Chapter 40: The Denegatei
Elliot awoke after five hours of sleep. It was as much rest as he could have hoped for. They were several hundred yards into the jungle and the only thing between Elliot and the ground were a thin layer of leaves. Sometimes he would wake up with the feeling that something was crawling over him. He could not see it and he dared not move for fear that he might incite it to bite him. Presently when the young man looked around him he could see Ackbar sitting up in pensive mood staring at what were the ashes of the fire from the previous night. Elisa had vanished as usual but Edita was fast asleep.
Ackbar rubbed his head. Even he disliked being battered by stones thrown at him, “I can tell that you don’t fully agree with what the rest of the group want to do.” Elliot adressed him. ”What do you say we should do?”
“In my opinion we should make a stand,” the large alien creature suggested.
“What do you mean?” Elliot exclaimed, somewhat horrified at the concept of doing something courageous. “There are three of us and a little girl and apart from yourself we aren’t the most formidable group in the world.”
“There is more than one way to make a stand,” the Kylot said calmly.
“Well go on,” Elliot challenged him, “what do you advise?”
“The first step would be to find like-minded individuals and unite them under one umbrella.”
“That’s easier said than done,” Elliot interrupted. “In a world of changelings and deceitful individuals how do we know, who is going to be on our side? Particularly when Kylots are very much in the minority.”
“We don’t know one changeling from the other, but if we don’t try we don’t succeed. It’s better than doing nothing. What else are we going to do? We can’t run forever. Simply surviving from day to day isn’t what I believe in. There is more to life than survival.”
“Assuming that we find these like-minded individuals,” Elliot suggested. “What do we do then?”
“We fight back against them, not by means of armed combat, but by means of counteracting propaganda and making people feel unafraid again. The American government’s main asset and other governments like them, is fear. If we can ebb away at that then we might succeed. Then we have a chance. Our greatest hope is that we can inspire people to stand beside us. If we don’t try, then what point is there in just surviving.”
Elliot wasn’t convinced. All he wanted to do was to survive and maybe if he was lucky have friends by his side and maybe a fillet steak. “I think you’re foolish, if you think you can take on the authorities of any country, never mind the American Government. You would be fighting a losing battle. It would be so short and ineffective that you couldn’t even call it a war.”
“Elliot, I’ve known you only a short while. There is a lot to admire in you, but you will never reach your true potential if you are afraid and allow fear to defeat you at every turn. Don’t get me wrong. Most people would agree with you but if you want to lead a successful life, you have to conquer your fears, not run from them.”
Elliot breathed a heavy sigh. Ackbar seemed to set a high standard. He seemed to be setting the bar too high and at a level that Elliot dared not reach. Running was easier, much easier, and less dangerous. Elliot never minded anyone calling him a “chicken” in his youth because that’s exactly what he was.
“What would you do if myself and Elisa and Edita disagreed with you? What would you do then? Would you abandon us?”
Elliot had just articulated his deepest fear. He didn’t want Ackbar to abandon them. Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to survive. Fried snake was bad enough, but it was better than nothing at all.
“Then Elliot you would put me in a difficult position. At the moment my immediate aim is to bring you to safety. After that I really could not say.”
Elliot couldn’t help but feel that it was easier for a Kylot to say those things when he was bigger, stronger and capable of changing shape.
Elisa returned once more. It helped to distract the young man from the thought of Ackbar leaving them behind. At the back of his mind he was suspicious of Elisa’s behaviour. Where did she go, he wondered? Elliot was however too afraid to ask a direct question. As she came and sat near them, he addressed her. “Pardon my French but you don’t look so good.”
“I’ve felt better,” she replied.
Elliot left it at that but he couldn’t help but wonder if she was communicating with someone or perhaps leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for her allies to follow. Any ally of Derren’s could not be trusted, he thought to himself.
Part of Elliot considered retracing Elisa’s steps and seeing if he could find anything that might alleviate his suspicions. However, he was still tired and the thought of catching two more hours of sleep overcame his feeling of insecurity where Elisa was concerned.
Ackbar, Elisa, Edita and Elliot sat around a campfire on hilly ground twelve miles north of Curacon. They had just eaten but were not yet tired enough to fall asleep. It was then that they heard two people approaching. As they came into the light Elliot could see that it was a middle aged couple pulling two horses behind them. The man wore a greying beard and a hat on his head. The woman wore a pancho and several medallions around her neck.
“May we join you?” she asked.
“Why not,” the Kylot responded in an attempt to be hospitable. Inwardly Ackbar was suspicious of anyone who approached him. Past experience had for the most part convinced him that strangers were not to be trusted, particularly human ones or those who appeared human on the outside.
“Thank you,” the couple responded in unison.
The couple tied up their horses to a tree and sat around the camp fire. The six individuals then introduced themselves to each other and exchanged greetings. The man went by the name of Norad and the woman by the name of Anessa.
“So what are you doing here in the middle of the jungle,” the middle aged woman asked.
It was the part that Ackbar had been dreading. The questions had started.
“We’re travelling North, to meet up with a friend of Elisa’s,” the changeling said aloud and without hesitation. He was conscious that a delayed reaction might make the middle aged couple more and more suspicious.
“You seem like such an unusual group,” Anessa observed calmly. “How do you know each other.”
“We only met recently.” Ackbar responded. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve never come across a Changeling before who stays in alien form. I used to wonder if it was just a propaganda stunt by the Government to fool us all. Were you born here on Earth?”
“Yes I was,” Ackbar responded calmly.
“What happened to your parents?” Anessa asked yet again.
At this point Ackbar wanted the couple to go away and leave them alone. Each question was like a bird picking at a dying mans wounds again and again but helpless to prevent it.
“I left them when I was a teenager. They were ashamed of me and I did not want to be an embarrassment to them. From that moment on I never wanted to live a lie. They chose to be like most other changelings. They told everyone that I was adopted and they pretended to be human. Even though it was a lie people still gave them a hard time. It was not something that I wanted.”
“It must be hard, looking like that.” Annessa said without compassion. “Sticking out like a sore thumb. People disliking you for what you look like.”
“In some ways it is hard, but in other ways honesty is the best policy. If you’re true to yourself, your conscience will be clear and you’ll feel all the better for it.”
“And who does Edita belong to?” Norad asked aloud.
There was a moment’s hesitation in Ackbar’s response.
“I doubt she belongs to you, Ackbar and both Elisa and Elliot appear to be too young, to be her parents,” Anessa pointed out.
“Why do you ask?” Ackbar replied.
“We have no child of our own. She seems like a really lovely little girl. We could raise her as our own.” “We have a house and a farm not far from here. We could provide for her. Norad and I have always wanted kids. We could offer her a normal life.”
Now there was a hint of passion in her voice.
Ackbar seemed to be thinking the matter over in his head.
“As long as you take the form of an alien, you and Edita and the rest of you will not be safe anywhere. That’s no life for her to lead.”
“What do you think Edita?” Ackbar said, turning to the young girl.
“They seem like nice people, but I prefer to stay with you,” Edita responded without hesitation. It was clear that Edita had bonded with Ackbar in particular and did not want to abandon him.
“Don’t you think that you would be better off with them than me, that you would be safer than not knowing where your next meal is coming from, walking all day, holding out for hope that you might one day find a safe place to stay? This could be your opportunity.
“Being with you, beats being whipped every day, getting four hours sleep and living on rations,” Edita responded strongly. “I like you, I like Elliot and I like Elisa. I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
The couple were particularly disappointed.
“Please reconsider,” Norad suggested. Edita, however did not waiver.
“May I talk to you privately, Ackbar?” Norad asked as he climbed to his feet.
“Sure. Why not?” Ackbar responded obligingly.
Both men walked twenty yards away from the campfire before Norad spoke. “You know this makes sense Ackbar. She would be better off with us. You can’t offer her much of a life.”
“I see your point but as she said, she would be happier with us. If that is what she wants I cannot force her. She’s good to have around.”
“If you don’t persuade her to go with us, we could contact the Denigatei. Do you know who they are?”
Ackbar’s blood ran cold. He had heard of the Denigatei and it wasn’t good news. The Denigatei were much like the Reapers in this part of the world, only they weren’t a hundred per cent legal. They were effectively an organised group of vigilantes who the authorities of the region turned a blind eye to.
“In all fairness, I don’t think she wants to go with you,” Ackbar protested. His respect for Norad was in freefall. Before he mentioned the Denegatei, Ackbar was willing to consider that Norad would make a good Father but the Kylot didn’t like being threatened.
“Well it’s your choice. What kind of life can you offer her that we can’t. She’s not yours by blood anyway so how long is it going to last. Somebody is going to take her away from you or you from her. It’s inevitable. This is not an empty threat. If you don’t comply I have a contact I can call straight away. My wife and I would like nothing less than to have someone to raise as our own. You would be doing the right thing by her. You know that.”
Ackbar wasn’t sure that a man who made a devious threat was the right man to raise a child but he had a point. He and Edita could not remain as part of their group for long. It seemed inevitable.
Ackbar had made up his mind, but instead of conceding defeat to the middle aged man, he said nothing and made his way back to the campfire where he sat down. Once Norad had also taken a position opposite him and everyone stopped talking, he spoke.”
“I think it would be better Edita, if you would go with Norad and Anessa. They can offer you a better life than we can. We have gotten you this far, but you will only slow us down. You are just a child and therefore you are a liability to the group. Your place is with them.”
“No. I am not going with them,” Edita protested as she tried to prevent tears forming in her eyes, “I don’t even know them and I don’t like them.”
“It is for the best. We can’t take you with us and they want to give you a better life.”
“No. No,” she screamed
Anessa moved closer to Edita and put her hand on her back. “Come on Edita” she said warmly, “you will see that we are not that bad at all. We can offer you a warm bed with sweets and nice drinks. If you stay with them you will have to eat snakes and rodents.”
“I don’t want to go,” Edita protested.
“My decision is final,” Ackbar said aloud as he stood up and walked away.
Edita sobbed a little before slowly standing up and turning around. She didn’t want to leave but it seemed that she had no choice. She was no longer a welcome member of the group. Besides, her new step parents could not be much worse than her previous owners.
Soon Edita was on horseback with her newly adopted mother, following Norad across rocky terrain. Anessa repeatedly tried to assure her that she was doing the right thing. The young girl was not paying attention. All she could think about was the way that Ackbar had treated her. He was her friend and now she felt let down and hurt. She had indigestion owing to the emotional impact of being separated from her friends. Her life had been miserable for the most part, but the highlight by far was meeting Ackbar and his companions. Up to this point they had been incredibly kind to her. There was also something about Anessa and Norad that she didn’t like. She couldn’t put her finger on it but she had a suspicion that they were not as warm-hearted as they seemed on the outside.
The journey lasted thirty minutes. Their house was a one story concrete building with three bedrooms, a kitchen and a large living room. It was very neat and tidy and well decorated. Edita however did not want to be there.
“You must be tired,” Anessa said warmly. “Let me take you to your room. It has a nice comfortable bed and in the morning you will see a beautiful view of the countryside.”
Anessa led the young girl to one of the bedrooms. It wasn’t as fancy as Edita had been expecting. The room was relatively bare, with minimal decorations and no toys of any kind. Still it was far removed from what Edita had experienced throughout her entire life.
“You can get into bed and we will see you in the morning.”
Edita hardly spoke from the moment that she left Ackbar to this moment. She didn’t want to conceal her unhappiness. She hoped that Anessa and Norad would have a change of heart and see that she didn’t want to be with them.
Edita had always dreamed of having a proper bed to herself. She also dreamed of having a proper night’s sleep, without any snakes or rodent’s nipping at her skin or without being whipped or beaten. A few short days ago this would have seemed like heaven to her. Now it seemed like a prison to her. She just didn’t want to be there. Part of her wanted to get over it, like Anessa thought she would. Part of her also wanted to accept the middle-aged couple as her new parents but she didn’t think she would ever warm to them.
When Anessa left the room she locked the door from the outside. Edita wondered whether that was something to read into. Maybe she was just afraid that the former slave girl would run away. Edita hoped that it wouldn’t be a regular occurrence. She didn’t want to feel like a prisoner in this new home of hers, no matter how much she disliked it.
Before she closed her eyes in the darkness, Edita made a wish. She wished that Ackbar and his comrades would come for her the next day. She wished that they would have a change of heart. Edita didn’t want Ackbar to see her as a liability. She was much more than that and she wanted a second chance to show them.
The young girl suddenly woke up in the middle of the night. She didn’t know why at first and she didn’t know what time of the night it was. It must have been the howling wind vibrating against the window she thought.
The former slave girl then heard a rattling against the window and muffled voices that led her to believe that maybe it was a robber or perhaps that horrid man Gaston. Nervously she approached the window. Even Norad was a step up from Gaston she thought to herself. It was so dark that she could not make out the figure on the other side of the window. The person on the other side was gently knocking against it. Curiosity got the better of her. If it was Gaston, she thought to herself she could scream for help. She slowly opened the window slightly. It took her several seconds to register who it was.
“Do you still want to come with us?” Ackbar asked in a whisper.
Edita smiled. She opened the window further and Ackbar held out his hand.
Before she attempted to climb out the window, the young girl heard voices. It was Anessa and Norad on the other side of the bedroom door. They were about to unlock it. Hurriedly she climbed out the window. While Norad could see her, he wasn’t fast enough to be able to grab a hold of her.
The group of four quickly ran away from the house as fast as they could. They ran in the direction of the hills. They were miles from the jungle and had to make their escape on foot. If Norad enlisted the help of friends on horseback they would be in trouble.
Norad did not seem to be following them, but by the time they reached the top of a hill, they could see a line of fire torches being held by a group of people. Evidently they were congregating around Norad’s house on horseback.
“What is it?” Edita asked Ackbar aloud.
“Denigatei,” Ackbar said aloud.
Even Edita had heard of the Denigatei. Some of her fellow slaves had told her stories about them. She had heard about their methods of torture and brutality. The very mention of the name sent chills right through her body. To the group of four, the safety now seemed much further away.
Edita realised now that this was the reason why Ackbar had let her go. Norad must have threatened him with contacting the Denigatei. Now they were here and she wished that Ackbar had not come back for her. If they caught them she dared not think what would happen to the changeling and his companions. Even Elisa and Elliot might be tortured for associating themselves with him.
Edita was gradually tailing behind the group. In the distance, Ackbar could see an old abandoned city in the perched on the top of a hill. It must be the forbidden city of Hiroche, he thought to himself. The city of Hiroche was supposed to be haunted. Hopefully it was a place that the Denigatei themselves feared to thread. As their limbs tired, Hiroche seemed as if it was their only hope.
The forbidden city was getting closer but so too were the Denigatei. I will not be a liability, Edita thought to herself as she pushed herself faster and harder through the pain barrier.
The group of four reached the old abandoned city first. Glancing behind him, Ackbar could see that the men on horseback were galloping about sixty yards behind them. If the Denigatei dismounted and chased them on foot they would be much fresher and would surely catch them.
In the moonlight the city of Hiroche looked like a wide collection of eight hundred year old buildings that were in ruins. Elliot was afraid that some of the walls might cave in at any time. On the periphery were a large number of columns supporting deteriorating arches, while in the middle of the city were numerous dwellings in different states of disrepair. The streets were paved and very even under foot.
Only two of the horsemen followed. Their horses baulked at the thought of entering the forbidden city and so they dismounted. Even in the moonlight it was hard to make out the shape of the escapees, so they took their time and listened as calmly as they could. The rest of the Denigatei, who numbered more than twenty, spread out around the perimeter of the once great city to ensure that the group of four had nowhere to go.
Even the pursuers were afraid to enter Hiroche. It was supposed to be haunted. Eight hundred years earlier it was a wealthy and vibrant city. Then a benevolent king named Padua was overthrown in a violent coup by his nephew. The king was executed in the main square for all to see. There followed, three days of anarchy. The nephew named Herod, drank and ate as much as he could and his army did as he did. On the third day there was a tremendous storm, the like of which had never been encountered before. Half of the city’s occupants perished in an earthquake and the rest abandoned their once great city believing it to be cursed. Many thought that the good King Padua had returned to haunt the city. There were stories subsequently of men and women who had entered the metropolis to never return.
The exhausted group of four were out of breath and travelling at walking pace. Up to now they were too concerned with what was behind them to care about how eerie the forbidden city was. The wind which blew all around them appeared to be speaking in an ancient tongue. Elliot tried to tell himself that it was his imagination. At times he thought he also saw beings around him looking at him but he didn’t want to think about it. There were times when he wanted to close his eyes and block out what he might perceive to be ghosts around him.
Ackbar was unperturbed. If he was frightened, he didn’t show it. Ackbar knew that he had to avoid the Denigatei and that meant leading the group as deep into the metropolis as far as they could. The changeling looked behind. In the darkness he could not see the pursuers. Most of the streets were not very straight so Ackbar assumed that the Denigatei were not far behind. Eventually the Kylot and his comrades reached a large square that lead to an aesthethic temple that was mostly intact. The wind seemed to blow more fiercely and make a greater amount of noise than before. They were all frightened but knew that they had to keep going.
The two members of the Denigatei, found the ghostly city to hard to bear. At one point one of the men was attacked by what seemed like a large rodent. He turned and ran back rather than confront an animal he couldn’t see. The other man was attacked by a large group of wild bats and followed his associate. They told themselves that the escapees had nowhere to go and decided to return to their colleagues.
“We lost them and we were attacked by something that wasn’t human,” one of the men said to the leader
“Keep searching,” their leader instructed.
“They have nowhere to go,” the other member declared and their tired and hungry. “I’m not going back in there. Not at this time of night. If the city doesn’t get them we will when daylight arrives.”
“Very well,” the leader said begrudgingly.
The two men mounted their horses and took up a position around the perimeter of the haunted city.
Elliot could hear the screams of the two Denigatei members as they ran away. It sent a shiver down his spine and made him fear what was in store for him.
Ackbar lead the group into the temple. In the moonlight, Elliot could see the large columns at its front. Unlike the rest of the city the temple seemed to be fully preserved. The voice in an ancient tongue as the wind whirled about them, was getting louder and louder to the point that it was deafening, and they could not hear each other speak.
The deeper they went into the temple the darker it seemed. Suddenly however some torches that lined the walls lit themselves, as if they welcomed their guests. For a brief moment Elliot’s fears were allayed. He could now see an altar at the far end of the temple. It wasn’t a Christian church as far as he could tell. There were no crosses but symbols on the altar that the young American did not recognise. The walls were adorned with ancient art.
In front of the altar but to the right was a stairway that lead downwards. It too was illuminated. Ackbar headed towards this stairway and the group of four descended it. Similarly, the walls were painted with pictures of battles, and people worshiping gods and kings. The stairway descended for what seemed like two hundred feet before it lead to a long tunnel.
Elliot no longer felt afraid. Instead he thought that the ghost, if there was such a thing, was on his side. While the group were tired and hungry, they felt more and more relaxed. There was no evidence that the Denigatei were still hunting them. They only hoped that the tunnel would lead them to safety.
After what seemed like nearly two thousand metres, the tunnel ended.
“It seems to be a dead end,” Elliot said aloud.
Ackbar calmly looked around. “There must be some trigger or switch which opens up an exitway.”
Frantically all three of them looked around for a rock of some kind with a symbol on it or perhaps a protruding rock, but they found nothing of any consequence. “It looks like we have to go back,” Elliot said aloud. The young earthling was wary of the possibility of walking back into he path of the Denigatei.
In frustration, Ackbar punched the end of the tunnel. It was so unlike him to lose his cool, Elliot thought.
After a second or two, some of the rocks and soil at the end of the tunnel started to give way. Ackbar tried to punch again and again to make the gap bigger and bigger until eventually even he was small enough to fit through the gap.
After the climbed out they could see a small stream flowing nearby amidst some rocky terrain. They were aware also that the Denigatei were not very far away and tried as much as they could to progress quietly and carefully.
After another half an hour of walking they reached the edge of the rain forest. All of them were exhausted and soon it would be daylight. They made their way two hundred metres into the forest before finding a place to rest.
When they woke up the following day Edita had some burning questions for Ackbar. “Why did you let me go?” she asked. “What did that old man say to you?”
“I thought it was in your best interests,” the Kylot replied.
“Why did you come back for me?” the young girl asked without pausing.
“That’s a good question.” Ackbar responded, afraid to answer truthfully.
“I love you, you big lug.” she said as she put her hands and arms around his large reptilian exterior.
Ackbar had never felt a warmer feeling in his entire life. It made everything else he had been through, during his life seem worth it.
Breakfast was not much of an improvement on the previous night. Their lives were most likely in danger so they kept moving.
“Why do people discriminate? Why do they bully you?” Edita asked Ackbar as they walked.
He noticed that she had suffered similar levels of discrimination but she did not include herself in her question.
“I do not know why?” he responded. “Sometimes there is more hatred in some men and women than there is in others. Sometimes people like to release their hatred and sometimes if someone is different in some way shape or form discrimination helps them feel superior and they feel better about themselves. Sometimes it also has to do, I believe with belonging to a group and bonding to a group. If there are likeminded individuals then sometimes it strengthens the bond between them but it has more to do with unleashing hatred than anything else I think. Hatred can build up in a person and discrimination is a form of release.”
Edita still didn’t fully understand but she refrained from asking any more questions.
In the following days the group got to know each other a little better. Edita, it turned out, liked to tell tall tales. Depending on her outlook, her parents were either the King and Queen of an affluent African country or circus performers who could not keep their child in their working environment. On other days her Mother was a renowned singer who had to give up her child at a young age and who promised to find her one day. The likelihood, Elliot thought, was that Edita didn’t know who her parents were. He believed that she told tall tales as a means of escaping her brutal upbringing and that, to him, was completely understandable.