The following week and half passed quickly, if strangely. According to Perikos we were mobilizing our forces. I found out a week after arriving on the planet that the "camp" we were currently stationed at contained fewer than one hundred…I wasn't really sure what to call them anymore, since
Perikos
was out of the question. Soldiers, maybe? Well, the point was there were hardly enough of them here to throw a parade, much less an insurgent strike force capable of overthrowing a corrupt government.
Before Perikos committed the murder he was imprisoned for, he left instructions to his rebel army to disband into multiple nomad contingents so they would be more difficult to track and stand a better chance of avoiding retribution. Apparently word came down from two messengers that out of fourteen smaller contingents, three groups had been wiped out entirely and two more remained unaccounted for. It was grim news for Perikos but his mood brightened as two intact camps arrived to meet us, tripling our current numbers.
I stayed out of the limelight and therefore so did Perikos. I couldn't help feeling guilty, knowing he wanted to go out, raise moral and gather accounts of what happened in his absence but there was nowhere for me to wait but with him so the two of us stayed closer to the perimeter of the new camp. Perikos said we had to keep moving, that we would change camps twice a week or so.
I had a hard time thinking of the thick clusters of darkness dotting the otherwise barely visible planet as anything that could be properly called a "camp". There were no shelters; the aliens relied on mates and close friends to protect them while they rested and since there was no concept of night and day, they rested at all hours, off and on. There were no fires, Perikos informed me, and a great deal of superstition surrounded the very concept of bright heat, as though it would call into existence dreaded ultra-violet radiation.
The majority of the fungus I had encountered on Perikos so far was edible, at least the stuff that didn't look so unusual that I couldn't even bring myself to try it. Sure, the little white caps that looked like the button mushrooms my family used to harvest on our farm were poisonous enough that I was sick for nearly twenty-six hours, but the pinkish cup shaped fungus was actually pretty tolerable. It tasted kind of like bland, chewy honey.
Perikos hadn't let me further than arm's reach since when I'd first been accosted and in spite of the fact it was a bit smothering, not to mention embarrassing at times, at least I was getting more answers. I was beginning to understand what the war was about, at least the rebels' point of view. It had a long, boring history that went back two hundred or so years, which I suppose wasn't particularly long by Perikos standards. Many adult soldiers here were older than two hundred years. At any rate, about two hundred years ago some rebellious upstart broke away from the main tribe and claimed that the current practice of consuming one another as punishment for every minor triviality was barbaric. According to him (or her, I couldn't be sure), long ago there had been other species on the planet within the past three hundred years but the Perikos' greed and expanding populations had driven them nearly to extinction and they had been forced to cannibalize one another to survive. He proposed a moderate shift, away from cannibalism, to a system of mutual assistance, where the strong would feed the week and the many would feed the few, ideally, resulting in very little death.
According to Perikos, none of that sat very well with the King, who was traditionally chosen because he was the strongest in body and will. To allow everyone access to him, thereby dwindling his strength away, was intolerable. He consumed the rebel himself, but apparently his teachings about barbarism and not cannibalizing your friends and neighbors disseminated to a wider audience than the king could have known, Perikos being one obvious heir to the new school of thought. Perikos had not been alive when it had happened but was strong in his own right, and joined a growing rebel faction when he was strong enough to be an asset. He rose through the ranks and made a business of capturing and trying to convert the loyal faction. He didn't even need me to point out the irony of consuming those who could not be converted to sustain his army of peaceful, non-cannibalistic rebels.
"
It is hateful, dangerous thing, Little Shade, to put practicality before ethics, to go against one's own beliefs just so that one might live long enough to fight for them tomorrow. Killing for peace is both absurd and absolute reality for us
."
I found it pretty interesting that it was Perikos who ultimately killed that king. There were neutral tribes, bands of so-called "civilians" who pledged no allegiance to the King but who found the rebel cause hopelessly idealistic and stuck to eating one another by way of punishment. Well, apparently the King had become paranoid and since one of the largest neutral tribes had warned nearby rebels of an impending attack by loyalist forces, he decided they were all in league with one another and were to be made an example of. Under the auspice of possible peace talks with the tribe, the King's forces had moved in and wiped out the lot of them. And Perikos tracked him down and destroyed him. Maybe he was just a really good guy, or maybe it was a case of "if we can't eat them, you can't eat them either", but regardless, by traditional custom, anyone who strong enough to best the king
was
the king. Regicide, which is what Perikos had been charged with, had plenty of precedent. Killing the king had never been illegal before; only attempting the kill him and failing merited any real punishment. Not only did the fact the Perikos should by all rights be king but his bravery in avenging the "civilians" as well as his martyrdom in Kragosa and his eventual escape, made him a pretty hot commodity among his followers. The air was often thick with music about lust, admiration, mating and glory, all of which was tinged with the song I learnt meant Perikos.
On the twelfth day after I arrived on the dark planet, Perikos was scheduled for another meet and greet of the two other contingents that had joined us. I felt something flicker across my face as I snoozed over the soft mudcaps.
"
Please wake up, Jayn. If I am to meet our reinforcements, you must complete your waking ablutions quickly
."
I stirred, still expecting to see some hint of morning light and being met with only darkness. My eyes were beginning to adjust, at any rate, and I could make out the singular shape of Perikos' tendril in the near perfect darkness. I grasped it and pulled myself to a sitting position.
"These catnaps aren't enough, you know. I need actual, uninterrupted sleep. Probably more than I normally would because of the darkness."
"
Understood. I will make certain your sleep is uninterrupted just as soon as this meeting is over
."
I yawned and stood up, allowing Perikos' tendril to entwine my bracelet as he led me over the hill at the far perimeter of the camp. We had tried to stay away from everyone else but really there was nowhere to go, no shelter for me to hide myself away. Perhaps out of respect, everyone kept their distance and did not approach unless they had something urgent to say.
"
Leader
?" sang an oily voice from the darkness. Ugh, just what I needed. Shadow. "
Leader, where are you going at this hour? Your people are expecting your address very soon!
"
Maybe I was imagining the ugly, plaintive way Shadow said "your people", or maybe I wasn't. This guy was disgusting and shameless.
"
Thank you, Second in Command, I am well aware of the time. Jayn and I need a moment of privacy
-"
"
Leader, surely such…indulgence can wait
?"
"
It is no indulgence, my Second. We will not be long
." Perikos' tone was brisk and cool to my bubbling fury. When Shadow was out of sight I practically snarled.
"How does an insubordinate, smarmy, egotistical, bigoted prick like that get to be your Second anyway? I hate him! Telling you your business, insinuating that -"
"
That I would lead you away from the crowd and elicit you arousal in private, away from hungry soldiers
?" Perikos' tone was sarcastic, since that had been our modus operandi since that first night I arrived. But there was something bitter there too, something regretful. Likely, he just felt guilty.
"Damn it, Perikos, don't let that complete fucking idiot make you feel bad for anything! He's just doing it because he hates me!"
Perikos led me over to the creek that ran downstream from the camp. No chance of my pheromones running up to the camp, since it had been a few days since I'd washed and I did smell like sex. I leaned gingerly towards it, not able to see where the bank ended and the creek began. I reached toward to cup the cool water in my hands and drink. I waded in, shivering, and washed myself without soap. I was just emerging to retrace my steps behind the large rock I used as a bathroom stall when I heard a shrill song over the hill.
"
Leader!
" The darkness was before us in the space of a blink and the song was urgent, anxious. "
