Podioracket Presents Glimpses
by Podioracket
Copyright 2011 White Wolf Press, LLC
Table of Contents
Conclave – Mick Bordet
Foretelling – Arlene Radasky
The Interview - M. Darusha Wehm
Appeasement - Gloria Oliver
Good Luck - Casey S Townsend
Fleeting Time - Keith Hughes
Blind Curve - Dave Donelson
Holy Rites - Emerian Rich
The Siege - Katharina Maimer
Wayward Spirits - A Prelude to The Dawning of Power - Brian Rathbone
Future In Hand: A Rivenspace Story - H.E Roulo
Conclave
Mick Bordet
The menacing creature towered over the two men, looking down at them, its long claws extended from massive white paws and teeth bared in a controlled snarl. Macleod lifted his broadsword and swung it, building up the speed needed to strike a blow. The beast paused, watching him; it seemed to know all too well what the man intended. When the blow came, the bear stepped backwards on its hind legs and let the blade slice past its belly, the soft fur only ruffled by the gentle breeze. Macleod staggered forward, his balance thrown off by the missed strike, and fell to the ground in front of the bear. He pulled his sword before him, a desperate defence against the certain death to come at the huge creature's next move, but no such move came. The bear stood still, as though frozen, claws poised at the ready.
"Are you all right, Macleod?" asked Macdonald from a safe distance behind. The Macdonalds had something of a reputation for rushing in and attacking with the element of surprise before beating a hasty retreat, but on this occasion he was happy to have left that approach to someone else.
"Aye, I'll live. I didn't see you rushing to my aid, Ewan Macdonald. Did you think your day would be made better by my passing?"
"That it would, Seamus, but in truth, I'd rather see you at the head of your clan than that eejit you call your nephew," replied Macdonald.
He stepped forward and helped Macleod to his feet, slapping him on the back once the man stood beside him.
"Aye, the lad's an eejit all right, but at least he's not a Macdonald! Clan Ebhir would never stoop so low," Macleod said and smiled through his thick dark beard.
"I thought you were dead for sure when that beastie stood up, but I would wager that it's only meant to scare us. It could have killed us both by now if that's what it wanted," said Macdonald.
"You mean, what he wanted. Our host."
"Aye, fair enough, Seamus, the beastie has been seen to do his bidding. Let's get this over with, shall we?"
Macleod nodded and they both waited a moment, each hoping the other would make the first move.
"Are you there, Stranger?" Macdonald eventually called around the side of the bear, into the mouth of the cave.
The man they only knew of as Erik stepped forward, appearing at first as nothing more than a shadow from the gloom and echoes of the deep scar in the hillside. He was noticeably cleaner and better-groomed than the other two men, with short dark hair and a neat, trimmed beard. His skin was pale and pink, even soft in comparison to the rugged earth-worn appearance of Macleod and Macdonald. Where they both wore their own dull plaids flung around their stocky bodies, the garment Erik wore seemed tailored for him alone, with no excess material hanging down and not one piece without function.
"Welcome, friends. I see you have met Bear," he said.
"Aye, we've seen your monster, but it will take more than that to scare us, Stranger," replied Macdonald.
"Please, Ewan, call me Erik, and I can assure you that Bear is not here to scare you. He is merely my companion and protector."
"You bring yourself a protector, yet tell both of us to come alone," said Macleod.
"This is true, Seamus, but you have seen some evidence of what I offer, have you not? You know that I have much more to lose and let's be honest here; you have both been less than reliable when it comes to meetings such as these. The Laird of Glencarse was never heard from again after you met with him, Seamus, from the tales that I have been told."
Seamus shrugged. Macdonald smirked at the sight of his rival being called out for his past activities, not that he was an innocent in such matters himself. He had removed the occasional barrier to progress, just with a little less fuss than the Macleod chieftain.
"Anyway, today is not about blame or the past; it is about the future, about working together. Come my friends, join me inside, but please, leave your weapons out here," said Erik, returning to the darkness of the cave.
Macdonald and Macleod exchanged glances, but they had expected nothing less. The stranger had his protection with him, but if he was leaving the beast outside then there could be no harm in leaving their weapons as well. They both unhooked their swords and placed them on the ground outside the cave. Once they had done so, Bear stepped aside, making it clear the two men were free to join Erik. They followed him into the cave, never letting their gaze stray from the huge polar bear as they walked past.
A short, stooped corridor led into the main body of the cave, which was lit with three flickering torches attached to the dark, damp walls. In the middle of the space was a single, flat, round stone, knee-high and an arm's length-wide, laid out with stone goblets and a large loaf of dark brown bread. Erik invited the two men to join him for food and the three of them knelt down on the furs he had laid on the floor. As they sat, Bear entered the cave, sitting down on the floor at the entrance.
"Tell me stranger, how is it that you have control over such a beastie as this?" asked Macleod, pointing at Bear.
Erik gave a gentle smile.
"I thought that might be one of your first questions," he said. "My people are much the same as yours, though we live in secret, isolated from petty squabbles, clan battles, failing crops and fatal winter storms. Without the devastating effect of war and disease, my people have been free to develop our skills. We have learnt about many things that you would find amazing, even magical. For example, we have found a way to change the way bodies are built at the lowest level. In doing so, we have been able to create bears that are far more intelligent than normal. These bears work together with us to protect us when we travel far from home and in return they are supplied with food and somewhere to stay, as well as the benefits of genetic manipulation their line will receive in future generations."
"Gen… what?" asked Macdonald, clearly confused.
"Sorry, genes are those tiny parts of the body we change. By doing so to the bears living with us, those changes will be passed down to their children and grandchildren. What I'm saying is that both my people and the bears benefit equally from the changes. This device allows us to communicate directly with them," said Erik, pulling out a shiny stone sphere from within his clothing and holding it out in the palm of his hand for the two men to see.
"What's that?" asked Macleod, leaning forward to try and make some sense out of the object, noticing it was covered in a set of intricate spiral designs.
"We use it to control many things in our home. I doubt you would understand how it works, but I can demonstrate a little of what it can do," Erik replied.
He held the stone ball in one hand and ran his fingers over it with the other. It started to glow, giving out a very slow pulse of green light. The two clansmen drew back in fear, having never seen anything light up of its own accord.
"Watch you dinnae burn yourself, man!" said Macleod.
"It's not hot, Seamus. Here, feel for yourself," said Erik. He smiled and held the sphere out towards Macleod, who flinched a little, but touched the rock, never willing to show anything like weakness or fear to his life-long rival.
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"Very strange," said Seamus, withdrawing his finger, "but what does it do?"
Erik pointed over at Bear.
"You see the small device attached to his ear?"
"Device?"
"The little black rock."
"Ah, yes."
"That is connected to his brain, the part of him that makes him think. It sends silent messages to the control sphere I'm holding, which lets me talk to the bear," Erik explained.
"You can talk to that thing?" Macdonald asked, disbelief written all over his face.
"Bear, could you go out and gather some wood, in case we need to light a fire later?" Erik asked.
The two men looked over at the creature, wondering if it would rise and obey immediately or if it would need told again.
"Okay, Erik. I will go," said Bear. His legs straightened, lifting his massive frame up, and he left the cave.
"It talks? You've got a talking bear? This is magic, stranger!" yelled Macleod.
"Not magic, no, though it may appear as such to you. I have explained how it works as best I can with your limited knowledge. Accept that it can happen, but only because my people have changed the bears and have created these devices that allow us to communicate. Without these, the bears are more intelligent than normal, but have no idea what we are saying and cannot respond to us."
"Does it work with all creatures?" asked Macdonald.
"We are still working on it. At the moment we use the bears because they serve a useful purpose to us and their large skulls are easy to work with, but it may be possible in the future to do the same with other animals," said Erik, nodding.
"Very interesting, I can see how we could use this," said Macdonald. "What else can you show us?"
Erik took a deep breath. The first part of his plan had been accomplished, to get the men to see he had something worthwhile to offer them. What would prove more difficult, he knew, would be getting them to agree to his terms for learning about the technology behind the tools he could offer them. Clever devices on their own would be no use unless mankind had the knowledge to create more and the appreciation of the consequences of their use.
"Okay," he said, "let's talk."
* * *
The men talked for hours, Erik describing some of the most basic tools at his disposal. He didn't want to show his full hand at this early stage, knowing only too well what most of mankind was like, but he had been chosen by his people for this meeting because he was a great reader of men. As he was telling them about the simple devices he could share with them, rock cutters and things that would start fires in an instant, methods of storing food for weeks and ways to protect from disease, he was also dropping little traps into the conversation. All it would take would be for too many of those traps to be figuratively sprung and he would back off, limit his sharing to the bare minimum. Earlier the men had not been doing too bad, having only tripped over themselves a couple of times in their eagerness to gain as much as they could from Erik whilst trying to outmanoeuvre each other so that one clan or the other would come out on top, but now tempers were beginning to flare. All three of them were tired and found themselves unable to agree on anything, despite the best efforts of Erik to find some common ground.
"Please, my friends, this is not about advantage to either Clan Eremon or Clan Ebhir, it is about the benefits to mankind. Any advantage you may gain will be due to each clan's own unique set of skills and knowledge, as well as the raw materials you have available to you," said Erik, trying to explain.
"Enough talk, Erik," grumbled Maclead, "it's time to take action. You have what my clan wants, now give it to us and stop trying to manipulate the situation!"
"Manipulate? Listen Seamus, I can walk away at any time and be just as well off as I have ever been. I do not need your help, nor am I asking anything from you other than assurances about how you will use what I can offer. And those assurances do not include ensuring your clan rises to power," said Erik.
Macleod stood and grabbed for Erik, who pulled back away from the attack easily, as though he had been expecting it. The irate clansman lunged again, taking a firm grip on his arm and pulling Erik towards him.
"My clan will rise to power, with or without your aid. Now, give me what I came for," Macleod yelled, his face turning a bright shade of red.
Erik tried to push the man away, shouting "No!"
Macleod brought his fist in hard to Erik's stomach, catching him off guard and winding him. He staggered backwards as Macleod released him, stumbling over one of the furs on the floor and falling to the ground, his head slamming into the stone table as he dropped. Macleod gasped and took a step back. Erik lay spread out on the floor, unmoving.
"You've killed him, Macleod," said Macdonald.
"He's not dead," the man replied and knelt down beside the body. Macleod bent over, looking for a breath, a pulse, anything that would show the man to be alive, but to no avail. His hand ran across the stone sphere, held in a pouch at Erik's waist. He pulled it out and showed it to Macdonald. It had turned a dull grey and was no longer glowing as it had before.
"No? It certainly looks that way," said Macdonald.
A low growl came from behind the men and they turned to see Bear standing in the cave entrance, staring directly at them, teeth slightly bared.
"It was an accident!" Macleod said to the bear. It growled again, but stood its ground.
"Come on, Bear," said Macdonald. "Macleod here just got carried away. These things happen, we never meant to hurt him."
They both took a step towards the creature. It growled again, lower this time, as though to emphasise it was being serious, and took a step towards the two men.
"What now?" said Macleod.
"I don't know. Get Erik out of here and back to his people?"
"We could just bury him and leave this place," said Macleod.
"That would be no good. You've seen some of the stuff his people can do. They'd know and they would come after us. No, we need to be honest and tell them it was an accident," replied Macdonald.
"Okay, okay, but how are we going to get him out with that thing guarding the exit?" said Macleod, nodding over towards the bear.
The colossal white animal had returned to its original position as they had been talking, as though content to let the men discuss their problems. When Macdonald stepped tentatively towards it again, it straightened up and came to meet him, snarling.
"Look, big yin, we only want to take your friend back to his people. Maybe you can help us?"
The bear just growled back.
"It's no use, Ewan," said Macleod, "I don't think it understands us. I think that the thing Erik had to control it with is broken, it seems to have died when he did, if that makes sense?"
Macdonald returned to the body and helped Macleod cover it up. As he did so, the bear returned to its guarding position once again.
"The damn thing is determined to keep up in here. I'm not going to be dictated to by some furry beastie like that. Come on, we're getting out of here."
"What are you thinking?"
"I've still got my skean dhu. How about you?"
Macleod lifted the shoulder of his plaid to show the small dagger hidden under his armpit, nodding as he did so.
"Aye, I never give it up, no matter what. Do you think we can take the beast on? Come around its flanks and surprise it?" he whispered.
"We can only try Seamus. I've no desire to spend the rest of my days in this damn cave, though, so let's do it."
They parted to opposite walls of the cave and paced back towards the entrance. The bear watched them, approaching from either side, and stepped forward to meet them, its low growl barely audible, but growing as they came closer.
Within a few moments the men both stood only a metre away from the polar bear, one to its left, one to its right. The creature maintained a low growl, trying to divide its attention between the two of them, aware that they were up to something, but apparently reluctant to act.
/> "Now!" Macdonald shouted, his voice a blend of fear and excitement, the same as it had been on many a battlefield.
Both men leapt at the bear at once, pulling their daggers out from hiding and stabbing them into the side of the beast in one fluid, almost mirrored movement. The bear roared, a deafening, terrifying wail that would have had the two men covering their ears were they any less intent on bringing the animal down. It stumbled back into the narrow part of the cave wall, loosening rocks that fell at its feet. The bear lashed out, blinded by the pain, its huge thick paws throwing the men across the cave to hit the walls on the far side, both of them sliding to the floor. As they slid into unconsciousness, they were aware, for just a fleeting moment, of a low rumble and a cloud of dust, before everything fell silent.
* * *
"Ewan, can you hear me? Wake up, man," said Macleod.
Macdonald winced and forced his eyes open, letting them adjust to the darkness before talking.
"What happened? Did we kill it?" he said.
"I think so, but it's difficult to tell. The place is full of dust and there's only one torch still burning. The beastie seems to have stopped moving, though," replied Macleod.
"Good. That thing is dangerous to have around. Quite a throw it has, too. I don't think my back will ever be the same again. Here, help me up."
Macdonald helped him to his feet and the two of them walked over to the body of the bear. It lay in front of the narrow tunnel leading out of the cave, facing away from them. Macleod put a hand on the creature's head and waited for a moment, then he pushed it and the head lolled over to the side, eyes open, but showing none of the life it had been full of when they attacked it.
"Aye, it's dead, all right. I wonder what it was doing over here. You'd think it would have eaten us or just left us alone here to die," said Macleod.
"No, look at the tunnel, Seamus. It wasn't going anywhere," replied Macdonald.
Macleod turned away from the bear to look at the tunnel. Instead of a short passage of rock, leading out into the cold highland night, as he had expected to see, there was a pile of large stones and rubble that reached to the roof of the cave.
"That explains the dust. The ceiling must have collapsed when the big beastie went crazy," he said.