"Come with me," Allyn said impulsively. "I am going to the Forbidden
Area. I am going to cross the Flame Barrier."
Even the wind stopped at the fearsome words. They shrank back from him.
"No one can approach the Flame!" Keeven cried. "It is death; death more
terrible than by your vivisectionists."
Marva whispered: "It is taboo. It changes you into some monstrous
thing!"
Allyn's straight mouth set. "Nevertheless I must go. It is told that
beyond the Flame lies the knowledge of the Originals. Perhaps it will
teach how to save our women from death in childbirth. It's my only hope
of saving Aleena."
Thoughtfully Keeven regarded him. "It has been said around our council
fires that there will be found a weapon to shatter the Nyloplast dome.
Perhaps," he mused, "I will find it in time to save my kinsmen from the
knives."
He smote a mighty fist into his palm: "We will go with you, Numan. For
hope may lie ahead but--" his glance swept around, "only death lies
here."
With a keen bladed knife he secured from one of the caves Keeven mapped
in the mud the trail they must take. At night Allyn would lead, for
night and day were one to Numen eyes.
They traveled close upon each other's heels, holding their leader's
cloak for guidance in the darkness. By dawn they reached a small cave.
There they rested, well hidden from patrolling gyros. When they woke at
noon they were fresh for the next step of their journey.
Descending the rocky slope they came to the thin line of trees that
marked the beginning of the forest. This time Keeven took the lead with
Marva close beside. Allyn, at the rear, watched the easy grace with
which the girl moved. Her slender brown feet in hide moccasins touched
lightly on the path, and her body was erect and lithe.
How different she was from the unobtrusive women he knew. Raised in
humility to men, kept in secluded quarters, they were trained only for
the breeding day that would be the culmination of their lives. Aleena
alone stood apart from other Nuwomen. Because theirs had been a sacred
charge from birth they had been permitted to work together in the
hydroponics labs.
"Aleena." He thought of her now, gentle, with luminous eyes fringed in
long silver lashes. The sheen of her silver hair that hung waist length
was dancing moonlight. Loneliness lay like hunger in him. Withdrawn
from Aleena, hunted by his people, what madness lay in his desire
to feed himself to a flaming radiance forbidden by all. Surely he
should go back, return to his rightful destiny. Leave these unheard of
companions--turn back on emotion that was bitter, hurting....
Marva glanced over her shoulder at him. Her smile was sweet
encouragement. Her lips were red and full. Desire was as red as that
mouth! And Allyn knew he would never turn back!
They moved into the deeper woods, where the heavy lacing trees made a
green roofing to shelter them from seekers of the sky. Keeven caught an
animal emerging from its burrow. The brother and sister worked in quiet
union skinning and cooking dinner. They were skilled in making fires
without smoke.
Used to dehydrated foods, Allyn was amazed at the savoriness of this
meat. He watched his companions lick the juices from their fingers, and
did likewise. Then wiping his hands on leaves, he sank back with a sigh
on the fragrant pine nettled ground, while they destroyed all evidence
of their repast.
Nothing untoward happened that first day of their journey. At dusk of
the second they camped at the bank of a rushing brook. Keeven waded
downstream to spear fish. Marva sat on the bank bathing her feet in
the fresh water while Allyn stood close by. She rose, and stepped on
a sharp rock. With a small cry her hands flailed. She almost fell
backwards into the stream. Allyn's arms shot out. He pulled her so that
she fell against him.
He did not move. Nor she. She was warm, her body like sunheat. There
was a fresh pine fragrance from her hair. She came not as high as his
shoulder. They were short, these Olmen, and she was not quite six foot.
Her mouth was beneath his, full and red and hot as blood.
He kissed that mouth, tart, delicious as wild strawberries. And her
arms went around him in savage response.
This was mad! Mad beyond any madness! This was passion beyond legends,
forgotten by Numan, tabooed by Olman.
Close to his face, hers yearned. Still she drew away slowly, out of the
circle of his arms. "This is forbidden!" she whispered. She touched
her sweet curved breast, "It hammers like the warning drum of the
village: 'Numan and Olman cannot mate. Numen are inhuman. Mating is
impossible.'" Her voice broke.
Under the agony in her eyes his hands fell to his sides like stones.
He did not stop her when she ran from him into the grove of trees.
He stood there, shaken by desire and by the ingrained lesson of
years--Olmen are beasts. A man does not mate with the beast!
* * * * *
They were a quiet trio that took up the journey later. If Keeven
noticed he was always center man, he made no sign.
The woods were dense and Keeven's mighty arm hacked often with the
sharp blade to clear their path. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the
woods began to change.
"We approach the Forbidden Area," Keeven's words were tense.
It was very silent. Insect and bird life seemed to have tabooed these
habits. The landscape became twisted and strange. Seemingly normal
trees sprouted bizarre growths. Giant bushes of a red mold color grew
side by side with stunted trees that barely reached their knees, yet
seemed fantastically aged.
The trio moved closer together, ears strained for normal sounds that
did not exist there. The suffering ground was bitter, and erupted into
convulsions, as though ejecting the monstrosities it had nurtured.
Their feet ached from the humped and hollowed path. There was no
whisper of wind. Yet Allyn shivered. A cold, ancestral fear laid lean
fingers on his dry throat.
Light made their faces wan when they came to the edge of the deformed
woods. Ahead was the narrow stretch of barren waste that led to the
rotted wood paling. The paling was only token warning now, encircling
the shunned and dreaded Forbidden Area.
Movement caught their eyes. Instinctively, they fell to earth, hardly
breathing, watching.
Into their line of vision paced a Gard, flame gun in hand. Even as they
watched another Gard paced in from the opposite direction.
Allyn's whisper was sick: "They've thrown a cordon around the Forbidden
Area!"
Keeven caught a gleam on dark metal. "There's a gyro--to the left. Can
you fly one?"
Allyn nodded. "It's basic training for all Numen. But what good does it
do us? There are the Gards."
The Olman's smile was grim. "You have a gun," he reminded.
Allyn stared. Use his gun? On Numen? Flame his own people!
The other sensed his thoughts. "Give it to me then. I'll make good use
of it."
There _had_ to be another way. His restless eyes sought the clearing.
In that instant Keeven sprang. Muscular arms caught the surprised
Numan, crushing him to the ground. Swift fingers plucked the gun from
his side. Then Keeven was off, crouching, weapon leveled straight for
Allyn's breast.
There was a shout from the Gard. The three had been discovered. Flames
of warning seared the shrubbery about them and the Gard made a rush
toward their concealment.
Cursing, Keeven spun, flame gun ready. Allyn lunged at him, and his
lance of fire struck harmlessly into the ground ahead. The gun rolled
from his grasp. He surged up, flung the Numan away, leapt for the
weapon.
"STAND!" The command froze Allyn. They were surrounded.
Keeven moved. With swift animal reflexes he caught the nearest Gard in
the belly with his dagger. Another rushed in. Keeven smashed his jaw
with a mighty fist that felled the Gard instantly. By brute strength
alone he might have fought to freedom. But the numbers against him
were too great. They beat him to the ground, using guns like clubs.
Finally he lay still, blood from a dozen wounds irrigating the barren
ground.
Marva flung herself beside him. Over the prone man her dark glance
caught Allyn's. Her eyes were wet with tears. But accusation blazed
from them. Betrayer! Betrayer! As loud as though she had shrieked it.
Yet, no sound passed her bloodless lips.
"Marva." He took a step forward.
A scarlet cloaked Senior Gard moved between. "Come quietly. Metas wants
you unharmed for hypno."
Two gards moved to either side and grasped Allyn's arms. As in a
nightmare he let them take him.
They marched down the stretch of waste land to the waiting gyro. One
of the Gard clambered into the cabin, slid into the pilot seat and
adjusted dials on the instrument panel. As Allyn and the Senior came
aboard the motor hummed, warming.
Keeven was flung unconscious through the door. They had put irons
around his wrists and throat connected by chains that rattled as
he rolled against the wall. Marva, similarly shackled, was thrown
unceremoniously into the cabin. She rose, panther-lithe, and came
to her brother's side. With fettered hands she tried to staunch the
bleeding on his face, and softly cried his name.