BOOK OF REEVES
Note: For those of you who are wondering where I learned all these D'ni words, you can learn some D'ni language by following this link: linguists.bahro.com
On top of that, I'd like to apologize for not being as descriptive as I should have been last chapter, I'm not Rand or Wingrove so I can't guarantee this will be as good as the books, but I'll describe things better in this story.
…
Reeves barely slept that night. The big man, Shadre, hadn't brought anything to sleep under so they had been forced to sleep out in the jungle. They were taking shifts watching over the camp, but even though it was Reeves' turn, it didn't matter because he had been awake the whole night anyway.
He decided to clean up a little before the sun came up, and walked to a stream that was following nearby the camp. Gahreesen was a jungle age, and also had many rivers, streams, and lakes, so it wasn't hard at all to find water.
Far in the distance the two Gahreesen towers slowly rotated, always rotating, keeping tight security over the main building, the laboratory, and training center. It was comforting to know that the D'ni were so advanced in technology.
Reeves looked down at the stream he had stopped at. The water reflected his face. Perfectly mirroring his features, his red hair appeared very dark in the moonlight, it was thick, longer than most D'ni his age. He felt the smooth area around his chin and wondered if he should try growing a beard, maybe a small one, a goatee maybe.
The one thing that bothered him most, was his eyesight, it was better then most D'ni, and when he wasn't around others, he would often take off his goggles and soak in just a little light, just to make sure he could still do it. He enjoyed this ability, though it worried him because he often wondered if he was really a D'ni.
He shared this worry once with his mother, who reassured him that he was born prematurely in one of the upper caverns. He had to be hand delivered by one of his mother's team-mates, Gerehn.
This was probably why Gerehn favored him over other Maintainers, because Gerehn had been with him every step of his life. Unlike his father, who was always busy exploring and testing ages to make sure they were stable.
His mother was someone to truly be proud of, she was one of the first D'ni women to join a major guild, she had fought hard to work her way up to that rank, and was often made fun of and teased by the other maintainers. "Things are going to change from this." Gerehn often told her. Gerehn believed that there would be more D'ni women in major guilds in the future.
"Reeves, what are you doing?" The voice startled Reeves.
"Thinking." Responded Reeves
"About what?" It was Rihsh. Rihsh was D'ni for number 20. But the way that Shadre and Rihsh pronounced it made it sound more like a name then a number. Reeves knew better though, Rihsh was a Relyimah, a D'ni spy, and 20, was his rank or number.
"I was thinking about my family." Reeves said, a little nervously. Relyimah were a very secretive society, often untrustworthy.
"I once had a family," started Rihsh, "but they came to close to discovering who I was, and I was ordered to execute them."
"Did you?"
"Of course. If I hadn't I would have dishonored the Unseen."
"Right. I can't say I'd do the same in your position."
"Then I won't recommend you to be a Relyimah. We do many tough things."
"I won't ask what."
"Good, because if I told you…"
"You'd have to kill me, I know."
Just then Shadre tapped Rihsh on the shoulder, giving no recognition to Reeves. He beckoned them to follow him. He didn't speak so they assumed that they had better not either.
He crept quietly, and close to the ground, the got close to the edge of the cliff and Shadre lied on his stomach. Readying his gun, and whispering to Rihsh to do the same, they peaked over the edge.
Reeves got closer to see what they were looking at, down the cliff there is was full of bushes, dirt, and down a little ways was a River. Reeves couldn't exactly tell what they were looking at until he saw something move, it was a native! She was cleaning a child, and nearby a Batee was grooming itself.
"Are you shooting the Batee?" whispered Reeves.
"No." responded Shadre.
At that very moment Reeves realized he had no time to spare, and knew not exactly what to do.
"LOOK OUT!" Yelled Reeves. The woman whipped around and attempted to run into some tall bush trees. But with the sound of two loud bangs, she fell down.
"Fools!" Shouted Reeves, deciding this was to time to keep his cool around two people that could easily overtake them. "The D'ni are to serve the ages!" He shouted into Rihsh's ears.
Shadre turned to Rihsh, "Rihsh, what did you see?"
Rihsh smiled, "Nothing sir. A Batee startled us."
"Good, you acted as you should have." Replied Shadre. Reeves caught on to what was going on now. For every bullet fired they were going to have to report for what it was used on. Reeves was going to see to it that they didn't have anything to account for.
"You will not tell anyone what has just happened Reeves. Clear?" Shadre said commandingly.
"Yes sir. Nothing happened." Reeves felt his legs go numb.
"Good, now pack your stuff, we will meet with Jeke today." Shadre said. Rihsh and Shadre grabbed their guns and left. Reeves stared down at the scene below. Down the cliff in the jungle where the woman had fallen, he heard a baby begin to cry, the Batee had run as soon as it heard the gunshots. He backed away from the cliff, sick to his stomach.
…
They had continued walking down the side of the cliff, slowly working their way back to the place where Jeke's campfire had been seen. Reeves couldn't get the sound out of his head of the baby crying.
The ages were supposed to be uninhabited. For some reason Gahreesen wasn't. A few special ages did have inhabitants, very rarely were the links kept if there was a civilization living there. Reeves knew in his mind that this was wrong.
Reeves swore to it that he was not going to let these two ruin this age. He wouldn't kill them, but instead would fight them in front of the council. When they got back, he would prove to them that Reeves son of Rotah was not a person to reckon with.
Reeves looked up to see that they had already come to the place where a camp once was. There were tracks, maintainer's boots, and a pair of socks. From behind a tree stepped Jeke.
"Jeke!" Shouted Reeves as he ran forward to greet his friend.
"Reeves! Who are these?" asked Jeke cautiously.
"They are friends, they brought me here!" exclaimed Reeves, ignoring the morning's events.
"Reeves. May I have a moment alone with you?" Asked Jeke.
"Of course, sirs, if you will?" Reeves turned to Shadre. Shadre understood and sat down on a log. Jeke pointed two a path in the jungle, suggesting they walk down that.
When they had walked out of sight of Shadre and Rihsh, Jeke began to talk in a very troubled tone.
"How much older than you am I?" Asked Jeke.
"Only about 15 years or so… why?"
"So then, I would have been old enough to watch you grow up… right?"
"Yes…"
"You have progressed up the ranks twice as fast as myself, you would tell me if something was happening right?"
"Unless it was against my regulations…"
"Something is happening Reeves. Open your eyes, Maintainers are disappearing left and right. Already there have been two missing!"
"What is your point Jeke? Do you think the Guild Master is plotting something?"
"I don't know Reeves, but what I do know, is that I didn't fall."
"Then how did you get down here?"
"I… was pushed."
Reeves was suddenly startled by this information. The D'ni were not murderers.
"And no one saw?"
"Or no one told. Listen, there is something you must know before we leave here. It may help in future times."
"And it is?"
"Reeves my friend…" Suddenly Jeke's face sweated and he looked very pale. His eyes slowly rolled back into his head and he fell forward. Reeves panicked and he pushed Jeke's lifeless body off him. He looked up into the face of Jeke's killer, Rihsh.
"You…" Reeves could barely get the words out. "You…" he stuttered again.
"Rihsh, what did you see?" asked the voice of Shadre.
"I saw Reeves attack Jeke. I attempted to stop Reeves, but it was too late."
"Very good Rihsh." Shadre smiled and grabbed the stiff pale body of Reeves. "Come… it's time to go… ahrotahn."