Sand slipped away in back of him, as wind passes the arrow in its
flight. Air was cool on his chest and on the powerful thighs that
rippled with muscles as he ran. The sun beat at him, leaving him in its
warmth. He grew strong and powerful as the cells of his skin sucked in
energy.
Run, Tyr. Run faster and yet faster, that the thoughts teeming in your
brain may be left behind. You are a god, and a girl named Fay is not
for you. You have only the _ardth_-men, Tyr. They are your enemies, and
they must be vanquished!
But how? But how? His brain howled in desperation. They are so many.
They know sciences, and they have weapons. You have two bare hands and
a strong body, a strange body, a body that frightens you at times, it
is so different.
Something dug into the sand ahead of him and exploded. Tyr swerved like
a frightened faun and came to a stop. Something else blew up a little
closer to him. Hard granules of sand stung his flesh.
He saw them, then, in the sky. Three sleek aircraft with stubby wings
and a long fuselage out of which shot tiny glints of red.
The _ardth_!
Tyr drew his hands down his ribs, lips twisted. By the god that he was
supposed to be! He'd show them a race, even if they could fly and he
could only run.
The sun was hot and searing. Good! It was his ally, that immense orb.
While it shone, they could not catch him.
Tyr ran.
His pace was a blurred thing. His flight was that of the _kala_-bird
whistling before the hawk. He swerved and he darted, and he made
fools of the men in the shiny things above and behind him. It was an
incredible thing that he did, but Tyr was an incredible being. The
rules were not made for him, for who made the rules knew nothing of
Tyr. He outran those aircraft.
All day long, while the sun beat upon him, Tyr flew. Vaguely he
realized that he was a living, functioning thing of energy--not pure
energy, but energy translated into human power.
Yet he was human, and the fliers were machines. He lost them among
the rocks, but the aircraft spread in widening circles and one of them
found him again. And so Tyr ran on. Once or twice he stumbled, toward
the end of the day. The thunder of the jet planes was loud in his ears.
They swooped low, casting long shadows before them.
There were no more explosions. Those had stopped once he began his mad
race. He thought, 'At least, Fay and the others are safe. I've led the
_ardth_ a long way from them.' The muscles in his legs were hardening,
knotting. They grew heavy and inert.
Tyr staggered.
The planes had landed, and the men were coming for him. The
stars-and-bars on their jackets loomed bigger and bigger as he stood
and waited. His chest rippled with sweat, and his long arms hung limp
on either side of his giant frame.
He could fight and die here, with the moon starting its rise in front
of him, and the wilderness of his run behind him. His body was pouring
the energy through his system again, and his muscles grew less heavy.
"By Kagan!" swore the first _ardth_-man, staring at him with round eyes
over the muzzle of a lifted gun. "Who are you, man? _What_ are you?"
"He's their god," rasped another, appraising Tyr with knowing eyes.
"No wonder," grunted the third, holstering his weapon. "A god such as
he would find me among his worshippers! They'll never believe us on
Rigel-7!"
"Do you yield?" asked the first.
They did not seem so frightening, close up. They were like Tyr. They
were men, smaller than he, but men. He could kill them all, here and
now, but--
He owned a desire to see more of these _ardth_. Perhaps he could
reason with their commander, make some sort of compromise. He would do
anything to save the Trylla. Fay and the others were safe. Let them go
to the Barrow. He would know where to find them when he escaped from
the _ardth_. And he would escape. There was no prison made that could
hold Tyr.