The People of the Crater Read online

  _CHAPTER TEN_

  _Battle and Victory_

  Garin stood with Dandtan looking out into the plain of Tav. Somedistance away were two slender, steel-tipped towers, which were, inreality, but hollow tubes filled with the Black Fire. Before thesedark-clad figures were busy.

  "They seem to believe us already defeated. Let them think so," commentedDandtan, touching the screen they had erected before the Cavernentrance.

  As he spoke Kepta swaggered through the tall grass to call a greeting:

  "Ho, rock dweller, I would speak with you--"

  Dandtan edged around the screen, Garin a pace behind.

  "I see you, Kepta."

  "Good. I trust that your ears will serve you as well as your eyes. Theseare my terms: Give Thrala to me to dwell in my chamber and the outlanderto provide sport for my captains. Make no resistance but throw open theCaverns so that I may take my rightful place in the Hall of Thrones. Dothis and we shall be at peace...."

  "And this is our reply:"--Dandtan stood unmovingly before thescreen--"Return to the Caves; break down the bridge between your landand ours. Let no Black One come hither again, ever...."

  Kepta laughed. "So, that be the way of it! Then this shall we do: takeThrala, to be mine for a space, and then to go to my captains--"

  Garin hurled himself forward, felt Kepta's lips mash beneath his fist;his fingers were closing about the other's throat as Dandtan, who wastrying to pull him away from his prey, shouted a warning: "Watch out!"

  A morgel had leaped from the grass, its teeth snapping about Garin'swrist, forcing him to drop Kepta. Then Dandtan laid it senseless by asharp blow with his belt.

  On hands and knees Kepta crawled back to his men. The lower part of hisface was a red and dripping smear. He screamed an order with savagefury.

  Dandtan drew the still raging flyer behind the screen. "Be a littleprudent," he panted. "Kepta can be dealt with in other ways than withbare hands."

  The towers were swinging their tips toward the entrance. Dandtan orderedthe screen wedged tightly into place.

  Outside, the morgel Dandtan had stunned got groggily to its feet. Whenit had limped half the distance back to its master, Kepta gave the orderto fire. The broad beam of black light from the tip of the nearest towercaught the beast head on. There was a chilling scream of agony, andwhere the morgel had stood gray ashes drifted on the wind.

  A hideous crackling arose as the black beam struck the screen. Greengrass beneath seared away, leaving only parched earth and naked bluesoil. Those within the Cavern crouched behind their frail protection,half blinded by the light from the seared grass, coughing from thechemical-ridden fumes which curled about the cracks of the rock.

  Then the beam faded out. Thin smoke plumed from the tips of the towers,steam arose from the blackened ground. Dandtan drew a deep breath.

  "It held!" he cried, betraying at last the fear which had ridden him.

  Men of the Folk dragged engines of tubing before the screen, whileothers brought forth the globes of green liquid. Dandtan stood aside, asif this matter were the business of the Folk alone, and Garin recalledthat the Ancient Ones were opposed to the taking of life.

  Trar was in command now. At his orders the globes were posed onspoon-shaped holders. Loopholes in the screen clicked open. Trar broughtdown his hand in signal. The globes arose lazily, sliding through theloopholes and floating out toward the towers.

  One, aimed short, struck the ground where the fire had burned it bare,and broke. The liquid came forth, sluggishly, forming a gray-green gasas the air struck it. Another spiral of gas arose almost at the foot ofone of the towers--and then another ... and another.

  There quickly followed a tortured screaming, which soon dwindled to aweak yammering. They could see shapes, no longer human or animal,staggering about in the fog.

  Dandtan turned away, his face white with horror. Garin's hands were overhis ears to shut out that crying.

  At last it was quiet; there was no more movement by the towers. Urgplaced a sphere of rosy light upon the nearest machine and flipped itout into the camp of the enemy. As if it were a magnet it drew the greentendrils of gas, to leave the air clear. Here and there lay shrunken,livid shapes, the towers brooding over them.

  One of the Folk burst into their midst, a woman of Thrala's following.

  "Haste!" She clawed at Garin. "Kepta takes Thrala!"

  She ran wildly back the way she had come, with the American pounding ather heels. They burst into the Hall of Thrones and saw a strugglinggroup before the dais.

  Garin heard someone howl like an animal, became aware the sound camefrom his own throat. For the second time his fist found its mark onKepta's face. With a shriek of rage the Black One threw Thrala from himand sprang at Garin, his nails tearing gashes in the flyer's face. Twicethe American twisted free and sent bone-crushing blows into the other'sribs. Then he got the grip he wanted, and his fingers closed aroundKepta's throat. In spite of the Black One's struggles he held on until alimp body rolled beneath him.

  Panting, the American pulled himself up from the blood-stained floor andgrabbed the arm of the Jade Throne for support.

  "Garin!" Thrala's arms were about him, her pitying fingers on hiswounds. And in that moment he forgot Dandtan, forgot everything he hadsteeled himself to remember. She was in his arms and his mouth soughthers possessively. Nor was she unresponsive, but yielded, as a floweryields to the wind.

  "Garin!" she whispered softly. Then, almost shyly, she broke from hishold.

  Beyond her stood Dandtan, his face white, his mouth tight. Garinremembered. And, a little mad with pain and longing, he dropped hiseyes, trying not to see the loveliness which was Thrala.

  "So, Outlander, Thrala flies to your arms--"

  Garin whirled about. Kepta was hunched on the broad seat of the jetthrone.

  "No, I am not dead, Outlander--nor shall you kill me, as you think todo. I go now, but I shall return. We have met and hated, fought and diedbefore--you and I. You were a certain Garan, Marshall of the air fleetof Yu-Lac on a vanished world, and I was Lord of Koom. That was in thedays before the Ancient Ones pioneered space. You and I and Thrala, weare bound together and even fate can not break those bonds. Farewell,Garin. And do you, Thrala, remember the ending of that other Garan. Itwas not an easy one."

  With a last malicious chuckle, he leaned back in the throne. Hisbattered body slumped. Then the sharp lines of the throne blurred; itshimmered in the light. Abruptly then both it and its occupant weregone. They were staring at empty space, above which loomed the rosethrone of the Ancient Ones.

  "He spoke true," murmured Thrala. "We have had other lives, othermeetings--so will we meet again. But for the present he returns to thedarkness which sent him forth. It is finished."

  Without warning, a low rumbling filled the Cavern; the walls rocked andswayed. Lizard and human, they huddled together until the swayingstopped. Finally a runner appeared with news that one of the Gibi hadventured forth and discovered that the Caves of Darkness had been sealedby an underground quake. The menace of the Black Ones was definitely atan end.