The Raid of Kollanus -Chapter 06

Documented annals kept by the scribes of both factors in this narrative become somewhat twisted during the generations following the life and the death of Chava. Sometimes the threads of fact seem almost to lose their ways and head into wrong directions. Still, some things are reasonably clear. Outside of that special place called Eden, the Sons of Man lived in the land of Nod while the Sons-of-God lived in an unapproachable place called Omag. Each place was quite different from the other and according to all available data, both were distinct from the culture and activities of Eden. The most careful, word-by-word studies of all three sets of records still are unable to make clear how and where a number of the most important characters fit genealogically. Certain indications seem perfectly clear in one set of books only to become clouded again by the other two and in many cases we cannot know with any real certainty who is the father of whom or just how some of those mentioned relate to the others. For instance, there is the name Enoch. There is questionable data indicating that Enoch might be the name of a single person, or two, or a number of individuals. Important to the whole history was a character named Seth, who may have been two people or possibly three. Besides all this there was a man named Methuselah and also a Methushael who may have been one and the same as well as an Enosh who may just have been Enoch. And so it goes. One fact agreed upon by all data however, was that the population of the place called Eden was rapidly multiplying.

 Unfortunately, paralleling this population explosion, even though guidance and direction was available, confusion was everywhere and within this confusion there came breaking of laws normally not broken by the higher life forms. At least a few of the long- living Sons-of-God, in the midst of this bedlam of activity, were actually copulating with their own great-granddaughters. Strange to say, from this incestuous twist of time came some of the most beautiful women ever and the result of all this was an ever more compounded problem. Although the Daughters of Man who were simply pawns in the process didn’t seem to mind what was going on, there were many who sided with the views of Tottava and saw something essentially wrong in the entire cross- breeding concept. In this category, one must place all, every one, of the Sons-of-Man. They very strongly resented the high-handed confiscation of the flowers of their young womanhood, raged at their hopeless situation in the face of what surely seemed a superior enemy but in the end just sat and watched, their dull eyes resenting what they saw. Surliness and the kind of indigestible resentment they felt deep within were as nothing without some sort of direction, and for many years there seemed no direction until one day a young man from Eden slipped away from there and somehow managed to creep into Dannod. His name was Karrovo.

 Actually, there were others living in Dannod who were the product of the crossing of the two breeds, but it was the man Karrovo who looked more like the Squarehead man was supposed to look who attracted the most attention. Tall, even for one of the alien race, his forehead didn’t slope until it reached the red-tinged hairline and there was no noticeable ridge to shield his eyes from the light of the sun. The heaviness toward the back of his head and a somewhat darker skin than most Squareheads were the only indicators of the mixed nature of his ancestry. It was Karrovo who pranced about the village and in his proud manner boasted that it was his own choice to come and live with the people of Dannod. “Surely you know that the Squareheads looked all over our world and over others as well, and they were looking for a special breed of man who might improve their own, and we… yes we are the ones they chose. We were superior to them! That is why of all people everywhere, we were the ones who were chosen!” It was Karrovo who pulled the people together, suggesting that they refer to themselves as Dannites while the village should be called Nod. Actually it was no longer a village, but a much larger place than that term would indicate. Thousands lived here now and others began referring to it as “The Land of Nod.” Karrovo was Nod ‘s first, if unofficial, leader and he took pride in this. In return, Karrovo began to instill a sense of pride; something which for generations had been lost to Nod. Then, he added strength to Dannite spines with fiery words. “No more will we bow as the Squareheads prance into our space… no more will we simply lower our eyes as they steal our women… we must now… stop their raids! ” Usually by this time a crowd gathered and Karrovo responded to this with thunder in his words,. “We can, we will, we must outsmart the Squareheads! We will destroy the Squareheads!”.

 More than a hundred years had passed since the establishment of the restrictive area known as Eden. It was still very closely guarded, but the land to the east, Nod, no longer was watched very closely and the smaller community to the west of Eden called Omag, no longer regarded as a prison area was simply a place most travelers avoided. To the north of Nod, there was an area of swamps, dense undergrowth and many trees. Wild game and many quite large creatures of the water, which some called dragons. lurked on the banks of the interlacing waterways . Tales of the awful appetites these beasts had for unwary travelers who were unfortunate enough to chance by were told and retold throughout that part of the world and consequently the swampy forest was a place most people avoided . That’s not to say it was completely unpopulated. Spirits lived there, according to old tales and in fact there were people living and working there. Their work was the manufacture of weapons such as a new kind of bow, designed by Karrovo himself, plus thousands of straight, slender arrows which had tips designed to carry either flame or poison. Also there were thousands of razor sharp knives fashioned of hard metallic stones that fell in a fireball from the sky. In addition , all young men were given instruction in a new type of close contact fighting and this was taught by Karrovo , personally. 

One day , the preparation area was visited by a group of older men from the Land of Nod and it was to them that Karrovo gave the assurance, “Fear not, you too have a part in our coming rebellion… quite possibly the most important part of all, and I will soon tell you more.” For a while the nature of the part Karrovo had envisioned for Nod’s older men in the coming hostilities was kept secret. What was the reason for all this mystery? Well, for one thing, what Karrovo had in mind simply had to be a complete surprise when it was to explode in the faces of the enemy and for another thing, it was known that most of the Sons-of-Man and especially the older ones, were simple, open people who could not long be trusted to keep a confidence. Actually, the older mens’ mission had to do with what was in a way to be the world’s first missile of mass destruction. It seems that one of the commodities the people of Nod kept for bartering purposes was the furry hide of the sheep. More than just a comfort, the skin of the sheep was able to divert the rains away from one who wore them draped around himself. The people of Nod had secret ways of treating these furs so that they remained pliant and strong and they maintained a building solely for the storage of them. It so happens that in addition to these fine, valuable furs, there was a second, much smaller collection of the furs kept untreated. None of the special oils were used on these. They were old, brittle and in no way luxurious, but they had definite value. Soon after Karrovo began preparing his battle plans, these skins were brought out and spread under the dry rays of the sun. There, after cooking and cracking for several days they were judged to be ready and it was then that Karrovo called his leaders together. Flashing his half Squarehead face from the right to the left, he began to speak in little more than a whisper. “Tomorrow when they gather for their daylight meal is the appointed time. Each of you has been charged and coached in the vital elements of our great mission… and now there can be no turning back. but there should surely be no reason to even consider any turning back” Then his blue-green eyes widening and his nostrils flaring, he continued,. “With our great quantity of newly fashioned weapons and our well thought out planning plus the element of complete surprise, we will surely win… and for all time do away with these takers of our women! Then, once again, as it was in days of old… we will be every man a king, and every woman a queen!”

Each young leader then proceeded to those consigned to his charge and quietly began final preparations. Weapons were retrieved from caches and each portion of the citizen-army was given his instructions. Meanwhile, Karrovo gathered the old men of Nod, managed a half-hidden smile as he read the concern on their faces. “Do not let worry weigh down your hearts, my friends. Although your portion of this great mission is vital, it is well within your ability… and I will be with you at the time of execution. There is nothing to fear… I assure you.” he smiled. Then his squared, rather fair face turned to a look of stoniness as he told them something not many had ever heard. “It is possible that you may have heard that the Squarehead people suffer greatly from the stinging insects that abound in the hot weather. This happens to be true. As a child I watched my own father suffer and almost die from these bites. To this day, the wasp and even a gnat brings panic to the heart of the Squarehead.” Then looking again at each attentive face, he continued, “Tonight after the sun goes behind the hills you are to gather the hives of the bee and the wasp and bring them to where the old sheepskins have been drying in the sun. Each hive is to be placed into the middle of a skin and this is to be folded, very carefully about the hive. Then the loose ends are to be tied with strings of raw hide. Beginning our assault, you are to sling these loaded hides over the walls of Omag. Only then will we be able to eliminate this curse to our people!”

Just before dawn Karrovo addressed his army of some seven hundred men. “Each of us has a part to accomplish in this great mission… and if any man fails, we will all surely die. Remember, the first archers are to shoot guards in such a way that they die instantly… much as we should like to see them suffer, eliminating alarm from the ears of the enemy is vital. Then after the skins have been thrown and split open on contact and the people are screaming, all others are to be shot so that they suffer and shout… which will add to their panic. Then, as they run screaming from the biting and buzzing insects, we shall kill them… God of our fathers ‘ willing… all of them… and once again this world shall be ours… as it once was. As for our women who are held in hated captivity, they have been warned to stay inside and to remain quiet until the fighting is over. If they are forced to leave, please try to avoid injuring them- but if it is necessary to winning… do not hesitate to also take them down. You see… if we lose today… we lose for all time to come.”

 Several hours into the day, during the time of the daylight meal, Karrovo’s signal to kill the guards on the great Omag wall was given and fourteen arrows silently sliced the air; half aimed at throats, half at hearts. At the same time, half cracked skins from sheep began whirring about on the ends of rawhide tethers and were slung as far over the wall as the men could throw them. Then a second rain of these missiles were thrown, then a third. In all, more than a hundred of these were thrown and before the last one disappeared over the wall, the first cries were heard. Within seconds howling Sons-of-God were careening, helter-skelter throughout Omag, hordes of angry wasps and bees buzzing about their heads. Then out from the gates of Omag came running, screaming, stumbling, terrified. Squarehead soldiers, heading, as the battle plans of Karrovo anticipated, toward the river on the south and the twin ponds on the north. And each agonized face appearing was greeted by a rain of arrows. As for who won, there was no contest. The Sons-of-God were defeated at Omag before any thought of resistance was born. Those few who mounted the wall and jumped over were immediately set upon and sliced to death by young men bearing sharpened sky stone knives. Karrovo’ s plan worked perfectly as far as it went. He had been born in Eden and raised in Omag, but as a crossbreed, he had not been privileged to know of the secret tunnel connecting the two places. That was part of the occult intelligence reserved for purebred alien people, and while he had heard rumors of such a tunnel, he had long disregarded this as a fable. There actually was such a tunnel. Its Omag entrance was a cleverly camouflaged part of an engine room which spanned from the west end of the handgun plant. The tunnel had its other entry in the most ancient portion of the Eden cemetery. The entire half mile length was lined with smooth, non- corrosive man-made stone. There had always been a force of secret police charged with servicing this secret connecting passage, but in the two hundred years of its existence, no servicing other than cleaning had ever been required. It was through this tunnel, to the comparative safety of Eden that almost half of the Son-of-God retreated from the stinging insects and the killing Son-of-Man. Squinting into the dust and smoke of a near devastated Omag, Karrovo muttered, “There is something quite wrong here.” He said something like this several times more, and what it was he had reference to was the fact that he knew that there were some four thousand men, women, and children living within these walls and the body count, both dead and captured, totaled less than sixteen hundred. Gathering a handful of his leaders about him, he snarled, “This is not the victory we had anticipated. Thousands of them have escaped… and we must find them. Now. And if we fail… then it is we who must somehow escape… or die.”

During the three days of their search of the nooks and crannies of Omag, Karrovo’s followers marveled at the structures and the works of what the small city contained and on the fourth day, a visibly shaken Karrovo gathered his men about him and announced that he wanted to lead an expedition toward the north in search of the fleeing Squareheads. Actually, he feared they were even now regrouping and that it was only a matter of time before they captured him if he chose to remain. Some three hundred men joined him. The rest chose to stay, no matter what.

Choosing to remain behind was a decision those who were still in Omag and Nod when the rebuilt forces of the Squareheads came raging back, was one they came to regret. The torturous deaths, the rapes, the mutilation, the blindings, the senseless games that the infuriated Son-of-God played with the miserable Sons-of-Man, games whose prizes in many cases were the dejected children. What they chose to do with these terrified prizes were beyond understanding. There were beatings, hangings, scourgings, slow strangulations and even slower drownings among other horrors inflicted on the crushed sons, daughters and children of Man. Finally, with just over nine hundred of an original number perhaps twenty times that remaining, the fury of the Sons-of-God was spent, the sleep of exhaustion having overcome them. It was while this deep sleep was upon them, those few of the Sons-of-Man who could, slipped from their bonds and fled, generally the direction taken by Karrovo. Others dragged themselves off into the heat of the hottest part of the world where they disappeared in time, blending their seed with that of those savages who lived there.

Meanwhile, Karrovo and his followers marched straight north for several weeks until they reached a place where the ground under their feet turned to ice. Here they turned left and marched toward the place where the sun sank behind the hills. Weeks later, when Squarehead concern for a possible second assault by the Mash-head forces subsided and with barriers removed,. many came in to Eden for the first time ever. What they saw surprised them. They found artistic works, evolved structures and gardens containing impressive flowers and luscious fruits. Most interesting, however, were the people who lived there. either short and beastlike like the Sons-of-Man, nor tall and square-headed as were the Sons-of-God. They seemed to share the features of both races. There was intelligence in their faces, complexity in their language·, involvement in their undertakings and a total lack of fear in their manner. Though many were fully as tall, erect and slender as the Sons-of-God, some still displayed vestiges of a bony ridge above the eyes and a heaviness toward the cap or the base of the skull. They seemed to comprehend the shaken qualities of the sons-of-God, and to sympathize with what had befallen them, but there was no feeling of any sort of inferiority here. After the period of alarm had come to an end, both the crossbred people and the Sons-of-God began to associate freely and somehow with the passage of time, the Edenites became dubbed the Sons-of-Man and both groups remained peacefully side-by- side for many years.