Simina Lungu

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Tbe last srmuluors

The Last Sut"vivors

Contents

Part 1 The Peaceful Vi11age............ ...-.. 7

Part2On the Road....... -..--- 20

Part 3 The Companion """ 31

Part 4The Moonless Wood...... ....'..." 36

Part 5 Eagle's Story """""" 53

Part 6 The Last Leg of the ]ourney............ """" 72

Part7 The City of White Marble.... "' 84

Part 8 The Yellow Flower and the White Order...... ........1O2

Part 9 News from the Mountain Ogres .........' 128

Part L0 An Old Friend Returns """' 146

Part 11 Before the Battle .' 166

Partl2The Siege of the City of \Mhite Marble............." 184

Part 13 Allar and the Omen Birds " 237

PartlLRedwing ......."""" 281

Part 15 Aftermath ............. 303

The Last Survivors

Part 1 The Peaceful Village

drink."These are a new kind

*They do not come to stealof attackers," the merchant insisted'

our gold or take thralls or pillage our

1.

Thevillagestoodinashelteredvalleysurroundedbygentle

"fop"*. It ;;" called the Peaceful Village and none had ever

challenged its name. Ever since its first inhabitants settled there,

ihah;a seen little worse than a few strong winds once in a while

oi irr" odd drought. Its inhabitants were content and confident in

it "i, """.rrity arid saw no reason why things should change' They

werefarfromthemountainsandnobarbarianhoardwouldeverthinkofinvadingthem.ThebarbarianswerebusywiththesmallJff"S." and citiEs built near their mountains. They got all they

wantedfromthere.TheydidnotneedtoraidthePeacefulVillage.when news of "

;; hoard of barbarians reached the Peaceful

Vittage, its inhabitants did not worry too much' The tidings were

brought by a merchant from one of the mountain towns who

;i;#.J f* . ,rigt t at the Friendly Inn - the best inn of the

Peaceful Village, famous throughout the land for its food and

crops."---'ITh"r, why do they attack?,, the villagers asked with polite

curiosity. It did not miter why they attacked' They would not be

interested in the Peaceful Village anyway'The merchant paused in -his account for a more dramatic

effect. He was not Lware yet that his tidings were nothing more

than an interesting story for the very confident villagers'

"They come to deitroy a thing they fear -and h.ate with

,r"pl-#"t'e passion,,, the -merchani

whispered. "something that

";;;- to offend theii foul gods greatly' You see'- they hate the

;;il; white. And so they srnash white walls and slay everyone

t]ley see wearing white. Wttitt cattle, white dogs and cats - these

never escape when theY come'-- It *"* . disturbing"piece of news indeed. Barbarians attacking

for crops and riches, tlh.y could understand' But to attack a place

Simina Lungu

just because of a colour was beyond the villagers, comprehension.The merchant was preased to see that he *rr rrrrri.rjL effect onhis until then only polite audience. He decided -to press hisadvantage:"I have heard they will not be content only with thesettlements near the mountains. No, they have grr.rJ;hrs, thesesavages do, and very soon even your- peacetl ViiLge will bepeacefulno longer. For you are in tlie way.,, i

"In the way?" the_villagers repeated uneasily.The merchant nodded solemnly."You see," he went on,

"raa iha piece of news he had savedfor last would greatry startle his listeners. "They have in mind to 1/raid the City of White Marble.,,

Indeed, the merchant's tidings did cause an uproar, yet adifferent one from what the poo. ri* had been ""p."-ti.rg Insteadof being horrified, his ristenlrs burst-into laughter. nJa the cityof white Marble! As if anyone could do thafl Those who had triedin the past had quickly been dealt with and no one had daredapproach it with evil thoughts ever since. And it was also said thecit5r was charmed. One could not raid a charmed cit5r.

The merchant grew angry. No one had ever treated his storieswith so much contempt. rr. n"a wanted to warn al1 he met ofwhat awaited them, but,-apparently, th9 villagers *.r.-rrot goingto let themselves warned. bt.y *.i. inhabitants of the peacefulV-illage' They knew that no barbarian hoard had ever come nearthem-and they were certain none would. As for irr. citv "i ili#Marble - that was safe. They did things properly there. Theywould make sure the city did not fall.

so the inhabitants of the peaceful Viflage went on with theircarefree existence, steadfasfly ignoring any news of the terribrehoard of attackers- unlike neighiouring vilrages, they stubbornryrefused to sacrifice their white animals and stil went aboutdressed in white during feast days - which they hJ pienty. Nordid they renounce the custom of"having tn. ao#"Jo tt"i, rro-."dyed white. It was a-token of respect for the city of white Marble,a proof of their arlegiance to it. The city siiil stood and itsinhabitants would not take too kindly to"trrtse *to-pointearvabandoned them for the sake of unfounded rumour", *orlta they?

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The Last Survivors

2.Penda sat on the stone steps of his house, looking at the

people walking along the cobbled street that stretched beyond theyard. They were all going to the Golden Fields for the autumnfeast. He was too young to go - no one could take part in the feastunless they were over fifteen, a most unfair rule, in his opinion,especially as he was fourteen of age. Any other time he wouldhave been excited. The younger children were, knowing theywouid soon have the village all to themselves for an entire dayand most of the night. But Penda would rather have gone to thefeast. They would dance and sing and tell stories round thebonfire. He remembered last year's Midwinter Feast - the ruleswere different for Midwinter Feasts, anyone could attend those.He had danced with a girl from one of the neighbouring villagesthen. He did not know her name, but she was pretty and dancedwell. Penda wondered whether she was fifteen yet and would bethere, dancing with the other lads.

An angry growl from behind broke his thoughts and he turnedaround in time to see his pup White-flake chase the old tabby catdown the front stairs straight up a tree. There, the little dog couldgo no further, which frustrated her and she circled the treeseveral times, while the tabby cat looked down at her smugly. Heshook his head. His parents were not going to be pleased whenthey found out White-flake was chasing the cat again.

He decided to go inside. The village was nearly deserted bynow and there was nothing to do there save watch the childrenplay. Of course, some boys took advantage of that freedom tosteal apples from their neighbours' gardens, but he had neverbeen one of them. He thought stealing apples was a rather dullpastime when you were not running the risk of getting caught.

It was cooler inside the house. A covered bowl of food lay ontlle small kitchen table set, there by his mother. He didn't evenlook at it. He would share it with White-flake later but right thenfood was the last thing on his mind. He looked around the smalldwelling-place he had known all his life, at the clumsily-madewooden chairs and the round table covered with a white cloth,and suddenly felt inexplicably restless and stifled. Things were toodull there, he thought. Unnaturally safe. Not healthy for theimagination of a fourteen-year-old boy.

Simina Lungu

"I wish there was a dragon here," he muttered. "It is neverdull when dragons are around, if what is said in travellers' talesholds any truth."

The patter of feet distracted the boy and he turned around tosee White-flake looking inquiringly at him. Hearing her master'svoice, the young pup had left her post under the tree and spedtowards the house. Penda shook his head ruefully.

"You are no dragon," he accused her in a dejected tone, arather unfair accusation in White-flake's view, as it certainly wasnot her fault she was only a dog. She would have preferred to be adragon too - she would have shown the old tabby cat then!

3.The Golden Fields were bathed in sunlight. A young boy was

playing the fiddle to a group of youngsters dancing to the merryztune. Married women, their hair covered by white scarves, weresetting white cloths on the ground on which they were going to laytheir food - bread, meat and honey-cakes. Meanwhile, men weregathering wood for the great bonfire they would light when thefirst star appeared. A little farther, the old folk of the village sat ingrave converse, debating which stories they should tell when thebonfire was finally lit.

Harald was gathering wood with a brooding expression, amost unsuitable manner for a celebration, the other villagersconsidered. And he had few reasons to be preoccupied anyway.He was well-off; he had a beautiful woman for a wife and a spriteyoung lad for a son. But that was exactly what was worrying himnow - Penda. The boy was becoming quite difficult these days. Hewas saying nothing to his parents, but Harald had more thanonce caught a strange unhappy look in his eyes, as if there wassomething not quite as it should have been. Still, he thought,perhaps he needn't worry. He had been young too and young ladsusually longed for adventure. There were no adventures to be hadin the Peaceful Village, no monsters to be fought, no invaders tobe held back, no strange creatures to be hunted. And that waswell. It might seem unspeakably dull for a fourteen-year-old boy,but when Penda grew up he would come to appreciate thequietness and dullness of the Peaceful Village.

Harald had heard the rumours too - like the rest of thevillagers. He knew all there was to know about the barbarian

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The Last Survivors

hoard whose gods wanted to destroy everything that was white

and who had Jupposedly set out on a quest to destroy the City ofwhite Marble. Like tho rest of the villagers, Harald held these

rumours in contempt. He had heard travellers' tales before. He

knew they made things seem worse than they actually were' He

himself had been to the city of white Marble and back in hisyouth and he had met none of the monsters travellers reported -

not even the Ogre said to dwell deep in the Moonless Wood' The

world was not as wild as some made it and there was more than

one Peaceful Village in it.A soft hand touched him and he tumed to 100k at Seina, his

wife, who was offering him a flask of water';'Alrr.y" thinking of everything," he praised her',,I can hardly I"^r. my m"n to suffer from thirst while

working at the bonfire we wiil all enjoy, can I-now?" Seina teased'

she loJked at the almost finished bonfire admiringly. "It wili be

beautiful when lit," she remarked. "I wish Penda could see it too."

"Next year," Harald reminded her'Seina stroot< her head, a nostalgic smile on her face',,our Penda,,' she said. "How he grows! I can hardly beiieve

next year I will see him dancing with the lasses at the AutumnFeast..."

,,yon saw him dance with the lasses on Midwinter Night. or at

least I remember I did. with one lass, and a little fiery creature

she was too. Not bad to have around the house'"Seina laughed merrily at this. she shook her head again and

patted her husband's shoulder',,you look too far ahead. our Penda may be growing fast, but

he is still a child."seina left. Harald felt oddly comforted by her words. Penda

was still a child, she had said. Harald could not tellwhy, but his

mood had lifted considerably at this thought. Now his face had

cleared and he was humming as he worked'

4.Penda gave up sulking around the house when two of his

friends came to take him for a walk to the nearest hill. The hillyras one of his favourite spots, commanding a wide view of what

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Simina Lungu

lay.around. They stilt hoped to see a dragon flying from the barelyvisible mountain tops from afar whenerr"i they cntrea that hill.-

White-flake, to her utter disappointment, remained at home.Penda had forbidden her to come.-she was stil young, he told thepup who sat listening to him with her ears diopp# dejectedly.she tired easily and he was in no mood to carry ir", ,p the hillthis time. she had become too big to be carriei at any rate. sowhite-flake was forced to stay behilnd, to her aistiess - ""a that ofthe tabby cat, who had. been-banking on a qrriet afternoon by thehearth without that wretched mutt around.

His two friends, Baldo and Ferdo, were too young to attendthe Autumn Feast. Baido was thirteen and Ferdo had j"ust turnedtyeive. They were both bright boys and both shared his view that11:":::.^11_11111g.

was.much too quiet for their own good. rheynao made up their minds that they were going to trav"el to morlinteresting places as soon as they #ere old Enorigfr to jo so.It was a clear .day- and they could see far. Tt. p..f." of themountains were crearly visibre standing white

"s"ii"i the bluesky'.There were patches of dark green too, the forests where fewused to enter and even fewer *orii come out. Here and there, onecould see the other viliages that were near their own. They lookedoddly strange."That is because we cannot see the people there from thisdistance," Ferdo explained wisely."I wish we could.," said penda. "Do you remember the storiestravellers from the south tel us? About the path-finders - peoplewho can see better than hawks and hear even mice treading onthe ground? I wish I could too...,,"What good would.it do to you in the peaceful Village?,,Batdo

reasoned. "The only thing you would see here is ord cealt bringingthe cows home rn ihe ""J"ing or yori*other scolding white-flakeagain."

"Perhaps, if a dragon approached our village...,,, penda began,but he stopped. He knew what the others would say. A dragonwould not bother with the peacefur villagers. rney #ere just toodull for that.The boys stood watching the distant rine of the mountains,then lay down to bask in the-bright sunlight. They tarkeJ for sometime about ali the adventures tf,.y *...-going to h.rr. once they

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The Last Survivors

left the village. The day was warm and they were lying at ease andvery soon they ceased talking and, one by one, they fell asleep.

It was Ferdo who woke first to find that the sun was no longerabove the hill. It had to be late afternoon. The people at theGolden Fields were probably dancing the Evening Dance now, thelast dance before the great bonfire was lit. Ferdo looked at his twocompanions and saw they were still blissfully asleep' Not wantingto wake them yet, he stood up to have another look at what lay inthe distance. At first, the boy thought that little change had comeover the view, except that it had grown darker. But then his eyesfell upon a strange sight. A great cloud of smoke was rising fromone of the villages and ahead of it, a red shape was advancingquickly, its next destination clearly the Peaceful Village. Becauseof the heavy smoke, Ferdo first thought of dragons. But he knewthat the line of red dust approaching fast was not made bydragons. It was made by men, many men on fast-gallopinghorses. From the faint red glimmer Ferdo could see here andthere amid the cloud of dust, he guessed they might be carryingtorches.

"I say!" he shouted then to the two boys who were stillsleeping. "You have to wake up and see this!"

Baldo immediately sprang up beside Ferdo' Penda grumbledand got up slowly. At first, like Ferdo, the other two could see

little amiss. But as their sleepy eyes grew accustomed to thedistances in front of them, they too were able to make out the fastmoving line of torches and dust. A11 three of them had heard therumours about the barbarians said to be bent on destroying theCity of White Marble, and they had no trouble in recognizing themnow.

"So they really are coming towards us," Penda discovered, hiseyes wide.

"Do you think they will perhaps pass our village and donothing?" Ferdo asked hopefully.

Penda scoffed."Haven't you heard the tales? They hate everything white and

destroy all that is of that colour. They will not pass our village."His tone was dejected, his iook frightened. If just a few hours

before the boys had been yearning for something.to happen, thatwas only because they had been certain nbthing ever would. Now

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Simina Lungu

that something was actually about to happen, all they hoped forwas for the thing to be avoided somehow.

"What do we do?" he asked desperately. ,,Ferdo, Baldo, whatdo we do?"

The others looked at him helplessly. What could they do, onlythe three of them against the dark cloud of fire and dust that wasrapidly and inevitably approaching their until then untouchablehaven?

"We have to warn the people in the fields,,, Baldo decided."And... and also the children who are still in the village.,,

Ferdo nodded at this."You and Penda run off to the fields. I will climb the steeple at

the far side of the village and sound the warning call on the be11."The warning call to retreat and abandon the village had never

been heard in that place before. However, the boys knew how itsounded and also that everyone would be aware of what it meant.The others nodded. Now that they had a plan to follow, they nolonger felt so afraid. In a way, everything was happening soquickly that they took it almost as an unreal thing, like theunfolding of a game. They bid Ferdo good luck and hasteneddown the hill towards the Golden Fields. Soon enough, the urgenttolling of a bell was carried to them and the sound made themincrease their speed. Penda hoped that the children in the villagewould not take the sound only as a joke and ignore it. Thethought of the village brought another image to the boy's mind.,which caused him to halt abruptly.

"White-flake!" he cried alarmed. "She is still in the village!,,Baldo stopped too, and turned to face his companion:"You're not going to doom all the villagers for the sake of a

dog, Penda," he told him soberly.Penda shook his head."Of course not. But that still doesn't mean I will let them have

her. You go on, Baldo, and warn the villagers. I'm going to get mydog."

And with that he bolted towards the village, paying noattention to Baldo's frantic cries. Ba-ldo himself didn't stay long tocall after him. He had a task to carry out on which the lives of thevillagers rested. If his friend was reckless enough to risk his neckfor a dog, so be it. He could not save him.

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