Chapter Forty-Two of my current wip. As before, all and any comments very much appreciated

Please note: This is a weekly post

To satisfy Kookka, Jess put his mind to learning the Itamakku ways. First, he would learn the star-beasts.

It didn’t surprise him that these were the Itamakku names for the constellations that encircled this planet, Ayin. The said ‘star-seats’ referred to the constellation rising on the eastern horizon at daybreak. These cyclic risings gave the Itamakku their annual calendar.

When star-monkey Tiki sat on the star-seat the rain cascaded down from the darkest clouds. But only in the mornings. From midday the clouds moved away, and the sun dried the thin soil around the base. Then Jess followed Cela-Byi down the precipitous hill and into the forest where to the west were many wide glades now grown green with plants heavy with seeds. In just one glade there might be twenty species of plants that yielded edible seeds. Cela-Byi told him their names but…plants weren’t his skill. He helped her to pound the seeds.

“Star-men know nothing that’s not god-given,” she said. And they both knew she referred to the Techs. “Not know how to make bread to fill belly unless Tech-trained caterers.”

Jess couldn’t deny it.

“And how make your jackets and legs? Not woven from fibres as are the grey sheets. God-knowledge.”

She said it in mock and all Jess could do was to nod. Truth. And Kookka wanted them to leave the Monza. They’d be dead within a moon cycle.

As Tiki moved from the star-seat, so the star-spirit fish, Sarbi, took its place.

“No more wet stars,” Cela-Byi said. Which wasn’t quite the truth but now the rain fell only as light showers.

That same day, just as the star-spirits changed seats, so the Itamakku again arrived at the base. No small party this.

“I see chiefs of three dows here,” Cela-Byi reached up on tiptoes to whisper into Jess’s ear. “Greal, Robi and Toki.”

The chiefs were easily identified even without their ornate hats, their feathers and ropes of shells and beads. But although those chiefs bore the same sharp weapons as their men, they didn’t chant and rap those shafts on the ground. The chanting and rapping stopped when Anji-Tiki-ta held aloft his spear.

“Star-man Zem Jess, we speak with you.”

Jess stepped forward. Cela-Byi tried to follow him, but he gestured for Kookka to hold her back. His obs were ranged behind him, the operatives pressing to see what was happening. Most were now able to understand the Itamakku speech, if not yet fluent in speaking it. One had stubbornly refused to learn it. Canipse. No surprise there.

“I greet you, Anji-Tiki-ta,” Jess said with a slight nod of his head. “Again, you trespass. I ask what is your need.”

“You take our women and this we allow for through you they gain god-given knowledge. But now you slight us. This aggrieves us, this causes deaths. These deaths you must remedy.”

Jess spread his hands. He didn’t understand. How had his Monzas slighted the Itamakku, how caused their deaths?

The Greal chief upjutted his chin. “The Banmakka receive god-given food from your northern god-hill. We receive nothing although Greal-dow is also in north.”

Jess cast a look back for Saker who, in the absence of Canipse, had taken on the task of distributing the excess tubers to the Banmakka. “When next you distribute, ensure Greal-dow is included.”

“And Robi-dow,” said the third chief.

“And Robi-dow,” Jess repeated. “Though likely by the time star-spirit Kija sits on the star-seat our tuber harvest will be depleted. Until next year.”

The Itamakku, as one, grunted and nodded, which Jess took as acceptance.

“Now,” Anji-Tiki-ta said, “as to the deaths. Three Itamakki. We cannot say of the Banmakka. That is for them to make claim. Three star-men you give us and no more trouble from us.”

Jess slowly rubbed his palms across his knuckles. He frowned, lips indrawn. There were no Techs to consult, to take over and sort out this mess. He glanced at Armar, but Armar looked away. He looked round at Kookka. Might Kookka have some advice to say? No, there was just him as the zem, and all waited on him.

“Three star-men to give you,” he repeated Anji-Tiki-ta’s demand. “To give to you for you to do what? To replace the dead men in their dow, in their house, in their bed? But such would make a poor recompense. My star-men know nothing of your ways, they have no appropriate skills.”

“God-knowledge,” the Greal chief said, an eyebrow excessively raised.

At least that answered that the Itamakku didn’t want to kill the Monza. He looked again at Kookka. Would Kookka volunteer, so keen to join the Itamakku? But Kookka gave no indication. He looked round at the ops and obs. He could not command such a sacrifice.

“These Itamakku dead, they had women? They had children? They were skilful hunters, warriors?”

“They were not best,” Anji-Tiki-ta said. “Best would not be dead.”

“But they had women?” This might encourage his Monzas to volunteer.

“None with a child. All young women, now without men. Without your star-men they too will die.”

Jess took a deep breath and plunged in, to what he hoped might be a solution. “Bring those women here. We give them god-knowledge, we give them life.”

Armar grabbed his arm as he turned back to the hives. “Are you crazy? Three more women? And these bonded to no one? That’s trouble waiting to erupt.”

Jess calmly pried the fingers from his arm. “You want that I pick out three of our clutch and send them off to the dows to…to what? Maybe you and Antel would like to go? Would you prefer that?”

He grabbed Cela-Byi’s hand and strutted back to his hive. He seldom took Cela-Byi in that hive, but this day he did. “Have I done right?”

“I not understand what you said with Armar,” she said. “Except he is angry.”

“He thinks it unwise to invite those women here.”

“A replacement man in a dow…?” She shook her head, her face glum. “They give him nasty tasks no other wants. He has no honour. If no baby takes in two, three years, likely they kill and find for the woman another.”

“Then I made the right choice.”

The domestic operatives Murry and Tyrim erected yet another hive although it was another eight days before the women arrived. Nozim and Sarbi from Robi-dow, Naba from Greal. It was decided not to preface their names with Li, this word merely meaning woman. It pleased Jess that Cela-Byi befriended them. Maybe Segul would befriend them too, given time. But never Tawan for she was soon dead.

Continues Monday

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed

Comments always welcomed