Covenant: Exodus

Chapter 20

Noahim lay on his back... he was sore everywhere. He felt as though he had fallen down a never-ending flight of stairs. He heard the whispered sound of voices around him, felt the comforting weight of Karok pressed up against his side. He couldn't remember the last time that he had felt this tired. The journey from Atla had been far more difficult than he had imagined, and the seemingly never-ending problems that required his constant attention had grown tiresome. It seemed as though trivial matters were constantly distracting him from his real work, determining what had happened that day so many months ago when, as the handful of citizens that had survived had taken to saying, the sky fell.

Thinking back to that fateful day always threatened to plunge Noah into a great sadness. The loss of life was inconceivable. Almost all of the citizens of Atla had perished that day, Noah had been able to save less than a thousand men, women, and children. The survivors, along with Noah and the twenty-four Mul'Ki that remained with him, had escaped the disaster on three of the four large arks that they had been building in the months leading up to the disaster. Noah was told that Jakon and all the rest of the Mul'Ki had confiscated the final ark, the one they called The Lion...and loaded themselves and enough provisions for several months aboard it just in time to escape. Noah himself had not witnessed this event as he had been attacked by Jakon and knocked unconscious. In fact, that attack had left Noah close to death, and unconscious for many of the first few days of their journey.

Jikar had told Noah that after the attack, the scene had quickly escalated into complete and utter chaos. The men that came with Jakon, their former brothers, had instantly set out to attack Karok. Jikar had described that bloody battle to Noah in detail, although he hadn't needed to. For the first several weeks of the journey, all that anyone could speak of was the great Battle of Karok. Apparently, even though he had been set upon by no less than ten men and twenty RaSheen, Karok had fought furiously and killed seven of the men, ten of the RaSheen, and injured the majority of the rest of them before turning his wrath toward Jakon. Jakon, sensing that he had underestimated the power of the BalaRa decided that running was a much better option than fighting. After Jikar had first told Noahim how Jakon had left the battle, he did not believe him and made him tell, and retell, the story several more times before becoming convinced. Jakon and his men had run aboard the Lion and, according to Jikar and all the other witnesses from that day, when Karok ran towards the loading ramp of the boat, Jakon stood on the deck and shouted an incantation, lifting the boat high into the air as it rocketed away from the site. It was less than one day later when the catastrophe began. When the sky fell. Since that day, Noah and the other survivors had not seen Jakon and his people, nor anyone else for that matter. The flood was even worse than Noah had expected, it had been sudden and violent. Noah had learned from Ratam Ra'Ava that the ancients had suffered a similar fate, and thanks to the warnings in that book, he had at least been able to escape with enough people to rebuild Atla...if they could ever find land again that is. Noah and the others had been sailing in the Arks for months and had yet to see any land anywhere, although Noah believed that was because at this time they really didn't know where they were. All of the star charts and maps that the Atlans had been making for centuries were rendered useless because of the disaster, but Noah held out faith that there were other people that had been spared, other lands that had not been flooded, and they would find them.

Dwelling on the past would offer no solace, so he opened his eyes and without looking around spoke to the other two men in the room. "What is it that you have come seeking friends?"

There was a short pause and then one of the men spoke, "Noah, we are sorry to bother you, we know that you need your rest, but there is...something that you need to come and see."

Noah inhaled deeply and tried to keep his voice even and calm, "Whatever it is, I am sure that one of the other Mul'Ki can attend to it. It has been a difficult journey, and you are right, I need my rest. Please ask Hazul or Thomas, and I will see to anything they cannot in the morning." He made a dismissive gesture with his hand, but the men did not leave. They simply stood, looking at the ground, shifting uncomfortably on their feet. Noah let out his breath and pushed himself up from the bed, "as you wish, show me what you must."