In the Shadow of Mountains: The Lost Girls

Chapter Sixteen

  An Individual Look

  Rolf didn’t have time to feel nervous once he was alone and surrounded by all the Destroyers. He quickly found himself pursued by Hai-Fam. It was obvious what she wanted even though she could only speak her own language. Rolf did his best to try to explain to her that he hadn’t brought any pieces of silk, or any cloth of any kind. She wouldn’t leave him alone. Finally he remembered that he had a clean handkerchief in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and gave it to her.

  Hai-Fam took the handkerchief with obvious delight. It was bright yellow. The colour seemed to attract her. She unfolded it carefully and held it to her face, brushing it over her lips and her cheek. She sniffed at it, and examined it closely, turning it over and over. The feel of Rolf’s embroidered name seemed to fascinate her. Satisfied at last, she looked around to see that no one was watching before quickly tying it in her blonde hair. Then she smiled at him and kept tilting her head from side to side, feeling her ponytail bobbing about as she had done at their house.

  Rolf had to laugh. But as soon as she heard his laughter, Hai- Fam stared at him so intently, that Rolf could almost see what she was thinking. She hadn’t seen anyone laugh before. As his laughter slowly subsided, she came very close, her head tilted to one side. Rolf couldn’t resist. He touched her face.

  Hai-Fam squeaked and ran away.

  Rolf laughed even more. He was still laughing when Kai-Tai and Soo-Kai came back. By then he was sat with his back to a tree, the horses tied up nearby. The other Destroyers sat a little way off, Hai-Fam in the middle of them. They watched him, but stayed away. Kai-Tai went to join them while Soo-Kai came and sat next to Rolf.

  “What do you do with Hai-Fam?” she asked.

  Rolf laughed again. “Nothing serious, my wife. She was curious, that’s all. I merely touched her and she ran away. How did you know?”

  “Your handkerchief is in her hair. Be careful. She may be young, but she can still kill you.”

  Rolf’s smile faded. “I think by the company I now keep, that she will be the least of my worries. What did you see that my poor human eyes would not see?”

  “Kai-Tai spoke the truth. The gates are closed and there is no mat.”

  Rolf laughed. “I didn’t actually mean –Oh, never mind. Is that all you found out?”

  “We could taste many men in the air. The garrison has been strengthened as we surmised. And there is a Destroyer inside the castle. I could smell her. But we could also smell the scent of alien DNA. Those that come here are in the castle.”

  “Those that they haven’t killed, you mean,” Rolf added grimly.

  Soo-Kai didn’t say anything else about her visit to the castle. She didn’t want to worry Rolf, and she had the feeling that he would tell her off if he knew that she had almost been eaten.

  They were both silent for a while, sitting together by the tree. Rolf gazed casually at the other Destroyers. His eyes found Kai-Tai and stayed there. He stared at Kai-Tai, marvelling at how alike she was to his Soo-Kai. He turned and looked at Soo-Kai sat next to him. Then he turned and looked back at Kai-Tai. Finally he turned again and looked at Soo-Kai once more. She was now looking back at him, a puzzled look on her face.

  “What is it, my husband?” she asked, a little worried by his behaviour.

  Rolf smiled. “You look so much alike. Too much alike.” Rolf had a sudden idea. He sat up. “Do you still have the handkerchief I gave you?” he asked.

  Soo-Kai still looked puzzled, but she pulled the handkerchief from her pocket. It was red, and it had her name embroidered on it. She handed it to Rolf.

  “Do you wish to give it to Hai-Fam? Or maybe to another Destroyer? My mother perhaps?”

  Rolf’s smile broadened at the thought of what Kai-Tai’s reaction would be. “No, my love! I am not that foolhardy! And in any case, I wouldn’t do anything to incite your jealousy.”

  “I am relieved, my husband. It pleases me that you respect my feelings, and that you recognise the foolishness of such an act. Hai-Fam may be interested in such things now, but it will not last. And my mother is far too old even to remember such childish thoughts.”

  Rolf held her hand. “This is not for Hai-Fam, nor for any other Destroyer. This is your handkerchief. I made it for you, and it is in your hair that I wish to tie it.”

  “You will tie my hair?” Soo-Kai asked in surprise, and reached up to her long red hair, pulling at it protectively.

  “Yes!” Rolf smiled at her anxious expression. “Don’t worry! It’s not going to hurt. I just want you to look different from your mother, that’s all. I want to be able to tell the difference between you.”

  “But when we are close, surely you can tell one of us from the other?”

  Rolf laughed. “Of course! But I want to tell the difference at a distance, when I still have a chance to run!”

  “But we dress differently!” Soo-Kai protested, still holding on to her hair protectively. “I wear my leggings and waistcoat of red, while she wears a tunic and leggings that are black.”

  “She could change clothes,” Rolf suggested.

  Soo-Kai opened her mouth to reply than stopped.

  “You see!” Rolf exclaimed. “She couldn’t tie her hair as I will tie yours!”

  Soo-Kai almost slumped. She sighed and handed him her hair as if she were handing him a baby.

  Rolf smiled and caressed her face. “It’ll be alright, I promise! Here, sit in front of me; let me tie your hair in a plat. If you really don’t like it, you can always undo it afterwards.”

  Soo-Kai perked up. “It will not be permanent?”

  “No, it will not be permanent.”

  Soo-Kai gave in and sat in front of him. She still looked a little anxious as Rolf began platting her hair. Her hair was very long, and the plat would be long, too.

  There was silence as Rolf platted away. He wondered what Soo-Kai was thinking, so he leaned over her shoulder and found that her eyes were closed tight. It was as if she were waiting for her life to end. It made Rolf feel sad.

  “Soo-Kai, you know that I love you more than anything else in the world?” he said to her in a soft voice.

  “Yes, my husband,” she answered, her eyes still closed.

  “Then you should know by now that I wouldn’t do anything to you like this if I didn’t think it would make you even more beautiful than ever.”

  Soo-Kai opened her eyes. “I am sorry, my husband,” she replied in a sad voice. “I do not mean to distrust you. But I have kept my hair as it is for many years. I care for it and wash it often. Its feel pleases me.”

  Rolf kissed her on the back of her neck. “I tell you what. If the plat doesn’t please you, I’ll undo it straight away. Alright?”

  “Thank you, my husband.”

  Rolf continued to talk to her as he platted away, distracting her by asking her about something that was bothering him from before.

  “What did Kai-Tai mean about a portal thing in the Nakora Tabek?” he asked.

  Soo-Kai turned her head slightly. She seemed surprised. “Did I not tell you of the Portal?”

  “No.”

  “Then I will tell you now. The Great Ships of the Navak were fitted with a device that could digitise the molecular structure of matter and then transmit that digital information anywhere for reassembly. We call it a Ring Network Portal; you may call it a door. You walk in at one point, and emerge at another, a great distance away. It was invented by the Tun-Sho-Lok who passed it on to many of the races they visited, and we brought the technology with us when we enslaved the Navak. The Portal is the means by which Kai-Tai and those with her wish to escape from this world. It can only be opened by using the data link in the auxiliary command centre in the Althon Gerail, and then only when the Nakora Tabek is close by. This is why access to the Althon Gerail is so important. But the Portal works both ways.”

  Rolf didn’t understand everything she said about how the Portal worked, bu
t its implication was clear. He would have to remember to add it to her journal when they got home.

  “So, this Portal could bring people here just as easily as it could send them away?” he said.

  “Yes. And the arrival of the aliens would suggest that this is happening.”

  “But the boy, Daniel. Why would he want to come here? He didn’t look like he was prepared for a journey to another world.”

  “To travel through the Portal may not have been by his choice. It is many years since the data link in the Althon Gerail was last used. It may be damaged; the ship itself is broken and buried. Kai-Tai herself removed part of the circuitry to prevent it from being used in her absence. How the Destroyer in the castle has overcome this problem I cannot say, but she may not know where the Portal opens at the other end. Those that come here may just fall in.”

  Rolf looked thoughtful as he tied the red handkerchief into the end of the long plat. No wonder the boy had looked scared. He couldn’t possibly have understood what had happened to him.

  “There! Finished!” he said.

  Soo-Kai immediately reached for her hair at her neck and pulled the plat over her shoulder. She held it in her hands and stared at it in wonder.

  “My hair has become a long, entwined, red snake,” she whispered. She felt the handkerchief at the end. It was tied in a big bow.

  Rolf watched her carefully. “Do you like it?”

  Soo-Kai looked up at him. There were tears in her eyes. “Yes, my husband! I like it very much!” And with those words, she dived into his arms.

  As they embraced and kissed, there was the sound of a loud squeak. Rolf and Soo-Kai looked up to see Nan-Po trying to pull Rolf’s yellow handkerchief from Hai-Fam’s hair. Hai-Fam was doing her best to hang on to it, squeaking in distress. As they both struggled and the other Destroyers watched, Kai-Tai stood up as if she was going to join in. But instead she just shouted at them and turned and stared off into the trees.

  To Rolf’s surprise, Nan-Po let go of Hai-Fam’s hair and did the same. All the Destroyers began to stand up and stare in the same direction. Even Hai-Fam, her hair still tied in the ponytail, stood up and stared.

  It was a moment before Rolf realised that Soo-Kai was also standing and staring like the rest. He quickly stood up as well.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Aliens,” Soo-Kai said in a whisper. “Maybe ten or twenty. One moment the forest air is empty, the next moment, it is filled with their scent.”