~
It suddenly occurred to me who this Pnook might be, King Tuines of course. I felt my jaw drop. At the same time Tnie collapsed on the floor moaning something in his own language, the king, for I was sure this was the king, was looking down his nose at Tnie. After a good one or two minutes of silence, the king stood and nodded at Don Trynacs who slowly drew up his staff and allowed it to slip between his fingers so that it landed upon the floor with a resounding boom. He did this three times and obviously addressing the whole assembly said in a loud and commanding voice, “I present to you his most high King Tuines the fortieth keeper of the lore, protector of the people, Pnook above all Pnook. At this the row of Pnook waiting at the foot of the stairs cried out in unison,
“ALL HAIL!”
This made me jump out of my skin but we all found ourselves bowing in unison, whatever each of us thought individually of this situation or the people taking part in it, King Tuines at the very least was worthy of our respect. The king looked satisfied and standing again made his way back down the stairs. Starting with Jon he shook each of our hands and said a few words of welcome. The only person he did not address but walked straight past was Tnie who remained prostrate upon the floor throughout these proceedings.
When the king got to me he smiled and taking my hand shook it and said, “welcome, welcome it is always an esteemed pleasure to have visitors from the five elder realms amongst us.”
I wondered at this second reference to the manner in which the Pnook regarded my people and what could possibly be the reasoning behind it, although I felt that Don Trynacs reference was said with some sarcasm. The king’s comment I felt was said with more sincerity perhaps upholding a tradition. The five elder realms was obviously a reference to the five elder races, T’Iea. Keepers, Grûndén, Ognods and of course Pnook. I wondered for he did not mention the race of men amongst his acknowledgement.
Releasing my hand and still smiling he moved on to Serinae who stood by my side. I did not catch what he said to her for I could feel something in my outstretched hand, it felt like a piece of paper or folded parchment, I resisted the temptation to take a look at it. As the king got to the last person in the row who was Łĩnwéé he stepped back and addressing all of us said, “welcome my friends, it has been many, many years since we welcomed a companionship of each of the races in such a manner, perhaps this is a sign, an omen of things to come. Perhaps I will be blessed in my time of service to see such times again and welcome great numbers of visitors once more to our realm as was common once in ages past when we had our great city in the land of our fathers.”
At this he walked back to where his entourage stood and regaining his place amongst them they turned as one and headed back the way they came. I noticed as he walked he glanced at Don Trynacs who was looking back at the king with a dark expression upon his face. It was obvious more had passed between these two in the last few seconds than we had perceived. When I thought that no one was watching I took a look at what the king had apparently secreted into my hand and as I thought it appeared to be a folded piece of paper, so I quickly closed my hand back around it to hide it from any other prying eyes.
We were led by Don Trynacs back the way we had come and through the halls. Eventually arriving back in the vicinity of our rooms. Don Trynacs bowed to us and said that we were now free to spend the rest of the day together or spend it as we wished. As long as we did not attempt to leave this building, no one would interfere with us. At this he left. I was expecting him to call on some guards to escort Tnie back to confinement, but he did not.
As soon as he was gone the fellowship seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief, and Tnie took on a wholly different composure, he beckoned to us all to sit in one of the communal seating areas which we did. I was astonished at Tnie's change of heart; he seemed much more at ease.
As we sat, Łĩnwéé approached Tnie. “Aye laddie ye be fine I hope, if that stuck up excuse of a Pnook has harmed ye, by the Lord Øédréll I’ll remove the sickly smile from his face with one slice o’ m’ axe ye see if I dun’t.”
Tnie placed his hand upon Łĩnwéé’s shoulder and bid him sit. At this Łĩnwéé did so and placing his elbows on his knees he slowly opened his hand and revealed a piece of parchment the same as the one I was holding, in fact each of us revealed a similar thing nestled in the palm of each of our hands. Upon a nod from Tnie we all started to unfold the paper. At first there didn’t appear to be anything written on it but as I looked there appeared a geometric design unknown to me, each of us had a similar design upon each slip of paper. I looked up questioningly.
Tnie proceeded to say quietly, “this is the mark of the king’s family crest, by receiving this you are each invited to a private audience with the king, he may secretly summon each of you in time, or it may be that he finds an alternative way to meet each of you either alone or together, that will be his decision. Please do not show this to anyone else and least of all to Don Trynacs, let’s keep it our little secret.”
“Aye, ye ‘ave no problem thar laddie.” Tnie smiled at Łĩnwéé’s words for his voiced thoughts reflected everyone’s mood.
I opened my mouth to speak and everyone else had the same idea for all of a sudden such a hubbub arose around me my jaw shut as I tried to listen to each individual conversation. At last I noticed Tnie stand and move away from the fellowship, I stood and walked after him.
As I caught him up he turned and smiled at me, “no doubt you have some questions Mini.”
“Too right I have, what just happened back there in the king’s court?”
“Ah,” was the reply, “nothing really, just protocol, we were met formally and introduced to King Tuines that was all.”
“No it wasn’t,” I said, “you were quacking in your boots, the king shunned you completely, the king and Don Trynacs obviously do not see eye to eye, and the king can’t even invite us openly to a meeting with him!”
“Ah Mini you are very observant I see. But all will be revealed when we meet with the king I’m sure.”
“But when will that be?” I enquired.
At this Tnie just shrugged and said that it was to be when the king intended.
“That’s not good enough Tnie,” I said with some frustration.
Tnie just looked at me with a hard expression.
But my anger was aroused. “And another thing, why haven’t you ever mentioned to us that you had knowledge of those beings back in Amentura the ones that perpetrated the attack and the people blamed you for. You’ve seen them before right here in Scienocropolis.”
“Yes, Minervar you are right, but I didn’t want to admit to that, for I would have been forced to tell the whole story and the fact that I was a fugitive from Scienocropolis would have come to light, what would you have thought of me then eh? You may have even agreed with the people of Amentura that my people may well have been responsible for the attack. No, it was better you heard about these tragic events from an independent source I think.”
Later that evening we all sat pondering the day’s events whilst enjoying a sumptuous meal. This was the first really good meal we had enjoyed since that evening in Solin’s house in Amentura and all the cares of the past months seemed to fall away as I enjoyed the company of my friends. We chatted and speculated as to what was going on here in the Pnook city and what would happen next, we obviously couldn’t stay here forever, but at the same time we did seem to be under some kind of house arrest, however comfortable we were.
Suddenly the door opened and in came a short figure, completely unannounced, with a cape drawn about their person, a hood drawn over the head disguising their face. A few of us stood at this intrusion, Łĩnwéé stood sharply knocking his chair over, Tnie grasped Łĩnwéé’s wrist to stop him challenging the figure that had just entered.
“If ye’ve come t’ take Tnie again ye’ll have to go through me first” cried Łĩnwéé.
The figure stopped and closing the door turned,
a small hand reached up and slowly removed the hood from over the head. I gasped as I recognised the king.
“That won’t be necessary my friend Grûndén for I have, at least for the time being, managed to secure some freedom for Tnie here, all be it still under some restriction.”
Tnie immediately walked to the king and bowing made to indicate that the he should sit at the table with us.
Once seated we all sat again, and King Tuines said, “forgive this intrusion my friends, but I needed to talk with you with some urgency, away from the errr……. formalities of the court. Tnie is free from incarceration as long as he stays with you, that is partially why you are all confined to this building, it was the best I could do at such short notice, I hope that you do not harbour any ill.”
Before anyone could ask any questions or pass comment held up his hands and said, “please I have little time and much to say so no questions yet, you will have plenty of time for that later, but for the time being let me explain a few things to you. You will no doubt we wondering about our intentions towards you, be assured my friends that my intentions are good, but I must ask you to bear this house arrest for a while longer. For this inconvenience I must express my sincere regret, but there are powers that must be appeased and I personally would greatly appreciate your continued cooperation.
There are a number of forces at work within the city, I am the king, but some of my actions and those of my predecessor, have brought that position into some doubt and I find myself at risk of losing the throne, if I do not tread carefully that is.”
He then proceeded to tell us of the city being attacked by the strange beings never before seen by the Pnook, beings that seemed to be made of both flesh and machine and could be transported using some kind of arcane transport device for they seemed to appear out of nowhere. He suspected that somewhere there was a mechanism that could focus large amounts of arcane energy and use the energy as some form of portal between set places. He was then at great pains to ensure we understood that such a device was not of Pnook making. He then described what had happened once the army had attacked. Immediately on entering the city and once gathered in vast numbers, they started to fight mercilessly. He added that reports from his soldiers seemed to indicate that they were not skilled fighters but more mindless machines driven on by some unknown force. Their success in battle relied more on overwhelming numbers rather than any inbred skill with sword and bow. He told how they fell by the hundreds once the Pnook had gotten organised and how even though their losses appeared heavy it seemed to have little effect there were so many. The Pnook eventually tiring, found themselves hard pressed to stem the tide of the enemy and all around the city the Pnook forces started to retreat back towards the city centre. It was found that the enemy did not move fast, the retreating Pnook could easily outrun their adversaries, but the enemies advance was ceaseless. The Pnook army was starting to weaken yet the enemy seemed not to tire and it became obvious that something other than just fighting these horrors had to be done if the city were to survive the onslaught.
Then the king looked at Tnie and said, “that’s where Tnie came forward with his idea.”
I looked at Tnie he was looking at the king waiting for the next part of the tale. On a nod from the king Tnie then took up the tale and continued by telling us that he had the idea of demolishing part of the outer city in the midst of the enemy’s advance thus halting them in their tracks. The outer city had been abandoned many years ago as the Pnook population grew ever smaller. There was no longer the need to live so far from the city centre, so if they could demolish the city beneath the feet of the enemy many would be destroyed and hopefully the city would be saved.
“Well as you may know, the city or the rock platform on which the city is built is held up in the sky by several hundred great engines that are positioned within the rock platform in concentric rings spreading out from the city centre. If we waited until all or most of the enemy were passing through a part of the city that was immediately above one of these concentric rings and the engines were made to self-destruct then perhaps an entire ring shaped section of the city would be demolished along with the enemy and fall to the desert below taking any remaining enemy forces with it.”
I again remembered the chasm over which we had passed to get to the centre of the city and despaired once more at the thought of so much destruction, how could it be made possible.
Tnie went on to explain that the engines were kept cool by massive flows of air passing around them. Apparently Tnie had calculated that if the engines were starved of the cooling air then they would very quickly overheat resulting in a catastrophic failure and destruction of the engines. The resultant chain of explosions were likely to destroy a ring shaped area right the way around the city at the chosen location of the engines being destroyed. Many discussions of course followed, the risks were obvious, but it was felt by the majority that the act was necessary for the continued survival of the city and its Pnook occupants.
So the plan was put in place, the area chosen was to be evacuated, not that many people lived in this area as it was one of the outer regions of the city and already sparsely populated due to declining populations. But never the less word went out to save any populous that may be living in those streets. Then when scouts reported that the enemy was starting to move into the chosen area, explosives were detonated deep in the machine rooms where the great engines were housed. The explosions were designed to block the great exhaust outlets from which the flow of air escaped. Once detonated Tnie calculated that it would take about three minutes for the engines to overheat and explode. So whoever volunteered to detonate the explosives would have to wait for a signal from observers above to ensure the greater part of the enemy’s army to enter into the affected area. The volunteers knew that they scarcely had sufficient time to escape, but never the less each was prepared to make the sacrifice for the city and the Pnook population.
So it was, the city was rocked by massive explosions, the king explained how they all thought the worst when the whole city started to slowly tilt to one side, it was thought that only some of the engines on one side had been destroyed and as a result the unbalance was being experienced, but to their great relief the city began to right itself again. A great dust cloud hung over the city, and many aftershocks were felt as large parts of the damaged perimeter broke away and fell to the rust desert below. The city was heard groaning and creaking; sometimes loud noises were heard along with further vibrations that sometimes went on for a couple of hours or so. It sounded for all the world like the dying lament of the city itself. Great fear and anxiety hung over the populace, each assuming the worst and that their doomsday had come.
But after several days when most of the dust had settled and the noises and quaking had subsided, scouts were sent out to see what the results of this desperate measure were. They came back reporting that everything had worked as predicted. A wide chasm had appeared all around the city, debris could be seen lying far below on the desert floor in a ring matching that of the missing sections of the city. What’s more no major sign of the enemy could be seen or heard, what was left of them was easily dealt with as they did not fight back, indeed they seemed to be confused as they just stood still their weapons still in their hands but no commanding will seemed to drive them on.
After a further week, scouts were sent across the chasm into what remained of the outer rim of the city and they too came back reporting that the enemy were no longer anywhere to be seen. The city breathed a collective sigh of relief and mourned those who died trying to save it. But several weeks later Tnie still checking on the city became aware that the city was losing altitude at a slow but steady rate. Not a fast decline but never the less a worry. At this news certain factions within the city, ones that had fought against the decision to destroy the machines in the first place found their voice again and claimed that their argument against the destruction was justified and they had been right all along. This group wa
s of course led by Don Trynacs and they started to spread the word that many had died defending the city and now all this was to no avail because the city would soon be destroyed as it crashed down to the desert below. They gained a large following of supporters very quickly and this was the position that the king found himself in now, some people applauded his action and decision but others, many others apparently, disliked him for it.
I turned to Tnie, he looked downcast.
The king looked at him and said, “don’t fret Tnie, what’s done is done, the final decision was mine and the senior governing counsel of which I was the leader. All you did was provide an idea, a way out of the predicament we were in. I do not hold you responsible for any of this, none of the counsel do. As long as I am King you are assured of my personal support and protection.”
“But ye have signed a warrant fo’ his arrest,” said Łĩnwéé.
“House arrest,” corrected the king. “Yes, I did this for two reasons one to appease the powers that oppose me, and secondly so that I could protect Tnie and keep an eye on him. Unless Don Trynacs increases his popularity whilst you are here, Tnie is quite safe, we just have to play the political game is all.”
I found myself saying, “so this whole thing, Tnie being terrified, him grovelling on the ground, all this was just a piece of staged acting to appease Don Trynacs?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so my lady,” was the reply.
At this point Jondris spoke to the king saying, “my lord, we have some knowledge of this sad tale, your son, Prince Resen whom we met on arriving here told a similar story.”
“Ah, so you have met the prince, my son, I hope you found him well?”
“Indeed he was well my lord, he seemed in good spirits.”
We did not mention the incident with the falling girder and Jondris’s gallant effort to save the life of the prince. I think the king had enough to worry about let alone danger to his immediate family members.
“That is good. I have not seen him for some time, since I sent him to command our outer forces against any further attack. I fear his lack of patience at court would not extend to him keeping his opinions or his actions to himself and the current situation may have boiled over by now.”
Then Serinae said, “we are all saddened by the news of the loss of so many, especially that of your brother the former king.”
“Thank you,” was the reply, “it saddens me that such action was necessary, but I applaud the bravery of those that volunteered to undertake the work, it is unfortunate that they did not all survive, but then that is the fate of many who take on such tasks in times of harsh reality is it not?”
In an effort to change the subject I said, “The army you describe as having attacked you, we have also seen these beings at work.”
At this the king looked interested and said questioningly, “oh?”
Jon continued with an explanation. “They also attacked the town of Corbond in Dahl’Ambronis and also in a limited raid in the town of Amentura, but in neither place in such great numbers as you describe. Perhaps your victory over the enemy had depleted their numbers somewhat. But thankfully we managed to fight them off in Corbond and those present in Amentura where very few, being more like a scouting party perhaps, rather than attacking force, but our experiences were similar to yours, they are indeed unskilled in fighting.”
Here Jondris paused, before carrying on, “they seem mindless, driven by some other intellect other than their own, they behave like herded animals, more by instinct than any thoughtful design.”
Serinae then spoke saying, “There is one other consideration, one that people raised before after the limited attack in Amentura, the fact that these beings seem to be some unholy construction, a perversion of life, being both of flesh and machine. I wonder if part of the evil plan that drives these beings was to discredit the Pnook. Long has Amentura been an entry point into Dahl’Ambronis for your people and trade between you and the east goes through there, perhaps the appearance of the beings in Amentura was a ploy to cause distrust and an attempt to discredit and alienate the Pnook traders from Dahl’Ambronis.”
At this the king turned and clasping his hands together round his back said, “I admit we do not pursue trade with the fare folk of the east as much as we did, times have changed, our race is dwindling, our great city is falling into disrepair, it weighs heavy on my heart that my race may be forever lost in the world at some time in the future. We are becoming more and more insular, we look to our own affairs and shy from contact with others, we are becoming arrogant and mistrusting of the outside world. I would seek to make changes in the attitudes and actions of my people, but internal affairs need my constant attention just to keep the various situations on an even plain, let alone try to improve relations beyond our borders. If someone or group is trying to discredit us, it saddens me to say that they would not have too hard a task in doing so at the current time.”
Serinae then looked worried and went on to say, “I’m sorry my lord to ask this but I have to know, have the Pnook with your technological advancement been toying with such science that may allow such beings to exist, perhaps without your knowledge?”
The king turned to face us once more, his eyes narrowed as he retorted, “you honestly think that we would undertake such a thing? This I find repulsive, I can strongly state that I have not ordered, or heard of any such experimentation going on within my borders, if I had found some such misplaced work I assure you I would have eradicated it quickly and those that perpetrated such design would be languishing in my dungeons by now. In any case do you think that if we created them we would allow them to attack Scienocropolis?”
“Many a slave has turned on the master,” said Jon.
Serinae stepped in front of the Jon quickly and addressing the king said, “I’m sorry my lord, please forgive me, I just wanted to be sure that wherever these creatures came from no science or technology known by the Pnook aided such foul work in any way.” After a brief pause she continued, “had anything notable happened in the days or months prior to the attack on Scienocropolis?”
“What kind of thing?” Asked the king,
She shook her head and shrugged, “oh, I don’t know, just a suspicion really, before Corbond was attacked I had recently arrived back from a perilous journey, one which I was tasked to aid in the recovery a certain item of great value. Something in my mind keeps feeding my suspicion that the item and these monsters are linked in some way, I just can’t think how at the moment.”
The king raised his hand and stroked his chin a few times whilst deep in thought, then he said, “the only really unusual thing I can think of, but I’m sure is of no significance, is we had an unannounced visitor pass through the city. He too was of the fare folk, a T’Iea like you. He came in on a flying ship here from Amentura for we do occasionally send a delegation to the eastern continent, a way of keeping our options open. He only stayed with us a short period of time, but he was a jovial fellow. I enjoyed discussing lore with him and playing a few rounds of Clastitor of which he was an expert opponent. He didn’t give a reason for being here, just that he was interested in seeing the city. He was to make his way to the Grûndén realm next to see their great city under the mountain. He didn’t give a reason for travelling there either. But that was some time ago now, and a few days before the city was attacked.”
Serinae asked what name he went by, this T’Iea.
The king thought for a moment and said, “he called himself Rintez D’Alon’Eal.”
The king had obvious difficulty in getting his mouth round the T’Iea words, but Serinae stood and paced a couple of times up and down before she said, “So Tezrin has been here.”
Before I could ask the question, she added, “Rintez, it is a name he uses, a pseudonym, not a very original or very well disguised name, but never the less his. I know, for he has used it in my company in the past. The question is what was the rogue doing here, and why was he on his way to the
Grûndén city also?”
The king looked a little puzzled, so Serinae explained the story of her travels with Tezrin to claim the valuable item, when she described the item to the king, he looked interested and asked if she could explain the item in more detail.
After this explanation he said, “what you describe, oh not the actual necklace itself, that’s just a piece of finely worked jewellery, but the dragon scale as the Grûndén called it, that sounds like the controlling data source we use for all our machines, finely made devices used to control different items of our technology, they are in most of our machines and are vital to each machines correct function, we call them Biplextor devices but they are mostly known by a nickname, they are commonly called ‘chips’. They date way back into prehistory, we cannot be sure they are a Pnook invention, even though we seem to always have the knowledge of them. But they seem to have originated from an ancient source whose identity is lost to us. We had long ago learnt how to replicate them, for we just copied the design and used them for our own purposes. But although these things may not be our original invention, over the years we have certainly taken the idea and improved upon it to the extent that our experts can design these things to do most any controlling function.”
“We had already come to that exact same conclusion, have you any idea what this ‘chip’ would be used for?” Asked Serinae.
The king replied that the only way of finding out the possible use would be to examine it closely using a particular machine that the Pnook possessed that could decipher the coded control language within any chip. From that a skilled operator could establish what the original purpose of the chip might be. Apparently this same machine in the hands of a skilled operator could be used to change the nature of the chip so that its function could be modified or altered considerably. But a detailed understanding of the chips functional makeup would be required to do that, for failure to follow strict coding protocol may result in the chip being rendered useless or even dangerously unstable especially if it were interfered with by a novice.
“By the Maker, that’s what Tezrin was doing here, he wanted to know what the chip on the necklace did, what its function was or is, perhaps he may have even hoped to adjust it for some reason,” said Serinae.
“But wait a minute,” I said, “if Tezrin was here many months ago that would be before he got hold of the necklace and therefore before he had the chip that we are all talking about.”
“Hmmmm, yes of course just so Mini,” said Serinae, then after some thought she said, “but what if Tezrin had another chip, maybe even more than one, he was surely here to find out about their contents. That may also explain the attack upon Scienocropolis if Tezrin is linked in some way to the hideous beings and their armies. It may be that he, or someone he was employed by, was attempting to cover his tracks and destroy any evidence of his passing or whatever he was doing here.”
“It’s a good theory,” said Jondris, “it would make sense, and even more sense if a similar reason existed for the attack on Corbond?”
“You are suggesting Jondris that the beings attacked Corbond to try and eradicate all evidence of Tezrin being there?” I suggested.
“Exactly,” was the reply, “or, even more sinister, perhaps an attempt to stop us from following him.”
Serinae then turned to the king and asked if there was any way they could find out if Tezrin had tried to do this, if he had in deed used the machine or asked a Pnook expert to undertake the task on his behalf. The king rose and said that he should be going, but also promised to find out if any Pnook knew about Tezrin and any chips he carried. At this he pulled the hood back over his head and left.
Chapter 18 The Chip Room
Extract from ‘The Technological Curse’ by Solin De’Teinde.
So why out of all the races did the Pnook develop such fascination for the sciences and technology? Personally, I suspect this is just a manifestation of their nature. For all the races developed their own characteristics, due in part to their cultural background and in part to the environments that they found themselves developing within.