Robert Grandon 02 Prince of Peril Page 13

  The tragic fear which was in their eyes was pitiful to behold, but they were not long in choosing between what they believed would be sure death from my magic and possible death from the bolts of the deity they called "Zog." The doorway was soon so completely blocked that no night-roaming beast could enter.

  Night having come on by this time, the only light in the cave was from the frequent flashes of lightning.

  For a long time I stood at the entrance. Each lightning flash showed branches flying through the. air, fern-trees blown over, and wild things, large and small, scurrying for shelter.

  I was awakened in the morning by a loud clatter and the sound of gruff voices. Sitting up with a yawn, I stretched my cramped limbs as I watched Borg and several other cave-apes dragging the barricade away from the cave entrance. Gone was the unreasoning fear that had gripped them the night before.

  I rose and followed them outside. The storm had vanished, and other than the upper cloud envelope which is ever present in the Zarovian sky, the heavens were clear. But the still-dripping fern forest plainly showed the ravages of the tempest. The ground was Uttered with leaves and branches; trees were bent over, snapped off and uprooted, and many streams of muddy water trickled riverward.

  Crossing the gulch which separated our cave from the highest eminence, I climbed to the point where I had been standing the night before when the storm struck, to find some spore pods. As I gazed out over the Ropok, now rolling as gently as it had before the storm, my munching terminated in a sudden exclamation of surprise.

  Lying on their sides far out in the surf with the waves rolling over them, and apparently deserted, I saw the battered hulls of two of Prince Gadrimel's ships. And anchored on the lee side of the promontory on which I stood, were the other three ships, their spars and rigging in most sorry case. The flagship, I observed, was the one anchored nearest the point of the headland, indicating that Loralie had escaped death, for which I was deeply thankful. From where I stood I could see the crews of the three ships busy repairing the damages which the storm had wrought.

  Crouching in order that I might not be observed, I made my way back into the gulch, where most of my fierce retainers were finishing their morning meal.

  "The food-men have returned," I said. "Keep out of sight so they will not know that we are here. And do not go far away, as I will probably need you to fight very soon."

  "We will remain nearby, Rogo," said Borg. "We are all very hungry for the flesh of food-men."

  I returned to my lookout on the rock and tried to formulate some plan of attack. Presently I saw two scarlet-clad figures appear on the deck of the flagship. The smaller of the two was constantly attended by two armed warriors. Gadrimel had evidently found it expedient to keep the princess under constant surveillance.

  But a plan did not suggest itself to me until I saw several boats lowered and a party of officers, headed by Gadrimel, put off for shore. Dashing back to the gulch where my cave-apes were grouped, I said, "Some of the food-men are coming ashore. We will divide into two parties of equal size, one of which will be under the leadership of Borg. The other I will lead.

  "Borg's party will go down near the shore at the spot toward which they are coming. With his warriors he will climb into the trees, taking care lest the food-men see any of them, for they carry magical clubs which can kill at a great distance. As soon as the food-men enter the forest, Borg and his warriors will drop down on them from the trees and surprise them. They can thus be slain before they have a chance to use their magic clubs. Do you understand, Borg?"

  "I understand, Rogo," replied the old cave-ape. "The food-men will not see us until we fall upon and slay them."

  Calling the other cave-apes to follow me, I hurried to the other side of the promontory and descended its steep seaward side where we were hidden from view of the ships. Then, cutting the string I had with me into appropriate lengths, I tore a number of fronds from a wide-leafed variety of bush-fern, and proceeded to bind these to the heads of my subjects, spreading them in such a manner that at a distance they would effectually conceal the heads and shoulders of the great brutes. Disguising myself in the same manner, I led my savage followers to the very point of the promontory and into the water.

  "You will all keep close together in the water," I said, "and follow me without noise. There are many trees and branches floating down the river this morning, and if we swim carefully and silently we will not be noticed."

  Peering around the point, I saw that Gadrimel and his hunters had landed and were starting into the forest. Then there came to me faintly the yells of startled men and the roars of fighting cave-apes, interspersed with the popping of torks and clash of weapons, and I knew that all eyes on board the ship would be directed toward the scene of battle.

  "Now," I said, and plunging into the water, swam around the point and straight for the flagship. Just behind me, in such close formation that we must have appeared like a single, tangled mass of floating branches, came my camouflaged apes.

  The flagship was not more than a thousand feet from the point, but before we could reach it I saw more boats put off from all the ships and make swiftly for the scene of combat on shore.

  We came up under the prow of the ship just as the sounds of conflict announced the arrival of the small boats at the beach where the battle was taking place.

  Silently I seized the taut anchor chain and went up, hand over hand. Just as silently, my ape warriors followed. On reaching the top, I peered cautiously through the railing. Loralie and her two guards were standing on the starboard side watching the battle on shore. There were three men aloft, apparently there to repair the rigging, but they, too, had their eyes trained shoreward.

  Without a sound, I climbed over the railing, and with sword in one hand and dagger in the other, advanced toward the two men. Simultaneously, I jabbed the point of my dagger in the back of one, and the point of my sword in the other.

  "One false' move," I said, "and you die. Raise your hands above your heads and keep your faces shoreward."

  They complied with alacrity. With a little scream of fear, Loralie turned to see what had happened.

  "Zinlo!" she exclaimed. "I knew you would cornel"

  "Take their weapons, my princess."

  She quickly removed their belts from which depended their torks and scarbos.

  Three of the apes had meanwhile scrambled aloft after the men in the rigging, and the others were searching the ship.

  "Bring to me alive those who do not resist," I shouted. "You may slay the others."

  My words had the desired effect on Gadrimel's men, for although those in the rigging all carried short scarbos, none offered to fight. Other than these three and the two I had disarmed, the apes found only the cook and his helper.

  When the prisoners had all been rounded up, I addressed them.

  "All of you who are willing to take orders from me will give the royal salute. The others will be quickly deposed of, as my apes are hungry."

  To a man, they saluted.

  "You three," I said, addressing the men who had been aloft, "hoist the sails. And you," pointing to the two guards, "heave the anchor."

  I sent the cook and his helper back to their pots and pans under guard of two apes. Then I took the helm with Loralie at my side and as the sails filled, steered for the open sea.

  We had nearly passed the point of the promontory when the boom of a mattork and the sing of its shell through our rigging announced that we had been discovered. "Can you steer?" I asked Loralie.

  "Better than you, landsman," she answered laughingly. "Give me the helm."

  Her father ruled the greatest maritime nation on Zarovia.

  "Make for the open sea," I said, "and I'll see if my marksmanship is better than my steering." The mattork, which was nothing but an oversized tork mounted on a tripod, stood nearby swathed in its water-proof covering. Beside it was the case which contained the clips of projectiles with their various designations printed in patoa:
Solid, Paralyzing, Deadly, Explosive.

  Stripping the cover from the weapon, I chose a clip of explosive projectiles and inserted it in the breech. By this time two mattorks on each of the anchored ships had opened fire, and shells were SCTearning around us. One snapped a shroud, and I ordered a sailor up to replace it. Another burst against our hull. And still others, ricocheting from the surface of the water, whined plaintively as they sped on their way.

  I took careful aim at the rear mattork on the nearest ship and pressed the button. But the weapon was strange to me, and equally strange was the experience of firing a projectile from a ship. I saw my shell strike the water far behind the mark.

  Again I took aim, this time allowing for the rocking of the ship. To my surprise, my shell burst just beneath my target, tearing the gunner to shreds and knocking the weapon from its tripod.

  I tried another shot at the forward mattork, but it went wild. Then both boats slipped from our view as we rounded the promontory.

  "My marksmanship is as wretched as my handling of a boat," I said. "But they cannot harry us for a time, at least Where to now, my princess?"

  With one hand she reached for my own, drew my arm around her slender waist. The other still skillfully managed the helm.

  "Whither you will, beloved," she replied. "Shall it be Olba or Tyrhana—north or south?" "Which is nearer?"

  "They are about equally distant from here."

  "Then let us try for Olba, for there I am sure Gadrimel dare not follow us."

  Gently she brought the boat about until its prow pointed directly north. "It will not be long before Gadrimel sets out after us."

  "He may have been slain by Borg and his apes."

  "Not he," replied Loralie. "I was watching from the ship, and saw that he was the first to run for the beach when they were attacked. Standing beside a boat and ready to put off at a sign of a turn in the tide of battle, he used his tork, but did not get into the thick of the fight. A cautious youth, my cousin."

  It was not long before her prediction was fulfilled. One of the ships nosed around the promontory and came after us with all sails up.

  I sprang to the mattork and fired. It was a bad miss. Again I fired. This time my projectile struck the water close to the target. I was getting the range. But when I would have fired a third time there was an explosion in the breech. The projectile had jammed and the safety plug had blown out.

  Frantically I worked with the recialcitrant weapon, momentarily expecting a volley from our pursuers. But none came. Evidently the prince had forbidden the use of mattorks because of the presence of Loralie on our vessel.

  Suddenly a terrific explosion from the front of our vessel knocked me flat. Half dazed, I gripped a leg of the tripod for support just as the deck gave a violent lurch forward.

  My prostrate body swung halfway over, and I saw with horror that the front end of the ship had been completely blown away and she was plunging into the waves, nose down. I have never learned the cause of that explosion, but believe that the cook or his helper found a way to outwit their ape guards and destroy the vessel.

  My gaze flashed to the wheel, but the princess was nowhere in sight, then I heard a shout from the water behind me. Loralie was swimming in the wake of the swiftly sinking vessel. "Jump! she cried. "Jump quickly, or you will be dragged down with the ship!"

  I sprang to the rail and leaped over. A moment later I was swimming beside her as we both strained every muscle in our endeavor to put as much distance as possible between ourselves and the stricken vessel before she went down.

  But try as we would, we could not escape the mighty suction of the boat as it plunged beneath the waves. Like tossing corks we were dragged back in spite of our utmost efforts. But by the time we reached the center of the whirlpool it had so far susided that the water was comparatively calm and we were not drawn under.

  Presently bits of wreckage began to come up around us. A huge timber suddenly popped to the surface. We swam to it and found it amply buoyant to sustain our combined weight in the water.

  As we topped the crest of a wave I glanced back. The first ship was within a quarter of a mile of us, and I caught a glimpse of a scarlet-clad figure in the bow, eagerly scanning the water with a glass.

  I was still looking back when a cry from Loralie attracted my attention in another direction. "A killer norgal! The scourge of the Ropok has seen us! We are doomed!"

  Bearing down on us at terrific speed, I saw an enormous fish. Its body, fully thirty feet in length, was blue in color, and bristled with sharp spines of a deep crimson shade. Its huge jaws, large enough to have swallowed ten men at a gulp, were open, revealing row on row of sharp, back-curved teeth.

  "Better that than Gadrimel," said Loralie with a shudder, "for we can die together. One last kiss, beloved, for it is the end."

  Our lips met and clung, across the timber. Then I drew my sword, puny weapon indeed with which to meet such an enemy.

  CHAPTER XIII

  As we clung to the timber there in the tossing waves, Loralie and I, the killer norgal swiftly surged closer and closer. There was no mistaking its purpose. It had seen us and singled us out for its prey.

  Suddenly a dark shadow fell on us from above. A shot rang out, followed by a muffled explosion. Where the gaping mouth of the fish had been was only a bloody mass of flesh and bone. The mighty carcass lurched, flopped about for a moment, and then turned belly upward.

  Above us loomed the great bulk of an aerial battleship, swiftly descending. It hovered only a short distance above our heads. A door opened in the side and a flexible metal ladder was lowered to us. I helped Loralie to mount, then went up after, hand over hand.

  An officer in the uniform of Olba helped me into thte ship. He was the mojak, or captain of the vessel.

  Then he bowed low with right hand extended palm downward, as did every other man in sight. "Your name, officer," I said.

  "Lotar," he answered, "at your highness's service." "Lotar, you will find quarters for Her Highness Loralie of

  Tyrhana, then start immediately {or the Imperial Palace at Olba."

  "I hear and obey," he replied, and dashed off to give the necessary orders.

  We mounted to the rear turret, the princess and I, and watched the two ships of Gadrimel fast disappearing from view. Why he did not fire at us I have never learned. Possibly because the princess was on board, but more probably because he feared the powerful mattorks of the mighty Olban airship.

  The princess presendy retired to her quarters to rest, and I went forward with Lotar, who was directing the pilot in the first turret. "How long should it take us to get to Olba?" I asked.

  The young mojak consulted his charts and instruments for a moment.

  "We should be able to make the palace by nightfall, Highness," he said. "This ship is rated at a rotation."

  A rotation, I recalled, meant the speed at which Venus turns on her axis, approximately a thousand miles an hour.

  "Who sent you after us?"

  "Your Highness's father has had the entire air fleet of Olba scouring the planet for you since your disappearance from the Black Tower. His Majesty assigned a patrol zone to each ship. I have been flying above this zone for many days. Attracted by the explosion which destroyed your ship, I flew over to investigate. With the aid of my glass I saw you and Her Highness in the water, and the norgal swimming toward you. As a marksman I have won many prizes in tournaments with the mattork. It was a simple matter for me to kill the norgal with an explosive projectile."

  "It was excellent shooting," I said, "and it not only saved my life, but a fife that is infinitely dearer to me. You will not find me ungrateful."

  "My greatest reward lies in the knowledge that I have saved your highness for Olba. There will be great rejoicing throughout the length and breadth of the empire when the people learn that you are alive. And greatest of all will be the joy of His Imperial Majesty, Torrogo Hadjez."

  For some time I strolled about the ship, examini
ng her armament and admiring the luxury of her appointments. Presently, Loralie came out of her stateroom. We went to the salon, where hot kova was served to us in jewel-encrusted golden cups.

  Night fell just as we flew above the great crescent-shaped harbor of Tureno, and its myriad lights flashed on as did those of Olba. I caught a fleeting glimpse of the lighted windows of the Black Tower as we hurtled past it. Then the pilot gently slowed the ship until we were directly above the Imperial Palace.

  As we dropped toward the flat roof a number of guards came running toward us. Two of them seized the ladder which we dropped and held it while the princess descended. Then I followed.

  A mojak in the uniform of the palace guard stepped up and tendered the royal salute. "His majesty will be overjoyed, highness. It was his command that I bring you before him as soon as you arrive."

  There was something strangely familiar about the features of this officer. I tried to place him as he conducted Loralie and me down the telekinetic elevator.

  When it stopped he bowed us into a spacious hall which led to a great, arched doorway hung with curtains of soar-let and gold, at each side of which stood two guards armed with torks, scarbos and long-bladed spears.

  The four guards bowed obsequiously as we came up. Then two of them parted the curtains and there stood before us another individual whose face seemed strangely familiar to me. Yet he wore the pompous uniform of a torrango, or prune minister, which I recognized from my studies, and I knew I had never met the prime minister of Olba.

  As'soon as he saw me, he bowed low with right hand extended palm downward. "His Majesty the Torrogo bids you welcome. Whom may I announce as accompanying you?"

  "Her Highness, Loralie. Torrogina of Tyrhana," I replied.

  He bowed once more and departed. A moment later I heard him announcing our names and titles. Then a voice, which also seemed familiar to me, said, "You will conduct them before the throne."

  As we followed the prime minister into the large and magnificent throne room of Olba, more guards saluted and fell in behind us. A guard of honor, I thought.