THE END OF BEGINNINGS

FIFTEEN

Gerania Mas Aurallia wasn't deaf.  She could clearly hear the drumbeats from the village.  She knew the ceremony was about to begin.  She knew she was supposed to join her family to watch the union of the bride and groom.  But, the thirteen-year-old also knew that was the last place she wanted to be right then.
Besides the echo of the drums, her ears were also filled with the gentle whisper of the evening breeze.  She loved the sound it made as it teased the leaves hanging off the long limbs of the stout trees covering the hillside.  It joined the melody made by the quick babble of a nearby stream.  It's current had been made a little more swift by the rainwater washing into it earlier in the day.
The canopy of clouds that had blanketed the sky before dumping rain across the hilly plains and forest had finally broken up and gone away completely.  Now, there was a clear ocean of stars stretched out from horizon to horizon.  The view of the the twinkling constellations would be lost under the bright light of the hotly glowing crystals in the village.  But, more importantly, the chance to walk beneath them with her hand being held by the handsomest boy in all the Aganni would be lost as well.  And Gerania did not want that at all.
His name was Shero, son of Yusca.  He was nearly the same age as Moros while being several inches taller.  Gerania felt herself blush again at the sensation of his fingers tenderly entwined with hers.  Her heart swooned at the harmony of his voice as he spoke.  He was talking about something that had happened when he was younger, a game he would play with his friends.  Gerania was practically hanging on every word.  She was certainly paying more attention to the sixteen-year-old than the sounds of the breeze in the trees, the stream nearby, or the footsteps approaching from behind them.
"And, what's this now," Geras asked after clearing his throat.  He had spoken in the Aganni language.  He tried not to smirk at the sight of the two youths flinching in surprise.  "I thought everyone was supposed to be at the ceremony?  Is there something happening in the fields?"
Gerania glared hatefully at Geras.  "Father, please," she hissed in Aganni.  "We were just out for a walk.  We were only going to be a little late."
Shero held up his hands.  "I promise, my lord, there was no bad intention here," the boy said quickly in his native tongue.  "Gerania wished to talk under the stars.  It is difficult to deny her.  I failed to notice how far we had walked from the village."
"It's not a big deal, father," Gerania argued, crossing her arms in front of her chest.  "I can hear the drums from here.  The ceremony is barely about to begin.  Look," she gestured angrily toward the sky.  "The moon hasn't even risen yet."
Geras didn't say anything.  He didn't shift his gaze away from the pair standing a few paces away.  A small gap had formed between them.  Their posture was awkward.  The long moment of silence on the narrow trail began to stretch into a minute and then two.  The echo of the distant drums reverberated softly past them.
Shero finally broke the quiet standoff that had seemed to form between the father and daughter.  "I think we should return to the village," he said, glancing from Geras to Gerania.  "The moon will be over the horizon very shortly.  The wedding will start then."
"Your mother is already waiting for you," Geras said to his daughter.
"I will walk with you back to the village," Shero said to Gerania.  His eyes fixed in on hers.  He felt himself hypnotized by their beautiful intensity.  But then he remembered her father was standing near them.  Shero turned his head to look toward Geras.  It seemed to take all of his strength to break the intimate gaze he was sharing with Gerania.  "I promise, my lord, we will be on our best behavior.  You do not have to worry about my intentions."
Geras let himself smirk at the comment.  He took a step backwards and to the side of the path.  "It's not your intentions that I worry about," Geras said as the two teenagers walked past him.  He saw his daughter glare at him again.  If her eyes were weapons he might have been dead by then.
"I'll be right behind you," Geras added when they were a few paces away.  Gerania looked back over her shoulder, directing another fiery glare at her father.
Geras only smiled back.  He watched them walk farther up the trail for a moment, then sighed.  He was struck with a thought he'd not had until this time.  His little girl was growing up.  She'd seemed to be maturing so quickly, faster than he'd realized.  It felt like only yesterday it was his hand she was so anxious to hold, her little face glowing as it looked up admiringly at him.  Now, that innocent expression was gone, replaced by the stern looks of a stubborn, teenage girl.
Geras breathed out slowly once more.  He was about to start following them back to the village.  A noise off to his right kept him in place.  His eyes stayed locked on the young pair while he tracked the sound moving through the trees and brush covering the hillside.  It was something he had heard before, just not in this place.  Geras' expression changed as the low resonance grew closer.  His eyes narrowed.  His cheeks grew taught as his jaw tightened.  He was being disobeyed, but not by the teenagers on the trail.
Without looking away from the path, Geras took a deep, frustrated breath.  He held his right hand up and out toward the trees, then said with a sharp, stern voice into the night, "Seegan, stop."
The stealthy whine of the little robot vanished.  A tiny hiss punctuated its sudden halt, its flight ceasing just behind the tree line near the trail.  The little sphere hovered in place.  Its round body was cloaked in the deep shadows around it.  Only its glowing, pale blue lens was visible.  But Geras wasn't looking at it.
He kept his arm extended toward the android that was no bigger than his hand.  He didn't say anything.  Not at first.  His thoughts were flustered and jumbled around each other.  Geras knew something was wrong.
The android decided to speak first.  "I'm sorry-" Seegan started to say.
"What are you doing here, Seegan," Geras asked, interrupting the little robot.  He relaxed his arm at last, letting it fall back against his side.  "Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be here?  If you're seen?"
"I've tried to be as careful as possible-"
"I told you to stay with the ship, Seegan.  I gave you a direct order."
"I've been trying to contact you.  But your communicator-"
"I turned it off."
"I know," Seegan replied flatly.  "Geras, I would not have come all this way if I did not think it was important.  They've been trying to get in touch with you.  They've become very insistent."
"Who?"
"The Lantean High Council."
Geras rolled his eyes.  "I don't have a seat on the high council.  Toro Ras is the acting High Councilor of Camrial.  He should be the one they contact."
"They may have.  A-"
Geras held up his hand again.  "No," he said sharply.  "I don't want to know.  Not right now.  I have to get back to the village.  That is where I am needed right now.  My family is waiting for me, Seegan.  Whatever the High Council wants can wait."
"I can wait for you at your habitat.  Where are you residing?  Just direct me-"
"No," Geras said, cutting the robot off once more.
"Geras, it was not easy to find you.  If you wander too far away, precious time may be lost trying to find you again."
For the first time, Geras looked toward the tree line where the little sphere was hovering.  "How did you find us?"
"As I said, it wasn't easy.  I had the original tracking markers from your communicator in my databank.  I used those pings to get a general heading to start with."
"Those are from nearly three years ago."
"Yes, I know.  As I stated, it was not easy to get this far.  After I exhausted the ping data, it was a matter of educated guesses and...luck."
"Luck?"
"Yes.  The biggest break came just hours ago.  I came across tracks in the forest near these plains.  Amongst them were footprints that appeared to match my records of those belonging to Moros.  There is evidence in the forest he was being pursued by something...a large creature of some kind."
"He was participating in a kind of hunt.  He and some of the other Aganni boys and men were trapping a creature the villagers call a dea'esh.  Roughly translated, it means a god of the ground."
"Was the trapping a success?"
"Yes.  Although, Moros had not gone into much detail as to what exactly was involved in the trapping process."
"A chase, from my observations of the tracks I was following in the forest.  And I don't think I was the only one."
"What do you mean?"
"I can only surmise that another of these...dea'esh was also following the tracks out of the forest, since you said the trapping was a success."
Geras blinked.  He turned his head sharply all the way to his right.  His eyes instantly found the blue lens of the hovering, metal ball.  "A second one?"
"Yes.  My sensors detected a large creature stalking the same course I was following.  I spotted some of its prints after diverting away, for a moment, from the trail left behind by the chase.  They matched the tracks that were with Moros' footprints."
Geras felt his heartbeat quicken.  "I have to get back now.  How could I not sense this thing?"
"Tell me where to go," Seegan said as Geras started to take a step forward.
"Just stay out of sight, Seegan.  Stay away from the village.  I mean it!  I'll find you!"