sons of the fallen gods

The bachuezi were a great people who settled in the land of the river gods. They had great knowledge and powers beyond human abilities, superhuman strength and lived for thousands of years they were so civilized that they had strange machines that helped them fly to far distant land in a sigh of breath. They built cities and roads and with their god powers they conquered large lands and formed a new kingdom in the lands. Many kingdoms around wanted to trade with them and possibly make friends with them. However the bachuezi were a very secretive people and never allowed any outsider in their kingdom except kings and aids of kings and those with special invitations like priests. Because of their conquest of most of the fertile land and refusal to trade with other kingdoms, they created a lot of enemies. But like usual anyone who tried to fight them was vanquished in a flash. They had weapons that could spit storms of fires hotter than molten seas of lava. So after the remaining kingdoms accepted their divinity and worshipped them as gods. The kingdoms always gave offerings to the bachuezi in form of foods and minerals.

However the bachuezi were very few and it was forbidden for a human and a muchuezi to propagate those how did, their offsprings or hybrid children were considered abominations and they were killed then the parent who was a muchuezi banished to a place no one knew. The kingdom was so mysterious that many tales were told of it. It was called the kingdom of the fallen gods. They had buildings that blew smoke into the sky; those who had the chance to visit said that is where they forged their mysterious weapons. Unlike the rest of the people of other kingdoms who wore back cloth, hides and weaved outfits, the bachuezi wore shiny clothes with beautiful decorations and treated hides that have gold like designs weaved over their smoothened surfaces, they wore shinny metals with floral decorations and ranks of authority on their war outfits.

They wrote and kept records, they pumped water all over their cities, and they grew strange plants in their gardens. They were so civilized that no one really understood where they got all that. They could speak all the languages of the region and no one could understand or learn their language. Everything was good in this mysterious kingdom even during famine or drought they always had food and water. The bachuezi preferred leaving in their large fortified kingdom rather than roam the beautiful hills and valleys of the great land of the river god.

However some often wondered across the lands after all no one dare harmed them because a law was that if a muchuezi died in your kingdom, all in your kingdom would be killed or turned to slaves.

Some nights, a muchuezi prince called basallazi a brave and courageous prince highly respected and feared for his victories and his strong division of the army called the 10th guard. He and his twin were the oldest ones of three princes meaning he was in contention for becoming the next king. However, his twin brother never liked it because he wanted to bring back the old culter from their past lands and bring them here yet the founders of the kingdom had banished them for their hash nature, so in order to ensure he becomes king he has to find a way fo putting basallazi out on contention. However, basallazi never really had his mind on the throne he only had a dream of making the local people and the bachuezi become one nation, he was a very adventurous prince with love for adventure and nature so he often snack out of the palace and the kingdom leaving his guards and roamed the wild hunting and studying the lands he will one day rule. He always went with a book and wrote, drew and recorded everything he learned or saw sometimes he used a device that captures moving images of what he saw. He had an entire library of his findings. Soon, he fell in love with the lands and often just went out even during day on beautiful sunny days just to leave in the beauty of the lands.

One evening as he returned home from his long expeditions, his flying disk was damaged when he accidentally hit the top of tall tree as he looked at a family of giraffes and elephants. He had never seen so many of them. The disk came crashing down and as he tried to save his life, he hurt his leg.

Unable to call back home using his communication device, he was hurt and suck in the wilderness. Soon it was night and dangerous animals had started smelling the blood from his injuries. Soon many of them started closing in on him using his weapon he tried to scare them away but he ran out of fire from his weapon and had little strength left from the bleeding so he could not fight using his sword. Soon one big beast returned when it realized he was weak and it started approaching for the kill. He lay helplessly on a log as the animal widened its large mouth and spread it long teeth.

Just as the price had accepted his fate, a figure jumped between him and beast scaring it with a log that had fire at the far end. When basallazi woke up, his sight was blurry and he was very weak but he could notice that he was in a hut. Thinking he is a captive, the wounded prince reached for a piece of metal that lay at arm's length from where he was resting. When he heard footsteps, he counseled the weapon behind his back. When the person entered the hut, the prince pretended to be asleep waiting for his captor to approach so he could strike. As the captor reached to put a dump cloth over his forehead, basallazi quickly pulled the weapon from under his back and held it across the captor's neck. It was a woman, a very beautiful woman. The prince stunned by the heavenly beauty before him froze with his weapon across her neck, her large white eyes seemed even wider as she knelt frozen and scared.

"Who are you and where am I ?" the prince asked in a deep commanding voice.

"You are in my house?" she answered like she was asking

"Where in your house located?" he asked.

"In the forest of the great apes." She answered.

He put the weapon down and they both calm down. She handed him a calabash, he was very thirsty so he didn't ask what was in it he assumed it was water so he rushed to drink even though she tried to tell him to go slow.

"Pwaaa!" he spat all that he had galloped;

"What is this? You want to kill me?" he shouted.

"Its medicine for your wounds. " she said.

"No No this is a joke just take me back to my palace we have better healers with better medicines." He said.

She was offended by the prince's remarked that she was forced to reply.

"Well if those healers are as good as you say then why don't you go to them and they heal you? Ha!?"

"You don't talk to me like that!"

"I say what I want to say in my house."

"Your house this is you husband's house"

"What why do you assume I have a husband?"

"Well a fare woman like you must be married otherwise unless you are some kind of witch what would you be doing in a place like this?"

"Just so you know I am not alone here I live with... with my father..here." she laid.

"That is not true."

"How do you know?"

"Well there is one of everything and..."

"That is enough as soon as you are done you go you kingdom is to the eastern north."

"You still have not told me who you are"

"You are the guest tell me first."

They talked and joked for hours laughing, until they suddenly heard heavy pounding approaching the hut.

The prince then heard his second in command Hallidiba calling out his name. To avoid his men from see the girl, the prince crawled out of the hut and shouted.

"Here come here!"

"There... my prince how are you doing?" Hallidiba asked the prince as he rushed towards him.

"Call all the healers to come here right away, now!!!" Hallidiba ordered the three soldiers standing near by.

"My prince, who did this to you tell me and we will hunt them down like animals that they are!" hallidiba said full of anger.

"Calm down hadi it was just an accident I hit a tree."

"Whose hut is this then?" Hallidiba asked. As the healers attended to the prince preparing to take him to the palace, the girl was hiding in a corner shocked to know that all along she was joking with a prince of the fallen gods.

"Ah... this, this hut? I just found it here I just used it as shelter" the prince laid to his commander.

"Are the rest of your things in there then?" hallidiba asked.

"No...This is all I had on me nothing else." The prince laid even though his equipment was in the hut. They then carried him and left in their shuttles that floated silently above the ground.

"your father was worried that you had been captured and was preparing for war." Hallidiba told the prince.

"What!? Why such drastic measures!!!?" the prince woundered.

"You have to understand, we all were in shock when we found out that you were missing. And how long have you been sneaking out?... know what I don't want to know. You know your father told me that I should never return unless you are found."

"Sorry It won't happen again"

"It better not coz I have a woman now."

"Hey am you prince!!! Don't talk to me like that!!"

"You surly don't act like it..."

"What? So I should act all tight like my brother please that guy's life is like stagnant water. Just there, all he thinks of is the day he rules the kingdom so he can bring back the so called old ways."

They soon arrived to the palace and royal family was waiting at the plate form where the shuttle lands. All in the palace were very happy to see him:

"My son we were worried about you! Where have you been what happened to you? Don't ever do that to me." His mother the queen worried as she rubbed her palms over his chicks.

"What hit you? Were you attacked by those barbarians?" she asked.

"Calm down ma, it was just an accident." The prince answered.

Meanwhile the king and the other prince just stood there.

As the guards stretched the wounded prince into the palace, the king stopped them and looked at basallazi furiously:

"Father I ...?" the prince tried to explain, but the king turned away and rushed into the palace. Then before the guards could continue, his twin brother prince Gabrissi stopped then as well, he came closer to basallazi's ear and whispered:

"I don't know why you went out unannounced or what you were doing in that forest but I will find out I won't let you get away with this one this time."

The guards took the prince to his section of the palace in his room where the palace healers were waiting.

As the healers prepared to dress and treat his wounds, they opened to clean the wounds;

"I have to say, who ever did this saved your life if it was not for this you would have bled out. And the test they did on you in the shuttle show that you were given some kind of plant medicine from trees and leaves. Well this medicine seemed to speed up you healing so all we can do is just to keep giving you water and some medicine to help with the pain and then you need to rest so you can regain your strength.

When the healers left the prince's room they were immediately summoned to the throne room to meet with the king.

"How is he doing?" the king asked the head healer.

"Your majesty, his highness is doing well he will have a full recovery." The healer replied.

"Good, then can I see him?" the king asked.

"Your majesty, that won't be possible, I gave him some sedatives so he can have some rest his body is extremely fatigued."

"OK, as soon as he wakes let me know."

"Yes, you're Majesty."



As bassalazi tried to wake from his rest, he slowly opened his eyes and he saw his mother the queen sitting next to him passing her hand over his head.

"OH, honey you are awake! How are good?" the queen asked.

"Good ma, good I just need some water I feel like sand is in my throat." Basallazi asked.

"Get him some water right away." The queen ordered the servants girls standing next to her. One of then quickly reached for a jar and poured water in a large cup. The prince grabbed it and started galloping the water away. The water chocked him so he coughed.

"Slowly honey careful." The queen stopped him. A deep angry voice from the other side of the room echoed.

"Leave us!" the king ordered.

"Your majesty don'y you thing he needs some time to heal before you can scold him?" the queen suggested.

"I said leave us all of you." The king insisted. The room cleared and the door closed. Door closed.

A silence followed as the king starred at the shamed prince. The he said;

"How long have you been doing this?" the king angrily asked bitting his teeth.

"A number of times."

"How long have you been sneaking out alone unguarded."

"Pa I..."

"Do you know how many things could happened to you, ha, do you know what my enemies would do, if they found out that you are wondering alone un guarded in the forest?"

"Pa I can look after my self."

"That won't help much when the enemies know that you are the one I want to lead this nation."

"Pa... please all I want is to see the world and know things study nature learn from it the secrets of life."

"That is not your duty, there are people for that we have scientists and a scholar for that, your duty is to rule and lead, this kingdom."

"But I think itis better to rule a land I fully understand. Please pa I promise I will be going out with all the security that you want me to have but please doing stop me."

"No, this is the last time I hear of this." The king started walking towards the door.

"Pa there is something I want to show you."

The king stopped;

"What?" the king asked. The prince pressed on a device next to his bed and a wall to the left of the room slide open revealing another room full of books.

"What is this?" the king wondered.

"Those are the findings and recordings all that I have learned and studied while on my expeditions."

"All this, how long have you been... I can't ask."

"Please pa before you stop me please pick a book and read."

"This is crazy."

"NO pa, please just read a page, please." The prince insisted. The king pulled a book from the shelf and looked through it. After a short while, the closed it and looked at the prince.

"Is this all true? Is all this real?"

"Yes all tested and analyzed. "The prince boasted. The king called for one of his aids.

"I want all these books in the throne room and call all the best scholars we have in the kingdom and palace so as well." The king ordered the aid and walked to the door. Before he went out of the room he turned and looked at the prince;

"Don't think this is over, this conversation is far from over." The king warned the prince. The prince simply smiled back. However unnoticed was his twin gallisi who was hiding in the balcony listening to the conversation between his father and brother.

"Next king haa?!, I have to find out what is in those books that made father so interested. And I have to find out soon."

Meanwhile in the healer's room, the lead healer sat with his team wondering how and who treated the prince because they know he had lost a lot of blood so was in no position to do anything and they didn't think he knew such medicine and healing techniques.

"Somebody must have helped him and that somebody isn't from this kingdom." The lead healer wondered. One of the healers on the team was a spy for gallisi so afterwards he reported to gallissi.

"your majesty, it seems your adversary will heal just fine." The spy reported.

"What dame it! You were supposed to do something... put something in the medicine or something so I would stay ill!" the prince gallisi suggested.

"That was what I was trying to do but there was no window for that, it seems the prince was already treated in the forest by an unknown person. And more that way he was healed was not of this kingdom your majesty."

"So what your trying to say he had help? And from a peasant chimp?"

The prince gallisi asked.

"Yes, your majesty." The spy replied.

"Then we need to find that person before anyone else am sure father might beat us to the punch." The prince suggested.

"May I suggest why we need to find this... abomination? Your majesty?" the spy asked.

"To act as a trap for basallazi I am very sure he will return to him so here we will strike." The prince said.

"But your majesty won't he well guarded?"

"No.. no because, from years of hating him I have learned his ways. I know he will try and sneak out to meet this person probably to thank him and I learnt that he didn't have his equipment on him especially that recorder of his he never leaves behind not even while going to take a bath. So he has to return."

"Wise that is very wise my prince." The spy said in his low evil voice.

Weeks passed as the prince fully recovered and the king read his books.then the king goes to basallazi's room.

"How are you doing son?"

"Fine, I can walk now and I have resumed training."

"Already! Am impressed you have the strength of the late king my father. They say he once fought with a broken leg and arm and never dropped to the ground not once." The king said.

"Well, I have to be healed or my men might think am weak."

"I studied your work with the scholars, and I have to say, everyone was amazed with your work."

"So does that mean that I can go back and finish my work?'

"Not so fast, only with other scholars and enough guards."

"But pa, I have to be alone to get maximum results!"

"That is all I can give you. Besides the scholars are more knowledgeable and they will be of good help. You almost died out there I want guards to be available for this. This is not up for debt."

"Alright, what ever you wish your majesty."

"And don't think you will sneak out again, I have put men to watch you all day and night.

Tow nights later during the night, basallazi sneaked out of his room using his military skills to evade detection by the guards and got on a disk to escape into the woods. Bu as he tried to fly away hallidiba blocked his way.

"I know I can not stop you but at least let me come with you." Hallidiba suggested

"Come on!" the prince suggested.

"No... if the king found out I may not be lucky this time. No, either we go together or..."

"Alright come along." The prince agreed. They traveled deep into the forest until they arrived at the hut where the prince was found.

"Isn't this where..."hallidiba asked

"Yap this is it" basallazi answered

"Then what are we doing here?" Hallidiba wondered.

"Hadi, can I trust you?" the prince asked hallidiba.

"Of course my prince, I will follow you my last breath you saved me you saved my life and my life is yours."

"really really because what you are about to find out is very important to me and I need you to promise me that you will never speak of this not even to your wife or the king no matter what because it might hurt someone I really care about."

"By the heavenly gods you have my word and silence."

"OK follow me." They stealthily walked towards the entrance of the hut and it was open. As the prince tried to get in, he was stopped by a person in the dark who tried to put a spear to his neck but hallidiba quickly put a shield in front of the prince and drew his sword at the attacker

"easy easy it me!"

The girl walked out

"Your highness it's a...!" hallidiba shouted.

"Its ok hall this is the person who saved my life you can lower your weapon."

"Hello prince of what ever?" she joked and walked towards a tree.

"Hey you can't do that apologize!" hallidiba ordered the girl.

"Calm down hadi... ah... can you let me speak to her in private."

"But your highness she is..."

"Come on what can she do that she couldn't do while I was unconscious."

"Ok but I will be near if anything I will be there in a flash your highness."

"Don't worry I know you will."

Hallidiba stood on guard as the prince walked towards the girl.

"So prince ha?" she said

"Don't make a big deal out of it."

"What do you want me to say to a man who ordered the massacre of my village!" she shouted angrily. Her aggression startled hallidiba who reached for his weapon.

"What so he is going to kill me as well?! Ha?"

"hadi stand back its ok." The prince ordered hallidiba.

"Where was you village?"

"So now you ask.. what? Because it is insignificant, you have bunt a lot of villages you lost count?"

"Where was your village. Because last I check I have never bunt or ordered the burning of a village or city or anything."

"You really don't remember the elephant village in the plains, seven moons ago?"

"He said there was nothing there but..."

"Who said?"

"My brother, my twin brother he was the one in charge of that place not me I was in the far north."

"well it does not make it any better."

"Look what ever happened there is exactly what am trying to change but I can not do that if I know nothing. Please at least tell me your name."

"Its Tarashani ..."

"The crested crane."

"Tarashani comes from the word Tarash"

"what does that mean?"

"It means the crested crane... its in the abysimin language."

"What language?"

"The abysimin language its spoken far far north and east of here."

still frowning she said; "How come I have never heard of this place?"

"Funny, because you look exactly like the people there."

"Really? And how do these... people look like?"

"Well light brown skin that almost turns reddish, silky curly hair, narrow face and sharp nose that is slightly blunt at the front, large beautiful eyes, succulent lips, beauty of a queen..."

"OK that is enough what did you come for?...Oh your stuff." She said.

"Just a second" she added. She then went in the hut and came out with all his things.

"Here are all the thing I never opened a thing." She handed him his equipment.

"Now if you will excuse me I have to go and see the remaining family of mine. Its getting late."

"So can I see you again?" the prince requested

"I hope not ok>" she repied.

""Hey that is no way to talk to your highness! " hallidiba shouted at tarashani.

"Ya, well if he doesn't want to talked to like that maybe he should stay in the palace after all that is where he belongs"

"Hey watch your mouth!" hallidiba shouted.

"Calm down lets go "the two went onto their disk and headed home. However all this had been witnessed by a guard from the palace who was hiding in the trees and taking images of the scenario with his image capturing gadget.