CHAPTER II


DEATH FROM THE SKY




	The scout appeared as though he had completed a marathon run through burning cities 
and smouldering prairies.  Grey ash and black soot had accumulated on his bare arms and 
shoulders like a second skin and flecks of yellow dust clung to his leather vest like hungry 
termites.  The blue eyes of the Great Elder measured him without emotion as if he was a 
common messenger bringing tidings of a wearisome nature.  Jeremy gazed at his mentor with 
grey eyes glinting like sharp stones.  

	"Perceptor," he spoke, barely able to contain his vehemence, "we must take action!  Let 
me lead a company of our best Cougars and we will intercept the invaders on the Plains."

	The Elder stroked his silken white beard with a deep frown.  "The Xandian armies are 
marching on the offensive.  Clearly the annexation of the State of Carmel is their goal and they 
have the power to overrun Carmel across the Plains in just a matter of hours.  Are your contacts 
absolutely correct in saying that they are also targetting the Great Divide?"

	The scout who had sat down blowing steam and dirt on the wooden steps of the Elder's 
stilted hut said with difficulty:  "Among the divisions who will be spearheading the thrust into 
Carmel is a company of specially trained alpine troops and their designated routes of assault are 
not across the plains but toward the mountains.  Perceptor, I have lost two good men in 
collecting this information and I am in no doubt whatsoever that the intelligence reports, which 
have been paid for in blood, are correct and accurate."

	"Perceptor--," Jeremy began, tossing his wavy raven black hair impatiently over his 
shoulders.

	The Elder held up his right hand commanding silence and once more he lapsed into deep 
thought.  At long last he responded, "I have no doubt whatsoever that your dispatches are 
correct, Janimo, but I feel that something is seriously missing here, a piece that has not fallen 
into place.  That is the reason, Jeremy, why I am reluctant to send you out into battle, to meet 
certain death, I am sure.  The intrusion across the plains and up the slopes could have been 
devised as a deadly trap.  No, we stay put and plan our next strategy."  

	Jeremy stared hard at the rough, wooden planks of the porch, then he shrugged and 
muttered: "If that is the case, Great Elder, permit me to go and inspect our defences and give 
poor Janimo here some food and drink."

	"Of course," the Elder said, "of course."

	Jeremy stamped down the wooden steps and with one rough hand dragged the scout after 
him if he were a sack of potatoes.  The Elder stood still with a grim smile, his eyes following the 
young Cougar.  The eyes then rolled upwards to study the belt of clear blueness girding the 
jagged summits of the cliffs that overshadowed the secret Grove Hollow of the Mountain Clan.  
It was a perfect day to start an invasion.  As a matter of fact they had been blessed with a spate of 
good weather which seemed to last forever.  Glare and brightness during the day and fierce 
stabbing stars after night had fallen.

	The Elder slowly walked down the steps and strode to the clearing in the centre of the 
grove.  The bright days portended little good and the nights were filled with mystery.  He had 
stood watching the sky the night before with its unusually brilliant array of flickering points.  At 
one time the points had seemed dangerously close as if they were heralding a message from 
beyond.  

	A message of war, no doubt, which was approaching the Great Divide that had so far 
remained unscathed from the social and political upheavals plaguing the lands beneath.  The 
most ominous development was the sudden change of government in northern Xandia who had 
steadily been mustering military might over a span of weeks with sinister intentions.  The other, 
and not in any way less significant turn of events was the explosive movement of liberalization 
in the Continent of Aseur in the East, and its impact was of such force that it had uprooted old 
paramountcies and sent ripples over the Atlantic Main into the dictatorships of the Setting 
Continent.  

	The Elder was worried by the inexplicable phenomenon of seemingly falling stars and 
deeply troubled by the growing threat of the new northern Dominion of Magnificent Xandia.  He 
took pride in himself for his great foresight and judgment but it seemed that these qualities had 
little assisted him of late in providing answers to the riddles he was facing or plotting a plan how 
to counter an attack.  Throughout the day he embarked on a peremptory inspection of his 
community, visiting families in the stilted makeshift huts, examining blockades of boulders and 
dead wood across the secret entrances, and holding lengthy discussions with his various 
Underheads.  

	He returned moodily to his own dwelling when streaks of daylight were sinking behind 
the western slopes, and fires were lit as night shades thickened in Grove Hollow and the stars 
would soon supplant the solar glare with their own mysterious radiance.  During the day the 
Elder had made a decision that he should not be worrying so much about unravelling the mystery 
written in the stars.  After carefully weighing up the reports of the scout he became convinced 
that the hordes of the plains had finally set their eyes upon the mountains and upon the Clan who 
had been hiding there.  

	Why have they become a target, why now?  For long years he thought that he, and the 
Clan, had escaped the undesired attention of dictators, as long as they did not leave the sanctuary 
of the mountains but the Great Divide, it seemed, with its many gorges, caverns and hidden 
canyons could no longer be considered as safe.  The free lifestyle of the Clan had been a thorn in 
the side of many a paramount dictator, vexing but not serious.  Now they had become a danger in 
someone's eyes and if the Elder was right in his surmise who that Someone was he knew that 
Someone too well that He would never rest until He had brought the entire clan to their knees, or 
simpler still, obliterate them from the face of the earth.  It also meant that someone else had 
given their secrets away.  

	Wearily the Elder sat down on the dusty steps of his hut and snatched a blue woollen 
cloak off a hook to throw it over his shoulders.  As the sky darkened and cooler air drifted 
around the Hollow, he noticed Jeremy striding into the clearing accompanied by several well 
armed young men, as uncouth and savage of exterior as their leader.  

	Jeremy.  Many were the days of wasted efforts when he tried to drum, most of the time 
whip, some semblance of discipline and civility into his young ward, but the hostility of their 
environment had been a better teacher and had moulded the boy into a roughneck Cougar.  One 
learned very quickly that the law in the mountains was to cut throats in order to survive.  And as 
the years went by and Jeremy grew up to be a young man, the Elder thought that the Cougar 
image suited him better and might give him more credit in the hard days to come.  

	Jeremy approached his mentor with a scowl that betrayed his anxiety.  "We have 
reinforced the defences," he reported, flinging his broadsword on the porch.  "We will be able to 
withstand an army coming up the slopes but I fear if the enemy comes with heavy weapons, we 
are no match for them.  We only have a few automatic guns and not enough ammunition."  

	"I am aware of it, Jeremy," the Elder said, "We do not have the resources to make a stand 
here.  We will have better chances if we evacuate." 

	"Evacuate?" Jeremy repeated, his eyes blazing with outrage.  "We are leaving our homes 
in the Hollow?"

	"Yes," the Elder said, drawing the cloak tighter around his shoulders. "I've already given 
orders to the Underheads to make preparations and move first the women and children away.  
We will start our evacuation in small groups under cover of the night, seeking a new hiding-
place and tomorrow, hopefully, we will be able to depart for our journey across the Plains." 

	"We are deserting the mountains altogether!" Jeremy called out furiously.  "We are going 
to be reduced to cowardly refugees on the Plains!"

	The Great Elder rose from his seat on the steps and stretched to his full height, a tall and 
gaunt man, who had gone through almost half a century of Minus Zero anarchy, possessing 
power and forcefulness to stare down an angry crowd of sword-swinging Cougars and 
diminished them into a herd of cowering underlings.  

	"Hear me right, Jeremy, son," he said sternly.  "When speaking to me about our people, 
the words desertion and cowardice will never again cross your lips.  Must I always remind you to 
think first before passing judgment.  Yes, our people will leave the Hollow, which I fear will 
soon become a deathtrap, but they will remain in smaller numbers scattered throughout the 
canyons and caverns of the Great Divide, each group led by an Underhead.  It is you and I who 
will make the long journey to the East with a small platoon of our Cougars.  Now that you know 
what lies in store for our people, go and do your part in the preparations!"  

	Jeremy lowered his eyes to the ground, picked up his sword without speaking and 
stomped away.  The Elder climbed up the steps to make his own arrangements, pack a bag of 
essentials and nourishments for the hard and long voyage at hand.  The night was velvet black 
and the stars, the stars were shining more radiantly than ever, threatening to smother the earth 
with their glory.  

	The Elder walked to and fro on the wooden floor of the hut which creaked and scrunched 
under his furious steps, intermittently sighing and cursing, rummaging about his belongings, 
hauling things down from the loft, viewing them with conflicting feelings of regret and disgust.  
Those he did not like he flung away to be later burnt, the things he liked he fondled absent-
mindedly, books and journals yellowed by age and a portable telescope.  

	The Elder thoughtfully weighed the telescope in his hand.  It was long forbidden by law 
to carry and store instruments of this nature; the study of the stars had become taboo.  He felt that 
tonight was the night for him to sit out under the bare sky and lift his eyes to study and observe 
the profound glittering and beckoning of the heavens.  Never again would such a night as this 
occur.  He put the telescope away and carried on with scavenging the odds and ends of the hut, 
muttering to himself why people bothered to collect so many trivialities over a lifetime.  Like 
this flat leather case, for instance, not collected but snatched as booty from a dead--.

	Something was not right.  The case was lukewarm to the touch.  His heart seemed to miss 
beat when he opened the case.  The Frame has come alive.  Alive with enigmatic symbols 
pulsing like flickerflies across the screen  And to think of it that all this time he thought the 
opaque glass oblong looked dead and worthless.  He must leave the Hollow, there is no other 
option.  The Frame must not come into the wrong hands and sooner or later he should destroy it 
but not before he had a chance to unlock its secrets.

	The evening was well advanced when he found himself finally packed and ready.  His 
preparations were hampered on several occasions by intrusions of several Cougars and 
Underheads requesting advice and reporting the various stages of readiness.  At long last 
Underhead Jarez confirmed the Clan was ready to retreat from Grove Hollow after a quick 
supper.  

	"Make it a very quick supper indeed!" the Elder ordered.  He suddenly realized it had 
become a matter of life and death to leave the Hollow.  Descending the porch and marching onto 
the clearing he lifted up his eyes and almost sank to his knees in awe.

	The stars falling was an optical illusion, an illusion that was cloaking a message, a 
message of tremendous portent, not of death but of life that was coming, of something coming 
back.  

	The brilliance hurt his eyes and he lowered them and he gazed around the clearing, 
looking through a film of haze at his people who were gathered around campfires for supper. 

	He was not advanced in years enough to be fully versed with the Forbidden Legend.  
People of his age were only destined to experience the terrible aftermath of the Devolution and 
taught to defile the Ones who caused it.  One had to be a legend oneself to comprehend the 
workings of the mystery now written so sublimely on the vastness of the heavens.  Those who 
knew the Legend first-hand had long since died off, but he knew that a very few of their 
followers still lived, hiding in secrecy, and they would be able to read the message of the stars, 
and the symbols on the Frame, through the logics of their starcasting.  The journey to the East 
was imperative.  

	But so was the immediate survival of the Clan.  The feeling of impending doom 
overwhelmed him, dispersing the earlier sensation of wonder.  A cold breeze came down from 
the peaks and he put up the hood of his cloak.  The abandoned huts fringed the clearing in a 
semi-circle of silence and darkness as the clan families preferred the bright night than the bare 
impersonality of their former abodes, and they clustered in small groups around the blazing 
campfires.  Viewed from above the fires burning in the Hollow would be as telling as the stars.

	The Elder raised his eyes once again to the sky and a cry of horror whipped through his 
lips.  Splotches of dark material blotted out part of the glittering background, sweeping down 
with tarry wings like huge bats and spitting hot flames. 

	"Jeremy!" the Elder roared and the young Cougar came careering through the chaos of 
people, fleeing from the exposed clearing with screams and wails as they sought the protection of 
their huts.  

	"Jeremy, lead the Clan out of the clearing through the underground cave.  Underhead 
Aroun will take command of the defense.  Now!  It is an order!"

	Swallowing his objections Jeremy flew away.  A glider swooped down like a falling 
stone and fell on top of him.  They crashed into the trampled remains of a campfire, kicking up a 
spray of sparks, and rolled over the ground in a desperate tangle of flaying arms, legs and 
battered wings.  One of the wings had caught fire and as the glider was trying to unhook it, 
Jeremy gave the man a vicious kick in the chest with both his feet and he grappled quickly onto 
his knees while the other was still struggling with his rifle.  Heaving his sword with both hands 
Jeremy drove it into the man's throat.  He snatched the rifle away from the twitching hands and 
looked round.  Through the sweat trickling into his eyes he saw the Great Elder swinging a great 
battle-axe as if it was just a twig of a tree.  All around him the clearing had become one writhing 
mass of smoke, flares and the cries of dying men, and shadows of death continued to swarm 
down from the night sky.  

	Jeremy hesitated no longer; it was survival and not bravery which mattered at this 
moment.  They were clearly outnumbered.  He hastily assembled survivors of the Mountain Clan 
and a band of his Cougars, leading them away from the burning centre of Grove Hollow, further 
into deeper darkness until they came upon a cleft at the foot of a slope which was camouflaged 
by a web work of brambles.  

	He pushed them into a gully which dipped steeply downwards before snaking through an 
underground hollow.  The narrow path continued to wind deeper into the mountain, at first on a 
level course but gradually it rose upwards, steepening by slow degrees.  For the old and very 
young it became a laborious trip since the path was markedly taking them up a cliff.  Doggedly 
following the contours of the gully, the party finally reached the end and coming upon the open 
sky once more found that from the inside they had climbed up a high ledge overlooking a 
densely wooded valley.  The full face of the moon stared point-blank at their haggard faces.  
Cold and uncaring, the face nonetheless provided them enough light to see a grit trail swerving 
down between taluses of sharp, glinting stones and boulders of scoured grey rock into the forest 
of cedars beneath and to the banks of a distant river.

	Descending into the valley Jeremy instructed the little group of survivors to make their 
way to the cover of the cedars while he held back with a few of his Cougars below the ledge.  
After some time a score of twenty more mountain dwellers crawled through the mouth of the 
cave and the last to emerge was the Great Elder with a handful of his Underheads.  

	"No more?" Jeremy enquired and his voice was uncharacteristically soft.  

	"There are no more coming in this direction," the Elder said, "there may be others who 
have made it through other escape routes but for now we are the only ones who have made it this 
far."  

	"We have to post guards near the entrance of the cave in case you were followed," 
Jeremy said.  

	The Elder nodded wearily.  "You know what to do.  It is always wise to practise caution 
but personally I think the enemy has done enough slaughtering for the night.  They will continue 
to mop up in the Hollow, but not further than that as long as it is dark.  Tomorrow is another 
matter though.  Come back to me, Jeremy, after you've done what is necessary to cover our 
backs."

	Jeremy muttered to himself there was hardly enough manpower left to him to effectively 
cover the prominently tall back of the Elder, let alone a group of frightened men, women and 
children, but he complied as best as he could with remnants of his Cougar force, keeping five to 
guard the cave and taking the rest with him to join the others in the woods. 

	The forest covered a vast expanse of wilderness lining the shores of the river which they 
could see as a glimmering ribbon from afar, and the cedars, cottonwood and sagebrush 
flourishing unimpeded since the time of Devolution had turned the area into an impregnable 
green fortress.  It was the Elder's decision to take refuge in the woods until daybreak.  The 
density of the trees would make it impossible for glider troopers to blitz them from the sky.  

	"They used gliders!" the Elder cursed as he marched through the thick undergrowth, 
stumbling countless times as his voluminous mantle caught on thorny bushes.  "The reports 
mentioned alpiners but not gliders!  It would have made all the difference if someone ever so 
much uttered one word about the use of gliders!"

	His companions maintained their silence.  The surrounding darkgreen gloominess and the 
prospect of spending a night in cold and wetness under the trees were more immediate worries 
than the sore mood and wounded pride of their leader.  At last, only a few yards away from the 
shadows of the wood they could see the waters of the nameless river rippling with strands of 
silver in the moonlight.  The Elder instructed his people not to approach the banks where the 
river would not be able to give them protection but the heavy camouflage of the trees would.  
The remainder of the night was spent on damp ground, huddled against tree roots and hard 
shrubberies, in constant waking on the part of the Cougars and fitful sleeping on the part of the 
others.

	Most of the following day passed with much of the same uncertainty and anxiety 
restricting their movements.  No one dared to take a step outside the protective umbrella of the 
forest.  Jeremy had earlier in the day dispatched his scouts.  He was still waiting for them to 
return as the hour of noon passed, the sun was declining westwards, and the hours of the 
afternoon were slowly ticking into dusk.

	Jeremy sprang to his feet as hasty feet crunching through the undergrowth approached 
their camp.  One of the scouts stumbled into their midst with sweat gleaming on his face and 
trickling down his bare shoulders.  He had yanked off his headgear, and held by a strap around 
the neck it bounced several times on his back as he ground to a halt in front of the Elder, 

	"Perceptor, we have caught two intruders!" 

	"Glider troopers!"  The whole camp pulled to their feet like one man.  

	"Um, not exactly."

	"What do you mean?" the Elder demanded.  

	"What he meant, Elder Micah," piped a female stentorian voice, "is that an old woman 
and her pupil can hardly be regarded as ferocious enemies."

	The Elder stared and gaped, but with amazing speed he recovered and rushed forward 
with outstretched arms.

	"Assiya!  This is a miracle!"

	Assiya examined the Elder coolly with her hands on her hips.  "Miracle indeed!  Looking 
at you I think you are indeed in need of one.  An unlucky strafing by invaders, I presume.  How 
many of you are left?"

	"Not many, what you see before you is all that remains of us.  We still have to find out 
whether others have survived."

	The Elder took Assiya by her arm and drew her aside.  Conrad, trailing behind Assiya's 
back was left to face Jeremy who looked upon him with a scowl on his unshaven face and an 
unfriendly glare in his eyes.  

	The Elder spoke in a low voice:  "That young man over there, your charge?"

	Assiya nodded and asked in return:  "Your young man, yours?

	"Have we come to the same conclusion?"

	"Obviously."

	"Then the stars last night were heralding the Return!"

	"I am not a starcaster, Micah.  I am travelling to the East to find one and one that can read 
the enigma of the Frame.  Do you still have your Frame?"

	The Elder merely nodded and Assiya thrust the question: "Then like mine it has come 
alive?"

	"Yes."

      "Yes," Assiya repeated reflectively, "oh yes."
      
      "And your path has crossed mine because we are going the same way.  I thought you 
were a starcaster yourself, Assiya."

	Assiya snapped:  "I am not sure whether I can trust you, Micah.  Let's drop the subject 
for the time being, we still have a long way to go.  We can deliberate further once we reach our 
destination."  

	The Elder swept the air with his arm.  He beamed a smile. "I will be delighted to have 
you and your young pupil as our travelling companions, venerable Assiya.  My people, 
everything is in order, these are our friends.  Welcome them for they will stay with us."

	"Are you sure, Perceptor?" Jeremy growled, "are you sure that they are not spies?"

	The Elder planted a calm hand on the young man's shoulder.  "I have known the old 
woman for a very long time.  She and her pupil share our destiny, yours and mine.  Do you doubt 
my words?"

	Jeremy stared at the ground for prolonged moments without speaking.  With his mouth a 
thin line and his face blanked out of all expression he swung round and plunked down the 
headgear on his head.  His voice snarled through the mouth slit of the helmet:  "I'd better go and 
see how our guards are faring by the cave."

	"Relieve them of their duties and bring them back," the Elder ordered. "We are 
departing."  

	The ragged members of the Clan gathered together and prepared for another perilous 
night.  Other than whispering words of comfort to the old and the sick amongst them, they 
mostly kept quiet; even the children had stopped their crying, clinging tightly with wide, dry 
eyes to hands, trousers and skirts of their caregivers.  

	As they waited for the Cougars to join them Assiya stood at the side of the Elder and 
said:  "We have to leave the forest and find a safe route to cross the Hungry Plains."

	"I have been thinking about it," the Elder said.  He stood on a mound and cast his eyes to 
the faraway rim of the valley where the river flowed into a lake and the lake flared onto a wide 
beach of sand.  Standing there wrestling with his thoughts he further told Assiya: "Not all of us 
will make the journey across the Plains.  Most of my people will stay here trying to continue 
with their lives and find other survivors."  He swiftly slid down as he saw Jeremy and his 
Cougars approaching.  Following his lead the group retreated from the shores of the river and 
wound their way deeper into the forest.  

	The Elder walked at the head of the column, towards the edge of the woodland where the 
peaks of the Great Divide frowned down upon the treetops.  Coming into a glade he halted and 
turned round.  The whole party immediately took his cue and slowed down too.  The Elder 
beckoned Jeremy and several of his Underheads to come with him and they held a private 
conference some yards away amongst the bushes.  

	Assiya told Conrad to relax and save his energy since it was probable that circumstances 
dictated there would be no rest during the night which was rapidly approaching.  Conrad heeded 
her words and thought if he had been given the choice, he would have preferred venturing 
towards the distantly tempting shores of the lake and diving into its cold waters, keeping as far 
away as possible from the company of these wild-eyed mountain dwellers with their crude 
weaponry and their barbaric helmets.  The young Cougar whom they called Jeremy was certainly 
not someone he would want lurking behind his back in dark hours. 

	The tall gaunt leader with the clean-shaven upper lip and milky beard bore the most 
civilized appearance of the whole horde and he seemed to have a hard time convincing his 
Underheads, and his wild charge in particular.  The discussion did not last long; the situation 
simply did not allow them to idle their time away deliberating who was right and who was 
wrong.  The Elder insisted that he was right and so the meeting ended.

	Conrad observed Jeremy breezing into his direction, his long black hair fluttering behind 
his shoulders.  The Cougar bared his strong, white teeth in a savage grin as he jeered:  "Even a 
spear would be too heavy for him and I have to give him a sword!  What is a young dog doing in 
the company of lions?  Don't expect me to cover your back while you flee.  I only fight with men 
and not with spoiled brats."

	"Hold your tongue, boy!" the Elder ordered exasperated. "I am reminding you that you 
are still young enough yourself to feel the lash of the whip on your naked back.  Now go and 
make the final preparations!"

	Jeremy rushed away with his face like an ugly storm and Assiya laughed softly.  "The 
skills of a good educator seem to have eluded you, Elder.  You should have taught your young 
charge better manners.  He might need them as extra protection once we cross the Plains."

	The Elder shrugged lightly.  "Jeremy seems a bit headstrong and impetuous but at heart 
he is a good boy and the best Cougar among us.  Don't judge him too harshly, Assiya.  The boy 
grew up in a most hostile and merciless environment.  You will need his fighting skills and his 
instinct for survival.  By the way, I have succeeded to persuade my Underheads to see my way.  
Three of them, the younger ones, Underhead Jarez and his cell of twelve Cougars will 
accompany me and Jeremy tomorrow on our journey towards the east.  The rest of the 
Underheads will remain with the elderly, the women and children and seek out other survivors.  
When they have managed to gather everyone who is still alive, they will follow us to the East in 
smaller units."

	"You have something else on your mind, haven't you," Assiya mused, "other than 
endeavouring to achieve your grand design of ultimately resettling your clan elsewhere.  A 
change is blowing in the East wind and you can hardly wait to stake out the juiciest part."

	"Come, come, Assiya," the Elder said with a thin smile, "don't tell me that your own 
intentions are wholly altruistic.  What has made you to finally abandon the relative safety of the 
Plains Burrows and face perils and wars?"

	"You know better than I do," Assiya said and with her head held high she walked past to 
a corner of the glade where Underhead Jarez was waiting with his cell of helmeted Cougars. 

	The older men, women and children had already departed, disappearing into the heart of 
the forest.  Jarez took the lead and guided them farther and farther away from the dense woods.  
When they stood at the feet of the Great Divide they could see the sky again, no longer bright but 
sombre with streaming clouds.  Here in the darkening night they rendezvoused with Jeremy who 
had taken some of the Cougars on a reconnaissance.  He had nothing to report and the Elder was 
anxious to find shelter.  

	"There is a cave close by which is used by an old scientist," Jeremy said, "I am sure he 
wouldn't object taking us in for the night."  

	"The cave of Martin Balwin," the Elder chuckled and stroked his beard. "I have forgotten 
that he is still alive and haunting our territory.  And so is his son Ralph, I gather.  No, they are 
harmless people and we will expect no trouble from them.  Unless, of course, the gliders have 
got to them first."  

	The Elder's fears proved groundless since they came upon the cave without encountering 
enemy fire.  The hideaway in the mountains of the old scientist and his son was wonderfully 
spacious, clean, warm--and empty.  

	"A great deal of their belongings is still around," Assiya said, "everything looks neatly in 
its place as if they went away for a short while.  They may have gone down to the Plains to buy 
provisions.  Who are they anyway?"

	The Elder sank down on a battered sofa in the centre of the living space and grunted:  
"Father and son, exiles and running from the law like ourselves.  The father is a bit odd, must 
have gone through a great deal in his life, lost his wife and his profession and saddled with a 
crippled son."

	"Ralph is all right," Jeremy grumbled morosely. "I've seen him sometimes collecting 
mushrooms in the small wood bordering the Plains."

	The Elder said with half-closed eyes.  "So you approve of Ralph Balwin, a poor cripple, 
hardly the kind of person to have a Cougar as a friend."

	"He is not a friend," Jeremy snapped, "but sometimes he is kind enough to allow us to 
refill our water bags at his waterhole while we are on patrol."

	Conrad immediately brightened up.  "Is there fresh water outside this cave?  Then I can 
go and wash up.  If you approve, Assiya."

	Jeremy sneered as he flung his broadsword on the ground:  "Must the lamb always ask 
his shepherd for permission, even to take a bath?"  

	The walls of the cavern resounded with the guffaws of the Cougars and they were still 
hooting as Conrad, tightly in control of himself, crept to the mouth of the cave through the 
narrow passage.  He silently made a vow that one day there would be a chance for getting his 
own back and by then Jeremy had better be on his guard.  

	Three Cougars had been posted outside the cave as guards.  The remainder of the party 
crammed into the cavern and when Conrad returned he saw that most of them had already drifted 
off to sleep.  Assiya had laid herself down on a straw mat in a corner, a little apart from the 
others, and stretching out beside her Conrad soon fell into slumber. 

	The feeble light of an oil lamp hanging from the ceiling partly illuminated the cave.  
Everything seemed quiet as Assiya unable to sleep sat up and drew her knees up to her bosom, 
pensively watching the huddled forms on the floor and the flickering of the lamp.  

	She felt disappointed of a sort.  The phenomenon she saw inscribed against the skies the 
night before had augured the Return of the Core but the Starlight, she was sure, could not have 
come back alone.  Someone must have brought it back and she had hoped that someone could 
have crossed her path once she had reached the summits of the Great Divide.  Instead she and 
Conrad were waylaid by a horde of fierce Cougars and forcibly brought to the presence of the 
Great Elder whose Clan was nearly decimated.   

	She snorted grimly.  Because of the attack on his Grove Hollow the Elder had achieved 
even less in his comprehension of the stellar augury which obviously he too must have 
witnessed.  He too was probing for answers, answers in his opinion not lurking along the secret 
paths of the crags but far, far away in the remote, alluring East.

	And yet she had been so sure that the Great Divide had to be the receptacle, but one could 
easily be proven wrong.  There was another thing that slightly disconcerted her.  Jeremy.  The 
Elder knew far more than she had thought.  But like her, he was unable to read the Frame.  

	She heaved a sigh of resignation and groping at the wall she pulled herself to her feet.  
Cautiously she crept to the mouth of the cave without waking anyone.  The air outside had the 
freshness and coolness of a young night and the stars appeared far away and indifferent, burnt 
out of any significance.  She heard the guards stirring in the shadows of the slope near the 
entrance of the cave but they did not bother her.  

	The cave was located near the edge of a gorge overgrown with sagebrush and she walked 
towards it, looking down, at the blue-blackish outlines of plants and stones below, at a path 
worming around the scarps and then vanishing downwards.  She leant her shoulder against a 
boulder, struggling between her desire of going East and a small voice whispering to stay in the 
Great Divide. 

	Why travel to the East if the answers are here to be found?  What is there in the East?  A 
new regime, for sure, enlightened so many have said but that still remained to be seen.  Rulers 
often operate under the cloak of freedom of thought and enlightenment.  The road would be 
extremely perilous.  There was no safeguard that any of them would reach Aseur alive across the 
turbulent Atlantic Main.  And Conrad must be preserved at all costs.  And what about Jeremy?  
How did Jeremy fit in?  The puzzle was getting more complicated while the solution seemed so 
close, here amongst the pitiless bluffs of the Great Divide.  No, she would have to stay and find 
out.  And did she see something moving in the brush, the movement of an animal slinking away 
that was caught by the moonlight?  

	The next explosive second Assiya immediately recognized the true nature of the shapes 
blending with stone and foliage in the darkness and her piercing cries of warning were followed 
by howls of fury. 

	The alarm shattered the dreams of the men inside the cave.  Leaping to their feet they 
grabbed their weapons.  A brief scuffle occurred as they tried to cross the passage all at once but 
Jeremy screaming obscenities brought some order in his Cougar ranks.  Charging through the 
mouth of the cave in a jumble they threw themselves into a fierce hand-to-hand combat with a 
company of alpiners.  

	Against the background of a moonlit landscape silhouettes clashed with swinging swords 
and spluttering rifles.  The white glinting of blades and red spurts of automatic fire crisscrossed 
the darkness like fleets of fireflies crashing into each other.  In the midst of steaming and 
grappling bodies Assiya caught sight of the Elder and Conrad and it was a desperate situation.

	'We cannot overcome them,' was her thought and she caught the Elder's throwing at her 
a look of despair which intimated that he shared her perceptions.  In the darkness it was almost 
impossible to distinguish friend from foe but the Elder somehow managed to put through his 
orders to the Cougars to regroup and retreat.  

	His face as pale as the circle in the sky Conrad stumbled to Assiya's side.  The flying 
blood of a decapitated man's head had spattered his linen shirt but he was holding firm.  For 
someone who had so unexpectedly been doused with a baptism of gore he bore himself 
remarkably well.  

	"Run down the path, onto the Plains, hurry," Assiya told the men.  "It is easier to flee 
across the open Plains!"

	Long minutes later, which seemed like hours, they halted and assembled in the small 
wood that spread between the foot of the mountains and the endless panorama of the Hungry 
Plains.  The Elder grimly completed a headcount around the group.  Underhead Jarez had 
sustained a bad cut across his upper arm but he was still able to stand and curse.  Seven cougars 
were counted as lost.  

	"Where is Jeremy?" the Elder cried out in alarm.  

	"Jeremy?" Jarez faltered, "I saw him coming out with me, he was standing by my side, 
but--."

	"It was so dark all around," one of the Cougars said fearfully. "We couldn't really see 
who was coming and who was not."

	With a curse that half sounded like a wail the Elder cried out: "We must go back and find 
him!"

	Grimacing with pain Jarez quickly picked out five of the uninjured Cougars to retrace 
their steps to the cavern.  They remained under the cover of the trees while they waited for the 
Cougars to return or for Jeremy to show up.  The Elder clasped his hands behind his back as he 
paced around in little circles.  For a short time Assiya studied him thoughtfully, then she lost 
interest and went to tend the injuries of the wounded with her pouch of herbs.  

	Streaks of red dawn rimmed the east when the five Cougars returned.  They reported that 
traces of the savage battle which took place were abundant around the area of the cavern but of 
the invaders, or of survivors and of Jeremy, there was nothing to be found.  

	For long moments the Elder stared into emptiness.  

	"They must have taken him, he is lost," he finally murmured.  Assiya was standing close 
by him and she surmised, "Then it is true. Jeremy is a seedling."

	"Yes."

	"What a pity!"

	"Not everything is lost.  We still have your boy."

	"Micah, as long as my heart is still beating inside me, Conrad is my charge."

	A hard smile glittered on the Elder's face.  "He is destined for greater things than just 
being your innocent ward.  He must be told who he really is now that he is the only one left to us.  
I intended to take Jeremy into my confidence once we have reached Aseur but alas it is not to 
be."

	"The road to Aseur is a long and hazardous one," Assiya said, straining her neck 
backwards to observe the peaks of the Great Divide.  She turned her head slightly.  A column of 
black smoke wreathed against the glow of the rising dawn like the tortured limb of a giant.  "I 
think now it is the only way open to us, but the warzone is widening and we have to make haste.  
Until we reach Aseur I will remain responsible for Conrad.  I know that you are going to pester 
me with all sorts of questions and demands, but I am not going to answer any until we find a 
starcaster in the East."

	"So be it, Assiya," the Elder said, "let's find our destiny in the East."