Juliette's dream aotr-1 Read online

  Juliette's dream

  ( Ashes of the Realm - 1 )

  Saxon Andrew

  Saxon Andrew

  Juliette's dream

  (Ashes of the Realm — 1)

  Prologue

  The Five Provinces have been left behind by the Stars Realm and civil war has broken out. Hundreds of thousands of planets have been decimated, and millions of others blasted back into primitive technology. Trillions have died, and the killing is far from over.

  After two thousand years the survivors are barely eking out an existence on what remains of the once powerful Realm. Out of the ashes, a young Human will arise that will fight for the survival of his community and the giant Zord that fly the skies of the once powerful Provincial Capital, El Prado. The radioactive wastelands and millions of giant carnivores are the least of the community’s problems. Raiders from the stars are what must be faced by the brave archers to survive. Thousands have been killed and the raiders are coming again.

  Chapter One

  Ten year old Scotty Robbins looked up at the stars and imagined what it must have been like to travel among them. Night was falling, and the giant ging trees swayed in the breeze as the warm temperature of the day began giving way to the cool night air. He often came out to the hill overlooking the wastelands to stargaze. The hill was one of the few places where stars could be seen. If not for the desolation of the blast zone, the view would have been blocked by the forest surrounding the community. Stars could be seen in the community clearing, but the glare from lights and fires hitting overhead trees prevented seeing most of them.

  So he came to the hill to look up at a sky filled with more stars than could ever be counted. He had tried when he was six to count the stars in a small portion of the sky and gave up. Now he just stared at them and wished there was a way to go out to see the beautiful universe above him.

  He knew most of those stars were distant. According to information in the learning center, the closest star was only six light years away. Only six years! Could have been a million and it would still be out of reach. He had also learned that there was an intelligent species that once lived at that star. He wondered if they were still there. He marveled that the ancients could just step from one planet to another.

  Now he stared at a sky full of stars that blinked at him with colors that were beautiful. The ging trees were beginning to bloom, and the smell of their blossoms filled the air as the night breeze blew through the branches of the two hundred foot trees. The light yellow-colored grass felt good under his back and he thought about his mother. He still missed her.

  She was beautiful, and possessed the kindest spirit in the communities. The community loved her, and she brought smiles to everyone she met. Even the gunds that lived around the community allowed her to pet them, and they never allowed anyone to come close. Those six-legged beasts were suspicious by nature and only stayed around the community to be fed. They were invaluable as an early warning system. Anything out of the ordinary that approached the community would start them howling and they could be heard for miles. They learned the smell of everyone that lived in the forest, and even newborns were noted rather quickly by the creatures. The gunds also learned the community was a good source for a tasty meal. They were territorial, and only one family of them occupied the area surrounding the two communities. Any others that invaded their domain were attacked, and since the community’s gunds were healthy, few could challenge them. The community knew the birth of a newborn immediately as it was announced by the howls of the gunds. It usually took an hour for the noise to abate so everyone just gave up trying to sleep and celebrated the new birth.

  Scotty looked up at the stars and knew not everything up there was good. Five years earlier a starship had come to the planet and launched landing craft. One of those had come to the community and appeared overhead before the gunds could give warning. Everyone ran for the forest but one of the invaders fired a blaster beam at a fleeing group and his mother was gone.

  He was with his father in the forest gathering pods from the grellup vines, heard the sizzle of the beam, and saw the ensuing fire. The invaders landed and killed everyone they encountered. They searched every home and finally determined there was nothing of value to steal. The learning center was spared due to it being hidden deep in the forest. The landing party demonstrated their displeasure of leaving empty handed by burning every building in the settlement. They eventually boarded their ship and disappeared into the afternoon sky.

  His father never recovered from his mother’s death. The community mourned her loss more than the burning of their homes. His father went missing six months after Madeline died when he walked into the forest without his bowgun. Everyone understood why he longed to escape his constant grief. His few remains were buried next to his wife.

  Scotty was raised by the community. Everyone considered him one of their own and he slept wherever he chose. Every home was his. The community saw his mother’s spirit in him and actually wanted him to be a part of their family.

  Scotty looked up at the stars again and knew that once there was a kingdom of beauty and light where all lived in peace and prosperity. All of those stars shining down on him were part of that Realm, and he had learned the lessons of its loss from information stored in the learning center. He first heard of it during the community gatherings where the history of the great loss was told. He shook his head and knew the loss of that Realm was a bigger loss than his mother. She, and all the others killed by invaders, would still be alive except for the treachery of the Evil Dukes.

  “I figured you were here.”

  Scotty looked up and saw Jingo standing next to him. Jingo stretched out on the grass and joined him looking up at the sky that was now ablaze as the night had deepened. They sat in silence and stared at the splendor of the heavens. Both of them had their hands on their bowguns, and Jingo removed one of his four hands from his second bowgun to prop himself up.

  Jingo gave a heavy sigh and said, “I don’t understand why you come here so much. It only reminds me of what we’ve lost.”

  Scotty turned and looked at his best friend and smiled, “Jingo, the light from some of those stars up there left millions of years before the Holy Realm was created. I look up and see ancient history. It makes me wonder how many civilizations have come and gone since that light began its journey. You look up and see what we’ve lost. I look up and see what is possible again. If it existed, it can be recreated.”

  Jingo shook his head, “Not in our lifetime. We don’t even have an aircraft, much less a starship. After seeing those that come in starships, I’m not certain I’d want one.”

  Scotty laughed, “You’d jump on one in a second.” Scotty looked back up at the stars, “You want to find others like you out there.”

  Jingo sighed, “I wonder if any of my kind survived.”

  When the Stars Realm disappeared thousands of years earlier, all teleportation devices ceased operating. El Prado was a Provincial Capital and thousands of races had representatives on the planet. There was a large contingent of Humans, Glod, and Cainth in the commercial trade centers who were now stranded on the planet.

  Stephen Delgoto was raised on El Prado and was the Senior Trade Representative. He knew that if all teleportation devices had stopped operating throughout the Realm, there was no way for anyone to return to their home worlds. He knew from working in the trade industry, which sold and manufactured starships to all the members, that modern ships only used teleportation systems. Once the planet discovered it was isolated, someone was going to be blamed.

  He knew Humans, Glod, and Cainth were going to be blamed for the coming depression because of their close ties to the Stars Realm. The Duke was a child
hood friend, and Stephen asked him for help. The Duke was angry, but allowed Delgoto to gather all the Humans and Cainth he could find and fly them to an island just offshore of the main continent. Stephen attempted to get the Glod stranded on the planet to join him, but they insisted on staying behind to protect the others. The Glod donned their swords and waited at the financial center each day for what they knew was coming. The chaos following the loss of the Province’s Searchers and the inability of the government to contact the Stars Realm kept attention away from the three hundred fifty six Humans and two hundred thirty three Cainth as they were moved to the island. The Duke was true to his word and did not reveal the existence of the community. The Duke intended to use them as hostages if things went downhill. He also planned to use them as scapegoats if the population tried to blame him for what happened.

  Delgoto had the heavy floaters that moved them to the island begin gathering stores to provide for the community’s survival. He remained behind to distract the Government. He used all of the Realm’s remaining currency to purchase everything he could to insure the community’s well being. One of the last things sent to the island was a complete learning center containing everything the Realm had learned. It was shielded by an advanced camouflage screen, which made it invisible to electronic scans.

  The final two items brought to the island were two large sailboats that were hidden in a lagoon on the island inside a stasis field covered with a camouflage screen. He placed James Logan and Lurg Dorg in command of the small gathering, and made them promise to live in the wilds and not use any technology for at least a year. He ordered them to only consume food stores or fish they caught. They reluctantly agreed, and it was a good thing they did.

  Five months after the community was moved, an angry mob attacked the financial center and killed Delgoto and the Glod. Their bodies were dragged through the streets as the Humans and Cainth on the island watched in horror at the news on a receiver. They heard the joy of the crowd at killing those responsible for isolating their planet. Throughout the Capital, all former officials of the Realm were murdered. There was a blood lust that couldn’t be quenched. The Duke saw that he was not being held responsible so he kept silent about the colony on the island. He could always use them at a later time to distract the angry population.

  Three months after the Realm’s departure, the three Searchers still at the planet decided their only real future was to become the planet’s rulers. While meeting to discuss how to divide the planet, one of them shot and killed the other two. The survivor’s ship fired on the other two Searchers’ ships and destroyed them. He then gave the Duke an ultimatum to turn the planet over to him or be destroyed. The Duke refused and, after three days of negotiations, had the planetary defenses around the capital fire on the Searcher. The Searcher blasted the capital city into a barren wasteland. He hurried to the other side of the planet and took a landing craft down to the surface to take his wife and family with him to his ship. He discovered the Duke had already taken his wife and children to the capital to hold as hostages. They were now victims of his attack. The Searcher went insane and blasted every remaining population center. He then destroyed every high tech and manufacturing facility on the planet. The remaining planetary defenses fired on the small white ship, but nothing got through the Searcher’s screens.

  What finally ended the madness was when the Searcher discovered he had killed his brother. He was on the planet in a surprise visit to celebrate his youngest child’s birthday, who died in the city he had just razed. The Searcher took a blaster and shot himself. More than ninety six percent of the planet’s population had been killed. The planet’s surface was covered with huge areas of devastation that remained too radioactive for life to survive for centuries. El Prado was just one of the first planets to face Searchers that craved power.

  During the first thousand years, El Prado was visited by many starships that were using null space star drives. Some saw the devastation and decided not to waste their time looking for loot. Others came to kill and plunder. The second thousand years saw many ships arrive that were desperate. They landed to search for anything agricultural or technological they could sell to struggling planets. The survivors learned that to attempt to develop the planet was an invitation to disaster, as the visit five years ago demonstrated when Scotty lost his mother along with nine hundred other civilians. The frequent visits of rogue starships killed thousands and held the planet’s population in check. Throw in attacks by Torg and Zord, and life expectancy was less than forty five years for the struggling Human and Cainth survivors.

  Scotty looked up at the stars feeling his constant sorrow from the loss of his parents. The Cainth lived just a short distance away and both communities were devoted to each other. Early in the community’s history, the Cainth began making the four short swords of their ancestors. The Humans constructed compound bowguns that fired arrows tipped with sharpened alloy arrow heads. They each taught the other how to use the primitive weapons.

  After five hundred years hiding on the island, the communities had grown too large for the island to support them. At that point, the sailboats were taken out of stasis and used to ferry them to the mainland, where they settled in the forest next to the former site of the capital city. They discovered a ship repair facility where they came on shore that had not been destroyed by the insane Searcher. That facility would become the communities’ salvation. It was constructed from high strength alloy and most of the tools were unharmed.

  The Human engineers discovered small, lightweight air compressors that were used to cut high strength metals. The small compressors were powered by tiny red generators that continuously compressed air and fired it at high speed. More than a hundred thousand of these compressors were found in storage. The compressed air was strong enough to cut any metal and the engineers discovered another use for the small air guns. The guns were modified to fire a small, high strength alloy arrow. The magazine could hold ten arrows and, once the shaft left the barrel, a four pronged alloy head and fletching would expand out from the shaft. The guns could not be fired at a high setting due to recoil, but even at a low setting, the arrows were deadly. These new guns would become the main defense of the struggling communities.

  Scotty sighed and said, “We should go back. We make a good target for a hungry Zord.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Jingo stood and gave Scotty a hand getting up. The two walked up toward the fires just over the hill.

  Scotty sighed, “I miss Mom.”

  Jingo nodded, “We all do, Scotty.” They crested the hill and entered the forest as a giant Zord flew over the spot they had just left.

  The Zord were a species of giant flying creatures. They looked like reptiles, but were warm blooded. They were the most dangerous animal on the planet and they grew to enormous size. Originally they were held as zoo animals in the El Prado Zoo and drew thousands of visitors. Their skin changed color constantly to match their surroundings. They were extremely difficult to see until one came close, as in close enough to touch them. They had four legs, with the front two having huge retractable claws. They could stand on their back legs, and fully grown Zord towered over twenty feet high. Their heads were shaped much like the head of an ancient earth lizard called a gecko. The eyes were in protuberances on top of the smooth head with a wide snout. That snout could be eight feet long by ten feet wide on full grown Zord, and housed the four rows of razor sharp teeth. The Zord in the zoo were released by the zookeeper when he saw the coming destruction of the city.

  He also released a heard of Torg. If one removed an ancient rhinoceros’ horn and replaced it with a huge mouth full of four inch teeth, three foot tusks, and a voracious appetite, you’d have a Torg. They were fast, agile, and that double-hinged mouth could snap a Human in half. They reproduced in less than four months, and their population had grown to dangerous levels. Human and Cainth learned to never go into the forest without a bowgun. It was also never wise to go alone. Many
disappeared and were never seen again. El Prado was not a safe place to live, and sudden death always lurked around the hedge row. Life was lived in the moment and happiness was sought wherever it could be found. Few looked beyond the moment because death was a constant companion. Zord, Torg, or Star Raiders were dangers that were difficult to avoid.

  Chapter Two

  Scotty Robbins celebrated his fifteenth birthday in the forest. He walked by the river and thought about going fishing, but decided to first go pick a few grellup pods to season anything he caught. He missed Jingo but couldn’t persuade him to come along. Jingo seemed to be distracted lately, and he was not going to just sit around waiting for someone else to go with him. He knew the danger of going alone, but few could match his prowess with a bowgun. He found a grellup vine, picked a few of the yellow pods, and put them in his pouch. He worked his way through the hedges and around the smaller trees growing out of them and returned to the river. He threw a line in the water and leaned back against a jelt tree’s trunk. He looked overhead and saw the giant ging trees’ branches extending more than forty feet over the river. It was those trees that had overgrown the shoreline that prevented the repair facility from being seen by raiders. The breeze coming off the water was cool, and he felt at peace. He thought about the long walk back to the community and hoped he didn’t catch too big a fish.

  Most of the giant ging trees had been cleared from the planet when it was settled and developed. By the time El Prado was named one of the Provincial Capitals, they had all but disappeared. It was only after the Searcher’s destruction of the planet’s population that they made their comeback. The gings grew to become the rulers of the forest, and the local ecology that had once built their existence around them began to flourish. The lowest branches were more than fifty to seventy feet above the ground, and all other trees in the forest grew in their shadows. The local trees would only grow to within fifteen feet of the lower branches and no higher. They would also grow no closer than fifteen feet from the giant tree’s trunk. If they came closer, the giant tree would absorb all the water out of the encroacher. The trunks were dry, but the tops were loaded with moisture. The top of the trees collected rain water and dropped moisture to the floor of the forest far below, which nourished plant life under it. Thick undergrowth and hedges crowded the spaces between the gings. Nothing would grow over the giant roots of the trees, either. These roots often ran for hundreds of yards aboveground to merge with the roots of other gings. It was these roots that provided pathways through the forest. Attempting to cross the natural hedge rows that grew between the roots was an exercise in futility. Plant life struggled for the safe, fertile soil between the root paths and grew too dense even for the Torg to break through. The trunks of the giants were the intersections of the forest. They were also the most likely place for Torg attacks. Bowguns were always at hand when one approached the giant trees’ trunks.