Wings Over Talera - Charles Allen Gramlich [1]
But not finding his brother.
At first, of course, I had taken Swords of Talera to be simply an adventure novel. Then a series of strange mysteries created doubts in my mind. According to what records I could find amid the tattered documents of decades past, Ruenn Maclang had been born in 1888 and had disappeared in 1914 on a sea voyage that he captained to Japan. His brother had been with him. Neither had been seen again—dead or alive. And over two years before this night, the man who claimed now to be Maclang had given me gold coins minted by an empire unknown to Earth’s history.
It was almost as if they came from another world.
Yes, there was much I wanted to ask this man. But now, seated across from him in my book-cluttered living room, all questions seemed lost to me. It remained quiet between us, the only sounds the crackling of oak logs in the fireplace and the ticking of the mantel clock. It was he who broke the silence.
Ruenn rose and walked over to me. He grasped my shoulder with powerful fingers and drew me to my feet. His eyes seemed to read me.
“There is something you wish,” he said. “What is it?”
“I want to know the truth,” I blurted.
His lips quirked, and he nodded. “Very well,” he said, so quietly that I scarcely heard him.
His hand dropped from my shoulder and he turned to look into the fire. The flames glinted off the sharp planes of his face. Then his back straightened.
“If it is the truth you want then you shall have it,” he said. “My name is Ruenn Maclang and I have been to a planet called Talera. There is a woman there that I love. Her name is Rannon Jystral. I have made a place for myself in her world, and now I call it my world as well. Is that the truth you wanted, my friend?”
I said nothing for a moment. I had known what his answer must be, had promised myself not to accept it. What he claimed to be truth was impossible. Yet, with him standing there before me I could not think him a liar.
“I believe you,” I said.
He sighed, and I realized that he had hoped for and wanted my belief. Perhaps he had needed it. He went and sat down again, seeming heavy with exhaustion. I asked him why.
“To cross the distance to Earth takes something out of one,” he said.
“Then why come?”
“There are always old acquaintances to renew,” he said. “And, too, I wanted to ask after the money that I left with you on my previous visit.”
I nodded. “For your sisters’ descendents. They’ve been well taken care of. Grants. And trust funds, of course.”
“Have there been any questions? Inquiries?”
“A few. Nothing serious. The trail is well hidden.”
“Good,” he said. “I appreciate your efforts on my behalf.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, smiling. “And there is something else as well.”
He frowned in question.
I went over to my bookshelf and removed a slim paperback volume with a rather garish cover. I handed it to him and sat down. He looked at the title and then turned to the first page. He read for a moment before looking up and laughing.
“So, the record of my first adventure was published,” he said.
“Yes. It sold well. But tell me. What has happened to you since the night we last met, when you left Earth to return to your new world of Talera?”
“Much,” he said, leaning forward.
PROLOGUE
RUENN BEGINS HIS STORY
I sat by a small fire, in a clearing within the pine-forested hills of northern Arkansas, waiting for something to happen while I scratched my name idly in the dirt with a stick—Ruenn Maclang. About me, night’s face was dark and cold and lovely. Above me, the stars seemed as clear and brittle as icicle teeth. Looking up at those stars, I could see the familiar constellations of my youth, the big and little dipper,