This contagion was made by humans, for a war fought centuries ago, specifically targeted at humans.
Darc clenched his teeth. Beaten at last, by a tiny virus - a puny, pseudo-living bunch of molecules! He grimaced, raised his fist to smash the microscope - and stayed his hand.
He took another look in the microscope, and made a puzzling discovery.
Something was happening to the viruses. They weren't penetrating the membranes of his cells, but were just floating helplessly around them - something was aggregating around the viruses, some kind of whirling, blurred shapes that moved too fast for him to discern.
He increased the resolution to molecular level, but the sample had not yet crystallized - so Darc couldn't get a sharp image. Then he understood. Antibodies. His own bodily defenses were working, and were fighting back the viruses with its own molecules, antibodies that were shaped to catch and paralyze these particular viruses...
Now wait a minute, Darc thought. That's impossible. I'm from another era, when these viruses didn't even exist. How could my body have created these specific, unique antibodies right now?
I must have been infected much earlier than I thought.
No, that wouldn't have made any difference. I should have gone sick first - then, when it would have been too late, my immune system would have identified the invaders and created an entirely new type of antibody molecules to trap them.
Or... the genetic dose that Mechao infused into my immune system while I was dying from the "one-year flush" saved me. Enough to immunize me... no, that's just too good to be true. If it had been that simple, the Plague would have been eradicated centuries ago.
Even with his ancient genetic cure, I still would have caught the Plague.
Unless...
Unless the first Plague viruses I got were weakened and dead, already hit hard by antibodies from somewhere else... no, a cocktail of foreign antibodies and dying germs.
An inoculation!
The sickness plus the cure at the same time. Yes - that could be it. My immune system identified the shape of these alien virus molecules, and got the time to produce its own antibodies as fast as possible.
But where did this "vaccine" come from? The air, the water? The Lepers' food? Could be.
And if the viruses were already dying when I got them... then there is a Leper, in this village, who is naturally immune! And who contaminated me with masses and masses of dead viruses and his own antibodies... he, or she, saved me without knowing it. I must find out who it was.
He stood up from his chair, and grinned at the waiting, restlessly shifting Shara. The thunder from the skies grew closer.
Chapter 32
Dohan was struggling to stay alert at the controls.
It had been a long, nervous flight across the great unknown ocean, in ominous weather. Following the coordinates Surabot revealed, he had reached the site where Surabot had claimed Darc and Shara were abandoned.
He circled his craft a thousand meters above the dark desert, looking for a dot of light - a single campfire, anything.
For a few minutes, Dohan saw nothing but the stars. He checked the fuel gauge, and took the craft down for a landing. With no fuel depot within reach, he could only afford to land and lift off once - it cost too much fuel each time. Dohan switched on the Sunray's powerful keel searchlights, and began looking for a suitable plateau at the nearest cluster of cliffs.
At the corner of his vision, he caught sight of something - he switched off the searchlights, and looked down again. He saw a faint glow of artificial light seeping up from one of the canyons - it could be the Leper settlement Surabot had mentioned.
Without consideration, he lowered the craft in a spiral trajectory and slowed down to land, aiming the searchlights down. He found a suitable flat surface at the top of the canyon.
And so the craft touched down in a cloud of dust. The entire Leper tribe was alerted by the noise and light.
Double-Mouth panicked; the evil double on her back overpowered her reason completely.
More outsiders are coming from the sky, it told her. More enemies! Kill the first ones, and hide the bodies before the new outsiders find them. If the new invaders find the white-haired man and his woman, they will wreak revenge on us. Hurry! Stir up the tribe!
Claw rushed into Darc and Shara's quarters. They could hear the village in uproar from below, and see that the Lepers were killing almost all their lights.
"Someone is coming here," Claw told them. "In a flying machine. Are they looking for you?"
"Claw, I have found a cure for the -"
"I - what?"
"I mean, I have found half the solution. If we just keep calm, I can explain to the tribe -"
" Damn you, city-dweller! Double-Mouth is down there, telling the tribe that they should kill you both, before the newcomers find you! They won't listen to me!"
Darc stiffened, and replied: "Then I must go and meet the new visitor. I think I know who it is."
If it was Dohan, he might ruin everything and attack the tribe. Or slay Darc in order to save him. Both prospects seemed uninviting.
Dohan closed the rear port of the Sunray, and went into cover behind a rock.
The plateau was dark and featureless, and what little light came from the nearby canyon had receded to almost nothing. Whoever was down there, knew he was coming.
He came fully armed with a loaded laser rifle, light body armor, an electric helmet lamp, an aluminum shield, and a light sword. But Dohan was freezing and alone against the unknown, an enemy he had never even seen.
"Hell" as a concept did not exist in Dohan's religion - the afterlife was spent in exactly the same world as the living - but to him, approaching Leper territory alone was the equivalent of stepping down into hell. His mind had been shamefully unfocused during the entire flight, unable to plan anything; how could he plan, when he had no notion of what lay ahead?
Dohan saw no monsters lurking in the vicinity. He quietly moved the twenty or thirty meters to the edge of the canyon and peered down, without switching on the helmet lamp. The canyon resembled a near-straight, layered crack in the rock, pitch black at the bottom.
He wished he had brought one of the robots; they could easily see in the dark. Dohan looked and listened for a while - and then he thought he heard an echo of voices from deep down below.
He staggered back from the cliff's edge, struck by the impulse that the gaping canyon was reaching out to suck him down - he whirled around and lit the lamp, let the lightbeam sweep across the plateau.
Long shadows seemed to run away from the light - but no Lepers were in sight. Was he imagining the voices? He concentrated, like before a joust, letting the trembling and fear recede from his body. His mind focused, and he knew what he had to do.
He took a signal-flare with a small parachute from his belt, set it alight, and tossed it down the canyon.
Dohan gasped - in the light from the falling torch, dozens of tiny shapes ran for cover. More voices trailed up from the canyon, confirming the presence of many people. The canyon might be forty, thirty meters deep.
Dohan felt a sensation of unreality, that he was dreaming. What drove him to do this? Even if Darc was there, captured by those figures, there was no hope if they were Lepers. Only a miracle could have saved Darc, or - Darc could.
Dohan saw it clearly now - his faith was what drove him, the belief that Darc was the incarnated King, a man beyond mere mortals - and perhaps he did not even know it himself. This was not a rescue mission but a crusade, a test of faith.
He kneeled down at the edge, cupped his hands and yelled defiantly into the dark chasm: "I have come for a man named Darc! Bring the man called Darc to me alive, or you shall all die!"
The echo of his command rolled through the chasm. The distant voices returned, and he could see torch-lit figures ascend up the vertical cliff walls on ladders and primitive elevators. He could not discern any white-haired man among them - the figures were all cloaked.
> He was not afraid, he told himself, not with a higher power on his side.
Double-Mouth arrived at Claw's cliff habitat by way of rope elevator. She rushed to the ledge, and quickly helped more villagers climb the ladders.
The agitated Lepers were carrying torches and spears. Claw strode out of his house to meet the mob, flanked by his two other wives and a few trustworthy men. Darc and Shara took to hiding at an outer recess of the shelf, close to an overhanging cliff. They had not yet decided upon escape, and the ladders going down were clearly blocked.
Dohan - Darc knew it was him - had landed at least ten meters higher up, on the plateau which was accessible via a few risky pathways - these were now completely in the dark.
Claw took a torch and assumed authority with a loud request to the assembled Lepers: "What in the name of the Goddess are you doing? I demand an explanation!"
Double-Mouth stepped forth and pointed a torch at her husband.
"It is we who demand an explanation!" she shouted. "The village is under attack by the city-people, and it's all because of Darc and his whore Shara!"
Shara could hear the insult from her hideout, and she silently wished for a chance to bury a knife in Double-Mouth's throat - but fear kept her put.
Up above the commotion, Dohan was unable to clearly make out the voices; he thought he heard the names "Darc" and "Shara" being shouted.
The Leper crowd aimed their heads upward at the sound of Dohan's voice, as he called out again: "Darc! Darc! If you are there, tell me what to do!"
Darc wanted to answer, but if he did the Leper mob would trap him. He slowly began to feel his way along the cliff wall, toward the narrow ledge. Perhaps he had a small chance... Shara grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
"The other way," she whispered in his ear. "I saw Up-Mouth take a hidden path there."
As they reversed their direction, sticking to the shadows, the argument between Claw and Double-Mouth grew more heated. The canyon walls amplified their voices, turning the place into a vast auditorium.
"What is it you want with our visitors?" Claw barked at Double-Mouth.
"It's not what I want," Double-Mouth retorted. "It is the tribe which demands Darc's head, for betraying us to the city-people! He attracted them here with his strange instruments!"
It was her other mind speaking through her mouth - and it wanted nothing but the death of Darc, who might remove the evil double from Double-Mouth's body.
Dohan thought his heart jumped in his chest, when he heard the faint echo of Darc's name being called again, and began to understand the nature of the argument going on below.
He yelled: "Hold out, Darc, it's me! I will wait for a sign from you!"
Darc heard him faintly, but kept sneaking onward without a sound. Not just yet...
Claw, sensing the confusion of the mob, countered Double-Mouth's accusations: "Is that so? You seem to know more about Darc's instruments and methods than everybody else in the tribe! I say you're a liar, Double-Mouth - a deceitful liar!"
Double-Mouth clasped her shaven head with exaggerated concern: "Can you hear what my own husband is saying? He's humiliating one of his own loving wives before the tribe! How could you, my love?"
"You don't love me," he sneered. "And - it is you who want Darc dead. What good would his death do for the tribe? If it is his friends who are coming for him now, now when he's found a cure for the Plague -"
Claw halted, amazed at what he had just said. Double-Mouth was taken aback, and the Leper crowd fell dead silent.
"Yes," Claw said in a softer tone, "Darc just told me that he has found the cure... solved the mystery of the Plague. Why is it, that you hate him so? Don't you want us to become free from this cursed existence? Why should we not be redeemed at last?"
Double-Mouth gaped, unable to reply. Her mad, but perfectly undistorted face turned and jerked, as her flickering gaze searched for support in the mob. She found no friend, only a wall of hateful eyes - some in faces, some in other places.
The last vestige of reason gave way in Double-Mouth's mind.
She exploded at them: " I hate you all! You ugly, disgusting creatures! Your children shouldn't have been born! Your ancestors should've killed themselves... like Up-Mouth did! A better world if you had never existed! Don't come near me!"
Suddenly, Double-Mouth twisted her arms and clawed at her back, as if trying to reach an intense itch. She tore apart the back of her shirt, and clawed her second face in its eyes - it gargled, bit at her fingers and sputtered noises.
The mob parted to make room for Double-Mouth's twisting, jerking struggle with herself - and then someone pushed her over the edge. Two screams came when Double-Mouth fell down the canyon - a high, and a low one.
Claw was speechless; it was too much to lose a son and a wife in such a short time. One of his remaining wives stepped forward.
Though shaken, the woman managed to speak: "Listen, everyone. Darc is our friend. He is unlike other outsiders. We have all heard him - does he hate us like Double-Mouth did? No! He is about to save us! I say he must be a reincarnation of Vis , the Singing King! And just as his life was threatened, a messenger from the sky came to protect him! I see the signs, and I believe."
Darc felt he was very close to the hidden pathway now - but it was still too dark, despite the faint torchlight. Shara urged him forward.
"Hurry! What are you waiting for?" she whispered.
But he halted, with one foot on the dark escape path.
"No," he said. "I won't run away. We're going back. Can't you hear them? They need me!"
A line of red laser light flickered momentarily from the sky and hit the opposite canyon wall with a crack. Dohan had, in pure frustration, fired a warning shot.
Everyone could hear him shouting hoarsely from above: "Darc!! If you do not answer, I fly down with the craft and shoot those Lepers to pieces!"
Darc rushed out of the shadows, and called up at the plateau: "Don't shoot, Dohan! Don't shoot! It is me! I am alive and well! Just don't do anything yet! Wait a little!"
He had to seize the moment, before the situation once more got out of hand. He ran into the circle of torchlight, cupped his hand around his lips and tried to address both Dohan and the Lepers simultaneously.
"It is true, that many believe I am the reborn Singing King! The man up there has come to take me back to another land!
"But I will stay here a while longer, to help both him and you! Did you remember my first words to you? I said to you: 'I am a Leper!' And it is true! Now the Plague runs in my blood! And yet I am not sick! Because my body... has learned to fight the disease! Because the Plague is not one, but several Plagues!"
It took some time to explain, and Dohan could not hear everything from the plateau where he stood.
But the sincerity of Darc was enough to convince the Lepers. The sins of man, they agreed, was about to be washed away, and only one man - or man-god - could have made such a miracle come true. They lowered their spears; on a cue they kneeled before Darc.
"Behold the King," the villagers murmured in awe. "Praise the King Reborn."
Even Claw fell to his knees - weeping again. Shara stood one step apart from Darc, not quite understanding what was happening, but afraid - and enchanted. Half she believed, half she refused to believe that Darc was a man-god in disguise. He turned and faced her.
"Do you believe in me, Shara? Do you now? Do you really?"
"Yes, I do, Darc. You are the most honest man I've ever met. You wield the truth like a sword. Your power frightens me."
He frowned, and gazed down at the circle of worshippers. This was not what he wanted, to be a feared, lonely idol.
"But you're still just a man," she added, "and I love you."
She moved to embrace her. At the last moment, Darc held up his hand to stop her.
"What's wrong?" she asked anxiously.
"The Plague..." he said. "You must be inoculated before you touch me or the Lepers again. If I..."
&
nbsp; Then he chuckled to himself. If something in the food and water had made him immune, this must have happened to Shara as well. And if she still needed it, his own saliva should contain enough dead virus molecules for her immune system to sharpen its teeth on. As things were now, it would only improve her chances.
"Give me a long, wet kiss," he said wryly and held out his arms. "The cure is in me now. Trust me."
Shara stood hesitating for a moment, then obliged, and threw herself at him. Their kiss lasted a minute. Shara made a little noise that resembled a moan of pleasure, and pulled him tighter against her trembling body. When they ceased, Darc immediately addressed Claw with renewed energy.
"Rise up, chief - no one is to kneel before me. Now get me a ladder up to the plateau, quick! I've got to talk sense into the boy up there." Claw stood up on uncertain legs, blinking at Darc with a puzzled left eye.
"Who is the madman up there?" he asked.
"My best friend in the world, but not the brightest. Now please hurry up!"
Dohan had not given much thought to the possibility of this event - finding Darc healthy and alive among Earth's most feared outcasts. And if it had not been Darc, Dohan would have shot him on sight as an act of mercy.
A set of wide, sturdy ladders was raised up from Claw's cliff habitat. In the light of several torches, Darc began the long and shaky climb up to the plateau, accompanied by Claw and Shara. Claw surely was afraid of being shot, but his trust in Darc was stronger than his fear.
Even though Darc kept shouting up at Dohan, telling him to stay calm, Dohan backed away from the plateau's edge and threw anxious glances in all directions. He expected an ambush of monsters at any second. First of the group, Darc heaved himself up onto the dark plateau and caught his breath, before he reached down to help Shara get up. He told Claw to duck down just a moment, and waved at Dohan. The beam from Dohan's helmet lamp forced him to squint.
"Hello there, kid! It's good to see you. How on earth did you find us here, on the other side of the sea?"
"A tale I have no time to tell," came Dohan's uneasy reply. "Darc - are you certain you have not gotten the disease? The Goddess may damn me, but I'm not letting you one step closer until I know!"
Yngve, AR - Darc Ages Page 22