The Golden Age of Science Fiction Novels Vol 04

by Anthology

"Aye," said Robur, staring. "Let—her—out. Where got you that form of speech, my friend?"

  "I—it was used on the moment to express the idea intended," Croft replied. "It is as though one released the reins and allowed the gnuppas to run free."

  Robur nodded. "Yes, I sense it. Let—her—out."

  Croft complied. They sped south. Without a speedometer, Croft could only estimate their rate of progress, but he judged that the new engine made thirty miles an hour at least.

  Robur was amazed. The speeding car met the first of the early market throng and cleared the road of everything it met. Men, women, and livestock bolted as the undreamed engine of locomotion roared past. Their cries blended into an uproar which tore laughter from Robur's throat.

  Swiftly they passed the area of cultivation and entered the desert road where Croft had seen the sarpelca caravan on his first Palosian day. On, on they roared along the level surface between dunes of yellow sand and across golden arid flats. Head down above his wheel Croft sent the car ahead, until dashing between two dunes they came to where a second road joined that on which they ran.

  Robur cried out. Croft flung up his head. One swift glimpse he had of a team of purple-plumed gnuppas reared on their haunches, their forefeet pawing the air, their nostrils flaring, their eyes maddened with fright, and of a burnished carriage behind them. Then he was past, throttling the engine, seeking to bring the car to a stand.

  Chapter VII

  The car slowed down and stood still, Robur sprang to his feet. Croft turned to look back. The carriage was off the road and dashing across a level stretch of sand.

  How it came that Prince Lakkon's carriage was here, neither man knew. Yet both had recognized the purple-plumed gnuppas and the conveyance which now swayed and rocked behind their fright-maddened flight.

  "Lakkon's!" Croft gasped.

  "Aye, by Zitu," Robur gave assent. "And should Chythron fail to hold them soon, death lies in that direction at the bottom of the gorge."

  "Sit down. Hold fast!" Even as Robur spoke, Croft sensed his full meaning and planned. Under his touch the engine roared. He let in his clutch with a jerk which shot the car into motion with a leap. Leaving the road with a lurch which nearly unseated Robur and himself, he swung the car about and increased its speed.

  He had told Jadgor he would build an engine to outrun the Tamarizian gnuppa, and here at once was the test; and he was overtaking them now. He crossed the second road with a nerve-wracking swing and jolt. Unable to procure rubber for his wheels he had faced them with heavy leather some two inches thick, which lacked the resiliency of air. His arms ached from the wrench with which he crossed the road.

  "Faster! Zitu! Faster!" Robur urged at his side. "Faster, Jasor—the gorge is just ahead!"

  Croft made no reply. He was almost abreast of the carriage now. But he himself had seen the break in the surface of the flat across which he drove. He set his teeth till the muscles in his strong jaws bunched and drove toward it at top speed.

  And he was past them now! Past them, with the gorge directly ahead. He began to edge in upon them. He would stop them or turn them at any cost to himself. And the margin was scant.

  "Jump! Save yourself!" His voice rose in a cry of warning to his companion in the car. The gorge was very close. He turned to parallel its course and found it angling off at a slant. And the gnuppas were turning, too—edging away from the thing they feared—edging, edging away. Croft edged with them, turning them more and more. Chythron was sawing on his reins. Suddenly the beasts stopped in a series of ragged lunges and stood quivering and panting. Croft stopped the car.

  "By Zitu! Jasor, you are a man!"

  The purple curtains of the carriage were swept back and Prince Lakkon leaped out, gave Robur and him a swift glance, and assisted Naia to alight.

  Robur and he leaped down. They advanced toward Lakkon and his daughter. "My uncle and my cousin," Robur began, "we crave your pardon for causing you this inconvenience through no intent of our own. Yet must you give thanks to our brave Lord Jasor here for undoing our work so quickly and turning back the gnuppas from their course."

  Lakkon bowed. "My Lord Jasor, it appears that I owe you my safety as well as that of my child. Accept my service at your need. I have heard of you and yonder wonder-carriage you have wrought. After tonight I go to my villa in the mountains. You must be our guest for a time. Naia, my child, extend your thanks to the noble Jasor for your life."

  Croft found himself looking into the purple eyes of the woman he loved. Then, as her red lips parted, he opened his own. "Nay, not your life, Princess Naia—some bruises had you leaped from the carriage, perhaps."

  "My thanks for the service none the less, my lord," she had answer in the own well-remembered voice. "I like not bruises truly, and at least you did save me those." She extended a slender hand.

  Croft took her fingers in his and found his pulses leaping at the contact. Prompted by a sudden impulse, he bent and set his lips to finger he held, straightened and looked deep into the wells of her eyes.

  A swift color mounted into the maiden's cheeks at the unwonted form of homage and the fire in Croft's glance. She dropped her lids and seemed confused for the first time during the course of the whole affair.

  Robur broke into the rather tense pause. "What say you, Lakkon? Your gnuppas are hardly fit to be trusted more today. Enter this car our Hupor has built, and be the first Prince of Aphur to enter Himyra thus."

  Lakkon smiled. He spoke to Chythron, ordering him to drive the gnuppas to the city as best he might. Then, with Croft acting as Naia's guide, turned with Robur toward the car.

  Nor was his niggard in his praise as Croft started the engine, and placing the girl beside him, drove back to the road and along it to the city gates. He even laughed with enjoyment at the further consternation their progress caused along the road.

  As for Croft, that ride with the girl of his ultimate desire at his side was a delight such as he had never known as she questioned him concerning the conveyance he drove. Those questions he answered freely, knowing her loyal to Tamarizia.

  So in the end they passed the city gates and made their way to Lakkon's house, where croft turned in toward the massive molded doors.

  Naia showed some surprise. "My lord, you know our dwelling, it would seem."

  "I have looked upon it with longing ere this," said croft.

  And Naia gave him a glance and once more veiled her eyes while a tide of responsive color dyed her face. Plainly she caught the meaning of his words.

  "Your name is among those of our guests for tonight," she said. "Your welcome will be doubly great after today, and—you will accept our invitation to the mountains?"

  "If you add your invitation to your father's, so soon as I may arrange the work on other moturs," Croft agreed.

  "Then you will come," she told him softly without lifting her eyes.

  And that night all Himyra was en fête. Under the light of fire urns, oil lamps, and flaring torches, whose glare lit up the sky above the walls, the Red City of Aphur made holiday. Crowds swarmed the public squares and clustered about the free entertainments, the free refreshment booths erected by order of Jadgor to celebrate the coming alliance between Cathur and the state.

  Croft, returning to his quarters in the palace from a day spent in starting intensive work on a hundred engines and a marine adoption of the same, met a surprise. Upon his copper couch was a noble dress consisting of a golden cuirass embossed in silver, a kilted skirt, gold and silver leg casings, and sandals, a leathern belt, and a tempered copper sword. As he came in, a Mazzerian servant rose and bade him to one of the palace baths. Returning from that, Croft donned a sleeveless shirt of silklike tissue and the cuirass over that. Kneeling, the servant adjusted the sandals and rose to buckle on the sword. These things he mentioned were a gift from Jadgor himself, a mark of Croft's service to the state.

  Robur came into the room. Gaya had gone to Lakkon's earlier in the day to act as Naia's lady in the cere
monial preparations. He suggested that Croft and he be off. Aphurian etiquette decreed that the principal guest be the last to arrive, in order that the assembled company might do him honor when he came. Jadgor and Kyphallos would follow, said the prince.

  Croft assented at once. Lifting a circlet supporting a tuft of orange feathers, he set it upon his head, and Robur and he set out, in the prince's own car, drawn by four beautiful gnuppas, their bridles trimmed with nodding scarlet plumes.

  Before Lakkon's house they found themselves in a press of other carriages and chariots from which were descending the highest ranking nobles of Aphur.

  The huge doors of the court stood open, and the court itself blazed with light. A double line of guards stood within the portals as the guests streamed in, and a herald in gold and purple cried the name of each new arrival aloud through a wide-mouthed trumpet held before his lips.

  Inside, the tables were spread much as on the former occasion Croft had witnessed, save that now a dais had been constructed at one end. Lakkon stood at the end of the double row of guards and welcomed his guests. He gave Croft his hand with a smile which lighted his eyes. "Welcome, Lord Jasor—to mine house—to Himyra's happiness, to the honor of Aphur," he said, and bent his knee to Robur as the two men passed.

  It was then Robur led Croft to the dais and mounted the steps as one who knew beforehand his place assigned. Croft hung back, and his companion laughed. "Up," he cried. "Tonight you are honored of Aphur above most men."

  Tingling at the knowledge, Croft mounted and seated himself at a wave from Robur's hand. The prince gazed on the brilliant scene with a smile of something like pride. "A goodly company," he said.

  Croft, too, gazed around before he replied. He cast his eyes about the myriad of flaming lamps and suddenly he smiled. "Yet would it be even more brilliant were the oil lamps removed and in their place we were to put small globes of glass which would emit a radiance not due to oil, but to a glowing filament shut within them, so that they would need no filling, but would burn when a small knob were turned."

  "Zitu!" Robur gave him a glance. "Are you at it again—with your wonderful dreams?"

  "Yes. Dreams they may be—yet shall you see them come true. And—listen, my loyal friend. It may be that before long I shall dream again as I dreamed before—that my body shall lie as Jasor's body lay in Scira—shall seem to die."

  "What mean you?" Robur cried. "This you have said before."

  "I may not tell you more. Yet I would exact your promise that when the time comes, as I know it well, you shall set a guard about my body and forbid that it be disturbed until I shall again awake with a full knowledge of what more shall be done for Aphur's good."

  "You mean this—you do not jest?"

  "Yes. Will you promise, Rob?"

  "I will promise, and what I promise I fulfill," said Robur. "Yet—one would think Zitu himself spoke to you in that sleep."

  "No—yet what I do, I do by His grace," Croft replied. "And from each sleep I am assured shall come good to the Tamarizian race." And suddenly as trumpets announced the arrival of Kyphallos and the King, he felt light, relieved, free.

  He watched while Kyphallos came in with Jadgor now and approached the dais. Then, attracted by other trumpets, he turned toward the stair. As before, Naia stood there with Gaya by her side. Yet now she was not the same. Then she had been radiant in gold and purple. Now she stood simply clad in white. White was her robe, edged in silver; white were her sandals and white the plumes which rose above her hair.

  Kyphallos and Jadgor waited while the guests took their seats. Lakkon advanced to meet the two women on the stairs, gave his hand to his daughter and turned to descend.

  Another figure appeared. It was Magur, the priest, robed in blue, accompanied by two young boys, each bearing a silver goblet on a tray of the same metal. He advanced and met Naia and Lakkon as they reached the foot of the stairs.

  "Who comes?" his voice rang out.

  "A maid who would pledge herself and her life to a youth, O Prince of Zitu," Lakkon replied.

  "The youth is present?" Magur went on with the ritual.

  "Aye. He stands yonder with Aphur's king," Lakkon declared.

  "Who sponsors this woman at this time?" Magur spoke again.

  "I—King of Aphur—brother of her who gave her life," Jadgor's voice boomed forth.

  "Come then," Magur said.

  The party advanced again across the crystal floor. They joined Kyphallos and the king. They ascended the dais and stood before the assembled guests, who rose.

  Magur spoke anew. "Naia of Aphur—thou woman—being woman sister of Ga, and hence a priestess of that shrine of life which is eternal, and guardian of the fire of life which is eternal, is it your intent to pledge thyself to this man of Cathur who stands now at thy side?"

  While Croft watched, Naia's lips moved. "Aye," came her response, "myself I pledge to him."

  "And thou, Kyphallos of Cathur, do you accept this pledge and with it the woman herself, to make her in the fulness of time thy bride to cherish her and cause her to live as a glory to the name of woman to whom all men may justly give respect?"

  "Aye. So I pledge, by Zitu, and Azil, Giver of Life," said Cathur's prince.

  "Then take ye this, maid of Aphur." Magur drew from his rope a looped silver cross and pressed it into her hands. "Hold it and guard it. Look upon it as the symbol of that life eternal which through you shall be kept eternal, and which taken from the hands of Azil the Angel shall be transmuted within thee into the life of me."

  Turning, he took two goblets and poured wine from one to the other and back. One he extended to Naia and one to Cathur's prince. "Drink," he said. "Let these symbolize thy two bodies, the life of which shall be united from this time on in purpose. Drink, and may Zitu bless ye in that union which comes by his intent."

  Cathur raised his goblet. "I drink of thee deeply," he spoke, addressing Naia.

  "And of thee I drink," she made answer, and set the wine to her lips.

  As she did so, her eyes leaped over the silver rim and met the eyes of Croft. For a single instant his glance burned into hers, and she faltered, her hand lowered the goblet quickly and she swayed. Yet even so, she caught herself on the instant as a storm of applause broke from the guests and sank to the divan, supported by Kyphallos's hand.

  As for Croft, for him the light of the oil lamps flickered and paled.

  Thereafter came the feast, the music, the dancers, a troupe of singers and another of acrobats—the usual gamut of a Tamarizian state entertainment, dragging out its length, before Jadgor rose at last in his place and a hush fell over the court.

  Croft, who throughout it all had been strangely silent, roused to the pressure of Robur's hand, and as the prince prompted, he rose.

  Thereafter he left his place and knelt before Jadgor while the king drew his sword and struck him upon the breast and dubbed him so a Prince of Aphur, and rising, bowed to the king, and to the guests who rose to salute him in his newfound rank.

  But of them all to Croft it seemed that he saw only the fair young girl beside the Cathurian prince. And now, as before, his eyes leaped swiftly to her face. Only now, instead of an expression of something like startled knowledge, there leaped toward him a purple light of pleasure, of approval, of congratulation, and she smiled, as one may smile in recognition of an old and well-known friend.

  Then he found himself clasping hands with Robur, with Lakkon, with Kyphallos, since the thing could not be avoided. Gaya, too, gave him her hand and a word of congratulation, and—Naia was holding forth her rounded, bare arm and the slender fingers which that morning he had kissed.

  He took them now and held them in his own. He trembled, and knew it, and even so dared again to meet her eyes.

  Once more, he found them startled, puzzled, almost confused. A faint color crept into her cheeks. "My lord," she said, "Aphur has given her highest appreciation of your worth. That should mean much to you."

  "Aye," Croft found h
is tongue. "Since it accords me the privilege of a further word with you."

  She drew her hand away. "Is a word with me of so great a value?"

  "To speak to Naia of Aphur I would dare death itself."

  "You are a bold man," she said, as he paused, and went on quickly, "Yet, since you value it so highly, forget not our invitation of this morning or that house in the mountains which is ours."

  "I shall not forget, Princess Naia," Croft replied. His brain was in a whirl. Had she sensed the truth as he had sensed it the first time he had seen her? Did she feel it? Did she know? Had the call of his spirit reached the spirit which was hers?

  Chapter VIII

  Toward that end and what it should finally bring about, Croft now made his plans. Kyphallos he learned would leave on the morrow for Scira, and as he knew would very shortly thereafter make that promised journey to Niera, where he would once more come under the attraction of Kalamita.

  On the following day therefore, he asked audience of Jadgor, took Robur with him when he appeared before the king and suggested the use of a spy on Cathur's heir, telling so much as he felt he dared, to support his plea.

  At first Jadgor was amazed. "How know you these things, Lord Jasor!"

  "I have heard things in the north."

  Croft suggested a consultation with Magur—and the sending of word to Abbu in the name of both Jasor and the Chief Priest of Himyra to see what Kyphallos did. That there was reason for his suggestion the very next day brought proof. A sailor from a Cathurian galley was found concealed in the shop where the new engines were being made.

  He smiled in rather a grim way when Robur told him of the occurrence, rushing into the room where he sat engaged in the drawing of some further plans. But he took no steps save to have the sailor taken back to his ship and his captain cautioned to keep him out of harm's way, and to recommend that Robur place a guard about the ship. Indeed he was not greatly worried as he knew of one way in which he could watch Kyphallos and learn what he planned.

  On the sixth day, having seen the work on the engines well under way, he took the car, filled its tanks with spirits and drove out the north road toward that white palace in the mountains where he had been bidden as a guest.