Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 01:28:58 +1300
From: prime wordsmith <primewordsmith@hotmail.com>
Subject: Sky Lords 01

Sky Lords Meet 01				by primewordsmith@hotmail.com

	"The wise ones waited for the buck to drop out.  He did not.  They
did not know what to do."



01

It was the time of the biannual sacrifice.  The powers of the high mountains
had to be appeased.  A young one of the group had been chosen and was now
staked out on the upper plateau.  The young one waited.

The sacrifice was only one this time.  The powers did not seem to want more.
Some said the powers were declining and were not the worry they had been.
The group waited.

Autumnal equinox day.  Midpoint between summer and winter. The day was as
equal to the night as it was only one other time of the year.  The world
waited.

Gone were the days when the groups of the region had to put out twelve
juveniles to calm the powers.  The groups had long learnt they lost less
members to the hungry sky lords if they regularly set out some from among
them to be taken into the sky.

The wise ones did not know whether the sky lords were getting less in number
or whether the high powers were declining.  Some wise ones had even
suggested that the sky lords were the high powers themselves.  Nobody really
knew.  Nobody had ever known.  None had ever returned from the skies.  The
sacrifices were sacrifices indeed.

The young one chosen this time did not know either.  He had not been brought
up in this group so did not know all the traditions and customs of the
group.  He had never been initiated into the group and certainly had not
learned the inner mysteries.  He did not have the group knowledge of past
sacrifices or their reasons. He only knew he had been chosen and that it was
final.  Deathly final.




02

He was young.  He was able to father.  But he was not fully developed.  The
groups had learnt not to put out little ones as sacrifices.  It had been a
hard lesson.

For a while they had put out little ones. The wise ones thought the powers
would probably prefer more tender meat.  The sky lords had watched but not
touched the sacrifices.  After a few days the sacrifices were delirious from
exposure on the upper plateau.  The wise ones decided the suffering of the
sacrifices would be ended. Perhaps the powers were a bit sensitive about
killing the little ones.  Before the wise ones finished killing all the
sacrifices the sky lords swept down out of the skies and rended the wise
ones from top to toe.
Some of the sky lords wrenched the dead sacrifices from the chains and flew
with them to where the groups were waiting. They dropped the dead onto the
groups below.  They then seized juveniles from out of the scattering groups.
  Males and females but more males than female. About double the usual
number sacrificed.

The groups got the message.



03

Next equinox the groups staked out double the usual number of sacrifices.
This time they were all juveniles.  All capable of mothering or fathering.
The sky lords took only the usual twelve and all were males except one.  She
was not very developed. She could have been mistaken.

This last one was a little older than usual.  The wise ones debated whether
to put any out at all this time.  But tradition held strong and there was an
obvious choice.  Where he originally came from none knew.  He was one of
them but not of their group nor from a close group. He was skilled at
herding and had great luck at choosing the most succulent of plants for
himself.  He had spent a lot of his life alone among the herds.  Some
thought he may have spent time with the great herd itself far to the north.
He certainly was very close to the herds.  Too close.

He seemed to be understood by the herds.  They came to him before he called
them.  They became alert and edgy when he became.  They let him relax in
their midst and indeed sleep with them.  It was this the wise ones disliked.
  He suckled on the mothers and drank their milk.  They happily let him as
if he had been all his life.  But he also suckled on the young bucks.  This
was not usual.  None other suckled on the bucks.  Certainly not the females.
  Only the prime stag had ever been seen to suckle on another male and this
was when the prime stag was sick.  The observers all expected the prime stag
to be challenged and to die.  But he seemed to recover as if he had drunk a
most powerful life source.

The wise ones were disturbed by this.  Who was he to be allowed greater
liberties than even the prime stag.  But there was worse.  He usually slept
with the herd but sometimes came into the group when he needed to hear or
discuss things.  Every time he came in a young buck would follow him.  The
buck was not always the same but usually was.  The buck was always timid and
very afraid.  The usual buck did not shake as much as the occasional
replacement but was still most wary.  He would sleep with the young one, but
very lightly. He seemed to be giving comfort to the young one but also
guarding him.  Why did the young one want to be guarded in the group.  It
was the herd that occasionally trampled members of the group.  Usually it
was inexperienced hunters who were trampled but sometimes the herd would
stampede all the hunters and once even the prime hunter was trampled to
death.

But the young one was being protected by the herd.  Perhaps it was because
he refused to eat herd meat.  He spoke against the group eating herd meat.
He even despoiled a whole roast once making it inedible.  He said it had
been one of his friends.  This disturbed the whole group.  They were close
to the herds. They picked up the discarded antlers of the herd and converted
them into tools and decorations.  They flensed the skins off the herd's
deceased and wore them as protection against bushes  dynamics  winds  and
winter cold.  They milked those females who would let them and drank their
secretion.  They brushed their coats and used the fur for felt.  They
collected their tail and mane hair, weaving and plaiting them into braids
and ropes.  Yes they killed surplus bucks and ate them, converting their
meat into their own muscles  impulses  thoughts  and energy.  They were very
close to the herds.

But this young one.  He went too far and he allowed the young bucks to go
too far.

One time when he was sleeping in the group with his young buck curled around
him, he turned over and stroked the buck.  It seemed natural ..  common ..
usual.  The wise ones had one of their own quietly watch the young one each
night he slept among them.  This time the buck was not as alert as he had
been before.  He was still sleeping, although it must have been lightly.  He
became aroused by the young one and then as if it was the most usual thing
in the world, the young one turned over again and pushed back against the
buck's arousal.  Neither opened their eyes. But the wise ones eyes were wide
open.  They were probably wider than they had ever been before.  The buck
was inside the young one as if he did so every night. The wise one very
quietly woke up two other wise ones who moved around to watch.

The buck was still in the young one. He seemed to be in for the long haul.
The wise ones squatted down to watch closely.  The young one squirmed around
a little. The young buck flinched a bit.  They both seemed to be sleeping
still.  Perhaps even more deeply than before.  The buck stayed there and
didn't hump like bucks and stags normally did.  He remained still and asleep
but still up.  The wise ones had never seen anything like it before.  There
was nothing in the oral traditions like this.  It was most disturbing.  The
young one was squirming a little more and perhaps with a circular rhythm.
Both were still sound asleep. And linked so closely.  It was this perhaps
more than anything else which gave the wise ones a feeling of great unease
and even deep foreboding.  It did not promise any good for the future.  Just
then the buck twitched  jumped  jerked  and spasmed. They both remained
asleep, perhaps now still even more deeply.

The wise ones waited for the buck to drop out.  He did not.  They did not
know what to do.  So they squatted and waited.  They sat down and waited.
They lay down and waited.  They closed their eyes and waited.  The rising
sun stroked them, entered them, stirred their dreams and flooded them with
its warmth.  It got them up and they saw the young one and the buck were
gone.  Looking around they saw the buck grazing with the herd a short
distance away.  The young one had a hand on its back as if it was the most
natural thing in the world.

The wise ones were afraid. They gathered the other wise ones and went off to
discuss matters away from the group.

Since the equinox was to be upon them next week they decided this young one
would have to be sacrificed.  Matters this far out of the usual could not be
tolerated.


04

The sun was hot.  He was burnt  dry  parched  suffering.  He did not
understand the sacrifice only that it was necessary.  He did not think he
was necessary.  Not to the sacrifice.  But the wise ones thought him
necessary for the sacrifice.  He did not feel honoured.  He knew that none
knew what actually happened to the sacrificed.  Only that it was permanent.
None had ever returned and apart from those dropped that once on the
scattering groups, no trace had ever been found.  Not even a finger bone.

Everyone assumed the sky lords ate the sacrifices.  Everyone assumed the
powers ate the sacrifices if the sky lords did not.  Everyone assumed the
powers kept the sacrifices alive for most terrible and long lasting
purposes.  Everyone assumed the sacrifices did not live for long.  Everyone
knew they did not know.  That made it so awful.  Nightmares are worst when
imagination has no limits.

It was so terrible stretched out between the stakes on the upper plateau.
He wished it was over.  They had finally told him that his relationship with
the herd and especially the young bucks was unacceptable.  They would not
tell him why but he could see they were afraid of it, what it might mean,
where it might lead and how it might change everything.  But everything
needed change he thought.

The sky lords did not take from the herds. If we became more like the herds
then sacrifices would not be necessary.  We should stop eating meat.  It was
not necessary and was so hurtful.  He felt so much cleaner when he only ate
seeds  fruits  greens  lichens.  Fresh water was so beautiful when it was
not tainted by the greasiness of eaten meat.  Fresh snow slid down the
throat so much more easily when there was no fat in the mouth.  Herd milk
was such a treat when you could stroke the living flesh while it was coming.
It was so personal so warm so close so alive.

Kneeling  stroking  sucking  swallowing  was so totally one  so completely
unother.  Union and unity.  Oneness with the world.

Now that oneness was to end.  The sky lord was to take him.  His substance
was to be transformed to something else. Or into someone else.  The clouds
were closing over.  Darkness covered his whole world.  The bushes were
still.  The midges quiet.  Yet there was a rushing of the wind.  Was his
spirit lifting from this plateau of darkness?  He was slipping into the
darkness of unconsciousness.  He could feel his legs move without him moving
them.  His arms.  His hair.  His whole body.  He was floating.  No he was
rushing.  The wind was roaring past him.  Had his spirit broken free?

How could it be.  He felt no pain.  Even the sunburn was unfelt.  He was now
cool.  In the shadow.  The shadow?  He struggled to open his eyes and saw
the earth below.  He was rushing through the air to the distant high
mountains.  The high mountains of the powers.  A sky lord was flying him in
his shadow to his fate.  Why did he feel so comfortable so alive.  So
comforted.  He could feel waves of relief beaming him from above. He felt
safe and secure in the mighty strength of the sky lord above.  He was lifted
up higher til he reached the underside of the sky lord.  He felt one with
his carrier  this beautiful sky lord above  who trumpeted his joy to all the
world around.