01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
possible that a Scarn had seized a Lynxe woman and had impregnated her, or that the
reversion to bestiality, which was expressing itself in other ways, had induced a male Lynxe
to mate with a Scarn female.
The creature had looked at him eagerly, as if it wanted a friendly contact. No Scarn would
ever have dared to attempt such familiarity. Danyk had raised his hand instinctively, as if to
ward off a mental blow and then again, but the next time it had been a farewell gesture.
He put as much distance as he could between him and the community of Jabez, before he
reigned in his mount at a stream. He had a great deal to sort out mentally before he opened
his mind to interrogation by Lyot. His father didn't encourage sentiment, especially when it
involved the Scarn. He didn't suffer sentimental ideas on most subjects, a Thane wasn't very
effective if he allowed those thoughts to rule.
Danyk could not shake off the feeling of affinity with the creature. He was angry with
himself that he could entertain such thoughts. He searched through his mind for some reason
and finally came to the episode of his dream, the one that had disturbed him so much on the
night before he had ridden out to break up the bestiality on the hilltop. It had concerned a
hairless Scarn with blue eyes. Danyk went cold. The creature he had inspected had possessed
much more hair than the creature in his dream, but the eyes had been intensely blue.
He took his time to return to the Thanehold and by the time he did so, he had applied
techniques to quieten down his agitation.
.....
The evening meal was subdued, as if Jabez had something on his mind. Caela looked as if
she had been weeping. Hara did not come, perhaps she thought she had already provided the
lesson for the day. Steve was glad to excuse himself and go to the solitude of his room. Some
caution kept him from mentioning the visit of the unknown man, it was hard to define why
but he felt it better not to reveal that any interest was being shown in him.
The visit had not been one of menace, it didn't look like a follow-up to apply punishment
for the way he had treated the cat woman on the previous day. The man had shown
considerable curiosity - a very frank curiosity. It was as if he was inspecting some strange
exhibit in a zoo. Perhaps that was how they viewed a visiting alien.
He was tired enough to go to bed early. It had been a long day and he was more exhausted
than he liked to admit. The fact that Hara had not paid her usual visit irritated him. He liked
her around, even if he couldn't touch, he could fantasise - perhaps that was the problem. She
was watched by Jabez and the rest of the community as well. She was no doubt controlled by
rules and regulations with this 'House of the Virgins'. Even a mild flirtation would have been
the subject of overview. Steve reluctantly admitted that he would have liked a lot more than a
mild flirtation, although he couldn't see where such a relationship could lead. It seemed that
he was consigned to a life of enforced celibacy and he was getting well enough for his
hormones to be complaining loudly.
He drifted off into a troubled sleep and had a succession of fitful dreams. He wandered
again through the windswept site of the Place of Worship. A great crowd was present, they all
wanted something from him but all he could provide was his child's prayer in which he gave
thanks for the food. They took it up in a great chant and the cadences rolled round and round
the hills like a madrigal. They wanted something more. Jabez appeared in the dream,
demanding something of him that he didn't understand. He couldn't produce what they
wanted and they became angry. He retaliated and told them he would call down the wrath of
their gods on their heads and they all rushed forward to kill him. He woke up abruptly and
stared into the darkness.
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