By Mike Christopher A tale of Moonlands Part of Invader
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Zeel stared in dismay at the huge gulf of empty air spread out before him. Beyond the edge of the cloud he hovered above, there was not another cloud in sight. Far below, what looked like dense jungle was baking in the hot afternoon sunlight. To the east, and approaching rapidly, was a broad expanse of ocean. Zeel shuddered at the sight of so much open water. It was very difficult to maintain his hover field over water without tiring quickly.
He contemplated the cloud surface below his tentacles. Normally, clouds would not be dense enough for him to lift himself above their surface, but these strange Eliwan clouds were made of sturdier stuff somehow. He looked across the broad horizon and found himself wishing for more clouds. It was a very long way down to the ground, and he was by no means certain he would be able to bounce his hover fields in such a manner as to cushion his fall and lower him to a suitable distance above the surface. Such a maneuver was in the realm of special tactics, and he had never received such training.
Still, there no place left to go... unless he wanted to return to the horrid Eliwan. Looking back into the dense forest of strange cloud plants through which he had just passed, he wondered at his easy escape. It had been effortless, too easy, in fact, to be believed without suspicion.
Perhaps they mean for me to discover that there is no safe way off their clouds! Looking down, he gauged the distance to the ground and then eyed the swiftly approaching ocean. Well, it’s now or never, he thought. I’ll show them that their little clouds will not be a prison for me! Then, before he could change his mind, he slid from the edge of the cloud and felt his fields slip away into nothing. He balled his tentacles up in the way he had seen the AGA sky-troopers do, and watched the rapidly approaching ground. There were big trees down there - trees which could hinder his descent if he was not careful. But the trees could also help give him some indication of how near the actual ground itself was - assuming that these were average trees.
The leafy green treetops grew bigger and bigger in his field of vision. Soon, he could discern individual leaves and he judged himself close enough to try to bounce his fields off the ground below. In theory, the fields would reach out below until they touched the surface. They would be stretched terribly thin and very weak, then grow quickly stronger as he approached the surface. The fields would actually pick up energy through the compression lent by his rapid descent, reaching a point where they would slow him down and then "bounce" him gently back upward until he could readjust them to take him to the proper height above the actual ground.
Zeel snapped out all of his tentacles at once, and poured all of his energy into the hover fields. The energy just vanished into thin air, he felt no contact with the surface. And then he smashed through the tops of the trees and realized his mistake. The trees were huge. Gigantic in proportion, the individual leaves being more than five times his own length. He had attempted to bounce too soon and now his energy reserves were depleted!
He knew his time was short now, as he crashed down between huge branches, the sky closing off above him as he entered the sticky humidity of the jungle. Any moment now it would all be over. He saw the ground at last and gave his fields a final push. Nothing, not even a fizzle. He simply had no energy left.
Suddenly, the view beneath him was obscured by a fluffy white substance. A cloud! He touched the soft surface of the cloud, which was apparently descending only slightly slower than his own velocity. The cloud began to slow its descent the moment he touched it. Zeel felt the strong pull of gravity as he decelerated. And then, before he even had time to question his good fortune, the cloud halted just above the surface and tilted so that he slid off. He caught himself just in time, his shaky fields holding him barely above the heavily overgrown jungle floor.
He looked at the cloud in amazement. It stared back at him with two eyes made of crackling lightning, blinked once and then shot skyward once more. As his gaze followed it up, he caught sight of a winged figure launching itself from a high branch. One of the winged Eliwan! Were they finally coming to get him? But then he saw the distant figure flap its wings energetically as it climbed in pursuit of the strange cloud which had rescued him.
"Well, that was certainly close!" exclaimed Shimmer, standing before the Mirror of Knowledge in the Hall of Scholars.
"Close? It was almost killed!" exclaimed Nimbulo, distraught by the Invader’s narrow rescue, which they had all just witnessed in the Mirror. "Just another second or two and... well, just think of how much knowledge could have been lost to us all!"
"Now, now, Elder. Calm down." Jaela said soothingly to the much older magi. "We all agreed that this plan was our best chance to discover the creature’s intentions here in our world."
"Yes, yes. Just so. But I don’t have to enjoy the spectacle!" Nimbulo’s frown deepened the creases in his lined face. His long bony fingers toyed nervously with his prominent chin. "I think I shall retire," he announced with a weary sigh. "Let me know the moment anything unusual happens!"
Jaela nodded acknowledgement and then turned her attention back to the Mirror. The creature was floating only a few inches above the ground, listing slightly to one side. It was stationary, but seemed to be looking around itself.
"I don’t know, Regis... he, I mean it, doesn’t look so good. Do you think that maybe the fall hurt it after all?" Shimmer’s voice was full of concern.
Jaela eyed the adept, slightly surprised at Shimmer’s depth of concern for their strange visitor. "I don’t know," she replied. "I was surprised when it decided to drop from the cloud, but I have a feeling that it wasn’t trying to kill itself." Shimmer turned from the Mirror to cock a questioning brow toward Jaela. "Yes. I think it thought it could manage that sort of drop... and maybe it could have, were it not for its injuries. There is still much we have to learn about this being."
Shimmer didn’t reply, she just nodded and turned back to the image. She gasped, the Invader was looking straight at them - or at least it was looking straight into the Farsight gem dangling from Yeepo’s torso.
"Yeepo! No! What are you doing?" Shimmer cried. "You’re supposed to stay out of sight!"
"Shhh... look. It’s doing something? Jaela pointed to the creature.
The image in the Mirror showed the Invader growing larger as it hovered slowly toward the Farsight Gem and Yeepo. It’s huge eye narrowed as it approached. Slowly, it raised one of its tentacles, which was grasping a big stick. "Uh-oh," said Shimmer.
The creature waved the stick back and forth, and the image in the Mirror followed the motion. Suddenly the Invader threw the stick off to one side. The view reeled as Yeepo flew after the thrown stick. Shimmer groaned and put one hand to her head. "Yeepo can never refuse a game of fetch? she wailed. Suddenly the image went blank.
Jaela whirled to look at Shimmer. "What happened?! Is Yeepo?"
Shimmer concentrated. She could still feel her energy channeling though the little vellup. There did not seem to be any lessening of the connection. "No. I think Yeepo is alright. She’s still invoked, anyway, and I can’t feel any distress coming through the link." Shimmer looked back up at the blank Mirror. "But I think our little friend just trashed the Farsight Gem!"
Jaela looked very upset. "Perhaps trusting this job to an alaban kit was not the best idea we’ve ever had?
"Hey, now..." began Shimmer, but Jaela waived aside her protest.
"I’m sorry, adept. Do you think it would be wise to call Yeepo back here?"
Shimmer considered, finally shaking her head. "No. Yeepo seems to be fine so far. I think I’ll let her stay with Zeel a while longer. At least maybe we’ll have some warning if they get into trouble - I should be able to feel it through the link."
Jaela nodded. "She’s your creature." The Regis turned to leave, saying, "I’ll send a few more of the Guard to keep an eye on them from nearby... just in case."
They are watching me! Zeel was furious. They’re just toying with me! He smashed what was left of the spying crystal against the nearest trunk. The strange little flying creature who had been sent to watch him was now buzzing circles around him, every now and then diving in to give him a playful little prod.
"Go away!" he yelled, tossing the stick for what seemed like the millionth time. He watched as the beast flitted off after the stick, knowing it would return all too soon. He had tried clubbing it with the stick instead, but the creature was too fast and seemed to think it was all a game of some sort.
They should have just let me die, he thought. Why did they save me? He remembered the strange cloud creature which had cushioned his fall, and now understood that it had been summoned by his unseen caretakers to rescue him. Why didn’t they just take me back up to their city in the clouds?
His reverie was broken by the approaching buzz of the annoying little flyer. He decided to try ignoring it instead. Maybe it would grow bored and fly off on its own. At least he had destroyed the spying crystal. Zeel eyed the tangled branches over head. There are probably plenty more where this one came from! How am I ever going to be free of these monsters?
Tired of questions without answers, he decided to take a further look at his new surroundings. The forest floor was covered in dense underbrush. He could now lift himself high enough to avoid the worst of it, but he was still covered in itchy scratches from the taller brush. The light seemed to be dimming, although it was hard to tell since the dense foliage cut off all view of the sky.
He slid silently between the towering trunks of the alien trees, trying hard not to become alarmed by the strange forest sounds all around. The little flyer kept pace with him, having long since given up trying to get him to throw the stick again. Now it just hummed along beside him, keeping a companionable silence. Oddly enough, he found its continued presence reassuring.
Gradually the light dimmed, and the forest shaded from rich emerald hues to pale indigos. Nocturnal animals scurried through the underbrush below his unprotected tentacles, and he shuddered at the thought of what manner of nasty beasts were hiding in the shadows just below him, waiting to reach up and snatch him out of the air for a quick snack. The darkness was unnerving, but with the use of his sub-oculars, he found he could see well enough.
Eventually, he grew very tired and felt he could not go further without rest. He searched around and found an old tree with a large hollow. Tossing a stick inside the dark opening in the tree, he waited as the little flyer eagerly dashed after it. He listened for the sounds of a threat from within, but all he heard were the happy chirps of his companion. Soon, the little creature came flitting out of the darkened trunk, stick in mouth, humming happily. It dropped the stick at his tentacles and waited, eyes gleaming in the darkness.
Zeel felt a little guilty for having used the innocent creature as bait for some unseen monster lurking in the darkness. He shrugged it off and, ignoring his companion, floated silently into the hollow tree. Inside, it was warm and dark and smelled of rich earth and wet wood. The flyer followed him inside, subdued. Maybe it was tired too, he mused. Settling himself, he closed his great ocular on the enveloping darkness and tried to calm his shattered nerves enough to get some sleep. Luckily, sleep came easier than he had thought it would, and he soon drifted off into a peaceful slumber, accompanied by the gentle humming lullabies of his little alien companion.
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