For One Nen (44 page)

“Alright then,” Festus said. He held his hand out to Fbathin and they pressed them together. After a springing action Festus leaped into the water and was gone.

Fbathin looked again to the others as if waiting for followers.

Still no Hoth moved.

“Yes, alright then,” she echoed Festus’ words.

Shan dashed off down a path and more than twenty Hoth joined him.

“You,” she pointed to a young Hoth wit
h wet black hair down her back.

“Nora,
” the young girl said, “Yes, Nora. Take forty and find the Nen. You know where to go. Make sure they eat before entering the water. I don’t want to lose anyone today.”

“The rest of you
, follow me,” she said with fire in her eyes. As she left the beach and entered the tunnel that ran past the celebration ground and on up to the palace she picked up a random staff someone must have lost as they tried to escape on that treacherous day.

“Where is she taking us?” one Hoth whispered from behind Fbathin.

She spun on her heel and pointed the staff at the one who had spoken.

“We are taking the Empire from the madman,” she said. She twirled around again and the tiny Hoth leader walked straight up to the gates of the palace and climbed over a rock wall and followed the edge of the smaller body of water that was hidden from sight by the tall walls of the palace.

“Who’s there?” one giant Het guard called out into the darkness. He fumbled with his purse hanging at his side and pulled out a light stone. However, by the time it grew bright enough for him to see, forty, tiny, and soundless Hoth had gotten past him.

There were no guards by the water’s edge of the palace.

“I’ll go in first and find the path,” Fbathin said.

She quietly slipped into the water’s depth and was gone a short time before her head surfaced long enough for her to motion with her hand to follow. The other Hoth didn’t make a sound as the water accepted them. Fbathin took her crew through a water-filled tunnel and upward where there was a large pocket of air. There she instructed them where they should go to find all the children.

“He must have stolen the children of his slaughtered kinsmen. But we shall steal them away from him. They will not be sacrificed like his son.”

They scattered as they left tiny wet footprints on the stone floors. Snatching the children out of bed they tried to quietly go back the way they came. Some however were not so cooperative, some screamed loud enough to alert a Het guard outside the front gates. He stormed into the foyer looking for the reason for the commotion
, but he found nothing. The children had all been taken and the trail of watery footprints told them the direction they had gone. The Het raced to tell others.

When Tapsin was informed of the kidnapping he mentally pushed several Het at once,
“Find who did this and destroy them.”

The Het lost the trail at the outside lake on the palace grounds. It wasn’t until another child screamed that the Het charged down the tunnels after them. But it was too late. As soon as the Hoth had reached the shore line they let the stolen children latch onto their gills to breathe their way to the surface. With one final breath the Hoth dove into the deep with the children.

Not even halfway to the surface the Hoth grew weak especially the ones who carried the older children. Fbathin carried two Antip children. One attached to each gill. She was fading quickly because her body was depleting quickly of its oxygen. She could feel her head swirl. Her sight faded and she kicked her body one last time to get the children safely to the surface.

“There she is,” Hrilla stood on
the shoreline of the surface and screamed in terror.

Pressing her hand over her chest she tried to force air into her collapsed lungs.
Yet, even before her breath had returned she dashed into the water and pulled the children off of her dearest and best friend. Handing the children off to awaiting helpers she dragged Fbathin back to shore. She lay her down and saw her gills had already grown cold and blue. With tears she looked back into the water as the scene played over and over again; tiny Hoth bodies bobbed to the surface with a child and sometimes two.

Many people tried to rush to the dying Hoth and others grabbed the children from the water. Along with Fbathin all but nine Hoth that had latching children sacrificed their lives that day for the sake of the children they rescued. It took almost an hour to fish the dead bodies of the Hoth from the water.

Amazingly though, the children all survived.

Hrilla had left the body of her dead friend on the shore while she helped pull the children to safety and then the bodies of the Hoth. Yet when the last person was accounted for she returned to Fbathin and took the lifeless body in her arms and wept. She rocked and moaned until her voice was raw and muffled. She groaned out her heartache like she had never known was possible. Part of her path was gone and she wept, letting her tears bathe her love
’s face.

Dhobin squatted on his heels next to her and held very still. Nothing could comfort his partner but he wanted to be close.

The Hoth escapees that Hrilla had rescued days earlier, along with the surface Hoth, dwindled in numbers that day. The Hoth that remained gathered the lifeless bodies of their fallen sisteren and arranged them in the ceremonial way, in which they cared for their dead.

Standing by the fires of the dead
, Hrilla began to chant, “Sparse no more. Sparse no more. No more killing. Sparse no more.”

Others joined in and soon the large group that surrounded the fires chanted. Some danced in a circle surrounding the fires. Some stood and wept. Some held a loved one. But all agreed in their rising
blend of voices, “Sparse no more, sparse no more.”

297 AE

Aboard the EGRESS

Deni stopped reading and jumped to her feet. “We must tell the others. Mathis and the others should know the truth.”

“No doubt,” Beau said. “The Hoth are so different than what we’ve
ever been taught in our keepers’ class.”

Molly whimpered then cleared her throat as she tried to compose her emotions that the story stirred within her.

“It’s different than any of us have ever heard,” Deni added.

“But the same, you know?” Tala said. “They rebelled against the empire and they did steal all the children – that part was true. We just didn’t have the complete truth. They, along with many others, rebelled against the empire that was led by a madman and they stole the children because they wanted to save them from being slaughtered by the same madman – Tapsin.

“Wow! Everyone knew part of the truth – just not the whole truth. Or maybe the truth was there all along but it just got misinterpreted down through time. Wow!” he said again. “But how are we going to let anyone know this truth? All systems are down and the elevator doesn’t work,” Beau said.

“What is that?” Deni asked.

Tala turned in the same direction that Deni was looking.

“Turn off the light,” Deni said hastily as she pressed her hands and face against the window.

“Molly?” Tala simply said and Molly clicked the light off quickly.

“I saw something down there; a light,” Deni said.

Tala spun on her butt by aide of her feet to investigate why her partner was so concerned.

Down in the middle of what was left of the Hoth sector was a man in a space suit.

“Henry,” Tala said.

“How can you tell who it is?” asked Beau.

“His black face,” Tala said with a smile.

“You sure it’s not just a shadow?” asked Molly.

“No, it’s Henry. I’m sure of it.” Tala exhaled as if she were releasing all her worry.

“He’s one of the engineers. I wonder what he’s doing,” Deni said.

There was a light on his helmet and one on each side of the belt around his middle.

“If we could get his attention maybe he could turn on the elevator so we could get to the others,” Deni suggested.

“Worth a try,” Beau said grabbing the light from Molly’s hand.

“Hey,” Molly protested slightly but didn’t make any more of it.

Beau shined the light in front of Henry and shook it a moment. Henry held out his hand and let the beam of light run across it.

Henry looked up to follow the beam.

Deni began jumping up and down.

Molly followed with some screams, “Up here! Up here!”

“Molly, he can’t hear you,” Beau said.

“I know. It just makes me feel better to yell at the top of my lungs,” she said, without hesitation.

Beau swung his arms in giant arcs and joined in the plea, “Up here. Look up here.”

“Ow,” Tala said.
“He shined his light in my eyes.”

“He sees us,” Deni smiled.

“That’s good because I can’t see anything,” Tala said grumpily.

Beau tried to send him a signal to say, ‘turn the power on and get us out of here,’ but no one really knew if Henry was able to understand the message. After only a few more minutes Henry left the sector.

Deni plopped back to the floor and gave a sigh, “I guess this is where it ends.”

There was no response from anyone. There was no response needed because they were all thinking the same thing.

“Shall I read more?” Deni asked.

“I’d like that,” Molly said with tears again forming quickly but this time she didn’t hold back. She cried and Beau held her.

Just as Deni settled herself into a comfortable position and opened the book the lights flew on and the ding from the elevator told that it too had come alive again.

The four of them jumped to their feet and ran for the elevator.

Once on the main deck they ran round to the keepers’ class, almost charging into the growing crowd that had begun to spill out into the hallway.

Teltel had been reading since the blackout. “It won’t stay on long,” he said to the crowd. “I’ll just keep reading for now.”

“Yes,” Maven Sharla said tenderly. “Continue reading for us.”

Deni stopped him before he had time to open the book in his hands.

“Read this,” Deni demanded softly.

Teltel took the book and asked, “Is it Chris’?”

“Yes, it tells the true story of the Hoth rebellion. And it’s not what we’ve come to believe our whole lives. In this book is the truth and everyone should hear it. This is what Chris was protecting. This is what he wanted to share.”

Teltel hesitated but Deni whispered to him. “Everyone must know and we don’t have much time.”

Still he hesitated.

Teltel held the book with both hands, took a few steps away, and handed it to Mathis.

Tala slid her bandaged hand through the crook of Deni’s arm and they sat down together.

Most of the ship had come to listen to the stories.

Bug and Trina were there.

The drunken partiers from the kitchen had come.

The couple planning their own deaths had decided to join the group.

All of the students, parents, children; every tribe, from every sector of the ship had gotten word of the stories.

Mathis opened the book carefully and began to read when the room fell dark.

Many clicks of lights could be heard throughout the crowd.

Teltel grabbed Mathis from under the arms and set him high on a chair to help his voice carry to the far reaches of the gathering.

2,300 BE

On the surface of the planet REEN

The Hoth had given their lives to save the children of many tribes that day.

It was difficult for Hrilla to let her Hoth friend, Fbathin, go to the fires.

“We must,” Dhobin urged.

With a gentle tug of her shoulders
, Dhobin pulled her away from the dead body of her best friend.

Other Hoth came for
Fbathin to be added to the giant yellow flames.

Hrilla folded her body over her knees and sobbed with great sorrow.

It is said that the place where Hrilla wept over Fbathin grew bright blue flowers. They call the flower Hrilla to this day.

“How will I go on without her?
” Hrilla cried. She mourned until a tiny hand wiped her tears away.

She looked up to see a tiny Hoth child.

“Shahi.” Hrilla said. Fbathin’s tiny sister crawled up into Hrilla’s lap and asked, “Will I live with you now?”

Hrilla gathered her senses about her as she held the child, “Would you like that?” Hrilla asked.

“Yes,” said the child snuggling into Hrilla’s embrace.

With a smile Dhobin said, “And our path widens.”

With one arm around the new addition to her family, she reached up with the other and took Dhobin’s hand. She joined his path and he joined hers and together they raised Fbathin’s sister.