01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
They stared at each other for a long moment, there was a hint of contemptuous amusement
in the grey-green eyes. Steve rose to his feet but before he could recover the tunic he had
thrown to one side, the rider raised his hand in a kind of salute, touched the animal with his
knee and started to move off. They stared at each other across much more than the few paces
between them. They stared at each other across the unknown intentions of the builders of the
five sided chamber into which Steve had strayed and within which the image of the stranger
had been displayed like bait in a trap.
The stranger raised his hand again and then urged the beast forward into the lane between
the crops. Steve watched him dwindle into the distance and then merge into the darkness of a
distant wood. Sun baking was finished for the day, Steve picked up his tunic and put it on.
The encounter had created more questions than answers. He knew that he had to find this
alien again, he was the key to his future.
.....
Danyk rode away from his encounter with the naked Scarn in a very reflective frame of
mind. He had expected nothing more than a mutant. Such things happened on occasions.
Reports would be made of albinos or some other deviation from the norm. Usually the
creatures would be abandoned by their tribe and it would be easy to capture them and put
them on show, or even train them to amuse in the great houses. These variations were
normally short lived and frequently ill formed. When Lyot had given him the task of locating
this latest aberration, Danyk had surmised that the crafty Jabez had found one of these
misbegotten creatures and would try to haggle for some special favours for his community.
It had been a number of days before he could fulfil Lyot's commission. As usual, the Lord
had found other duties for his son which had required a readjustment of priorities. A hairless
Scarn did not rank very high in precedence. There had been discussions at the community
meal and Laoni had showed considerable interest. The mental waves of fury emanating from
his sister after returning from her pre-emptive excursion, had finally prompted him to try to
finalise the matter.
He knew he needed more information and Laoni had closed her mind to him with regard to
the details of her meeting with the creature. It would have been asking for trouble to confront
Jabez or to forewarn him of the Thane's interest. The price would have risen abruptly. For this
reason, Danyk had decided to spy out the land and try to get a preview of the creature. He
rode without his men, making his way across familiar territory and approaching the
community from an unusual direction. He wondered where Jabez was keeping it and decided
that he might have to rely on hearing or smell to find it in the cluster of dwellings. He was
more than a little surprised to find it roaming free in Jabez's own house.
The Vix had moved softly and he was able to draw close to the platform of stone that
surrounded the house of the Overseer. The creature was laying naked on the paving, in the
full heat of the Lynxe-star. Danyk was more fascinated than surprised. This abortion seemed
to favour the full heat and glare. It wasn't hairless, no matter what the reports had indicated. It
was certainly less hairy than the normal Scarn and what it had was distributed differently to
anything he had ever seen on the subspecies, especially in the facial area. There was little
evidence that it had grown abnormally, except that it was less than average height for a Scarn
and had shorter limbs. It was male.
It had reared up when it had realised it was being inspected. Danyk was impressed by its
nimbleness. It looked almost intelligent. He tested the mind patterns and recoiled in shock. It
was totally unlike anything he had ever experienced. The brute Scarn sub-intelligence was
missing, instead there had been a wide open mind, in which lurked fascinating visions and
concepts. The appalling thought wouldn't go away that this was somehow a bestial hybrid
between the Lynxe and the Scarn. It was revolting enough to turn his stomach but it was
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