[The White Raven, Chapter 22, Round up] [House Cassoway, Struthio North Shore, Planet Darai] “Hey guys, you should see this,” shouts Willet. “Can’t see nothing back here,” Rip shouts back. “Oh, yea, I’ll lower the ramp so you can see,” shouts Willet. Willet slowed the Dart and lowered the ramp so the others in the back of the ship could see the ground. The air was still warm, but not as hot as it had been coming across the interior desert of Struthio. “There must be a million cows down there,” shouts Avocet. “Look, they like to run,” shouts Caedon. The herds of cattle spreading out across the plains below them surged like a tide. The thundering sounds of the hooves could be heard even inside the Dart ship flying above the cattle. “Unidentified aircraft,” an angry voice breaks in over the Com-link in Willet’s helmet. “Get some altitude now, you blasted idiots, by order of Lord Cassoway you are to come in over the ocean and land immediately.” Willet raises the ramp and pulls the Dart up, Teal in the second Dart follows, and they bank out over the ocean and pull around. The airfield is just off the beach and Willet heads for the flashing lights. The Darts land on the airfield and Willet lowers the ramp for everyone to get out. “Guys, I think we might be in trouble,” says Willet. “Look, here comes the welcoming party,” says Alian. “I think, what is that?” An odd looking ground vehicle is racing towards them. The vehicle wasn’t like anything any of them had ever seen before. It had large wide tires, and bars like a cage over the driver and passenger section. A tall Daraian they all recognized jumps out of the vehicle before it comes to a stop and strides towards them, his hands balled into fists and his face red with anger. “Who’s the pilot!” “Cass, did we do something…” says Willet stepping forward to greet their friend, but the tall angry Daraian swings and Willet’s head snaps back and he falls to the ground. “You green horned mother suckling mainlander cow pie eating…” Rip leaps forward and puts himself between Willet and Cass. “My Lord Cassoway, we apologize for whatever it is we’ve done,” says Rip, his head down and shoulders slumped in the Demonian submissive position; no Demonian would ever strike a Daraian.” Cass advances on Rip, nearly foaming at the mouth. Rip drops to one knee in the ultimate Demonian position of submissiveness. “Stand up, you over-grown lizard, so I can knock you down,” shouts Cass. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, the thought of Cass knocking down Rip would have been funny. Cass was tall for a Daraian, but still only just stood to Rip’s stomach. “Cousin,” shouts Tear. “You forget yourself.” “You want to play that dice do you, mate?” shouts Cass. “No, My Lord,” says Tear. “I only ask for reason to return and tell us what we have done. House Eagle offers any restitution to repair the damage we may have inadvertently caused.” “I have two million head of cattle stampeding out to the desert,” shouts Cass. “Do you want to go out and get them?” “We had no idea,” says Tear. “Fool blasted dung smelling start-up House wannabee cowboy lice ridden…” Cass turns away, still cursing, and heads back towards his ground vehicle and climbs back in. The vehicle pulls around and Cass shouts. “Well, towns that way, and take those senseless wings off, you look ridiculous.” The group looks at each other as Cass drives away without offering any other way for them to get to town but walk. “I guess we should leave our wings here,” says Sander shrugging. “No,” says Tear. “Keep your wings on, we can not set the precedent that we would be willing to shed our wings. House Cassoway and House Struthio chose to be flightless, but we are eagles and do not choose that path.” “He sure can hit hard,” says Willet rubbing his chin. “Thanks for having my back, Rip.” Rip holds his hand out and helps Willet up. “Forget it, lets go cowbirds, Lord Cassoway won’t be the last one that will be angry with us, might as well go get it over with.” The airfield wasn’t paved, and neither was the road they followed that wrapped around the field. Hundreds of Dart fighters were lined up at the far end of the field, House Cassoway had an impressive military to match their impressive herds of cattle. The town was only a few miles away, but the humidity along the shore was nearly as brutal as the heat in the interior of the continent had been. Everyone was sweating and dragging their wings a bit by the time they reached the town. This isn’t what I expected,” says Willet. House Cassoway was a well established House, but the town had the look of a rustic frontier town. There were a few houses at the edge of the town, but nothing that spoke of a large population. “They must have other towns, or live on farms,” says Rip. “Hey look,” says Caedon. “Cowboy hats.” The clothing store Caedon was pointing at had a large display window with a selection of hats in the window, along with other clothing items. “The store is closed,” says Caedon wiggling the door handle. “All these stores are closed too,” says Rip. “Where is everyone?” “I haven’t seen anyone since we got here,” says Caedon. “There’s Lord Cassoway’s vehicle,” says Aliaen. “What’s he parked in front of?” asks Caedon. "I think it's a Saloon," says Aliaen. Every store they pass is closed, and it looks like everyone left in a hurry. The saloon is still open, the two swinging doors creaking slightly in the breeze coming in off the ocean. Willet peeks in the dirty window, the room is empty except for… Willet jumps back and draws his Talon dagger and motions for everyone to take cover. “There’s a Gunslinger in there with Lord Cassoway,” whispers Willet over the Ear-bug Com-link. Aliaen peeks through the window on her side of the door and pulls her own Talon Dagger. “I think I recognize her,” whispers Aliaen. “Isn’t she that bounty-hunter that captured Raen and Moeth and turned them over to the Demonians for trial.” “Everyone calm down,” says Tear getting up and pushing through the door of the saloon. The others scramble after Tear, their Talon daggers drawn, and spread out inside the saloon. The Gunslinger makes no move to draw her revolver and Lord Cassoway holds his hand up. “Your in my House, all of you behave yourselves,” orders Lord Cassoway. “Have a seat and I’ll be with you in a moment.” “We have history with this Gunslinger,” says Tear. “What’s she doing on Darai?” Lord Cassoway raises a brow but remains sitting. “The entire Universe doesn’t revolve around the Moeth Alliance, and unless someone’s revoked the Treaty, the Gunslingers still have limited law enforcement authority on Darai. And don’t use that tone of voice on me again, youngin.” Tear motions everyone to back off and put their daggers away. This is a far different Lord Cassoway than the easy going Cass that helped free the Eagle Camp from the smugglers. She needs time to try and sort this out. Lord Cassoway pushes a yellow envelope across the table to the Gunslinger, and she shoves the envelope inside her duster and stands. “I need this resolved quickly, Lenya,” says Lord Cassoway. “It’s as good as done, nice doing business with you,” says the Gunslinger. The Gunslinger walks to the door, stopping for a moment to tip her hat at the former Ravens, and then pushes the swinging doors open and is gone. “Alright, get over here,” orders Lord Cassoway. “We need to put your heads straight.” Everyone gets up and comes over to the big round table Lord Cassoway is sitting at. From the looks of all the paper scattered around the table, he must do most of his House business from this saloon. “I think Rip and I will stand,” says Tear looking at the chairs that would never support the weight of a Demonian. Lord Cassoway waves his hand dismissively and then tosses a piece of paper at Tear. “That’s your bill for the damages you’ve done.” “We’ll pay whatever the damages are,” says Tear. “But first, we need to know why that Gunslinger was here.” “The first thing you need to know is that you don’t need to know my business, you are on this continent because Struth and I have a great deal of respect for what you are trying to do, but you are off to a very bad start. That bill is four times what you have in the bank and is the extra wages I’ll have to pay to round up the two million head of cattle you spooked.” “With all due respect, my lord,” says Tear. “Moeth has a contract on her head, we do need to know why that Gunslinger is here.” Lord Cassoway is silent for a moment before replying. “This one time only,” says Lord Cassoway. “Human rustlers have been nicking my cattle and taking them off-world, that makes it Gunslinger jurisdiction, and Lenya is the best.” “I apologize for the suspicion,” says Tear. “We have bad history with her.” “I know about that, and I’m not going to get into your business. Houses on Struthio mind their own business, there is no spying on the other Houses, there is no political intrigue, and no power struggles or land grabs. And if you damage someone else’s property, you can expect a knock upside the head and to pay or fix the damage, or you’ll end up buried six feet down in the brush somewhere, regardless of what your Title or Rank might be.” Tear picks the bill up and looks at it, there is no chance House Eagle can pay this much any time soon. “I don’t know how, but we will pay these damages,” says Tear. “I’m not in the habit of taking food out of the mouths of hatchlings,” says Lord Cassoway. “You don’t have the money to pay that bill, but you do have something I’ll take in exchange.” “Of course, anything,” says Tear. “Your going to loan me those two beautiful Raven stealth Darts you have sitting on my airfield,” says Lord Cassoway. “What do you need…” Tear starts to say and remembers the rule about minding your own business on Struthio. “Very good, lass,” says Lord Cassoway. “You’re learning.” “We need those Darts for the cattle drive,” says Tear. “No, you don’t,” says Lord Cassoway. “You’ll just spook the cattle with those things, and I told you to take those wings off. You wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near the cattle wearing those ridiculous things.” “We need to get our supplies out of the Darts,” says Tear. “Nope, nothing you need in those ships,” says Lord Cassoway. “Drop your wings here, I’ll get ‘em back to you when you get home. There’s horses waiting for you down the street, and your cattle is twenty miles outside of town. Lucky for you I had them separated from the main herd yesterday. There’s also a Trail Boss, chuck wagon, and experienced drovers that are going with you. Do as your told, listen and learn, and maybe by the time you get home you’ll know how to take care of cattle.” Lord Cassoway stands and puts his hat on at that strange dipped down and to the side-angle Struthians like to wear their hats. “Wait, we have one demand,” says Tear. “Oh, and what’s that?” asks Lord Cassoway. “We want cowboy hats,” says Tear. ***** [Lone Gunslinger Base, Planet Raunu Major] Dear Pesa, The Gunslingers have their own version of natural selection. They sent us out onto a frozen lake and let us fall through the ice to see who was strong enough to survive. I fell through the ice, and then I was under the ice and drowning but Hero (that’s Errol’s nickname) risked his own life to save me. I don’t understand why. But, I guess my Alliance wasn’t supposed to make it. I think it was their Blood Day, they put us in a tent and sent a team of Gunslingers in to execute us. I couldn’t dishonor House Jackdaw by allowing that to happen, so I saved my Human Alliance, and Hero. I tried to kill the Gunslinger execution squad, but everything they say about Gunslingers is true, they are too strong for just one Raven. I see now why we always fight Gunslinger Teams at a three to one advantage, we have to, they’re giants and they can fight like Hawks. I sent you a letter last week, but it says you’re at TDS right now. Hope to hear from you soon. Yours Forever, Love Jaco Jaco tapped the send button, the message would be delivered when Pesa’s ship came out of TDS and her tablet came back online. He peaked out the window of the cabin, the Gunslinger Execution Squad was still out there somewhere searching for them. This was just like Blood Day all over again, how many times would the Goddess test him before she found him worthy enough to live. Jaco sighed and looked at his sleeping Human Alliance. He had them hidden in the cabin he had used for six months to hide from the Lone Gunslingers. He missed this place, it had almost become like home. Maybe someday he would build a cabin like this for himself. Jaco’s eyes fell on Hero’s face, he wasn’t so ugly. The other humans said Hero was handsome by human standards, and he didn’t smell too bad. Or maybe he was just getting used to the smell. Hero had told him that they were brothers. Jaco had searched the language database looking for every possible meaning to the word ‘brother’, but hadn’t found any reference to an alternate meaning to the word. Jaco wiped a hand across his forehead, his hands were shaking slightly. Jaco looked at his shaking hand. “Oh no, not now… I’m entering a heat cycle. Why now? I’m not attracted to that Human... am I?” Jaco pulled the emergency vial of ‘Red’ from inside his coat and pressed it to his neck. The drug could suppress his heat cycle for awhile, but he would have to find a female soon to mate with, the symptoms would just get worse. He needed something to take his mind off it, they needed a way to make it to the Dining Cabin if they were going to live through Gunslingers Blood Day. Jaco grinned. “Of course.” He could hack the Base Defense System and simulate an attack, the Gunslingers would be too worried who was attacking. But who were the Gunslingers most afraid of? Not the Ravens, even though we had almost destroyed them, they still weren’t afraid of us. No, it had to be someone that really struck fear into their hearts. “Oh yes, the Kitsune… the Gunslingers are Kitsune, but rebel Kitsune. Yes, the Gunslingers were afraid of their parents as nearly every child is.” Kitsune, what an odd word. It wasn’t even the correct translation of the word from the Kitsune language. The language lexicon gave five other translations for the word, why had this one stuck in collective minds of the conquered worlds of the Empire? When the Kitsune had first appeared over the skies of Carina they were called the Shinto Kami, and later that was corrected to the Arai, though the Daraians probably had the closest translation as Arae. The Cormons called them the Inarai, or Inarae, and the Pyrans believed the original translation was Cettisae, and later became Cettise. But, a civil war wiped out the original ruling class of Cettise and they became the Kitsune, or Arae, or Arai, or Inarae. “Who knows,” thought Jaco. Whatever the correct translation, the people that write the language lexicon really needed to figure it out, it was too confusing having so many names for the same species. Jaco liked it better when he looked up a word and the database gave him a specific answer. That was the whole problem he was having with Hero. Humans had too many words for the same thing. Was he the human’s mate, brother, partner, or prisoner? Which word was the correct translation? Jaco had spent forever comparing the two words, partner and prisoner, they were kind of similar looking words. But the humans only had twenty-six letters in their language. How can they ever possibly convey a thought with only twenty-six letters? The Kitsune had forty-six letters and a little over one thousand character symbols, and the Demonians… omgosh how do they even talk, they only have thirteen letters in their language. Many people believe that most of the Demonian language is spoken with their tails, but only a few gestures have ever been translated. And there was no chance he would ever learn Carinian or Pyran, they spoke with their fingers. Daraian made the most sense with three-hundred and fifty four letters and just over one hundred thousand character symbols. “Yep, Daraian is the perfect language.” Jaco continued his musings as he pulled the Vid-screen apart and hacked the Gunslingers Defense System. ***** [Northern Eagle Province, Planet Darai] “I could really use some help,” complained Vel dragging lumber out of the back of their Dart ship. “Okay, just a second,” replies Ring. “You’re not going to see anything,” says Vel. “Just wait and see if Moeth can borrow a better microscope.” Ring sat on a small crate next to a larger crate in the canyon they had decided to build their greenhouse research facility. There hadn’t been any good spots near the border of Eagle Province, but they were still almost two-hundred miles from the Eagle Cliffs. The canyon aligned nicely with the sun, they would have sunlight all day, and there was a small stream that flowed through the canyon being fed from a small waterfall. Vel had already broke-in the little natural pool at the bottom of the waterfall. Ring had almost had to drag her out of the cool water after two hours of soaking. Daraians didn’t like deep water, such as the ocean, but a shallow pool was fine. Some of their best days at the Temple had been hiding in the baths, which was also the only place in the Temple that was safe from aggressive Ravens seeking another kill notched into their dagger. Ring stared at the seed and then squeezed a single drop of water onto the ancient seed. The other two seeds were safely stored in a glass container inside the Dart Ship. He watched for any sign of absorption, but the seed shed the water as if there was a protective waterproof coating on it. “Come on,” shouts Vel. “I can’t carry everything myself.” “I’m coming,” says Ring setting the microscope aside and then covering it with the small crate he had been sitting on to protect the seed. “Grab that end,” says Vel. Ring and Vel carry the lumber from the Dart and pile it up for later. They already decided to build a cabin first, then start work on the greenhouse. The Cabin will be built next to the pool under the waterfall, and the greenhouse will straddle the small creek. Ring pulls the bottles of nitrate, ammonia, calcium chloride, methane, and other chemicals that will be used in his research. The chemicals are one of the main reasons he wanted to build his research facility away from the Eagle Cliffs, they were dangerous and hatchlings were too curious. “I’m going to swing the ship around, we’re running out of room to stack equipment,” says Vel sticking her head through the hatch from the cargo pod to the attached Dart above. Ring climbs in the pod and pulls the outer hatch shut and looks up at his mate. “Okay, hatch is secure.” He grabs a hand-hold as the engines ignite and Vel lifts the ship and swings around to the right. Ring whips his head around and looks at the wall of the pod. “NO!” shouts Ring and runs for the ladder up to the Dart ship, but he knows he’s already too late. They are both tired and have just made a horrible mistake. Ring scrambles through the hatch screaming for Vel to swing away, they forgot about the seed under the crate in the microscope. Vel turns in the pilot seat at the sound of Ring’s shouting, and then looks outside realizing what she just did, several explosions rock the ship as she swings the ship back around and sets it back down. Ring scrambles back down the ladder, grabs an oxygen mask, and pushes the outer hatch open. Ring shoves the mask on his face, the crate with the seed is a smoking ruin from the blast of the engine, and a small crater is next to it from the secondary explosion of the chemical containers. Vel grabs Ring and pulls him back inside the hatch, a mask is over her face. “Chlorine gas cloud,” shouts Vel through the mask. “We need to get to the top of the canyon until it dissipates.” A warning alarm is now blaring inside the ship, the sensors have picked up the toxic cloud, and some of it has gotten inside. The scrubbers should take care of the poisonous gas, but Ring can already feel some burning on his skin. “Emergency decon showers,” shouts Ring through his mask. Ring and Vel seal the hatch again, water is already dripping down through the upper hatch. The emergency decon shower is actually the entire ship. The ship A.I. took over in the absence of a pilot in the cockpit and turned on the sprayers. The ship lifts off on it’s own to escape the toxic cloud while Ring and Vel strip their clothing and shove them in the decon bin. Ring spreads his arms and lets the decon wash any residual chemicals off his skin. Vel climbs into the cockpit and takes over, swinging the ship around to see the damage on the ground. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you fly naked before,” says Ring kneeling on the jump seat behind her. “I”m not in the mood for jokes,” says Vel. “I’ve destroyed all our supplies, and one of the seeds.” “Accidents happen,” says Ring. “It was my fault for not putting the seed away when I was done, it was just a stupid mistake.” “Ring, what’s that?” asks Vel pulling the ship around to see the ground better. A circling of glowing embers is on the ground, like the embers remaining after a forest fire, only these embers were crawling outward in a growing circle. “Vel, I think we activated the seed,” says Ring. The burning circle was growing faster now, it seemed as if the very rocks were on fire. The circle of fire consumed the piles of supplies on the ground and continued growing. “Is it that simple?” asks Vel. “Heat activates the seed?” “No, it’s more complicated than ever,” replies Ring. “All the chemicals we had down there are the same chemicals that would have existed in the atmosphere during the Hadean eon when Demonia was being formed.” “We can reproduce that?” says Vel. “We’ll have to pull the engine sensor recorder and determine the exact heat of the engine at the time it hit the seed. And we need to know the exact combination of chemicals that exploded, we can backward check our inventory to see what was on the ground. Reproducing this accident will be very difficult.” The burning circle continued to grow until the entire canyon was a burning ember, and then as quickly as it started, the advancing flames ended. Every living thing in the canyon was consumed. “Okay, the seeds range is about five acres,” says Vel.” “That means that even if we could seed perfectly every five acres, Demonia would need over ninety-million seeds,” says Ring. “But that isn’t even the big problem, heat is one of the catalysts. Demonia has cooled in the last five billion years, it isn’t an ocean of lava anymore, how will we reproduce that kind of heat?” “Oh ancestors, Ring,” whispers Vel. “Something's growing down there.” “That’s not possible, gestation isn’t instant,” says Ring. “Ring, we are in way over our heads,” says Vel. “This technology is far beyond us.”