The Helavite War Read Free

preservation of diminishing civilizations. Even
though Jake was basically a hired gun the thought that he was
almost a party to, and the cause of a whole culture's demise, made
him sick to his stomach. He'd have to make sure the boy was well
enough to take care of himself, before he moved on.

Chapter 3
    Arr was dreaming again. The same nightmare he always
had, trees on fire, Henu screams, The
Others disintegrating his people as they fled. However,
this time when The Other looked his
direction he looked very different, and then a ferocious beast
appeared over him holding him down. He was desperately struggling
to keep the beast from biting his face off. Arr woke up in a cold
sweat with his head and heart pounding. At first he didn't know
where he was. He ran trembling fingers through sweat dampened hair
trying to get his bearings. His home with Nor had not been here.
When he heard the breeze whispering through the trees it all came
back to him and his heart slowed to a normal beat. He heard a
movement by the fire pit and angled his head to look. There was a
man squatting by the fire, stirring something in a pot. It was the
man in his dream. He was the largest man Arr had ever seen, both
tall and very broad across his shoulders. He was dressed in a
black, tight fitting suit that looked like a second skin and he
wore boots and a cap of the same color. His hair was brown with
grey at the temples and his dark beard was flecked with grey and
red. He wore a weapon on his right thigh and had one glove tucked
in his belt.
    Whatever he was cooking smelled familiar and
yet different in some way. With the smell came the realization to
Arr that he was very hungry. He had started gathering early,
without a morning meal, wanting to repair the leak his roof
developed during the previous evening's light spring rain. By the
slant of the sun through the tree house window he could tell it was
late afternoon.
    The man rose stiffly from his squat and
rubbed his left leg as though it pained him. It was at this very
moment that Arr's stomach growled. It growled so loudly that the
man looked up and grinned. "Was that your stomach? I thought Kay-o
had learned to climb trees."
    The man spoke an odd tongue, but it, like
the smell, was also somehow familiar. Nor told him some members of
the trader family were very adept at learning new tongues quickly.
He said their father spoke several. Perhaps Arr was remembering
back to his father's stories and one that was about this race of
beings.
    The man was talking again as he spooned out
some of the delicious smelling concoction in his pot.
    "I'm really sorry Kay-o took a piece out of
you. I'd say he was sorry too, but he's a dar-dolf. They're never
sorry!"
    He came over with a slight limp to his step
and assisted Arr up into a sitting position against the wall. He
handed him the bowl and went back to the fire to fill the cup for
himself. All the while he rattled on in a tongue only now beginning
to form words in Arr's head.
    Jake ladled out some stew for himself,
grabbed a cushion from beside the fire and turned to go back to sit
with the boy. Even after what the kid went through he didn't seem
afraid. Instead he sat there propped up against the wall looking at
Jake with those curious blue cat eyes. Jake wondered if those kinds
of eyes gave you a different outlook on the world.
    Jake flopped down on the pillow on the
floor, only wincing slightly when his leg connected with the hard
wood.
    "The name's Jake, Jake Harcourt." He shifted
himself into a more comfortable position. "I really am sorry about
Kay-o giving you such a fit, but he's trained as a Protect
dar-dolf. He saw that knife you were carrying as a weapon."
    He thought the boy was listening to him, but
just not talking. It was hard to tell. The kid was so intent on
shoveling in Jake's stew.
    "What's your name?" Jake pointed a finger at
the boy's chest.
    There was no response.
    "Me.... Jake...." Jake pointed a finger at
himself. "You?" He asked again