Wolves and War Read online

The colonists stripped the WCCS Argyll of anything remotely salvageable, blissfully unaware that they were being watched.

  The natives of the planet were more than a little interested in what was going on.

  Their wide patrol had come across the frantic activity beside the marshlands when investigating the reason why the large herd of silly kura who usually inhabited this part of the coast had suddenly decided to stampede towards the forest as fast as their short legs could carry them.

  Now they knew the reason why.

  It was not an incursion of Larg as they had first thought. The peculiar creatures hammering away below did not remotely resemble their eons-old enemies, the Larg. They walked on their two hind legs for a start, and did things with their forepaws and chelas that the Lind could not have imagined in their wildest dreams.

  The rest of their patrol went back to report to the Commander of their Lindar. Kolyei and Tarmsei dug themselves deep enough down into the dry mud of the high ground at the edge of a small copse of trees so that not even the blue-pointed tips of their furry ears could be seen, and settled down to wait. From time to time, and with understandable caution, they lifted their heads and gazed at the activity down on the plain, wonder in their eyes.

  The strangers did not appear to be coming their way, so the two Lind began to converse. The language of the Lind was rich and diverse and spoke of a culture deep in knowledge and tradition. The two discussed the situation at length; their conversation ceasing only when one or both raised his head to survey the amazing scene below.

  The Lind’s vocal speech pattern was augmented by colourful and diverse images and feelings, which they placed into each other’s minds when words were not enough to fully describe what they were trying to say aloud. The Lind could converse telepathically in words, but it took a great deal of energy and effort. So the ability was usually reserved for emergencies and for when one wished to have a private conversation, perhaps with one’s mate.

  “Think you Tarmsei, that these creatures are dangerous?” asked Kolyei.

  “They have entered the rtathlians,” Tarmsei answered.

  “But not, think I, to make war upon us. Look, they have ltsctas with them.” Ltscta was the Lindish word for ‘young one’. A Lind did not reach adulthood until he or she reached the age of fourteen summer seasons and until then was known as a ltscta.

  “They are not Larg.”

  “Many things are not Larg.”

  “Think you that these strange two-legged creatures come from the skies above?” asked Tarmsei after some thought. “Myself, I cannot think of another rational explanation. Indeed, look you at that huge shiny round thing that sinks into the wetlands. They must come from the skies as with our oldest legends that are sung about the Lai.”

  There was silence as both thought about what the arrival of these strangers portended. For almost the first time in his life, the normally insouciant Kolyei found himself lost for words.

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