It was a long and hard ride before they stopped and Kery almost fell
from the hest to which they had bound him.
"I should have thought that you would soon awake," said the man from
Ganasth. He had a soft voice and spoke Aluardian well enough. "I am
sorry. It is no way to treat a man, carrying him like a sack of meal.
Here...." He poured a glass of wine and handed it to the barbarian.
"From now on you shall ride erect."
Kery gulped thirstily and felt a measure of strength flowing back. He
looked around him.
They had gone steadily eastward and were now camped near a ruined
farmhouse. A fire was crackling and one of the score or so of enemy
warriors was roasting a haunch of meat over it. The rest stood leaning
on their weapons and their cold amber eyes never left the two prisoners.
Sathi stood near bleak-faced Jonan and her great dark eyes never left
Kery. He smiled at her shakily and with a little sob she took a step
toward him. Jonan pulled her back roughly.
"Kery," she whispered. "Kery, are you well?"
"As well as could be expected," he said wryly. Then to the Ganasthian
prince, "What is this, anyway? I woke up to find myself joggling
eastward and that is all I know. What is your purpose?"
"We have several," answered the alien. He sat down near the fire
pulling his cloak around him against the chill that blew out of the
glooming east. His impassive face watched the dance of flames as if
they told him something.
Kery sat down as well, stretching his long legs easily. He might as
well relax he thought. They had taken his sword and his pipes and they
were watching him like hungry beasts. There was never a chance to fight.
"Come, Sathi," he waved to the girl. "Come over here by me."
"No!" snapped Jonan.
"Yes, if she wants to," said the Ganasthian mildly.
"By that filthy barbarian...."
"None of us have washed recently." The gentle tones were suddenly like
steel. "Do not forget, General, that I am Mongku of Ganasth and heir
apparent to the throne."
"And I rescued you from the city," snapped the man. "If it weren't for
me you might well be dead at the hands of that red savage."
"That will do," said Mongku. "Come over here and sit by us, Sathi."
His guardsmen stirred, unacquainted with the Ryvanian tongue but
sensing the clash of wills. Jonan shrugged sullenly and stalked over
to sit opposite them. Sathi fled to Kery and huddled against him. He
comforted her awkwardly. Over her shoulder he directed a questioning
look at Mongku.
"I suppose you deserve some explanation," said the Dark Lander.
"Certainly Sathi must know the facts." He leaned back on one elbow and
began to speak in an almost dreamy tone.
"When Ryvan conquered Guria, many generations ago, some of its leaders
were proscribed. They fled eastward and so eventually wandered into the
Dark Lands and came to Ganasth. It was then merely a barbarian town
but the Gurians became advisors to the king and began teaching the
people all the arts of civilization. It was their hope one day to lead
the hosts of Ganasth against Ryvan, partly for revenge and partly for
the wealth and easier living to be found in the Twilight Lands. Life
is hard and bitter in the eternal night, Sathi. It is ever a struggle
merely to keep alive. Can you wonder so very much that we are spilling
into your gentler climate and your richer soil?
"Descendants of the Gurians have remained aristocrats in Ganasth. But
Jonan's father conceived the idea of moving back with a few of his
friends to work from within against the day of conquest. At that time
we were bringing our neighbors under our heel and looked already to the
time when we should move against the Twilight Lands. At any rate he did
this and nobody suspected that he was aught but a newcomer from another
part of Ryvan's empire. His son, Jonan, entered the army and, being
shrewd and strong and able, finally reached the high post which you
yourself bestowed on him, Sathi."
"Oh, no--Jonan--" She shuddered against Kery.
"Naturally when we invaded at last he had to fight against us, and for
fear of prisoners revealing his purpose very few Ganasthians know who
he really is. A risk was involved, yes. But it is convenient to have a
general of the enemy on your side! Jonan is one of the major reasons
for our success.
"Now we come to myself, a story which is very simply told. I was
captured and it was Jonan's duty as a citizen of Ganasth to rescue
his prince--quite apart from the fact that I do know his identity and
torture might have loosened my tongue. He might have effected my escape
easily enough without attracting notice, but other factors intervened.
For one thing, there was this barbarian alliance, and especially that
very dangerous new weapon they had which he had observed in use. We
clearly could not risk its being turned on us. Indeed we almost had
to capture it. Then, too, Jonan is desirous of marrying you, Sathi,
and I must say that it seems a good idea. With you as a hostage Ryvan
will be more amenable. Later you can return as nominal ruler of your
city, a vassal of Ganasth, and that will make our conquest easier to
administer. Though not too easy, I fear. The Twilight Landers will not
much like being transported into the Dark Lands to make room for us."
Sathi began to cry, softly and hopelessly. Kery stroked her hair and
said nothing.
Mongku sat up and reached for the chunk of meat his soldier handed him.
"So Jonan and his few trusty men let me out of prison and we went up
to the palace roof after you, who had been seen going that way shortly
before. Listening a little while to your conversation we saw that we
had had the good luck to get that hell-pipe of the north, too. So we
took you. Jonan was for killing you, Kery my friend, but I pointed out
that you could be useful in many ways such as a means for making Sathi
listen to reason. Threats against you will move her more than against
herself, I think."
"You crawling louse," said Kery tonelessly.
Mongku shrugged. "I'm not such a bad sort but war is war and I have
seen the folk of Ganasth hungering too long to have much sympathy for a
bunch of fat Twilight Landers.
"At any rate, we slipped out of the city unobserved. Jonan could not
remain for when the queen and I were both missing, and he responsible
for both, it would be plain to many whom to accuse. Moreover, Sathi's
future husband is too valuable to lose in a fight. And I myself would
like to report to my father the king as to how well the war has gone.
"So we are bound for Ganasth."
There was a long silence while the fire leaped and crackled and the
stars blinked far overhead. Finally Sathi shook herself and sat erect
and said in a small hard voice, "Jonan, I swear you will die if you wed
me. I promise you that."
The officer did not reply. He sat brooding into the dusk with a look of
frozen contempt and weariness on his face.
Sathi huddled back against Kery's side and soon she slept.
* * * * *
On and on.
They were out of the Twilight Lands altogether now. Night had fallen
on them and still they rode eastward. They were tough, these Ganasthi,
they stopped only for sleep and quickly gulped food and a change of
mounts and the miles reeled away behind them.
Little was said on the trail. They were too tired at the halts and
seemingly in too much of a hurry while riding. With Sathi there could
only be a brief exchange of looks, a squeeze of hands, and a few
whispered words with the glowing-eyed men of Ganasth looking on. She
was a gallant girl, thought Kery. The cruel trek told heavily on her
but she rode without complaint--she was still queen of Ryvan!
Ryvan, Ryvan, how long could it hold out now in the despair of its
loss? Kery thought that Red Bram might be able to seize the mastery and
whip the city into fighting pitch but warfare by starvation was not to
the barbarians' stomachs. They could not endure a long siege.
But what lay ahead for him and her and the captured weapon of the gods?
Never had he been in so grim a country. It was dark, eternally dark,
night and cold and the brilliant frosty stars lay over the land,
shadows and snow and a whining wind that ate and ate and gnawed its way
through furs and flesh down to the bone. The moon got fuller here than
it ever did over the Twilight Belt, its chill white radiance spilled on
reaching snowfields and glittered like a million pinpoint stars fallen
frozen to earth.
He saw icy plains and tumbled black chasms and fanged crags sheathed
in glaciers. The ground rang with cold. Cramped and shuddering in his
sleeping bag, he heard the thunder of frost-split rocks, the sullen
boom and rumble of avalanches, now and again the faint far despairing
howl of prowling wild beasts of prey.
"How can anyone live here?" he asked Mongku once. "The land is dead. It
froze to death ten thousand years ago."
"It is a little warmer in the region of Ganasth," said the prince.
"Volcanos and hot springs. And there is a great sea which has never
frozen over. It has fish, and animals that live off them, and men that
live off the animals. But in truth only the broken and hunted of man
can ever have come here. We are the disinherited and we are claiming
no more than our rightful share of life in returning to the Twilight
Lands."
He added thoughtfully: "I have been looking at that weapon of yours,
Kery. I think I know the principle of its working. Sound does many
strange things and there are even sounds too low or too high for the
human ear to catch. A singer who holds the right note long enough can
make a wine glass vibrate in sympathy until it shatters. We built a
bridge once, over Thunder Gorge near Ganasth, but the wind blowing
between the rock walls seemed to make it shake in a certain rhythm that
finally broke it. Oh, yes, if the proper sympathetic notes can be found
much may be done.
"I don't know what hell's music that pipe is supposed to sound. But I
found that the reeds can be tautened or loosened and that the shape of
the bag can be subtly altered by holding it in the right way. Find the
proper combination and I can well believe that even the small noise
made with one man's breath can kill and break and crumble."
He nodded his gaunt half-human face in the ruddy blaze of fire. "Aye,
I'll find the notes, Kery, and then the pipe will play for Ganasth."
The barbarian shuddered with more than the cold, searching wind. Gods,
gods, if he did--if the pipes should sound the final dirge of Killorn!
* * * * *
For a moment he had a wild desire to fling himself on Mongku, rip out
the prince's throat and kill the score of enemy soldiers with his
hands. But no--no--it wouldn't do. He would die before he had well
started and Sathi would be alone in the Dark Lands.
He looked at her, sitting very quiet near the fire. The wavering light
seemed to wash her fair young form in blood. She gave him a tired and
hopeless smile.
Brave girl, brave girl, wife for a warrior in all truth. But there was
the pipe and there was Killorn and there was Morna waiting for him to
come home.
They were nearing Ganasth, he knew. They had ridden past springs that
seethed and bubbled in the snow, seen the red glare of volcanos on the
jagged horizon, passed fields of white fungus-growths which the Dark
Landers cultivated. Soon the iron gates would clash shut on him and
what hope would there be then?
He lay back in his sleeping bag trying to think. He had to escape.
Somehow he must escape with the pipe of the gods. But if he tried and
went down with a dozen spears in him there was an end of all hope.
The wind blew, drifting snow across the sleepers. Two men stood guard
and their strangely glowing eyes never left the captives. They could
see in this realm of shadows where he was half blind. They could hunt
him down like an animal.
What to do? What to do?
On the road he went with his hands tied behind him, his ankles lashed
to the stirrups, and his hest's bridle tied to the pommel of another
man's saddle. No chance of escape there. But one must get up after
sleep.
He rolled close to Sathi's quiet form as if he were merely turning over
in slumber. His lips brushed against the leather bag and he wished it
were her face.
"Sathi," he whispered as quietly as he could. "Sathi, don't move, but
listen to me."
"Aye," her voice drifted back under the wind and the cold. "Aye,
darling."
"I am going to make a break for it when we get up. Help me if you can
but don't risk getting hurt. I don't think we can both get away but
wait for me in Ganasth!"
She lay silent for a long while. Then, "As you will, Kery. And whatever
comes, I love you."
He should have replied but the words stuck in his throat. He rolled
back and, quite simply, went to sleep.
A spear butt prodding his side awoke him. He yawned mightily and sat
up, loosening his bag around him, tensing every muscle in his body.
"The end of this ride will see us in the city," Mongku said.
Kery rose slowly, gauging distances. A guardsman stood beside him,
spear loose in one hand. The rest were scattered around the camp or
huddled close to the fire. The hests were a darker shadow bunched on
the fringes.
Kery wrenched the spear of the nearest man loose, swinging one booted
foot into his belly. He brought the weapon around in a smashing arc,
cracking the heavy butt into another's jaw and rammed the head into
the throat of a third. Even as he stabbed he was plunging into motion.
A Ganasthian yelled and thrust at him. Sathi threw herself on the
shaft, pulling it down. Kery leaped for the hests.
There were two men on guard there. One drew a sword and hewed at
the northerner. The keen blade slashed through heavy tunic and
undergarments, cutting his shoulder--but not too badly. He came under
the fellow's guard and smashed a fist into his jaw. Seizing the weapon
he whirled and hacked at the other Dark Lander beating down the
soldier's ax and cutting him across the face.
The rest of the camp was charging at him. Kery bent and cut the hobbles
of the hest beside him. A shower of flung spears rained about him as
he sprang to the saddleless back. Twisting his left hand into the long
mane he kicked the frightened beast in the flanks and plunged free.
Two Ganasthi quartered across his trail. He bent low over the hest's
back, spurring the mount with the point of his sword. As he rode down
on them he hewed at one and saw him fall with a scream. The other
stumbled out of the path of his reckless charge.
"Hai-ah!" shouted Kery.
He clattered away over the stony icy fields toward the shelter of the
dark hills looming to the north. Spears and arrows whistled on his
trail and he heard, dimly, the shouts of men and the thud of pursuing
hoofs.
He was alone in a land of foes, a land of freezing cold where he could
scarce see half a mile before him, a land of hunger and swords. They
were after him and it would take all the hunter's skill he had learned
in Killorn and all the warrior's craftiness taught by the march to
evade them. And after that--Ganasth!