Tama Princes of Mercury

by Terry Pratchett

  Tama's white face was above them. Her wings beating Then there seemed to be purer air again. Beneath them Jimmy caught a glimpse of dark water, strewn with wreckage. It was rushing upward, close. He saw that they would strike a litter of broken wood. Suddenly he cast Tama off, and gasped, "Rod Let her free!" He seemed to fall more swiftly. There was a flash of uprushing floating logsan impact.

  Jimmy did not quite lose consciousness. He had struck a half-submerged log. He thought, a second later, he heard another crash as Tama and Roc came down. He went under water, entangled with vines and thatch, but he came up swimming.

  Tama was swimming near him. Jimmy was conscious that one of his legs would not work. A horrible pain stabbed through it. But in this water he found himself buoyant. He saw something looming nearby, and swam for it. As he drew himself up he saw that it was the porch platform of a wrecked house.

  Tama gasped, "Youall right, Jimmy?"

  "Yes." Tama was holding Roc, who was inert. Jimmy started back into the water. One of his legs dragged limp; the pain of it made his senses reel.

  "Wait, Jimmy1 have him I" They were only a few feet away. Jimmy helped Tama draw Roc's body up to the raft. They stretched him out, bent over him. He was unconscious, but there seemed to be no bones broken.

  I have had from Jimmy the details of those hours he, Tama and Roc spent in the Water City. Tama was bruised from the fall, but otherwise unhurt. Jimmy's left leg was broken. Roc seemed without broken bonesinternal injuries, perhapsbut he had struck his head in the fall. He lay unconscious for hours, with Tama and Jimmy beside him on the raft.

  It was dark there at the water level. Nearer objects only were visible: a dark patch of littered water, a few houses, flattened, half-burned. A murk in the distance, with ghastly naked trees standing in the water like half-burned sticks; a distant burning housea yellow glow in the thick turgid gloom.

  There seemed a slight current to the water. Occasional blobbing things floating, drifting past. Charred, blackened bodies. A grotesque detached face under a tree. A human limb, torn and cast aside by a giant insect.

  Nothing living remained. The smoke fumes wafted down with occasional winds; then up again. But always thinner, less choking.

  "What shall we do, Tama? He may dieprobably will.

  You're not hurt. You fly out of this."

  "Not yet. I can't leave you now. Your leg is broken. You can't walk." They were unarmed. Tama had flown around in a brief circle near them. She had come back, white-lipped, grim, with a queer look in her eyes which Jimmy could not miss.

  "What's the matter?"

  "Nothing." He lay on his side. The pain in his leg made it difficult for him to think. He demanded again, "What's the matter?" Tama did not answer, but bent' over Roc, who was still unconscious. "If only we could do something for him! Poor Rod And you, Jimmydoesn't it hurt very badly?" It seemed that Tama was very alert, her gaze constantly roving.

  "Whats the matter with you?" he demanded again. "Did you see any of the invaders?"

  "No."

  "The ball-is it still overhead?"

  "No." A mist rising from the water had closed around them; through it, the nearer objects standing on the water showed like phantoms. Overhead was a pall of darkness. Jimmy had been afraid at first that some of the enemy would discover them lying there, but now there seemed less danger of that.

  Tama on one of her brief, cautious flights had discovered that the invaders were marching off beyond the marshes. The silver ball had descended to join them.

  "We'll wait a few hours," said Jimmy. "If they're leaving, they'll be far enough aJvay then. And youll be rested. You can fly back to the Hill City to safety."

  "And leave you? And Roc?"

  "Well, I guess hell be dead. And meyou can bring help. I'll stay right here, you can be sure of that." Now, after another hour or two, Jimmy reiterated his suggestion. Tama ignored it and then said abruptly, "We are too near the water here. Jimmy, could you crawl? And help me a little, with Roc? Up there" An inclined, fallen tree connected the raft with a half-submerged house close at hand. The house lay in the water tilled at an angle.

  "Climb up there," said Tama. "Onto its roof. Then maybe we could get down inside it and hide."

  "From what?" She would not answer. They tried to get up the tree incline with Roc. But could not. And then, after another interval, Roc came to consciousness.

  An hour later and they had laboriously crawled to the housetop. Tama had been down inside the house and returned with a single knife, as well as scraps of food and a vessel with fresh water.

  It revived the men. Roc was weaker than Jimmy, but not in great pain. They lay clinging to the thatch.

  "Soon," said Tama. "I can get you down inside. There is a place where you can lie."

  "Then you get away. Come back with help. We'll wait no fear we'll run away, eh. Roc?" Roc said abruptly, "They were using the wild brues to attack the city. Have they all gone? None" He never finished. Tama had seen a lone, prowling insect a distance away when she had flown around, and had feared it would find these helpless men. It appeared now out of the mist; its ugly length slithering through the water. It saw the three figures on the housetopraised its round head with a leering, monstrously half-human grin.

  Tama, knife in hand, crouched on the sloping thatch of the roof, with Jimmy and Roc lying behind her, and her wings spread over them protectingly. Roc tried to rise, nearly lost his weakened clutch and sank back.

  The brue reached the raft where a short time before they had been lying. Its tongue licked out from its wide mouthslit. With waving antennae, it crawled over the edge of the raft. Brown, jointed length with the water rolling from its shell, hairy legs under it.

  Jimmy murmured, "Tama I Fly up! You fooldon't stay here I" The brue reached the inclined tree. Came faster. Jimmy, looking over Tama's spread of wings, could see its baleful gloaming eyes, deep-set under the bulging forehead.

  "Tamal" He tried to push her. If she fell, she would flutter away.

  Far above them, the mist curtain had parted. Jimmy heard the sound of wings beating. A shape appeared. It was a rectangular platform, with flying girls bearing it. Jimmy stared, his brain blurring with astonishment.

  "Tama-lookl" Two men and a girl were on the platform. It came with a swoop. The insect on the incline of the treetrunk paused, and turned its face upward to gaze at this new enemy.

  It was Toh and Guy, crouching there on the flying platform with the girl Aina. The girls, frightened and confused as they came down, fluttered in disorder. Guy stood up, swaying precariously.

  The platform landed on the raft with a thud, which submerged a foot or two under the weight of the girls. Guy was flung down, but he leaped up at once, and Toh with him.

  "Swim awayall of youl" The girls were floundering in the water. Guy shouted at Aina, "Get the girls away from hereall of them I'" The brue lay motionless, peering around at the confusion; then it turned and began moving back down the treetrunk.

  The girls on the raft were fluttering up. On the roof, Jimmy lay behind Tama. He felt Roc gripping him.

  "I can't move," Roc muttered.

  "No," said Jimmy. "Lie quietdon't lose your hold!" The brue's head reached the bottom of the tree. Guy and Toh with drawn knives stood confronting it. Suddenly the great insect jumped. Not with a forward rush but with a movement incredibly swift, it flipped its whole length upward, head dovn, with the forked tail high in the air.

  It landed, facing the other way on the raft.

  Jimmy saw the water on the raft lashed white, the great jointed body threshing, lunging, with Guy and Toh astride of it, hacking with their knives. Spurts of black fluid came like )ets from its cracked shell, staining the water with ink, reeking in the air with a horrible stench. The screams of the thing were blood-chilling, gruesome. Its head twisted around.

  Its long feelers, like the tentacles of an octopus, clutched Toh. He tore at them with his knife. But they lifted his slight body in the air, flung him around, brou
ght him down.

  Jimmy was aware that he was screaming a futile warning and trying to crawl with his dangling leg past Roc, who was holding him and shouting, "Don'tyou can't do anything!" Tama was gone! Jimmy saw her go down with a swoop.

  Like a thrown missile, she struck the insect's head, just as he was drawing Toh toward it. Her knife, went into its face. The bulging forehead crackedsmashed inward like a broken shell. Tama, lunging, striking, fought to free Toh, and f in a minute had him loose, fluttered upward with him. He was not injured. She dropped him into the water and swooped back.

  The brue, with mashed head, its travesty of a face still bearing the semblance of an agonized human look, screamed continuously. Its great body lashed, writhed, squirmed.

  But aimlessly now, and with lessening strength. Guy still clutched its middle, hacking, tearing. It was as thick there as a stout man. But he hacked through it. The two segments fell apart, each of them writhing, fighting. Tama went again for its head. Toh came swimming, but she turned and flung him back.

  Then Guy was at its throat, stabbinghacking off the clutching feelers. Aina had been shouting, fluttering ten feet overhead, calling to the swimming girls. They shook themselves free of the water, like gathering birds fluttered up into a confused group. All unarmed, they poised; and then, at a word from Aina, plunged down. Wrathful birds, picking, tearing, wrenching at the two lashing segments of the brue.

  Clutching its hairy, spindly legs. Twisting them... .

  The mangled insect's screams gradually grew less. Then Guy hacked through its throat and they died in a gurgle as its great round head fell and floated off.

  Guy ceased his efforts. Toh swam forward again. Guy gasped, "It's over, Tohl All rightwe've killed iti" Then Tama got the girls away. Strange little virgins of this strange planet! Four of them fainted from the shock and horror of it, now that it was over. They were all livid white, and most of them were crying, half-laughing with hysteria.

  I need not detail the reunion of Tama and Guy, and Roc's turning from an enemy into a friend, eager to help and to atone for his former treachery. Toh gazed silently at him and said nothing. Guy listened to Jimmy's explanations and glanced questioningly at Tama. Perhaps Guy was jealous.

  He need not have been, for Tama flung herself unhesitatingly into his arms.

  Roc watched them with his dark, somber gaze. He sat up, bracing himself against the thatch of the sloping roof.

  He said quietly, in his precise, careful English: "I want you all to believe in me. For what I have done in the past, Guy Palisse, most truly I am sorry." He offered his hand, palm up in the Mercurian fashion. "Guy, will you accept me?" Guy hesitated.

  "I think it would be just," said Tama quietly.

  Guy reluctantly smiled. "I'll try. Roc." He laid his hand on the outstretched palm. "It's not easy, at first. We hated each other for a long time, Roc."

  "Yes. But that is over now. My country is assailed. I want only to save it. You, an Earthman, are here to help us win, and for that I am really grateful." Guy stared at him, but did not answer.

  It was two hours before the girls were rested and ready to fly back. The platform was cleared and washed clean of its stenching litter. Jimmy and Roc were carried down to it. Guy and Toh joined them, and two of the weakened girls. Tama and Aina took their places at the handles.

  The platform rose from the Water City, to wing away upon its return journey. Presently they met the Flying Cube, coming to reconnoiter. Grenfell saw the platform, whereupon the Cube landed on the metallic desert. They all boarded it, abandoning the platform.

  After encircling the Water City once more, the marches and empty hills behind it, the Flying Cube returned to the Hill City, the Earthmen plunging again into preparations for the coming battle.

  News had arrived. Dorrek with his silver ball had retreated with all his forces to the Dark Mountains at the borders of the Cold Country, in the dark, gloomy canyons there.

  Grenfell decided not to wait for his advance, but to go and meet him. To cast all into one engagement: the old stratagem, so often used in Earth warsdefense by attack. To keep the fight away from the all too vulnerable Hill City. Defeat Dorrek's forces in one battle, in the wilderness of Dorrek's own choosing. And with his defeat, the menace to the Light Country and to Earth would be ended.

  The young men of the Hill City were assembling into an organized army. Nearly a thousand girls were ready volunteers. With Tama's return, they hailed her as their acknovyledged leader.

  The Hill City arsenal and workshops were a confusion of activity. The hand weapons, the defensive armaments, bombs and rockets, giant projectors of the deadly heat-rayall were hastily being assembled. Flying platforms were armed; girls were assigned to fly them and armed young men to ride them.

  Three day-cycles passed. Dorrek and his barbarians were still in the distant mountains. Little news of them was obtainable, save that they were there. Jimmy's leg had been set by skilled Sfirgeons in the Hill City. He could not walk; but he could tide a flying platform, and he chose it rather than be in the Cube. Roc's strength had fully returned. He had earnestly and faithfully helped in the busy activities of those three days; urged by Tama, the Hill City officials had accepted him.

  In the half-light of a gray noonday, led by the Flying Cube, with Tama and her girls winging in orderly formation behind ita group of armored flying platforms among them and on the ground a low queue of young men winding slowly out into the metal desertthis strange army of the Light Country went forth to battle.

  XI MOUNTAIN STRONGHOLD "BUT, MTJTA, I do not love him. That's absurd." Rowena gathered the long brown dressing gown more closely around her, pulled her brown braided hair from her face and gazed earnestly at the stolid Cold Country woman.

  "Don't you understand me, Muta? I wish you no harm.

  I hate your Dorrekl" She lowered her voice; gazed furtively around the small room of the silver ball in which momentarily she and Muta were alone. "I want only to escapeget away from him. Can't you understand me? You speak enough English for that, don't you?"

  "Yes, I understand you. But you tellno truth. A lie."

  "No-it is not!"

  "Because you are beautifulbighe loves"

  "But I can't help that, Muta. Don't you believe me?"

  "No."

  "But you must. You tried to kill me. I do not blame you."

  "Ah-"

  "No. Wait! I do not blame you, because you were jealousyou thought you had causeand you love Dorrek." The woman's eyes were smoldering. "I lovehe my man all my life since little girl. And I loveand for himfor him I workalways."

  "I know. I can understand." Rowena put a hand on her arm. "Sit down, Muta. You think we can be alone here for a little while?"

  "Yes. It may be."

  "Then I want you to understand me. " Rowena was gauging her, wondering if she could trust this stolid gray woman.

  "You do understand more English than I thought you did, Muta."

  "Yes. My man Dorrekhe learn from Roc. Someday conquer Earth, Dorrek say. Englishyour best tongue."

  "Muta, if you only would believe I wish you no wrong! You think Dorrek is"

  "Every woman love him at once." Rowena laughed gently. "Well, its all right for you to think that. But I do not. Imy friend Jack Dean is" She checked herself. Did she dare tell this woman her real identity? How would Muta react to it? If she would not tell Dorrek Rowena added abruptly, "Jack Dean is my husband."

  "Your manmated?"

  "Yes." The Cold Country woman stared; whatever her emotion, she repressed it.

  "Muta, I tell you this so that you won't be jealous of me.

  He is my husband. I love him just as you love Dorrek. And we have never banned you, Muta."

  "From me, you took my Dorrek's love."

  "I did not. It's absurd, I tell you. Not true. Don't you understand? I have my own man."

  "I have Dorrek. But that is nothing to stop him" How often in life humor clings to the skirts of tragedy! Again Rowena smiled gently
, and gazing, saw tears springing in the Mercurian woman's eyes.

  "Won't you believe me?" said Rowena again.

  "Yes." Muta bowed her head, dashed away the tears with the flat of her hand, and raised her face again. "You say like truth. But so beautiful, youand I, now oldtoo much work too long, for beauty" There was a brief silence. The two womenso different, and of different worlds-with a bond of sympathy and understanding come suddenly between them.

  Muta said, "If you not love Dorrekstill no difference because he want you, not me. And he real mantake what he want."

  "True, Mutathat is the danger of having me here." Rowena lowered her voice. The room corner where they sat was dim, and a distance from the opened interior doorway. The nearby windows showed fading twilight. The ball was flying from the Water City, back toward the mountains of the Cold Country.

  I had recovered consciousness after the fight in which Tama, Jimmy and Roc had fallen from the doorway of the ballcome to myself still a prisoner in one of the vehicle's rooms. Bound, this time, with thick, pliable air vines.

  Dorrek had visited me. "You not killed?"

  "No. It seems not."

  "That little man Turk, he killed. And Roc; they fall. Tama, she fly away. I care not." He stood grinning. Huge, burly gray fellow, with his draped gray fura Hun chieftain, by his aspect. A barbarian, stupid in the ways of civilization, yet clever for all that. Dorrek's bullet head, his flat face, his giant stature were barbaric.

  But he was something more, this Mercurian leader. He wore a wide leather belt strapped tightly around his heavy middle. Weapons were clipped to it. Weapons, not barbaric, but strangely super-modern.

  He had brought his vehicle down by the marshes of the Water City. Had been welcomed by his fellows; had given his orders. We were now in the air again, heading to what destination I had no idea. In the ball now were some twenty of Dorrek's men.

  He stood over me. Evidently he was thoroughly pleased with himself and his affairs. Triumphant. He gazed down at me, his massive legs planted wide, his hands on his hips.