A COMBAT OF TITANS
In a few minutes the amphitheater was entirely clear, save for the dead
and maimed little figures lying scattered about; but it was nearly an
hour more before the fugitives were ready to resume their journey.
The attack had come so suddenly, and had demanded such immediate and
continuous action that none of the men, with the exception of the Very
Young Man, had had time to realize how desperate was the situation in
which they had fallen. With the almost equally abrupt cessation of the
struggle there came the inevitable reaction; the men bleeding from a
score of wounds, weak from loss of blood, and sick from the memory of
the things they had been compelled to do, threw themselves upon the
ground utterly exhausted.
"We must get out of here," said the Doctor, after they had been lying
quiet for a time, with the strident shrieks of hundreds of the dying
little creatures sounding in their ears. "That was pretty near the end."
"It isn't far," the Chemist answered, "when we get started."
"We must get water," the Doctor went on. "These cuts----" They had used
nearly all their drinking-water washing out their wounds, which Aura and
Lylda had bound up with strips of cloth torn from their garments.
The Chemist got upon his feet. "There's no water nearer than the Forest
River," he said. "That tunnel over there comes out very near it."
"What makes you think we won't have another scrap getting out?" the Very
Young Man wanted to know. He had entirely recovered from the effects of
the stone that had struck him on the temple, and was in better condition
than any of the other men.
"I'm sure," the Chemist said confidently, "they were through; they will
not attack us again; for some time at least. The tunnels will be
deserted."
The Big Business Man stood up also.
"We'd better get going while we have the chance," he said. "This getting
smaller--I don't like it."
They started soon after, and, true to the Chemist's prediction, met no
further obstacle to their safe passage through the tunnels. When they
had reached the forest above, none of the little people were in sight.
The Big Business Man heaved a long sigh of relief. "Thank goodness we're
here at last," he said. "I didn't realize how good these woods would
look."
In a few minutes more they were at the edge of the river, bathing their
wounds in its cooling water, and replenishing their drinking-bottles.
"How do we get across?" the Very Young Man asked.
"We won't have to cross it," the Chemist answered with a smile. "The
tunnel took us under."
"Let's eat here," the Very Young Man suggested, "and take a sleep; we're
about all in."
"We ought to get larger first," protested the Big Business Man. They
were at this time about four times Oroid size; the forest trees, so huge
when last they had seen them, now seemed only rather large saplings.
"Some one of us must stay awake," the Doctor said. "But there do not
seem to be any Oroids up here."
"What do they come up here for, anyway?" asked the Very Young Man.
"There's some hunting," the Chemist answered. "But principally it's the
mines beyond, in the deserts."
They agreed finally to stop beside the river and eat another meal, and
then, with one of them on guard, to sleep for a time before continuing
their journey.
The meal, at the Doctor's insistence, was frugal to the extreme, and was
soon over. They selected Oteo to stand guard first. The youth, when he
understood what was intended, pleaded so with his master that the
Chemist agreed. Utterly worn out, the travelers lay down on a mossy bank
at the river's edge, and in a few moments were all fast asleep.
Oteo sat nearby with his back against a tree-trunk. Occasionally he got
up and walked to and fro to fight off the drowsiness that came over him.
* * * * *
How long the Very Young Man slept he never knew. He slept dreamlessly
for a considerable time. When he struggled back to consciousness it was
with a curious feeling of detachment, as though his mind no longer was
connected with his body. He thought first of Aura, with a calm peaceful
sense of happiness. For a long time he lay, drifting along with his
thoughts and wondering whether he were asleep or awake. Then all at once
he knew he was not asleep. His eyes were open; before him stood the
forest trees at the river's edge. And at the foot of one of the trees he
could see the figure of Oteo, sitting hunched up with his head upon his
hands, fast asleep.
Remembrance came to the Very Young Man, and he sat up with a start.
Beside him his friends lay motionless. He looked around, still a little
confused. And then his heart leaped into his throat, for at the edge of
the woods he saw a small, lean, gray figure--the little figure of a man
who stood against a tree-trunk. The man's face was turned towards him;
he met the glistening eyes looking down and saw the lips parted in a
leering smile.
A thrill of fear ran over the Very Young Man as he recognized the face
of Targo. And then his heart seemed to stop beating. For as he stared,
fascinated, into the man's mocking eyes, he saw that slowly, steadily he
was growing larger. Mechanically the Very Young Man's hand went to his
armpit, his fingers fumbling at the pouch strapped underneath. The vial
of chemicals was not there!
For an instant more the Very Young Man continued staring. Then, with an
effort, he turned his eyes away from the gaze that seemed to hypnotize
him. Beside him the Chemist lay sleeping. He looked back at Targo, and
saw him larger--almost as large now as he was himself.
Like a cloak discarded, the Very Young Man's bewilderment dropped from
him. He recognized the danger, realized that in another moment this
enemy would be irresistibly powerful--invincible. His mind was clear
now, his nerves steady, his muscles tense. He knew the only thing he
could do; he calculated the chances in a flash of thought.
Still staring at the triumphant face of Targo, the Very Young Man jumped
to his feet and swiftly bent over the sleeping form of the Chemist.
Reaching through the neck of his robe he took out the vial of chemicals,
and before his friend was fairly awake had swallowed one of the pills.
As the Very Young Man sprang into action Targo turned and ran swiftly
away, perhaps a hundred feet; then again he stopped and stood watching
his intended victim with his sardonic smile.
The Very Young Man met the Chemist's startled eyes.
"Targo!" said the Very Young Man swiftly. "He's here; he stole the drug
just now, while I was sleeping."
The Chemist opened his mouth to reply, but the Very Young Man bounded
away. He could feel the drug beginning to work; the ground under his
feet swayed unsteadily.
Swiftly he ran straight towards the figure of Targo, where he stood
leaning against a tree. His enemy did not move to run away, but stood
quietly awaiting him. The Very Young Man saw he was now nearly the same
size that Targo was; if anything, the larger.
A fallen tree separated them; the Very Young Man cleared it with a
bound. Still Targo stood motionless, awaiting his onslaught. Then
abruptly he stooped to the ground, and a rock whistled through the air,
narrowly missing the Very Young Man's head. Before Targo could recover
from the throw the Very Young Man was upon him, and they went down
together.
Back and forth over the soft ground they rolled, first one on top, then
the other. The Very Young Man's hand found a stone on the ground beside
them. His fingers clutched it; he raised it above him. But a blow upon
his forearm knocked it away before he could strike; and a sudden twist
of his antagonist's body rolled him over and pinned him upon his back.
The Very Young Man thought of his encounter with Targo before, and again
with sinking heart he realized he was the weaker of the two. He jerked
one of his wrists free and, striking upwards with all his force, landed
full on his enemy's jaw. The man's head snapped back, but he laughed--a
grim, sardonic laugh that ended in a half growl, like a wild beast
enraged. The Very Young Man's blood ran cold. A sudden frenzy seized
him; he put all his strength into one desperate lunge and, wrenching
himself free, sprang to his feet.
Targo was up almost as quickly as he, and for an instant the two stood
eyeing each other, breathing hard. At the Very Young Man's feet a little
stream was flowing past. Vaguely he found himself thinking how peaceful
it looked; how cool and soothing the water would be to his bruised and
aching body. Beside the stream his eye caught a number of tiny human
figures, standing close together, looking up at him--little forms that a
single sweep of his foot would have scattered and killed. A shiver of
fear ran across him as in a flash he realized this other danger. With a
cry, he leaped sidewise, away from the water. Beside him stood a little
tree whose bushy top hardly reached his waist. He clutched its trunk
with both hands and jerking it from the ground swung it at his enemy's
head, meeting him just as he sprang forward. The tree struck Targo a
glancing blow upon the shoulder. With another laugh he grasped its roots
and twisted it from the Very Young Man's hand. A second more and they
came together again, and the Very Young Man felt his antagonist's
powerful arms around his body, bending him backwards.
* * * * *
The Big Business Man stood beside the others at the river's edge,
watching the gigantic struggle, the outcome of which meant life or death
to them all. The grappling figures were ten times his own height before
he fairly realized the situation. At first he thought he should take
some of the drug also, and grow larger with them. Then he knew that he
could not overtake their growth in time to aid his friend. The Chemist
and the Doctor must evidently have reached the same conclusion, for
they, too, did nothing, only stood motionless, speechless, staring up at
the battling giants.
Loto, with his head buried upon his mother's shoulder, and her arms
holding him close, whimpered a little in terror. Only Aura, of all the
party, did not get upon her feet. She lay full length upon the ground, a
hand under her chin, staring steadily upwards. Her face was
expressionless, her eyes unblinking. But her lips moved a little, as
though she were breathing a silent prayer, and the fingers of her hand
against her face dug their nails into the flesh of her cheek.
Taller far than the tree-tops, the two giants stood facing each other.
Then the Very Young Man seized one of the trees, and with a mighty pull
tore it up by the roots and swung it through the air. Aura drew a quick
breath as in another instant they grappled and came crashing to the
ground, falling head and shoulders in the river with a splash that
drenched her with its spray. The Very Young Man was underneath, and she
seemed to meet the glance of his great eyes when he fell. The trees
growing on the river-bank snapped like rushes beneath the huge bodies of
the giants, as, still growing larger, they struggled back and forth. The
river, stirred into turmoil by the sweep of their great arms, rolled its
waves up over the mossy banks, driving the watchers back into the edge
of the woods, and even there covering them with its spray.
A moment more and the giants were on their feet again, standing ankle
deep, far out in the river. Up against the unbroken blackness of the
starless sky their huge forms towered. For a second they stood
motionless; then they came together again and Aura could see the Very
Young Man sink on his knees, his hand trailing in the water. Then in an
instant more he struggled up to his feet; and as his hand left the water
Aura saw that it clutched an enormous dripping rock. She held her
breath, watching the tremendous figures as they swayed, locked in each
other's arms. A single step sidewise and they were back nearly at the
river's bank; the water seethed white under their tread.
The Very Young Man's right arm hung limp behind him; the boulder in his
hand dangled a hundred feet or more in the air above the water. Slowly
the greater strength of his antagonist bent him backwards. Aura's heart
stood still as she saw Targo's fingers at the Very Young Man's throat.
Then, in a great arc, the Very Young Man swept the hand holding the rock
over his head, and brought it down full upon his enemy's skull. The
boulder fell into the river with a thundering splash. For a brief
instant the giant figures hung swaying; then the titanic hulk of Targo's
body came crashing down. It fell full across the river, quivered
convulsively and lay still.
And the river, backing up before it a moment, turned aside in its
course, and flung the muddy torrent of its water roaring down through
the forest.