Part Three by Iona Laing.

Chapter Seven.

Aboard the exploration fleet flagship The Vasco da Gama, Admiral Maurice Suarez was in a video monitor conference interview with the survivors of the shuttle Oslo. All of whom had returned to The Roald Amundsen via the shuttle Bergen. The eight survivors were all still stunned and shook up, not fully understanding exactly what had befallen their shuttle and particularly their two missing comrades.

“So, let me get this clear, you are sure this was a targeted attack by multiple missiles Ensign Richards?”

“Absolutely sir!” replied Julia Richards, “Your son and Karin were on monitoring duty when they observed multiple aircraft taking to the air, followed shortly by many land-based rockets being launched along with missiles or rockets being unleashed from the aircraft!”

“We have a recording of the events up to shortly before we were given the order to abandon the shuttle sir, we can relay the recording to you now if you wish to observe the attack being launched!” added Ensign Garrett.

“Please do Ensign,” responded the Admiral.

At which point he turned away from the monitor screen to observe a viewscreen on his flight desk. Several minutes later he looked up at the eight survivors.

“None of you observed any indication of such capabilities or evidence that the inhabitants of this planet were aware of your existence?”

“None of us observed this many aircraft airborne on our previous fly overs. There was always some activity which seemed to be training of some description,” added Ensign Richards.

“None of us have any idea as to how or why they targeted us sir!” added Crewman Peter Carter.

“None whatsoever sir,” added Crewman Ash Mistry.

“None of our logs recorded evidence of us being tracked, but obviously we were!” added Ensign Richards sadly.

“Thank you for your reports, now who can tell me what happened to the escape pod which should have contained my son and his wife?” asked the Admiral sadly.

“As we left the flight deck after Ramon gave the order to abandon the shuttle, we grabbed the evidence logs we had recorded to date and headed to our pod. Ramon and Karin were monitoring the self defence systems, but just as our hatch closed, I saw Karin dragging Ramon away from the flight deck to their escape pod and that’s as much as I know sir!” reported an emotional Kelly Garrett.

“Thank you for that information, Ensign!” whispered the Admiral, “Did anyone else see anything in addition to that report?” he asked the rest of the Oslo’s crew. A series of “No sirs!” was the sad response.

“Excuse me sir,” spoke out Captain Rowe of the base ship The Roald Amundsen, “Upon hearing the abandon shuttle order had been issued we managed to get a camera on the shuttle just as the attack was developing which will be available for you to view on your monitor, any moment now!”

The survivors turned to view the screens to their side as the attacks and subsequent explosions played out in front of the shocked faces. The Admiral watched the recording play, visibly wincing when the major secondary explosion enveloped the final escape pod to leave the shuttle. He stood there with a pale face, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked to his side and asked for Captain Brian Little to report to his ready room. He then looked up at the survivors.

“Thank you all for your reports, I know this must be distressing to you, go get some rest! You have all had an awful day, and as soon as we have some information on the whereabouts and condition of Ramon and Karin, we will let you all know!”

“Excuse me sir!” said Captain Rowe, “We have just been able to identify the deployment of a parachute from within the debris trail, and it seems highly likely it’s an escape pod parachute!” so saying he gave the order to play the recording. A happier group of survivors looked from one to the other, and a father looked to have a little more hope in his expression too.

“Thank you, Captain! That looks a little more promising, I will get back to you shortly as to our next action!”

“Yes sir, I shall await your further orders!” and the screens went dark.

There was a sharp knock on the door of Admiral Suarez’s ready room. “Enter!” he responded.

“Admiral, you sent for me?” asked Captain Little.

“Yes Brian, have a seat for a moment please!” The Admiral sat at his desk and leaning back he placed his feet on the desktop and wearily interlocked his fingers behind his head. “I assume you have seen the recordings?” Maurice Suarez asked his friend and second in command.

“Yes Maurice, I have just seen them up on the bridge, including the deployment of the parachute, which is a promising development!”

“That it is Brian, that it is!” responded the Admiral. “But I think we may have a major potential problem Brian, a problem with the shuttle craft.”

“I came to the same conclusion Maurice, whoever launched that attack, knew exactly where the Oslo was, and, as far as we can tell, none of the civilisations are supposed to be that technologically sophisticated and the shuttles are supposed to be invisible to those on the ground!”

“That’s what worries me Brian, I want you to issue a recall to all currently deployed shuttles, all missions are to be suspended immediately until we can get some idea of what went wrong today!”

“I’ll get right on it Maurice, I have already issued instructions to the engineers to go over those shuttles still on board, and we’ll inspect those others in our fleet as they return to their parent craft. We’ll get to the bottom of this as quickly as we can! Plus, we have some hope now that perhaps Ramon and Karin survived the attack, let’s hope they landed among friends!” he smiled at his longtime friend and commanding officer.

“I hope so Brian, I really hope!” replied the Admiral.

The next day Maurice was sitting at his desk repeatedly watching the deployment of the parachute from the mass of still exploding, burning debris. He was deep in thought, what had gone wrong? Where had this destructive capability come from? Were his son and the woman he had quickly come to consider his daughter still alive, and if so, were they safe. He was bracing himself to contact his wife to tell her he still had no further news of their family members. The memory of his prior call the previous day was still deeply etched in his mind. Being unable to comfort the love of his life as she dissolved into tears tore at his soul. Great wracking sobs affecting her ability to speak coherently as she asked him repeatedly why, and why wasn’t he down there on the planet actively looking for their family already and to hell with the order to limit contact with less advanced races and civilisations, she wanted her only child and his wife back safe in her arms.

As he reached across the desk about to punch up the communication system to speak with his wife a glowing shimmer appeared in front of his desk.

“Maurice, don’t call Ava just yet, I need to speak to you first!”

As he jumped to his feet he stuttered, “Err, Ma'am!” As he looked on at the light shimmer as it resolved to reveal a short, late middle-aged woman with an ageless smile on her face.

“We need to speak!” she said as she sat in front of his desk. Maurice slumped into his chair, and for the first time since he’d heard and seen the evidence of the attack, he had some hope growing in his heart.

Chapter Eight.

Up in the mountains above Riventon., The two opposing truce factions faced off across a narrow part of the valley floor. Colonel Wiams stepped forward, as far as the bog allowed her too anyway. She called across the valley.

“I am Colonel Samth Wiams, I represent Granaria’s rulers and our people, just who are you, what do you want and by what rights do you dare to invade the sovereign lands of Granaria?”

A chuckle wafted across the landscape, “Colonel Wiams is it, well, I am General Laffe, and I have the honour to represent our glorious leader, President Signi, and we are here to recover our rightful property."

“I’m sorry General, did I hear you say your property? I can assure you that there is none of your property over here, you must have erroneous information!” answered Colonel Wiams.

“Colonel, I really don’t have time to waste words with you, especially with you being a mere woman! The longer you delay us, the harder and longer our journey back to the glorious nation of Masonville will be, due to the accumulation of snow up in the passes, now, kindly step aside, go back to your kitchens and let us reclaim our rightful property,” answered a testy General.

“To be honest General I am less concerned about your travel difficulties than you getting yourself and your troops out of Granaria. So, turn around and go home. I repeat there is nothing of yours anywhere around here, so please General go home!”

“Colonel, I am losing patience with your attitude, whether you like it or not I have my orders, orders relayed to me personally from our glorious leader and I intend to fulfil those orders to the letter! And, neither you nor your pathetic forces will prevent me from performing my duty, now, get out of my way before you regret crossing me and my men. If you antagonise me much more Colonel, my men will have to consider taking you and all your friends back to Masonville with us and put you to more appropriate employment for persons of your gender, entertaining me and my men!” the General barked back in return to general laughter from those around him.

“Well, General, I don’t really care who gave you your orders, but I have mine, which means that I want you to turn around and go home, I repeat, there is nothing for you here nor do I appreciate your threats to my forces!” snarled the Colonel.

“Is that so Colonel, well, we shall have to see won’t we!” with that the General turned his back to the Colonel and whispered something to his Aide. Moments later a soldier started to wave a couple of small flags at someone back up on the ridge that the Masonville deputation had descended from. The General turned to face the Granaria deputation.

“Colonel, you have exceeded the limits of my patience, so Madam I suggest you return to your pitiful excuse of a Militia, return to your base then let your betters go about our business as authorised by our glorious leader!”

“Are you threatening me General, and while under a flag of truce? A truce you requested!” stormed the Colonel.

“It is more of a promise Colonel, get out of my way or suffer the consequences, I have asked you nicely, now I am ordering you to move!” sneered the General.

At that moment a file of around thirty troops crested the ridge from the Masonville camp and headed down towards the marsh dragging a bloodied civilian with them, all were heavily armed.

At the same time, the drone of several engines could be heard rapidly approaching.

Moments later two twin engine aircraft came into view from behind the Masonville forces and made a bee line for the Granaria deputation, sweeping down the valley with their forward-facing machine guns chattering away at the Colonel and her group, who promptly scattered.

As the aircraft flew ever closer, the sound of several heavy calibre machine guns was heard from the Granaria forces on their ridge. The front aircraft of the pair, seemed to dip and then began to rear up at an increasingly severe angle, its engines screaming, before stalling out and dropping to the ground to its right. Here it exploded in a huge searing ball of flame and debris right on top of the Masonville General and his deputation.

The second aircraft veered to the left to avoid the first and started to desperately gain height, before it too was raked by machine gun fire. Its port engine started to emit thick black smoke before bursting into flames. The heavily damaged aircraft started losing altitude as it turned for home and barely clearing the ridge and leaving a thick trail of oily smoke it disappeared from view. Moments later a distant rumble was heard, and it seemed likely that the second aircraft had crashed too, as a pall of smoke climbed into the sky.

The Granaria deputation slowly regained their feet as they regrouped.

“Anyone hurt?” asked the Colonel. On finding none of them had been injured, although the radio unit was smashed, the five of them looked across the valley to where the acrid smoke was drifting across the land. The pungent smell of burning materials could not mask the sickly aroma of burning flesh. The patrol that had started down the valley side prior to the aerial attack were seen to be desperately making their way back up the slope, but not before one of them was seen to shoot the civilian in their possession, who fell, unmoving, on the ground.

“Come on, I think that concludes the negotiations for the moment!” said a subdued Colonel Wiams, “Let’s get back to our forces as I need to change out of these wet smelly clothes, that bog is not a nice place to seek cover!” said a sodden Colonel as she led her deputation back up the slope.

The Granaria forces deployed on the ridge, maintained a close watch on events across the valley, where, once the Masonville forces disappeared from view, nothing more was seen, although several engines could be heard slowly receding into the distance. Apart from the continuing crackling from the burning aircraft and occasional bangs from exploding ordinance, peace and quiet gradually descended over the hills.

Back down in the camp a hive of activity had seen an access ramp dug out below the canister and one of the flat bed lorries had been reversed into position immediately below it. On either side of this vehicle, the two winch lorries had been positioned, with cables attached to the canister. This was gently pulled onto the lorry due to transport it back to the palace.

Once loaded, the cannister was secured by chains and the whole thing covered by a timber framework which was, in turn, covered by several tarpaulins. All this activity took most of the day and, with daylight failing, a council of war was held.

“Well Princess, I think it prudent to remain here for another night!” stated Colonel Wiams, “I think it will not be advisable to attempt to travel back down the valley to the crossing point established yesterday, especially with such a valuable cargo, but I also think we need to know for certain what our friends from Masonville are up to!”

“Sadly Colonel, I think you are correct, what do you think Chief?” Princess Aryn said asked as she turned to Chief Engineer Drows.

“Well Princess, I think from a logistical perspective, to try and manoeuvre our cargo down the valley will take longer than we have available daylight horas left. Although our load is securely attached to the transport vehicle, it is more than a little top heavy and to attempt such a precarious trip in the dark will probably end in disaster, either we’d tip over or break something vital on the lorry. At the same time, we really need to know what Masonville’s next move is going to be, as we are, potentially, quite exposed here, in more ways than one!”

All the other leaders of this mission, the Princesses Caryn, Ayne and Urna all agreed that to attempt to move their cargo was too risky given how little of the day was left, although none of them were particularly happy at the thought of yet another night isolated in the hills.
The Princess paced back and forth for a minute or two in deep thought, she stopped and looking at Captain Shearaj she said “Captain, can you get someone to find either Rusan, Lrna or Ayleah as I think we are going to need their specialist knowledge a great deal more than we already have!”

Captain Shearaj smiled at the Princess and answered, “No need to send for them, they’re heading our way as we speak.”

Princess turned and smiled at the approaching group of three women.

“Ladies, thanks for anticipating my request and presenting yourselves practically at the same time I realised I needed your expertise once again.”

All three women bowed to the Princess.

“It is our honour to offer our services to Your Highness, it was obvious you were holding a council of war and that you may have use of our specialist knowledge.,” stated Rusan.

“Yes ladies, you can once again really help us out. Ayleah, can you, with the Chief here go back over our route that we’ll have to take tomorrow with our vehicles, I want you both to check for hidden rocks or soft areas that could cause problems for our extra heavy loads. Lrna, I know the original foot track we established yesterday to get over here is well trodden and fairly obvious to those who will need to get back across the valley tomorrow, do you think you could find a second or even a third track for us, so if we need to get out of here in a rush we have more than one option, and is there any way to disguise the tracks across the bogs? Finally, Rusan, my request to you will be the most distasteful, and, it is a request not an order! Do you think you could get some of our troops across the adjacent valley, we need to check on what is going on with Masonville’s forces, there may well be scenes of carnage over there that you may find disturbing?”

Rusan looked at the Princess in the eye and replied “I thank you for your consideration, Princess, but you needn’t worry about my sensitivities, I have seen my share of death and destruction over the years, not necessarily in such a brutal manner but it is a hard existence at time’s up in these hills. I will be honoured to lead your forces across the valley. Whilst it won’t be really possible to remove evidence of our routes back across the bogs, it may be better for Lrna to lay some false trails that start across the valley floor but just end in deep pools, it won’t take long for nature to hide the trails anyway as the grasses and reeds will be dying off soon as winter sets in. When do you want me to go across the next valley? I can be ready in a matter of moments!”

“Captain, how soon do you want to head off?” asked the Princess.

“I expect I can have a patrol ready in five munts or so Princess.”

“Thank you, Captain.,” nodded the Princess. “Now Rusan, once you have got our troops across the valley, I don’t want you to go any further than the other side of the marsh, we don’t know what we are going to find, and I don’t want you placed in any further danger than necessary!” Rusan nodded acceptance.

“Captain, we need to know what our friends are doing, are they digging in, are they trying to outflank us or have they retreated?”

“Excuse me Princess, but I can not only guide your forces across the marsh over there, but I can show then some bleskin trackways that will enable them to approach that ridge from the side, rather than struggling up the loose scree slopes that predominate up there, it’ll be quicker and quieter, so safer for them all!” offered Rusan.

Aryn looked from Rusan to Captain Shearaj then back at Rusan with an arched eyebrow as she thought over Rusan’s offer.

“As much as I don’t like it Rusan, your proposition is sensible, I will take up your offer. Captain, I am charging you with Rusan’s safety, I want her exposed to as little danger as possible.” replied the Princess.

“Caryn, can you speak to the palace and let them know what has happened here today, and what our plans are, keep your reports short and make sure you use our most secure codes, Ayne, Urna, can you both check on everyone, see if any are especially fatigued or suffering from the cold more than others. See if we have a way of getting everyone at least a warm drink, perhaps from the forces in our rear, it will be easier for them to hide our fires from unfriendly eyes, but it will have to be another dark night I am afraid, no need to advertise our whereabouts. Come, everyone time marches on let’s get busy, you all know what we need to do!”

A small section of the engineers with Ayleah in their midst started to descend the valley looking to ease the journey for the next day whilst Lrna established a second and then a third route across the valley floor as well as laying a handful of false trails. Rusan, with Captain Shearaj and a patrol of ten militia, ascended to the ridge before disappearing from sight.

An hora had passed and the drone of an aircraft high in the sky warned everyone to what appeared to be a Masonville reconnaissance aircraft, before it quickly headed back to its base. Later, as dusk was settling in, a single shot was heard to echo around the hills, but no-one knew where it came from or what it meant.

It took several horas before all the tasks were completed, and it was totally dark before Rusan, Captain Shearaj and the patrol returned to the camp, all were ashen faced and angry beyond description. Both Princesses Aryn and Caryn waited for the patrol to make its report. Ayleah and Lrna went to console their mother Rusan who was now in tears and sobbing her heart out.

The captain wearily came to attention before the Princesses and Colonel Wiams. “It seems that Masonville’s forces have withdrawn back towards their own lands. They obviously left in a hurry as they have left a lot of equipment behind, specifically several vehicles and artillery pieces that our own artillery damaged or destroyed yesterday. We counted over twenty dead individuals, left where they fell. Unfortunately, they’d come across a family of three shepherds that were known to Rusan, a husband, his wife and their teenaged daughter. The husband was the hostage we saw shot earlier, the wife and the daughter were discovered by their tent. The wife was dead she’d been shot, but the girl was being raped by a lone Masonville soldier, when he saw us approach, he slit the girls throat and charged at us! Before any of us could react, Rusan’s knife whistled closely past my ear and embedded itself in this man’s throat! We think he, or others had also raped the wife, we found no trace of anyone else up there. We did what we could for the two females, but with your permission, we all want to go back tomorrow morning to fetch them, and the man, and take them down to Riventon with us for a decent funeral. We had a quick look at the crash site, and apart from fragmented bodies there was nothing to be found, although at least two soldiers were seen who likely drowned when they fell in the marsh yesterday.”

Rusan looked up at the Princesses, “They were a lovely family, Trnk, Srah and their daughter Jaz were heading home from their last season of Bleskin herding, Jaz had just been accepted into your Civil Defence Force, she’d wanted to follow in the footsteps of Lrna and Ayleah, it was all she’d spoken about for years, she had to wait until she was old enough and now, because of that animal she’ll never be able to live her dream! My knife was too quick an end for him! We have our unique ways of justice for certain criminals up here, and we would have made him suffer, sadly, it was not to be,” and sobbing she was led away by her equally distraught daughters.

“I’ve never seen such accuracy with a knife Highness, but Rusan is right, it was too good for that scum!” spat Captain Shearaj. “He was completely out of control, I don’t know if he was drunk and evil, brutalised and evil or just plain evil, whatever it was he is not going to attack anyone else, the strategic value such a prisoner and the information he may have held for us cannot be underestimated but sometimes natural justice trumps all! Two thirds of my patrol are female, and fine troops they make, I could not bear for them to suffer such a fate as befell those poor innocents!”

“We are all tired Captain, your militia have been under tremendous pressure for days now, if I had been there, I may well have killed him myself!” said a dejected Princess Aryn. “Let’s get you all some food and a place to sleep, we’ve a lot to achieve tomorrow, and it’ll be dawn before we know it!”

The camp settled down to a cold dark night in the hills. Sentries kept a watch for any signs of should Masonville’s forces, reappear but nothing was seen or heard from them, just the bleating of bleskins as they searched out some food whilst keeping an eye on all these humans who had so rudely disturbed their peace and quiet.

Chapter Nine.

It was another long, cold and dark night. The sentries patrolled the camp vicinity, and the lookout posts were replaced with fresh individuals on a regular basis so that everyone got a chance for some rest. An hora before dawn Captain Shearaj and Rusan led a second expedition to traverse the adjacent valley to recover the three bodies for repatriation to their family in Riventon.

As soon as it was light enough, the heavily loaded lorry with the winch vehicles in company started their tortuous journey down the mountain streambed and made their way carefully across the marsh by the route that had been used on the original journey to the crash site.

It took the best part of the day to make it onto the mountain road that led down to Riventon and eventually to the capital of Willowton. The ambulances awaited the return of the recovery patrol so they could transport the three bodies back to their home. It was late in the day when the recovery personnel were seen cresting the ridge, they were carrying the three stretchers with their sad loads. What really surprised those awaiting their return was the sight of a soldier being dragged along with his arms bound behind his back, dressed in the uniform of Masonville. As the dead shepherds were respectfully loaded onto an ambulance, the vehicle headed downstream to follow the canister that had caused so much trouble in the first place.

Captain Shearaj approached Princess Aryn and came to attention.

“Princess, as you have seen we have brought those poor unfortunate shepherds down off the mountain. As we were making our way back across the marsh, Rusan heard what she originally thought was a young bleskin mired in the muck bleating for its mother. What she actually found was this Masonville soldier, stuck up to his chest in the mud, quietly sobbing. It took us quite an effort to rescue him although several of my force were quite prepared to leave him there, especially in light of what our primary mission was today! However, we pulled him out and brought him down to await his fate at your pleasure.”

Aryn looked at the muddied, smelly and bedraggled specimen in front of her. His head hung down and he was visibly shivering. He was a small individual, barely five foot tall and probably no more than one hundred and twenty pounds wringing wet, which he was.

“What’s your name soldier?” snapped Aryn, he offered no response.

“I asked you what your name is soldier, I won’t ask you again!”

“Strin” came the muffled reply.

“Look at me when you speak to me soldier! Do they not teach you respect in Masonville? For the last time, what is your name?”

He looked up at the imposing figure of Princess Aryn, bright green eyes looked at her although one eye was almost closed with a purple bruise on his cheek, his dirty yellow hair plastered to his forehead, and he bore a haunted, scared expression.

“Strin your highness, A,a,a Art Strin” he spoke barely above a whisper before dropping his head once again, his teeth chattering. He looked to be no more than sixteen at the most, certainly nothing like the tall well-built Masonville troops most of the onlookers were more used to seeing.

“Well Art Strin, what shall we do with you? I have a good mind to execute you for the crime of invading my country, the murder of that innocent family and the rape of the females, it’ll save me an awful lot of trouble, get him out of my sight!” snarled Aryn.

A loud wail escaped the lips of Strin and he fell to his knees. “Please Highness, p . . ,p . . ,please d . ,d . ,don’t hurt me, I . . , I . . ,I didn’t want to come here, I . . , I . . , didn’t hurt those people and I certainly didn’t rape the women, I couldn’t, I . , I . . , wouldn’t, I’ll tell you everything I know, I . . ,I . . ,I . . . promise Highness, I’ll tell you the truth, honest I will, but please, don’t hurt me, I ask for . . , for . . , sanc . . , err, sanc . . , sanctuary and protection from Masonville’s leaders, p . . . ,p . . ,please Highness,.” and he continued to wail and cry.

The assembled group exchanged glances as they looked at this example of their enemy, an enemy who seemed so different to that expected. Something was seriously wrong here.

Aryn sighed. “Stand up Strin, no one here will hurt you, now, come on, stand up!”

Strin struggled to regain his feet and eventually two of the patrol members grabbed an arm each and hauled him upright. He glanced furtively at those around him, especially at Princess Aryn who was obviously in charge and more so at Rusan who was slowly approaching the group. He started to shuffle backwards, his bare feet scraping on the rough tussocky grass. Blood evident in amongst the mud and filth covering his feet and legs. His obviously too large uniform tunic hung from his frame, with no sign of any trousers.

“You must be cold Strin, let’s get you something dry to wear, are you hungry or thirsty Art.” asked Aryn.

“Y . . y . . yes Highness, I am c . . c . . cold so very cold and hungry and thirsty, are, are you going to p . . ,p . . poison me?” he asked fearfully.

Aryn gave a subdued sigh, “No Strin, we are not going to poison you, we are not that evil no matter what you have been told or how your countrymen have provoked us with their behaviour! Right Captain, take our friend here and strip him of that filthy uniform, get him cleaned up as best as you can and get him something warm and dry to wear. Ayne, once he’s clean can you see about dressing the wounds on his feet, I doubt all that mud and filth is doing him any good! Then we can get him a snack and a drink!”

“Noooo!!!!” wailed Art, “It’s fine Highness, I can change my own clothes and wash myself if you will just loose my arms, I promise not to cause you any problems, honest, I’ll, I’ll be a good g . . ,g . . , I’ll be a good soldier, p . ., p . . ,p . . ,please, honest, Highness!!” and even more tears fought to follow the tracks of others down his cheeks.

Before anyone else could respond Rusan stood in front of Strin and put a hand on each of his shoulders.

“Shhh Art, now shush, shush Art, it’s okay, no one here will hurt you! If I ask you an important question, do you promise to tell me the truth? Look at me Art, I want the truth, it’ll be best to tell us the honest truth now, rather than you be discovered in a lie later, do you understand Art, the truth, . . Right?”

Art looked intently into Rusan’s eye’s; his eyes darting from one to the other as he stared intently into her face after chewing on his lower lip, he nodded to Rusan he whispered,

“Yes, the honest truth, I will tell you the truth I promise!”

Rusan looked around at all these important people she’d suddenly found herself amongst, they were far more important than herself she knew, but she had more life experience than most of them. They were mainly youngsters, plus, she was a Mum. They were all studying her intently wondering what had driven this simple shepherdess to place herself at the centre of this discussion.

“Right Art, you can tell me, the truth mind!” Rusan said levelly, “Ready? Are you a girl, Art?”

Gasps escaped more than one of the group surrounding this vignette. Fresh sobs and tears escaped from Art who had screwed his eyes tightly shut. Without saying a word, Art nodded his head.

“Y . . y. . ,yes, I am a girl, please, please don’t hurt me, please, I’ll be a g . ., g . . good girl, I promise I will, I will!!” the rest was lost in a loud gut-wrenching wail as she threw her head backwards tears streaming down the sides of her head, leaving fresh tracks through the mud that coated her head, the tears pooling in her ears.

“Oh sweetheart, shush, it’s okay, come here!” said Rusan as she stepped forward, her arms open wide as Art collapsed into this simple woman’s embrace. As Rusan rocked this girl from side to side, someone cut the bonds that had bound her arms behind her back. Art held onto Rusan as if her life depended on this woman’s embrace. Someone else wrapped the pair of them in a blanket. As slowly the wails and sobs subsided, Rusan held this girl away from her slightly.

“Shush sweetheart, you are safe here, now, what is your real name?”

Barely able to control her breathing enough to speak clearly, the girl looked up into Rusan’s kind eyes, “M, m, m, my n,. n, name is Jena, Jena Kryty, H, h,h, . honest!”

“That’s all right Jena, such a pretty name.” said Rusan who looked at Aryn for unasked permission to care for this distraught and fragile young girl. Aryn nodded her ascent. “Right Jena, will you come with me and let us get you clean, dry, something to eat and drink and your wounds treated and then you can rest. After that, when you are ready you can tell me your story, will that be fine with you sweetheart!”

Jena nodded her head, so tired, so shattered, her body heaving with silent sobs.

With that Rusan, Jena along with Ayne and Urna went to the stream to begin the process of caring for this young individual who had caused so much consternation in such a short space of time.