Helgvor of the Blue River

by J. -H. Rosny aîné

  An immediate surprise did not, however, seem possible. All around the cave there was short grass, the even expanse of which was only broken by an occasional isolated tree or a thin clump of bushes.

  Aoun’s sharp eye could see all the details of the position as it lay in the gray light of the Moon. He was bursting with daring, and had great difficulty in restraining himself from giving his war-cry. Hate boiled up within him, because the Men-of-the-Fire had crossed the river and skirted the moor in order to attack the encampment. They had thus displayed their tenacity, courage and hostility.

  Before awakening Zouhr he prowled around the area which surrounded the cave, trying to locate the emanations and to make out the number of the enemy. He held a bow in his hand, two javelins and a harpoon were hung around his shoulders. He desired to entice the Chellians out of the forest; for as they only knew how to throw stones with their hands, he could kill or wound several of them before they were near enough to wound him in return.

  The Lemurians came out of the cave one by one, having become aware of an unwonted presence. Zouhr accompanied them. Thanks to Wao, he at once knew the danger.

  The great Oulhamr gazed alternately at his allies and the moving bushes. Those who were concealed in them could not number more than seven. He had eight men on his side, four women who were almost as good as the men, besides himself and Zouhr. If the Lemurians displayed courage, the chances were on the side of the allies. It was however obvious that the greater number of them were so terrified that they would not stand before a determined attack. Only the thickset one, Rah, Wao and a young man with eager eyes showed any courage.

  “Are there as many warriors as there were around the fire yesterday?” asked Zouhr.

  “There are no more!” replied Aoun. “Should I shout my war-cry?

  Zouhr preferred an alliance to a battle. He said finally, “The forest is vast… The prey is sufficient for all. May Zouhr speak to the Men-of-the-Fire?”

  Despite his irritation Aoun accepted the proposal, and Zouhr lifted up his voice and spoke in musical tones, which made his utterance even more gentle than usual, “The son of Urus and the son of Earth have never fought with the Men-of-the-Fire! They are not their enemies.”

  The forest remained silent. Aoun called to them in his turn, “Aoun killed the tawny beast! Aoun and Zouhr killed the tiger… They have clubs, and spears and javelins! If the Men-of-the-Fire desire war, not one of them will live to return to the horde.”

  Only the gentle sough of the breeze was heard. Aoun took 100 steps towards the forest and his voice rang out more loudly, “Will not the Men-of-the-Fire reply?”

  Now that he was closer to them their smell became plainer. Knowing that he was being watched, he was seized by a growing fury. Beating his chest with his fist, his cry went up like the sound of wolves howling.

  “Aoun will slit your bodies from top to bottom; he will give your carcases to the hyenas.”

  A kind of growl re-echoed from the somber arches. The Oulhamr took another 100 steps. He was now only 300 ells from the edge of the forest. He called to Zouhr not to follow him, and threatened, “The son of Urus will crush your faces!”

  He hoped that the enemy, seeing that he was isolated from his band, would take the offensive.

  For a moment the smell of the aggressors seemed to come closer, then it seemed farther off. Aoun, having advanced another 150 ells, drew himself up to his full height. He could have sent an arrow into the wood.

  A cry of alarm rang out. Three men appeared suddenly from behind an advanced bush. They started to run across the open space in a transverse direction so as to cut off Aoun’s retreat. The wanderer saw them… With a defiant laugh, he retired slowly, having slipped an arrow into his bow… At the same moment three other men appeared on the right… Terror made the hearts of the Lemurians sick. Half the band scattered, but Rah, Wao, the adolescent, the thickset man and a gray-headed one stood firm. Wao even ran to call back a woman who was escaping to the forest.

  The six Chellians tried to join forces, so as to cut off the Oulhamr’s retreat. The bow twanged, an arrow was planted in the shoulder of an aggressor; Zouhr and Rah feigned an attack. Surprised at the distance from which the Oulhamr had struck, marveling to see the Wah leading the Lemurians, and fearing a surprise, the Men-of-the-Fire retreated.

  Those on the right had captured Wao.

  XII. The Wolf-Women

  The Truce was short lived. Rah gave vent to furious lamentations; the abduction was intolerable to Aoun, to whom it seemed like a defeat; even Zouhr forgot all prudence. Five of them began a pursuit.

  The scent had disappeared, as the abductors had gone downwind. For a little while it was impossible to detect it. When the pursuers winded it again the Men-of-the-Fire had a long start; the trail which the Oulhamr’s band picked up among the thickets and marshes was difficult to follow and only became clear after they had made many detours.

  A fierce ardor animated the big Oulhamr. Confident in his own strength he advanced far ahead of his companions. Zouhr and Rah tried to follow him; the thickset Lemurian displayed endurance and tenacity…

  At last the scent became stronger, and the trail, after leading them into the forest, took the direction of the river. Then it diverged and the son of Urus hesitated, finally choosing the trail in which the smell of Wao mingled with that of her captors.

  The trees grew more sparsely; a plain covered with dry grass spread out before them, and a flame shot up which ran along the open space. Aoun was forced to retreat towards Zouhr. A sharp cry was heard, and after leaping up in several places the fire died down. Aoun and his companions continued their way southwards; all trace of the trail was lost.

  When they emerged from the forest the moor stretched drearily before them, and at a distance of 2000 ells they saw the light of a fire. Seated on a stone a man was watching. He rose to his feet as he caught sight of the pursuers. Six other men appeared at almost the same moment; they were dragging Wao along, and one of them was walking painfully, holding his hand to his shoulder…

  Aoun began to run forward again. He bounded along for about 1500 ells, then stopped with a cry. A gulf lay before him, a deep fissure in the ground, at the bottom of which raged a torrent… The Men-of-the-Fire hooted at him and laughed derisively.

  The distance which separated Aoun from the fire was four times greater than the flight of an arrow. Deep disappointment took possession of the wanderer; he met the mocking laugh of his adversaries with shouts of hate.

  They arrayed themselves in force, superior in numbers and full of disdain for Aoun’s allies. The Lemurians were less to be feared than wolves; Zouhr with his barrel-like body and short arms seemed despicable to them; only the big Oulhamr surprised them. Were they not, however, in their unconquered might, themselves endowed with the strength of the bear? Less tall than Aoun, their chief had a broad chest and long arms, strong enough to suffocate a panther… He turned his enormous face towards the son of Urus, and laughed in a sinister fashion.

  Large blocks of stone lay scattered around the fire, thus strengthening the position of the Chellians. All the advantage was on their side, excepting the missile weapons. Aoun saw this plainly and Zouhr was even better aware of it, but they were both overexcited. The Wah had conceived a kind of tenderness for the Lemurian woman; Aoun was smarting under a sense of defeat. They remained on the alert, however… Darkness was coming on. The red disc of the Moon was already disappearing in a cloud which grew ever-larger in the west. A rough wind blew in gusts. Suddenly the son of Urus made up his mind. He skirted the edge of the abyss and returned to the forest. At the end of about 2000 steps, the fissure contracted, then it disappeared.

  “I will go first,” said Aoun to his companion. “You will follow me at a distance, until the fire is in sight. The Men-of-the-Fire will not take me by surprise. Their pace is not as rapid as mine.”

  When he emerged again upon the moor the Chellians had not moved. Three of them stood among the interstices of th
e boulders and gazed into the distance; the others were near the fire. They all had javelins, hatchets and stones ready to throw. When they saw Aoun appear, they howled like Dholes and the chief, lifting his spear, made as if to attack him. The Oulhamr slackened his pace. He knew well it was useless to think of an assault; he cried out, “If you will give up Wao to us, we will let you return to your hunting grounds.”

  They could not understand his words, but his gestures, which were the same as those of all nomads, made them aware that he was reclaiming their captive. A surly laugh was the reply. The broad-chested chief seized Wao by the hair and felled her to the ground by a blow on the head with his fist. Then, pointing in turn to her prostrate form, the fire and his own jaws, conveyed to Aoun that the Chellians would roast and devour the woman’s body…

  Aoun bounded like a leopard. The Men-of-the-Fire disappeared behind the boulders. Meanwhile Zouhr was approaching. When the companions were within an arrow’s flight of the enemy the Wah said, “Let Aoun go to the right, some of those who are hiding will become visible.”

  The Oulhamr went to the right of the fire. Two of the Chellians, seeing that they were discovered, tried to retreat. A spear whistled through the air, and a loud cry rang out in the stillness.

  The Wah shot in his turn, and a second Chellian sank to the ground, hit in the thigh.

  “The Men-of-the-Fire have now three wounded,” shouted the Oulhamr’s ringing voice.

  The black storm clouds mounted ever-higher; the men were enveloped by the eternal forces of earth and sky as it were in deep, intangible, fierce waves. The Moon had disappeared, there was now only the waning glow of the fire and dazzling flashes of lightning. The Chellians had become invisible, fearing to expose themselves to the enemy’s spears and javelins; the Oulhamr, the Wah and the Lemurians realized the impossibility of attacking an enemy entrenched behind masses of rock.

  There was a pause in the mysterious rolling of the storm. The wind had fallen, thunder was not yet heard; the animals couched in the forest were still. Then the clouds growled like a drove of aurochs; water, the mother of all, began to fall in heavy drops, and fury seized upon the Chellians. Their fire would be put out; they could not protect it even in the stone cages where they preserved it for future use; they would find themselves on the savannah and in the forest in no better case than a pack of wolves.

  The chief issued orders. The Men-of-the-Fire attacked, all shouting together. Four of them, two being the wounded men, directed their steps towards Zouhr and the Lemurians. The deep-chested chief and the strongest warriors bounded towards Aoun. Two arrows whistled past them, followed by two others, which the darkness and the pace of the assailants rendered ineffectual. Aoun retreated towards the river, in order to gain time to enable him to fling his spears, while Zouhr and the Lemurians turned towards the forest.

  The spears only inflicted slight wounds: the Chellians quickened their pace with cries of victory; the Oulhamr continued his retreat, and the Wah was approaching covertly. Suddenly water poured from the sky like a thousand torrents, the fire sputtered; only the warrior who was wounded in the thigh remained at the camp and protected the fire cages under the stones.

  Zouhr and his party were surrounded. The youngest of the Lemurians, who was terrified, tried to flee to a tree for safety; his body was laid open by a javelin stroke and a stone crushed in his head. Rah and the thickset man defended themselves with the clubs which the Oulhamr had fashioned for them; Zouhr felled the Chellian who was wounded in the shoulder with a blow of his axe, but another came stealthily behind him, seized the Wah by the back of his neck and threw him to the ground.

  As soon as Aoun saw that the aggressors were separated by a distance of 15 ells, he made three enormous bounds and brought down his club.

  The first blow shattered a javelin, the second split a man’s head. The Chellian chief and the Oulhamr found themselves face to face. They were both of formidable build. That of the chief was reminiscent of the bear or the wild boar: woolly hair covered his body; his round eyes shot fire. Aoun was of taller stature, his broad chest did not resemble that of any animal, and his body was firmly poised on stout legs. He held his club in both hands. His antagonist’s javelin was made of ebony wood, heavy and very pointed, capable of inflicting a deep wound or breaking a bone.

  The Chellian struck first, and his weapon hardly touched the son of Urus. Aoun whirled his club. It only met the ground, while a growl burst from the Chellian’s lips. His enormous face expressed hatred, murder and insult.

  For a moment they watched one another, each of them having retreated a little. Torrential rain enveloped them in mist, the last embers of the fire gave hardly any light; each of the combatants felt death was passing near them as they heard the peals of thunder, and felt the moor tremble beneath their feet.

  Aoun resumed the offensive. The club whirled and grazed the tawny body of the Chellian, while the sharp point of the javelin lacerated the Oulhamr’s shoulder. Then their weapons became entangled. The javelin touched Aoun’s chest at the moment when he was bounding back. Blood flowed from two wounds. Aoun, shouting his war-cry, seized the javelin with one hand and struck with the other. The blow descended full on the Chellian’s head, and paralyzed him; a second blow broke his collar bone; more heavy blows were rained upon him and fractured his ribs…

  The fire had just gone out; darkness was over all. The flashes of lightning became more rare and feeble, and hardly seemed to pierce the dense blackness. Aoun searched in vain for Zouhr and the Lemurians; the storm had blown away all odors.

  He called, “Where does Zouhr hide himself? The son of Urus has overthrown his enemies!”

  He was answered by a far away growl, which came from the forest and did not at all resemble the voice of the Man-without-Shoulders. Aoun felt his way in the darkness or ran when the lightning flashed. The form of Rah emerged when he came to the border of the forest, then vanished in the shadows. The Lemurian stammered obscure words, and Aoun guessed that the Wah had disappeared. Sometimes a flash of lightning showed him some gesture more expressive than words. At last the thickset Lemurian appeared also. His attempts at explaining something he wished to say were even more confused than the stammering accents of the other.

  All action was impossible. The men were enveloped in the unceasing rain; they were more powerless than insects hidden under leaves or in the hollow bark of trees, and the big Oulhamr was in the greatest distress he had ever known. His groans and lamentations rent the air, his chest heaved with great sobs, his tears mingled with the rain. His whole past was bound up with Zouhr. He had loved him since the days when Naoh had brought him back from the country of the Red Dwarfs. Just because Zouhr preferred him to all other beings, Aoun also preferred Zouhr. Sometimes he shouted a loud call and hope would cause his shoulders to heave. Hours passed; the rain ceased; a pale light showed in the east; he could just see the body of the Man-of-the-Fire whom Zouhr had killed, the young Lemurian, whose mangled body was hideous to behold, and also the bodies of the chief and of the warrior whom Aoun had felled. Near the cinders of the burnt-out fire a Chellian lay groaning, his leg pierced by a spear. Wao lying crumpled up near a mass of rock, had fainted so long ago that she had not heard Aoun and Rah’s calls. Weak and shivering she gave a hoarse laugh when she saw her companion and the son of Urus.

  The Chellian threw himself in front of Aoun beseeching for mercy. The gentleness for which his tribe reproached him inclined the son of Urus to pardon him. But two of the Lemurians were already striking the man with their clubs; they crushed his neck and fractured his skull. Aoun was indignant but he knew it was the law of war.

  Wao, who had learnt the meaning of the Oulhamr’s gestures better than Rah, remembered a few words which Zouhr had taught her. She listened to the Lemurians and made Aoun understand that the Chellians had carried off the son of Earth into the forest. But the rain had made it impossible for their nyctalopic eyes to see clearly at that time. Rah had lost his way, and so had the thickset Lemur
ian, who was also wounded and in a fainting condition. So the Wah’s fate remained uncertain; hope and fear alternated in Aoun’s breast. He searched for the trail all morning. They might find it some distance off, or Zouhr might be dead. The Lemurians scattered in all directions; those who had fled on the previous day returned, and the help of so many sharp eyes and keen noses was inestimable… Finally one party went up the river and the other took a downward course, and both were to cross to the other bank. Aoun was with those who went downstream. He walked two-thirds of the day and forded the river… Wao stopped and gave a sharp cry: the trail was found! They saw the trace of footsteps in the clay, they detected Zouhr’s presence.

  Joy welled up in the heart of the Oulhamr, but it was at once mingled with fear. The trail was no longer fresh; the Chellians had passed in the morning, and it would be impossible to overtake them till the following day. Moreover it would be necessary that Aoun should go on alone. The Lemurians would be unable to keep up with him, even at a distance. He made sure that all his weapons were intact: three javelins recovered on the field of battle, two spears, his exe and club. He did not forget the flint and marcasite stone with which to make fire… He stood still for a moment, with a beating heart; he felt a kind of tenderness for these feeble, badly armed men, with their imperfect speech, and rudimentary gestures. They had hunted with him, lived by his fire, and many of them had displayed real courage in the struggle with the kidnappers.

  He murmured gently, “Rah, Wao and Olin are the allies of the Oulhamrs… But the Men-of-the-Fire have a long start of us, and they go swiftly… Aoun alone can overtake them.”

  Wao understood his signs and explained them to the others. Deep depression weighed down the Lemurians.

  Wao wept and Rah made a sound like that of a wounded Dhole when Aoun began to ascend the slope. They accompanied him to the crest where the plateau began. The Oulhamr sped away like a wolf; the Lemurians shouted after him, and he halted a moment to console them, “The son of Urus will see the Hairy Men again!”