Gra's Gift: Gra Warrior, #1

By Bunny Brown

Gra's Gift.

On the other side of the universe there is a planet by the name of Mearth.  It boasts of the Mearthian race.  Cat like beings.  Though not unique in the universe, the Ss'tars also bear a striking resemblance to the Earth creatures.

Mearth is entering its wintertime and the Mearthian council is getting ready to start.  The governing body has much to do, but is given a warning from Gra, what they call God.  Gra has a surprise for them.  He is sending them a gift.

To the councils surprise the gift is a Gra Warrior.  Something Mearth has not seen for seven generations now.  The last met an untimely end at the hands of this very same council. 

This particular Gra Warrior is quite peculiar, and her reputation has preceded her.  War, as she has been called at Galactic Council has been known to be at the center of trouble.  Will the council except her?  What is her purpose in coming to Mearth?   Could it be a certain male at the heart of her arrival?  Or does she have something else planned?  Only Gra holds the answers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bunny Brown
• Release date: Sep 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393969792

Bunny Brown

Bunny Brown is an Oregonian born and raised.  She was born in the Willamette Valley, of Oregon one cold February day.  She has lived most of her life in the same valley.  She did move to the Umpqua valley with her family, for a brief time, in her high school years.  She quietly graduated from Douglas High School.  Bunny then moved back to the Willamette valley with her family where she later graduated from a local community college, Chemeketa, with an Associate of Arts degree.  She then went on to get a B.S. degree in Zoology from OSU. Bunny has always loved animals of all kinds.  She can often be seen with one and had many different kinds growing up.  Her family has supported her in a career with animals.  Bunny has used some of this affinity for animals in her writing. Bunny’s family is import to her.  A major influence in her writing is her mother.  She has always been Bunny’s first editor; correcting her work since grade school.  In addition, she is very grateful to her loving husband and daughter who have watched her sitting up into the wee hours of the morning working on one story or another.  She is currently working on becoming a published author.  She likes to write science fiction/fantasy books and short stories. 

Book preview

Chapter 1: The Council

The Mearthian council was meeting in the joint chamber.  It was a big room and the house’s rulers sat in a half circle facing the door.  The tables ware they sat were one continuous half circle.  Their colors adorned their chairs, walls, and clothes.  Each house boasted two colors.  Some overlapped, a light green versus dark green, but every Mearthian could tell which green belonged to which house. 

Each ruler had two chairs at the table.  One for them and one for their trusted.  There were large spaces between the sets of chairs.  Not only to give them room, but some privacy as well.  Behind the first set of chairs sat four smaller ones.  Usually they were for the first born and other important advisors. 

Behind those smaller chairs stood warriors.  Protectors that would gladly give their all for their house.  They stood silent watch at the back of the room.

The Mearthian council was discussing how the next few days would look.  When there came a knock at the door.  In stepped seven Mearthians, one for each house.  They were lit up, as the Mearthians called it.  This simply meant that their whole body shone with a light that was not their own.

They spoke as one, "This generation is the seventh, since the turning from Gra.  You may have forgotten Gra, but he has not forgotten you.  He sends a gift.  This gift will be here in four days. 

Prepare yourselves.  Your generation will have to decide. 

Will you follow Gra or will you not?

Be warned that if you refuse this gift it will lead to war.  A war that you cannot win.  One that will ravish this world and make this generation cursed by all others.  IF.... there are others."  The light suddenly vanished from those standing in front of the council.  They looked around confused and then wandered out of the room.

The council members murmured among themselves.  What could this mean?  No one had lit up for a long time.  What was the gift?  Why would they refuse it?  Many questions and no one seemed to have answers.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Days passed quickly.  The Mearthian council was about to convened for the first time since last winter.  They had much business to attend to and the memory of the seven seers faded quickly.

Grandfather, Luset looked up to see his grandson and namesake.  Shouldn't you be preparing to go in?

I am.  The young man looked questioningly at the old man kneeling on the floor.  This day more than any other sets the tone for the Winter Council.  I pray for guidance, wisdom, and courage before every meeting of the council.  It is important to ask Gra to be with us....  Even more so today.

Because it is the first day?

There is that.  But also, Gra promised a gift for us.  We need to be prepared to receive it.

That's right!  I had forgotten. The grandson said looking guilty at his grandfather.

I'm afraid many have, Luset replied sadly.  Come and kneel beside me and we will say a prayer together.

Chapter 2: Stand Before the Council

I t is time, the Charg captain said. 

She looked up and sighed.  She stood slowly into her two-legged stance.  When she stood the Charg Captain was about waist height.  The Charg reminded her slightly of large ants from her time on Earth. 

Though smaller the Charg had more legs.  Four of them in total, each ended at a shared abdomen that was parallel to the floor.  Two arms could be found secured to a torso that was in a 90 degree angle to their abdomen.  They sported seven fingers on each hand. 

A short neck sat atop their torso.  They had normal sized heads, but the short neck made them look slightly bigger.  Their eyes were not in stalks on the top of their heads, in fact they had no entni.  Instead their eyes were set in their heads much like humans or her own. 

Charg eyes tended to be brown in color, but with a clearness to them.  They looked more like a pane of glass colored brown with the sun shining through it rather than say a rock that reflected light.  This made their eyes a standout feature of their face.  Some people found it hard to look into those eyes.  She did not.

Unlike ants, Chargs did not have an exoskeleton, but an internal one.  Their skin, a dark brown to red color was scaly and provided some protection in a sometimes-unfriendly universe.  Out of their skin no hair grew.  This increased their bug like appearance to her.

The Charg in general had a fierce belief in a being greater than themselves.  They did not mind other names other beings might call this one.  They knew each of creation knew this mysterious being differently, and yet the same.  They prayed often, but more importantly listened. 

By the grace of Gra. She said as she dropped into her four-legged stance.  This put her about the height of the Charg.

As with all of us, the Charg answered.  A slight smile played at the corner of her mouth, and she nodded. 

She stayed in her four-legged stance until they exited the Charg ship.  Their ships were small, and it was simply more comfortable.  The Charg never seemed to mind this, unlike some other species who thought it strange that another being would walk on their hands.  This in mind however, she switched into her two-legged stance as soon as she had cleared the ship.  This way she did not draw as much attention to herself.

The Charg captain and three other Charg lead the way through the bustling space station.  She focused on the floor beneath her feet.  A steel gray color, like most other stations she had been on.  It was cool, but not cold on her feet. 

She was far from home, exhausted from the trip, and the unknown that lay ahead.  It took all her strength to keep going.  Mercifully, the Charg were walking slowly. 

They boarded a shuttle to get to the planet.  She looked out of the shuttle window near her.  A vast sapphire expanse announced the possibility of water.  Clouds of ghostly white drifted over much of the surface.  She could see the ivory white of snow on the ground peeking from underneath the swirling clouds here and there.

She shivered at the thought of snow.  She had lived most of her life on ships and space stations.  Still she had spent some time on Earth and knew what snow was, and how cold it could be.

‘It is a pretty enough planet,’ she noted.  While she admired the beauty that was before her, she couldn't help but feel a pang of envy.  Her race had no home world to call their own.  They did have a station that they called home.  It circled a moon that was habitable, graciously given to them by the Hargos after they freed their planet. 

It was not the same as having a whole planet.  This, she knew well, was the source of her envy.  She pushed the feeling aside, knowing it did not serve her.

'So, this is the famous Mearthian home world,' she thought instead.  ‘I wonder what Little Brother would think of it?  He would probably say something like, Looks kinda like Earth, or... What more cats?  Where are all the humans?’  She sniffed at the thought.

The shuttle landed and they got off at the on-planet port.  They were checking people and she thought they would stop her, but they waved her through.  'No doubt because I look Mearthian.' She thought irritability.  'Even more so without my ring.'  She thought glumly.

They stepped outside and the cold took her breath away.  It was like falling into ice water, for a moment she thought about turning back.  She didn't, but she wondered how she was going to survive in the cold.  On stations the climate was always controlled and rarely extreme cold or hot.  Absently she wondered if her fur would grow longer or thicker to help protect her.

Again, she thought of Earth.  When she had been stranded there her fur had gotten thicker during the winter.  Though not longer.  She shivered.  This was much colder than that winter. 

She noted the snow was deep and covered everything in a blanket of white.  The sunlight reflected off of it and almost blinded her, like the headlights of an Earth vehicle.  She looked away as tears came to her eyes. 

She was looking down, lost in her thoughts; mindlessly following those in the lead, when those that were lit took up the escort.  There were seven of them and they surrounded her.  Suddenly she felt privileged, and she straightened putting on a more regal poise.  Gra was indeed with her.  She let that knowledge comfort and strengthen her.

They reached large double doors.  They were guarded by fourteen warriors.  She noticed that if you grouped the warriors by the color of their clothes, which had a solid color and then a trim color, there would be two groups of seven.  She knew that the Mearthian council had seven houses and so it made sense that each house had two warriors guarding the main doors. 

The doors themselves were decorated with carvings.  Seven trees that stood in a ring around a scene in the middle.  The branches of the trees wove around and into each other forming a circle around the edge.  In the clearing, there looked to be a castle.  If one looked to the front of the castle one could see a small group of figures.  These seven looked to be kneeling in a rough ring.  ‘Are they praying?’ she wondered absently.  One, she noticed had a shine to them.  A cold not from the wind ran up her fur.

Those around her stopped in front of the warriors.  Words were exchange with them as she inspected the door.  She took a steading breath and looked straight head, letting those around her do the talking.  Soon enough the doors were opened for them.

‘This is it,’ she thought as they entered.  She kept her eyes forward and resisted the urge to look around.  Even so she noticed that there was a group of people sitting to her right.  They were plainly dressed.  Where they sat reminded her of Earth bleachers at some sports game. 

‘The whole room looks a little stadium like,’ she thought dryly doing her best to keep her ears and tail still.

The middle was large and opened to a grand ceiling high above.  ‘If I jumped, I could reach it easily enough.’  Without looking up she couldn't quite tell if it was decorated or not.  Looking up at the moment was not an option.

Ahead on the ground level were several doorways.  They were dark and set back so that the shadow of the balcony above them nearly hid them from sight, but she saw well in the dark.  Each door was guarded by a warrior or what she assumed was a warrior. 

As for balcony, it ran the circumference of the room or so she assumed, as she didn't turn to confirm this. There was a great rail around its edge.  With some effort she suppressed the sudden urge to jump onto it and run along it.  She loved to run.

The rail was supported along its length at regular intervals by vertical columns.  The column and at least the edge of the rail looked to be carved in a twisted pattern.  On the other side of the rail sat people in big chairs.  The chairs, people and even the balcony in some places where all colorful and heavily adorned. 

‘Whomever is sitting in those chairs must think highly of themselves.’ she thought wryly as she put her all into stilling herself as she stood before them.

Chapter 3: Benzent

Benzent followed his father into council.  He was dressed in his dark blue shirt and pants with red trim.  His father had chosen to wear the reverse, red with dark blue trim.  Benzent had looked at his red ones, but.... Something just felt off about them anymore.  That nagging feeling roared to life again.

This was the first day of the council and he was a little nervous.  He had been to the Galactic Council this past year.  Now he would have to present to the Mearthian Council about his time there.  While he had known the council members all his life, he still felt a little on edge about standing on the floor in front of them all. 

There would be those that he did not know in the gallery.  There would be questions about policies.  He would have to answer them with grace and confidence, that he did not currently feel.  If he forgot something or staggered it would reflect poorly on his house and his father.  He felt the pressure keenly. 

Just to add to the pressure there was the nagging feeling he had forgotten something.  Something important, but no matter how hard he tried he could not get his mind to reveal the answer.  He hoped that there were no questions about whatever it was.

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he almost missed his cue to sit down.  His chair was behind and to the right of his fathers.  He had a pretty good view unless his father stood. 

His father was standing now.  He went over to the rail and spoke the words that would open the session. Done with that duty he was about to call the first case when a warrior stepped out onto the floor.

Apologies!  We have seven standing outside lit with Gra's light.  They wish to enter.  The warrior announced.

Let them in. Senzent said and sat.

Benzent scooted forward in his seat so he could see better.  He watched those that were lit come in.  Following close behind was a lone female and four Chargs.  The female took his breath away.

Her fur was black, as the night and she was of the second morph.  This simply meant that her ears stood straight towards the top of her head and though they were still at the moment, they could move freely.  Her tail was long, nearly touching the floor.  Her eyes stood out like flames against the black of her fur.  Much like the flames of a fire they spoke of a power to warm or burn depending on the whim of the one that wielded them.

She stood straight and looked ahead with an unknown purpose.  She curiously wore a light red almost pink shirt and pants that were trimmed around the cuff, neck, buttons, and bottom with a dark blue.  Almost his house’s colors.

She looked neither left or right, nor up or down.  She held a regal air about her.  'She's so beautiful,' he thought unable to tear his eyes away from her.

Then those that where lit began to speak.

Chapter 4: The Gift

She stopped and stood when those in front of her stopped.  She didn't look around but only ahead.  She put everything she had into standing still.

"We bring to you a warrior.  The first Gra warrior in seven generations.  This is your gift given to you