1 - Warriors of Mars (14 page)

"We must get a fairly large
party of warriors into position behind them," Carnak said. "Then we
can attack them from two sides and drive a wedge through their ranks."

"A good plan," I agreed.
"But how can we move that party of warriors? We cannot fly."

"True," Movat Jard said,
"but we can go under them. Remember the slave-pens? Remember that I said
there were several entrances and exits?"

"Yes," I replied.
"Could we go through one of these and emerge behind the enemy?"

"Unless they are ready for
that trick," he said, "we could. But if they have blocked the
entrances, we stand to lose more—since we will have a force of good warriors
stranded down there unable to help defend the area we have gained. Is it worth
the risk?"

"Yes," I said. "For
if we do not gain an advantage soon our men will tire. They are already weak
from the sojourn. We cannot afford to waste any more time."

"Who will lead them?"
Carnak stepped forward, evidently thinking of himself.

"I will," I said.
"You are both needed here to rally the defenders."

They understood the necessity of
this.

Within a shati, I was leading a
force of some thirty warriors towards the slave-pen entrance Movat Jard had
indicated.

Down the winding ramps we went at
a loping run.

And we ran straight into a
detachment of Argzoon coming the other way!

Almost before we knew it we were
wasting time and men in a battle for the underground passage.

The Argzoon seemed to be fighting
with little will, and I had killed
two myself
and
disarmed several more before the rest lay down their arms, holding out their
hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Why do you give up so
easily?" I asked one of them.

He answered in the coarse,
guttural accent of his people.

"We are tired of fighting
battles for Horguhl," he said. "And she does not lead us even—she
disappeared after you killed the N'aal Beast. We only followed her because we
thought Raharumara dwelt in the N'aal Beast and she was stronger than Raharumara.
But now we know that Raharumara does not dwell in the N'aal Beast, else you
could not have killed it. We do not wish to lose our lives for her schemes any
longer—too many of our brothers have died over the years to satisfy her
ambitions. Now it has all come to this—a few warriors fighting in the streets
of the
Black
City
,
defending themselves against slaves! We wish a truce!"

"How many others feel as you
do?" I asked.

"I do not know," he
admitted. "We have not talked—too much has happened too swiftly."

"You know the fair-haired
girl Horguhl brought here and who was at the ceremony of the N'aal Beast
earlier?" I questioned him.

"I saw her, yes."

"Do you know where she
is?"

"I think she is in the
Tower
of
Vulse
."

"Where is that?"

"Near the main gate—it is the
tallest tower in the city."

We took their arms from them and
continued on through the slave-pens emerging at last in a part of the city
almost immediately behind the rear lines of the battling Argzoon.

We attacked at once.

With cries of surprise the Argzoon
turned. Then we were locked in combat, driving through their midst in an effort
to link up with our comrades on the other side.

I myself was engaged with one of
the largest Argzoon I had encountered. He was almost twelve feet high and
fought with a long lance and a sword.

At one stage he flung the lance at
me. By chance, I grabbed it in mid-air, turned it and flung it back at him. It
caught him in the belly. I finished him with my sword. If it had not been for
that lucky catch, I doubt if I should have survived the encounter.

Now I could see that we were
almost linked with our fellows on the other side.

Certain that the tactic had
succeeded,
I left my men in charge of a dark-skinned warrior
who had shown skill and intelligence in the fighting, and left the fray,
sheathing my sword.

I was running for the
Tower
of
Vulse
near the main gate. Here I
hoped that I would at least find Shizala and make myself responsible for her
safety, if I could do nothing else.

I saw the Tower soon and noted
that its entrance seemed unguarded.

But I saw something else.
Something that sent a shock of surprise thrilling through me.

What I saw I thought
impossible—some trick of the light, some illusion.

What I saw was an aircraft
tethered near the top of the tower—an aircraft similar to the one in which
Shizala and I had flown when we went to the camp of the Argzoon!

How did it come to be there?

I reached the entrance of the
tower and ran inside. There I found a set of winding, stone steps leading up
and up. There seemed to be no rooms in the lower part of the tower. I began to
run up the steps.

Near the top of the tower I found
a door. It was unbarred and I flung it open.

I felt shock as I saw the two
within the room.

One of them was Shizala.

The other—?
The other was Telem Fas Ogdai, Bradhinak of Mishim Tep, Shizala's betrothed.

He had one arm around Shizala and
his other hand held a sword as he looked warily towards the door through which
I had burst.

FOR a moment I confess that my emotion was one of dreadful
disappointment rather than joy that Shizala was safe in the arms of a
protector.

I dropped my guard and smiled at
Telem Fas Ogdai.

"Greetings, Bradhinak. I am
glad to see that you have managed to keep the Bradhinaka from danger. How did
you get here? Did you hear something of where we had gone in Narlet, perhaps?
Or was Darnad able to get word to you more swiftly than I had supposed?"

Telem Fas Ogdai smiled and
shrugged. "Does it matter? I am here and Shizala is safe. That is the
important thing."

I felt the answer rather
unnecessarily oblique but accepted it.

"Michael Kane," Shizala
said, "I was sure you had been killed by now."

"
Providence
is on my side, it seems," I said, trying to hide the expression in my
eyes, which must have added—'save in the most important matter of my life'.

"I hear you've performed
miracles of daring." Telem Fas Ogdai spoke somewhat ironically. My dislike
for him increased in spite of my effort to take an objective attitude to bin.
He was not helping me.

"
Providence
again," I said.

"Perhaps you will leave us
for a moment," Telem Fas Ogdai said. "I would like to have some words
with Shizala in private."

I would not be boorish a second
time. I bowed slightly and went out of the room.

As the door closed I heard
Shizala's voice suddenly scream loudly.

It was too much. In spite of my
earlier encounter at the
palace
of
Varnal
,
I could not control myself. I sprang back into the room.

Shizala was struggling in the
grasp of a scowling Telem Fas Ogdai. He was trying to drag her towards the
window to where his aircraft waited.

"Stop!"
I ordered levelly.

She was sobbing. "Michael
Kane—he—"

"I am sorry, Shizala, but no
matter what you think of me for it, I will not stand by and see a brute handle
a lady so!"

Telem Fas Ogdai laughed. He had
sheathed his sword, but now he released Shizala in order to draw it.

To my surprise she ran immediately
to me!

"He is a traitor!" she
shouted. "Telem Fas Ogdai was in league with Horguhl—they planned to rule
the continent together!"

I could hardly believe my ears. I
drew my own blade.

"He threatened to kill you
unless I remained silent just now," she went on. "I—I did not want
that."

Telem Fas Ogdai chuckled.
"Remember your bond, Shizala. You must still marry me."

"When the world learns that
you are a traitor," I said, "she will not."

She shook her head. "No, a
bond of the kind we made goes higher than ordinary law. He is right. He will be
exiled and I with him!'

"But that is a cruel
law!"

"It is tradition," she
said simply. "It is a custom of our folk. If tradition is ignored society
will crumble, we know that. Therefore the individual must sometimes suffer
unjustly, for the sake of the Great Law."

It was hard for me to argue
against this. I may be old-fashioned, but I have great respect for tradition
and custom as pillars of society.

Suddenly Telem Fas Ogdai laughed
again, a somewhat unhinged chuckle, and lunged towards me.

I thrust Shizala behind me and met
his lunge with a swift parry.

Back and forth across the room we
fought. I had never encountered such a skilled swordsman. We were evenly
matched, save that I had earlier exerted myself a great deal. I began to feel
that he must win and Shizala would be condemned to spending her life with a
traitor she hated!

Soon I was actually retreating
before a whirlwind of steel and found myself with my back not against the
wall—but worse—my back was to the window. A drop of a hundred feet was behind
me!

I saw Telem Fas Ogdai grin as he
forced me further back. I became desperate. From somewhere I called on extra
reserves of energy. In a last final, desperate bid I hurled myself forward,
straight into that network of flashing steel!

I took him by surprise. It saved
my life and cost him his.

He stumbled backward for a moment.

I thrust rapidly at his throat.
The point met flesh and he fell with a great roar of baffled rage.

I knelt beside him as the life
bubbled from him. I could not save him. We both knew he was going to die.
Shizala came and knelt by him, too.

"Why, Telem," she said,
"why did you do such a despicable thing?"

He turned his eyes towards her,
speaking with difficulty.

"It was an expedition I
undertook in secret more than a year ago. I thought I would try to discover
what had happened to your father. Instead, I was captured and brought to
Horguhl."

"You were brave to attempt
such a thing," I said softly.

"She—she seduced me
somehow," he said. "She told me secrets—dark secrets. I became
completely in her power. I helped her plan the final stages of the attack on
Varnal. I deliberately went to Varnal at the time of the attack, knowing that I
would be asked to carry a message for help to Mishim Tep and your other
allies." He began to cough horribly,
then
rallied
himself.

"I—I could not help myself. I
expected you to be defeated, but you were not. Your folk learned that I had not
taken the message to Mishim Tep—m-my father asked why I had not. I—I could not
reply. People talked—soon it was common knowledge that I had betrayed Varnal,
though—though none knew why. It was that woman—it is like a dream—I—I am a
traitor and a fool—she—she—"

He raised himself up then, his
eyes staring blankly out at nothing.

"She is evil!" he cried.
"She must be found and killed. Until she is, all that we love and hold valuable
on Vashu will be in danger of corruption. Her secrets are terrible—they give
her an awful power! She must die!"

And then he fell back—dead.

"Where is Horguhl?"
Shizala asked me.

"I do not know. I think she
has escaped—but to where
is
a mystery. This cavern-world
is not fully known even to the Argzoon!"

"Do you think he
exaggerated—that his mind was clouded?"

"I think it possible," I
said.

And then, quite suddenly, she was
in my arms, sobbing and sobbing.

I held her close, whispering words
of comfort into her ear. She had been through incredible hardships and terrors
and had borne them all bravely. I did not blame her for crying then.

"Oh, Michael Kane—oh—my
love!" she sobbed.

I could scarcely believe my ears.
I felt that the day's trials had turned my brain!

"
Wh-
what
did you say?" I asked softly, bewildered.

She controlled her sobbing and
looked up at me, smiling through her tears. "I said, 'my love'," she
repeated. "Michael Kane, I have loved you ever since we first met.
Remember, when the mizip chased you?" I laughed and she joined in.

"But that is when I fell in
love with you," I gasped. "And—I thought you loved Telem Fas
Ogdai!"

"I admired him—then,"
she said, "but I could not love him—particularly after I had seen you. But
what could I do? Tradition had bound me to him and I could not break with
tradition—"

"Nor would I expect you
to," I said. "But now—"

She put her arms around me and I
drew her close. "Now," she breathed, "we are free to marry as
soon as the betrothal day can be arranged!"

I bent to kiss her and then
realized that I was not yet sure how the battle had gone.

"We must see how our men are
dealing with the Argzoon," I said.

She knew nothing of what had
happened—or at least little. Quickly I told her. She smiled again and slipped
her hand in mine. "I will not be parted from you again," she said. I
knew I should have left her in the tower—or better still in the aircraft, where
she would be safest—but I could not bear the thought of something else
separating us. The aircraft reminded me of the time we had flown together over
the Argzoon camp and I asked her why she had left the security of the ship.

"Did you not realize?"
she asked as we moved down the steps, hand in hand. "I wished to help
you—or die with you, if that was to be. But when I got there you had already
done your work and gone!"

I squeezed her hand affectionately
and with gratitude. I knew the rest from Horguhl.

In the street we discovered that
the Argzoon were laying down their arms, evidently losing all stomach for
fighting now that they had learned their Queen had fled.

Towards us, marching in excited
triumph,
came a detachment of warriors headed by Movat Jard
and Carnak, the ex-slave.

We waited to meet them and I felt
suddenly weary as I realized that we had won and that I need do no more
fighting that day.

Tired as I felt, my heart was
bounding with gladness. We had won—and Shizala had promised to be mine. I
wished nothing else!

Then, suddenly, Carnak came
rushing forward, a smile on his lips and his hands outstretched.

"Shizala!" he cried.
"Shizala-is it really you? What are you doing here?"

She looked puzzled, not
recognizing the bearded man. I wondered if it was an old friend and hoped it
might not be some previous fiance or someone who would shatter my happiness!

"Carnak—you know
Shizala?" I said in surprise.

"Know her!" Carnak
laughed heartily. "I should think I do!"

"Carnak!"
It was Shizala's turn to laugh. Is that your name? Is it?"

"Of
course!"

I watched with some jealousy, I
don't mind telling you, as the older man took my Shizala in his arms. And then
all was revealed in a single word.

"Father!" she cried.
"Oh, father, I thought you were dead!"

"So I would have been in a
very short time had it not been for this young man with the strangesounding
name—and this fierce savage, his friend." Carnak cocked a thumb at Movat
Jard.

Shizala turned to me.

"You saved my father's
life?" She hugged my arm. "Oh
,
 
Michael
 
Kane—the House
 
of Varnal owes its very existence to
you!"

I smiled. "Thank you—if it
did not exist I would be a very sad man."

Carnak patted my shoulder.
"What a champion—I've known none like him in all my days—and I've known
some good warriors, too."

"You are a fine warrior
yourself, sir," I said.

"I'm not so bad, young
man—but I was never
so
good as you." Then he
looked regretfully at his daughter and me. "I can see that you feel—umsome
emotion for one another. But you realize, Shizala, that there is nothing you
can do about it?"

"What?" I was almost
beside myself with horror at this. What new factor had arisen to become a
barrier between my love and me?

Carnak shook his head. "There
is the matter of the Bradhinak Telem Fas Ogdai. He—"

"He is dead," I said. I
felt relief. Of course, Carnak knew nothing of what had happened recently.
Quickly I told him.

He frowned as he listened. "I
knew the lad was headstrong—and I knew Horguhl could use those eyes and that
voice of hers to put anyone in her power—but I never thought that the son of my
oldest friend could . . ." He cleared his throat . . . "It was, in a
sense, my fault—for he came to see if I still lived, a prisoner, with the
intention of saving me." Carnak—or the Bradhi of Varnal, as he was— shook
his head. "We shall tell his father that he died on our behalf," he
decided. "As, in an indirect sense, he did."

He looked at us and smiled.
"Then you can announce your betrothal as soon as we return to Varnal, if
that is what you wish."

"It is what we wish," we
replied in unison, smiling at one another.

It took only a short time to round
up the rest of the demoralized Argzoon and it was decided that we three—Carnak,
Shizala and myself—should leave the Black City in the charge of Movat Jard,
thus making the Argzoon's defeat less bitter. We announced that Movat Jard was
temporary ruler of the Argzoon until some vote could be taken after a treaty
had been drawn up.

Realizing that the Argzoon had
been led to this situation by Horguhl's schemings, we were not as hard on them
as we might have been.

Soon we were entering the aircraft,
bidding farewell for the moment to Movat Jard.

Carnak took the controls of the
ship and guided it through the difficult twists and turns of the tunnel leading
to the open air.

Soon we were passing over the
Wastes of Doom, over the stunted forests, the wide river, the wilderness and
the Crimson Plain.

The journey took many days, but we
spent it making plans for the future, discussing all that had passed while we
had been parted.

Then soon we were hovering over
Varnal. When the city discovered who we were, it went mad with joy and we were
received with great ceremony. The betrothal was fixed for the following day and
I went to my old room that night in a state of tremendous happiness.

But after all this came the
bitterest blow of all. It was as if Fate had decided to make me go through all
those trials simply to snatch away my reward at the final moment—for, in the
night, I felt a strange, familiar sensation come over me.

I felt my body seeming to break
apart, felt as if, once again, I was drawn across space and time at fantastic
speed. Then it was over and I was lying down again. I smiled, thinking that it
had been a dream. I felt a light on my eyes and thought it must be morning—the
morning of my betrothal.