Sky Lords Meet 01 by primewordsmith@hotmail.com
"The wise ones waited for the buck to drop out. He did not. They did not know what to do."
01
It was the time of the biannual sacrifice. The powers of the high mountains had to be appeased. A young one of the group had been chosen and was now staked out on the upper plateau. The young one waited.
The sacrifice was only one this time. The powers did not seem to want more. Some said the powers were declining and were not the worry they had been. The group waited.
Autumnal equinox day. Midpoint between summer and winter. The day was as equal to the night as it was only one other time of the year. The world waited.
Gone were the days when the groups of the region had to put out twelve juveniles to calm the powers. The groups had long learnt they lost less members to the hungry sky lords if they regularly set out some from among them to be taken into the sky.
The wise ones did not know whether the sky lords were getting less in number or whether the high powers were declining. Some wise ones had even suggested that the sky lords were the high powers themselves. Nobody really knew. Nobody had ever known. None had ever returned from the skies. The sacrifices were sacrifices indeed.
The young one chosen this time did not know either. He had not been brought up in this group so did not know all the traditions and customs of the group. He had never been initiated into the group and certainly had not learned the inner mysteries. He did not have the group knowledge of past sacrifices or their reasons. He only knew he had been chosen and that it was final. Deathly final.
02
He was young. He was able to father. But he was not fully developed. The groups had learnt not to put out little ones as sacrifices. It had been a hard lesson.
For a while they had put out little ones. The wise ones thought the powers would probably prefer more tender meat. The sky lords had watched but not touched the sacrifices. After a few days the sacrifices were delirious from exposure on the upper plateau. The wise ones decided the suffering of the sacrifices would be ended. Perhaps the powers were a bit sensitive about killing the little ones. Before the wise ones finished killing all the sacrifices the sky lords swept down out of the skies and rended the wise ones from top to toe. Some of the sky lords wrenched the dead sacrifices from the chains and flew with them to where the groups were waiting. They dropped the dead onto the groups below. They then seized juveniles from out of the scattering groups.
Males and females but more males than female. About double the usual number sacrificed.
The groups got the message.
03
Next equinox the groups staked out double the usual number of sacrifices. This time they were all juveniles. All capable of mothering or fathering. The sky lords took only the usual twelve and all were males except one. She was not very developed. She could have been mistaken.
This last one was a little older than usual. The wise ones debated whether to put any out at all this time. But tradition held strong and there was an obvious choice. Where he originally came from none knew. He was one of them but not of their group nor from a close group. He was skilled at herding and had great luck at choosing the most succulent of plants for himself. He had spent a lot of his life alone among the herds. Some thought he may have spent time with the great herd itself far to the north. He certainly was very close to the herds. Too close.
He seemed to be understood by the herds. They came to him before he called them. They became alert and edgy when he became. They let him relax in their midst and indeed sleep with them. It was this the wise ones disliked.
He suckled on the mothers and drank their milk. They happily let him as if he had been all his life. But he also suckled on the young bucks. This was not usual. None other suckled on the bucks. Certainly not the females.
Only the prime stag had ever been seen to suckle on another male and this was when the prime stag was sick. The observers all expected the prime stag to be challenged and to die. But he seemed to recover as if he had drunk a most powerful life source.
The wise ones were disturbed by this. Who was he to be allowed greater liberties than even the prime stag. But there was worse. He usually slept with the herd but sometimes came into the group when he needed to hear or discuss things. Every time he came in a young buck would follow him. The buck was not always the same but usually was. The buck was always timid and very afraid. The usual buck did not shake as much as the occasional replacement but was still most wary. He would sleep with the young one, but very lightly. He seemed to be giving comfort to the young one but also guarding him. Why did the young one want to be guarded in the group. It was the herd that occasionally trampled members of the group. Usually it was inexperienced hunters who were trampled but sometimes the herd would stampede all the hunters and once even the prime hunter was trampled to death.
But the young one was being protected by the herd. Perhaps it was because he refused to eat herd meat. He spoke against the group eating herd meat. He even despoiled a whole roast once making it inedible. He said it had been one of his friends. This disturbed the whole group. They were close to the herds. They picked up the discarded antlers of the herd and converted them into tools and decorations. They flensed the skins off the herd's deceased and wore them as protection against bushes dynamics winds and winter cold. They milked those females who would let them and drank their secretion. They brushed their coats and used the fur for felt. They collected their tail and mane hair, weaving and plaiting them into braids and ropes. Yes they killed surplus bucks and ate them, converting their meat into their own muscles impulses thoughts and energy. They were very close to the herds.
But this young one. He went too far and he allowed the young bucks to go too far.
One time when he was sleeping in the group with his young buck curled around him, he turned over and stroked the buck. It seemed natural .. common .. usual. The wise ones had one of their own quietly watch the young one each night he slept among them. This time the buck was not as alert as he had been before. He was still sleeping, although it must have been lightly. He became aroused by the young one and then as if it was the most usual thing in the world, the young one turned over again and pushed back against the buck's arousal. Neither opened their eyes. But the wise ones eyes were wide open. They were probably wider than they had ever been before. The buck was inside the young one as if he did so every night. The wise one very quietly woke up two other wise ones who moved around to watch.
The buck was still in the young one. He seemed to be in for the long haul. The wise ones squatted down to watch closely. The young one squirmed around a little. The young buck flinched a bit. They both seemed to be sleeping still. Perhaps even more deeply than before. The buck stayed there and didn't hump like bucks and stags normally did. He remained still and asleep but still up. The wise ones had never seen anything like it before. There was nothing in the oral traditions like this. It was most disturbing. The young one was squirming a little more and perhaps with a circular rhythm. Both were still sound asleep. And linked so closely. It was this perhaps more than anything else which gave the wise ones a feeling of great unease and even deep foreboding. It did not promise any good for the future. Just then the buck twitched jumped jerked and spasmed. They both remained asleep, perhaps now still even more deeply.
The wise ones waited for the buck to drop out. He did not. They did not know what to do. So they squatted and waited. They sat down and waited. They lay down and waited. They closed their eyes and waited. The rising sun stroked them, entered them, stirred their dreams and flooded them with its warmth. It got them up and they saw the young one and the buck were gone. Looking around they saw the buck grazing with the herd a short distance away. The young one had a hand on its back as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
The wise ones were afraid. They gathered the other wise ones and went off to discuss matters away from the group.
Since the equinox was to be upon them next week they decided this young one would have to be sacrificed. Matters this far out of the usual could not be tolerated.
04
The sun was hot. He was burnt dry parched suffering. He did not understand the sacrifice only that it was necessary. He did not think he was necessary. Not to the sacrifice. But the wise ones thought him necessary for the sacrifice. He did not feel honoured. He knew that none knew what actually happened to the sacrificed. Only that it was permanent. None had ever returned and apart from those dropped that once on the scattering groups, no trace had ever been found. Not even a finger bone.
Everyone assumed the sky lords ate the sacrifices. Everyone assumed the powers ate the sacrifices if the sky lords did not. Everyone assumed the powers kept the sacrifices alive for most terrible and long lasting purposes. Everyone assumed the sacrifices did not live for long. Everyone knew they did not know. That made it so awful. Nightmares are worst when imagination has no limits.
It was so terrible stretched out between the stakes on the upper plateau. He wished it was over. They had finally told him that his relationship with the herd and especially the young bucks was unacceptable. They would not tell him why but he could see they were afraid of it, what it might mean, where it might lead and how it might change everything. But everything needed change he thought.
The sky lords did not take from the herds. If we became more like the herds then sacrifices would not be necessary. We should stop eating meat. It was not necessary and was so hurtful. He felt so much cleaner when he only ate seeds fruits greens lichens. Fresh water was so beautiful when it was not tainted by the greasiness of eaten meat. Fresh snow slid down the throat so much more easily when there was no fat in the mouth. Herd milk was such a treat when you could stroke the living flesh while it was coming. It was so personal so warm so close so alive.
Kneeling stroking sucking swallowing was so totally one so completely unother. Union and unity. Oneness with the world.
Now that oneness was to end. The sky lord was to take him. His substance was to be transformed to something else. Or into someone else. The clouds were closing over. Darkness covered his whole world. The bushes were still. The midges quiet. Yet there was a rushing of the wind. Was his spirit lifting from this plateau of darkness? He was slipping into the darkness of unconsciousness. He could feel his legs move without him moving them. His arms. His hair. His whole body. He was floating. No he was rushing. The wind was roaring past him. Had his spirit broken free?
How could it be. He felt no pain. Even the sunburn was unfelt. He was now cool. In the shadow. The shadow? He struggled to open his eyes and saw the earth below. He was rushing through the air to the distant high mountains. The high mountains of the powers. A sky lord was flying him in his shadow to his fate. Why did he feel so comfortable so alive. So comforted. He could feel waves of relief beaming him from above. He felt safe and secure in the mighty strength of the sky lord above. He was lifted up higher til he reached the underside of the sky lord. He felt one with his carrier this beautiful sky lord above who trumpeted his joy to all the world around.