Robert Grandon 02 Prince of Peril

by Otis Adelbert Kline

  Pasuki and Lotar bowed low and withdrew.

  After a bath and a change of clothing, I was served with the usual huge and variegated breakfast with which Zarovian royalty tempts its appetite, to the accompaniment of gold service and scarlet napery.

  But ere I had completed this meal, a page came to announce that a man who had just been admitted to the tower, craved immediate audience with me. "Who is he?" I asked.

  "He gave the name of Vorvan to Pasuki, who questioned him, and seemed satisfied of his loyalty," replied the page.

  "Then show him in," I answered. The name Vorvan had a familiar ring, and I was trying to remember where I had heard it before when a man clad in the conventional blue garb of a tradesman entered.

  He appeared about fifty years of age, and his square-cut beard had an unnatural reddish tinge, as if it had been dyed. His eyebrows were similarly treated, and a bandage was drawn across one cheek and the bridge of the nose, as if he had been recently wounded. I could not remember ever having seen the man before, yet there was something about him that was strangely familiar.

  He bowed low, right hand extended palm downward.

  "I have a message for Your Highness's ears alone," he said, with a significant look at the three men who were serving my breakfast.

  "Won't you have some breakfast?" I asked.

  "With Your Highness's leave I will decline, as 1 have already breakfasted. There is much to be done, and time presses." Again he glanced impatiently at the servants.

  With a wave of my hand, I dismissed them.

  "The page told me you gave the name of Vorvan," I said when they were gone. "Both the name and yourself seem somehow vaguely familiar, yet I cannot remember having heard it, nor having seen you before."

  "Then my disguise must be effective, Highness," he answered, with a smile which was also familiar. "I am Vom Vangal."

  The smile and the name instantly brought a flood of recollections. This was indeed Vom Vangal, the man who had arranged with Dr. Morgan to bring me to Venus—Vom Vangal, the great nobleman, scientist and psychologist of Olba— the man who had welcomed me to Venus with the identical smile he was now wearing.

  But at that time he had been attired in the purple and the glittering bejeweled panoply of a great noble, and his beard and hair had been iron gray. A bit of dye, a bandage, and the clothing of a tradesman had wrought vast change in his appearance.

  "I'll try to answer Your Highness's questions in due order," Vorn Vangal said. "I returned from Reabon one week after I left you in the Black Tower, expecting to find you here, safe and sound. You may imagine my astonishment when I learned that you and Taliboz had disappeared, that your guards had been slain, and that a number of dead henchmen of Taliboz had been found here.

  "I immediately established telepathic communication with Dr. Morgan who was to keep in constant rapport with you, and from him I learned what had happened to you. Then I went to Torrogo Hadjez and persuaded him to patrol the area where it might be expected that you would be found. You were moving about so much that it was impossible for the airships to find you in any specific location I might name. Part of the time you didn't know where you were, hence your subjective mind could not inform Dr. Morgan, and through him, me.

  "Of course I knew the report of Taliboz was a lie when he said you had been killed, but I did not dare to so inform Torrogo Hadjez. He would have demanded to know the source of my knowledge, which would have forced me to disclose the fact that his son was on your world and you were taking his place here.

  "I decided to personally conduct a search for you in an aerial battleship, and Torrogo Hadjez provided me with one for the purpose, but we encountered a terrific storm before we had gone far, and the ship was forced to land, hopelessly crippled, near the Olba-Adonijar border. I immediately took a motor vehicle back to Olba, but was placed under arrest as soon as I entered the city gates, for Torrogo Hadjez had been assassinated and Taliboz was on the throne.

  "He condemned me to die as a traitor, and confiscated my city palace as well as my lands, estates and treasure. With the aid of a few faithful friends, I managed to escape before his sentence could be carried out, disguised myself as a tradesman, and came here, having learned through Dr. Morgan that this was where you were to be found."

  "And now," I asked, "have you any plans for rescuing the Princess Loralie and disposing of Taliboz?"

  "The only method I can think of will be a bloody revolution. Most of the men who garrison the palace and the city are men of the usurper. The men who previously filled these ranks have been sent to work on and guard the private estates of Taliboz, far to the north of Olba. If we were to proclaim your return, Taliboz would immediately denounce you as an impostor, a price would be placed on your head, and you would be hunted by every military man under his command.

  "The best way, I believe, will be for you to remain here until I can arouse the patriotic citizens of Olba, secretly telling them of your presence here. You can then come to Olba in disguise, and we can make a concerted effort to capture the palace and do away with the traitor who sits on the throne."

  "But that will take considerable time," I said, "and in the meantime, what of Loralie?"

  This question went unanswered, for at this moment one of my guards entered with the statement that Pasuki and Lotar craved immediate audience as they had a communication of the utmost importance.

  "Admit them," I said.

  Both saluted hurriedly as they came in, and seemed greatly agitated. "Your Highness's presence here has been discovered," said Lotar. "We must get you away at once,"

  "I am sorry to inform you that there must have been a traitor among my men," said Pasuki, "planted there, no doubt, by Taliboz to spy on my doings. One of my faithful servants, however, was watching Taliboz, and has dispatched a messenger to me with the information that the usurper has mobilized an army of five thousand men who are already marching on the Black Tower."

  CHAPTER XV

  As I sat facing the three men, Pasuki, Lotar, and Vom Vangal, all faithful to me, but with no plans for meeting the emergency created by the advance of the army which was ten times the strength of the garrison of the Black Tower, an idea came to me.

  "Will Taliboz accompany the army, Pasuki?" I asked.

  "It is probable, Highness, but I cannot be certain."

  "How many men in your garrison?"

  "Four hundred and fifty, not counting Lotar's fifty. We could not hold the tower long against the attack of five thousand. It is best that we disband the garrison and make our escape in the flyers on the roof of the tower. There are two there, each of which will carry two men."

  "But what of the princess? If you men and your followers are willing to fight both for her and for me, I have a plan—a precarious one, but possible of execution—for saving her and dethroning Taliboz."

  They pledged their loyalty.

  "Very well," I said. "Prepare, then, all of you, to obey my orders without question. They may seem strange to you, but if they do, remember that they are designed to outwit Taliboz. You, Pasuki, will prepare for the defense of the Black Tower at once with all your mattorks and men. You, Lotar, will keep your men armed and ready for my call, but out of sight. See that every one of them is provided with a portable light, and that there are several extra lights. Vom Vangal will remain at my side for the present."

  The two men hurried away to carry out my commands, and I leisurely finished my breakfast, while Vorn Vangal kept anxious watch out the window.

  "They draw near, Highness," he said excitedly, "and Taliboz is with them, for I see the personal standard of the Torrogo in their midst."

  "Good." I went to the window. Taliboz was bringing up a mighty host indeed, compared to our small garrison. When they .were within a thousand yards of the walls that surrounded the tower, they deployed to the right and left. A man bearing a banner on which was written in large letters the Zarovian word "dua"—which, under the circumstances meant, "a truce"—left the ranks and marche
d toward the main gate of the tower wall.

  "A herald," said Vorn Vangal. "Taliboz would treat with us." "Let us go to the top of the tower." We quickly took a telekinetic elevator. "We are completely surrounded now," said Vorn Vangal. "There will be no escape/. Even if we were to try to get away in the airships we should immediately be shot down by their mattork crews."

  "We are not yet ready to attempt an escape." The herald stopped near the gates and shouted a command to Pasuki to deliver to His Imperial Majesty, Taliboz of Olba, "the usurper who calls himself Zinlo of Olba." He offered a free pardon to Pasuki and his men.

  "You will return to His Majesty," replied Pasuki, "our regrets that we are unable to comply with his order, as we have no usurper in the Black Tower."

  "Who is that man in scarlet I see standing on the roof of the topmost segment?" demanded the herald. "If that be not Zinlo of Olba . . ." He checked himself, then continued, "If that be not the usurper who calls himself Zinlo of Olba, who is hep"

  "He is Zinlo of Olba. Tell that to your traitorous master, and bid him come and bend the knee to the man whose throne he has stolen." Turning contemptuously, Pasuki walked away from the parapet.

  "Pasuki has played his part well," I informed Vorn Vangal. "Now, remove your disguise; if possible get rid of that villainous-looking hair dye; array your self in the purple that suits your true station, and then report to me in my apartments."

  "I will carry out Your Highness's commands at once," replied Vorn Vangal, and hurried to the elevator.

  I watched the herald as he picked his way through the encircling army to a point some distance behind it where a man stood, garbed in the royal scarlet, surrounded by officers and courtiers. I knew that he must be Taliboz.

  Scarcely had the herald bowed before him ere he sent a number of officers scurrying toward the front lines. A mattork spoke. The shell went screaming past the tower only a few feet from my head. A second shell exploded near me, tearing away part of the battlement.

  As our mattorks replied, a general bombardment started, and the soldiers of the encircling army took advantage of natural cover when it was to be had, or threw themselves flat and dug in. I judged that they planned to bombard the tower before attempting to storm it.

  Shells were rattling like hail against the upper battlements when I took the elevator and descended to my apartments. Here I found Vorn Vangal, once more the great Olban noble I had first seen.

  Together we entered the elevator once more and descended to the fifth underground level, where Lotar's men were mobilized. The young mojak saluted and then stood awaiting my orders. Even at this depth the thunderous sounds of the battle came faintly from above, and I could see that both men and commander longed, even as did I, to be in the thick of it. But I had other work for all, which might prove as exciting and far more dangerous.

  "Have you the lights, LotarP" I asked.

  "Every man has been provided with a light, and there are several to spare, Highness."

  "Then give one each to Vom Vangal and me, and we will start for the palace at once, the way we came. Hurry!"

  Lotar quickly handed us a light each, and then led us to the pillar from beneath which we had entered the Black Tower. I led the way into the pit beneath it as soon as it was raised, closely followed by Vorn Vangal, and leaving Lotar to close the entrance and bring up the rear.

  Traveling with lights, it was easy to maintain a pace much faster than our previous one when we had walked in total darkness.

  "How many guards do you think there will be in the palace?" I asked Vom Vangal as he jogged along beside me.

  "Normally there are a thousand constantly on duty in the palace and grounds. However, it may be that Taliboz has taken some of these with him in order to fill the ranks of his hastily organized army. If this is the case, he may have left two or three hundred, perhaps five hundred men."

  "Whether there be two hundred or a thousand, we must take the palace," I said. "In either case we will be tremendously outnumbered, but we have the advantage of surprise in our favor."

  When we reached the palace, I called a halt to give the men a rest, and passed back word for Lotar to come up.

  As soon as he joined us, I told him my plans for taking the palace. Then I pulled the lever which operated the pillar above us, and we all snapped off our lights.

  When the pillar was high enough I drew myself up and peered over the edge of the floor through the dim light of the dungeon. Only one guard was in sight, and he was walking away from me. Silently I threw a knee over the edge, stood erect, and signed for the others to follow me. When every man was out, Lotar pressed the hidden button which closed the wall.

  At the suggestion of Vorn Vangal, our torks were loaded with the projectiles which paralyze for several hours but do not kill unless they happen to strike a vital spot. By using these bullets we could render our opponents helpless without actually killing them, and would not be bothered with guarding prisoners.

  As Vom Vangal had surmised, Taliboz had taken a number of the palace guards with him when he started for the Black Tower. We found only one man patrolling the corridors of the level we were on, and he was quickly put out of the way. On the next level we found two guards, and on each of the three dungeon levels above it, two. Although they were not taken completely by surprise, having heard our shots, they were easily overcome.

  On the ground level, Lotar took twenty men and started out in one direction while his lieutenant took another twenty and went in the opposite direction. With the ten remaining men, Vorn Vangal and I took an elevator to the roof.

  Here we found only a dozen men on guard, and quickly shot down all but one, who surrendered in terror, for he did not know that we were not using the deadly bullets in our torks. There were six aerial battleships on the roof but crews in none of them. I also noticed several small, one-man airships. One of these suddenly rose and started for the Black Tower, but Vorn Vangal leaped to a mattork and shot it down. It crashed in one of the busiest streets of Olba, drawing a great crowd and halting traffic.

  Quickly searching the other airships, we found them untenanted.

  By questioning the man we had captured, we found that

  Vinzeth, Mojak of the Palace Guards, had ordered most of his men to the dungeon, and had gone there himself to direct the fighting.

  "Now, Vorn Vangal," I said when we were in control of the roof, "do you think that by spreading the knowledge of my return in Olba you can get us a few more fighting men?"

  "I can raise a vast army, and that quickly. They may not all be trained soldiers, but every male Olban knows how to use a tork and scarbo."

  "Then you will remain here in charge of the roof, retaining five men at all time? to defend the stairway. The other five you may use as messengers to summon your friends. As all these men are from an aerial battleship, I assume that they know how to handle the small airships."

  "They do," replied Vangal.

  I then sent for the prisoner. When he was brought before me I asked him where the Princess of Tyrhana was imprisoned.

  "I do not know, Your Highness," he replied.

  "Have a care hew you lie to me," I warned him.'

  "I swear it, Highness. I have no idea of her whereabouts."

  "Cling to your falsehood, knavel We shall see if it will sustain you in mid-air. Pitch him over the battlements, men."

  The two warriors who had brought him immediately began dragging him toward the battlements. He struggled unsuccessfully to break away from them, feet threshing, eyes rolling in terror.

  "Wait!" he shrieked. "I know! I will tell!"

  "Bring him back," I ordered. "He shall have another chance."

  Once more they brought him before me, this time trembling with terror and thoroughly cowed.

  "Speak," I said. "And tell the truth this time."

  "Her Highness has apartments on the floor just beneath us," he said quaveringly. "The last floor at which the elevators stop."

  "And how is she guard
ed?"

  Two men guard her door, and she has two female attendants."

  I did not wait to hear more but dashed down the stairway. After traversing several corridors, I saw two guards standing before a door draped with scarlet, and knew I had the right place. One of the guards saw me as soon as I saw him, and our torks spoke in unison. His bullet struck my sword hilt, but mine stretched him, unconscious, on the floor. The other guard wheeled just in time to receive my second bullet and share the fate of his companion.

  Rushing up to the doorway, I ripped aside the scarlet drape and tried to open the door, but it was locked. I quickly searched both fallen guards but could find no keys in the belt pouches of either.

  Arising, I rapped loudly and called the name of Loralie.

  A woman's voice answered me from within. It was the voice of my princess. "Who is there?"

  "It is I, Zinlo," I replied. "Open the door, quickly."

  "Zinlo, belovedl" she answered. "I had almost lost hope of your coming. But I cannot open the door. It was locked from the outside, and we have no keys in here."

  "Then I'll break it down," I answered. "Stand away from it."

  Backing across the corridor, I ran at the door, hurling my body against it, but it was sturdily fashioned from thick planks of tough serali wood, and my sole reward for my onslaught against it was a bruised shoulder.

  Again and again I hurled myself against it with the same result

  Then I whipped out my scarbo, resolved to hew my way through it, when I suddenly heard the sound of men running behind me. Wheeling, I beheld the brutal, leering features of Vinzeth. Behind him came a dozen palace guardsmen. I reached for my tork, but before my hand touched it, his spoke. There was a soaring pain in my already bruised shoulder, a dizzy nausea swept over me, and all went black before my eyes.

  When I regained consciousness after being shot down by Vinzeth, I had a furious headache, a terrific pain in my shoulder, and a tremendous thirst, I was lying on a mattress on the roof, with Vorn Vangal bending over me, holding a phial of some pungent liquid beneath my nostrils. Lotar was standing near by.