-REMEMEBER ME-
PART II
CHAPTER TWELVE
Welcome to the Jungle
As my eyes adjust to the bright light, blinking in the sun after the long dark of the tunnels, my vision begins to clear. Leafy green plants and bright blue sky. It was beautiful. It would remind me of Earth, if the plants weren't so primitive looking and a bright purple fuzzy animal of some sorts hadn't just crawled out of the underbrush, snuffling at the commotion near it's home.
Gurkhan leads the way out of the tunnels, and we step into the bright, warm sunlight. A sound of contentment escapes from my throat as the temperature raises, and I grin at you as you turn around to look at me. Without any sort of signal of agreement, you slow down and take my hand.
I grin at you. There's a moment we share, as we look first at our surroundings and then at each other, of isn't this great? Alien stuff. I giggle, and Gurkhan turns around, looking angry, but when he spies our linked hands merely looks very sad and turns away. The smile falls from my face, to be replaced by a frown.
"How long is it until we reach the city from here?" you ask Jexlan.
"Not far. Only an hour or so. We should be free from our pursuers now, they would not dare tread on our land. They have lost too many soldiers to our defences. If they only knew that now, our defences are not so strong…the revolution would be over before it truly started."
"Tell us about this revolution," you say as we continue walking.
"There is not much to tell," answers Jexlan. "Trexalore's predecessor—he was a great man. He held this civilization together. He ruled for a hundred years. It was a golden age.
"And then, he died. No one is quite sure how—it was not yet his time to go."
"How long do you lot live, then?" I ask, curious. For a species so early in it's development to live so long is strange.
"Two hundred years."
"Curious," you say, pensive. "Continue."
"His name was Trenzalore, and the Great City is named for him. But Trenzalore had no children of his own, and so he adopted his wife's brother's son—Trexalore.
"Trexalore was a foul boy and is an even fouler man. But he had a great ability to charm. In his youth, he was not so bad, and so Trenzalore took him under his wing—he was fond of him. But as Trexalore got older—he became rude, angry, and had a hateful vengeance against his uncle.
"Some say this had to do with the death of his father. He was sent on a hunting trip by Trenzalore, to bring down a great beast that had been destroying our crops and terrorizing our people. The Great Beast destroyed the hunting party—and all were slaughtered save one. Tragalade."
"Your leader?" I interrupt.
"Yes—a great man. He slew the Beast, but at a great cost to himself. The Beast took a leg from him for his trouble. But Trexalore blamed both Tragalade and Trenzalore. And he carried a vengece for them both the rest of his life.
"But Trexalore is a clever, charming man when he chooses to be so. So he tricked Trenzalore into believing he was a good, honest man…when he is in fact the opposite. He true nature was known to all but Trenzalore. But no one spoke to him of this, fearing his wrath. He was fiercely defensive of Trexalore."
"Why would they fear his wrath if he was such a great man?" I ask, a hint of sarcasm creeping into my voice.
It's not Jexlan that answers, but you.
"A great leader must become both sides of the coin when needs must. A great leader must not be cruel, but he must also not be weak. Justice with kindness. Love with strength. Yin and Yang. Without good, there cannot be evil. And without evil, there cannot be good. It is a basic fact of the universe, Clara, that we need both. There cannot be one without the other—balance is essential. You will find this fact prominent in the universe's greatest creations. And it's greatest people—it's greatest leaders."
Jexlan nods his head in agreement.
I look at you, admiring your wisdom and wondering how this could be applied to you.
For following this philosophy of balance—surely for someone so great and good there is also an evil.
What darkness lies within you, Doctor?
You studiously ignore my gaze, more than likely following my train of thought. You clear your throat.
"Continue, Jexlan."
"Anyway, Trexalore waited, biding his time, and as he grew older he gained a group of followers. He had ideas about how things should be run—fresh, new ideas that glittered like gold. And as heir to the throne, he could implement his ideas when the time came. These ideas worked in theory, but in practice…" Jexlan trailed off.
"When Trexalore's ideas were put into practice, the city began to fall to ruin," finished Gurkhan roughly from the front.
It's then that I realize everyone has begun to listen in on the story.
"And what happened to Trenzalore?" I ask.
"He died," answers Gurkhan. "Natural causes, apparently."
The way he says 'apparently' so scathingly suggest that he does not believe this story.
"Load of tosh," says Jexlan. "We suspect what really happened—Trexalore killed him. But of course, no one would challenge this. No one except us."
"And who exactly are you?" you ask.
Gurkhan looks around at you.
"We? We are the voice. We are the people. We are the justice and the truth. We are the rightful. We are the Rebels. And we will bring back to the people what was always rightfully theirs: Freedom."
Gurkhan falls silent, and our group all stands straighter at his words, suddenly proud. Suddenly, we find the leaves have opened up, giving way to a great clearing. We have reached our destination.
Run you clever boy, and remember me
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