However, his nervousness was unnecessary. On the far side of the hill were Don of the Clarks and Dewey of the Hawks, along with a dozen more of the younger men of the phylum. All were flat on their bellies on the crest of the lull staring their amazement at the gigantic ship from space.
Don blurted, “We knew they had you, and were planning the rescue.”
“What happened to the Bruces?”
“They made off when we approached. I believe they thought us the full power of Aberdeen.”
John squatted down and watched also. “They return whence they came,” he said.
“Why did they take you?” Dewey of the Hawks demanded.
“They wanted more information about the ways of Caledonia, so that they could rob us,” John said. He continued to watch the spaceship.
“And what did you tell them?”
John shrugged. “I cozened them. I told them a good deal of nonsense, to make them feel it impossible to remain on Caledonia.”
Dewey said, “You mean you lied?”
John looked at him coldly. “They are not Hawks. It is not against the bann.”
He turned his eyes back to the Golden Hind. The spaceship shivered, then slowly, with great dignity, rose into the air.
A sigh went through the ranks of the Aberdeen youths.
When it had reached an altitude of some two hundred feet, the great craft tilted slightly upward and began to progress straight ahead and up. It gained speed in a geometric progression.
Don of the Clarks stood and, watching still with a considerable awe, as were they all, said, “They have gone.”
John, too, was looking off into the sky at the disappearing dot. “But they will return,” he said, with a wisdom beyond his years. “They, or others like them. For now we have been found, and the old days are gone forever.”
PART TWO
KRISHNA
Chapter One
John, raid cacique of the Hawks, drew rein and looked into over the valley below. Don of the Clarks came up beside him, and together they contemplated the town. The rest of the troop remained behind awaiting their leader’s command.
“There it is,” John said. “I do not think it is the same one as before, the Golden Hind.”
“No,” Don said. “This one is perhaps larger. Nor, from what we have heard, is it alone. They have landed at least a dozen places on Caledonia. This time, they have come in more force.”
The spaceship they were discussing sat perhaps half a mile from the walls of Nairn.
John raised a hand in signal and proceeded toward the main gate. He said to Don of the Clarks, “The Nairn Phylum is noted for being quick on the trigger. I hope we can approach sufficiently near to explain our mission, before they decimate us.”
Don shrugged and grinned sourly. “We are all volunteers and knew the chances we take. Off hand, I cannot remember hearing of such a case—the clannsmen of one phylum approaching those of another, between the meetings of the Dail. However, it is not against the bann, and The Keepers of the Faith found the correct procedure in the Holy Books.”
“Let us hope the sachems of Nairn have heard of the procedure,” John said. “Frankly, I feel naked without my claidheammor.”
There were sixteen in all, in the little troop, two from each clann of the Aberdeen Phylum. They were weaponless, save for the short skean each wore at his left side. They held their apprehensions from each other, but all felt as naked as their cacique without their swords and carbines. Each had seen the town of Nairn before, but only on raid.
Why they were not fired upon as they neared the gate, John of the Hawks could not imagine. Perhaps it was the slow speed at which they progressed. Perhaps the warder felt that the nearer he allowed them to approach, the more certain was his eventual fire to be complete in its destruction. Perhaps he even hoped to count coup on some of them, rather than kill them outright.
Perhaps various things, but the fact remained, they were not greeted by a blast of carbine fire. John, in front, finally raised a hand in a universal gesture of peaceful intent.
“Clannsmen of Nairn,” he shouted. “We come in honorable peace and are unarmed.”
The heavy wooden gate was closed, and he couldn’t see whence came the answering shout.
“What do you will, Raid Cacique of the Aberdeen Hawks?”
John was mildly surprised. The answer was in keeping with the procedure found by the Aberdeen Keepers of the Faith in the Holy Books. Evidently, the chiefs of Nairn had also been delving in the old volumes. It was quite unprecedented in the memory of living clannsmen.
John shouted, “We come in peace to investigate the rumors of ones who claim to be holy men from Beyond.”
“They enter in peace the preserves of Nairn.” The voice departed from printed procedure now and added, with a stubborn inflection, “But we shall not allow you within the gates.”
John was inwardly amused. There were only sixteen in his band, and unarmed at that. Aberdeen’s reputation as the producer of raiders must be high in Nairn. While here, John must keep his eyes open, with future raids on the local herds in mind.
A small door, set within the gate, opened, and an older man issued forth. Surprisingly enough, he wore neither claidheammor nor skean and carried no carbine. Behind him came a dozen more of the Nairn clannsmen, and they, at least, held guns at the ready. The eyes of all were suspicious.
The leader said, “I am Willard, Sachem of the Corcorans and eldest of the sachems of Nairn. What do you will? For surely, though the Holy Books provide for your coming in peace, unarmed, it is a rare thing indeed.”
John said correctly, “May the bards sing your exploits, Willard of the Corcorans. I am John of the Hawks, and this is Don, Sagamore of the Clarks.” He didn’t introduce the balance of his troop, who sat their horses in quiet, hiding their nervousness at being thus exposed to armed clannsmen while being weaponless themselves.
Willard of the Corcorans nodded and returned formally, “May the bards sing your praises, Clannsmen of Aberdeen. And what do you will?”
John said, “Ten years ago and more, a craft from Beyond landed on the preserves of Aberdeen, and the occupants were granted the traditional three days of hospitality as travelers. But the strangers were clannless men and knew nothing of our ways. Often, they even violated the bann. They claimed to be explorers from a great confederation of worlds from Beyond, which they called the League. They claimed that they wished Caledonia to join this great League, but they were shameless men, and we were pleased to see them leave in their great ship of space;”
The Nairn Sachem was nodding.
John went on. “And now the rumor spreads throughout the land that the men from Beyond have come again, this time in many ships of space. In but a few days, the meeting of the Loch Dail will take place and all the phyla either in assembly. I, and my troop, have been sent to inquire into the meaning of this new coming, for the rumors are that these clannless ones from Beyond claim to be holy men, and thus the bann is against attacking them in honorable raid. So we have come to confront these from Beyond and hear their tale and then report to the Dail of the Loch confederation.”
The other was nodding again. “It is true, John of the Hawks. And there is great confusion in Nairn, even amongst the bedels and Keepers of the Faith. The newcomers teach a new religion, that of the Avatara of Kalkin, and claim it has swept all other faiths before it, throughout all the worlds settled by humankind.”