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The voice boomed: "FREE THE PRISONERS."
The man took a step, then hesitated. He glanced back at his people, at the
remnants of the fire. He seemed to be recalling the past occasion when his
people were tricked by something they did not quite understand.
"I, THE MAN OF THE CITY, COMMAND YOU. THESE
PRISONERS, MY CHILDREN, MUST BE SET FREE." To emphasize this point,
one of the small fires at the edge of the clearing abruptly erupted
in a series of loud, rapid, miniature explosions.
The man sprinted obediently forward. Drawing a knife from his belt, he
swiftly severed the ropes holding Waller and Ahmad to the tree. Without
pausing, he also freed Jador's wife and the two remaining men prisoners.
"NOW KNEEL," commanded the voice. "KNEEL AND
SALUTE YOUR MASTERS."
The men immediately came to their knees and commenced to chant. The fires
continued to burn and spread throughout the clearing.
"I think we better go," said Waller. "They may be stupid but I
don't think they'll wait to be burned alive."
"No," Ahmad said. "This way." He pointed toward the woods behind them.
Waller told Jador's wife, "You, too. Let's get out of here."
The woman appeared quite capable of handling her obvious shock and
bewilderment. She said, "Yes," and ran ahead of them.
Waller gave the two stunned male prisoners a shove each, then left them to
their own abilities. A trail opened ahead of them in the woods. The woman ran
first, then Ahmad, then Waller. He glanced past his shoulder and saw the
men coming, too. But the
Vayash were on their feet and not looking happy.
As they passed a high, huge oak set at the edge of the trail, a familiar voice
suddenly cried out: "Halt, my children! It is I, the man of the city!"
Waller skidded to a halt and spun back. Standing in the faint starlight
beneath the oak, was Sondra. Jador crouched beside her. Seeing his
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wife, he suddenly darted back into the shadows.
But the woman had seen him, too. Her anger clearly gone, she rushed forward
and embraced him violently. She kissed his lips and hugged his shoulders.
Waller felt he could have done the same to Sondra. "How did you ever do it?"
he asked.
Grinning, she slapped the oak tree with a fist. "It's hollow as a straw. Does
wondrous things to the voice."
"But the explosion? The fire?"
"Did you forget the two grenades Ahmad brought with him?"
She opened her other hand, showing the dark object. "There's one left
now."
"I could kiss you," said Waller.
"I'd rather you ran with me. Those idiots will be coming soon.
They won't be happy."
"But where do we run?" said Ahmad. "We can't return to the cabin. They'll find
us there."
"Jador's village. We can hide there."
"We can hide here," Ahmad said. "The trees are deep. We split up and
they won't find us."
"No." She was adamant. "The Vayash will be sure to attack the
village after this. We have to be there to warn them."
"Let him do the warning."
"No, we caused this. We have to help."
Waller shook his head in amazement at her transformation.
"What happened to you out here?"
"I'll tell you as we run. Ahmad, are you coming?"
"I'm afraid so." He shrugged. "I seem to lose all the arguments these days."
They trotted through the forest, not rushing, maintaining a cool, even
pace that would not exhaust them. After a time, they slowed to a steady
walk. It was thirty miles three days at the least in this woods.
Waller walked beside Sondra. "What did you do with the others? The
three Ahmad and I set free?"
'They went back to their village. I wanted them to deliver an early warning."
"You must have felt sure of setting us free."
"Oh, I did. When I woke up and you weren't back, I crawled up to see what was
wrong. There you were, unconscious, tied to that tree. I sent Jador back to
the cabin to fetch the grenades. I
talked to him, found out what the Vayash feared. The men of the
city it's the common superstition here. Worked fine, too, didn't it?"
"Worked delightfully." he said. "I'm glad to see you this way after after
the way you felt before."
"I guess I just got over that." She shrugged. "It's still
terrible/though being here. The worst part is the lone-liness.
Without you and Ahmad I was even lonelier. I thought I had to get you back."
"I'm glad you did."
She laughed. "You would have made a terrible meal, anyway.
I'm sure I saved the Vayash from a bad case of indigestion."
"They weren't the only ones you saved," he insisted.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Abruptly halting, the forest parted to reveal a flat, broad expanse
of dreary, dusty land stretching toward a distant low line of bare
brown hills. Much more distantly, far beyond the hills, vague white
mountain-tops could dimly be seen.
"There," said Jador's wife her name it turned out was
Norgo "is our village."
She pointed toward a bare acre of cleared land, in the center of which
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squatted perhaps three dozen modest huts made from mud, grass, and leaves.
A few pigs and cows smaller and skinnier than the wild beasts of
the forest lolled in the open spaces between the huts. The tune was early
morning and no one as yet seemed to be stirring. Beyond the huts were
the fields.
Waller recognized a few stunted rows of corn. There were beans and peas as
well. Norgo, noticing the direction of his gaze, announced that they
also grew lettuce, beets, carrots, and cucumbers. Their crop this
year had been a good one.
Unfortunately, the Vayash had destroyed most of it.
Waller noticed various charred spots within the area of the
huts. "Did the Vayash do that, too?" he asked.
"Yes. Sometimes our life is terrible. We work so hard and then it is destroyed
so easily. What do you feel we should do, Waller?"
"Fight back," he said. "What else?"
Norgo laughed hollowly. "I'm afraid you do not yet know my people."
'That's why we're here."
Sondra interrupted to suggest they hurry ahead. "The
Vayash may not be far behind. We have to rouse your people, Norgo, get them
up and ready to fight. Don't you even post guards? I thought those men
ahead would warn you."
"My people prefer their sleep," Norgo said. "It is more restful than fear."
"So is dying," said Waller.
"Then come." She led them toward a hut that seemed no different from
the others but which, she explained, was occupied by the chief of her people.
Jador and the two other men slipped away with apparent gladness. The three had
seemed to grow less at ease the closer they came to the village.
Norgo entered the hut through its open doorway. Stooping down, she
shook a sleeping figure gruffly awake. "The Vayash are coming. These three
strangers have come to us from the cities.
They wish to help drive the Vayash forever from our lands. They carry mighty
weapons of destruction."
Waller was about to protest that the only mighty weapon remaining to
them was the single hand grenade but, at a glance at the Nesquash chief,
thought better of it. She was an elderly woman, a revelation that
should have come as less of a surprise than it did. In an agricultural
and herding community, pure masculine strength was not necessarily the most
essential virtue in a leader. But this particular woman reminded
Waller more
strongly of Jador than of Norgo. She was gray, pale, frail, and
plainly terrified at the very mention of the name Vayash. Norgo continued to
talk to her. She was called the Old Mother. Norgo's words of warning clearly
fell on tired deaf ears. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]