CHAPTER 1
Aluk paused. Spinning slowly on the horizon, several smallspecks dipped and wheeled. He thought it was likely thatthey were carrion eaters. He spurred his beast on, waitingfor darkness.
To others of his kind, Aluk was not unhandsome. His shimmeringsilver green skin rippled over hard muscle and sinew. He stood tallfor his race, somewhat over four feet tall. His strong four fingeredhands held the guide straps of his mount, also reptilian, loosely, witha confidence born from long hours in the saddle. He was nomadic,as were all of his people, and this caused problems.
Of all people, Humankind especially had never been able toadjust to the idea that there could be a nation of walking, talking,lizard people. As a child, he had looked out fearfully over the buttesand forests that were his home as stories were told of the hordes ofHumans that massacred entire villages of Siritahk because Humanslabeled them "monsters".
Normally peaceful and friendly to everyone they met; theSiritahk had learned to be wary and just a little fearful of Humans. Itwas fortunate, Aluk mused, that the Siritahk had very little capacityfor hatred, or Human kind might find itself being wiped off the faceof the earth by a ruthless and cunning reptilian enemy.
There had been skirmishes, but because of the Siritahk seldomtraveled in large groups the fighting was usually one sided. Heremembered one such fight, when he was younger, that had exposedhim to the brutal truth about fighting, war, and the bitter loss theycan cause. It had also changed the course of his life.
As Aluk moved his beast through the late afternoon heat, he letthe beast find its own way, for it would naturally tend to stay out ofsight, allowing his mind to wander back in time.
The day had dawned hot, promising to be unseasonably warm.The old brood mother had grunted her approval, for it boded wellto start their journey to the gathering under clear skies. It wasunderstood by all the rain would slow them down, and wouldweaken them all by forcing them to march in a soupy sea of slickmud. After taking a morning meal, the women had struck the tents,buried the fire pits, and broken camp. Aided by the children andsuch help as the hunters could spare, the village was soon underway. Aluk had been a boy, on the verge of manhood, and had beenenlisted to help bear burdens. The use of daft beasts had not spreadwidely yet, and at that time only the Sirrim had had the luxury of amount.
They marched in file, across the dusty, arid plain, only about ahalf mile from a swampy, marsh-like river that meandered torpidlyacross the flat land of the great prairie. Siritahk, being a cold blooded,reptilian race, should have, by all logic, preferred the warmth of thesunny plains as did their lesser relatives, the snakes, lizards, anddragons, but for some reason, by some quirk of nature, they had anattraction to the one thing they needed to avoid; COLD.
Such had been the contrast between the harsh, dusty path of thevillage traveled and the lush water course, that Aluk had found himselfdrawn to the cat tail lined river course almost hypnotically. Severaltimes he had been scolded by the brood mother for approachingthe shade of the overhanging trees, until finally his real mother hadmoved him to the other side of the group, in hopes that temptationwould be overcome by distance. As cool as the shade looked to theentire village, they were highly distrustful of water, and drowningwas high on the list of horrors of any Siritahk, especially parents.
That night, when the rearguard scouts caught up with thevillage, they reported seeing dust in the distance, and that it hadbeen trailing them all day. The headman was deeply disturbed bythis, and for good reason. Humans had mounts and were a very realthreat in those days, and it was not unknown for an entire villageto be butchered for skins and trophies. The Siritahk could travelquickly and without a trace in small groups, but it was impossibleto hide the passage of an entire village on the move. A meetingwas called for all of the hunters. They began to make plans for thedefense of the village.
When darkness fell, they sent the brood mother, women, andthe young children ahead, while the headman and those huntersselected had stayed behind to set a trap. They covered the trail of theretreating village, and laid a false trail leading towards the swamp, inhopes that it would draw their pursuers towards the tall grass thatgrew near the water course.
The Siritahk possess an inherent, chameleon-like ability toblend with their surroundings, and against the backdrop of densefoliage of the swampy river, cover was easy to find. Aluk had stillbeen a boy, but at his father's urging, the headman had declared thatthis would be his manhood test. To be blooded in combat againstHumans. Aluk remembered how proud he had been to be chosen inthe defense of his people, but as he waited in the shadows, he alsoremembered how scared and alone he had felt. He had checked hisstone knife, and his bright, glittering steel tipped spear, and hadsettled down to wait.
It wasn't long before he saw furtive shadows creeping along thetrail that they had laid, and at his first glimpse, an involuntary gasphad escaped his lips. They were HUGE! Never in his life had he seensomeone this tall, and this first sight of his enemy filled him with icydread. He gripped his spear more tightly, and waited for the signalto attack.
Then, the signal was given! Aluk leaped to his feet, and drovethe head of his spear deep into the belly of a Human who had stoodnot three feet from where he was hidden. As he jerked the spearfree from the Human, realized that the Human still had no idea ofwhat or who had killed him. He clumsily blocked a sword thrust athim by another Human, and drove his spear between the ribs of hisattacker, but as the man fell, the spear lodged between his ribs andthe weapon was jerked from Aluk's hands, leaving him with only hisstone knife to fight with. Then, it was over.
Attacking out of the ambush, the fifteen hunters had quicklykilled or captured the entire band of forty Humans who had beentrailing them, and none of his people had even been hurt! It wastruly a great victory.
Aluk then had realized that these were men who dealt in hidesof all kinds, and seeing a Siritahk skin being used as clothing madehim sick.
Of the Humans who had been captured, only two had beenallowed to go free, alone and weaponless, as a warning to Humankindthat the Siritahk were growing tired of being hunted.
They had caught up with the rest of the village quickly, andproceed south, to the gather. When they were only a day's journeyfrom the gathering a horde of vengeful cavalry swept in upon themfrom the dusty plains. Such had been the care and stealth of theHumans, that they had had no warning of danger. Aluk thoughtback sadly, thinking of how many good men had fallen in that first,dreadful charge.
The Siritahk had been hampered by their own women andchildren, unable to put up any organized resistance, for each manprotected his own women, his own family. The second chargedecimated them. Wheeling about on the dusty plains, the Humanswere just in time to see the Siritahk melt into the trees and tall grassthat edged the swampy river. The Humans despite their furiouscharge soon found themselves hacking at vines and bushes, all signof the Siritahk vanishing a few yards from the dry, open plain.
Aluk's mind was distracted momentarily as he caught theslightest scent on the evening breeze, but...
