Planet of Adventure Omnibus (6 page)

Jad
frantically disengaged his rapier, gave ground, anxious to gain more room, but
Reith, panting and sweating, pressed him.

Reith spoke: “I
hold the emblem Piluna, which has rejected you in disgust. You, the murderer,
are about to die.”

Jad gave an
inarticulate call, lunged to the attack. Again Reith swung the hat, to catch
the rapier in the flaps. He thrust and ran Jad, one-time carrier of Piluna, through
the abdomen. Jad struck down with his foil, knocked the rapier from Reith’s
grip. A grotesque moment he stood looking at Reith in horror and accusation,
the blade protruding from his body. He tore it out, flung it aside, advanced on
Reith who groped for his dropped knifeshield. As Jad lunged Reith picked up the
foil, hurled it point first into Jad’s face. The point struck into Jad’s open
mouth and became fixed, like a fantastic metal tongue. Jad’s knees buckled; he
collapsed to the ground, and lay with fingers twitching.

Reith, breath
rasping in his throat, dropped the hat with proud Piluna into the dirt and went
to lean on the pole of a shed.

There was no
sound throughout the camp.

Finally Traz
Onmale said, “Vaduz has overcome Piluna. The emblem takes on luster. Where are
the Judgers? Let them come to judge Jad Piluna.”

The three
magicians came forward, glowering first at the new corpse, at Traz Onmale and
sidelong at Reith.

“Judge,”
ordered Traz Onmale in his harsh, old-man’s voice. “Be sure to judge correctly!”

The magicians
consulted in a mutter; then the Chief Magician spoke. “Judgment is difficult.
Jad lived a hero’s life. He served Piluna with distinction.”

“He murdered
a girl.”

“For good
cause: the taint of heresy, traffic with an unclean hybrid! What other
religious man might not do the same?”

“He acted
beyond his competence. I instruct you to judge him evil. Put him on the pyre.
When Braz appears, shoot the evil ashes to hell.”

“So be it,”
muttered the Chief Magician.

Traz Onmale
went off into his shed.

Reith stood
alone at the center of the compound. In uneasy groups the warriors spoke
together, glancing toward Reith with distaste. The time was late afternoon; a
bank of heavy clouds obscured the sun. There were flickers and twitches of
purple lightning, a hoarse mutter of thunder. Women scurried here and there,
covering bundles of fodder and jars of food-pod. The warriors bestirred
themselves to tighten the lines holding the tarpaulins down over the great
wagons.

Reith looked
down at the girl’s corpse, which no one seemed interested in carrying away. To
allow the body to lie out all night in the rain and wind was unthinkable.
Already the pyre was alight, ready to receive the hulk of Jad. Reith lifted the
girl’s body, carried it to the pyre and, ignoring the complaints of the old
women who tended the flames, laid the body into the kiln with as much composure
and grace as he could manage.

With the
first spatters of rain, Reith went to that storage shed which had been given
over to his use.

Outside the
rain pelted down. Sodden women built a rude shelter over the pyre and continued
to feed the flames with brush.

Someone came
into the shed. Reith backed into the shadows, then the firelight shone on the
face of Traz Onmale. He seemed somber, dejected. “Reith Vaduz, where are you?”

Reith came
forth. Traz Onmale looked at him, gave his head a glum shake. “Since you have
been with the tribe, everything has gone wrong! Dissension, anger, death. The
scouts return with news only of empty steppe. Piluna has been tainted. The
magicians are at odds with the Onmale. Who are you, why do you bring us such
woe?”

“I am what I
told you I am,” said Reith: “a man from Earth.”

“Heresy,”
said Traz Onmale, without heat. “Emblem Men are the spill of Az. So say the
magicians, at least.”

Reith
pondered a moment, then said, “When ideas are in contradiction, as here, the
more powerful ideas usually win. Sometimes this is bad, sometimes good. The
society of the Emblems seems bad to me. A change would be for the better. You
are ruled by priests who-”

“No,” said
the boy decisively. “Onmale rules the tribe. I carry that emblem; it speaks
through my mouth.”

“To some
extent. The priests are clever enough to have their own way.”

“What do you
intend? Do you wish to destroy us?”

“Of course not.
I want to destroy no one-unless it becomes necessary to my own survival.”

The boy
heaved a heavy sigh. “I am confused. You are wrong-or the magicians are wrong.”

“The
magicians are wrong. Human history on Earth goes back ten thousand years.”

Traz Onmale
laughed. “Once, before I carried Onmale, the tribe entered the ruins of old
Carcegus and there captured a Pnumekin. The magicians tortured him to gain
knowledge, but he spoke only to curse each minute of the fifty-two thousand
years that men had lived on Tschai ... Fifty-two thousand years against your
ten thousand years. It is all very strange.”

“Very strange
indeed.”

Traz Onmale
rose to his feet, looked up into the sky, where wind-driven wrack flew across
the night sky. “I have been watching the moons,” he said in a thin voice. “The
magicians are watching likewise. The portents are poor; I believe that there is
about to be a conjunction. If Az covers Braz, all is well. If Braz covers Az,
then someone new will carry Onmale.”

“And you?”

“I must carry
aloft the wisdom of Onmale, and set matters right.” And Traz Onmale departed
the shed.

The tempest
roared across the steppe: a night, a day, a second night. On the morning of the
second day the sun rose into a clear windy sky. The scouts rode forth as usual,
to return pellmell at noon. There was an instant explosion of activity.
Tarpaulins were folded, sheds were struck, packed into bundles. Women loaded
the drays; warriors rubbed their leap-horses with oil, threw on saddles,
attached reins to the sensitive frontal palps. Reith approached Traz Onmale. “What
goes on?”

“A caravan
from the east has been sighted at long last. We shall attack along the Ioba River. As Vaduz you may ride with us and take a share of plunder.”

He ordered a
leap-horse; Reith mounted the ill-smelling beast with trepidation. It jerked to
the unfamiliar weight, thrashing up its knob of a tail. Reith yanked at the
reins; the leap-horse crouched and sprang off across the steppe while Reith
held on for dear life. From behind came a roar of laughter: the hooting and
jeering of experts for the tribulations of a tenderfoot.

Reith finally
brought the leap-horse under control and came plunging back. A few moments
later the group swept off to the northeast, the black long-necked brutes
lunging and foaming, the warriors leaning forward on the saddleplats, knees
drawn up, black leather hats flapping; Reith could not help but feel an archaic
thrill at riding in the savage cavalcade.

For an hour
the Emblem Men pounded across the steppe, bending low when they crossed over
skylines. The rolling hills flattened; ahead lay a vast expanse streaked with
shadows and dull colors. The troop halted on a hill while the warriors pointed
here and there. Traz Onmale now gave orders. Reith pulled his mount up close
and strained to listen. “-the south track to the ford. We wait in Bellbird
Covert. The Ilanths will make the ford first; they will scout Zad Woods and
White Hill. Then we sweep upon the center and make off with the treasure vans.
Is all clear? So onward, to Bellbird Covert!”

Down the long
slope rushed the Emblems, toward a far line of tall trees and a group of
isolated bluffs overlooking Ioba River. In the shelter of a deep forest the
Emblem warriors concealed themselves.

Time passed.
From afar sounded a faint rumble, and the caravan appeared. Several hundred
yards in advance rode three splendid yellow-skinned warriors, wearing black
caps surmounted by jawless human skulls. Their beasts were similar to, but
larger and rather more bland than the leap-horses; they carried sidearms and
short swords, with short rifles laid across their laps.

Now, from the
standpoint of the Emblems, everything went awry. The Ilanths failed to plunge
across the river but waited watchfully for the caravan. To the river-bank
lumbered motordrays with six-foot wheels, piled to astonishing heights with
bales, parcels and in certain cases, cages in which huddled men and women.

The caravan
commander was a cautious man. Before the drays attempted the ford, he stationed
gun-carts to command all the approaches, then sent Ilanths to scout the
opposite bank.

In Bellbird
Covert the Emblem warriors cursed and fumed. “Wealth, wealth! Goods galore!
Sixty prime wagons! But suicide to attempt an attack.”

“True. The
sand-blasts would strike us down like birds!”

“Is it this
for which we waited three tedious months in the Walgram Rolls? Is our luck then
so vile?”

“The omens
were wrong; last night I looked up at blessed Az; I saw it jib and careen
through the clouds: a definite admonition.”

“Nothing goes
right, all our ventures are thwarted! We are under the influence of Braz.”

“Braz-or the
work of the black-haired sorcerer who slew Jad Piluna.”

“True! And he
has come to scathe the raid, where we have always enjoyed success!”

And sour
looks began to be turned toward Reith, who made himself inconspicuous.

The war
leaders conferred. “We can achieve nothing; we would strew the field with dead
warriors and drown our Emblems in Ioba River.”

“Well,
then-shall we follow and attack at night?”

“No. They are
too well-guarded. The commander is Baojian; he takes no risks! His soul to
Braz!”

“So,
then-three months dawdling for naught!”

“Better for
naught than for disaster! Back to camp. The women will have all packed, and so
east to Meraghan.”

“East, more
destitute than when we came west! What abominable luck.”

“The omens,
the omens! All are at odds!”

“Back to
camp, then; nothing for us here.”

The warriors
swung about and without a backward look sent the leap-horses plunging south
across the steppe.

During the
early evening, surly and glum, the troop arrived back at the campsite. The
women, who had all packed, were cursed for neglect; why were not cauldrons
bubbling? pots of beer ready to hand?

The women
bawled and cursed in return, only to be drubbed. All hands finally pulled gear and
food helter-skelter from the drays.

Traz Onmale
stood brooding apart, while Reith was pointedly ignored. The warriors ate
hugely, grumbling all the while, then, seated and exhausted, lay back beside
the fire.

Az had
already risen, but now up into the sky sailed the blue moon Braz, angling
athwart the course of Az. The magicians were first to notice and stood with
arms pointing in awe and premonition.

The moons
converged; it seemed as if they would collide. The warriors gave guttural
sounds of dread. But Braz moved before the pink disc, eclipsing it utterly. The
Chief Magician gave a wild bellow to the sky: “So be it! So be it!”

Traz Onmale
turned and went slowly off to the shadows where by chance stood Reith. “What is
all the tumult?” Reith asked.

“Did you not
see? Braz overpowered Az. Tomorrow night I must go to Az to expiate our wrongs.
No doubt you will go as well to Braz.”

“You mean, by
way of fire and catapult?”

“Yes. I am
lucky to have carried Omnale as long as I have. The bearer before me was not much
more than half my age when he was sent to Az.”

“Do you think
this ritual has any practical value?”

Traz Onmale
hesitated. Then: “It is what they expect; they will demand that I cut my throat
into the fire. So I must obey.”

“Better that
we leave now,” said Reith. “They will sleep like logs. When they awake we will
be far from here.”

“What? The
two of us? Where would we fare?”

“I don’t
know. Is there no land where folk live without murder?”

“Perhaps such
places exist. But not on Aman Steppe.”

“If we could
take possession of the scout-boat, and if I were given time to repair it, we
could leave Tschai and return to Earth.”

“Impossible.
The Chasch took the ship. It is lost to you forever.”

“So I fear.
In any case, we’d do better to depart now than wait to be killed tomorrow.”

Traz Onmale
stood staring up at the moons. “Onmale orders me to stay. I cannot pervert the
Onmale. It has never fled; it has always pursued duty to the death.”

“Duty doesn’t
include futile suicide,” said Reith. He made a sudden motion, seized Traz
Onmale’s hat, wrenched loose the emblem. Traz gave a croak of almost physical
pain, then stood staring at Reith. “What do you do? It is death to touch the
Onmale!”