Red Leaves and the Living Token (6 page)

Rinacht 
 
tried 
 
to 
 
add 
 
it up in his 
 
head. He 
 
found 
 
something 
 
highly 
 
unusual 
 
on the beach. 
 
Now 
 
here 
 
he 
 
was 
 
wandering 
 
about the 
 
city 
 
in the 
 
middle 
 
of the 
 
night, 
 
pantomiming 
 
in the 
 
empty 
 
street. 
 
The 
 
worst 
 
had 
 
finally 
 
come, he 
 
feared, as he 
 
slipped 
 
into the 
 
dark 
 
and 
 
followed 
 
quietly 
 
behind.

-

Raj rushed down the path rough cut rocks, anxious to get to where ever it may be leading him. He rounded a corner and found a heavy stone wall rising up in front of him. The high wall extended a considerable distance in both directions. A little way to his right, it wound around to a large gated entrance. The entrance looked familiar. Then it came to him. This was the old school that he'd recognized earlier.

If that were true then would he see a second archway? He wondered. His path turned down an alley beside the school wall. At the end of the alley, the path turned again. He raced down the alley way and turned to follow the back of the school wall.

About halfway down to the next building he found what he was looking for. A large white stone archway stretched half way across the road, making it difficult to go around. He approached quickly, checking behind him to see if anyone was around. The last thing he wanted was crowd. Fortunately there didn't seem to be anyone around.

Up close the archway was quite different from the other. The white stone blocks were cut perfectly smooth and perfectly square. The stone gave off a glow like the little figurine he found. Cut into the stone on each pillar were two figures. One on each side, one male, one female. He studied their details. They weren't stooped over in posture like the Zo. Nor where they squat and rounded like the Petra or twisted and stretched like the Botann. They were unusual, to say the least, he thought.

The pathway beyond the arch seemed to be made of the same white stone. Not surprising, it seemed to be playing the same visual trick. When viewed from the side, the path was the same as the one he was on. From through the arch it became white and glowed.

The school to the side of him sat on a high point in the city. Through the archway, he could see the street drop off into the distant expanse of buildings and roads. He traced the glowing line of the path as it wound down into the city. He could see it emerge on the other side and disappear into the green line of the forest. Even from a distance he could spot where it peaked out here and there from under the trees, continuing with the forest as it lifted up into the maintain range. He could see it then rising up right up to one of the peaks.

He blinked as he realized what he was looking at. Without thinking, he'd followed an impossibly thin line across the city, through the forest and up to the top of the mountain. Some how he could still see it. He could see the path leading up to a white building, a building below the mountain peak. He squinted. There was no way he should be able to see a building on the side of a mountain a thousand miles away, at night. This was making his head hurt, he thought, as he turned away.

Still, he'd come this far. Was this enough for him to reconsider? No, he supposed. He stepped forward through the archway. As he passed, his vision burned to white. After a disorienting moment of blindness, the flash receded, and he found himself standing on a mountain, below the peak where saw the path had led. In front of him was the same white building he had seen from a far.

The scene burned to white. A moment later he found himself standing in a room with impressively high walls of white stone. He was inside the building he'd just been staring at, he assumed. There were two sets of stairs on opposite sides of the room. One led up, and the other led down.

As soon as he took notice of them, he felt himself move. In an instant, he was in the upper room beyond the stairs. In the center of the new room, he noticed a large basin of water. He moved closer again with the thought. Below the surface of the water was an assortment of weapons and armor. One long sword he noticed in particular was unsheathed and had a blinding white blade.

With a flash of white, Raj found himself again somewhere else. Now he stood in an open field. In front of him, a wall of soldiers advanced. He spun around. Another wall of men stood behind him, their eyes fixed on him, with their weapons half raised, waiting. He looked down. Held tightly in his hand was the long white sword with the blade of white. His arms, chest, and legs were covered in armor, white armor.

With an uncomfortable jar, he felt himself turn around to face the opposing army. Without issuing the command to his body, his arm lifted the sword high into the air. His voice rang out with a horrible cry, and his legs bolted forward. His cry was multiplied into a deafening roar by the thousands of men who followed behind him. An echo of that cry sounded from the hordes in front of him as they advanced from a slow march forward to full sprint.

He watched helplessly as death approached him. His body refused his panic and flung itself full speed into peril.

White. The blur faded and he was back on the street standing under the arch. After a moment of disorientation, he stepped back out from under the arch.

"Crazy!" He muttered. "This is crazy!"

He turned and stumbled away, down the street and into the city.

-

Around the corner, hidden by the wall of the school, Riancht watched Raj back up, turn, and disappear down the street.

"What did you find, my friend?"

L
ord Valance stared at the Clan Lord Ranth, a short and stubby little man, who was frantically paddling his squat little legs to keep up with the group. He hated the man, hated how much influence he had over the greater House of Clans; he hated that he had to invite him here to his largest, most profitable, orchard just to gain audience with his more powerful friends. It was insulting.

"Arrg!" The Clan Lord cried as he stumbled over a dead branch. Lord Valance wanted to laugh but kept it in. The site of the man rolling around on the ground, trying to pick himself up, suddenly made his presence here more tolerable.

An entourage of scientists, administrators, and security stopped to wait for the distinguished guest. The grey of broken, rotting branches had smothered what was left of a pleasant green grass. It was impossible to walk through it without keeping a constant eye on the ground.

"Why don't you have someone clear these out?" The Clan Lord demanded.

"We do." Lord Valance answered. "Almost every day."

After crossing through several rows of perfectly lined trees, the group stopped. Several men and women, wearing light jackets emblazoned with the orchard’s bright red insignia, stopped at the trunk of an gnarled old tree. Its branches twisted up into a dense canopy over them. They waited as Lord Valance and the Clan Lord pushed up from the back of the crowd.

"This is our oldest." Lord Valance announced to the Clan Lord then rested his hand up against the trunk. "She produces more fruit than almost ten younger trees."

He followed the Clan Lord Ranth's gaze up into the fruit laden branches above them. The coverage was thin compared to the younger trees they'd just passed through. The tree could easily have held two or three times the count.

"How quickly is she declining?" He asked one of the men in the light colored jackets.

"Fifteen percent per year now." He answered.

"Fifteen percent?" The rate had increased since he'd last reviewed the numbers. "And this is the highest rate?" He asked.

"Yes. She's the worst case scenario. She was the first to show the decline and has so far contracted the farthest."

The Clan Lord stared at the old tree then redirected his gaze to the young scientist in the jacket. "OK. So what are we saying? The rest of the trees are going to hit fifteen percept when they get as old as this tree?"

"With some margin of error, yes, we believe so."

"So you have to tear these out and plant new trees? I'm not sure I understand..."

"The life cycle of the trees isn't the concern." A middle aged woman interrupted. Valance and the Director both turned.

Lord Valance extended a hand towards the new voice. "Clansman this is Doctor Bihinlem. She's been heading our alternatives research. Go ahead doctor."

The Doctor nodded in greeting. "What concerns us is the distribution of our production load across the age range of our trees. These relatively few older trees produce almost half of our total yield. As the director said, one produces as much as ten younger trees."

"OK. I'm still not sure I see the problem. Won't all your young trees grow into large high producing old trees?" He asked.

"Yes, naturally that should occur..."

"What do you mean, should?"

"It'd be better if we showed you." Lord Valance motioned for the Clansmen to follow him, as he carefully stepped over the fallen dead branches from the giant tree.

He led the group through more rows of the massive old growth trees. It seemed so strange to him; they were such immense creatures; they looked so healthy and strong. In many ways, they were the symbol of his vast empire, his power and vitality.

The change was abrupt as they crossed over into the younger section of the orchard. From one row of trees to the next, the giants shrank to nearly a quarter the size. Their branches weren't even tall enough to step under.

"These are the oldest of the next expansion of trees. They were planted a decade or so after the older ones." Lord Valance explained.

"Only ten years younger? They can grow that much in ten years?" The Clan Lord asked.

“No they can't. The size difference between these and the old growth represents about fifty years of time.”

“I don't follow.”

“These trees, for all intents and purposes, are as large as they'll ever be.” Valance explained.

“But that's...”

"The simple matter is this," he paused, "For some reason that we cannot explain, our younger trees are not growing to what we would consider a mature size."

"Has this ever happened before?"

"Not that we're aware."

“Are there other orchards that have been effected in this way?”

Lord Valance took a moment before he answered. "There are no orchards that have escaped this problem."

"All of your orchards? That’s more than half of our supply of Manea!"

He cleared his throat. "Not all of our orchards. All of the world's orchards. All Manea orchards have been effected."

"What?" He stammered. "How could that be?"

"We're trying to understand that."

"So what does all this mean? Have you planted enough new trees to make up for the fact that they don't make as much as they used to? Is that what we're up against? Planting a lot more trees?”

“Manea does not grow everywhere as I'm sure you're well aware. Otherwise, people would have it in their back yard. It's strangely fickle.”

“Right. Right.”

“We’ve been unable to discover any substantial new land that will support an orchard. We’ve pursued this avenue vigorously, I assure you. And if we had missed anything our competitors would surely have found it.”

“So the old trees are dying and not only are the younger trees too small to make up the difference but you can't plant any more of them?”

“Yes.”

"But what about grafting the plants or cross breeding. Can't something else be done?" He asked.

"Yes. We've made some progress in that area." Doctor Bihinlem answered. "That's my area of specialty, alternate breeds."

"And?"

"The grafts have potential, but even if we had a perfect tree now, it would take twenty years to wipe the land and grow a mature orchard." She answered.

"But we don't have twenty years, right. Is that were this is going? How long do we have? Five?" The Clan Lord asked.

"Six months to a year." Lord Valance added. "Before the decline in the old trees causes major disruptions in supply."

"Your business will be ruined!"

"If the decline continues at that pace, there won't be anyone left to sell too." Lord Valanced added.

"Lets not be overly dramatic. Besides, what do you expect me to do about any of this?" The clansmen stammered, not making any effort to hide his outrage.

"Talk to the other Clan Lords. We have a plan." Lord Valance answered calmly.

-

Emret heard the click of the door that signaled someone coming in. He wiggled and pushed himself up to a sitting position as Moslin shut the door behind her.