Flossian and the Five Kings
Chapter 15
In the year of King Rednip III, of the age of Nintendo, VX33, Felix the Lenient came to Earth, through a Time Portal located on Venus, as that planet fizzed and sparked, dying as a result of the incessant bombardment of Bellium from the Hot Bird (our Sun) that had already forced most of the inhabitants to flee.
That was half a million earth years ago.
Half a million earth years, that’s only a couple of tangs to a Venusian, a generation or so.
(They live for a very long time.)
Most of the Venusians, popping their heads out on Earth, were pleasantly surprised.
It was wet, just like Venus before the bombardment.
It was cold, however, unlike Venus, so they quickly headed south, feeling their way to the heat, using the vessels and sonic cruisers they came with, away from the barren coast of the country later called England.
Some of the Venusians, (Atlanteans as the Earth now knew them) were coming “home”.
Felix however, when he came through the Portal, closed it up after him to prevent further incursion, and stayed for a while.
First he swam the two miles to the shore, a barren, shingle-strewn beach, waded up it, his strong legs hardly flexing against the rolling surf. Seagulls wheeled overhead, dark clouds scattered and rolled around the horizon.
He was dressed in the costume of a Lord: shaggy seal furs from Venusian stock, leather belts and wrist bands from the same source. His beard hung down to his waist, of curly black hair, and a rough skirt of leather and fur hung down to his knees. Boots of black completed the oufit. On his head perched a round, metallic hat (Venusians called it a ‘crock’), with curved tusks sticking out on either side.
A fearsome sight.
Yet there was no one there to see him. The east coast of England, at that time, was uninhabited. Storms raged along its length, the beaches and shingle spurs shifted yearly under pressure from the ocean. Forests came almost to the edge of the cliffs, and the beaches were littered with trees, fallen where land erosion had deposited them.
Felix was seven foot high and entirely muscular. Using one stout trunk as a tool he stripped the branches off with his sword and, clambering up the cliff, forced a path inland. He didn’t stop until he came to a clearing where a spring bubbled up from a well. Nearby a swift river ran. It was clear of trees here, so he threw down his staff and walked in the cool, clear water at the edge of the river.
Then he sat down for a while to clear his head, and contemplate his new home.
How long he stayed that way, in meditation, it is difficult to say. To a Venusian time is altered by thought, therefore meditation could take an hour of our time, or thirty years.
Barely seconds to Felix.
He had brought provisions with him, moored in a light cruise-hopper off the coast. He could swim to it whenever he wished. For now, however, he would sit here and contemplate the world he had left, and the world he had come into. Most Venusians loved the sea, only tolerating the land, preferring to swim rather than walk. But the Lords of Venus, of which Felix was one, were a dominant race; man-like, not fish, their origins were from a distant age, lost to Venusians and only known as the Copper. Their children, real and illegitimate, had spread over the known galaxies, searching for adventure. His own son, Cal-Med, who was brought up on a far planet, circulating a distant sun, was one of such a race, and Felix was proud of him. He would grow into a great leader, a great adventurer, but would probably (on account of having a Gargantuan as a mother) be a little bit evil too.
No matter, Felix thought as he wandered the coast of the island. He dragged the cruiser onto land and set about building a home. Using his sword on the forests he cleared whole swathes, using wood as fuel and timber as material, he created a warm shelter, mixed shingle with sand, dried in among the timbers as a shield against the weather. For the storms were fierce, and many times he wished he had gone south with the Lower Venusians. Yet something of the rawness, the untamed wilderness of this island attracted him. He caught fish for his food, hunted boar, bear, wild dogs, even grew some seed that he had brought with him. It was wild, but the summers were pleasant, warm, the air sweet, the oceans cool and refreshing.
All the while the Time Portal lay one mile out to sea, and locked in it the thing that he had brought with him, that would change the whole nature of this land if he were ever to unleash it.
“What, what was it?” Flossian leaned forward, bursting to know the conclusion to the Pelagian’s tale.
The Pelagian shrugged. A few flecks of silver glistened on his forehead before the pink fleshy hue returned. Was he nervous?
‘Then why tell me?’ Flossian was piqued. The boat rocked under him; he was not sure he liked sailing after all. That emptiness in his stomach – was it the first sign of seasickness? He hadn’t eaten since breakfast that day.
The sea was as grey as the sky. As they bobbed over each shallow wave, the salt stung his nostrils and the noise of sea-birds overhead grew to irritate him. They were not alone on the waves – there was a cruiser moored a little way off, and beyond that a boat towed an intrepid skier after it. Further inland some dinghies shuttled to and fro. The beach was nearly empty. The promenade was busy though, with sightseers, pensioners, dog-walkers. None of them paid him or the Pelagian much attention.
‘Perhaps he just gave his name,’ Flossian said.
‘Huh?’ The Pelagian was fiddling with the sonic segment again, waving it just over the side of the boat, above the waves.
‘His name. He gave to the town.’
‘Felix-stowe,’ the Pelagian intoned, looked across to the shore. ‘I don’t think so. Our Book tells us of a legacy he left. Besides, in those times the town didn’t exist.’
‘What happened to him after that?’ Flossian enquired, but receiving no answer changed his tack. ‘What are we looking for?’
For a second the Pelagian’s face looked forlorn. He liked the human form; it allowed him to be dramatic. But his was an understated race, of calm emotions. So while he twisted his adopted features into a frown, inside he was all fish.
‘We are looking for the Time Portal,’ he said and bent back to his task over the boat’s side.