Icerigger

by Foster, Alan Dean;

  "Then why don't you go back to it?" Ethan spun away in disgust.

  September stared at him sharply for a moment, then sagged. " Yerse, young feller, I believe that's exactly what I'm going to do." He turned and stumbled of down the hall.

  It was much, much too soon when the servant woke Ethan politely and brought in his breakfast. A carton of their own emergency rations, thank Rama! Not that the local food last night hadn't been edible. Even tasty in spots, but it was good to smell real terran food again even if fast frozen.

  He searched through the case and came up with a can of self-cooking bacon and eggs, a smaller cylinder of coffee, and a fiat, two-sided slab that when keyed down the middle broke into two hot slices of buttered toast.

  He wolfed it all down, rearranging the more persistent itches within the parka. Preparing to don his shoes, he found a pair of fur-lined boots next to them. They were a little large, but then the royal tailor no doubt had a hell of a time with their foot shapes. Not to mention the odd task, as the tran didn't wear footgear.

  Probably September had slipped him instructions and a rough sketch or two. So they were ill-fitting and awkwardly stitched, but they were warm and that was all that counted. The soles were even studded with tiny metal shards, to give them some grip on the slick ice.

  Unfortunately, he was still stuck with the too-large sur­vival suit. He might do better with a native coat like September's.

  The castle that morning was a carnival of conversation and gossip. It centered around the attempted assassination and the role played by the visitors from the sky. September went off somewhere with Balavere and Hunnar to inspect the city and harbor defenses and make pertinent suggestions. Ethan wondered about the big man's profession for the nth time and finally gave it up. An admitted. criminal ...

  No, he cautioned himself. Being wanted on several worlds did not automatically convict him. Church and Commonwealth notwithstanding, the legal tenets of planets varied hugely from system to system. They had to. Monolithic law would make the gigantic humanx Commonwealth unworkable.

  So the same act that might condemn a man to death on one world could make him hero on another.

  A servant told Ethan that on awakening Williams had been visited by no less a personage than the great wizard himself. So those two were off again somewhere trading anecdotes and information.

  The du Kanes were keeping to their room. As for Walther, he was allowed out under guard for exercise only.

  That left him alone to explore the town and the castle.

  Several days of comparative freedom from official dinners and such gave him time to examine Wannome in more depth. In many ways it resembled a host of small ancient terran walled towns. Especially those few that had been preserved as historical monuments. Ethan knew a little of them from school and the traveldees.

  Personally, he'd never been able to afford a trip to the home world. Nor had the company found it fit or necessary to send him. Someday, perhaps ...

  But there were endless differences.

  For example, there were none of the fountains that dec­orated so many human and thranx towns. Naturally not. Not when it would require constant heating to keep the* *water flowing.

  Alternatively, many of the houses sported fantastic roof decorations carved in ice, often by very young cubs. The inhabitants were gruff, but friendly. By the second day they'd gotten over their fear - uncertainty and had grown positively effusive .Clearly the word had been passed that the humans were not only guests but special favorites of the Landgrave. And he who favors one favored by the Landgrave favors him­self-a universal tenet, if differently expressed, he reflected.

  The cubs were a total and unexpected delight, rolling, bouncing, chivaning balls of far that surrounded him wherever he went and threatened to get all tangled up in his clumsy legs. The blatantly displayed fact that he possessed neither chiv nor don both astounded and delighted them. No doubt they looked on him as a new variety of friendly freak, a silly goblin called up just to please and delight them.

  He visualized then lying in the street, running blood, im­paled on pikes, and decided that if he'd been in Hunnar's place be would have fought for this chance to resist as soon as he'd grown old enough to articulate his position.

  Or would you, -my good salesman? Sure you wouldn't have found it more expedient to buy another two or three years of safety, of good business? Eh? So certain of your con­science?

  The thought bothered him and he shook it off without resolving it. Of course it was tough to get out of the habit of buying peace. But it could grow too comforting, too de­grading. A dedicated pacifist, he found himself shocked at what a few days on this backward world had done to his comfortable picture of the universe. Weren't the commercial practices of some of the great companies just as bloodthirsty and ruthless, if more discreet? Didn't Sagyanak have his counterparts in polished boardrooms and his spirit back of major stock manipulations?

  By the end of the first week he'd already grown a little bored with Wannome. Even the harbor, wide its over-shifting panorama of rafts and cargoes, was growing stale. Heart and soul he was a big-city boy. While he could trade, and trade well, on the most primitive worlds, it was the thought of mechanized comfort and sybarytic civilization awaiting his return that pushed him along. Isis was most definitely not the soul of an outdoorsman.

  None of the captains he talked with, nor any of their crewmembers, had ever heard of Arsudun Island or Brass Monkey. Nor had they visited The-Place- Where-The-E,arth's­ Blood-Burns.

  It was a fine, sunny day-meaning that the temperature was within cozy distance of freezing and soave tran were going without coats. And you didn't have to lean into the wind to stay in one place. Ire met Colette in. the hall. When she finally confessed to boredom exceeding his, he proposed that they explore some more ®f the island.

  Hunnar took a few -minutes away from his frantic prepa­rations to provide them with instructions on how to get around. Certain sections of the island would be easier for them to see than for a tran, while others would be just the reverse.

  A set of rations from their store of food, and they were off.

  It was steep climbing to the saddle between the mountain tops. But from there the view, as Colette described it in one of the few complimentary adjectives Ethan had heard her use, was "magnificent."

  From here one could look up to the sharp crags on either side that formed the high points of Sofold Island. To the east you could look down across the tightly packed, steep-gabled roofs of the city, then out over the busy harbor, with its ever-moving commerce and dozens of flashing painted sails, to the great harbor walls and the endless ice beyond.

  This they'd anticipated. What surprised and pleased them was the view in the other direction.

  Coming eternally from the west, the wind hit them hard when they topped the last rise. Below them, a long, broad plain spread out, dotted here and there with farms and clusters of little stone buildings. Herds of vol and monkey-like hoppers were visible in distant fields. Squares of crimson larval, the local substitute for wheat, were patches of billowing flame in the bright sunlight.

  Beyond, he could make out a field of green extending as far as he could see in a great fan shape toward the horizon. like the tail of some monstrous bird-of-paradise. Off to the left, kilometers across the ice, he thought he could detect another patch.

  Their guide, a sprightly adolescent named Kierlo, explained what it was. "There, noble sir and madame, grows the great pika-pedan, in a field greater than several Sofolds. There the thunder-eater comes to browse."

  "I've heard so much about this thunder-eater," said Ethan as they strolled along the broad path that ran along the crest, "that I'd like very much to see one close up."

  The youngster laughed. "No one goes to look at the thun­der-eater close up, noble sir."

  "It's vicious, then?"

  "No sir. Tot vicious. But it can be very irritable, like sore k'nlth."

  Ethan- knew the k'nith. A small
animal like a hairy rat. He found it repulsive, but it was apparently a favored pet among the cubs of Wannome. They seemed affectionate, despite their fearsome appearance, and tended to explode into frenzied squalling at the tiniest upset. The cubs found such outbursts amusing.

  Clearly they were more tolerant of their pets than a human child, who would have grown disgusted with a k'nith in a day or two. The climate even made for hardier pets, he mused.

  "I'd like to see the foundry," he said suddenly. It dawned on him that they must be quite close to this major source of Wannome's wealth and power.

  "Yes, lord." The youth turned down a narrow path that Ethan would have walked right past. Once around a bend in the rock, he could see smoke from the mountaintops once again.

  The foundry itself occupied a little valley. It was small to the eye, even tiny, at first. But once they drew nearer, he could see that much of it was cut into the naked rock and built into caverns to take advantage of the heat rising from deep within the planet's crust.

  From this area of the crest he could see that several of the crags were old volcanic cones. Most were dead or dormant, but a few puffed black smoke skyward. All of the crater:, sloped to the west and had been invisible from the city side.

  Wannomian smelting arid metal-working turned out to be an odd mixture of primitive technology and some surprisingly advanced techniques. The drawing and tempering of sword blades, for example, and of spear points.

  The foundry head was in Wannome conferring with the military councilors. They were met by Jaes Mulvakken, the assistant chief.

  "We are most honored, noble sir and lady, that you have found time to inspect our poor-"

  "Skip the flattery and formal self-deprecation," smiled Ethan. He'd almost perfected the technique of smiling without revealing his teeth. "We just want to have a casual look around."

  Mulvakken was all business when it carne to explaining the operation of the foundry. He even managed to get Colette interested. Ethan was impressed by the tran's efficiency and knowledge. He'd make a fine district supervisor for a major mine.

  while he preferred talking about finished products, he had to admit the foundry was fascinating.

  In order to get close to the heat vents and geysers within the mountain, Iran workers were first doused with ice water. Moving their arms and legs to keep the joints free, they soon wore jackets of transparent armor on torsos, arms, and legs. It gave Ethan the shivers just to watch it.

  It was strange to see someone donning special outfits to re­tain the cold. Everything backwards.

  "Where are your mines?" he asked Mulvakken.

  "At the west end of the island, sir. Some of our shafts and tunnelings extend out even under the ice."

  "Don't you have trouble digging into this super-perma­frost?"

  "Ch no, sir. The deeper we go, the softer it gets. And the miners are out of the wind. But the pika-pina is rooted in that end of the island. Cutting through the roots is worse than try­ing to cut through rock. Usually we just remove the dirt and work around the roots themselves. The ice is easily melted and the water removed ... Sometimes we can cut through an old or weakened root here, a dying linkage there. But it is so entwined and grown upon itself that tis near impossible to separate one bit from another.

  "Nor would we want to kill it. The pika-pina gives us food, while the metal gives us wealth."

  "An attack on that end of the island by an enemy would capture the mines, then," said Ethan unnecessarily.

  "Oh yes! But a lump of iron ore is a poor weapon, noble sir. Even were an enemy so inclined, and knowledgeable enough to work the mines, he could not with us continually harassing him. We're well protected here in the mountains, sir, even better than the city folk."

  "Ch, I don't know. This western slope doesn't look so bad.

  "perhaps not for you, sir. But I have heard you are built differently from us and that climbing uphill without wind aid does not give you as much difficulty."

  That was probably true, Ethan reflected..

  He was examining the huge windmills that powered lathes and grindstones and brought air to the forges when he felt Colette's hand on his arm.

  "Oh look. There's professor Williams," She'd taken to call­ing him "professor" Williams now, though they didn't know exactly what level of upper school he taught. He'd not volun­teered the information. Sometime Ethan would have to ask.

  The schoolmaster was seated at a table along with the ever ­attending Eer-Meesach. Both were so engrossed in a pile of diagrams that they didn't notice the arrivals until Ethan and Colette had stood behind them for several minutes.

  "I'll leave you, noble sir and lady, to the company of the wizards. I have much work to do. Tis sure no one knows hose to put a decent edge on a sword these clays." Mulvakken gave them a bloodthirsty grin and bowed politely.

  In other words, Ethan reflected wryly, I've wasted enough time showing you alien V.I.p.s around and it's time I got back to some serious work. Ire waddled off in the direction of smoke, heat, and ringing noises.

  "'Well, Milliken. Eer-Meesach."

  "Greetings, sir and madame," the wizard said with sprightly enthusiasts. His eyes were shining. "Your friend has been showing me many things. Great things. 1 haven" been so ex­cited since l was a famulus!"

  "What have you been up to, Milliken?"

  "Malmeevyn has been helping me with mechanical equiva­lents and local terminology. I'm not much of a fighter and thought I might be able to help some other way."

  "Nor am I," said Ethan sincerely.

  "Oh, but we all saw the way you handled Sir Hunnar that night." He couldn't keep the admiration out of his voice. "Even Mr. du Kane is a better fighter than I ... But I did think I might be able to aid in other ways. I've. read quite ex­tensively, you know. I've been trying to help out the Wannom­ian armorers with an idea or two gleaned from terran and centaurian history. My first idea involved catapults, but both sides already understand and utilize the principle. Very pow­erful devices they have, too."

  "They'd have to be," Ethan commented, "to do much in this wind."

  "Yes. Also swords, pikes, axes, lances, halberds-all kinds of things for cutting and stabbing. Spears and bows for throw­ing. But I've been working closely with Malmeevym and the metal workers and I believe we've managed to come up with a couple of beneficial developments."

  He reached under the table and brought out an object the like of which Ethan had never seen.

  It had a long, straight body of wood, with a short bow set on one end. There was also an obvious trigger and some sort of pulley and crank mechanism at the other end.

  "Very interesting," said Ethan, conscious of his historical cretinism. "What is it?"

  "An ancient terran weapon. It's called an arbalest, or crossbow."

  "A _marvelous_ invention!" shouted the wizard, unable to contain himself. "I showed it to Leuva Sukonin's son, a knight of archers. When I outdistanced his best bowman he fell on the icepath and nearly slid all the way into town!" The wizard chuckled at the memory.

  "It can throw twenty to forty zuvits further than the forest archer," Williams said, "and it's 'pore accurate and powerful besides. It cannot be loaded as fast, it's true. But it will pene­trate the thickest of leather-bronze shields at close range. I made the bows extremely tough. I think this version is more powerful than anything ever used on old Terra. These tram have truly awesome arm and shoulder muscles ... from holding their clan against the wind, I suspect."

  Ethan hefted the weapon uncertainly. He tried the crank but could hardly budge it. "It's impressive, all right. I don't suppose you've succeeded in coning up with maybe a pocket laser or a nice portable thermonuclear device, hmmm? It would make things a lot simpler."

  "I'm afraid not." Williams smiled slightly. "But we are still working on other developments. I hope one or two will be ready in time to do some good."

  "That's right," muttered Ethan, "-time."

  "No one's said anything to me about time either," p
rotested Colette. "When is this Horde or monster or whatever due to arrive?"

  "No one knows, Colette. It could be several malets yet. Or they might be sighted tomorrow morning. Hunnar says they might even decide to pass Sofold completely for another year. I can't tell whether that possibility pleases or disappoints him. Now let's have another look at that chap who does the inter­esting marketable scrollwork on the sword-hilts ..."

  In the weeks that followed Ethan got to know the people of Wannome as well as those of blew Paris, Drallar, or Sam­stead. Preparations for battle continued apace, but the flow of commerce in the harbor never slackened. 'there was still no word of the Horde.

  One evening he wondered if the whole story of the Horde mightn't be a gigantic fraud-a cleverly concocted story de­signed to keep these useful and interesting strangers from the sky in Sofold. He quickly discarded that as a thought not only unworthy of people like Hunnar and Balavere and Malmee­vyn, but also illogical. Although he wouldn't put it past the Landgrave.

  No, there'd been too much obvious passion displayed that night, when the inhabitants of Sofold had determined to fight their tormentors instead of groveling to them-too spontane­ous, too genuine, even an its alien setting, to be a mere dumb show created for such ignoble purpose.

  He, Hunnar, and September were seated at a. table in the general castle dining hall, down near the scullery. This was where most of the castle folk took their meals. Hunnar then suggested a walk along the sky balcony and the two humans agreed.

  The sky balcony was the highest open pathway in Wannome Castle, excepting only the High Tower. From its wind-lashed parapet one could stare down a sheer drop to solid ice below, and far out across the great frozen sea to the south.

  Their sojourn was interrupted by the breathless arrival of one of the apprentice-squires. He scraped to a halt, gulping freezing air, and almost forgot to bow to Hunnar. His face was wild.