Nuegua Book Two: Second Sister Chapter One
I have struggled mightily to get this second book started--the finish is easier--and now I know why. The working title is: "Second Sister"; and so for simplicity's sake that is how I will write it, primarily from Ariana's viewpoint.
Therefore, Tianara's diagnosis is not a back story, but something the reader is immersed in immediately. This makes sense because the conversation between Tianara and Strong Baby could not occur anywhere except in the Grotto of the Pregnant Virgin, under a Tialan Sister's command.
A good beginning would be to have Tianara and Ariana hidden in the wagon hauling sick Cactus Mother's out of Clan Redourine precints, and have them explain through argument how they got themselves into this predicament. The Strong Baby conversation could then be a flashback.
Rotating Points-of-View
For simplicity's sake, POV will always use: | Ariana | Tianara | Berylia | Dianire
Background Questions
How Does Dianire Fit into this Chapter? Rintiala?
First, Rintiala is busy building Dragonhead when this chapter occurs, and is out-of-contact with Dianire. Dianire has just finished discovered a open cache of Sky Wanderers' weapons (particle beam, shaped charge) in a suburb of Phoenix and urgently needs to deliver this news to the Combat Instructor of Nuegua, her older sister Tianara.
When Dianire arrives at Tianara's quarters, she is blocked by a Redourine Servant (someone who was not successfully Mothered, and who shall remain nameless in order to indicate that a caste system is forming in Nuegua), who tells her that Tianara is not to be disturbed, due to her delicate pregnancy. Dianire will have none of this obstruction, and marches into Tianara's quarters, only to find Tianara gone. She rather brutally interrogates the Servant, who tells her that Berylia and Ariana have come to take Tianara to Clan Demetra.
Dianire has a quick huddle with her brother Duji--also one of the team that discovered the Sky Wanderer's weapons--and they decide to track Tianara without her knowledge.
Why Does Berylia visit Tianara at this particular time?.
It is early September, the time for the Apache Trader's Bazaar. She is the representative for Clan Demetra, who have a new type of Mother Fruit, which they claim can not only heal wounds quickly, but can actually slow the aging process, not only for ordinary Nueguans, but Old Humans as well.
She conducts her transaction with the Second Sister in charge of such negotiations in Clan Tiala at the Healing Temple, who just happens to be Ariana, sister of Rintiala and daughter of Alathea.
Ariana, as a Second Sister--arguably the best in her class--Ariana is also part of the team that has analyzed Tianara's pregnancy complications and the decision that the First Sisters have made.
Upon examining the new Mother Fruit, and being rather taken by Berylia's charming manner, Ariana decides to try an alternative. Using a concentrate of the this Mother Fruit, and some of the new surgical tools that Dianire has created, Ariana believes that she and Berylia can operate on Tianara, and save both mother and baby.
What are Ariana's motivations in this chapter, and how does it move her character arc along?
Let me quote Ariana herself: "My big sister (Rintiala) does great big things that create great big problems for other people. I spend most of my time fixing those problems."
When Berylia visits Tianara, she reveals that she knows all about Tianara's dangerous pregnancy, which was diagnosed by the Sisters of the Healing Temple in Tiala. Tianara is both furious and curious. Who leaked this sensitive information to Berylia? Tianara knows that it would need to be one of the technicians--a Second Sister--who was directly involved in the diagnosis. Berylia smiles slyly, calmly explaining that it wasn't just any Second Sister, but the best of the Seconds, soon to be a First. They both know who that is: Ariana, the younger (18-year-old) sister of First Sister Rintiala.
Tianara asks why Berylia had any contact with the Healing Temple at all, considering the situation seven years earlier. Berylia soothingly states that she holds no animosity to the Healers of Tiala, as she has had to opportunity to explore other aspects of Nueguan technology. That is what led to her first meeting with Ariana. Berylia approached the Healers with a new type of Motherfruit that cured illnessess, healed wounds, and generally energized both Nueguans and Old Humans better than anything before. Of course, the Healers simply saw this as just another daily, tedious transaction between Guilds, and assigned a Second Sister to the task. Fate or mere coincidence? Berylia asks Tianara rhetorically.
Tianara hears about the encroachment of Western Bandits along the eastern border of Clan Demetra, and insists that this is a matter for the Apache Police, not a Builder. Berylia counters that she does not want the Apache Police to intervene until the Western Bandits have acted in an undisputably aggressive manner, even to the extent of the deaths of Clan Demetrans. Berylia makes it clear that she is authorized to speak for all Clan Demetra on this matter. Tianara decides to agree with her on this issue, with two stipulations: one, that she have the authority to call in the Apache Police when she decides there is undeniable violent aggression and that Ariana accompany both of them, so that this upstart Second Sister can learn what happens when you meddle in the affairs of others.
What is the difference between a First and Second Sister?
That answer is simple: a Second must excel in their skills, but a First must take calculated risks and succeed. Tianara is a First not because she is the best Builder, but because she is the best fighter and fight instructor in Tiala. She is the link between the Nueguans and the Apache Police.
The Rape of Clan Demetra (Synopsis)
Section One: An Honest Proposal
This chapter begins in the Shrine of the Lizard King, the central administration building of Clan Redourine (aka the Guild of Builders). Berylia of Clan Demetra has come to negotiate with Tianara of Clan Redourine concerning the combat training of her new organization, the Companions of Demetra. The Companions are the 'hetera' or 'temple prostitutes' of Clan Demetra; all are exceptionally beautiful and curvaceous young women who have been treated using a variety of Motherfruit to make their vaginal secretions (modified Bartholin glands) extremely addictive to any male who has intimate contact with them. Fully sexual intercourse with a Companion allows the young woman to completely control the mind of her male lover. Note that Tianara knows nothing of this plan; she is simply the best combat instructor in Nuegua.
Why is this interchange loaded with problems? Because Tianara is in her eighth month of an ectopic pregnancy. The Healing Temple of Clan Tiala had used its Pregnant Virgin technology to determine that though the female foetus had been implanted outside the womb, a rich blood supply from a uterine fibroid along the outer uterus wall had nourished her with a rich source of blood. A simple laparatomy inside a Cactus Mother would suffice for a successful delivery, and an healthy mother and child. The Healer's Guild has decided against this because Tianara has already had two miscarriages due to ectopic pregnancies; she has been denied the right to bear a child by the Guild of Healers. The reader must be reminded that a First Sister has complete control of her fertility; for Tianara to choose to become pregnant again is an act of defiance.
Berylia claims that a successful outcome is possible in Clan Demetra simply by using new varieties of Motherfruit (she is purposely vague about their properties) and the new Mothershell scalpels that Dianire Redourine (Tianara's sister) has created. They are made of the same nearly indestructible carbon fibers as is a Cactus Mother, but the edge of the blade is only one molecule thick.
Tianara reluctantly agrees after consulting with her youngest sister Alope, who though born a Redourine, is in training as a novice for the Healer's Guild. Alope is convinced that she can talk her new instructor Ariana (sister of Rintiala) into going on a field trip with the two of them. Since Ariana is a Second Sister of the Healer's Guild, this would be extra insurance of that successful outcome promised by Berylia.
Why does Berylia even make this offer? Danger is brewing at the southernmost tip of the Clan Demetra precincts. The Western Bandits are gathering there on the eastern wall of the Aruvapai Canyon. (Clan Demetran precincts begin at the Western Wall.) Normally, the Apache Police would station themselves at the edge of Clan Demetra near the Mother Goose Temple and easily dispatch the Western Bandits. The catch however, is that Berylia does not want to reveal her weapon--the Companions--to the Apache. Clan Demetra's relation with the Apache Police is that the Apache have free use of any young woman of Clan Demetra that they want. This practice appalls the elitist Clan Tiala (the Healer's Guild) and raises serious concerns with Clan Redourine.
Berylia coyly mentions some of the lesser powers of the Companions to Tianara, who agrees that these young women need to be used strategically, not merely as entertainment for the Apache. Berylia seizes upon the opportunity of the agreement to convince Tianara that the Companions will need the combat training that only Tianara can provide.
It is always a problem in a story with a large scope to move characters around in a natural way. Most of this conversation will occur on the way to the Healing Temple, as Tianara needs to consult with Alathea, First Sister of the Healers and mother of Ariana. Berylia is calm and gracious throughout all the interchanges with Alathea.
Someone who has not read the first novel will need to know that Berylia and Rintiala (Alathea's first daughter and her pride and joy) have been at odds for the last seven years, since they were part of an Guild inception ritual known as Mothering Day. Rintiala was accepted by the Guild of Healers, and has now cemented her position as the most powerful (at the tender age of nineteen) First Sister in the history of Nuegua; Berylia was rejected by all the Guilds, and not allowed to use a Cactus Mother at all.
Tianara and Berylia arrive to find Alathea in a very bad and distracted mood indeed. Rintiala has successfully become a First Sister, and in the process, has unwittingly changed the balance of power among the nations of the Empty Earth. Alathea and Rintiala are not presently on speaking terms, and Tianara (Berylia's presence doesn't help here) can't get a straight answer out of Alathea as to what really transpired in Scottsdale Arizona.
All Alathea says is that the Apache Traders and Police are no longer to be trusted with the security of Nuegua, and that the Western Bandits are a real and true threat. Seamus Espinoza Sr. and his son Seamus Jr. will be seeking revenge for the humiliation that Rintiala has caused. Alathea agrees to send Ariana and Alope down to Clan Demetra as supports for the very pregnant Tianara; she basically says that Ariana (Second Sister) and Alope (Novice) are exemplary Sisters; she adds that she personally forgives Tianara's decision to have a third pregnancy, but as First of First Sisters, she had to agree with age-old Nueguan tradition concerning mothers who have a history of dangerous pregnancies. (This is a good place to illustrate just how Darwinian the Nueguan mind-set really is.)
The basic plan is:
Here we meet our villains Seamus Espinoza Sr. and Seamus Jr. They have only one thing on their mind, and that is to punish the Nueguans for driving them out of Scottsdale Arizona, although the real agents behind the expulsion were the Apache Traders and Apache Police. The problem is that the Espinozas (or any other person who isn't Apache) don't know anything about the Nueguans. They only thing that they do know is that this south-eastern tip of Nuegua is bordered by the Galiuro wilderness. The Galiuro is the dumping ground for Clan Redourine or Clan Tiala failed Nueguan biotechnology, primarily faulty Cactus Mothers. Because the Cactus Mothers all contain thousands to millions of termites, the entire Galiuro is saturated with termite workers and soldiers. Clan Demetra has grudgingly acquiesced to this state of affairs, but they do not collaborate with it. What happens to failed Clan Demetran Mothers--and there must be some--is a mystery to Tianara.
At the beginning of this chapter, there is no one on Empty Earth--Nueguan included--who can traverse the Galiuro without having their flesh stripped from their bones. (Spoiler alert: Alope will save the day because only she can move through the Galiuro, as only she has even born to one Guild but trained in another).
Seamus Sr. is busy overseeing the building of towers between the mesas so that the Western Bandits can raid Clan Demetra. A system of cables and pulleys will allow his men to traverse the Galiuro from a safe height. The plan seems to be working because everything that the Western Bandits wear and every hemp rope they use on the cables and pulleys is soaked in orange oil (limonene) as well as the wooden towers themselves. Seamus has taken great pains to advance slowly through the Galiuro, never unloading a new tower in fewer than three days. When the chapter begins, the Western Bandits are halfway across the Galiuro or about three miles. They are visible to the Nueguan eye, but no Clan Demetran or Apache Police would dare to enter the Galiuro, rough terrain as it is, and every inch protected by the Wild Cactus Mothers and their termite minions. Berylia explains that in the past, the Apache Police tried, but the termite soldiers chewed up their solid rubber tires like soft tortillas, and they all perished within an hour.
Tianara asks "Why don't the Apache Police simply outflank them?" Berylia's answer is that there are far more Western Bandits massed at the eastern border of the Galiuro, and that although they are horseback, they are heavily armed and well dug in. The Apache would have to call on the King of New Spain to support them with the King's Guard, but this would be an invitation to all-out war. The Western Bandits are desperate enough to die to the last man, as they and their families have no where safe to go on the Empty Earth. Berylia also hints that this is the result of Rintiala's meddling in affairs she cannot possibly understand, and putting large numbers of people at risk for her own prideful accomplishements. Tianara nearly agrees with her. Ariana is much more sympathetic to Berylia, and Alope has her loyalty to her own Clan Redourine tested.
When Tianara, Ariana, Berylia and Alope arrive at Clan Demetra, they meet with Long Jumper, a Jicarilla who is now a full Apache Policeman, due to his successful involvement with Rintiala and Alathea, and their joint defeat of the Western Bandits. He tells quite a different story of Rintiala's exploits, making her seem very heroic. Tianara finds his version much more palatable than Alathea's griping, or Ariana's "nobody knows my big sister better than I do" attitude. We found out in the course of these conversations that Alope was originally Rintiala's star pupil when Rintiala was a Second Sister. Rintiala's dramatic elevation to First Sister hasn't made Alope particularly happy, although she does have a grudging admiration for Ariana's competence. We see Ariana's competence first when she tinkers together a safe vehicle to transport Tianara, so as not to cause a miscarriage.
Important Underlying Questions:
Why Does Berylia ask Tianara to come to Clan Demetra in the first place?
This is part of Finds-Water's and Berylia's plan, which is to force the Nuegua women to intermarry with the Apache. Finds-Water had planned for both Alathea and Rintiala to die a heroic death fighting the Western Bandits; instead Rintiala has changed the rules of combat in the Empty Earth. Try as Finds-Water might, too many people have seen the activated Sentinel at Sanctuary Mountain. His backup plan is to discredit the Western Bandits as much as possible, in the process create heroic deaths for both Clan Redourine and Clan Tiala. Tianara's pregnancy---which she naively admits to Finds-Water--gives him the opportunity he needs. Tianara will travel to Clan Demetra with a Second Sister from Clan Tiala, and both will die at the hands and guns of the Western Bandits. He did not calculate for Alope's abilities, which she did not know she had either.
Why does Finds-Water allow the Western Bandits to raid, rape & pillage Clan Demetra?
The answer is that it follows from his dialogue with Alathea (in Scottsdale) about the best chance of survival against the Sky Wanderers, which is intermarriage with the Apache. Alathea vehemently refuses. Finds-Water, undeterred, choses to use the Western Bandits to terrorize Clan Demetra, who at this time are more and more opposed to the leadership of Clan Tiala. Berylia is his greatest ally in this fight; at the time of the Western Bandit attack, she is the mother of one of his children.
His plan is to allow the raid, capture the Western Bandits, execute a few as an example, and send the rest of them by cattle-cart at night to Albuquerque in New Spain. Albuquerque is a city of the dead filled with the Sky Wanderers' shrouded buildings. No New Spaniard has entered its precincts in centuries.
It is a risky plan, but he has bribed the King's Guard with gold, silver, and exotic (and very addictive) Motherfruit. This strain of Motherfruit acts like a combination of cocaine and steroids, but without the damaging properties of either drug. It is the King's Guard favorite, especially before combat, as it heightens and focuses the senses.
Once the Western Bandits are within Albuquerque precincts, they must stay there or be hunted down by the King's Guard. It is a devil's bargain, and the reader should get hints that Seamus Espinoza Sr. will only put up with it until there is a way out.
Why can't the Wild Mothers spread into Clan Demetra territory?
The Wild Mothers are a mixture of many generations and Guilds; as such, they are constantly at war with each other, sometimes forging allegiances, sometimes betraying them. During times of conflict, the floor of the Galiuro appears to be a roiling sea of insects. During times of alliance, the Wild Mothers form a webwork of communication, but it is flawed and weak. The Wild Mothers at this time cannot unify themselves to attack the immensely stronger webwork of the Clan Dementran Mothers.
The Western Bandits--men, women and children--about 900 in all are dug in on Bassett Peak in a last desperate attempt to establish themselves in Empty Earth, which they believe is their birthright.
Transition One: The Slow Approach
The Western Bandits are in no hurry to cross Redfield Canyon, much as Seamus Jr. wants revenge for his humiliation at Scottsdale. Seamus Sr. has gambled that the Apache Police have neither the forces nor the interest to defend a dangerous dump ground, a living biohazard. He explains the 'slow attack' mode to his son, citing Julius Caesar's attack across the Rhine. The purpose is twofold: demoralize Clan Demetra; draw out the Apache Police into an area where they can be outgunned. Every man, women, and child capable of using a firearm is present on the ramparts over Redfield canyon, or dug into Basset Peak. Seamus Sr.'s sources have told him that there are only 100 Apache Police on duty at any one time in Apacheria, with another 100 in reserves. If the situation escalated into a war, the Apache Police could call on the 1,000 trained-and-ready Kings' Guard of New Spain, fresh from their defeat of the Comanche. Seamus proposes that only about 25 Apache Police would be able to defend Clan Demetra.
Scene: The Grand Attack
Seamus Jr. will lead the attack on the Gates of the Mother Goose Temple. Before that, however, the ramparts will fork, with three tines: one north and one south of the central tine, which will stick out the farthest. Seamus Jr. and his men will be dressed in heavy cotton quilts soaked in lemon oil; they will need to run the last three hundred meters from the central tine, through the entwined Wild Mothers (and their termite minions), then up the Great Stairs to the Gate. They will only be safely distanced from the Wild Mothers once their feet touch the Great Stairs, which are controlled by the Demetran Mothers.
Meanwhile on the northern and southern tines, dozens of the best sharpshooters among the Western Bandits have their Sharps buffalo rifles trained on any movement along the Clan Demetran border. If there are no sudden gusts of wind in the canyon, their rifles will be lethal right up to the Gates.
They do not suffer any losses crossing through the Wild Mothers' area, and this piece of luck elates the attackers.
The plan is to attack the Gates, then force their way into the Temple by blowing the doors off with a 100 lbs. of concentrated bat guano explosive. Although they have watched Demetrans going in and out of these doors for the last two weeks, when they view them close up, they discover that there are no hinges. The technology that created these doors is centuries beyond what Seamus Jr. and his team can understand. Undaunted, they attach the explosive to the doors, and try to shield themselves from the explosion at the base of the steps, only to find to their dismay that the doors cannot be breached, and the shape of the entrance is such that the blast is funneled outward into a cyclone-level force. Seamus Jr. watches as half of his men are flung spinning across Redfield canyon to their deaths.
While the Western Bandit attack team is still reeling from the explosion, six powerfully-built Dementran man, armed only with appears to be glass staves marches out to meet the attackers. Before Seamus Jr. and his men can gun them all down, the lead Demetran lands a collosal blow to his right kneecap, shattering it.
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When asked by Tianara why the Apache Police don't simply go in and exterminate them, thus permanently ending the threat, Long Jumper speaks on behalf of the Apache. "We remember Geronimo, and how the Gringos finally defeated him. We aren't Gringos; first we will defeat them in honorable battle, then we will relocate them. Finds-Water has a plan all worked out."
Tianara disagrees vehemently. "Extermination is a permanent solution. This rabble has nothing to offer us."
"Us? You must mean Nueguans," Long Jumper counters.
"She probably means only Clan Redourine," Berylia chimes in, revealing a bit of her complicity in Finds-Waters' plan. "Tianara, you are here to train and advise in matters of hand-to-hand combat, not to make decisions on the fate of Clan Demetera. Leave that to me."
Long Jumper continued. "We believe that they are using bat guano explosives, dug into the trails all around Bassett Peak. Without a guide, the Apache Police will suffer heavy losses: they have the high ground, and control all the way to the base of the mountains. Clan Demetra's Cactus Mothers are strictly defensive; unlike a Clan Redourine Mother, they cannot order their termites to attack humans."
"Our best defense is to let them enter the eastern border of Clan Demetra, and then fight them on the ground." Berylia added.
"But won't that create heavy casualties?" Tianara asked.
"No. We have a plan, and to make that plan work, we need your help. We will have two weeks before the Western Bandits can build platforms all the way to our eastern border. Train our Companions. Do your best to make these young women ready."
"But not your men?" Tianara queried.
"Our men will have other tasks to perform," said Berylia.
Fight Sequences
The battle does not go the way that Finds-Water intended, as Seamus Espinoza Sr., seeing that Seamus Jr. has given into his worst nature, is now in an ambush. Seamus orders his sharpshooters to kill anyone in Clan Demetra who is not a Companion--men, old women, children--and then begin moving the Western Bandits into the Mother Goose Temple (center for Demetran administration).
In the confusion, when the real fighting starts, Alope and Ariana descend to the floor of Redfield canyon, to the place where she has seen the old obsolete Clan Redourine Cactus Mothers entwined with a few Clan Tiala Cactus Mothers.
In a moment of sheer terror, both young women are overrun by the new type of mixed soldier termite. Just when they think that they are to be stripped down to their bones, the termites part in waves, one flowing towards a Redourine Mother, the other towards a Tialan Mother. As Ariana walks toward the Cactus Mother of her Clan, she recognizes it as Old Bess, a Mother who had become senile when Ariana was a Novice Healer, and had to be replaced. Old Bess recognizes Ariana as she approaches, and opens to her.
This chapter ends with Yassah and Shassay snuggled together beneath the open window to Alope's bedroom in her home in Clan Redourine. She is singing the 'Sister Song' of Clan Tiala to them while they hum along.
I have struggled mightily to get this second book started--the finish is easier--and now I know why. The working title is: "Second Sister"; and so for simplicity's sake that is how I will write it, primarily from Ariana's viewpoint.
Therefore, Tianara's diagnosis is not a back story, but something the reader is immersed in immediately. This makes sense because the conversation between Tianara and Strong Baby could not occur anywhere except in the Grotto of the Pregnant Virgin, under a Tialan Sister's command.
A good beginning would be to have Tianara and Ariana hidden in the wagon hauling sick Cactus Mother's out of Clan Redourine precints, and have them explain through argument how they got themselves into this predicament. The Strong Baby conversation could then be a flashback.
Rotating Points-of-View
For simplicity's sake, POV will always use: | Ariana | Tianara | Berylia | Dianire
Background Questions
How Does Dianire Fit into this Chapter? Rintiala?
First, Rintiala is busy building Dragonhead when this chapter occurs, and is out-of-contact with Dianire. Dianire has just finished discovered a open cache of Sky Wanderers' weapons (particle beam, shaped charge) in a suburb of Phoenix and urgently needs to deliver this news to the Combat Instructor of Nuegua, her older sister Tianara.
When Dianire arrives at Tianara's quarters, she is blocked by a Redourine Servant (someone who was not successfully Mothered, and who shall remain nameless in order to indicate that a caste system is forming in Nuegua), who tells her that Tianara is not to be disturbed, due to her delicate pregnancy. Dianire will have none of this obstruction, and marches into Tianara's quarters, only to find Tianara gone. She rather brutally interrogates the Servant, who tells her that Berylia and Ariana have come to take Tianara to Clan Demetra.
Dianire has a quick huddle with her brother Duji--also one of the team that discovered the Sky Wanderer's weapons--and they decide to track Tianara without her knowledge.
Why Does Berylia visit Tianara at this particular time?.
It is early September, the time for the Apache Trader's Bazaar. She is the representative for Clan Demetra, who have a new type of Mother Fruit, which they claim can not only heal wounds quickly, but can actually slow the aging process, not only for ordinary Nueguans, but Old Humans as well.
She conducts her transaction with the Second Sister in charge of such negotiations in Clan Tiala at the Healing Temple, who just happens to be Ariana, sister of Rintiala and daughter of Alathea.
Ariana, as a Second Sister--arguably the best in her class--Ariana is also part of the team that has analyzed Tianara's pregnancy complications and the decision that the First Sisters have made.
Upon examining the new Mother Fruit, and being rather taken by Berylia's charming manner, Ariana decides to try an alternative. Using a concentrate of the this Mother Fruit, and some of the new surgical tools that Dianire has created, Ariana believes that she and Berylia can operate on Tianara, and save both mother and baby.
What are Ariana's motivations in this chapter, and how does it move her character arc along?
Let me quote Ariana herself: "My big sister (Rintiala) does great big things that create great big problems for other people. I spend most of my time fixing those problems."
When Berylia visits Tianara, she reveals that she knows all about Tianara's dangerous pregnancy, which was diagnosed by the Sisters of the Healing Temple in Tiala. Tianara is both furious and curious. Who leaked this sensitive information to Berylia? Tianara knows that it would need to be one of the technicians--a Second Sister--who was directly involved in the diagnosis. Berylia smiles slyly, calmly explaining that it wasn't just any Second Sister, but the best of the Seconds, soon to be a First. They both know who that is: Ariana, the younger (18-year-old) sister of First Sister Rintiala.
Tianara asks why Berylia had any contact with the Healing Temple at all, considering the situation seven years earlier. Berylia soothingly states that she holds no animosity to the Healers of Tiala, as she has had to opportunity to explore other aspects of Nueguan technology. That is what led to her first meeting with Ariana. Berylia approached the Healers with a new type of Motherfruit that cured illnessess, healed wounds, and generally energized both Nueguans and Old Humans better than anything before. Of course, the Healers simply saw this as just another daily, tedious transaction between Guilds, and assigned a Second Sister to the task. Fate or mere coincidence? Berylia asks Tianara rhetorically.
Tianara hears about the encroachment of Western Bandits along the eastern border of Clan Demetra, and insists that this is a matter for the Apache Police, not a Builder. Berylia counters that she does not want the Apache Police to intervene until the Western Bandits have acted in an undisputably aggressive manner, even to the extent of the deaths of Clan Demetrans. Berylia makes it clear that she is authorized to speak for all Clan Demetra on this matter. Tianara decides to agree with her on this issue, with two stipulations: one, that she have the authority to call in the Apache Police when she decides there is undeniable violent aggression and that Ariana accompany both of them, so that this upstart Second Sister can learn what happens when you meddle in the affairs of others.
What is the difference between a First and Second Sister?
That answer is simple: a Second must excel in their skills, but a First must take calculated risks and succeed. Tianara is a First not because she is the best Builder, but because she is the best fighter and fight instructor in Tiala. She is the link between the Nueguans and the Apache Police.
The Rape of Clan Demetra (Synopsis)
Section One: An Honest Proposal
This chapter begins in the Shrine of the Lizard King, the central administration building of Clan Redourine (aka the Guild of Builders). Berylia of Clan Demetra has come to negotiate with Tianara of Clan Redourine concerning the combat training of her new organization, the Companions of Demetra. The Companions are the 'hetera' or 'temple prostitutes' of Clan Demetra; all are exceptionally beautiful and curvaceous young women who have been treated using a variety of Motherfruit to make their vaginal secretions (modified Bartholin glands) extremely addictive to any male who has intimate contact with them. Fully sexual intercourse with a Companion allows the young woman to completely control the mind of her male lover. Note that Tianara knows nothing of this plan; she is simply the best combat instructor in Nuegua.
Why is this interchange loaded with problems? Because Tianara is in her eighth month of an ectopic pregnancy. The Healing Temple of Clan Tiala had used its Pregnant Virgin technology to determine that though the female foetus had been implanted outside the womb, a rich blood supply from a uterine fibroid along the outer uterus wall had nourished her with a rich source of blood. A simple laparatomy inside a Cactus Mother would suffice for a successful delivery, and an healthy mother and child. The Healer's Guild has decided against this because Tianara has already had two miscarriages due to ectopic pregnancies; she has been denied the right to bear a child by the Guild of Healers. The reader must be reminded that a First Sister has complete control of her fertility; for Tianara to choose to become pregnant again is an act of defiance.
Berylia claims that a successful outcome is possible in Clan Demetra simply by using new varieties of Motherfruit (she is purposely vague about their properties) and the new Mothershell scalpels that Dianire Redourine (Tianara's sister) has created. They are made of the same nearly indestructible carbon fibers as is a Cactus Mother, but the edge of the blade is only one molecule thick.
Tianara reluctantly agrees after consulting with her youngest sister Alope, who though born a Redourine, is in training as a novice for the Healer's Guild. Alope is convinced that she can talk her new instructor Ariana (sister of Rintiala) into going on a field trip with the two of them. Since Ariana is a Second Sister of the Healer's Guild, this would be extra insurance of that successful outcome promised by Berylia.
Why does Berylia even make this offer? Danger is brewing at the southernmost tip of the Clan Demetra precincts. The Western Bandits are gathering there on the eastern wall of the Aruvapai Canyon. (Clan Demetran precincts begin at the Western Wall.) Normally, the Apache Police would station themselves at the edge of Clan Demetra near the Mother Goose Temple and easily dispatch the Western Bandits. The catch however, is that Berylia does not want to reveal her weapon--the Companions--to the Apache. Clan Demetra's relation with the Apache Police is that the Apache have free use of any young woman of Clan Demetra that they want. This practice appalls the elitist Clan Tiala (the Healer's Guild) and raises serious concerns with Clan Redourine.
Berylia coyly mentions some of the lesser powers of the Companions to Tianara, who agrees that these young women need to be used strategically, not merely as entertainment for the Apache. Berylia seizes upon the opportunity of the agreement to convince Tianara that the Companions will need the combat training that only Tianara can provide.
It is always a problem in a story with a large scope to move characters around in a natural way. Most of this conversation will occur on the way to the Healing Temple, as Tianara needs to consult with Alathea, First Sister of the Healers and mother of Ariana. Berylia is calm and gracious throughout all the interchanges with Alathea.
Someone who has not read the first novel will need to know that Berylia and Rintiala (Alathea's first daughter and her pride and joy) have been at odds for the last seven years, since they were part of an Guild inception ritual known as Mothering Day. Rintiala was accepted by the Guild of Healers, and has now cemented her position as the most powerful (at the tender age of nineteen) First Sister in the history of Nuegua; Berylia was rejected by all the Guilds, and not allowed to use a Cactus Mother at all.
Tianara and Berylia arrive to find Alathea in a very bad and distracted mood indeed. Rintiala has successfully become a First Sister, and in the process, has unwittingly changed the balance of power among the nations of the Empty Earth. Alathea and Rintiala are not presently on speaking terms, and Tianara (Berylia's presence doesn't help here) can't get a straight answer out of Alathea as to what really transpired in Scottsdale Arizona.
All Alathea says is that the Apache Traders and Police are no longer to be trusted with the security of Nuegua, and that the Western Bandits are a real and true threat. Seamus Espinoza Sr. and his son Seamus Jr. will be seeking revenge for the humiliation that Rintiala has caused. Alathea agrees to send Ariana and Alope down to Clan Demetra as supports for the very pregnant Tianara; she basically says that Ariana (Second Sister) and Alope (Novice) are exemplary Sisters; she adds that she personally forgives Tianara's decision to have a third pregnancy, but as First of First Sisters, she had to agree with age-old Nueguan tradition concerning mothers who have a history of dangerous pregnancies. (This is a good place to illustrate just how Darwinian the Nueguan mind-set really is.)
The basic plan is:
- Scene: Berylia presents her proposal to Tianara;
- Transition: Berylia and Tianara travel to Clan Tiala to make an arrangement with Alathea;
- Alathea presents her concerns about Clan Demetra, and reluctantly agrees to allow Ariana and Alope to go with Tianara in case there is a medical emergency. (A Second Sister would have approximately the skills of a practical nurse).
Here we meet our villains Seamus Espinoza Sr. and Seamus Jr. They have only one thing on their mind, and that is to punish the Nueguans for driving them out of Scottsdale Arizona, although the real agents behind the expulsion were the Apache Traders and Apache Police. The problem is that the Espinozas (or any other person who isn't Apache) don't know anything about the Nueguans. They only thing that they do know is that this south-eastern tip of Nuegua is bordered by the Galiuro wilderness. The Galiuro is the dumping ground for Clan Redourine or Clan Tiala failed Nueguan biotechnology, primarily faulty Cactus Mothers. Because the Cactus Mothers all contain thousands to millions of termites, the entire Galiuro is saturated with termite workers and soldiers. Clan Demetra has grudgingly acquiesced to this state of affairs, but they do not collaborate with it. What happens to failed Clan Demetran Mothers--and there must be some--is a mystery to Tianara.
At the beginning of this chapter, there is no one on Empty Earth--Nueguan included--who can traverse the Galiuro without having their flesh stripped from their bones. (Spoiler alert: Alope will save the day because only she can move through the Galiuro, as only she has even born to one Guild but trained in another).
Seamus Sr. is busy overseeing the building of towers between the mesas so that the Western Bandits can raid Clan Demetra. A system of cables and pulleys will allow his men to traverse the Galiuro from a safe height. The plan seems to be working because everything that the Western Bandits wear and every hemp rope they use on the cables and pulleys is soaked in orange oil (limonene) as well as the wooden towers themselves. Seamus has taken great pains to advance slowly through the Galiuro, never unloading a new tower in fewer than three days. When the chapter begins, the Western Bandits are halfway across the Galiuro or about three miles. They are visible to the Nueguan eye, but no Clan Demetran or Apache Police would dare to enter the Galiuro, rough terrain as it is, and every inch protected by the Wild Cactus Mothers and their termite minions. Berylia explains that in the past, the Apache Police tried, but the termite soldiers chewed up their solid rubber tires like soft tortillas, and they all perished within an hour.
Tianara asks "Why don't the Apache Police simply outflank them?" Berylia's answer is that there are far more Western Bandits massed at the eastern border of the Galiuro, and that although they are horseback, they are heavily armed and well dug in. The Apache would have to call on the King of New Spain to support them with the King's Guard, but this would be an invitation to all-out war. The Western Bandits are desperate enough to die to the last man, as they and their families have no where safe to go on the Empty Earth. Berylia also hints that this is the result of Rintiala's meddling in affairs she cannot possibly understand, and putting large numbers of people at risk for her own prideful accomplishements. Tianara nearly agrees with her. Ariana is much more sympathetic to Berylia, and Alope has her loyalty to her own Clan Redourine tested.
When Tianara, Ariana, Berylia and Alope arrive at Clan Demetra, they meet with Long Jumper, a Jicarilla who is now a full Apache Policeman, due to his successful involvement with Rintiala and Alathea, and their joint defeat of the Western Bandits. He tells quite a different story of Rintiala's exploits, making her seem very heroic. Tianara finds his version much more palatable than Alathea's griping, or Ariana's "nobody knows my big sister better than I do" attitude. We found out in the course of these conversations that Alope was originally Rintiala's star pupil when Rintiala was a Second Sister. Rintiala's dramatic elevation to First Sister hasn't made Alope particularly happy, although she does have a grudging admiration for Ariana's competence. We see Ariana's competence first when she tinkers together a safe vehicle to transport Tianara, so as not to cause a miscarriage.
Important Underlying Questions:
Why Does Berylia ask Tianara to come to Clan Demetra in the first place?
This is part of Finds-Water's and Berylia's plan, which is to force the Nuegua women to intermarry with the Apache. Finds-Water had planned for both Alathea and Rintiala to die a heroic death fighting the Western Bandits; instead Rintiala has changed the rules of combat in the Empty Earth. Try as Finds-Water might, too many people have seen the activated Sentinel at Sanctuary Mountain. His backup plan is to discredit the Western Bandits as much as possible, in the process create heroic deaths for both Clan Redourine and Clan Tiala. Tianara's pregnancy---which she naively admits to Finds-Water--gives him the opportunity he needs. Tianara will travel to Clan Demetra with a Second Sister from Clan Tiala, and both will die at the hands and guns of the Western Bandits. He did not calculate for Alope's abilities, which she did not know she had either.
Why does Finds-Water allow the Western Bandits to raid, rape & pillage Clan Demetra?
The answer is that it follows from his dialogue with Alathea (in Scottsdale) about the best chance of survival against the Sky Wanderers, which is intermarriage with the Apache. Alathea vehemently refuses. Finds-Water, undeterred, choses to use the Western Bandits to terrorize Clan Demetra, who at this time are more and more opposed to the leadership of Clan Tiala. Berylia is his greatest ally in this fight; at the time of the Western Bandit attack, she is the mother of one of his children.
His plan is to allow the raid, capture the Western Bandits, execute a few as an example, and send the rest of them by cattle-cart at night to Albuquerque in New Spain. Albuquerque is a city of the dead filled with the Sky Wanderers' shrouded buildings. No New Spaniard has entered its precincts in centuries.
It is a risky plan, but he has bribed the King's Guard with gold, silver, and exotic (and very addictive) Motherfruit. This strain of Motherfruit acts like a combination of cocaine and steroids, but without the damaging properties of either drug. It is the King's Guard favorite, especially before combat, as it heightens and focuses the senses.
Once the Western Bandits are within Albuquerque precincts, they must stay there or be hunted down by the King's Guard. It is a devil's bargain, and the reader should get hints that Seamus Espinoza Sr. will only put up with it until there is a way out.
Why can't the Wild Mothers spread into Clan Demetra territory?
The Wild Mothers are a mixture of many generations and Guilds; as such, they are constantly at war with each other, sometimes forging allegiances, sometimes betraying them. During times of conflict, the floor of the Galiuro appears to be a roiling sea of insects. During times of alliance, the Wild Mothers form a webwork of communication, but it is flawed and weak. The Wild Mothers at this time cannot unify themselves to attack the immensely stronger webwork of the Clan Dementran Mothers.
- Building a Tower
- The Apache Police are Stymied
- Just Out of Range.
The Western Bandits--men, women and children--about 900 in all are dug in on Bassett Peak in a last desperate attempt to establish themselves in Empty Earth, which they believe is their birthright.
Transition One: The Slow Approach
The Western Bandits are in no hurry to cross Redfield Canyon, much as Seamus Jr. wants revenge for his humiliation at Scottsdale. Seamus Sr. has gambled that the Apache Police have neither the forces nor the interest to defend a dangerous dump ground, a living biohazard. He explains the 'slow attack' mode to his son, citing Julius Caesar's attack across the Rhine. The purpose is twofold: demoralize Clan Demetra; draw out the Apache Police into an area where they can be outgunned. Every man, women, and child capable of using a firearm is present on the ramparts over Redfield canyon, or dug into Basset Peak. Seamus Sr.'s sources have told him that there are only 100 Apache Police on duty at any one time in Apacheria, with another 100 in reserves. If the situation escalated into a war, the Apache Police could call on the 1,000 trained-and-ready Kings' Guard of New Spain, fresh from their defeat of the Comanche. Seamus proposes that only about 25 Apache Police would be able to defend Clan Demetra.
Scene: The Grand Attack
Seamus Jr. will lead the attack on the Gates of the Mother Goose Temple. Before that, however, the ramparts will fork, with three tines: one north and one south of the central tine, which will stick out the farthest. Seamus Jr. and his men will be dressed in heavy cotton quilts soaked in lemon oil; they will need to run the last three hundred meters from the central tine, through the entwined Wild Mothers (and their termite minions), then up the Great Stairs to the Gate. They will only be safely distanced from the Wild Mothers once their feet touch the Great Stairs, which are controlled by the Demetran Mothers.
Meanwhile on the northern and southern tines, dozens of the best sharpshooters among the Western Bandits have their Sharps buffalo rifles trained on any movement along the Clan Demetran border. If there are no sudden gusts of wind in the canyon, their rifles will be lethal right up to the Gates.
They do not suffer any losses crossing through the Wild Mothers' area, and this piece of luck elates the attackers.
The plan is to attack the Gates, then force their way into the Temple by blowing the doors off with a 100 lbs. of concentrated bat guano explosive. Although they have watched Demetrans going in and out of these doors for the last two weeks, when they view them close up, they discover that there are no hinges. The technology that created these doors is centuries beyond what Seamus Jr. and his team can understand. Undaunted, they attach the explosive to the doors, and try to shield themselves from the explosion at the base of the steps, only to find to their dismay that the doors cannot be breached, and the shape of the entrance is such that the blast is funneled outward into a cyclone-level force. Seamus Jr. watches as half of his men are flung spinning across Redfield canyon to their deaths.
While the Western Bandit attack team is still reeling from the explosion, six powerfully-built Dementran man, armed only with appears to be glass staves marches out to meet the attackers. Before Seamus Jr. and his men can gun them all down, the lead Demetran lands a collosal blow to his right kneecap, shattering it.
=====================================================================
When asked by Tianara why the Apache Police don't simply go in and exterminate them, thus permanently ending the threat, Long Jumper speaks on behalf of the Apache. "We remember Geronimo, and how the Gringos finally defeated him. We aren't Gringos; first we will defeat them in honorable battle, then we will relocate them. Finds-Water has a plan all worked out."
Tianara disagrees vehemently. "Extermination is a permanent solution. This rabble has nothing to offer us."
"Us? You must mean Nueguans," Long Jumper counters.
"She probably means only Clan Redourine," Berylia chimes in, revealing a bit of her complicity in Finds-Waters' plan. "Tianara, you are here to train and advise in matters of hand-to-hand combat, not to make decisions on the fate of Clan Demetera. Leave that to me."
Long Jumper continued. "We believe that they are using bat guano explosives, dug into the trails all around Bassett Peak. Without a guide, the Apache Police will suffer heavy losses: they have the high ground, and control all the way to the base of the mountains. Clan Demetra's Cactus Mothers are strictly defensive; unlike a Clan Redourine Mother, they cannot order their termites to attack humans."
"Our best defense is to let them enter the eastern border of Clan Demetra, and then fight them on the ground." Berylia added.
"But won't that create heavy casualties?" Tianara asked.
"No. We have a plan, and to make that plan work, we need your help. We will have two weeks before the Western Bandits can build platforms all the way to our eastern border. Train our Companions. Do your best to make these young women ready."
"But not your men?" Tianara queried.
"Our men will have other tasks to perform," said Berylia.
Fight Sequences
- Seamus Jr.s' Posse versus Companions: The Successful Seduction
- Berylia versus Seamus Sr.: Protecting Her Daughters
- Tianara versus Seamus Sr.: Redourine Powers Revealed
- Alope & Ariana versus entire Western Bandit contingent
The battle does not go the way that Finds-Water intended, as Seamus Espinoza Sr., seeing that Seamus Jr. has given into his worst nature, is now in an ambush. Seamus orders his sharpshooters to kill anyone in Clan Demetra who is not a Companion--men, old women, children--and then begin moving the Western Bandits into the Mother Goose Temple (center for Demetran administration).
In the confusion, when the real fighting starts, Alope and Ariana descend to the floor of Redfield canyon, to the place where she has seen the old obsolete Clan Redourine Cactus Mothers entwined with a few Clan Tiala Cactus Mothers.
In a moment of sheer terror, both young women are overrun by the new type of mixed soldier termite. Just when they think that they are to be stripped down to their bones, the termites part in waves, one flowing towards a Redourine Mother, the other towards a Tialan Mother. As Ariana walks toward the Cactus Mother of her Clan, she recognizes it as Old Bess, a Mother who had become senile when Ariana was a Novice Healer, and had to be replaced. Old Bess recognizes Ariana as she approaches, and opens to her.
- Apache Police versus Western Bandits: The Roundup
This chapter ends with Yassah and Shassay snuggled together beneath the open window to Alope's bedroom in her home in Clan Redourine. She is singing the 'Sister Song' of Clan Tiala to them while they hum along.
posted by Zinc Chameleon @ 8:03 AM
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