By this time, the victims had been devoured, with the exception of two--the Zoasian and one last Amatharian. My heart leapt into my throat as I realized that the single remaining Amatharian was Princess Noriandara Remontar. The only thing that had saved her thus far appeared to be an argument between several Uursh Poch as to who was allowed to eat the relatively tender Amatharian, and who would be forced to consume the leathery Zoasian, and who would have to go without anything to eat at all. I was determined that her temporary reprieve should become a full pardon. Reaching the edge of the group before being noticed, I whipped out my now glowing sword, and sliced one of the disgusting arms off of the nearest Uursh Poch. The others turned toward me, and seemed to mass together preparing for an attack. I jumped forward, and then dropped to the ground, rolling toward them like a log, but with my sword stretched out above my head. I plowed through the forest of legs, and then stood up to survey my damage. Two of the creatures had merely been knocked down, but three others had each lost at least one leg to my sword.
Another Uursh Poch jumped at me from the side, and I killed it with a thrust to the center of its vile body. The remaining six creatures, three now injured, began to move away. I jumped once more at them and sent them into full flight. It seemed as though the Uursh Poch were quite cowardly, and I had no doubt that all of their captives had been unconscious when they had first come upon them. With the danger to her life out of the way, I dropped to the Princess's side, and gathered her up in my arms. I carried her to a nearby boulder and sat her up. She was still unconscious. I cut the bonds which were wrapped around her body. Then I chafed her wrists until she started to awaken. I gave her several sips of water from my canteen. She at last opened her eyes, looked at me, and spoke.
"What are you?"
I was momentarily taken aback. This was not exactly what I was expecting to hear as her first words, especially considering the adventures I had survived, the dangers I had faced, and the hardships I had endured in order to rescue her. Then I recalled that she had no reason to know me, and that after all she had been through, she certainly had a right to be suspicious of someone she had never met before, from a race of people, though quite like her own, which was unknown to her.
"My name is Alexander Ashton," I said. "I've come a long way to rescue you."
"What are you?" she repeated, rising slowly to her feet. "You are wearing Amatharian clothing, and you carry Amatharian weaponry, but you are not an Amatharian."
"Oh, yes. I am Kurar Remiant Alexander Ashton of the Sun Clan"
"You have made a mistake now, alien," she jumped back. "I am of the Sun Clan and I do not know you."
"Look,” I said, now feeling quite indignant. "I just saved your life. Those Uursh Poch things were going to eat you, just like they did your companions."
She looked over at the scene of death, but seemed unconvinced.
"I have a remiant's sword," I continued, drawing my sword and cleaving the air. The sword did not glow, or evidence any sign of the soul living within. There was no enemy threat nearby.
"How did you come to be here?" she asked, cautiously.
"I came in the attack against Zonamis...with your brother's fleet."
"Norar Remontar is alive?" she stepped forward.
"Yes. At least he was when I saw him before the attack. He arranged the mission to rescue you and the others. He and the others--your grandfather Nevin Lorrinos, Reyno Hissendar, and Agar Yerrontis."
"Well you do know a lot of Amatharian names," she still sounded unconvinced.
"I will gladly mention others to you," I said. "I will tell you how I have stayed with your brother in his home, how I was adopted into the Sun Clan by your grandfather, how I was tutored in reading and writing by Nicohl Messonar, and of my friendships with Bentar Hissendar and Vena Remontar. But first, I must figure out what to do with this Zoasian."
The Zoasian, who was fully conscious and may have been for some time, was looking toward me. As if noticing my attention was now directed at him, the Zoasian opened his mouth and hissed at me. I walked over to him and looked down. The Princess followed and stood beside me.
"Leave him here,” she said. "It is not honorable to kill an enemy that is tied up."
"I certainly would not have done that."
I pulled out my sword and held it out. The blade still did not glow. Reaching down with its tip, I cut through the bonds that held the Zoasian fast. The snake-man rose cautiously to my feet. Curiously, my sword still refused to glow. I took this as a clear sign and pointed to the distance with my splinted left arm. The reptile looked at me with his yellow eyes for a moment and then started off away, down the line of great jagged rocks.
Chapter Twenty Two: The Princess
Noriandara Remontar, Princess of the Sun Clan, looked at me with what seemed to be a mixture of disgust and incomprehension. Even so, she was remarkably beautiful, with the same sharp features and dark blue skin that her cousin Vena Remontar possessed.
"Your friend the Zoasian will probably lay in wait to attack us somewhere along the trail," she said.
"Perhaps," I replied, "but I will not kill a defenseless enemy, and leaving him tied up out here would be just the same as running him through."
"Well, let's be on our way," she said, then pointed in the general direction from which I had come. "My soul calls me from this direction. I have to retrieve my sword."
"Of course," I replied. "Is it at the site of the wreck?"
"Possibly. The Zoasians were not quite sure what to do with our swords. They recognized the connection between the Amatharian and the soul, but were unsure how to deal with it."
"How many of you were taken captive?"
"Three knights, sixteen swordsmen, and eighty two warriors," she replied. "I wonder how many of us survived."
"I am afraid not many."
As we started climbing the rock barrier, I told her of the assault, and the many horrors which I had witnessed in the mountain installation of Zonamis, of the pursuit of herself in the gigantic truck, and the victims at the site of the wreck. By the time we had reached the ground on the other side of the rocks, I had finished my tale.
"Well," said Noriandara Remontar thoughtfully, "at least we can report them to their families." We walked through the desert, which was still relatively cool and pleasant. We didn't follow the exact path that I had taken to find the Princess, following instead the mental message sent by her sword. Nevertheless, after walking for some while, we came to the small streamlet, where I had napped before. We stopped to take a drink, fill my canteen, and rest for a moment.
By this time, the throbbing in my arm was so painful that I thought perhaps I would be unable to bear it. I also suspected that I had an infection, because I felt as though I had a fever. Then I remembered that I had a small packet of medicine in a belt compartment. It was a package of two capsules. I was hopeful that they would bring me some relief, though I didn’t expect too much, as I suspected they were the Amatharian equivalent of aspirin. I popped the pills in my mouth, and swallowed them with a drought from the stream.
"Let's be on our way,” said Noriandara Remontar. "We can rest after we find my sword." We climbed out of the stream bed and continued on our way. As I had suspected, the mental connection between knight and sword led the Princess to the wreck of the Zoasian transport. When the vehicle came within our line of sight, we could see several large figures moving around. They proved to be, when we were close enough to see them clearly, predatory animals, feasting on the remains of the dead. There were four of the animals, picking clean the bones of Amatharian and Zoasian alike. They were about four feet tall, standing on two legs. Though they looked quite bird-like, and had beaked mouths, they were covered not in feathers, but with a wrinkled, leathery hide. They had forearms were only about a foot long, appearing quite useless, but had vestigial leather wings.
"We should be able to scare them off, don't you think?" I asked, now starting to feel much better, but not feeling like a pro
longed fight with probably vicious animals.
"First, take a picture,” the Princess advised. "I may well be the first Amatharian to see these beasts"
"We may be the first Amatharians to see these beasts," I corrected.
"That remains to be seen."
I pulled out my camera and snapped a quick image of the desert predators. Then I traded it for my pistol, which I had almost forgotten I still carried. Firing four quick shots, I killed three of the animals, and sent the fourth running for its life. Walking over to the wrecked Zoasian vehicle and sitting down in its shade, I closed my eyes and dozed off.
When I woke up, of course it was still noon as it always was in Ecos, but some clouds had obscured the sun, and the wind was beginning to whip up. Nearby was the body of a Zoasian, with half a dozen large spiders, just like I had seen at the stream bed, feasting upon it. I just sat for a moment watching them. Then Noriandara Remontar stepped up beside me.
"You have been asleep a long time,” she said. "I roasted a piece of one of the animals you shot, but it is not very good."
"I see that you recovered your sword," I said.
"Yes. The Zoasians had it stored in the vehicle. Apparently they were afraid to separate the two of us. I can only imagine where they were planning to take us."
I took the piece of roasted meat that she offered me and took a few bites. It was really not that bad tasting, when compared to the bizarre life-forms that Norar Remontar, Malagor, and I had been forced to eat during our long journey, but compared to the delicious meals I had experienced in Amathar, it was quite grotesque. I set it aside largely uneaten, not because of its poor flavor, but because I did not feel like eating.
"So," said the Princess, "tell me your story."
I narrated the tale of my adventures from the time that I had found myself mysteriously transported to Ecos. I told her of how I had met Malagor and Norar Remontar, and how I had witnessed her battle against the Zoasians, and how I attempted to aid her. I did not relate my emotions toward her at the time. I told her of our journey to Amathar, of my friendship with Vena Remontar, and of my visit to the Garden of Souls where I became a knight.
"I am forced to believe your story," she said, when I had finished. "You know far too much of Amathar to have made it up. Still, it seems so strange to hear of Amathar from one so alien looking." Now I have been told that I am a handsome fellow on more than one occasion. The truth is, that I have never really cared whether I was good-looking or not. A person's nature and actions should be the yardstick by which that person is measured: not how he looks. But I must say that my self-image took quite a blow when Noriandara Remontar deposited the words "alien looking" in my lap. I sat and thought for a moment about the fact that I had made all my judgements of her based upon her looks, just as she was doing to me now. She had to be a fine person--all Amatharians were intelligent and honorable. But, did I... could I be in love with her, having never even spoken to her before.
"We should be on our way," she said, pointing to the mountain range on the horizon. "That is where the Zoasian city is, is it not?
"Yes," I replied, "and the fleet should still be there." We started off toward the Zoasian city, following the tracks in the sand made by the great land roving machine. The wind was whipping up quite a bit of dust by this time, which stuck in my eyes making vision difficult. Several times I tripped on small rocks or plants, because I could not see where I was going. Once I fell right on my left arm and almost passed out from the pain. The wind became worse and worse until we were forced to stop, and climb down into yet another river bed, this one without any water at all in it. After a short while, there was so much sand in the air that the sky took on a strange eeriness. I could look directly at the sun, and were it not for the flying dust, could have done so without injury to my eyes. It was impossible to see beyond the edge of the stream bed. Noriandara Remontar sat down next to me, and taking off her tabard, stretched it over our heads like an impromptu tent to protect us from the storm. Despite all that had happened to her, she still had the confidence, poise, and grace that all Amatharians seemed to possess. Her black eyes held the look of casual unconcern that was the hallmark of her people.
"I have not yet thanked you for rescuing me,” she said. "It is obvious that you went through a great deal of hardships. It is only too bad that you were not able to save the others as well."
"Yes, it is unfortunate," I replied. "But no thanks are necessary, kinsman." At that moment, something heavy and hard struck the side of my head from outside the cloth covering, and everything went black.
"Alexander Ashton, are you conscious?" I opened my eyes to see the face of the Princess looking down at me. "I thought you might be in a coma."
"What happened?"
"Look and see, kinsman."
I tried to sit up, but found it difficult, since both my hands and feet were bound with heavy wire. I managed to look around me, and saw that we were on the floor of a large room. It looked familiar, but for a moment I didn't know how. I realized that this was a Zoasian land vehicle of the same general type which I had so recently driven, just as one of the aforementioned snake-men entered the compartment and pointed a large ray gun at me.
"Go ahead and shoot me, you cold-blooded bastard!" I shouted at the reptile. He just hissed at me uncomprehendingly, and then sat down nearby to guard us.
"It seems your thanks for the rescue were premature,” I told my companion.
"I resigned myself to my own death when I was first captured by the Zoasians,” said Noriandara Remontar. "The situation is no worse now. If anything, we can be happy that we have caused them so much trouble."
"I can't believe that they found us in the middle of that sand storm,” I said, rubbing the painful knot just behind my temple.
"The Zoasians have an extra eyelid which they can close to protect from the elements, and still be able to see,” she explained. "My aunt has made an extensive study of their culture and their physiology, though I dare say, I will be able to write quite a book on the subject myself, if I ever get back to Amathar."
"Yes, I know your aunt."
"She and I were always very close, at least after my mother died. In fact, I am closer to Mindana Remontar than her own daughter is. People always said that we were so much alike. Vena Remontar is much more like her father."
"I hope I get to see Vena Remontar again." I said.
"Why?" Her query caught me off guard. Why did I want to see Vena Remontar again? Because she was a good friend, of course.
"I have to tell her of the death of her betrothed." I said aloud.
"Betrothed? Was it Tular Maximinos"
"Yes," I affirmed. "He was killed in the assault, but brought down a Zoasian battleship almost single-handedly."
"Curious," said the Princess, thoughtfully. "Tular Maximinos had been my cousin's companion for a while before I left, but I never thought they were particularly right for one another." The great Zoasian land rover chose that moment to lurch into motion. The path the driver decided to take was very bumpy. And unlike the Amatharians, who seemed to employ interior decorators in even their most utilitarian war machines, the Zoasians made no effort to make anyone on board comfortable by padding a seat or the floor. The snake-man who was guarding us did not look as though he were particularly relaxed in his seat, and I, sitting on several exposed bolts in a armor plated floor, was certainly not. All in all, it reminded me of a trip I once took in an overcrowded helicopter for the United States Army.
It was a funny thought, but in almost everything except physiology, the Zoasians seemed more like the humans of my home planet than did the Amatharians. They lived in cities the size of New York or Mexico City, and the trash lying in the streets of Zonamis certainly did remind me of home. They seemed to have a military organization similar to armies on earth, and they expanded their territory just as every leader from Sargon of Akkad to Joseph Stalin had done on Earth. True, their science lab was more horrible than anything I would have e
xpected from the U.S. Army, but I could imagine something similar in Nazi Germany.
"I wonder where they have stowed our swords." said Noriandara Remontar.
"I was just wondering the same thing,” I replied. I was too. It was the first thing that any Remiant would wonder. It was something that pushed to the front of one's brain and refused to get out of the way.
"Thankfully the Zoasians usually keep them close to the knight, and seem afraid to damage them." Thinking back to the death of Tular Maximinos and the destruction the soul within his sword inflicted upon the surrounding enemies, I could well imagine what they might be afraid of. Perhaps one of the Zoasian scientist had damaged one in the lab and caused just such a conflagration. Then again, the Zoasians had quite a bit of battlefield experience against Amatharian knights from which to draw. I felt very tired, so placing my shoulder beneath my head; I lay back down and went to sleep. I have had better rests in my time. The bouncing of the vehicle and the hardness of its floor were certainly not conducive to a comfortable rest. Yet the back and forth rocking of the truck and the hum of the loud, by Amatharian standards, engine did somewhat make up for it. While I passed in and out of sleep, I did not return to a full waking state until the land rover slowed to a stop, and I quite frankly have no way to tell how long that might have been.
Princess of Amathar Page 17
