by Andre Norton
“But Kepta — when he knew it meant destruction —
She laughed wildly, stamping upon those pin pricks which were stars.Kepta is wise, he is cunning. Never will he be caught in his own trap. He plans to leave Krand behind, to search out a new world to conquer with the aid of his dark knowledge, somewhere beyond the stars. But Krand shall be left to face the fate he dragged down upon her!”
“But the Learned Ones, surely — I began again.
She stared at me for a moment and then the wildness seemed to fade from her face, leaving her once again the calm, nerveless woman who had dared to play Da within the pleasure palace of Sotan.
“You are right to rebuke me, Garan. We have no time for wild words and purposeless actions now. Let us get back to Yu-Lac and see what can be done there. And at once, lest Kepta arrive with his guards as he has threatened.”
“Back through the Ways then,” I decided. “All Koom must be aroused against us now. But the bridge —”
“That can be crossed when we arrive,” said Zacat. “Listen!”
From somewhere within those walls a sullen murmur swelled. Thrala clutched at me. “They are coming! Kepta —”
“And we — go! Come.”
Back we traced our way through that awe-inspiring laboratory, down that passage lined with bottled monsters, out through the two ponderous doors into the dark of the Ways. And here Thrala had to cling fast to me, for, not being equipped with our darkness-piercing lenses, she moved blindly. But I did not find the situation unwelcome.
Although we stumbled quickly along that ridged way the sound of pursuit rang ever in our ears, echoing loudly through the vaults of the Ways. At last Thrala paused, stretching out a hand against the wall to steady herself.
“You go on” — her breath hissed between her teeth — “go on to Yu-Lac, I am done.”
I laughed and yet saw the kernel of wisdom in her words.
“You speak true, one of us must remain to keep this pack in check. Zacat, take the princess and got”
“Do you not see, Garan? It is I who cannot hold the pace. Give me your ray rod —”
Then in truth I saw that she was done; she could not match her failing strength to ours. There was only one answer. I turned to Zacat
“Go!”
He shook his head with sullen finality, forcing me to evoke my last weapon.
“It is an order,” I said sharply.
His head went up and he looked me eye to eye. “As you command, so must I obey. You have left me nothing — not even pride.”
And so he turned and went from us, moving slowly at first, as if the weight of years had fallen suddenly upon him. Thrala looked up at me.
“Go, go! Do not leave this, too, upon my heart.”
I smiled. “Three years ago I foresaw this, but dimly, perhaps. It is my fate to serve you, Lady, and so will it be until the end. You, out of your graciousness, gave me something to strive for. And On is good. For I will prove myself in your eyes at the end.”
“Garan!” She faced me clear-eyed. “Garan, since this is the end for us, Krand and its foolish customs no longer mattering — Garan, do you not understand? I am yours for the taking, as I have been for three long years, years of minutes, hours, and days, with thoughts of you stringing them all together like a golden cord. What need have we of scented lovemaking, of sweet dalliance? We know!”
And then her arms were about me and I felt her lips press mine with fierce intensity. The Ways, Kepta, Krand — all were forgotten as we stood in the rose-misted heart of our dream. Thrala was mine! Mine! Her soft flesh quivered beneath my hands, her hair, that glorious hair I had so many times thought of, brushed my cheek.
So few were the moments we stole from time, so scanty our loving, yet it enriched my life forever and I knew, be my days many or few, I would walk proudly through them because of these moments.
“Must it end thus?” she whispered.
And now, at her question, the will to live swelled within me and I no longer calmly accepted the fate before us. “If we make the bridge — “ I caught her up, and started on.
The eerie surroundings must have frightened our pursuers into a hesitating advance for the sound behind grew muffled as we went on. Now, filled with the will to win free, to savor this amazing gift of Thrala’s beneath the open heavens, I kept on, my strength seeming to grow with the passing moments. We were forced to rest at intervals and when Thrala had recovered she went, surefooted, before me, holding one of the ray rods to make our path plain. At our last stop before we reached the bridge I forced her to give in to my wishes and don my protecting scale suit, leaving me only the detachable mask. The air of the Ways felt cold and damp against my skin, for, save for a waist cloth, I was bare. But Thrala was safe.
Again we ventured out upon that unseen span which the engineers of that lost race had thrown across the gulf. As we advanced slowly, foot by foot, along the shadowy surface our torch revealed, the sound of the chase behind us swelled once more into clamor. And, when we were perhaps a third of the way across, the lights they carried were to be seen clustered about the head.
At that distance we could make out only black figures moving back and forth, but it was plain to see that Kepta’s men had no stomach for following us out upon the invisibility which confronted them. So, after much loud argument, only a single shape detached itself from the cluster and moved cautiously in our wake.
“Kepta!” cried Thrala softly.
I wondered what arms he carried and, sick with fear, pushed Thrala on ahead lest he try some devilishness with a destruction ray. To my surprise he did not, he only came after us with grim determination. And when he was a good way out upon the bridge startled cries of fear and horror came from his men. They scattered in flight, pelting back the way they had come and left the gulf to the three of us.
Kepta, after one long look at his retreating followers, came steadily on and I knew then that he was hot for our deaths. I put Thrala aside, for it was in my mind to go to meet him. When I saw the yellow flames which flickered in his eyes, I understood that his black, destroying hatred of me had vanquished his caution. To satisfy that rage burning within him he must break me with his own two hands. He had put aside his weapons.
So we edged toward one another, balancing carefully on that thread of safety. Thrala held her torch so that I could see my footing but Kepta had no such aid, placing his feet by instinct only. As I went, I put aside my mask and provision bag and stood free. He, too, was stripped for battle, but, as I crept up within striking distance, his hand dropped to his wide belt and for a fraction of a second I caught a glimpse of steel.
Then, like fighting jungle reptiles, we came together. The slaver from his grinning jaws dripped upon my flesh. My fingers vised around the wrist of that sinisterly closed fist and my other hand groped for his throat. He was a clever and knowledgeable fighter, Kepta of Koom. I have held my own in a hundred barrack fights, but never had I been matched with such a bundle of rippling muscle and fighting nerve.
I tried all the tricks I knew one after another only to discover that he held the perfect counter to each. The running sweat made our flesh clammy, slippery under grasping fingers, our sight -blurred. Once he twisted almost free and I felt a searing pain lash across my lower ribs, but the blow did not fall true and, before he could strike again, I closed in upon him. Then it was that I saw a shade pass over that hate-ravaged face so close to mine, the flush of anger faded from his cheeks and I guessed that wisdom had returned to him, forcing him to realize that he should never have met me upon a ground of my own choosing. No longer did he strive to bring me down, now his fight was all for freedom, freedom wherein to use some weapon other than his own strength.
Like the slimy saurian Zacat had compared him to, he twisted and writhed while I strove merely to keep my slipping holds. Then with a lunge he broke my hold, flinging himself out of my reach with the same movement.
He stumbled,- then, picking himself up, went flying back toward
the bridge head. It was no use for me to attempt to follow; a dizziness sent me swaying perilously close to the edge of the abyss. My outstretched hand closed upon one of those great chains which held the span and there I clung, sick and weak.
“Garan!”
I raised my head with an effort.
“Back!’’ I cried and my voice rang hollow. “Take the mask and stand clear. He plans to blast us with the ray.”
In answer she strode forward to where I wavered against the supporting chain.
“I think not,” she answered steadily. “See, even as you foretold, vengeance rises out of the gulf!”
Through the mists which still clouded my vision I saw the silver shapes which came spiraling up out of the maw of the dark. With a steady beating of their mighty wings they passed us and were gone, like war arrows, on the trail of Kepta.
What happened when they dropped upon the flying Koomian, what dreadful business was wrought there in the dark, we could not see. But when there came a shuddering cry, a shout of mingled fear and unearthly dread, I guessed that those of this inner world had repaid their debt in full. The fruits of Kepta’s unhallowed seeking had at last brought about his end.
Back through the murk came the bird shapes, sweeping by without a glance at us. And did or did not one of them bear a limp figure between his sucker pads? I thought he did, but perhaps my eyes betrayed me.
We thought that they were gone when one last one came over us. He circled and shot downward until his sucker feet just touched the surface of the bridge. For the third time those weird purple eyes in that featureless face dwelt upon me.
“So, human, having gained your desire, you return to the outer world? But I think you shall not have long there. We, too, may read the warning set among the stars we have never seen. Krand has brought us forth, now we may leave her like an outgrown skin. Pass free from fear of us, human, we stand eons apart.”
The fanning of his wings grew swifter, he arose and was gone with lazy sweeps into the gulf. We were alone.
But even as we lingered there, trying to gather our wits, a distant shouting from before us rumbled in our ears.
“There is help,” I said. It seemed to me that Thrala shivered and a change came across her face as if some mask were slipping back into place. She turned slowly with all the lightness gone out of her steps.
Together we went forward and now and then I raised my voice in answer to those questing shouts. Before long we caught sight of the glow from their ray rods.
But instead of quickening her pace Thrala went yet more slowly and her eyes were ever upon me, but I could not read the meaning of the shadow in their depths. She drooped as if some chill wind had torn her. A rich exultation filled me. Had she not lain willingly in my arms? Was she not mine?
Zacat, Anatan, and Thran were crouched there beyond the broken end of the bridge. They had rigged a network of ropes so that we might swing across to them in comparative safety, escaping the uncertainty of my first leap. Thrala went first and when I saw her land safely in Thran’s grasp I made the ropes fast about my own body. A moment’s swing across the darkness and Anatan’s hands were upon me, pulling me in.
“Kepta?” the Gorlian demanded.
“Those of the gulf have claimed him.”
“You are hurt!” Anatan’s hand had slid across the congealed blood on my ribs.
“A scratch only.”
But by the light of Analia’s radium cell Thran examined it, binding up the slight wound with a strip of silk from his pouch. Then he produced the extra scale suit he had carried and aided me to don it. All this time my eyes were ever upon Thrala, where she stood apart with her handmaiden. And to my growing uneasiness I saw that she was avoiding meeting my gaze.
“So Kepta is gone,” observed Thran as I fumbled with the fastening of my sword belt.
“Aye, the manner of his going was not a pleasant one.” I went on to describe the coming and going of the winged shapes from the gulf.
“Kepta gone,” the Gorlian mused. “Room’s hold broken at last. There remains — Krand.”
I saw Thrala’s head go up. “Aye” — her voice was steady though her hps trembled — “there remains Krand.”
Chapter Nine
Escape
Hastily we retraced our way, for, now that we knew the sum of what lay before us, we were eager to reach the surface. I did not doubt that there was some mode of escape from the coming disaster. Those shapes from the gulf had hinted of such and Thrala declared that Kepta’s preparations for flight were almost complete.
What Kepta had done, we could do, if there remained enough time. So one part of my mind was busy with the thought of escape while yet another portion dwelt upon those moments in the Ways when Thrala and I had snatched joy from the mouth of death. And thinking of her as she was then, I could not understand her constant avoidance of me now. She hurried ahead, keeping Analia ever by her side, while I was forced to answer the questions Thran rained upon me.
His quest down the side branch of the Ways had led him into a strange, deadly swamp-like hollow where weird and awful forms of life lurked amid gigantic fungi. At one time he and his companions had been forced to blast their path clear with their ray rods. But when they had discovered no other clues during the time set, they had returned to take our road and had so arrived at the bridge just in time to see Zacat leap the gap.
Once more we came to the ramp leading up out of this place of alien horrors and moved through the hall where the dancers of Qur had woven their strange patterns. Around us the pleasure palace lay silent and deserted. There were traces of its inhabitants’ hurried flitting in every chamber through which we passed. But nowhere did we see anyone.
Again Analia piloted us through the passages in its walls but this time we took one which led us under the city street level to open in the end upon the fringe of the royal gardens, a passage which had been constructed by Thrala’s orders when their mad venture in the pleasure palace had first been planned.
It was night when we stepped out into the fresh coolness of the dew-wet sod. And I was glad to again breathe deep the rain-washed air of the upper world. We had no way of determining how long we had been in the Ways.
Quickly we struck across the gardens, for it was Thran’s plan that we show ourselves directly to the Emperor and tell our story. When we reached the bulk of the palace, he avoided the more public halls and walks, following a roundabout route to an inner chamber.
He gave a single peremptory rap upon the door and then pushed it open. We had burst in thus unceremoniously upon a full meeting of the council. And at the sight of Thrala the Emperor arose to his feet with a cry. Then they were all crowding about us, demanding instant answers to their myriad questions.
I listened to Thran’s jerky recital of our tale, but I was watching Thrala and had little attention for him or his listeners. When the Gorlian had come to an end the Emperor drew a deep breath.
“So, that was the way of it. It is well for Kepta that he does not stand before us now. But a vengeance worse than any we could have conceived has been wreaked if you speak true. Koom is no longer a menace. There remains this doom the Master has brought upon us. Let not one word of this matter escape your lips, Krand must not be sent mad. Our life, upon the surface, must be as usual, but in secret we can prepare for the end. How long do we have, daughter?” He turned to Thrala.
“Kepta said three months before the worst of the disturbances begin.”
“So short a time? Then we must bend our backs to mighty labors. Give us ten hours’ time to assemble our forces and then we will meet here again.”
Thus abruptly he dismissed us. Thrala and Analia slipped through the far door without a backward look. Zacat, Ana- tan, and I left as inconspicuously as possible for my headquarters. Thran remained with the Emperor.
Having gained the shelter of my own apartments, I bathed and then flung myself upon my sleeping couch, there to toss open-eyed, my brain awhirl with all the problems which con
fronted me. At length I drowsed, falling into dream-filled slumber.
At that second extraordinary meeting of the council we met those of the Learned Ones whom the Emperor relied upon and certain members of the other castes considered trustworthy. And there for a good four hours or more the leading astronomer of Krand lectured us concerning our destroyer and our companion worlds.
It had been proven in the past that life as we knew it could not exist on either of the two other planets which shared our sun. But other solar systems lay open to us. One such, lying some hundreds of light-years away, boasted nine planets, one of which was newly-born. That raw new world was to be our goal.
When this had been provisionally decided upon they turned to me for advice about spaceships. I laid before them what little I knew.
“The acceleration needed to break the grip of Krand’s gravity upon a spaceship would kill the voyagers before it had torn through our layers of atmosphere. It must be a ship radically different in design from any we have ever conceived and one with more power than any now existing.”
Thran nodded. “But we can furnish power in abundance now,” he said grimly.
“You mean?”
“Kepta’s source lies open to our use. Solar power.”
The others drew a little away from him. “Would you break the ancient oath again?” asked the Emperor quietly.
Thran looked around at us. “We must face plainly what lies before us. For Krand and most of her people there is no future. For a handful, a handful who will carry on our race and build anew better than we have done — for them there is hope. A single ship such as Lord Garan has spoken of, a ship endowed with inexhaustible solar power may win free. The question which lies before us now is will we throw ourselves and our world into a period of agonizing labor that a minute portion of our number may win across the void to safety. Dare we say that we are worthy of such sacrifice upon the part of our fellows?”
