by John Norman
There was a squawk as he seized one of the birds which, curious, ventured too near. The other vulos took flight. Hassan broke the bird’s neck between his fingers and began to pull out the feathers.
We fed on meat.
We had been twelve days on the desert, when I detected, suddenly, in a moving of the wind, the odor.
“Stop,” I said to Hassan. “Do you smell it?”
“What?” he asked.
“It is gone now,” I said.
“What was it that you smelled?” be asked.
“Kur,” I said.
He laughed. “You, too,” be said, “are mad.”
I scanned the dunes about us, silvered in the light of the moons. I shifted the water bag slung over my shoulders. Hassan stood nearby. He moved the bag of water he carried to his left shoulder, it falling before and behind.
“There is nothing,” he said. “Let us proceed.”
“It is with us,” I said. “You were not mistaken, days ago, when you saw it.”
“No Kur can live in the desert,” he said.
I looked about. “It is with us, somewhere, out there,” I said. Somewhere.”
“Come,” said Hassan. “Soon it will be morning.”
“Very well,” I said to him.
“Why do you hesitate?” he asked.
I looked about. “We do not trek alone,” I told him. “There is another who treks with us.”
Hassan scanned the dunes. “I see nothing,” he said.
“We are not alone,” I told him. “Out there, somewhere, there is another, one who treks with us.”
We continued our march.
The march of Hassan had as its object not Red Rock, northwest of Klima, but Four Palms, a Kavar outpost known to him, which lay far to the south of Red Rock.
Unfortunately Four Palms was farther from Klima than Red Rock. On the other hand, his decision seemed to me a sound one. Red Rock was a Tashid oasis under the hegemony of the Aretai, enemies of the Kavars. Furthermore, between Klima and Red Rock lay the regions patrolled by the men of Abdul, the Salt Ubar, who had been known to me as Ibn Saran. Beyond this, though Four Palms lay farther from Klima than Red Rock, its route, it seemed, would bring one sooner out of the dune country than the route to Red Rock, and into the typical Tahari terrain of rock and scrub, where some game might be found, occasional water and possible nomadic groups not disposed to hostility toward Kavars. All things considered, the decision to attempt to reach Four Palms seemed the most rational decision in the circumstances. There was much risk, of course, attendant on either decision.
We had no choice but to gamble. Hassan had gambled wisely; whether or not he had also gambled well would remain to be seen.
I followed Hassan, he orienting himself by the sun and the flights of certain birds, migrating. We-bad, of course, no instruments at our disposal, no marked trails, and we did not know the exact location of Klima with respect to either Red Rock or Four Palms.
We gambled. We continued to trek. The alternative to the gamble was not security but certain death.
A consequence of Hassan’s plan was that we were actually moving, generally, south and west of Klima, in short, for a time, deeper into the most desolate, untraveled portions of the dune country, far even from the salt routes.
I realize now that this was why the beast was pacing us.
“We have water,” I said to Hassan, “for only four more days.”
“Six,” he said. “We may live two days without water.”
We had come to the edge of the dune country. I looked out on the rugged hills, the cuts, the rocks, the brush.
“How far is it now?” I asked.
“I do not know,” said Hassan. “Perhaps five days, perhaps ten.” We did not know where we had emerged from the dunes.
“We have come far,” I said.
“Have you not noticed the wind?” said Hassan.
“No,” I said. I had not thought of it.
“From what direction does it come?” asked Hassan.
“From the east,” I said.
“It is spring,” said Hassan.
“Is this meaningful?” I asked, The wind felt much the same as the constant, whipping Tahari wind to me, no different, save for its direction.
We had been fourteen days on the desert when the wind had shifted to the east.
“Yes,” said Hassan. “It is meaningful.”
Two Ahn earlier the sun’s rim had thrust over the horizon, illuminating the crests of the thinning dunes. An Ahn earlier Hassan had said, “It is now time to dig the shelter trench.” On our hands and knees, with our hands, we dug in the parched earth. The trench was about four feet deep, narrow, not hard to dig. It is oriented in such a way that the passing sun bisects it. It affords shade in the morning and late afternoon; it is fully exposed only in the hours of high sun.
Hassan and I stood at the edge of the ditch, looking eastward. “Yes,” said Hassan. “It is meaningful.”
“I see nothing,” I said. Flecks of sand struck against my face.
“We had come so far,” said Hassan.
“Is there nothing we can do?” I asked.
“I will sleep,” said Hassan. “I am weary.”
I watched, while Hassan slept. It began in the east, like a tiny line on the margin of the desert. It was only as it approached that I understood it to be hundreds of feet in height, perhaps a hundred pasangs in width; the sky above it was gray, then black like smoke; then I could watch it no longer that I might be blinded; I shielded my eyes with my hands; I turned my back to it; I crouched in the ditch; the wind tore past above me; there was sand imbedded in the backs of my hands; in places, where I dislodged it, there was blood. I looked up. The sky was black with sand; brush, like startled, bounding tabuk, leaped, driven, over my head; the wind howled. I sat in the ditch. I put my head on my arms, my head down, my arms on my knees. I listened to the storm. Then I slept.
Toward night Hassan and I awoke. We drank. The storm raged unabating. We could not see the stars.
“How long does such a storm last?” I asked.
“It is spring,” he said, shrugging, in the manner of the Tahari. “Who knows?”
“Am I not your brother?” I asked.
He lifted his head. “It is not known how long such a storm may last,” he said.
“It may last many days.” “It is spring,” he said. “The wind is from the east.”
Then he again put down his head.
He slept. In time, I, too, slept.
Suddenly, shortly before dawn, I awakened.
It was standing there, in the pelting sand, looming, looking down upon us.
“Hassan,” I cried.
He awakened immediately. We struggled to our feet, our feet buried in sand, swept into the ditch, our backs suddenly cut by the lash of the storm.
It opened its great mouth, turning its head to the side. It was seven feet in height, bracing itself against the wind. Sand clung in its fur. It looked upon me. It raised one long arm. It pointed to the dune country.
“Run!” cried Hassan. We leaped from the ditch, rolling from it into the storm, scrambling to our feet. We crouched down, trying to keep our balance, the ditch between us and the standing beast. It swayed in the wind, leaning into it, but did not attempt to approach us. It regarded me. It pointed to the dune country.
“The water,” said Hassan. “The water!”
He stood over the ditch, to protect me as he could. I slipped into the ditch and slowly, in order not to provoke the beast to attack, lifted the two bags to the surface. Hassan took them and, when I was clear of the ditch, we backed away from the beast, watching it. The wind and sand whipped about us. The beast did not move but remained, its eyes, half-shut, rimmed with sand, fixed upon me, its great arm pointing toward the dune country.
Hassan and I turned and, stumbling, carrying the water, fled into the desert.
Once, briefly, I lost sight of Hassan, then again saw him, no more than a yard from me
in the darkness, in the pelting, driven sand. Together we fled. The beast did not pursue us.
20 The Kur Will Re-Enter the Dune Country; I Accompany Him
“It is there,” said Hassan. “But you are mad to approach it.”
“It could have killed us in the trench,” I said. “It did not.”
The storm, surprisingly, had abated. It had lasted only a bit less than one day.
The landscape seemed rearranged, but we had little difficulty in finding our way back to the trench. We had not been able to move far in the storm. We had gone perhaps less than a pasang when we fell, rolled from our feet, and lay in the sand, protecting our heads and the water. Almost as soon as it had come, it had, with a shifting of wind to the north, disappeared. “There will be other such storms,” said Hassan. “It was too short.” He looked at me. “We must move while we can, before another, a longer, occurs.”
“I am returning to the trench,” I told him.
“I will go with you,” he said.
From a small rise, we saw the remains of the trench, filled with sand, to within six inches of its top. The sun was high. Beside the trench, on its back, half covered with sand, lay the Kur.
When we approached it, it turned its head toward us. “It is not dead,” said Hassan.
“It seems weak,” I said.
“We, too, are weak,” said Hassan. “We have scarcely the strength to carry the water.”
I walked about the Kur, which closed its eyes. Its fur was coated with sand.
I crouched down near it. It opened its eyes, and regarded me.
On its left forepaw, or hand, on one of the six digits, was a heavy ring, seemingly of gold.
I had not seen such an ornament on a Kur before. I had seen rings of the sort worn on arms and wrists, and earrings, but no ring of the sort which might encircle a digit. Many Kurii are vain beasts.
“I have seen this Kur before,” I said. I had seen it in a dungeon in the house of Samos. It had been apprehended months before apparently enroute to the Tahari. Samos had bought it as a beast from hunters. Six men had died in its capture. The eyes, rimmed with sand, were black-pupiled; the corneas, usually yellow, seemed pale, flattishly colored; the leathery snout seemed dry, the lips were drawn back about the fangs; the tongue, black, seemed large; it seemed thin for a Kur, haggard; I realized then that its tissues reflected dehydration. That the Kur had been bound for the Tahari had been a portion of the mystery, which had initiated my venture to the desert. What business had it in the Tahari? “It will die soon,” said Hassan. “Leave it.”
I remained near the Kur, looking upon it. “It needs water,” I said.
“Do not approach it!” warned Hassan.
I supposed men had few enemies as terrible as the fearsome Kur, unless it be other men. Such beasts and Priest-Kings were locked in relentless war, two worlds, two planets, Gor and Earth lying at the stake. Men seemed puny allies to either species. Before me lay my enemy, helpless.
“Kill it,” said Hassan.
“It is a rational beast,” I said. “It needs water.”
“Desist in this madness!” cried Hassan.
I lifted the shaggy head, more than a foot wide. Between the rows of fangs, the bag over my shoulder, I thrust the spike of the water bag.
The paws of the beast reached up, slowly, and placed themselves on the bag. I saw them indent the bag, the spread of the digits was more than fifteen inches in width. There were six digits, multiply jointed, furred. I saw the golden ring, heavy, strangely set, it seemed with a tiny square of silver, against the brown leather of the bag. It did not seem a normal ring. “This morning,” I said, “before dawn, it could have killed us and taken the water. It did not do so.”
Hassan did not speak.
Slowly the Kur rose to his feet. I closed the bag, twisting in the plug. There was only a gallon or so of water in the bag. It would last a human a day, then he must draw on his own tissues.
Hassan stood back.
The Kur turned away from us. Very slowly it lifted it’s head, as though literally feeling the water flowing through the vessels of his body. It was frightening in a way to see it. It was as though it was coming alive, and it was a Kur.
“You are insane,” whispered Hassan. The desert would have killed it for you.”
“It did not kill us when it could have,” I said. “It did not take the water.”
“So it was mad from the desert, the storm,” said Hassan. “It will now be thinking clearly.”
I watched the Kur. It fell to all fours; then it rose to a half-crouched, shambling position, knuckles to the dirt, as a Kur most naturally moves. It suddenly rolled in the sand. Then it stood up. It reached out with one paw, The paw encircled the heavy, twisted interlacings of stems of a thick clump of narrow-leafed scrub brush. Like most desert plants it is deeply rooted. With one motion the Kur tore the brush from the ground and lifted it over his head, and threw it from him. It leaped in the sand, and struck the sand with its right fist. Then, exposing the claws on its prehensile appendage, that heavy, six digited hand, it tore down into the dirt, and threw dirt behind it. Then it straightened its body and howled, and, dropping to all fours, turned toward us, observing us. Then, slowly, half-crouched, shambling, knuckles to the dirt, it approached us.
The corneas of its eyes were vivid yellow now. Its snout wore a sheen of sweat.
Its tongue moved about its lips, which were wet.
It stopped a few feet from us. I had little doubt that it could kill two unarmed men in the desert.
But it did not attack. Instead, it looked at me. And it pointed back, toward the dune country.
It straightened up, perhaps to appear more like a man. I saw then that it had been wounded. In places its fur had been slashed away. Several cuts half-healed, marked its body. It must, at one time, lost much blood.
“I know this Kur, “ I said. I regarded it. “Can you understand me?” I asked.
It gave no sign that it could understand me.
“I had it freed from a dungeon in Port Kar, “ I told Hassan. “In Tor, in a courtyard, several men waited to slay me. Havoc and slaughter was wrought among them, such that only a Kur might accomplish. In prison in Nine Wells, though strangely I could not see it, a Kur came to my cell. It could have killed me, I helplessly chained. It did not. I think it might have tried to free me. It was surprised by Ibn Saran and his men. It was nearly killed, trapped in the cell.
It was much wounded. Ibn Saran told me the beast had been killed. It had not been. This is he. This is that Kur. I know him, Hassan. He is, if only for this moment, my ally. I think, Hassan, strange though it may seem, that we hold a cause in common.”
“A man and a Kur!” protested Hassan. “It is impossible!”
The Kur pointed to the dune country.
I turned to Hassan. “I wish you well, Hassan,” I said.
“It is madness to enter the dune country again,” he said. “The water is almost gone.”
“Try to reach Four Palms,” I said. “Your first business lies with your tribe.
There is soon to be war in the Tahari. When the Kavars ride, you must ride with them.”
“It is a hard choice you impose upon me,” said Hassan, “to choose between my brother and my tribe.” Then he said, “I am of the Tahari. I must choose my brother.”
“The water decides it,” I said. “Your tribe awaits.”
Hassan looked at the Kur. Then he looked at me. “I wish you well, my brother,” he said. He smiled. “May your water bags be never empty. May you always have water.”
“May your water bags be never empty,” I said. “May you have always water.”
Hassan turned away. I wished him well. It was my hope that he would reach Four Palms.
Already, loping, then turning back, then moving ahead again, the Kur moved before me, back toward the long, ragged edge of dunes which lay on our left.
I followed him.
21 What Occurred in the Dune Country
/> The Kur was an incredible animal. Without it I would not have survived.
The next day the water was gone.
To my surprise, though the Kur had pointed to the dune country, he led me in a path parallel to the dunes, through more normal Tahari terrain. I realized then that he had been pointing to his destination, whatever it might be, which lay within the dune country, as though I might know what it was, but that the route which he wisely selected would parallel the dune country, until he reached a given point, at which point he would strike out overland, into the forbidding dunes, to reach whatever objective it was within them which might concern him, or us.
“The water is gone,” I told him. I held the bag in such a way as to show him that no fluid remained within it. After his first drink, near the shelter trench, he had not had water.
The Kur watched the flight of birds. He followed them, for a day. He found their water. It was foul. We gratefully drank. I submerged the water bag I carried. We killed four birds and ate them raw. The Kur caught small rock tharlarion, and on this plenty, too, we feasted. Then we continued our journey. I drank much for the Kur seemed hurried. Surely he knew that one should move only at night, and yet the beast seemed tireless, and would press me on, as though I needed neither food nor sleep. Did he not know I was not a Kur? He, shielded by the fur, was less exposed to the sun. He would move day and night, but I could not.
Impatiently, he would crouch near me, when I fell to the sand, to sleep. He would, in an Ahn, awaken me, and point to the sun. Yet I did not think he wished to tell me the hour of the day, but call my attention to the passage of time. He seemed hurried. Surely even for his mighty body the heat, the sun, the scarcity of water, the scarcity of food, must have taken dreadful toll. At times his wounds must have tormented him. Twice I saw him lick bloody crusts from their eruptions. Yet, slowly, as though by force of will, he moved on. I was sure he would kill us both. One does not tease the desert. It is implacable, like a stone or furnace.