Free The Ports and Portals of the Zelaznids by Dr. Paul-Thomas Ferguson Page B

were making their way to the village of Sang-e, had turned to Lakku, their great and wise leader.  It was he who told them to pack all that they could and to assemble on the high hill .  It was he who summon ed great power and called out to the heavens until the hills opened up, revealing a portal t o another port, a path to another world.
         And so the Zelaznid people, carrying all that they could, crossed over into an island world with green grasses, lush forests, vast beaches , and endless blue seas - a paradise beyond imagination .  Here the Zelaznids made d ue as best they could .  Yet , all was not well.  The island was not large enough to sustain their population for long ; nor did they know what other island s there might be in the vicinitie .   The people knew that they would , at some future time , need to return to the world they knew, even at the risk of facing the warlords.
         In the meantime, they lived as best they could and wor k ed to nurse their leaders back to health, for both Qutughai and Lakku had need of aid, the first for the fever that would not seem to break, and the second for a great weariness which overcame him as a result of his efforts to open the portal through the mountain.
         Of these, the greater concern was for the health of Qutughai, both because his was a more serious maladie and because a large number of followers had come to place their faith in the wisdom of his decisions and the strength of his arm s .  T he weariness which fell upon Lakku was heavie , yet his ailment was well understood ; for others had, whenever Lakku u tilized his tremendous and mysterious gifts, seen the old man be set by a wea ri ness which always match ed the complexitie s of his task .  So it was that, as beloved as Father Lakku was, the Zelaznids feared much less for him than for the governor-general of Salabad.
         W hile the two great leaders of the Zelaznids remained unwell, the Arab , Abdul H azred - descendent of that same ‘Mad Arab’ of which so much has been spoken - assume d leadership of that most ancient people.  Hazred w ell underst oo d their plight ; h e kn e w what they had seen in the ir span of centuries.  And so it was that the Zelaznids found a kindred soul in Abdul Hazred and follow ed him most willingl ie .
         Yet, his leadership lasted but a short time, for Lakku, regain ing his health after a period of some weeks, resume d his place at the head of the Zelaznids.  Under Lakku’s guidance, the people explor ed their island and built homes for all and sundrie.
         S ome among them, worried that their land would soon be exhausted , built a number of rafts.   S ome thirtie men use d these vessels to explore the waters near the island .  B y these means they discovered five other islands of varied size, but no great landmass.
         Still another group separate d from the others and returned to the land of their birth .  They wished to determine to what extent the world still threatened them and to determine where the Zelaznids might at last establish for themselves a safe and permanent home.  Th e latter exploration was assisted by both Lakku and Abdul Hazred, who shared with one another all that they knew of portals .
         So it was that the otherworlders divide d themselves onto the six islands of their new port, while the Earthers returned to the known world in order to see what they might find.  T his latter band, once they passed through the portal opened by Abdul Hazred, never again appeared amongst their island-bound kinsmen , but vanish ed from the known historie of the Zelaznid peoples.  And yet , tales of these souls have passed down through the years so that we know that they must have lived for some time in the land of their birth. [52]
         As f or th e otherworlders, these people built for themselves a small but peaceful world away from those who sought to oppress them, living thus in quietude.  And Qutughai