On Earth, there are three Triads intending to integrate
not only the three peoples and stop the war that threatens to break loose and
slaughter Humans and devastate their world; but to stop the war that consumes
Kiiote economy and Yown’Hoo moral fiber. All three intelligences hover on the
edge of extinction. The merger of Human-Kiiote-Yown’Hoo into a van der Walls
Society might not only save all three – but become something not even they
could predict. Something entirely new...
The young experimental Triads are made up of the smallest
primate tribe of Humans – Oscar and Xiomara; the smallest canine pack of Kiiote
– six, pack leaders Qap and Xurf; and the smallest camelid herd of Yown’Hoo – a
prime eleven, Dao-hi the Herd mother. On nursery farms and ranches away from
the TC cities, Humans have tended young Yown’Hoo and Kiiote in secret for
decades, allowing the two, warring people to reproduce and grow far from their
home worlds.
“We had nearly fallen into stagnation when we
encountered the Kiiote.”
“And we into internecine war when we encountered the
Yown’Hoo.”
“Yown’Hoo and
Kiiote have been defending themselves for a thousand revolutions of our Sun.”
“Together, we
might do something none of us alone might have done…a destiny that included
Yown’Hoo, Kiiote, and Human.” (2/19/2015)
Qap said, “We are being watched.” She paused, adding, “I
think it’s some version of Human, but the scents I catch are not completely the
Always-Walkers. There is that of the Grasseaters as well, but it is not
completely right, either.”
Towt had a thought, “What do we smell like to them, Auntie?”
She looked sharply at him, opened her mouth for a nip at
Towt’s insubordinate query – he’d released a bit of challenge scent in what he
said. She paused. “That is a wise question, Neuter. Have we been stained with
Human and Yown’Hoo scent? What would we smell like to one of the Stupid,”
Triad-name for any of the idiots, Pack, Herd, or Tribe, who fought the endless
war without hope of any victory. “We must be, in their noses, tainted.”
“Then perhaps our scent is confusing to watchers?” Qilf
growled.
“Or it is our scent that it follows,” said Towt. This time Qilf
did nip the neuter. It stifled its surprise.
Qap snapped. They both fell to their chests as she did as
well. Softly in Human Speak, she whispered, “Then we must lead our watchers on
a chase.” She rumbled low in her chest, a second set of vocal cords evolved to
give Kiiote the ability to use words emphasized by specific sounds. It could
also be used to mimic the Humans as well as speech. With a slow lift of her
lip, baring double rows – one set sharp, an inner row bladed – of teeth, she
began to laugh a low, very Human laugh. Qilf and Towt knew the sound.
It was the sound announcing a game of Run, Hunt, & Kill.
Towt howled and dashed north. Qilf waited, then crouched, forcing her bones
into their long-running configuration then sprinted straight west.
Qap, proud of her Pack headed directly at the source of the
watcher’s scent, nearly flying from the ground as she attacked. There was a
clear scent of Human fear as the pine trees screening a form parted, then
snapped back. She’d little experience hunting in a true wood. The forest around
the Triad’s home was well-groomed.
This was wilderness. Her paw broke through an icy cap in the
snow and her foot plunged through. But she was faster than an Earth wolf – her people
had evolved on a world fractionally larger than this planet. Her reflexes kept
her from breaking the leg.
But not preventing the painful twist. She landed hard on her
back and discovered that there had been other watchers as well. They swept out
of the forest, small Humans riding Kiiote backs, thin, almost-wire lassos
twirling overhead. If Qap had been alone, she’d have been snared and tied in an
instant.
But Qilf and Towt had flanked the Hunted and closed on them
with pincher precision; a move they’d practiced under Retired’s tutelage
hundreds of times. It was as if he’d planned for this particular maneuver. As
if he’d trained this other Human-Kiiote Tribe-Pack. Qap rolled, squirming across
the snow wildly, rearranging her skeletal structure. Doing it like this as
easier than doing it standing, the ground acting to push and shove the bones
into their proper secondary positions.
She leaped to her feet, springing at the first Human astride
its mount and knocked them off. He – she saw when his hood flopped back –
landed with a thud that knocked the wind out of him. Qap leaped again, hooking
the next rider by the throat just as it began to ululate a Kiiote warning cry.
It cut off before she – Qap saw that this one was a female Human – could do
more than sound the first note. Qilf and Towt had taken down the third member
of the watchers and pinned a very young Human and Kiiote to the ground. They
were quite awake and hopelessly tangled in each other’s limbs. The first two
pairs lay unconscious and separate in the snow.
Qap leaped to the Kiiote and used the imperative Pack Female
tones to say, “You watch us! You lay a trap! Why have you done this when all we
do is seek…”
She snarled back, “You appeared from under the ground.”
Startled, Qap said, “We came from the abandoned Human
building. We have spent the night there.”
The female started to argue, then stopped. She said, “You
smell of The Lieutenant. He does not live here. He travels here, gives orders, then
leaves. Why do you smell of The Lieutenant?”
The female’s Human rider stirred, groaning. She looked at
Qap and said, “You’re not from here. Your fur, your braids, they do not belong
in the Northland.”
Qap hadn’t thought that her braids, something all the Triad
Kiiote wore, were out of the ordinary. She’d assumed they were a race
tradition. She said, “We are not from here. And we work with Retired.” The female
pinned to the ground growled and struggled. Qap snapped, “The one you call The Lieutenant
is the same one we call ‘Retired’. He sent us to you.”
She stopped, then turned slowly to sniff Qap’s foreleg,
saying, “You have his scent. But he has never mentioned anyone as fine as you.”
Qap leaned harder and the female growled faintly. “Flattery
will get you a torn throat.”
“Not flattery, observation. We are poor here in the
Northland. We serve The Lieutenant’s mission, but we live on game and little
else. I do not complain, Pack Leader, only inform.”
Qap eased back. The female was falling into the cadence of
more formal speech. She’d been speaking like a near-wild animal at first. Qap
released her and waited until the youngster rearranged her structure for
upright locomotion. She lifted her chin and said, “I am Pack Leader Kang.” She
stretched her neck, offering her throat.
Qap reached out, took a token scratch then said, “The Lieutenant
sent us here. We did not expect to find you so easily.” Kang’s neck fur bristled
and Qap touched it to smooth it. “We do not come to fight, Sister, but to ask
for help.”
“Help? From us? We barely stay alive here.” In the snow, the
three Human riders began to stir. “Sister, the Herd in these woods Hunt both Pack
and Tribe for sport.”
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