THE LAST MOON DANCE

A strange, nameless man grows up on a farm, which looks like any other farm in the gently rolling land of Eastern Pennsylvania, and is run by monks who called themselves Brothers.  He is forced by the Brothers to do hard work.  However, he's inhumanly strong and he move and run much faster than any of the Brothers, as well, he can jump incredibly well. 

One day, the Abbot who is the head of the Brothers gives him some instructions and a little money.  The man is then sent on a journey which leads him to Brazil

There he takes a river boat up the Amazon to the city of Manaus where he obtains supplies, and continues by canoe, up the river. One horrible night, he becomes sick and spits his teeth out, one by one.  However, over the next month, he grows new, meat tearing teeth as he also grows even stronger, along with fur all over his face.  These changes force him to continue his trip at night.  As per the directions the Abbot gave him, he paddles up the Amazon until he finds a waterfall. There he climbs the waterfall cliff until he meets an individual who looks like him. The meeting triggers memories and the man suddenly realizes that he's Vekor, the King of the Voren. The Voren are a wolf like group of people living in a hidden part of the Amazon basin. The Voren don't believe that the newcomer is actually Vekor and he must fight the strongest of the Voren warriors in a death match.  Vekor wins and becomes the King of the Voren. 

Vekor finds himself also mated with Avera.  From Avera, he learns that he must prove that he's truly Vekor.  In order to do this he must engage in a series of tests, which if he fails any of them, will result in his death.  If he passes the testing, he'll then lead the Voren back through the Gate of Exile and away from their jungle home of more than a thousand years.  Unfortunately, Vekor has no idea where to find the gate of exile.  As he passes each test, the objects that he takes give him information about who he really is and what he must do.  As he lives among the Voren, Vekor participates in the hunts that the males conduct to feed the village and also in the Moon Dances that are a vital ceremonial part of the Voren life. He is better than any of the males at the warrior tasks and also better than any of the males at the ritual Moon Dances.  He learns that a group of people called Avarra exiled the Voren, many years before, and he must lead the Voren back to face the Avarra, who are a tall, handsome, nearly hairless people with a hidden secret that only the Avarra Science Alklar and Vekor know. 

The Voren have a temple in the jungle and the temple contains a time line. The time line ends after the next Moon Dance and the Voren must follow Vekor back through the Gate of Exile, their religion demands it.  Vekor must lead the Voren warriors against the science of the Avarra and then he and his wolf men will breed with the Avarra!

I DID NOT KNOW who I was or where I came from.  The earliest memories I had were of the farm.  It looked like just another farm in the gently rolling land of what I was told was Eastern Pennsylvania.  However, the farm to which I refer was run by some sort of religious order.

The Brothers of the religious order raised me from what they told me was 16-years-old until I was nearly 18-years-old.  I did hard, physical work on the farm during the day and I was locked in my windowless room at night.

I was an unusual looking person.  I had very white skin and short, black hair.  The hair on my head never grew past a short, dense covering.  I was about six feet tall and weighed about 190 pounds.  I was inhumanly strong and could have overpowered the Brothers and run free.  But then run to where?  Since I had no idea where I was and no place to go, I had no real choice but to remain on the farm as a prisoner of the Brothers.

One day each week the Brothers required me to go to school.  What the Brothers taught me in the school made little or no sense.  My schooling consisted mostly of memorization of material.  The material that I had to memorize was strange and was in some language I had never heard and that no one else on the farm ever used.  I was also taught to speak English, although just enough to be able to talk to the Brothers.  Well, I was also taught some English words and phrases that I was told would be useful in my travels.

Sometimes I knew things that I had not learned on the farm and that the Brothers had not told me.  I had no idea where the knowledge came from, unless it was knowledge that I had learned before I came to the farm.  However, since I had no idea where I had been before I came to the farm, it was hard for me to trust the knowledge.

I asked the Brothers who I was, where I had come from and where I was going.  The Brothers, at least the low level Brothers that I mainly dealt with would never tell me anything.  The higher level brothers did eventually tell me that I was to be a traveller who would do some work for the Brotherhood.  This last was strange, as I was already doing work for the Brotherhood, hard labour on the farm.  If I were to travel, I would not be able to do the farm work that was all I knew.  Then again, perhaps I would eventually be taught what I needed for the new work.

At night, I would sometimes ponder my situation.  How was I to do other work for the Brotherhood if I knew nothing of the Brotherhood and almost nothing of anything else?  If I was to travel, where would I travel?  For that matter, how would I travel?  I could find no answers to my problems.

Due to my lack of knowledge of my situation, I became angry and rebellious.  However, the Brothers carried staffs of punishment.  The staffs inflicted pain that did not damage, but the pain could render even my giant strength useless.  I would try to avoid trouble with the Brothers.  However, I often felt rage in me and I wanted to kill a Brother who was tormenting me.  I probably could have killed at least one Brother and gained his staff of punishment, but then what would become of me?  I probably could not defeat several of the Brothers at one time and, even if I could, what then?  I would have been a prisoner of my own ignorance, since my world consisted of just the farm.

The gnawing question of who I was and where I had come from was a major area of concern to me.  If I knew where I had come from, I could perhaps understand who I was and how I came to be at the farm.  I might also determine where I could go, assuming I could ever leave the farm.  If I had family somewhere, perhaps they would take me in, if I could find them.

I did not really resemble any of the Brothers who ran the farm.  The Brothers were some sort of minor sect and came from many different countries and racial backgrounds, although most of them were of something called European origin.  Apparently Europe was a place not too unlike Pennsylvania only Europe was a long way off from Pennsylvania.

My strength made it dangerous for the Brothers to deal with me and some of them would try to be kind to me.  Unfortunately, the kindness never extended as far as providing me with useful information.  I also suspected that the kindness some of the Brothers showed me was mainly due to their fear of me.

As I have said, I was inhumanly strong.  I could also move and run much faster than any of the Brothers and I could jump incredibly well.  I could jump and grab a tree limb some 15 feet above the ground, pull myself up onto the tree limb in one quick, smooth motion and then climb to the top of the tree with ease.

I realized that I must learn who I am and only then could I begin to live my life for me instead of working as a slave for the Brothers.  However, the means by which I could discover who and what I am continued to elude me.

With no other real choice, I continued to work on the farm.  The work was hard,

although my strength made things bearable.  With the exception of the once a week classes, I was never told more than what I needed to get my work done.  I wondered why the Brothers did not want me to know things.

One day I was summoned by the Abbot who ran the farm and was the leader of the Brothers.  The Abbot told me that my destiny was in the Amazon region of a place called Brazil.  The name Brazil was unfamiliar to me.  The Abbot had a map that showed a place called Brazil.  Apparently Brazil was a country and a very large country.  There was a river, called the Amazon that ran through the place called Brazil.  The Amazon River was a very long way from the farm in Eastern Pennsylvania.

However the Abbot had tickets for me, traveller clothes for me to wear, a little money and a book with some rather mysterious and sketchy directions and instructions to guide me on my travels.

Suddenly, I realized I was free!  I could leave the farm that had been my prison.  But I was free in a world I knew nothing about.  I assumed that I was as much stronger than the people I would meet than I was stronger than the Brothers.  However, how was I to use my strength to advantage in the world?  If I did use my strength, what would be the result?

The Abbot told me that the people in the world beyond the farm did not have staffs of punishment, but they did have guns.  Guns used some noisy means to propel a small piece of lead at very high speeds.  If the lead struck even such as me, it would cause great damage or even death.  The Abbot said I needed to be very careful about guns.

I sensed that the Abbot told me the truth as far as the dangers of guns went.  I would need to be careful if the people outside the farm had the guns the Abbot mentioned.  In any case, I would need to be careful, as I knew nothing of the world outside the farm.