Because I created a language for my story, I’ve decided that, perhaps, I should inform potential readers of how to pronounce the letters and letter combinations I use for the words in this language.
Letter Pronunciation of the Language of Tashoo
Consonants Vowels
Ch as in Chapter A as in Father
D as in Dog E as in Best
F as in Fast I as in Bit
G as in Gone O as in Most
H as in Hotel OO as in Moon, not Foot
J as in Jacques U as in Under
K as in Kilo Y as in Tiny
L as in Lima
LL as in Yam/Llama Note 1: If U is followed by a vowel, they
M as in Mash form a syllable and U is pronounced W.
N as in Nature
R as in Rose Note 2: All syllables are made up of one
S as in Soothe consonant sound and one vowel sound,
Sh as in Sharp exceptions are syllables that end in N, R, or
T as in Take S. A syllable can end with these sounds but
Th as in Three, not They they cannot stand alone. However, if these
V as in Victory consonants are followed by a vowel, they
Z as in Zebra combine into a syllable. The only consonant
sound that can end a word is N.
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V
Talo-Vy
(Day 1 on Tashoo)
(Early Afternoon)
I don’t know how long I had been unconscious. I just know that, eventually, I awoke. I was weak, almost too weak to think, let alone move.
When I awoke, I felt as if I was lying on the softest fur rug you could imagine. However, as I became more conscious, I realized that I was not lying on fur, but grass. But, I don’t remember grass ever feeling as soft as this grass was. I tried to open my eyes to look at it, but it hurt for me to open them at first, kind of like the feeling you get from a hangover or a severe migraine headache. Eventually, I was able to slowly open my eyes and what I saw made me think that I was still asleep and in the middle of a nightmare of the worst kind. I say this because when I opened my eyes, the sight that befell them was absolutely beyond belief. While most things were similar to Terra, nothing looked right. The first thought that crossed my mind was a line from an early 20th century movie. “Toto, I don’t think we're in Kansas anymore.” (1)
The grass, if that is what you can call it, that I was lying on was, as I mentioned, as soft as a baby’s skin. No, it was even softer than that. It made velour feel like 80 grit sandpaper. But, it was the color that nearly struck me blind. It was the color of crimson. Once again a classic work of science-fiction crossed my mind. I thought I had traveled to Barsoom of the John Carter series of books by the 20th century author Edgar Rice Burroughs. However, other things I saw convinced me I was wrong in that assumption.
I had to force myself to look away from the grass and I wished I hadn’t, because when I looked at the trees, I was even more dumbfounded. The trees, if that is what they could be called, were enormous. I estimated their height to be a minimum of 300 meters. I could barely make out the tops of the smaller ones. I'm pretty sure that some of the bigger trees surpassed one kilometer. That was amazing enough, but the leaves were what caught my attention. They were of differing shades of red measured between 10 and 50 centimeters across. The shapes of the leaves also led me to wonder about my sanity. Besides the normal leave shapes that we are used to seeing, I also saw round, square and oval shaped leaves. The leaves, especially the odd shaped ones, did not grow at the end of the stalk, but the stalk grew to the center of the leaf, like a flower stem would do, and, yes, some of the leaves were conical like a just opened Trumpet Flower bud. The trees themselves were unusual in that the base of the trunks were unbelievable in diameter. I can guarantee that the average diameter was around 50 meters. That's right, the diameter, not the circumference. There were many trees that had diameters in excess of 150 meters. As I stared at the trees, I could have sworn I saw people walking into and out of the trunks of these trees. I remember reading another book by Edgar Rice Burroughs that talked about people living in trees. However, the people that he wrote about lived about 500 meters above the ground. These people were living in the trunks of the living trees at ground level.
I looked at the sky and saw that the sun was about 45 degrees from the horizon. I assumed that, like Terra, the sun rose in the east. I looked quickly at the shadows of the trees. I determined that it was mid-afternoon and it was maybe four hours to sunset.
While I was being astounded at what I saw, I realized that I was hearing voices from somewhere nearby. I turned toward the voices and then I saw that I was behind something that looked like a camellia bush. Of course, there were the requisite ruby red leaves and dark green or black flowers. The bush was almost 4 meters in height and two in width, so I was quite well concealed. I slowly stood and looked around the bush and saw a garden. But, garden is too small of a word for what I was looking at. This “garden” was huge. It easily measured over 300 meters wide and over a kilometer long. The voices I was hearing were coming from the garden. I looked and saw fully 500 people working in the garden. It was their voices that I was hearing.
As I stood there looking toward the garden, all of the people were looking toward the forest to my left. As I followed their gaze, I saw a tall man walking toward them. As I watched him, I knew he would pass relatively close to me, perhaps 10 to 25 meters away. I studied him as best I could and I estimated his height to be at least 230 cm, probably more, and his weight to be around 150 kg. He looked like he didn’t have a gram of excess fat on his body. He looked something like a semi-primitive chohachy and there was something strange about the way he carried himself. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until he came to the closest point he would to me and I thought about a cat. THAT WAS IT! This was a bipedal feline. As I studied him further, I noticed the fur. He was covered head to toe in a reddish-brown fur with blue-black stripes. He was wearing something that looked similar to a loincloth at his hips and a buttoned up or pull over vest of some kind. He was carrying a very wicked looking double-edged sword that reminded me of a Scottish Claymore on his left hip. On his back was a shorter double-edged straight sword that reminded me of a Roman Gladius only about 25% bigger. He also had a knife or dagger on his right hip. Even though he was obviously a feline, he had hands, not paws, and human-like feet, albeit about 50% larger than human feet. From the way this feline walked, I could tell he was semi-plantigrade. In other words, his stride told me that he walked heel to toe when he walked casually, but he must have walked quickly or ran on his toes or digitigrade as it is known. He had a shorter muzzle than a cat his size would normally have, perhaps half as long, but it was most assuredly more pronounced than a human’s face.
He was carrying something over his shoulder. As I studied him, I noticed that what he was carrying looked like a human female. I estimated her height to be around 165 cm and weight to be around 55 kg, although, due to the distance between us and because the atmosphere diffused the sunlight, this was only a rough estimate. She had long straight blue-blond hair and was wearing what looked like a one-piece dress that started just below her arms and stopped at the middle of her thighs. Her skin was a lion yellow in color. She also seemed to be unconscious because she did not move, except as someone unconscious would move when jarred. My heart went out to her because she was in a worse predicament than I was.
I started to stand up to get a better look at the captive and to see the people whose voices I had heard. It was then that I noticed that I was naked from the waist up. In fact, the only clothing I had on was a pair of shorts that went about halfway down my thighs. The only other thing I was wearing was a chronoputer on my wrist. However, at the time, I couldn't remember what it was nor for what purpose it was used. I wasn’t even wearing shoes of any kind.
As I stood, I slowly stepped from around the bush and, to my chagrin, one of the workers in the garden, a female, had approached to within 20 meters of the bush I had been concealed behind. When she saw me, she let out a caterwaul that could be heard all the way across the garden. I immediately ducked back behind the bush to determine my chances of escape. As I looked around, I saw the closest concealment was over one hundred meters away. I'm no slouch when it comes to running, but, if these creatures were, in fact, related to felines, I knew there was no way I could outrun one in a one-hundred-meter dash. After the initial caterwaul, in short order, another of the feline warriors came running up. He had a short conversation with the female. She pointed toward the bush where I was hiding and he immediately headed toward me. Since he was obviously looking for me, and I had already determined that there was nowhere I could go and hide, I stood up. As soon as I revealed myself to him, his hand immediately went to his back and he snatched out his short sword. I just waited leaving my future to fate and whatever gods there may be to protect me.
While we stood there, I was able to make a close observation of him. As I had noted earlier, he was covered with the same striped fur as the previous warrior, although the stripe pattern was slightly different. However, due to the distance I was from him, there were things I hadn’t noticed on the other one that I could see on this one. The forehead was as high and pronounced as a human's forehead, denoting high intelligence. The ears, which were triangular and had rounded tips, were set high on the sides of the head, about where the ears on Terran felines are located. From the lips, two upper canines were exposed, perhaps 25 mm below the upper lips, and looked like they could inflict severely painful bites. The canines were longer than the canines of the now extinct clouded Leopard, but not as long as the canines of another extinct feline, the Dinofelis. The shoulders were wide and the chest was flattened like a human chest. The arms looked similar to human arms, only more muscular. The hands looked like human hands with one difference, there were no nails on the fingers; however, I could see the tips of claws projecting from slits in the tips of the fingers. Unlike Terran felines, there was no tail. The thighs, while thicker than human thighs, were thinner than one would expect to see on a feline of this size. The calves were extremely muscular and looked like they could propel this animal into a high-speed chase or just as easily allow him to leap almost his height into the air. Unlike Terran cats, he walked on feet similar to human feet only about 50% longer, although, he could possibly run on his toes to increase his speed. There were no nails on the toes, once again I could see the tips of claws extending from slits at the tips of the toes. After making these observations, I looked again at the face and saw that the eyes were Portland Orange in color and had round pupils. The eyes were also intelligent and inquisitive.
When the warrior saw that I was making no attempt at defense, he lowered the sword but kept a strong grip on it. After studying me for a short while, he finally spoke. But, the language was, quite naturally, totally foreign to me. Fortunately, I have always had a very good memory, so I remember almost word for word what was said. (2)
“Talo-Vy thoo zicharoo azo eodo gueoo oatha, Uany?”
(“Human, what are you doing so near Talo-Vy?”)
I just stood there looking at him dumbfounded.
Finally, after I was silent for several seconds, he said, “Choosho kyeo gueoo oathe? Dua se chooshoo gueoo!”
(“Why do you not respond? Speak to me!)
My silence must have made it obvious to him that I could not understand anything he was saying. He must have also figured that I was no threat to him because he sheathed his sword and stood there looking at me. I guess he was trying to decide the best course of action for him.
Finally, half to himself, he said, “Myzya eo doo oatha veiry doo. Ka'yno se ke gueoo myzya huyva doo. Miutoamo gueoo myzya huu' kina dagera. Mazotho ga duany gueoo myzya devishoo doo, zyy na'eo kina. Uany azo gueoo mimoo eavy miutoamo zote kyysate gueoo noo Talo-Vy ea' votate se tanta' se'sho voo gichotha kyeo kina.”
(“I know what I will do. I will take you to the Ka'yno. Perhaps he will want you killed. If he does, I shall claim you as my slave. You should not be killed just because you are human and I do not think you pose a danger to anyone in Talo-Vy.”)
My brain refused to believe what it was hearing. Felines speaking was beyond my ability to accept. Even though I had experienced numerous other families of animals speaking, I had never seen nor heard any feline species with that ability. While I was staring at him, the warrior seemed to be studying me.
Finally, he said, “Gueoo oathe kyieo dua chosho? Lenedoy chusha!”
(“Why do you not answer me? Say something!”)
All I could do was stare at him. Since, by now, it was obvious to him that I had absolutely no idea what he was saying, he exposed his claws as a way of telling me that he could kill me just as easily with his claws as his sword and said, “Dua hobo zyeky.” (“Come with me.”) He then motioned toward the garden and I found myself walking beside him. We walked along the side of the garden and I observed the workers. They were all females, slightly smaller, perhaps five to ten percent, than my captor. That is all I could consider him since he had explained it to me in a way no words could express better.
As we walked, I observed the plants in the garden. Some looked vaguely familiar; others didn’t look like anything I had ever seen before in my life. There were tubers that were being dug up that looked vaguely like sweet potatoes, except that they seemed to be alive. They wiggled around like worms, only they had to be plants because they were attached to leaves and vines. These tubers, called Zachynoo, are high in protein and the taste is similar to beef. The cellular structure of the Zachynoo is more similar to muscle rather than plants. It sounds repulsive, but the taste is remarkably good. After being boiled in a gravy, Zachynoo tastes like potatoes in beef stew.
There were vegetables in pods similar to peas, but these pods grew along the ground and literally moved. These vegetables, called Ojytoo, have tiny hairs on them that allow them to move to continue to receive the most sunlight possible, similar to sunflowers on Terra.
I saw all types of fruits, again some familiar, others exotic to the extreme. I wish I had time, and room, to describe them all to you, but I have neither. I also noticed that there were numerous large areas of the garden that had nothing growing in them. Later, after I learned the language, I found that these “primitive” creatures practiced rotation planting, similar to what is done on Terra to insure that the nutrients in the soil are never depleted, and had been doing so for between 100,000 and 250,000 years.
**********
After we left the garden area, we entered the village proper. I now saw that the “people” that I had noticed earlier, were more of these creatures. Many stopped and looked at me in awe, others threw malicious glares in my direction and others stopped my captor and, as I learned later, made inquiries of me. When a female stopped my captor, he always showed her the utmost of respect and answered her questions as fully as he could. He just answered the questions that many of the younger males asked and moved on. He was never rude, just short. However, when a male with gray in his black mane approached, my captor all but genuflected in his presence. (I found out later that age is highly respected in this society because so many of the males die young.) He would answer all inquiries made by these males even more fully than he did for the females. When he satisfied the curiosity of these males, my captor, with a slight nod of his head, would move along without another word nor a look back.
During our walk, one of the older males called out and my captor stopped in his tracks, even quicker than he did for the other achohachy he’s stopped for. This particular warrior was a bit older than the others that had spoken with him. This warrior walked up to my captor like he’d known him his whole life. Unlike the other older achohachy, this particular one spoke to my captor as if he was an equal even though the new warrior was obviously significantly older.
The older male spoke, “Chitekuro, My-Rora.”
(“Long life, My-Rora.”)
“Chitekuro, Ka’ Mu-Naka.”
“Zaroou doo uakoo gueoo Uany voo gueoo zyeky.”
(“I see you have a human with you.”)
“Ka’ duany, zo.”
(“Yes, my Ka’.”)
The older warrior looked at me and gave me a quick nod of his head in acknowledgement of my presence. He said, “Gueoo eomo kinoo Uuhuekoo oathy?”
(“Where did you capture him?”)
“Kyyomo Uuhuekoo doo kinoo. Ui’mo churodo doo kinoo tuzyeme zicharoo ke nooto’. Zicharoomo doo oathoo, vishomo kina uluro vothomo mily ky saloshy se.”
(“I did not capture him. I found him hiding near the north garden. When I approached, he stood there and made no attempt to escape.”)
“Uany voo myzyamo zote oathe zicharoo thoo Talo-Vy se?”
(“Why would a human be so close to Talo-Vy?”)
“Ka’ duany, kyeo veiry doo. Veiry doo mimoo zamo oathy kina ui’mo oathoo doo kinoo.”
(“I do not know, my Ka’. I only know where he was when I found him.”)
“Vitachoo doo. Azo huyvado gueoo kinoo Ka’yno se ke thoondo cha ga?”
(“I see. You are taking him to the Ka’yno as is required?”)
“Ka’ duany, zo.”
(“Yes, my Ka’.”)
“Veiry gueoo tha chosha isa kina miutoamo zote Uany ke gueoo kyeo?”
(“You know that he will demand the Uany be killed, do you not?”)
“Ka’ duany, zo. Na’eo zyy kina, myzya govy’ Uuhuekoo Roo’za Va duany doo. Kyku’ra kyysate Uany thy eavy mimoa uuhuekoomo hachy ga voo kinoo zashoy rothoo va ga voo.”
(“Yes, my Ka’. If he does, I will invoke my ‘Right of Capture’. This human shouldn’t die merely because I captured him as an adult instead of as a child.”)
The older warrior smiled as he said, “Cha roo’za gueoony tha. Cha Ka’ynony ke vovy roo’za thosy se athoonhu gueoo no ooynykomo azo gueoo tanlledo huyvu se Uany voo hachy mazotho ga gueoony zytu.
“Amazotho va chooshoodo, gichothamo doo zamo vuntymo norotha gueoony ta’mazothodo se Auany. Lorathe gueoo norotha se gueoony eathy myzya uakoo mazotho voo tha gueoo?”
(“That is your right. But, it is also the Ka’yno’s right to put requirements on you before you are allowed to take an adult human as your slave.
“Speaking of slaves, I thought your mother was opposed to enslaving humans. How will you explain to your mother that you have a slave?”)
“Na’choosha Ka’yno zyy ke kykuro kinany, myzya choosha doo norotha duany tha. Za dulu doo myzya vitachoo noo thyvatho nokina gachathy duany.”
(“If the Ka’yno demands his death, I will tell my mother that. I am certain she will understand and accept my decision.”)
Kyna’eo zyy nokina voo?”
(“And if she doesn’t?”)
“Myzya choosha doo nokinoo tha myzya she’ny kina nokinoo imoosuala nokinoo eo se. Myzya she’ny thy llento’ huuko koge kymazotho nokinoo anystardy nokinoo eo se. Ysate tothoo myzyado koge nokinoo thyvatho se mazotho uakoodo voo tha.”
(“I will tell her that he will help her to do her housework. This will help give her more free time to do her tapestries. That should make her more willing to accept having a slave.”)
“Dagera. TeRora, yoo’vy’ zote doo goothy no duany. Azo vanochollen zyy gueoo kinoo devishoodo eu’ mazotho ga gueoony, myzya uakoo doo choortan se dostyllo se cha foorshado kina kuro se kinany vimoo. TeRora, chitekuro.”
(“Perhaps. I must be on my way, TeRora. If you are successful in claiming him as your slave, I will have to visit to verify he is adjusting to his new life. Long life, TeRora.”)
“Ka’ duany, chitekuro.”
(“Long life, my Ka’.”)
With that short phrase and not another word, the older warrior turned and walked away. As he walked away, I followed him with my eyes. There was something about this warrior that made me trust and respect him.
**********
After the older warrior left, my captor and I continued our interrupted journey through the village. As we walked, I noticed that we seemed to be moving toward the center of the village. I looked around and I noticed that the trees I had seen upon my arrival were the homes of these creatures. Some of the trees had several doors in the trunks; others had only one or two. I also noticed that there even seemed to be several stories to the homes in some of these tree trunks, because there were stairways protruding from the sides leading to doorways higher up. The stairways were not cut into the living trunks of the trees nor were they nailed there; they seemed to grow out of the trunks as if the tree either needed the stairways or knew that the residents of the village needed the stairways and grew them for the usage of the villagers. After a short while, we arrived at a tree that looked like it was large centuries before the other trees in the village were even seedlings. This tree was easily 150 meters in diameter. I thought that surely at least twenty families must live in this tree, but, I was wrong. Only one person lived here and it's the leader of the village.
My captor approached the door in the tree and scratched on it. After a few seconds, the door opened and my captor spoke softly to the warrior/guard who had answered the door. The door opened and I was ushered in along with my captor. The room we entered was splendid. It was more than huge, it was humongous. It looked as big as a four-bedroom house. It was easily 10 meters X 25 meters. I thought to myself, this room must be where I will meet my captor's leader, but, again, I was wrong.
After another short conversation, the warrior who had allowed us to enter the room disappeared through another door directly opposite the one we had entered and my captor and I were left alone. I spent the time we waited studying the room. I noticed that the room was well lit; but, the light was not emitting from light fixtures. It seemed to be coming from the walls and ceiling directly. I never saw any form of light switch on any wall the whole time I was on Tashoo and am at a loss as to how the lighting was achieved, even the residents of the village couldn't explain it. They just accept it as a part of their life as they do with almost every other thing that occurs.
As I looked around the room, I saw numerous paintings on the wall. There were many paintings of these feline creatures on one wall, at least fifty. Each one was wearing the same type of vest, some were mildly adorned, and others were adorned to the extreme. I assumed they were paintings of past leaders of the village nor was I wrong. On another wall were paintings of creatures I had never thought could exist. I moved around the room a bit to get a better look at the paintings. My captor kept a close eye on me as I moved. When I walked too far away, a small growl came from his throat until I moved back into what I guess he considered a safety zone. He also didn’t allow me to move behind him, but kept turning toward me as I moved. I tried to ease his discomfort by looking toward him, smiling and letting him see my hands at all times. But, the paintings fascinated me and, since I didn't know if, or when, I would ever return, I wanted to get as good a look as I possibly could in my time in this room.
There was a painting of a creature that looked like a dolphin, except that it didn’t have any fins or a tail fluke. It also had short, chubby looking legs that protruded from the sides of the body and ended in paws that had what looked like very sharp claws. The mouth was in a rounded muzzle, similar to a dolphin’s, and had four very wicked looking canines that protruded above and below the jaw and must have worked similarly to scissors, cutting flesh into bite sized chunks for easier swallowing. The nostrils were located on top of the head and between the eyes in the same location as a blow-hole on a Terran dolphin. The eyes were the most unnerving thing about the creature. They were piercing blue with oval pupils and they were just behind and above the muzzle. The body coloration was strikingly grotesque. The back of this creature, called an Oocholefala, was deep purple that faded into a dark pink on the sides and faded further into baby pink on the belly. The legs were dark pink to the elbow joint and from there down were baby pink. There were tangerine orange spots at regular intervals all over the body. These spots formed squares as they were in rows and lines.
Next to the painting of the Oocholefala was a painting of a creature that looked just as dangerous. This creature looked similar in body plan to the Cebu bovine on Terra. In the painting was a depiction of one of the felines that had captured me and this “Cebu” was almost one and a half times as tall as the feline. From the head of the “Cebu” there protruded four sets of horns, one pair erupted from between the ears and faced forward as would be expected, another pair originating from just behind the forward facing pair but protruding upward, each eye had a horn originating below it and facing backward, and on each side of the lower jaw another horn erupted and faced downward. This animal, called a Chakootoa, is considered to be the most dangerous herbivorous animal on the planet, perhaps the most dangerous animal, period. It is an ill-tempered animal that would attack another animal for no reason at all. The color of this creature was blood red all over except for the legs which were burgundy in color fading to jet black at the hooves. The hooves also struck me as strange. They were not single hooves like horses, nor cloven hooves like cattle. There were three hooves, a large middle hoof and slightly smaller hooves to either side. The smaller hooves were curved and pointed giving the impression that the Chakootoa used these hooves to give it better traction when it would charge. The eyes, which were perhaps 20 cm forward of the middle of the head, were barely discernible in the fur due to the fact that they were also blood red in color. If not for the round black pupil and the black outline of the lids, you could not see the eyes, which seemed almost twice as large as you would expect for a creature this size, indicating the possibility that this creature was, at least occasionally, nocturnal.
A third painting caught my eye. This was a creature that looked similar to a Terran elephant. But, it had a slightly curving horn between the eyes and above the trunk. The ears looked like rhinoceros’ ears, conical in shape. The eyes, relatively large, were completely black. The color of the hide was tangerine that faded to eggshell white on the belly and legs with darker orange stripes on the side. The trunk was a dark burgundy red and the horn was half burgundy red and laser lemon yellow, with the color demarcation being the length of the horn. The burgundy half was the front half. This creature is called a Myzootoka and is second only to the Chakootoa in being dangerous.
There were numerous paintings of other creatures. Some of these creatures made the aforementioned creatures look normal to a human. Other creatures looked almost as if they had been painted on Terra, although the coloration was slightly, or even significantly, different. One of these paintings was of a large feline creature called the Kootona. The Kootona in the painting had a coal black pelt with Burgundy red stripes. The tail was as long as the body with a small tuft of Burgundy red fur on the end. The stripes extended the length of the tail and encircled it. On the head was a mane like a lion's mane. The mane was Burgundy red like the stripes. The ears were more rounded than a Mory’s ears, but still vaguely triangular in shape. The eyes were golden-, almost Mikado-, yellow, in color; the pupils were oval. The feet were like those on a Terran house cat. The upper canines, while not extremely long, were long enough to extend noticeably beyond the upper lips; these canines were longer than the canines of the creature that was my captor. This feature gave them a strong resemblance to the drawings of one of the famous pseudo-saber-toothed cats of prehistoric Terra, the Dinofelis, from about four million years ago. These were just four of the paintings of creatures I saw while waiting with my captor.
**********
Before I could look at more paintings, the guard returned and we were ushered into the next room. As I was leaving this room, I was thinking, “If this is the anteroom, the next room we are going into must be awe inspiring.” I couldn’t have been more wrong, or more right.
As the door guard was leaving, he spoke quietly to my captor. “Shayna gueoo zote no, Rora. Voo choosa kythonoo re'vea Ka'yno ke cha eu' gueoo loonoo veiry gueoo na'koo'vy kina eathy noo.”
(“Be on your guard, Rora. The Ka’yno is in a bad mood today and you know how he feels about you.”)
“Gueoo doo amen, Vamoo. Dy'lory zote doo myzya. Da'tomo doo za oathy Ka'yno ke eva cha choosa thonoo eu' voo oathoo, zytu?”
(“I thank you, Vamoo. I will be careful. But, when is the Ka’yno ever in a good mood where I am concerned?”)
The door guard smiled a ferocious but friendly looking feline smile, looked inside the room, turned to my captor and motioned us inside.
As bright as the anteroom was, this room was equally dark. There was no lighting except for a few torches strategically placed around the room. These torches were about three meters apart and gave off very little light, just enough to lighten the gloom to see what was going on around you, but little else. About halfway down the wall, I noticed a dark square that was about 250 centimeters wide by 300 centimeters high. I learned later that this was the entrance to the dungeons of the Suala Ka'ynony (Chief's House).
There was a torch at each end of a dais and four in the middle, one on each side of a large throne and one on each side of a slightly smaller throne. Calling the large chair a throne would be a stretch by most imaginations. It looked more like a large hand carved chair than a true throne. On either side of these “thrones” were four smaller chairs/thrones, making a total of ten “thrones.”
Upon the largest throne sat the largest of these feline creatures I had as yet seen. Besides my captor and me and two guards at the bottom of the dais, he was the only other living creature in the room. He looked to be a head taller than my captor, of course that could have been the result of the fact that the platform was two meters above the floor on which we stood. He was dressed almost exactly like my captor, except his vest had numerous marks and medallions on it. He had several scars on his face and his left ear was torn to nearly half the normal length. There was a broken scar over his right eye. It was about four centimeters long below the eye and two centimeters above it. The left upper canine was not visible, possibly broken off in one of the numerous fights these felines seemed to enjoy engaging in. I noticed a long ugly reddish-purple scar on his chest which started at his right shoulder and ended at his left hip. I could only assume that it was a continuous scar because it disappeared beneath his vest and reappeared in an almost straight line at the bottom of the vest. He had the same type of weaponry as my captor. That being the long sword on his left hip, short sword on his back and a dagger, similar to the old Arkansas Toothpick of the 19th Century United States, in a scabbard at his right hip in the waistband holding his loincloth. The fact that the village leader’s weapons were highly adorned with jewels and my captor’s weapons were not was the only obvious difference between the two sets of weapons.
The guards looked exactly like my captor, with the exception that their vests were adorned with a few medallions and my captor’s vest was not. They stood almost as motionless as the guards at Buckingham Palace are known to stand. They kept one hand on the long sword at their hip and kept their eyes on my captor and me ready for action, if necessity called for it.
After a few seconds of staring at us, the warrior on the dais, obviously the leader of this village, spoke. “Huyvomo dua limo gueoo oatha uakoo, My-Rora? Uany voo na'zarooua chu'vo oya.”
(“What have you brought before me, My-Rora? It looks like a human.”)
“Cha oya, Ty Zyoiloo. Tuzyeme nooto' va ke koshoo' vofe'nooto' zicharoo ke ui'mo doo kinoo.”
(“It is, Great One. I found him near the north-west corner of the north garden.”)
“'Kinoo ui'mo?' Kinoo uuhuekoomo zacho gueoo kyeo?”
(“'Found him?' Do you not mean captured him?”)
“Ky, Ty Zyoiloo. Kinoo oathoo zicharoomo doo, dua che'modo ho uluro mimoo vishomo kina. Kinoo se oathoo chooshoomo doo, dua ho zaroouamo unootha noo kyvitachoodotu kydoy shushamo kina chooshoomo ga doo.”
(“No, Great One. When I approached him, he just stood there staring at me. When I spoke to him, he said nothing and looked directly and uncomprehendingly at me as I spoke.”)
“Kyzeroohyde mimoo dagera cha kina. Kinoo didy myzya doo.”
(“Perhaps he is just deaf. I will test him.”)
“Shushamo ga doo, chooshoomo oathoo doo voshymo kina, Ty Zyoiloo. Chushado doo zamo tha zeroohymo oatha kina lo'choo' dua se zamo oya.”
(“Great One, as I said, he reacted when I spoke. It was obvious to me that he heard what I was saying.”)
“Syzyuse! Zeroohydo kinany myzya doo didy shushamo doo!”
(“Silence! I said I will test his hearing!”)
The leader descended the dais and walked toward me. When he was close to me, I could tell my original thoughts about his size were correct. Because of a growing apprehension, I turned to face him as he started to walk behind me. When I did this, he exposed the claws on his right hand and pointed toward the dais with his left. I knew without words what he meant. I was to continue looking toward the front while he walked behind me. Almost immediately after turning back toward the front, I heard the most blood curdling roar in my ear. I reacted instinctively. I jumped, whirled toward the sound, balled up my fist, drew back and crouched ready for battle. In fact, if my captor hadn't caught my shoulder, I likely would have launched myself at the perceived imminent danger before the attack could be instigated.
His curiosity seemingly satisfied, the leader calmly took a couple of steps toward the dais and stopped with his back to us. He stood there for a couple of seconds before speaking again. “Sooma azo gueoo, My-Rora. Kyzeroohyde ky cha Uany ke. Thy eavy va Talo-Vy se voo ju'joo cha kina.”
(“You are right, My-Rora. The human is not deaf. Because of this, he is a threat to Talo-Vy. Therefore, he shall be killed.”)
“Ky, Ty Zyoiloo. Gachathy azo kythonoo cha hichoya thy doo, dochushoo aduany kyna'eo vitachoo sazootu eivy. Gachathy gueoony se lu'degy voo' gueoo doo.”
(“No, Great One. I believe this is a bad decision, especially since he obviously does not understand our language. I beg you to change your decision.”)
The leader looked over his shoulder and said, “Shytana eu' thy se dua se chooshoo oatho azo gueoo?”
(“Who are you to talk to me in this manner?”)
Turning back to face the dais, he spoke toward the dais as he continued. “Talo-Vy va Ka'yno ke za doo. Azo Chorothoo Novyshoony azo gueoo.”
(“I am the Ka’yno of Talo-Vy. You are a whore's son.”)
The fact that he said this with his back to my captor, led me to believe that he was tempting my captor to do something rash. He almost got his wish. I had been surreptitiously watching my captor during the above exchange and, when he heard the leader say this, my captor’s pupils dilated, he tensed, his ears laid back, a snarl started to form on his lips, and he started to reach for his short sword. Even though I couldn't understand a word that was being said, from the reaction of my captor to the leader's statement, I knew it had to be an insult, a great insult. I had a feeling something dreadfully wrong was about to happen. I had to act swiftly before it did. I jumped between the two of them, faced my captor, grabbed his sword arm and shouted, “Don’t do it. He's trying to make you do something you'll regret.”
At my response, the two of them, as well as the two achohachy at the dais, looked at me with obvious surprise. It would seem they were not expecting me to do or say anything.
My captor, calmed by my sudden ability to speak, said, “Zaroou gueoo, Ty Zyoiloo. Jysy'vy na'chooshoo kina. Dochushoo aduany vitachoo se kyna'eo zyeuy kina. Shezoo Myzya Ty Ke Oatho va na'thoohu te va ke chychochoo eu' ke kycha thy? 'Ty Ke' cha tha kina ujety kycha oy?”
(“You see, Great One. He speaks gibberish. He does not seem to understand our language. Is this not one of the requirements in the prophecy of ‘The One Who Will Unify’? Is it not possible that he is ‘The One’?”)
When the leader heard this, his expression changed from haughtiness to fear. It was if my captor had just told him his days as leader of this village were numbered and I would be the cause. Finally, the leader said, “Chooshoomona uakoo doo! Sha'lytu miutoamo myzya zote kina!”
(“I have spoken! He will be killed immediately!”)
He reached for the short sword at his hip and started to draw it.
My captor thought quickly and then calmly said, “Uuhuekoo Roo'za Va duany govy' doo, he'moovo' eu' tha, Ty Zyoiloo.” (“In that case, Great One, I invoke my ‘Right of Capture’.”)
The leader became almost apoplectic; I truly thought that he was going to have a stroke right before my eyes. After a few seconds, he regained his composure and said, “Thy se hichoya ushoro doo! Ve'a tethu eu' ta! Choovo zy! Devishoo na'gueoony se Uuhuekoo Roo'za Va cha dulichoo ke noo devishoo gueoony zytu zyshy' se ky ymachy uakoo doo. Devishoo no gueoony na'thoohu se thosy ke roo'za uakoo doo, uihy. Gueoo no thy thoohu thosy' doo. Dochushoo aduany thy Uany myzya vaora gueoo noo ve'ky kinoo se huyvo horozoomo isa zote gueoo, zooneny eu' tithe'. Ishoo'se Aka'ny vieya ke myzya kina. Teshooga kinany kuro e kykuro, gachoothy se eoeumo myzya zote kina. Thoohu thy eo vitachoo gueoo?
(“I refuse to believe this! Twice in one day! Very well! The law of ‘Right of Capture’ is yours to claim and I have no option but to honor your right. However, I have the right to put requirements on your claim. I place this requirement on you. You will teach this human our language and in three months you will be commanded to bring him back. He will face the Council of Chiefs. He will be questioned to determine his future, life or death. Do you understand this requirement?”)
“Zo, vitachoo doo, Ty Zyoiloo. Horozoomo uakoo gueoo myzya ga oy zote.”
(“Yes, Great One, I understand. It shall be as you have ordered.”)
“Noo vitachoo, zote lu'degamo kymashy gachathy ke Ishoo'se Aka'ny va ke, My-Rora. Gachathy auozytany kymashy enmoka gueoo, vihuo kykuro zyy auozyta. Gachathy auozytany kymashy lu'dega doo, vihuo ravy zyy auozyta. Ea vitachoo gueoo?
(“And understand this, My-Rora, the decision of the Ishoo'se Aka'ny cannot be overturned. If they choose death, you cannot appeal their decision. If they choose life, I cannot overturn their decision. Do you understand?”)
“Vitachoo doo noo kyravy mashoo zote kina zooneny eu' tithe' thyvatho tha doo, Ty Zyoiloo.”
(“I understand, Great One, and I accept that in three months he may be dead.”)
“Thonoo. Gueoo zyeky gueoony mazotho huyva noo gueoo zyeky zote vegamo, ly.”
(“Good. Now, be gone with you and take your slave with you.”)
I stood there looking at the two of them during this last exchange. After the leader said this last, I felt a large left hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at my captor and saw him bowing toward the leader. He started slowly backing toward the door we entered and was gently pulling me with him. I followed his example and very shortly the door miraculously opened and we were back in the anteroom.
**********
When we returned to the anteroom, the guard who admitted us was still there and had a look of curiosity on his face. He turned to my captor and said, “Uluro eu' vylumymo oatha, Rora? Novyshoo norotha voo ke Ka'ynony uakoomo vashamo gueoo ga zyy tojy'mo oy. Shayna ho'na ga huuko duany uozy eu' Ka'yno ke hynoo thoo zeroohymo uakoo ky doo.”
(“What happened in there, Rora? It sounded as if you had called the Ka'yno's mother a whore. I have not heard the Ka'yno so angry in my entire time as door guard.”)
“Norotha ky kinany, dueny, Vamoo.”
(“Not his mother, Vamoo, mine.”)
The door guard looked mildly surprised at this revelation. My captor continued, saying, “Zemy'mo jysy'vy lene noo ke'vymo adua livoo Uany thy, zyshy' norothany duany e'jo se sho'ru oonchako duany se milymo oathoo doo. Uuhuekoo Roo'za Va duany govy'mo doo, thy zeroohymo oathoo doo. Kinoo cho yskoka iy inu'ro zyoiloosha Ka'yno ke tha vanoomo, jave cho lene.”
(“When I attempted to draw my sword to defend my mother's honor, this human stepped between us and shouted some gibberish. When I heard this, I invoked my ‘Right of Capture’. For some reason, that caused the Ka’yno greater consternation than is normal for him.”)
“Ju'ra gueoony, nohachy voo Uany lavathoo se Uuhuekoo Roo'za Va kinany govy'mo ahi'nu ky thua mo eavy cha tha, Zo-Kyna.”
(“That is because not two hours ago, your friend, Zo-Kyna, invoked his ‘Right of Capture’ to protect a human female.”)
My captor laughed a laugh that sounded like a low rumbling growl and said, “'Ve'a tethu eu' ta' zachomo hy kina na'lorathe oatha tha.”
(“That explains what he meant by, ‘Twice in one day!’”) Again, the rumbling growl and he continued, “Norotha se duany kinoo vanidoo noo syvala mazotho duany vimoo uakoo duyva se doo, choovo. Na'vaoiry oathoo nokina azeroo fashoo duany se isa huu' nokina dulu za doo. Uuhuekoo chashy va kinany de choosha nokina doo oathoo kinoo thyvatho myzya dulu nokina za doo, zytu. Je'ny zote gueoo. Zote kachody agy'mo noo ajerecho' mashoo gueoony noo akyju'ra va gueoony kuso'voo ho ke hoono.”
(“Well, I have to take my new slave home and introduce him to my mother. I am sure she will want to box my ears when she finds out. But, I am sure she will accept him when I tell her the story of his capture. Be well. May your teeth and claws be sharp and always at the throat of your enemies.”)
“Je'ny ga gueoo se ke zyoo'uto voche doo, ju'ra duany.”
(“I wish the same to you as well, my friend.”)
**********
1-I remembered seeing that movie when I was a young child. It was considered a classic and my parents had always wanted me to have a well-rounded education. But, what I was seeing was nothing like the Land of Oz from that movie. This memory was one of very few memories that, at the time, I could call forth. I couldn't even remember where I came from, although I could remember my name.
2-The syntax and pronunciation of words of this language are difficult to understand. I will write what was said on this day in the original language along with a translation to give you, the reader, an idea of the difficulty of the language. In future installments, after I have learned the language, I will translate the language into understandable Terran for the reader. At that time, however, I will use words from the language of this planet where there is no real translation or where the original word suits the situation better and makes more sense. In the rare cases where I have used a Terran word instead of a word from this language, I will italicize that word. I have provided a translation and pronunciation guide at the end of this story so the reader will better be able to pronounce the words of this world.
