Kiteman of Karanga

by Alfred Reynolds

  That night they pushed hard to reach the oasis. At sunrise they saw the hills several miles ahead, but as he led the way Karl could not put aside a feeling of danger. They fed the lizards the three sheep and began their own breakfast in the shade of the palms beside the sparkling, clear pool of the spring.

  "What a wonderful place this is," remarked Rika, "especially after nearly a week of sand and dunes."

  "It is beautiful," agreed Karl, "but it's also infested with wild lizards. I was nearly caught by one when I was here before." Even as Karl spoke, the screech of a wild dread lizard echoed through the rocky valley.

  "A person could make a good profit selling wild lizards to ranchers like the Costyras," said Zanzu. "They like to let wild blood into their lines to keep them strong. A full wild-blood is rare."

  "That would be quite a job," Karl said, "capturing a wild lizard alive and transporting it all the way to Costyra Ranch."

  "It wouldn't be easy," Zanzu agreed, "but the price Lodi would pay for one would make it worth trying."

  "Just catch a baby lizard," said Rika with a smile. "Then transportation wouldn't be difficult at all."

  Zanzu laughed heartily. "Keep that up, Rika, and you'll be my partner before long."

  After eating, they staked their three lizards out around them and slept luxuriously in the shade of the palms. When Karl awoke, the sun was already low. The feeling of danger he remembered from the morning was still strong, making him restless. Rika and Zanzu were both still asleep. Without waking them, Karl rubbed on some fresh oja, took his spear, and climbed to the top of the ridge that formed one wall of the narrow, sandy-bottomed valley. He wasn't entirely confident in the power of oja to ward off wild lizards, so he made his way cautiously. As he followed the top of the low hill he examined the western horizon. Suddenly a stab of fear went through him. Silhouetted against the low sun were Hrithdon riders only a few miles away.

  Karl raced down the slope toward their camp, shouting to warn Rika and Zanzu of the approaching Hrithdon. As he came running up, Rika and Zanzu were already loading the baggage onto the lizards.

  "How far away are they?" Zanzu asked as he cinched a water sack tightly onto one of the lizard's backs.

  "A couple of miles and coming fast," Karl answered.

  "No need for us to panic, then," Zanzu said. "If they've been riding in the sun all day, their lizards will be near exhaustion. Ours have been fed and are fresh. Let's mount up."

  Outdistancing the tired Hrithdon mounts was as easy as Zanzu had predicted. By the time they had left the hills and headed east again, all pursuit had stopped. They continued on through the region of strange rocky formations that towered out of the ground. When the moon rose, they were back on the desert sand. For five more nights they went on as before, but with one change. They now kept watch for the Hrithdon during the daytime, but not once did they sight them. At the end of the fifth night from the oasis, the plume of Angastora towered above the horizon, pink in the early light.

  "By the Lizard!" exclaimed Zanzu. "Karanga must be some country if that's any indication."

  "That's Angastora," replied Karl as his heartbeat quickened, "the largest volcano in Karanga. Do we stop here or push on?"

  "Push on," said Rika. "There isn't much time before the oja harvest, so we've got to hurry."

  Zanzu nodded in agreement.

  That morning, they entered the folded foothills backed by the massive mountains that Karl knew so well. They skirted the volcano and proceeded along the series of valleys that would take them to Karl's home village. Karl spotted kitewings in the distance and they knew they were being watched. As they reached the last valley before his village, a contingent of kitemen came over the ridge. It grew larger until Karl counted nearly a dozen wings. Traversing the slope, they sped closer and closer.

  "Rika, Zanzu, we have company," Karl said. He pointed to the large formation that was descending toward them.

  "If they attack us on the ground, they're sunk," Zanzu snorted.

  "I know," Karl said, "but I don't think they will be that foolish."

  "You know these people, so you do the talking," said Zanzu.

  Karl nodded.

  The kitemen landed, blocking their way, and Karl recognized their leader with a wave of apprehension. Parading forward in his wing, Garth, son of Bron, came toward them. His left cheek bore a fresh scar, and several of his teeth were broken.

  "Stop! I order you to stop," Garth shouted. His voice was abusive and rasping, and strove for an authority it did not possess. "You have no right to be here. Your life is forfeit."

  Karl, Rika, and Zanzu brought their lizards to a halt. Behind their spokesman, the kitemen stood their ground.

  Karl urged his lizard a step forward. "Garth, you know me. This is Rika and Zanzu from across the desert."

  "I know you, coward," retorted Garth. "Why are you back in Karanga?"

  "We will speak with Koron, the chief," Karl replied.

  "You'll answer to me first, coward," continued Garth, pointing to his scar and broken teeth. "You did this to me. Killing my father wasn't enough for you."

  "You didn't have to follow me into the crater," Karl replied. He strove hard to keep himself under control. He must not let Garth rattle him.

  "What's the matter, coward?" Garth taunted. "Are you so toad-hearted that you don't dare to fly anymore; you crawl across the ground on a stinking reptile?"

  "Garth, this is a trained Hrithdon war lizard. I have known three lizards to destroy thirty armed men in as little time as we have been talking here. Now get out of our way."

  Karl started his mount forward, and Garth reluctantly moved aside. He glared hatred at Karl as he passed.

  Then Garth let out a hideous scream. "You broke your banishment, coward! Die!" Garth threw his spear with all his strength directly at the center of Karl's back.

  Karl fell to the ground.

  Rika drove her heels into the side of her lizard and with a speed faster than the eye could follow, it leapt forward and snatched Garth in its jaws. A second later, Garth lay in a crumpled heap, twenty feet distant. Rika dismounted and ran to Karl while Zanzu scattered the rest of the Karangans across the valley floor.

  "Karl!" Rika cried. "Karl, Karl."

  18. The Chiefs Decide

  Karl lay stunned on the ground. He could barely breathe, and his ribcage felt as if a lizard had stepped on it. He clenched his fists in the sandy soil and forced himself to take short gasps.

  "Karl, Karl," Rika called. She was on her knees beside him and that comforted him, even though he was still dazed. Soon he was able to breathe again, and he sat up.

  "I think I'm all right," he said at last.

  "It's a good thing you had on your Hrithdon war shirt," Zanzu said. "Here, let's take a look."

  Rika and Zanzu helped Karl out of his guardsman's shirt. Garth's spearhead had penetrated one of the metal plates by half an inch. The broken-off spear tip was firmly embedded in the metal plate, and Karl had a gash in his back.

  "Here, Rika, put some of this medicine on the cut." Zanzu handed Rika a vial from his supply pack. "You'll have a bruise the size of your foot, too," Zanzu told Karl. "But you still look better than Garth. He looked like lizard bait when they dragged him away. Garth must be a strong brute. Not many survive a lizard charge."

  While Zanzu set to work prying the spear tip out of Karl's shirt with his knife, Rika took care of Karl's back. After she had washed the wound and applied some of Zanzu's medicine, she tied a piece of clean cloth over it, and Karl put on his war shirt again. As they remounted their lizards, Karl saw his kinsmen walking slowly away in the distance.

  Karl, Rika, and Zanzu traveled along the last valley at a fast pace and soon could see the white houses of Karl's village clinging to the steep mountainside. Karl's heart raced at this first sign of home. He was surprised at how proud he felt as he explained to Rika and Zanzu that houses built on slopes gave protection from the winds yet made it possible for the inhabitants to la
unch their kitewings from their own rooftops. Karl pointed out how all the adobe houses were built side by side so that they enclosed a circle with one windowless wall facing outward. This made the village into a fortress with a smooth, high wall running all the way round it. On the downhill side there was one narrow entrance in the thick wall.

  As they approached the village Karl noticed some of the women and children watching them from the rooftops. They made their way up the home path, but the entrance in the village wall was blocked by stout wooden bars. From the outside, the village seemed as deserted as a tomb. For several minutes Karl shouted their reason for coming, but nobody answered.

  "How are we going to talk to the chief if he won't let us in?" Rika asked.

  "We'll go to him," said Zanzu. "Stand back."

  Zanzu spurred his lizard forward into the barred passageway. Horrible roaring and snapping and splintering noises issued from the confined space, with Zanzu shouting curses nearly as terrible as the lizard's racket. Several minute later, a jagged hole had been clawed and chewed through the wooden barrier. Zanzu rode his bloody-faced mount through, and the others followed. Inside, nothing stirred. They dismounted in the center of the village, and Karl led the way to the chief's door.

  "Koron," Karl called. "We have urgent news and must speak with you. If you don't open your door, our lizards will tear it down."

  Karl's demand met with silence.

  "Let us come in, Koron, and I will explain," Karl continued. "We mean no harm to you or anybody else."

  At last the gray-haired chief opened the door and let them in. Karl introduced Rika and Zanzu and then, in the Karangan custom, they sat in a circle on mounds of antelope hides.

  "Karl," the chief began harshly, "you have broken your banishment. Your death sentence has not been changed. Even though you have joined these lizard people, you shall not escape your coward's punishment."

  "I know the punishment, Koron, but I am here on a matter far more important than my own life. Rika, Zanzu, and I are not of the lizard people. We are enemies of the Hrithdon."

  "You say you don't belong to the lizard riders who have been attacking the villages in the south?" The old leader stared at them suspiciously.

  "Not at all," answered Zanzu. He explained to the chief about the Hrithdon, how they used oja to control their lizards, and how he thought a force of kitemen could save Karanga by striking while the oja harvest was vulnerable.

  "The time to act is now, Honored Chief, and if there is any delay, I can promise you that Karanga will be under Hrithdon rule by spring."

  The chief sat silently, considering what Karl and Zanzu had said.

  "I'm not sure I believe you," he said finally. "But if what you say is true, it must be brought up at the council of Karangan tribes immediately. The lizard riders have already done terrible damage."

  "How soon will the council meet?" Karl asked.

  "At the full moon, tomorrow night," said the chief. "But be warned, Karl. If you go before the council about the matter of the Hrithdon, they will order you killed for breaking your banishment."

  "Cant you stay out of this, Karl?" Zanzu asked. "You've already risked your life enough just bringing us here. And Garth has already tried to kill you."

  "No," Karl replied firmly. "I have to go before the council to warn them of the Hrithdon invasion. If I do not face them, you and Rika will never be believed, and I will be seen merely as an outcast who returned and made trouble. In the confusion the Hrithdon will complete their invasion. I will go before the council."

  Suddenly, loud thumping came from the trapdoor to the chief's roof. More pounding came from the chief's front window.

  "Come out, coward and lizard rider, we know you're in there."

  "Garth's men," Zanzu said.

  "Yes," said the chief. "Most of the men are away hunting, but Garth and his followers stayed behind to guard the village."

  "Come on out, coward, so we can crush you the way you crushed Garth." Still louder pounding came from the roof and the front door. Garth's men swarmed over the chief's house like insects.

  "You will not violate your chief's house," shouted Koron.

  "We do not wish to, Honored Chief, but we will if the coward does not come forth."

  Suddenly the cries of outraged anger on the roof changed to shouts of alarm. "Lizard riders! They have reinforcements. More lizard riders are coming!" From the chief's rooftop came the scuffling of a hasty retreat.

  "The Hrithdon followed us here," Karl said. "I've got to convince Garth's men to help us. We need all the wings we can get."

  "I'll take the passageway," volunteered Zanzu. "There's only room for one lizard in there, and I know some tricks that will hold them off for a while."

  "I'll set up your wing while you talk to Garths men," Rika said as all three ran outside.

  At the opposite end of the village Karl saw Garth's men in a confused group. He ran straight toward them, and they looked at him in fear.

  "Karl, call off your lizards," the bravest of them yelled out. "Call off your lizards, and we'll make peace with you."

  "Those lizard riders are my enemies too!" Karl shouted. "I came back to Karanga to warn you about them. If we stick together, we can save the village. Grab a rock and climb onto the rooftops. Then every man get into his wing."

  To Karl's surprise, Garth's men obeyed him willingly. Karl stopped for a moment to tell Rika his plan of action and asked her to set the women to gathering rocks and defending the walls. Then he climbed onto the chief's roof and tied himself into his Asti. A moment later, with a hefty rock held tightly under one arm, he launched from the rooftop and sped out over the valley he knew so well. A dozen wings launched behind him. Circling, he gained height and waited for his kinsmen to catch up.

  As the Hrithdon column approached the walls, Karl led the way back over them. Above the lead lizard, Karl turned into a steep spiral and then released his rock. It plunged five hundred feet and struck the lizard squarely on the head, crushing its skull instantly. Without a sound the great beast fell and began to writhe, its long tail lashing back and forth. This momentarily stopped the advance. Karl knew the determined Hrithdon would not be halted for long, but his lucky shot had encouraged Garth's men, who cheered and began releasing their own stones on the column of guardsmen. Their height made aiming difficult, and most of the stones thumped harmlessly into the mountain slope.

  "Back!" Karl cried. "Back for more rocks. If we can get one lizard each trip, in twenty trips they'll be finished."

  Below them the Hrithdon spread out, and with a furious roar they rushed up to the wall of the village. One guardsman charged into the entryway, only to retreat a moment later with his mount gushing blood from its neck. The Karangan women, led by Rika, had carried rocks to the rooftops, and Karl and his kinsmen needed only to land, scoop up a rock, and launch again without getting out of their wings. Rock after rock was dropped over the Hrithdon, one in ten falling close, one in twenty striking home. But Karl yelled encouragement to his kinsmen, and doggedly they kept flying.

  Unable to get through the entryway that Zanzu was defending on lizardback, the guardsmen tried a new tack. Several Hrithdon drove their mounts forward, and the great reptiles began chewing and clawing their way into the soft adobe walls. Suddenly one lizard found a weak spot in the wall and tore a gaping hole. Astonished, Karl watched as Rika stepped into the opening with a spear made into an oja torch and drove it into the throat of the attacking lizard. With a roar of pain, its mouth spewing flames, the lizard backed away from the wall.

  Heartened by this sight, Garth's men redoubled their efforts. Their rock strikes began to tell on the Hrithdon force. Nearly all their lizards had been struck once or twice, and several had been killed outright. Then Karl saw what he thought he would never see: a Hrithdon retreat. Slowly, with many of their lizards limping, the Hrithdon reassembled and moved off.

  Karl gathered the men on the rooftops. "Now," he cried, "we must pursue them relentlessly for as
long as we have lift. Drive them into the desert. If they even think to come back tonight, we are lost."

  All afternoon, Karl led Garth's men in pursuit of the retreating Hrithdon force, dropping rocks now from a thousand feet in the air. By the time the sun began descending in the western sky, the Hrithdon column had disappeared into the desert.

  In the morning Karl, Rika and Zanzu departed on lizardback for the council meeting ground. Koron, whose trust they had gained by their defense of the village, had gone ahead to announce their arrival. Along the way Karl set up his wing and hunted antelope to feed their lizards. Rika and Zanzu were amazed by the skill and apparent ease with which Karl was able to bring down three of the fleet-footed animals. But Karl felt no joy from the hunting; instead, he wondered what the chiefs would decide and how soon he would be executed.

  They arrived at the council meeting ground that evening. By the light of a bonfire the roll of the Karangan tribes was taken: the Asti, famed craftsmen; the Amonte, Karl's own tribe; the Andar, tribe of the east; the Iskar, who lived on a tiny "island" of mountains just visible to Karanga's north; the Kulep and the Kandans, famed terry hunters of the south; the Unzi, the largest tribe; the Vantar, who for reasons of their own maintained a perpetual vigil on the summit of Karangas highest peak. All these tribes and a dozen more answered the call.

  After a prayer for wisdom was offered to the full moon, the council formally opened, and a furious discussion about the recent Hrithdon attacks broke out. Some of the chiefs accused Karl of having betrayed Karanga to the lizard riders. Others left the meeting to look at the tethered lizards from a respectful distance, staring at them with horror and fascination before returning to the heated discussions. Finally, Karl, Rika, and Zanzu were summoned.