Author's Note: Yes, I do know how to spell. If you see any unusually spelled words, such as "Clanner" or "Chieftenn," it's not a misspelling. It's a Clanner tradition. Enjoy!

Chapter 2--Among the Clanners


Yuugi woke up slowly. He remembered Benjamin yelling that they had to run for it. He had pulled out the Gater, and...something had gone wrong, that was certain. He and Benjamin had been thrown apart, and now he was lost. He checked his pockets, looking for his Gating Device, but groaned as he realized it was still back in his World--they had used Benjamin's. Not only was he lost, he was stuck here--wherever here was. It seemed dark and cold.

He had landed in a snowbank. Yuugi stood up carefully, immediatly sinking into knee-deep snow. The night closed in menacingly. In the distance, he could see faint light. As he walked toward it, he heard the sounds of people working. Finally, he reached what looked like a small town. The inhabitants stood in the snow, trying to dig themselves out. Suddenly, one of them turned toward him.

"Hey, you! You, stranger! What are you doing here, and where did you come from? Speak up, kid!"

Yuugi looked at the man. He was of average height--if it was average for these people--and seemed to be about forty. He appeared human, but appearances can be deceiving. After a lengthy pause, Yuugi spoke. "My name is Yuugi. I'm not from around here. I'm...lost."

The man looked at him shrewdly. "Well, well...a foreigner...we don't get too many of them, now do we...let me see...well...you look harmless enough. Here; you can help that shovel crew over there. We have to dig ourselves out, we do. It's them damn Clanners fault. And people say they're all dead...yes, they do say, that they do...that they do..." He wandered off, muttering to himself.

Yuugi looked around. These people were obviously not used to this heavy snow. Something very strange was happening...but what? He walked slowly toward the indicated "crew," better described as a disorganized group of boys shoveling snow. They worked for a long time before the foreman whistled sharply.

"Rotation!"

The various groups of people working in and around the small cluster of buildings, fondly referred to as a town, went home. Another group took their place. The digging would go on all night, and into the next day. Longer, if it snowed again.

"Damn Clanners," the foreman muttered.

Yuugi trailed after the group he had assisted. After careful study, Yuugi concluded that they were all human, although more primitive humans than those in his own World. Those he was following seemed to be isolated from the rest of the villagers. Their eyes darted about, suspicious of every move people made. They wandered with deliberately casual movements into a small lean-to erected at the corner of the other huts. Even the buildings seemed looming and unfriendly here. Yuugi began to realize that all the people lived in a perpetual state of vague, uncertain fear. Except for this small group. Yuugi continued to follow them carefully. Somehow, he sensed that they were different than the others.

Standing by a small, paltry fire was an aging woman with a heavy veil over her face. "Back again, Madak-chan? Still shoveling for them Kar- deks? Ai, I don't know why you do it."

One of the boys (they looked about fifteen or so) sighed, brushing dark brown hair out of his sharp eyes. "Ma, you mustn't speak like that. They will know, if they hear you. They will know. You cannot call me Madak anymore. You must speak their tongue. We will be able to leave soon enough."

She shook her head. "My son, my son, you have a new friend. Ai, don't just stand their, Madak my son! Say something why don't you! Ai- cha, you are so slow today!"

The boy identified as Madak spun around. Instantly, a knife gleamed at Yuugi's throat. "Who are you? Why did you follow us?"

Yuugi swallowed. "My name is Yuugi. I'm a stranger here. I come from far away. I didn't follow you; I just...I just..."

The woman laughed. "Ai-cha, you are so suspicious these days! Times are not so dark that you cannot see the difference between a spy and an outsider, Madak?"

The boy shrugged in embarrassment. "Ma, how many times do I have to tell you? We must be careful. We are not safe here. This one, we don't know who he is. He was in the town. How can we be sure?"
One of the other boys stirred. "I say we slit his throat now. Can't be too careful."

The woman whacked him with her hand, then resumed stirring a large, sinister-looking pot. Remembering the strange methods of the Dark Worlders in finding food when starving, Yuugi decided he didn't want to know what was inside.

The woman spoke again. "And what say you, eh, Kala? No thoughts today, hmm?" The last child stared at the ground, his blue eyes empty in his expressionless face. He seemed to hear and see nothing at all. Presently, the woman spoke again. "Ai, we must forgive poor Kala. He has seen much that no eye should look upon. But come, you others, why be so afraid? If he was going to spy on us, he would have a better excuse, at the least. You think I don't know? You think me a foolish old woman? Ai- cha! I am still your mother. You listen to me, eh?"

At last, Madak lowered his dagger. "I suppose you might be right. But, Ma, I keep telling you! You mustn't speak like that! They're looking harder these days..."

Yuugi had no idea what they were talking about. The only difference in speech he could detect between the woman and the rest of the town was her accent. Her words seemed more rhythmic than ordinary English. After an awkward silence, in which Madak's mother stared accusingly at her son, the other boy spoke. "We have to eat fast. We'll be back on duty again in just a few hours."

Tentatively, Yuugi asked, "Why is there so much snow? I mean, the weather isn't normally like this, is it?"

Madak stared at him. "You really are a foreigner, aren't you? We haven't had weather like this since the Fell Winter, and that was centuries ago. You never learned about that?"

The question seemed almost like a test. Yuugi wasn't sure what the right answer was, so he was left with nothing to tell but the truth. "...no..."

Madak looked at him suspiciously. "Never? Well, that's why the foreman's so on about the Clanners. People say it was their fault, you know. The story goes like this: about four centuries ago, the Clanners came to this World seeking shelter from something. Just a few months after their arrival, the weather turned bad, just like this....they say that the ice giants attacked, and the townspeople fought them off with fire. In the end, it was discovered that the Clanners were at fault, so they were all killed. That's why there aren't any Clanners today."

The boy seemed almost saddened by his own words. Yuugi sighed. He had thought that this might be the Clanner World, and that he might be able to get help from them.

The woman looked up sharply. "Why you sigh, little boy? We all supposed to be glad that the Clanners are gone."

Yuugi looked up. "Why?" This time, they all stared at him.

After an even longer and more awkward silence, Madak spoke. "Where was it you said you were from?"

Yuugi knew that, no matter what, he must not tell these people that he came from another World, especially if they were against the Clanners. "I'm from...from...far away...."

Madak seemed about to speak, but the foreman's whistle rang out once more. Saved from facing the suspicious Madak by a duty rotation.

Once again, the villagers shoveled. Their homes were literally buried in snow. As Yuugi worked, Madak's blond-haired friend--or possibly brother?--came over to him.

"We haven't had a winter this bad since the days of the Clanners, eh?" "I...guess so..." The boy smiled, but his eyes were hard. "You really aren't from around here, are you? Where exactly do you come from? It can't be anywhere within a hundred miles of here, there aren't any villages that don't know that story. You don't want to tell me, do you? Ai, well, we all have something to hide. Just don't my brother Madak I said that."

So, they were related...that could explain why they were separate from the others. Somehow, their speech patterns reminded him of someone, but who? If only he could remember! After another two hours, the foreman whistled once more. Yuugi then made the great mistake of attempting to discern the time by checking his watch, which, as he discovered, he wasn't wearing anyway. Instead, Madak's brother saw the tiny star Vice had drawn on his wrist months ago. He cursed softly and grabbed Yuugi's wrist, whispering, "Come with me!" Yuugi was rapidly dragged back to the boy's mother.

Now I'm in trouble, he thought. They hate the Clanners--and the Star mark has something to do with them!



"Ma, look! Look! See--what did I tell you--didn't I say--"

The woman promptly whacked him on the head. "Ai-cha, Darak, you talk too fast! Tell me plainly, now, why all this excitement? You sound like you have an arak-nai after you."

"Ma, be serious! Look!" Then, to Yuugi, "Show her your wrist." Knowing that this was quite possibly the worst situation he could possibly be in, he did. After all, what choice did he have? Darak already knew. No other choice...

Darak's mother sat down. "Ai-cha! That I should live to see the day. Darak-chan, go get your brother. You hurry now, no time to lose, eh? Daka-shan!" Then, she turned to Yuugi. "Why you no tell us, eh? Some kind of secret, yes, sure enough, but we, we are Clanners! Safe to speak to us, eh? Why you no tell us? Ai, that I should live to see the day."

Yuugi did not understand. "Why is this so important to you? And I thought that your people hated the Clanners. Why should you be happy that I have a Star mark on my wrist?"

The woman smiled. "Ai, you not see. You have never met Clanners before, this is certain. All my life, I have waited, just as my mother waited and her mother before her, and hers before her, as far back as we Clanners go. All my life, I have waited without hope. You have brought us hope. We are Clanners, little child. We lie and deceive because the truth will kill us. We were caught here by the snow on our way home. Here, I tell you a story. A true story, now. You listen, eh?
A long time ago, back when the Clanners first came to this World out of Dark World, the people welcomed us. Then, the Fell Winter came. They will tell you that we betrayed them. That is not so. We saved the people, we Clanners. We used our magic--you know about magic, I hope--to drive back the beasts of malice and cold. The people, they were afraid then, because they had failed to drive back the monsters with their weapons and their fire, that they are so proud of. So they blamed us, and they hated us. They killed many, but some escaped. We hide, and cover our wrists and our faces, but we do not forget. Ai, child, you think I wear a veil over my face because I like it!? I would not, if I could go without and still live. Look."

She carefully lifted the heavy fabric covering her face. Yuugi saw that, underneath, she had symbols and designs painted all over her skin--on her right cheek was a feather pattern, and on her forehead was what looked like a rising sun symbol.

"So you see. It is Clanner tradition. You see how my sons, they wrap their wrists in cloth, paint over their faces with dyes? You think they want to? They hide their marks, as you should have done. Ai, but it is better so. Now we know. You must come with us to our people. I am of the Clann of the Spirit of the Falcon--the Highwind Clann. You see? You bear the mark of the great warriors, the protectors of all people who suffer and are oppressed. They are not all gone, then. There are still those who protect the people...child, who is it that gives you this mark? He is one of a great people, eh? Or she. Not to forget, that the warriors were all species, all ages. All everything."

Yuugi thought. He had always suspected that Vicetor, called Vice for short, was more than he appeared, and he had never fully explained why he had given Yuugi the Star Mark. True, he was very powerful, but he was not a member of any race or people. He himself had said that his people were gone. He was the last. The Last of Ancients...

The woman spoke again. "Okay, so you not want to tell me your friend's name. That's all right. I know all about True Names. But, just tell me this: male or female?"
Yuugi, shaken out of his reverie, said, "Male."

The women nodded and smiled. "At last, a true Star Warrior has returned to the Clanners."

Yuugi frowned. "You don't understand--he's not a Clanner. Vice is--" Yuugi hit himself in the head.

The woman smiled again. "Ai-cha, you cannot keep a secret, little boy. But it is all right. I not tell anyone your friend's name. Here, you see? You trust me, I trust you. I tell you my True Name. I am Kai- ana. But, don't go around calling me that! True Names are a secret; I am surprised you are so free with yours. You not a Clanner, are you? You come from some far-off place, where True Names are not secret. A place of great peace, I suppose, for such trust to be. Tell me, where you come from? Your friend, he from there too?"

Yuugi shook his head. "I come from...from...well, I don't really know what other people would call my World. But my friend, he's from Dark World. He's not a Clanner."

Kai-ana gasped. "Ai, ai, one of them Kar-dek Darkies! Ai-cha, what a twist of fate in such times as these! So, it is not a Clanner but a Darky who saves us in the end..."

Yuugi was surprised. "But Benjamin told me that it was the Clanners who betrayed the Darklings--not the other way around!"

Kai-ana smiled. "You hear many stories, these days. The fact is, who knows what's true? Don't tell this to my sons, but...I don't know if it was either of us who betrayed the other. Who can remember now what happened at the Battle of Losarnarch? I was not there, you were not there, nobody was. But this, I do know: Clanners and Darklings have hated each other ever since that time. Ah, here comes Darak, with his brother, too. Now, we go to my people, the Highwind Clann. You be polite to our Chieftenn, eh? See that you are, now!"

Thus began the long trip into the mountains to the dwellings of the Highwind Clann. Yuugi had found the Clanners, but what had happened to Benjamin?