The Golden Age of Science Fiction Novels Vol 03

by Anthology

  "Most bad," she said solemnly when he paused.

  "That's what I want to tell you; it's bad," he declared. "We've got to head them off some way; stop them somehow. I don't see how we're going to capture them again--ten of them against me. But we've got to do something."

  Then he asked her about the lay of the country between the shore of the sea and the Lone City.

  Anina's English was put to severe test by her explanation; but she knew far many more words than she had ever used, and now, with the interest of what she had to say, she lost much of the diffidence which before had restrained her.

  She told him that the trail led back through the forest for some distance, and then ran parallel with a swift flowing river. This river, she explained, emptied into the Narrow Sea a few miles below the end of the trail. It was the direct water route to the Lone City.

  The trail, striking the river bank, followed it up into a mountainous country--a metallic waste where few trees grew. There was a place still farther up in a very wild, broken country, where the river ran through a deep, narrow gorge, and the trail followed a narrow ledge part way up one of its precipitous sides.

  Anina's eyes sparkled with eagerness as she told of it.

  "There, my friend Ollie, we stop them. Many loose stones there are, and the path is very narrow."

  Mercer saw her plan at once. They could bar the men's passage somewhere along this rocky trail, and with stones drive them back. He realized with satisfaction that he could throw a stone fully twice as large and twice as far as any of the men, and thus, out of range, bombard them until they would be glad enough to turn back.

  His plan, then, was to land, and with Anina follow the men. The rest of the girls he would send back to me with the platform, to tell Miela and me to come over the next evening to the end of the trail.

  He and Anina meanwhile would keep close behind the men, and then when the cañon was neared, get around in front of them, and bar their farther advance. This would be easy since he could walk and run much faster than they, and Anina could fly. He would drive them back out of the gorge, send Anina to keep the appointment with me and bring me up to him with the girls and the platform.

  They reached the shore and landed within a few feet of where they had been an hour before. The men were not in sight; nothing remained to show they had been there, save pieces of cut cord lying about.

  Anina now instructed the girls what to tell me, and in a moment more, with the blanket and a few pieces of bread, she and Mercer were left standing alone on the rocky beach. Anina was cold. He took off his fur jacket and wrapped it about her shoulders.

  She made a quaint little picture standing there, with her two long braids of golden hair, and her blue-feathered wings which the jacket only partly covered. They started up the trail together. It was almost dark in the woods, but soon their eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, and they could see a little better. They walked as rapidly, as Anina was able, for the men had nearly an hour's start, and Mercer concluded they would be far ahead.

  They had gone perhaps a mile, climbing along over fallen logs, walking sometimes on the larger tree trunks lying prone--rude bridges by which the trail crossed some ravine--when Anina said: "I fly now. You wait here, Ollie, and I find where they are."

  She handed him the coat and flew up over the treetops, disappearing almost immediately in the darkness. Mercer slung the coat around him and sat down to wait. He sat there perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes, staring up at the silent, motionless treetops, and thinking all sorts of vague, impossible dangers impending. Then he heard her wings flapping and saw her flitting down through the trees.

  "Very near, they are," she said as soon as she reached the ground. "A fire--they have--and they are ready now to sleep."

  They went on slowly along the trail, and soon saw the glimmer of a fire ahead. "A camp for the night," whispered Mercer.

  "It must be nearly morning now."

  He looked about him and smiled as he realized that no light would come with the morning. Always this same dim twilight here--and eternal darkness on ahead. "Good Lord, what a place to live!" he muttered.

  They crept on cautiously until they were within sight of the camp. A large fire was burning briskly. Most of the men were wrapped in their blankets, apparently asleep; three were sitting upright, on guard. Mercer and Anina crept away.

  "We'd better camp, too," Mercer said when they were well out of hearing. "They will probably stay there four or five hours, anyway. Lord, I'm tired." He laid his hand on her shoulder gently, almost timidly. "Aren't you tired, too, little girl?"

  "Yes," she answered simply, and met his eyes with her gentle little smile. "Oh, yes--I tired. Very much."

  They did not dare light a fire, nor had they any means of doing so. They went back from the trail a short distance, finding a little recess between two fallen logs, where the ground was soft with a heavy moss. Here they decided to sleep for a few hours.

  A small pool of water had collected on a barren surface of rock near by, and from this they drank. Then they sat down, together and ate about half the few remaining pieces of bread which Mercer was carrying in the pockets of his jacket. They were both tired out. Anina particularly was very sleepy.

  When they had finished eating Anina lay down, and Mercer covered her with the blanket. She smiled up at him.

  "Good night, Anina."

  "Good night, my friend Ollie."

  She closed her eyes, snuggling closer under the blanket with a contented little sigh. Mercer put on his jacket and sat down beside her, his chin cupped in his hand. It seemed colder now. His trousers were thin, his legs felt numb and stiff from his recent exertion.

  He sat quiet, staring at the sleeping girl. She was very beautiful and very sweet, lying there with her golden hair framing her face, her little head pillowed on her arms, a portion of one blue-feathered wing peeping out from under the blanket. All at once Mercer bent over and kissed her lightly, brushing her lips with his, as one kisses a sleeping child.

  She stirred, then opened her eyes and smiled up at him again.

  "You cold, Ollie," she said accusingly. She lifted an edge of the blanket. "Here--you sleep, too."

  He stretched himself beside her, and she flung a corner of the blanket over him; and thus, like two children lost in the woods and huddled together for warmth under a fallen log, they slept.

  CHAPTER XXI.

  ANOTHER LIGHT-RAY!

  The news that Mercer and Anina had been left in the Twilight Country completely dumfounded Miela and me. "Something was wrong," Mercer had said. And then they had insisted on staying there, and had sent the girls back to tell me to come over.

  We could make nothing of it, nor did the half hour of argument into which we immediately plunged further enlighten us. That flaw in our plans which had dawned on Mercer so suddenly and clearly certainly never occurred to us, for all it was seemingly so obvious.

  We were interrupted--having reached no conclusion whatever except that we would go over that evening as Mercer had directed--by the arrival of the police chief to see me. He was a little man, curiously thin and wizened for a Mercutian, with wide pantaloons, a shirt, short jacket and little triangular cocked hat. His face seemed pointed, like a ferret. His movements were rapid, his roving glance peculiarly alert.

  He bowed before me obsequiously. He would obey me to the letter, I could see that at once from his manner; though, had I impressed him as being like my predecessor, I did not doubt but that he would do as he pleased upon occasion.

  I toyed with the little light-ray cylinder in my hand quite casually through the brief interview, and I saw he was thoroughly impressed, for he seemed unable to take his eyes from it.

  "Where are your men just now?" I asked.

  He raised his hands deprecatingly and poured out a flood of words to Miela when my question was translated to him.

  "He himself was sleeping," she said to me when he had paused for breath. "His third watch was on patrol about th
e city. Then from the castle came the king's guards, fleeing in haste. Those of the police they met they told that evil men were in the castle with the light-ray, and all who represented the city's authority would be killed."

  "That was a lie," I interrupted. "There was no light-ray here then."

  Miela nodded. "It was what Baar's men had told them to say, I think."

  "And then what happened to the police?"

  "Then they left their posts about the city. Some fled; others went back and reported what they had heard."

  "And it never occurred to any of them to come up here and try to stop the disturbance? Curious policemen, these!"

  "It is too deadly--the light-ray," said Miela. "They were afraid. And then the alarm bell began ringing. They sent for Ano, here, to ask him what they should do. And then you sent for him. He has his men at the police building, in waiting. And he comes to you at the risk of his life, and now asks your commands."

  Thus did my chief of police explain satisfactorily to himself, and with great protestations of loyalty to his trust, how it came about that he and his men did nothing while their king was being murdered and another put in his place.

  Recriminations seemed useless. He stood bowing and scraping before me, eager only to obey my slightest wish.

  "Tell him, Miela, how Baar's men captured Lua. Have the city, thoroughly searched--Baar's house particularly. Tell him I killed Baar's wife. Have that slave woman sent home to me.

  "Tell him to capture Baar and any of his known associates. If he does, have him report to me at once. Say to him that I must have word of Lua--or I'll have a new chief of police by to-morrow. For the rest, have his men patrol the city as usual."

  I spoke as sternly as I could, and the little man received my words with voluble protestations of extreme activity on his part.

  When he had bowed himself out I smiled at Miela hopelessly.

  "This has got to be a mighty different government before we can ever hope to accomplish anything against Tao." Tao was not worrying me for the moment. Lua must be found, and I had no idea of relying entirely upon this little chief of police to find her. And Mercer needed me, too, this very evening.

  I stood up wearily and put my arm about Miela's shoulders. Her little body drooped against mine, her head resting on my shoulder. There was little about us then, as we stood there dispirited and physically tired out, that would have commended respect from our subjects.

  "We must get some sleep, Miela," I said. "Things will look very different to us then."

  It must have been mid-afternoon when we awoke. Ano was at hand to report that Baar and his men, and all the king's guards, must have fled the city. Of Lua he had, so far, found no trace. Baar's slave woman was in the castle, waiting our commands. The girl who had brought us Mercer's message was also waiting to ask us when we wanted her and the other girls for the trip back to the Twilight Country.

  "Right away," I exclaimed. "I'm not going to take any chances with Mercer. We'll start at once."

  The girl flew away to get her friends and the platform, which had been left in the garden of Miela's home. I planned to start openly from the castle roof; there was now no need of maintaining secrecy.

  The disappearance of Lua was alarming. Equally so was the possible danger into which Mercer might have blundered. In Lua's case there did not seem much I could do personally at that moment. Before starting I arranged with the aged councilors to call a meeting the following morning of all government officials.

  "Could we get Fuero to come, Miela?"

  She shook her head positively. "His oath would forbid it."

  "Well, tell the councilors to call also any of the city's prominent men. I've got to get some good men with me. I can't do it all alone."

  Miela smiled at me quizzically as I said this: "You have forgotten our women and their help, my husband?"

  I had, in very truth, for the moment.

  "We'll need them, too," I said. "Tell these girls who carry us to-night to call all those who went with us to the mountains--a meeting to-morrow at this time--here on the castle roof."

  "To the Water City we must go," Miela said. "There Tao's men are very strong, our girls report. And to-day there was a fight among the people, and several were killed."

  "But we must go armed, Miela, with more than one light-ray. I shall see this Fuero to-morrow. After all, he's the key-note to the whole thing."

  We started from the castle roof, Miela sitting with me this time on the platform. Flying low, we passed over the maze of bayous, and in what seemed an incredibly short time we were out over the sea. I had now no idea what we might be called upon to do, or how long we would be gone, for all my specific plans for the next day; so we started as well prepared as possible.

  The precious light-ray cylinder I held in my hand. We had a number of blankets, enough food for us all for two days of careful rationing, a knife or two, and a heavy, sharp-edged metal implement like an ax.

  It seemed hardly more than half an hour before a great black cloud had spread over the whole sky, and we ran into the worst storm I have ever encountered. The wind came up suddenly, and we fought our way directly into it. Lightning flashed about us, and then came the rain, slanting down in great sheets.

  We were still flying low. The mirror surface of the sea was now lashed with waves, extraordinarily high, whose white tops blew away in long streaks of scud. The girls fought sturdily against the wind and rain, carrying us steadily up until after a while I could not see the water below.

  We were in the storm perhaps an hour altogether. Then we passed up and beyond it; and emerged again into that gray vacancy, with a waste of storm-lashed water far beneath us.

  The Twilight Country shore was still below the horizon, and it was a considerable time before we sighted it. Miela and I sat quiet, wrapped in a blanket, which, wet as it was, offered some protection against the biting wind. The girls seemed exhausted from their long struggle against the storm, and I was glad for them when we finally landed.

  This was the place, they said, where Mercer and Anina had set Tao's men free, and where the two were standing when the girls had left with the platform. I looked about, and saw on the beach the pieces of cut cord with which the men had been bound.

  Of Mercer and Anina there was no sign. We waited until well after the time of the evening meal, and still Mercer and Anina did not arrive. We concluded, of course, that they had followed Tao's men up the trail for some reason, and we expected it would be Anina who would come back to tell us where Mercer was.

  "Let us go up a little distance," Miela suggested finally. "They cannot tell what the hour is. They may be near here now, coming back."

  The girls were rested and warmed now, and we started off again with the platform. We flew low over the treetops, following the trail as best we could, but in the semi-darkness we could see very little from above. After a time we gave it up and returned to the shore.

  Again we waited, now very much alarmed. And then finally we decided to return to the Great City for the night. Anina might have missed us some way, we thought, and flown directly home. She might be there waiting for us when we arrived. If not, we would return again with several hundred girls, and with them scour the country carefully back as near the Lone City as we dared go.

  With our hearts heavy with apprehension we started back across the channel. Lua, Mercer and Anina were separated from us. All had been captured, perhaps, by our enemies! Things were, indeed, in a very bad way.

  Without unusual incident we sighted the Light Country shore. Three girls were winging their way swiftly toward us.

  "They wish to speak with us, Alan," said Miela. "From the Great City they seem to come. Perhaps it is Anina."

  Our hopes were soon dispelled, for Anina was not one of them; they were three of the girls we had directed to patrol the seacoast.

  When they neared us Miela flew off the platform and joined them. They circled about for a time, flying close together, then Miela left them and retur
ned to me, while they hovered overhead. Her face was clouded with anxiety as she alighted beside me.

  "They were near the Water City a short time ago. And they say the light-ray is being used there. They saw it flashing up, and dared not go closer."

  The light-ray in the Water City! My heart sunk with dismay. The cylinder I held in my hand I had thought the only one in use in all the Light Country. With it I felt supreme. And now they had it also in the Water City!

  One of the girls flung up her hand suddenly and called to Miela.

  "See, Alan--a boat!"

  I looked down to where Miela pointed. The sea was still rough from the storm, but no longer lashed into fury. Coming toward us, close inshore and from the direction of the Water City, I saw a boat speeding along over the spent waves. And as I looked, a narrow beam of light, green, shading into red, shot up from the boat and hung wavering in the air like a little search-light striving to pierce the gray mist of the sky!

  CHAPTER XXII.

  THE THEFT OF THE LIGHT-RAY.

  The touch of soft, cool hands on his face brought Mercer back to sudden consciousness. He opened his eyes; Anina was sitting beside him, regarding him gravely.

  "Wake up, my friend Ollie. Time now to wake up."

  He sat up, rubbing his eyes. The same dim twilight obscured everything around. For an instant he was confused.

  "Why, I've been asleep." He got to his feet. "Do you think it's been long, Anina? Maybe the men have started off. Let's go see."

  Anina had already been to see; she had awakened some little time before and, leaving Mercer asleep, had flown up ahead over the treetops.

  The men were just then breaking camp, and she had returned to wake up Mercer. They ate their last remaining pieces of bread, drank from the little pool of water, and were soon ready to start on after their quarry.

  "How long will it take them to reach the gorge, Anina?"

  "Not very long--four times farther reach Lone City."

  By which Mercer inferred that within three or four hours, perhaps, they would be at the place where they hoped to turn the men back.