, tanned frame much like rags hang from a scarecrow in a plowed field, looking at us with eyes of deep concern. I could see, as time passed on, the mystification in His eyes as we celebrated. And I was pleased. Did not the prophets foretell that He would not understand His own divinity? Did not the prophets foretell that the Sa’yen would be wra
pped in the body of a mere mortal in older that He may feel as we feel? Did not the prophets before us, and down through the ages, prophesy that years would pass before He finally would see that He was indeed the Promised One? Years in which only a few of His most devoted followers would be with Him and share His tribulations? Aye, all that the prophets foretold around the campfires from our ancestors down to the present was coming true. I danced with my comrades, forgetting the pain of my deep wound, convinced that sitting among us was Our Deliverer. And He would, ultimately, lead His banners southward to open all the Halls of the Mountain Kings.

  II

  We Take a Ship

  Days passed in the forests of the large Yab’lal trees and we all grew to know Our Lord. And He was a strange man-god. We insisted that we take over the routine chores of the camp, allowing Our Lord to sit and contemplate and think. And Our Lord smiled upon us. Two days after the big fight with the Aggarian pirates, old Fidor the sail-maker discovered the hulks of two burned out black-hulls still entwined in the high tops of the Yab’lal trees. We all raced through the dark paths of the forest to gaze upward through the limbs at the still buoyant hulls of the pirate ships. Our Lord, the Sa’yen, had said little since we told Him who He actually was, but now, standing at the base of a truly huge grandfather Yab’lal tree and looking up through the green canopy at the black hulls of the burnt-out ships, He turned to speak to me at last

  “You and your planet are a strange race, Magdar the Bull. I have never seen such strange craft as these before! They are like blimps, or dirigibles. But they have sails and masts and you sail them like sailships from my home world. Amazing!”

  “Aye, Lord, Your word none that I doubt But sometimes You say the strangest things. The only ships that I know of sail like those you saw the other night Is there any other way for a ship to sail?”

  “Surely,” He replied, speaking through the voice translator, as He called it and looking at me. “On my home world, people sail in wooden boats, using sails for power, 21

  But they sail on large bodies of water and not in the air! How can a dirigible sail in the air? What do you use for buoyance?”

  I shrugged, unable to answer My Lord. He spoke in strange words to me on many occasions. And I could never understand what He meant when He referred to His world. I could only think that perhaps other worlds other than the one we stood on were His as well. And to me, this made sense. Aye, it made more sense to me the longer 1 thought about it. Perhaps Our Lord had been too long on another of His worlds and had grown unaccustomed to our ways? We then, as His devoted followers, would have to be the ones to teach Him the ways of our people. I could see the truth in this standing beside Him. And so convinced did I become that I decided we would begin immediately teaching Our Lord the ways of the Northern Hungar! Turning to old Fidor, I motioned the others to draw closer.

  “I believe Our Lord must be taught our ways again, lads. As the prophets have promised, He is like a newborn child in a man’s body among us! We must teach Him everything we know and we must begin now. Fidor and Hagbash, hurry and construct ladders so that we can climb this old grandfather Yab’lal. Tallsus! Scurry up this tree and climb to the hulls above. See if any of them can be repaired. Bidgar and Tadan, you two hurry back to the old camp and bring everything down to here. We will stay in this spot until we have rebuilt one of the ships above. And you two will be the hunters for our food. Now hurry, we must begin teaching Our Lord our ways before something else befalls us.”

  The men nodded and scurried about to do my bidding. I turned and gazed upon His face. The language translator had decoded all that I had said to the men and He was looking upon my face with deep concern in His eyes.

  “Magdar, I am no god.”

  “Aye, my Lord, You are,” I corrected, grinning fondly at the bearded giant. “Believe me, You are. It will only take time to convince You of that Our many old prophets have told us the Sa’yen would return to us in the disguise of a strange warrior professing not to be what he truly was. You are the Sa’yen, My Lord. The Promised One. Believe me.”

  "I am no god, Magdar,” He said, shaking His head sadly and allowing the strange object that turned the language of the Gods into the language of mortals to talk to me. I am no god, Magdar. And sooner or later it will be proven to you. See, how can I be a god if I too bleed as you? Would a god bleed? Would a god feel pain? Could a god die like any other mortal, Magdar?”

  He held up the back of His hand and revealed to me a long scratch He had received in the battle the other night I nodded, concerned even by this small mark, but confident that His time among us mortals would yet run for years on end.

  “My Lord, the prophets have told us that You would come to us claiming You were not what You actually were. I know You feel Yourself as not being the Promised One. So be it. It will eventually come to You. Until then, let us six be your servants, My Lord. Let us teach You our ways and serve Your needs. And in the end, You will soon see the truth.”

  He sighed heavily in resignation, rubbing His eyes with a hand. But then He smiled as He looked up at me and nodded. And then He looked up the towering Yab’lal tree and at the floating hulks of the black-hulls before peering at me again.

  “You will be convinced soon enough, Magdar the Bull. You are as stubborn as I am, it seems. Well, my friend, never mind. But I will take you up on your offer to teach me about your world 1 And I would like to know everything about the dirigibles that are powered by the wind. Cornel Show me these ships!”

  And He jumped to the lowest limb of the giant tree and quickly was climbing upward before I could shout

  “My Lord! Be careful! This old tree is at least three hundred feet tall Wait until Fidor and Hagbash have made ladders so that it will be safer for You to ascend to the ships.”

  “Nonsense, Magdar! Come on with me and we’ll beat Tallsus to the top!” He said, smiling down at me like a kid eager for a race. But then He frowned as He glanced at my shoulder. “Ah, like a fool I forgot about your wound, my friend! Wait until the ladders are constructed, Magdar, and then meet me up on one of the ships!”

  “My Lord! Take care of yourself!” I shouted, truly terrified at the thought of the Sa’yen scaling a three-hundred-foot Yab'lal tree alone.

  Yet as I watched, He ascended the old tree with the ease and grace of a man bom to such work. He rapidly disappeared through the branches of the towering trees and I soon found myself stamping around impatiently for Hagbash and Fidor to hurry with the ladder. It took hours to complete the work. We started up the large grandfather Yab’lal with rough hammers made of stone and leather thongs, using wooden pegs carved from limbs. At the two-hundred-foot level Hagbash quickly strapped together a large platform and we three rested there for some time. I was feeling weak and dizzy. But my wound had not opened and I was determined to climb to the top and be beside our Lord again. Urging Hagbash and Fidor on, we again began to ascend upward. It was late in the evening when we three finally broke through the upper branches of the giant tree, high above the forest, and climbed aboard one of the black-hulls. The sun was setting off in the west, at the mouth of the narrow, forest-covered valley we were in, and we found our Lord and Tallsus standing side by side, looking at the setting sun. When we appeared, Tallsus bowed slightly to our Lord and hurried to my side.

  “Magdar, we are in luck! The far black-hull is barely damaged! All we need to do is replace the masts and spars, re-rig it and we have a perfectly good ship to sail.”

  I nodded, pleased at the report I told him to help Fidor and Hagbash begin the repairs, then I walked up to stand close to the Sa’yen.

  “My Lord, we are in luck. In a few days we will sail out of here in an Aggarian ship. A black-hull!”

  “This is good?” He asked, turning to look at me with a lifted eyebrow questioningly.

  “Aye, this is excellent! The Aggarian pirates build the best of the raiders. With such a ship we could run with the best of them, My Lord.”

  He said nothing as He
turned to look at the sunset again. I stood close to Him, and turned my eyes to look at the view myself. It was an interesting sight. The sun was a bright orange orb sitting between the walls of the narrow valley. High, thin clouds were of various hues of soft oranges while the high-walled valley was a dark, deep emerald green. Through the green blanket of the Yab'lal trees jutted giant slabs of gray-blue rock. The valley itself was a twisting, narrow affair that would have been quite hard to sail through in the best of times. We were a good thousand feet above the floor of the valley, stuck in the trees that grew from a large rock outcrop. Down far below, I could see the thin ribbon of a river twisting and turning as it traveled down the valley floor. I turned to look at My Lord, and He spoke as He slowly turned in place, viewing the entire valley from His ship’s deck.

  “Magdar, this is the, most rugged, mountainous planet I have ever seen! Even when I descended down through the atmosphere in my Escape Capsule, the instruments showed a mountainous planet like no other I’ve ever seen. Is it all like this?”