Neidra's Lore

NEIDRA’S LORE

KALEEN KAR

Copyright © 2019 by Kaleen Kar.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2019917449

ISBN:       Hardcover       978-1-7960-0770-1

                 Softcover           978-1-7960-0769-5

                 eBook                 978-1-7960-0768-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/30/2019

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CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter One   The Beginning

Chapter Two   Leaving Home

Chapter Three   The Search

Chapter Four   The Meeting

Chapter Five   Negotiations

Chapter Six   A New Beginning

Chapter Seven   Settling In

Chapter Eight   The Wayfarer Returns

Epilogue

Glossary

Thank you does not seem to be enough for the love and attention that my illustrator Ursula Jones has put into every single drawing. I am indebted to you for all your hard work. Every illustration has brought the story to life.

To all those who helped me to see my dreams come true and a special thanks to the creative writing class from the Jack Young Centre at Salisbury, South Australia, without your support this story would not have seen the light of day.

Prologue

Narrator: They had reached for the stars, but had forgotten to keep hold of who they were. Wotmir had been torn asunder. First by the great war, almost twenty years ago, where civil unrest and growing technological advances had caused two of their six countries to begin a fight that eventually spread to the entire world. Then by ever-increasing storms, caused initially by nuclear warfare, and compounded by an invading horde.

Each storm that fell on the planet was worse than the one before. No two were alike, but they were all devastating. Those who had survived the war, the invasion, and the subsequent storms, now resided in homes made in caves, or built completely underground. The surface was no longer a viable living space. And although the population had been almost annihilated by all the events, both natural and unnatural, it was growing once again, and now needed new places to live. The same technology that had nearly destroyed the planet, was now being used to find new places to populate.

There were still many gifted people on Wotmir and among those who had survived were Myana, her sister Yanos, and her brother Myka. All had gifts, but Myana was by far the strongest of the three. Each of the siblings had been requested to travel with one of the ships seeking out a new planet for settlement, and although her brother and sister had readily agreed, Myana did not want to leave their deep underground cave. She was happy in her isolation, where her gift did not cause her any grief. This is her story.

Chapter One

The Beginning

I awoke to the thundering sound of the waterfall only one hundred metres or so from the opening to our cave, which we had called home for almost twenty years now. Then came the usual greetings of my family and the sounds of the morning meal being prepared by our mother. My pet mercat, Purza, was snuggled into my side, and her soft vibrations against my skin made me smile. We had been paired since birth, and as her life span was close to mine, we expected to be together for life. Sleek bodied with long lanky legs, her ears are her main feature. Long and pointed with tufts of red hair that made her ears look even longer, her tail had the same tufts at the end, and I had always teased her that she would make a good broom. Her fur was red with elongated white stripes, and her oval-shaped face was highlighted by her wide green eyes. When standing she was level with my waist, so we made quite a pair, as I also had red hair and green eyes, which was how we came to be paired in the first place. She awoke and stretched and I said, ‘Good morning, Purza.’

She looked up into my eyes and replied, ‘Good morning, Myana.’ No one else could hear our conversation; it was all telepathic which suited me just fine. I was glad that we were only a small family of five, although at times we made a lot of noise, especially when an argument broke out. When both the mind and the mouth were shouting at the same time, it was quite overwhelming.

My sister Yanos’s dark curly hair was bouncing around her plump shoulders as she excitedly packed to go on her first space flight to explore to the east of our galaxy. I couldn’t help but wonder to myself if there was such a thing as east or west or any other such direction once you were actually in space. Yanos had the gift of being able to just look at an area and be able to tell if the air was breathable or poisonous as well as if plant life was dangerous or not. She had been requested by the Space Net to co-ordinate their scientific expedition and then travel aboard their ship to aid in the fast identification of potential planets for settlement. Although Space Net had equipment that could detect poisonous gases immediately, testing plant life took time, whereas Yanos could identify them without the time-consuming testing. Her excitement was catchy. I smiled at her as she sailed past with an arm full of what she deemed essentials for the journey. I laughed at some of the odd knickknacks that she had placed next to her luggage. It seemed a little piece of home was going wherever she went.

My brother Myka was the opposite, tall and blond; he had only one bag of clothes, and personal hygiene items only made it, no sentimentality there. My brother as an empath was an excellent negotiator, he could always tell if someone was lying or trying to sneak something past you and he had been requested by Bright Star Incorporated that he journey with them to identify and assess other lifeforms they may come across in their travels, with a plan to share a planet with its population if we were unable to find an uninhabited world.

I had also been approached by both of these companies as well as several others wanting to explore the surrounding space, but I was not comfortable with the knowledge that these ships would hold hundreds of people and that there was a definite possibility of coming into contact with other populated planets and ships. It was hard to block out a large amount of noise, especially after being isolated for so many years. I have another gift that no one knew about, that I think would come in handy once I decided with whom I would travel. To date about fifty spaceships heading out in all directions. As I watched my brother and sister head off to their chosen ships, a voice called out from the front door, ‘Hello? Anyone home?’

Mater answered, ‘Yes,’ as she went to see who was knocking.

A tall thin man stood at the door, and while I could hear him speaking, I could not read his mind. How strange.

Mater brought him down into our cave, and I heard him say, ‘I believe you have a multi-telepath.’ They called me that as I could read the minds of animals and people alike.

‘Yes,’ Mater answered