CHAPTER TEN.
CONTINUED
Until Eternity, Brother.
After
another long year Sukoloff joined Rarl as a respected elder and helped feed the
chickens. They would spend long hours watching the children play and invented
many stories to tell them. He longed to teach them of a world yet to come. A
world of computers and spaceships, but he could not help wondering if Nutt had
been right and despite the hardships of slavery, this time was better. At
night, by the light of a tallow candle, he wrote. Without his crazy friend at
his side he found it difficult. His eyesight had become poor as well as his
memory.
��������� �What is �we�, Nutty?� he said looking
skyward. �I remember �I am�, but not �we�. I will have to use �I am�.�
��������� With many words missing he used the
code him and Nutt had invented. Nutt had written many words on small scraps of
papyrus and Sukoloff smiled as he saw them.
��������� He looked at what he had written and
remembered all those he had left behind and those who had died. �You�re no
longer with us, Alex. But this is for you and for everything you taught me.
��������� Until eternity brother. Life,
strength, health.
��������� Autumn 10. The slayers come at dawn.
��������� And he signed it, Baby Spirit and Nutt.
Today
his faint spirit broke. Rarl had died.
��������� Sukoloff had talked to him for hours as the end neared. He told him of his passed life and the joy of the world Rarl would go to. He spoke of flying and the songs of angels. Then said goodbye to the last friend he had on earth.
He
watched the children play. Listened as they squealed and laughed. They played
the timeless games of children, fighting, kicking a round cloth ball, loving
and hugging straw dolls. An echo drifted across the sand towards him. The sound
of a Russian song and he saw Tzavros holding a baby. The tears of a lifetime
finally came to the emotionless man as he tried to see the baby�s face, yet
could not remember how she looked.
��������� Suddenly the village erupted. Another
invasion but, this time his blood did not race. He just sat watching the
children run for cover, saw the frantic mothers grab their babies and run.
Nothing moved him, not the sound of a dying man nor the scream of a frightened
woman. He was a lost soul and he no longer wanted to fight. There was nothing
to fight for, this was not his land, nor were these his people. He had
destroyed his world.
��������� �They are your people, Vassy.
The slaves are all races and they were all my brothers. This is my land, Vass,� the wind whispered.
��������� �Nutty? Is that you?� No answer came
apart from a low groan and he watched a dark skinned baby tottering towards a
hut. He saw her fall and a tiny sob drifted towards him. Somewhere the mother
screamed as a soldier ran forward spear raised for the easiest of kills.
�Your
people, Vassy,� the wind said again. He ran, his tired old legs wobbling
defiantly as he did. The spear came down towards the infant and he jumped
forward and down landing on top of the child and under the spear. No shout, not
even a moan, just a smile as an arrow hit the surprised owner of the spear and
a small child crawled crying from under him.
��������� Strong hands lifted him and he looked into the face of the priest. �You�re a brave man,� he said in perfect English. �I give you your freedom.�
He
lay on a soft bed in the house of the priest. He knew he was dying but welcomed
it. Maybe Jodie was waiting for him and he would die a free man. The priest
told him that the child he had saved would also be free and a brief flash of
worry hit him, was he changing the future?
��������� �This bag was dug from under your bed.
The clothes in it have been washed. What is your name? So we can mark your
grave as you did with the others,� the priest said.
��������� �I have many names, once I was Vacily
Sukoloff. The slaves call me Vass, thanks to Rarl and Nutty. One called me Ibis
and many call me Baby spirit.�
��������� �I see,� the priest said smiling.
�Young Nutt had to die to keep history straight. I let him off countless times.
I ignored his stealing. You should have taught him to steal better. The guards
came in when he was looking at the sacred map. I had to show authority and give
him the punishment expected for this crime. But it was the saddest thing I ever
did. I liked that young man. One day I will tell you of the only safe place for
this map.� With that he left the room and Sukoloff struggled to his feet. He
removed the robe of a slave and the scroll he had hidden within it. Painfully
he dressed in what remained of his suit and placed the scroll onto one of the
priest shelves, then lay back on the bed and listened to the song of the
slaves.
��������� �Ibis, little Ibis!� it said. �You�re
no danger to anyone. You�re no danger to a mouse. Tanen has left Pia after
doing as much damage as he could. There are many more of his kind now. The time
of the great Pia is over.�
��������� �Shut up, I don�t want to hear,� he
said covering his ears and hoping this was another dream.
��������� �You will do more than hear. I think
you should go back. Ibis, don�t look so sad, you used to be such a pretty
thing. Back Ibis, back to your own time,� it said.
��������� The priest came in the room with wine and smiled as he saw the empty bed. �Life, strength, health. Fly free, Baby Spirit, until we meet again.�
