When all were seated, phyla by phyla, Bertram of the Fowlers, eldest of all the bedels, open the meeting by saying the praise to the Holy. When he was through, he left the amphitheater and retreated to the ranks of the bedels and Keepers of the Faith, who stood nearest of all to the assembly of chiefs, even before the sagamores. Beyond the sagamores were the full clannsmen and behind them, the women. Children and clannless ones were not allowed to participate in the Dail.
Thomas of the Polks, eldest of all sachems in the Loch Confederation, came to his feet and walked in dignity to the amphitheater’s center. He looked up at his fellow chiefs.
“If there is no word of protest, the first matter to come before the Dail will be that of the strangers from Beyond. Since their advent was first here in Aberdeen, a decade and more past, I shall turn the rostrum over to Robert of the Hawks, senior sachem of the Aberdeen Phylum, if there is no word of protest.”
He stood a moment in silence. No one spoke. Thomas of the Polks returned to his place on the lowest level of seats.
Robert of the Hawks rose and took the speaker’s stand. He said, “If there is no word of protest, I shall call upon John, Raid Cacique of the Hawks, to address you, since he, of all the clannsmen of Aberdeen, has dealt most with the men from Beyond. If there is no word of protest.”
He held silence for a moment, but no one spoke. Robert of the Hawks returned to his place, and John stepped out.
It was the first time he had ever spoken at the assembly of the Dail, and John of the Hawks was a man of action, not of words. However, he looked up at them, all the most prominent men of the confederation, and said loudly, “I am of the opinion that these men from Beyond must be destroyed.”
A sachem from Dumbarton called, “We do not ask your opinions, John of the Hawks. At least, not at this stage. We want solely facts.”
John flushed and began to retort, but Thomas of the Polks said evenly, “He is correct. Tell us all that has transpired, and then we shall each have our word, they who would speak, and we shall each of us vote upon the course of action. If we reach agreement, then it shall be put to the vote of the total assembly, to ratify or not. Such is the way of the Dail, as each man knows. But now, John of the Hawks, tell us all of the men from Beyond.”
And so he did, in detail, omitting not even such shameful things as the occasions upon which he had eavesdropped upon the strangers. Omitting not even that he had been stripped of his arms and made a woman of by the men from Beyond, who had left so that he had no way of clearing his name and the name of his clann by taking his revengement.
He told everything of his experiences with the men of the exploratory ship Golden Hind and then took up his more recent expedition to the Revelation. There were stirrings of disbelief when he described the strange behavior of the clannsmen of Nairn, particularly those who had consented to tike the soma.
He was interrupted here, which was unseemly but not difficult to comprehend in view of the startling nature of his disclosures.
A sachem of the Edin Phylum called, “But you claim that this guru of the strangers, this self-named holy man, cured all of the black pox. Surely there is no illness on all Caledonia more fearsome than the pox. If such be their powers, why then did you begin your declamation with a demand that they be raided and destroyed? Surely the Holy smiles upon them.”
John answered by turning and shouting to the Hawk contingent of clannsmen. “Robert of the Fieldings!”
Robert came forth and walked toward them. He wore the kilt of a field worker, rather than that of the Fieldings, which was passing strange at an assembly of the Dail. At a Dail, a clannsman was inclined to clothe himself in his proud best. Nor did Robert wear claidheammor or even skean.
He was at his ease as he joined John of the Hawks, even though he was a simple clannsman before the ranking chiefs of his confederation and before the teeming thousands of the adult members, men and women, of the assembly.
He smiled at John and, his voice mild but still carrying, said, “I am no longer Robert of the Fieldings but simply Robert, now that I have joined with the Lord Krishna.”
A shocked hush fell.
John, who had been through it all before, said, “You have renounced your clan and become a clannless one?”
“There are no clanns before the Shrine of Kalkin. All humankind is one great clann. All are my brothers.”
Thomas of the Polks, even his great dignity shaken by the unbelievable, came to his feet and began to speak.
However, he was interrupted by the sounding of the conch and a crier shouting, “Strangers come! It is the men from Beyond!
Chapter Three
The newcomers could not have staged a better entrance had it been rehearsed. The craft, which later they named a skimmer, settled to the ground gently, between the amphitheater stand and the rows of bedels and sagamores.
A sigh went through the great assembly, for all there knew that such a craft could not possibly float through the air, as they witnessed. Obviously, some great power, un-known on all Caledonia, was involved, and these from Beyond controlled powers unbeknown to the holiest bedel or Keeper of the Faith.
Many eyes turned to the ranks of bedels, one for each clann represented at the Dail, But the faces of the bedels were blank; indeed, some went beyond blankness. Their expressions were of despair, for what can a speaker of a faith do when confronted by an obviously greater faith?
The craft came to a halt, and an entry port appeared where there had seemed but a wall of metal. An orange robed figure issued forth, then turned to assist another behind him.
John of the Hawks, standing side by side with Robert, once the most fearsome raider of the Clann Fielding, remained impassionate. He had not expected the others to arrive quite so soon, but he had known that the confrontation was inevitable.
There were four of them in all—the one named Mark, Guru of the Shrine of Krishna; two younger men, similarly robed and shod but obviously of lesser rank in the hierarchy of this new faith; and, last from the craft that flew through the air, the skipper of the spaceship, Harmon.
Bertram of the Fowlers, senior bedel, came now and stood beside John. Perhaps his faith was stronger than that of the rank and file of his colleagues, but in his face, too, was something John of the Hawks was dismayed to see.
The guru, as before, carried an aura of calm dignity that dominated all. He approached now and nodded gently to John of the Hawks.
“My son,” he said, “have you considered as yet and decided to take the soma and enter into the Shrine of Kalkin?”
John looked at him levelly. “Nor will I ever, Guru of the Marks.” He gestured to the seated sachems and caciques. “We are assembled now in the Dail of the Loch Confederation and are even at present discussing how to meet the coming of you from Beyond. I point out that receiving you in peace means eventual ending of all our institutions, even that of our faith.”
The older man spoke gently, and he spoke to all, rather than just to John. “I come from afar in the sky to bring, not to take. All, all of you, will find your eternal peace through following the Lord Krishna to the Shrine of Kalkin.”
Bertram of the Fowlers had regained some of his poise.
Now he said, and his own dignity was considerable, “The Holy Book says,