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  5

  BANDED DEVIL

  Familiar only with the wave-riding outriggers, Dalgard took his seatin the alien craft with misgivings. And oddly enough it also botheredhim to occupy a post which earlier had served not a nonhuman such asSssuri, whom he admired, but a humanoid whom he had been taught fromchildhood to avoid--if not fear. The skiff was rounded at bow andstern with very shallow sides and displayed a tendency to whirl aboutin the current, until Sssuri, with his instinctive knowledge ofwatercraft, used one of the queerly shaped paddles tucked away in thebottom to both steer and propel them. They did not strike directlyacross the river but allowed the current to carry them in a diagonalpath so that they came out on the opposite bank some distance to thewest.

  Sssuri brought them ashore with masterly skill where a strip of sodangled down to the edge of the water, marking, Dalgard decided, whathad once been a garden. The buildings on this side of the river werenot set so closely together. Each, standing some two or three storieshigh, was encircled by green, as if this had been a section of privatedwellings.

  They pulled the light boat out of the water and Sssuri pointed at theopen door of the nearest house. "In there--"

  Dalgard agreed that it might be well to hide the craft against thereturn. Although as yet they had found no physical evidence, otherthan the dead hoppers, that they might not be alone in the city, hewanted a means of escape ready if such a flight would be necessary. Inthe meantime there was the snake-devil to track, and that wilycreature, if it had swum the river, might be lurking at present in thenext silent street--or miles away.

  Sssuri, spear ready, was trotting along the paved lane, his head up ashe thought-quested for any hint of life about them. Dalgard tried tofollow that lead. But he knew that it would be Sssuri's stronger powerwhich would warn them first.

  They cast east from where they had landed, studying the soil of eachgarden spot, hunting for the unmistakable spoor of the giant reptile.And within a matter of minutes they found it, the mud still moist asDalgard proved with an exploring fingertip. At the same time Sssuritwirled his spear significantly. Before them the lane ran on betweentwo walls without any breaks. Dalgard uncased his bow and strung it.From his quiver he chose one of the powerful arrows, the points ofwhich were kept capped until use.

  A snake-devil, with its nervous system controlled not from the tiny,brainless head but from a series of auxiliary "brains" at points alongits powerful spine, could and would go on fighting even after thathead was shorn away, as the first colonists had discovered when theydepended on the deadly ray guns fatal to any Terran life. But thepoison-tipped arrow Dalgard now handled, with confidence in itscomplete efficiency, paralyzed within moments and killed in aquarter-hour one of the scaled monstrosities.

  "Lair--"

  Dalgard did not need that warning thought from his companion. Therewas no mistaking that sickly sweet stench born of decaying animalmatter, which was the betraying effluvium of a snake-devil's lair. Heturned to the right-hand wall and with a running leap reached itsbroad top. The lane curved to end in an archway cut through anotherwall, which was higher than Dalgard's head even when he stood on hispresent elevation. But bands of ornamental patterning ran along thetaller barrier, and he was certain that it could be climbed. Helowered a hand to Sssuri and hoisted the merman up to join him.

  But Sssuri stood for a long moment looking ahead, and Dalgard knewthat the merman was disturbed, that the wall before them had someterrifying meaning for the native Astran. So vivid was the impressionof what could only be termed horror--that Dalgard dared to ask aquestion:

  "What is it?"

  The merman's yellow eyes turned from the wall to his companion. Behindhis hatred of this place there was another emotion Dalgard could notread.

  "This is the place of sorrow, the place of separation. But _they_paid--oh, how they paid--after that day when the fire fell from thesky." His scaled and taloned feet moved in a little shuffling wardance, and his spear spun and quivered in the sunlight, as Dalgard hadseen the spears of the mer-warriors move in the mock combats of theirunexplained, and to his kind unexplainable, rituals. "Then did ourspears drink, and knives eat!" Sssuri's fingers brushed the hilt ofthe wicked blade swinging from his belt. "Then did the People makeseparations and sorrows for _them_! And it was accomplished that wewent forth into the sea to be no longer bond but free. And _they_ wentdown into the darkness and were no more--" In Dalgard's head the chantof his friend skirled up in a paean of exultation. Sssuri shook hisspear at the wall.

  "No more the beast and the death," his thoughts swelled, a shout ofvictory. "For where are _they_ who sat and watched many deaths? _They_are gone as the wave smashes itself upon the coast rocks and is nomore. But the People are free and never more shall Those Others putbonds upon them! Therefore do I say that this is a place of nothing,where evil has turned in upon itself and come to nothing. Just asThose Others will come to nothing since their own evil will in the endeat them up!"

  He strode forward along the wall until he came to the barrier,seemingly oblivious of the carrion reek which told of a snake-devil'sden somewhere about. And he raised his arm high, bringing the point ofhis spear gratingly along the carved surface. Nor did it seem toDalgard a futile gesture, for Sssuri lived and breathed, stood freeand armed in the city of his enemies--and the city was dead.

  Together they climbed the barrier, and then Dalgard discovered that itwas the rim of an arena which must have seated close to a thousand inthe days of its use. It was a perfect oval in shape with tiers ofseats now forming a staircase down to the center, where was a sectionringed about by a series of archways. A high stone grille walled thisportion away from the seats as if to protect the spectators from whatmight enter through those portals.

  Dalgard noted all this only in passing, for the arena was occupied,very much occupied. And he knew the occupiers only too well.

  Three full-grown snake-devils were stretched at pulpy ease, theirfilled bellies obscenely round, their long necks crowned with theirtiny heads flat on the sand as they napped. A pair of half-grownmonsters, not yet past the six-foot stage, tore at some indescribableremnants of their elders' feasting, hissing at each other and aimingvicious blows whenever they came within possible fighting distance.Three more, not long out of their mothers' pouches scrabbled in theearth about the sleeping adults.

  "A good catch," Dalgard signaled Sssuri, and the merman nodded.

  They climbed down from seat to seat. This could not rightfully betermed hunting when the quarry might be picked off so easily withoutrisk to the archer. But as Dalgard notched his first arrow, he sightedsomething so surprising that he did not let the poisoned dart fly.

  The nearest sleeping reptile which he had selected as his markstretched lazily without raising its head or opening its small eyes.And the sun caught on a glistening band about its short foreleg justbeneath the joint of the taloned pawhands. No natural scales couldreflect the light with such a brilliant glare. It could be only onething--metal! A metal bracelet about the tearing arm of a snake-devil!Dalgard looked at the other two sleepers. One was lying on its bellywith its forearms gathered under it so that he could not see if it,also, were so equipped. But the other--yes, it was banded!

  Sssuri stood at the grille, one hand on its stone divisions. Hissurprise equaled Dalgard's. It was not in his experience either thatthe untamed snake-devils, regarded by merman and human alike as sodangerous as to be killed on sight, could be banded--as if they werepersonal pets!

  For a moment or two a wild idea crossed Dalgard's mind. How long wasthe natural life span of a snake-devil? Until the coming of thecolonists they had been the undisputed rulers of the desertedcontinent, stupid as they were, simply because of their strength andferocity. A twelve-foot, scale-armored monster, that could tear aparta duocorn with ease, might not be successfully vanquished by any ofthe fauna of Astra. And since the monsters did not venture into thesea, contact between them and the mermen had been limited to casualencounters at rare intervals. So, how long did a
snake-devil live?Were these creatures sprawled here in sleep ones that had known thedomination of Those Others--though the fall of the master race ofAstra must have occurred generations, hundreds of years in the past?

  "No," Sssuri's denial cut through that. "The smaller one is not yetfull-grown. It lacks the second neck ring. Yet it is banded."

  The merman was right. That unpleasant wattle of armored flesh whichnecklaced the serpent throat of the devil Dalgard had picked as histarget was thin, not the thick roll of fat such as distinguished itstwo companions. It was not fully adult, yet the band was plain to seeon the foreleg now stretched to its full length as the sun bored downto supply the heavy heat the snake-devils relished next to food.

  "Then--" Dalgard did not like to think of what might be the answer tothat "then."

  Sssuri shrugged. "It is plain that these are not wild roamers. Theyare here for a purpose. And that purpose--" Suddenly his arm shot outso that his fingers protruded through the slits in the stone grille."See?"

  Dalgard had already seen, in seeing he knew hot and terrible anger.Out of the filthy mess in which the snake-devils wallowed, somethinghad rolled, perhaps thrown about in play by the unspeakable offspring.A skull, dried scraps of fur and flesh still clinging to it, staredhollow-eyed up at them. At least one merman had fallen prey to thenightmares who ruled the arena.

  Sssuri hissed and the red rage in his mind was plain to Dalgard. "Oncemore they deal death here--" His eyes went from the skull to themonsters. "Kill!" The command was imperative and sharp.

  Dalgard had qualified as a master bowman before he had first goneroving. And the killing of snake-devils was a task which had been setevery colonist since their first brush with the creatures.

  He snapped the cap off the glass splinter point, designed to pin andthen break off in the hide so that any clawing foot which tore out anarrow could not rid the victim of the poisonous head. The archer'smark was under the throat where the scales were soft and there was achance of piercing the skin with the first shot.

  The growls of the two feeding youngsters covered the snap of the bowcord as Dalgard shot. And he did not miss. The brilliant scarletfeather of the arrow quivered in the baggy roll of flesh.

  With a scream which tore at the human's eardrums, the snake-devilreared to its hind feet. It made a tearing motion with the bandedforearm which scraped across the back of one of its companions. Andthen it fell back to the blood-stained sand, limp, a greenish foamdrooling from its fangs.

  As the monster that the dead devil had raked roused, Dalgard had hischance for another good mark. And the second scarlet shaft spedstraight to the target.

  But the third creature which had been sleeping belly down on the sandpresented only its armored back, a hopeless surface for an arrow topierce. It had opened its eyes and was watching the now motionlessbodies of its fellows. But it showed no disposition to move. It wasalmost as if it somehow understood that as long as it remained in itspresent position it was safe.

  "The small ones--"

  Dalgard needed no prompting. He picked off easily enough the twohalf-grown ones. The infants were another problem. Far less sluggishthan their huge elders they sensed that they were in danger and fled.One took refuge in the pouch of its now-dead parent, and the othersmoved so fast that Dalgard found them difficult targets. He killed onewhich had almost reached an archway and at length nicked the second inthe foot, knowing that, while the poison would be slower in acting, itwould be as sure.

  Through all of this the third adult devil continued to lie motionless,only its wicked eyes giving any indication that it was alive. Dalgardwatched it impatiently. Unless it would move, allow him a chance toaim at the soft underparts, there was little chance of killing it.

  What followed startled both hunters, versed as they were in the usualmechanics of killing snake-devils. It had been an accepted premise,through the years since the colonists had known of the monsters, thatthe creatures were relatively brainless, mere machines which fought,ate, and killed, incapable of any intelligent reasoning, and thereforeonly dangerous when one was surprised by them or when the hunter wasforced to face them inadequately armed.

  This snake-devil was different, as it became increasingly plain to thetwo behind the grille. It had remained safe during the slaughter ofits companions because it had not moved, almost as if it had witenough _not_ to move. And now, when it did change position, itsmaneuvers, simple as they were, underlined the fact that this onecreature appeared to have thought out a solution to its situation--asrational a solution as Dalgard might have produced had it been hisproblem.

  Still keeping its soft underparts covered, it edged about in the sanduntil its back, with the impenetrable armor plates, was facing thegrille behind which the hunters stood. Retracting its neck between itsshoulders and hunching its powerful back limbs under it, it rushedfrom that point of danger straight for one of the archways.

  Dalgard sent an arrow after it. Only to see the shaft scrape along theheavy scales and bounce to the sand. Then the snake-devil was gone.

  "Banded--" The word reached Dalgard. Sssuri had been cool enough tonote that while the human hunter had been only bewildered by theuntypical actions of his quarry.

  "It must be intelligent." The scout's statement was more than halfprotest.

  "Where _they_ are concerned, one may expect many evil wonders."

  "We've got to get that devil!" Dalgard was determined on that. Thoughto run down, through this maze of deserted city, an enragedsnake-devil--above all, a snake-devil which appeared to have somereasoning powers--was not a prospect to arouse any emotion except grimdevotion to duty.

  "It goes for help."

  Dalgard, startled, stared at his companion. Sssuri was still by thegrille, watching that archway through which the devil had disappeared.

  "What kind of help?" For a moment Dalgard pictured the monsterreturning at the head of a regiment of its kind, able to tear out thisgrille and get at their soft-fleshed enemies behind it.

  "Safety--protection," Sssuri told him. "And I think that the place towhich it now flees is one we should know."

  "Those Others?" The sun had not clouded, it still streamed down in thetorrid heat of early afternoon, warm on their heads and shoulders. YetDalgard felt as chill as if some autumn wind had laid its lash acrossthe small of his back.

  "_They_ are not here. But they have been--and it is possible that theyreturn. The devil goes to where it expects to find them."

  Sssuri was already on his way, running about the arena's curve toreach the point above the archway through which the snake-devil hadraced. Dalgard padded after him, bow in hand. He trusted Sssuriimplicitly when it came to tracking. If the merman said that thesnake-devil had a definite goal in view, he was right. But the scoutwas still a little bemused by a monster who was able to have any goalexcept the hunting and devouring of meat. Either the one who fled wasa freak among its kind or--There were several possibilities whichcould answer that "or," and none of them were very pleasant toconsider.

  They reached the section above the archway and climbed the tiers ofseat benches to the top of the wall. Only to see no exit below them.In fact nothing but a wide sweep of crushed brown tangle which hadonce been vegetation. It was apparent that there was no door below.

  Sssuri sped down again. He climbed the grille and was on his way tothe sand when Dalgard caught up with him. Together they ventured intothe underground passage which the snake-devil had chosen.

  The stench of the lair was thick about them. Dalgard coughed, sickenedby the foul odor. He was reluctant to advance. But, to his growingrelief, he discovered that it was not entirely dark. Set in the roofat intervals were plates which gave out a violet light, making a dimtwilight which was better than total darkness.

  It was a straight passage without any turns or openings. But thehorrible odor was constant, and Dalgard began to think that they mightbe running head-on into another lair, perhaps one as well populated asthat they had left behind them. It was against nature for thesna
ke-devils he had known to lair under cover; they preferred narrowrocky places where they could bask in the sun. But then the devil theynow pursued was no ordinary one.

  Sssuri reassured him. "There is no lair, only the smell because theyhave come this way for many years."

  The passage opened into a wide room and here the violet light wasstronger, bright enough to make plain the fact that alcoves opened offit, each and every one with a barred grille for a door. There was nomistaking that once this had been a prison of sorts.

  Sssuri did no exploring but crossed the room at his shuffling trot,which Dalgard matched. The way leading out on the opposite sideslanted up, and he judged it might bring them out at ground level.

  "The devil waits," Sssuri warned, "because it fears. It will turn onus when we come. Be ready--"

  They were at another door, and before them was a long corridor withtall window openings near the ceiling which gave admittance to thesunlight. After the gloom of the tunnel, Dalgard blinked. But he wasaware of movement at the far end, just as he heard the hissing screamof the monster they trailed.