would have broken the other man in two if it hadconnected. But M'shika was expecting this and fell back, swinging acounter-blow with his own club that Ch'aka easily avoided. Therefollowed a quick exchange of club-work that did little more than fanthe air, until suddenly both men were locked together and the fightbegan in earnest. They rolled together on the ground gruntingsavagely, tearing at each other. The heavy clubs were of no use thisclose and were dropped in favor of knives and knees: Jason couldunderstand now why Ch'aka had the long tusks strapped to his kneecaps.It was a no-holds-barred fight and each man was trying as hard aspossible to kill his opponent. The leather armor made this difficultand the struggle continued, littering the sand with broken off animalteeth, discarded weapons and other debris. It looked like it would becalled a draw when both men separated for a breather, but they divedright back in again.
* * * * *
It was Ch'aka who broke the stalemate when he plunged his dagger intothe ground and on the next roll caught the handle in his mouth.Holding his opponent's arms in both his hands he plunged his head downand managed to find a weak spot in the other's armor: M'shika howledand pulled free and when he climbed to his feet blood was running downhis arm and dripping from his fingertips. Ch'aka jumped after him butthe wounded man grabbed up his club in time to ward off the charge.Stumbling backward he managed to pick up most of his discarded weaponswith his wounded arm and beat a hasty retreat. Ch'aka ran after him ashort way, shouting praise of his own strength and abilities and ofhis opponent's cowardice. Jason saw a short, sharp horn from some seaanimal lying in the churned up sand and quickly picked it up beforeCh'aka turned back.
Once his enemy had been chased out of sight Ch'aka carefully searchedthe battleground and scavenged anything of military value. Thoughthere was still some hours of daylight left he signaled a halt anddistributed the evening ration of _krenoj_. Jason sat and chewed hisportion reflectively while Ijale leaned against his side, her shouldermoving rhythmically as she scratched some hidden mite. Lice wereinescapable, they hid in the crevices of the badly cured hides andemerged with clicking jaws whenever the warmth of human flesh camenear. Jason had his quota of the pests and found his scratchingkeeping time with hers. This syncopation of scratch triggered theanger that had been building within him, slow and unnoticed.
"I'm serving notice," he said, jumping to his feet. "I'm through withthis slave business. Which way is the nearest spot in the desert whereI can find the D'zertanoj?"
"Over there, a two-day walk. How are you going to kill Ch'aka?"
"I'm not going to kill Ch'aka, I'm just leaving. I've enjoyed hishospitality and his boot long enough and feel like striking out formyself."
"You can't do that," she gasped. "You will be killed."
"Ch'aka can't very well kill me if I'm not here."
"Everybody will kill you. That is the law. Runaway slaves are alwayskilled."
Jason sat down again and cracked another chunk from his _krenoj_ andruminated over it. "You've talked me into staying a while. But I haveno particular desire now to kill Ch'aka, even though he did steal myboots. And I don't see how killing him will help me any."
"You are stupid. After you kill Ch'aka you'll be the new Ch'aka. Thenyou can do what you want."
Of course. Now that he had been told, the social setup appearedobvious. Because he had seen slaves and slave-holders, Jason had heldthe mistaken notion that they were different classes of society, whenin reality there was only one class, what might be called thedog-eat-dog class. He should have been aware of this when he had seenhow careful Ch'aka was to never allow anyone within striking distanceof him, and how he vanished each night to some hidden spot. This wasfree enterprise with a vengeance, carried to its absolute extreme withevery man out for himself, every other man's hand turned against him,and your station in life determined by the strength of your arm andthe speed of your reflexes. Anyone who stayed alone placed himselfoutside this society and was therefore an enemy of it and sure to bekilled on sight. All of which added up to the fact that he had to killCh'aka if he wanted to get ahead. He still had no desire to do it, buthe had to.
* * * * *
That night he watched Ch'aka when he slipped away from the others andJason made a careful note of the direction that he took. Of course theslave master would circle about before he concealed himself, but witha little luck Jason would find him. And kill him. He had no speciallove of midnight assassination, and until landing on this planet hadalways believed that killing a sleeping man was a cowardly way toterminate another's existence. But special conditions demand specialsolutions, and he was no match for the heavily armored man in opencombat, therefore the assassin's knife. Or rather sharpened horn. Hemanaged to doze fitfully until some time after midnight, then slippedsilently from under his skin coverings. Silently he skirted thesleepers and crept into the darkness between the dunes.
Finding Ch'aka in the wilderness of the desert night was not easy, yetJason persisted. He made careful sweeps in wider and wider arcs,working his way out from the sleeping slaves. There were gullies andshadowed ravines and all of them had to be searched with utmost care.The slave master was sleeping in one of them and would be alert forany sound. The fact that he had also made special precautions to guardagainst assassination was only apparent to Jason after he heard thebell ring. It was a tiny sound, barely detectable, but he frozeinstantly. There was a thin strand pressing against his arm, and whenhe drew back carefully the bell sounded again. He cursed silently forhis stupidity, only remembering now about the bells he had heard fromCh'aka's sleeping site. The slaver must surround himself every nightwith a network of string that would sound alarm bells if anyoneattempted to approach in the dark. Slowly and soundlessly Jason drewback deeper into the gully.
With a thud of rushing feet Ch'aka appeared, swinging his club aroundhis head, coming directly towards Jason. Jason rolled desperatelysideways and the club crashed into the ground, then he was up andrunning at top speed down the gully. Rocks twisted under his feet andhe knew that if he tripped he was dead, yet he had no choice otherthan flight. The heavily armored Ch'aka could not keep up with him andJason managed to stay on his feet until the other was left behind.Ch'aka shouted with rage and hurled curses after him, but he could notcatch him. Jason, panting for breath, vanished into the darkness andmade a slow circle back to the sleeping camp. The noise would haveroused them and he stayed away for an estimated hour, shivering in theicy predawn, before he slipped back to his waiting skins. The sky wasbeginning to gray and he lay awake wondering if he had beenrecognized: he didn't think he had.
As the red sun climbed over the horizon Ch'aka appeared on top of thedunes, shaking with rage.
"Who did it?" he screamed. "Who came in night." He stalked among them,glaring right and left, and no one stirred except to draw away fromhis stamping feet. "Who did it?" he shouted again as he came near thespot where Jason lay.
Five slaves pointed silently at Jason.
* * * * *
Cursing their betrayal Jason sprang up and ran from the whistlingclub. He had the sharpened horn in his hand but knew better than totry and stand up to Ch'aka in open combat; there had to be anotherway. He looked back quickly to see his enemy still following andnarrowly missed tripping over the outstretched leg of a slave. Theywere all against him! They were all against each other and no man wassafe from any other man's hand. He ran free of the slaves andscrambled to the top of a shifting dune, pulling himself up the steepslope by clutching at the coarse grass on the summit. He turned at thetop and kicked sand into Ch'aka's face, trying to blind him, but hadto run when the slaver swung down his crossbow and notched a steelquarrel. Ch'aka chased him again, panting heavily.
Jason was tiring now and he knew this was the best time to launch acounterattack. The slaves were out of sight and it would be a battleonly between the two of them. Scrambling up a slope of broken rock hereversed himself suddenly and leaped back down. Ch'aka was tak
en bysurprise and had his club only half-raised when Jason was upon him,and he swung wildly. Jason ducked under the blow and used Ch'aka'smomentum to help throw him as he grabbed the club arm and pulled. Facedown the armored man crashed against the stones and Jason wasstraddling his back even as he fell, clutching for his chin. Helacerated his fingers on a jagged tooth necklace then grasped theman's thick beard and pulled back. For a single long instant, beforehe could writhe free and roll over, Ch'aka's head was stretched back,and in that instant Jason plunged the sharp horn deep into the softflesh of the throat. Hot blood burst over his hand and Ch'akashuddered horribly under him and died.
Jason
The Ethical Engineer Page 10