by J. T. Edson
‘Not only did he bring together three of our District Administrators who had always hated each others’ guts, but he formed an alliance with the captain of the Amazon’s Black Panther Regiment to help rescue his woman. Have you ever known anybody else who could do so much, or of any man who could make friends with those hell-cats?’
‘I haven’t,’ Torisaki conceded without hesitation, but the return of the Yung-Lib with the two segments of the broken arrow brought the conversation to a temporary halt.
While the war-lord was examining the pieces, paying particular attention to the point at which Charole had cut through them with her sword after trying to break the shaft by hand, the Yung-Lib bent and whispered something to Shushi. Darting a glance at the left side wall, which was on the outside of the pavilion, she made an equally quiet reply. Alert for any kind of hostility or treachery on the war-lady’s part, Charole was watching the by-play. She felt a surge of alarm as the servant went to collect one of the disc-like halakas which lay with the other’s weapons. However, Shushi did no more than accept and place the deadly device on the pillow beside her without making any reference to why she was doing so. Instead, she gave a jerk of her head and the Yung-Lib turned to go into the kitchen at the rear of the pavilion.
‘You’re right, Charole,’ Torisaki admitted, too engrossed to have noticed what his wife was doing and passing the arrow to her. ‘I’ve never come across wood of that kind.’ He paused for a few seconds, then asked the question that the Protectress was hoping to hear, ‘How can we find the “Earths”?’
‘They can ride very well,’ Charole replied, thinking of the occasion when her life had depended upon the blond giant’s ability while riding a fast-moving gatah. lvii ‘But, in spite of that, I believe they are jungle dwellers.’
‘Huh!’ Shushi put in, turning her gaze briefly from the left side wall. ‘Much that tells us. The jungle covers all the southern end of the mainland.’
‘Yes,’ Charole conceded, knowing that she was approaching the crux of her efforts and controlling her asperity over the war-lady’s comment. ‘But, vast though it might be, is it large enough to hide a complete nation, which we were told had five cities, so completely that nobody has ever come across any of its people until these two appeared?’
‘It doesn’t seem likely, or even possible,’ Torisaki admitted, so interested now—as was his wife—that neither of them noticed a slight inconsistency between the Protectress’s last comment and an earlier statement with regard to the “Earths”.
‘Either way, it doesn’t make things any easier,’ Shushi declared, without looking away from the left side wall. ‘Finding just two people in the jungle would be even more impossible than locating a whole nation. Even if we had any reason for wanting to find them.’
‘Would you say that the “Earths” knowing how to make the “Thunder Powder” is reason enough?’ Charole challenged.
‘Do they know that?9 Torisaki demanded, and his wife was so impressed with the possibility that she turned her attention from the wall.
‘They do,’ the Protectress bluffed, having no concrete evidence upon which to base the statement. She explained why she believed that the “Earths” possessed the requisite knowledge, concluding with, ‘Bunduki certainly recognized it as soon as he saw it—.’
‘You’ve had him as your prisoner?’ Shushi asked.
‘I did!’
‘And let him escape?’
‘Yes!’
‘You never mentioned that before,’ the war-lady reminded the Protectress.
‘Would you have?’ Charole countered, showing annoyance.
‘That doesn’t matter,’ Torisaki put in, before his wife could make any reply. ‘If they know how to make it, we’ll have to try and find them.’
Which was exactly what Charole had been leading up to.
If the theory which the Protectress had been formulating was correct and accepted by the Cara-Buntes, it could prove beneficial to her in three ways. Firstly, it would prolong the time before her captors set off for their island home; from which she would have not the remotest chance of escaping. Secondly, if she achieved all she wanted, she had the means by which she could avenge herself upon Dawn and Bunduki of the ‘Earths’ as well as being given the opportunity to try and extract whatever knowledge they possessed with regards to the “Thunder Powder”. Thirdly, and not the least important of the considerations, even if the search of the jungle should prove abortive, there would be a far greater chance of her regaining her liberty there than here, on the banks of, or while being taken across, the ‘Lake With Only One Shore.
‘Then I may be able to help you,’ Charole said, sounding more casual than she felt.
‘You?’ Shushi snorted. Why should you?’
‘To gain my liberty,’ Charole answered. ‘I would have to be given your sacred oath to the Dragon God that, if you find the “Earths” with my help, you will set me free and let me share the secret of how to make the “Thunder Powder”.’
‘We can make you talk without needing to give any promises,’ Shushi warned.
‘You could try,’ the Protectress corrected. ‘But you wouldn’t know for sure whether I’d told you the truth— And you daren’t take too much time in making sure, or your ruler will get suspicious and start trying to find out what’s delaying you. I’m sure that you don t want that to happen, Lord Torisaki.’
‘You can have what you wish,’ the Cara-Bunte promised, standing up and raising his right hand. He recited an oath sufficiently like the one used by the Mun-Gatahs, with a dragon instead of a quagga as the deity to whom it was directed, for Charole to be both satisfied that it was genuine, and confident that it would be equally binding once uttered. At the end, sitting again, he asked impatiently, ‘Well, where are they?’
‘At the Jey-Mat Telonga village,’ the Protectress guessed and elaborated with, although she did not realize it, valid reasons for the assumption. She finished, ‘So I think the “Suppliers” have sent them to look after those cowards.’
‘That could be correct,’ Torisaki agreed. ‘If the rest of their weapons are as fine and different as their arrows, the “Earths” must be well favored by the “Suppliers”.’
‘Or they might even be “Suppliers” themselves,’ Charole suggested, in a voice that throbbed with excitement.
‘They might at that!’ Torisaki ejaculated, sounding equally thrilled by the possibility of being able to lay hands on one or more of their mysterious benefactors. It had always been his ambition to do so. He yearned to attain the position of Emperor of the Cara-Bunte nation and, without being aware of them, he shared the late High Priest of the Mun-Gatahs’ dreams of conquering the other races with whom his people had come into contact.
‘How soon can we march to Jey-Mat?’ Charole inquired, deciding that she had been correct in comparing the war-lord with Dryaka.
‘March?’ Torisaki barked. ‘You mean go across country?’
‘Yes,’ Charole confirmed. ‘It’s a pity that you can’t ride—’
‘We can ride,’ Shushi protested. As their homeland was roughly the size and shape of Madagascar, the “Suppliers” had allocated small ponies as a means of transport around it. ‘But we never bring our mounts on raids. What we’ll do is go by sea and, although we’ve never bothered to try it before, lviii we’ll find a way through the swamplands to a village. Even if it isn’t Jey-Mat, we can make the people there take us to it.’
While she was speaking, the war-lady picked up the halaka. At the end of her words, she propelled it across the pavilion. Slicing through the left wall, its disappearance was followed almost instantaneously by the scream of a woman in mortal agony.
‘That was Muchkio,’ Shushi announced, as Charole and her husband stared from the wall to her and back. ‘The Yung-Lib told me she was eavesdropping and I’ve been watching to find out where she was standing.’
‘If you’ve killed her—!’ Torisaki began.
‘Not even the second cousin
of the Empress is allowed to spy on a war-lord and war-lady,’ Shushi pointed out. ‘But I know what you mean, my husband. If I’ve killed her—and, from the way she screamed, I probably have— we’ve got to know how to make “Thunder Powder” and “Terrifiers” before we go back to Tahsha-Bunte.’
‘Only the “Earths” can tell you,’ Charole warned. ‘That means you’ll have to find them to learn how to do it.’
Chapter Twelve – I Don’t Want Your Children
‘Darling!’ gasped Dawn Gunn, nee Drummond-Clayton, resting her back against the pillows of her nuptial bed and staring in delight at the well-laid tray of food her husband of only a few hours was placing on her lap. ‘This is wonderful. Oh thank you!’
‘Don’t mention it,’ Bunduki replied, sitting alongside the girl who was now his wife. Wondering if he had ever seen her looking so radiantly beautiful, he grinned and went on, ‘Just remember, this’s how I want it brought to me every morning from now on.’
All through the days preceding that on which their marriage ceremony had taken place, in addition to the various preparations for the event, the girl and the blond giant had had much to keep them occupied.
One of the main problems that had demanded Dawn’s and Bunduki’s attention had been to continue the training of the quaggas. However, as soon as Isabel and Shambulia had come to accept being saddled and ridden—which had been attained after only one more spell of abortive resistance apiece—the progress had been rapid. While there was much for them still to learn, both would answer to their names and come in response to their respective owner’s whistle. So successful had this aspect proved that the Earth couple had already started to teach the animals to obey certain Australopithecus9 signal calls as an aid to communication over even longer distances. Noticing how little fear was shown by their mounts to sounds which usually induced panic among gatahs, Dawn and Bunduki had been even more sure that they were gifts from the ‘Suppliers’.
During the evenings, when time had permitted, Bunduki had set about instructing the Jey-Mat Telonga hunters in armed and bare-handed self defense. As in the case of the quaggas, he had wondered how much of the rapidity with which At-Vee was attaining competence was due to mental conditioning by the “Suppliers’. Keen and intelligent as the Hunter undoubtedly was, the way in which his ability with weapons and unarmed combat improved was exceptional. None of the others could keep pace with him in either accomplishment. Nor did they approach the skill displayed by Joar-Fane and At-Vee in all matters pertaining to the care and riding of the captured gatahs. There was, the Earth couple had realized, much still to be done before they had established a reliable fighting force. They had also felt that they had no cause to be ashamed of what had already been achieved along those lines.
While riding their quaggas in the jungle, Dawn and Bunduki had renewed their acquaintance with a band of forest elephants they had befriended and which had later proved of the greatest service to them. lix What was more, ranging further than would have been possible on foot, they had discovered that—as they had been promised by the ‘Supplier’ they had met-they apparently possessed a similar empathy with all members of the subspecies Loxodonta Africana Cyclotis. lx They had had no difficulty in establishing equally cordial relations with two other bands they had met in their travels.
With the willing agreement of Tav-Han and other members of Dawn’s Telonga ‘family’, granted out of consideration for all he was striving to do on behalf of their people, Bunduki had been relieved of much of a task that would otherwise have fallen upon him. They had taken it upon themselves to carry out most of the work, including the production of the majority of the food, required to make a resounding success of the premarital feasting and dancing demanded by convention. It said much for their efforts that everybody who attended had claimed the festivities had never been bettered.
However, to establish his position as a leading member of the hunting fraternity, there was one thing that the blond giant could not leave to others. So on three occasions he had gone into the jungle alone at night. Armed with his bow and a selection of the specialized hunting points—which he had found at the tree-house and surmised were presented by the ‘Suppliers’ in response to his almost subconscious wishes—to supplement the utilitarian Razorheads on the first and third expeditions, he had restricted himself to the m’kuki and shield for the second. His yield for archery had been a large bull gaur and a five hundred pound giant forest hog. Combined with very careful stalking, his skill at throwing the Masai spear had brought him an exceptionally fine male bongo.
When the heads and hides of Bunduki’s trophies had been exhibited at the Telongas’ equivalent of his bachelor party on the night before the wedding, which had been attended by hunters from several other villages and four young men who had made the journey from Wurka by boat, all had been the source of admiration and acclaim. The means by which he had acquired them had increased his prestige enormously.
No other herbivorous animals in the jungle, not even the forest elephants, were so highly regarded and respected by the Telonga hunters as the gaur or the—to be strictly accurate—omnivorous giant forest hog. Both had characteristics which made it a most dangerous adversary. Each was tough, aggressive and hard to stop when launching an attack, particularly when opposed by the primitive weapons owned by the human beings.
Largest of all the Asiatic wild cattle, Bos (Bibos) Gaurus was, on Zillikian, matched in size only by the great Cape buffalo, and the plains-dwelling habits of Cyncerus Caffer lxi precluded the Telonga hunters from making its acquaintance. Knowing both species, Bunduki was in full agreement with those sportsmen on Earth who had claimed the gaur was the equal to the Cape buffalo on all the points by which they set their standards.
Most massive of all the Suidae, wild pigs, and possessing its full measure of that genus’s courageously pugnacious tendencies when roused, the giant forest hog was a creature that was not generally sought after by the Telonga hunters. While they had a liking for its meat, they preferred to give the sub-species Hijlochoerus Meiner-zhageni a wide berth in its jungle habitat and go after the smaller, less dangerous red river hog.
The bongo was not regarded as being particularly dangerous, although it could be on certain occasions and in some conditions. Yet it too was held in high esteem. As on Earth, the hunting fraternity were aware that no animal was more wary, alert and adequately protected by its senses than the species Boocercus Euryceros. Those qualities had made its flesh highly prized. That the blond giant should have taken his specimen with the comparatively short ranged m’kuki and, instead of waiting in ambush near a watering place for the prey to come to him, had adopted the vastly more difficult task of going in search of it, had added to the credit he was given for his success.
Such had been the high regard for all Bunduki had achieved since he had come among them, which each man had admitted he could not have himself performed, that before the party had broken up, they had conferred upon him the greatest honor and title their fraternity could bestow. In future, Tav-Han had announced—and the information was relayed across the entire Telonga nation by the ‘talking drums’-the blond giant was to be known as the Dapan-Dankara.
Translated into English, the words meant, ‘Fearless Master of the Jungle’.
During the evening, Bunduki had had an opportunity to meet the men from Wurka. They had proved to be a vastly more likeable group than the Senior Elder, Tik-Felum, and his coterie. Free from the quintet’s supervision and the presence of toadies who would have informed upon them, they had not hesitated to discuss their village’s affairs.
Despite Tik-Felum and his companions’ attempts to prevent it, the story of their defeat had passed around the population. It had given added strength to such of them, the four visitors in particular, who were resentful of working hard to support those who were too idle to do so. However, although desirous of bringing about a change in policy, they had not yet been able to raise sufficient support from their neighbors. No hint
s or suggestions had been passed on either side, but Bunduki had sensed that the men from Wurka might want to solicit his assistance in the not too distant future.
Thanks to the organizing abilities of Tav-Han, his wife, Joar-Fane and At-Vee, the Earth couple’s wedding day had passed most enjoyably and without a hitch. Thinking of how close they had grown recently, Bunduki and Dawn were relieved when they were finally united in matrimony. Both had felt sure that, in the absence of a minister ordained in a Christian Church, their adoptive and, in the girl’s case, actual families would consider the union completely honorable, legal and binding.
So it had been with a clear conscience that the blond giant had carried his bride to the tree-house and, having made the ascent on the elevator with her in his arms (several hunters supplying the motive power) across the threshold. Left alone, they had entered the comfortable double bed to consummate the marriage.
Now, in the light of early morning, Bunduki had brought a meal which Joar-Fane had prepared earlier for them. Much as he loved the beautiful girl before him, he had been unable to resist pulling a hoary old joke on her.
‘And that’s not how you’re going to get it every morning from now on!’ Dawn stated, with her eyes sparkling. ‘Hurry up and eat, then go out and do some work—or something.’
‘Something? Bunduki hinted.
‘Something’ Dawn replied, her expression showing what she was really meaning.
I’m damned if I feel like going out to work now I’ve eaten,’ the blond giant declared, after they had finished the meal and he was setting the tray on the floor.
‘Then it looks like—something,’ Dawn answered, tossing back the sheet which was her only covering.
‘Something it is,’ Bunduki said firmly and climbed back into bed.
‘Darling,’ Dawn breathed, as she and her husband lay relaxed in each other’s arms about an hour later. ‘You really don’t mind if I continue to use the contraceptive tablets now we’re married, do you?”