The Brave Free Men Page 18

  The Chancellor frowned aside, not finding in Ifness’ approval the exact degree of meek and happy gratitude he might have expected. He spoke more sharply. “I say: we shall disregard your acts, insofar as official and purposeful malice seem to be lacking. In the future you must control your flyers. This, in sum, is my statement. I will now hear your response.”

  Mialambre cleared his throat. “Our presence here speaks for itself. We hope to foster calm and easy relations between our countries, to our mutual benefit. Ignorance induces suspicion; it is not surprising that some of us saw in the Roguskhoi a renewed threat from Palasedra.”

  Finnerack spoke in a cold voice: “The Brave Free Men and the Flyers of Shant have defeated the Roguskhoi, who thereupon took purposeful refuge in Palasedra. You assert that the Roguskhoi are not your agents. You do not, however, disclaim responsibility for their existence, you who shamelessly breed men to special uses as if they were cattle; if this is the case, the Roguskhoi remain a Palasedran responsibility. They have done vast damage to Shant, and we demand indemnification.”

  The Chancellor drew back; he had not expected remarks so energetic, nor, for that matter, had Etzwane and Mialambre. Ifness nodded approvingly. “Finnerack’s demands are by all accounts justified, if in fact Palasedran responsibility for the Roguskhoi is real. We have heard no official Palasedran statement either admitting or denying such responsibility.”

  The Chancellor’s grizzled eyebrows became a bar across the bridge of his enormous nose. He spoke to Ifness. “I am puzzled by your exact status in this colloquy.”

  “I am an independent counsellor,” said Ifness. “Gastel Etzwane will endorse my presence, though officially I represent neither Shant nor Palasedra.”

  The Chancellor said, “It is all the same to me. To make our position absolutely clear, the Palasedrans deny responsibility of any sort whatever for the Roguskhoi.”

  Finnerack challenged the remark: “Why then do they take refuge in Palasedra? Where did they come from if not Palasedra?”

  The Chancellor spoke in a measured voice: “Our most recent intelligence is this: they are creatures sent here from the planet Earth. A space-ship discharged them into the Engh, a remote valley not far from the Salt Bog.” Etzwane turned to stare toward Ifness, who looked blandly at the far wall. Finnerack uttered a harsh bark of laughter. The Chancellor went on: “So much we have learned from ahulphs of the neighborhood. The Roguskhoi now return to the Engh. They will not arrive; a force of Palasedran warriors goes now to destroy them. Tomorrow I go to witness the battle and collect further information; accompany me, if you wish.”

  Chapter XV

  The Chancellor laid a map upon the table and gestured out into the predawn murk. “There is the Engh. From here it appears no more than a defile or a gully. The mountains in fact enclose a large barren meadow, as is evident from the map.” The Chancellor tapped a horny fingernail down upon the parchment. “The glider discharged us here; we now stand at this point, overlooking the valley of the River Zek. Troops deploy in yonder forest; they will presently move forward.”

  “And what of the Roguskhoi?” asked Etzwane.

  “The main force has left the Great Salt Bog, and now approaches. The prodromes have already entered the Engh, which we have not disturbed.” He peered into the dawn sky. “There is no wind to support the Black Dragons; our reconnaissance is incomplete. As yet I have not been informed of battle plans.”

  The three suns rolled up into the sky; violet light flooded the valley; the River Zek showed a series of colored glints. Finnerack pointed to the north. “Here come the advance parties. Why do you not harass them on the flank?”

  “I am not battle-chief,” said the Chancellor. “I can supply no opinion … Stand back, so that we may not be observed.”

  Scout parties advanced up the valley at a jog; in the distance a dark mass advanced like a tidal bore.

  An instrument at the Chancellor’s belt tinkled. He held it to his ear and presently scanned the sky. He returned the instrument to his belt.

  The Roguskhoi approached on hulking long strides, features fixed and blank. To the side jogged the chieftains, distinguished by their pectoral bibs of steel mail.

  The Chancellor’s belt radio jingled; he listened with stern attention, then said, “No alteration of plan.”

  He returned the radio to his belt and stood a moment looking silently toward the Engh. He said, “Last night the space-ship returned to the Engh. It waits there now, for purposes open to conjecture.”

  Mialambre spoke sardonically to Ifness. “Can you suggest an explanation for this?”

  “Yes,” said Ifness. “I can indeed.” He asked the Chancellor: “What is the semblance of the space-ship? Have men disembarked? What is its insignia, if any?”

  “I learn that the ship is a great round disk. The ports lay open, making ramps to the ground. No one has left the ship. Skirmishers now attack the rear of the column.”

  An irregular rattle of explosions reached their ears. The Roguskhoi chieftains swung about, then uttered sharp orders; groaning and rumbling, the Roguskhoi broke apart to form battle-squads. The length of the column was now visible. Full-grown warriors marched at front and rear; in the center were imps, bantlings and perhaps a hundred dazed and haggard women.

  From the forest came the blast of a horn; the Palasedran troops moved deliberately forth.

  Etzwane was perplexed. He had expected gigantic warriors to match the Roguskhoi bulk for bulk; the Palasedran troops were not as tall as himself, immensely broad of shoulder and deep of chest, with arms dangling almost to the ground. The heads hunched low, the eyes peered from under black helmets, seeming to look in two directions. They wore ocher trousers, fiber epaulettes and greaves; for weapons they carried sabres, short-handled axes, small shields and dart-guns.

  The Palasedrans bounded forward at a trot. The Roguskhoi halted, taken aback. The chieftains bawled commands, the squads reformed. The Palasedrans halted; the two armies faced each other, a hundred yards apart.

  “A curious confrontation, to be sure,” mused Ifness. “Each solution to the problem offers advantages … Hmmm. Ogres versus trolls. The weapons I judge equivalent. Tactics and agility, of course, must decide the issue.”

  The Roguskhoi chieftains called sudden harsh orders; abandoning women and imps, the Roguskhoi warriors ran at a lumbering trot for the Engh. The Palasedrans ran at a converging course, and the armies came together, not face to face, but side to side, the Roguskhoi hacking and slicing, the Palasedrans bounding in and out, chopping, occasionally shooting darts at Roguskhoi eyes, and when occasion offered, tackling the legs of a vulnerable Roguskhoi, to bring the maroon bulk toppling. The scimitars took a corresponding toll; the way became littered with arms, legs, heads and torsos; red blood mingled with black.

  The battle reached the mouth of the Engh; and here a second Palasedran army bounded down from the rocks. The Roguskhoi thrust forward, striving to enter the Engh by dint of sheer strength. Behind in the valley remained the women and imps. The women became prey to hysteria. They picked up discarded weapons and slashed at the hopping imps, screaming in maniac delight.

  The Roguskhoi warriors had gained the floor of the Engh. Here, with room for their agility, the Palasedrans became more effective.

  Finnerack first, with Ifness and Etzwane close behind, then Mialambre and the Chancellor, came over a low wooded ridge and looked down into the Engh, an irregular flat area about a half-mile in diameter, carpeted with scrub and blue rock-weed. At the center rested the space-ship: a flattened hemisphere of brown metal two hundred feet in diameter.

  Etzwane asked Ifness, “What sort is the space-ship?”

  “I don’t know.” Ifness brought forth his camera and made a series of photographs.

  On three sides segments of the hull hung open. Standing in the apertures Etzwane thought to glimpse creatures either andromorphs or men; in the shadows he could not be certain.

  In the Engh the battle raged, the Roguskhoi
step by step thrusting toward the space-ship, the bibbed chieftains in the van, the rank and file arranged in such a fashion as to protect them from the bounding Palasedrans.

  Finnerack gave a grunt of anguish and started down the hill. “Finnerack!” cried Etzwane. “Where are you going?”

  Finnerack paid no heed. He broke into a trot. Etzwane set off after him. “Finnerack! Come back here; are you mad?”

  Finnerack ran, waving his arms toward the space-ship. His eyes bulged wide-open, but he did not appear to see; he stumbled, and Etzwane was on him. He clutched Finnerack’s waist, pulled back. “What are you doing? Have you gone insane?”

  Finnerack groaned, kicked, fought; he drove his elbows into Etzwane’s face.

  Ifness stepped forward to strike two smart blows; Finnerack fell numbly back.

  “Quick, or they’ll kill us from the ship,” said Ifness.

  Mialambre and Ifness took Finnerack’s arms, Etzwane his legs; they carried him back into the shelter of the trees. Using Finnerack’s garments, Ifness tied his ankles and wrists.

  In the Engh the Palasedrans, wary of the space-ship, drew back. Up the ramps marched the surviving Roguskhoi chieftains and a hundred warriors. The ports snapped shut. Like a glow-beetle, the ship took on a silver luminescence. Emitting a rasping squeal it rose into the sky and presently was gone.

  The Roguskhoi remaining in the valley moved slowly to the spot where the space-ship had rested; here they formed a rough circle, to stand at bay. The chieftains had departed; of the copper horde which had almost overwhelmed Shant less than a thousand survived.

  The Palasedrans, drawing back, formed a pair of lines, to the right and left of the Roguskhoi; they stood quietly, awaiting orders. For ten minutes the armies surveyed each other, soberly, without signal of hostility; then the Palasedrans withdrew to the edge of the Engh, and retired up the slope. The Roguskhoi remained at the center of the valley.

  The Chancellor made a signal to the men of Shant. “We now adopt our original strategy. The Roguskhoi are sealed into the Engh, and they will never escape. Even your blue-eyed madman must concede the Roguskhoi to be offworld creatures.”

  Ifness said, “As to this there was never any doubt. The purpose for the incursion remains a mystery. If a conventional conquest were the plan, why were the Roguskhoi armed only with scimitars? Can folk who fly space contrive no better weapons? It seems unreasonable on the face of the matter.”

  “Evidently they took us lightly,” said the Chancellor. “Or perhaps they thought to test us. If so, we have dealt them harsh instruction.”

  “These conjectures are reasonable,” Ifness said. “There is still much to be learned. Certain of the Roguskhoi chieftains were killed. I suggest that you convey these corpses to one of your medical laboratories and there perform investigations, in which I would wish to participate.”

  The Chancellor made a curt gesture. “The effort is unnecessary.”

  Ifness drew the Chancellor aside and spoke a few calm sentences, and now the Chancellor gave grudging agreement to Ifness’ proposals.

  Chapter XVI

  In a state of sullen apathy Finnerack marched back down the valley. Several times Etzwane started to speak to him; each time, eery and sick at heart, he held his tongue. Mialambre, less imaginative, asked Finnerack: “Do you realize that your act, sane or the reverse, imperiled us all?”

  Finnerack made no response; Etzwane wondered if even he heard. Ifness said in a grave voice, “The best of us at times act on odd impulses.”

  Finnerack said nothing.

  Etzwane had expected to be flown back across the Great Salt Bog; the black glider however took them south to Chemaoue, where the man-powered carriage conveyed them once again to the dour inn at the harbor. The chambers were as cheerless as the refectory, with couches of stone cushioned only by thin sour-smelling pads. Through the open window came a draught of cool salt air and the sound of harbor water.

  Etzwane passed a cheerless night, during which he was not aware of having slept. Gray-violet light finally entered the high window. Etzwane arose, rinsed his face with cold water, and went down to the common room, where he was presently joined by Mialambre. Ifness and Finnerack failed to appear. When Etzwane went to investigate, he found their chambers vacant.

  At noon Ifness returned to the inn. Etzwane anxiously inquired in regard to Finnerack. Ifness replied with care and deliberation. “Finnerack, if you remember, displayed a peculiar irresponsibility. Last night he departed the inn and set off along the shore. I had anticipated something of the sort and asked that he be kept under surveillance. Last night therefore he was taken into custody. I have been with the Palasedran authorities all morning and they have, I believe, discovered the source of Finnerack’s odd conduct.”

  The rancor which Etzwane had once felt in connection with the secretive Ifness began to return. “What did they find out — and how?”

  “Best perhaps, that you come with me and see for yourself.”

  Ifness spoke in a casual voice: “The Palasedrans are now convinced that the space-ship is not a product of Earth. I naturally could have told them as much, in the process betraying my own background.”

  Mialambre asked irritably. “Where then did the space-ship originate?”

  “I am as anxious to learn this as yourself — in fact I work on Durdane to this end. Since the Earth-worlds lie beyond the Schiafarilla, the space-ship presumably comes from the general direction opposite, toward the center of the galaxy. It is a sort I have never seen before.”

  “You have informed the Palasedrans of all this?”

  “By no means. Their opinions were altered by this morning’s events. The Roguskhoi chieftains, if you recall, wore a protective bib; this aroused my curiosity … Here are the laboratories.”

  Etzwane felt a thrill of horror. “This is where they brought Finnerack?”

  “It seemed then a sensible procedure.”

  They entered a building of black stone smelling strongly of chemical reeks. Ifness led the way with assurance, along a side corridor, into a large chamber illuminated by an array of skylights. Tanks and vats stood to right and left; tables ran down the middle. At the far end four Palasedrans in gray smocks considered the bulk of a dead Roguskhoi. Ifness gave a nod of approval. “They commence a new investigation … It may be profitable for you to watch.”

  Etzwane and Mialambre approached and stood by the wall. The Palasedrans worked without haste, arranging the hulk to best advantage … Etzwane looked about the room. A pair of large brown insects or crustaceans moved inside two glass jars. Glass tanks displayed floating organs, molds and fungus, a swarm of small white worms, a dozen unnameable objects … The Palasedrans, using an air-driven circular saw, sliced into the great chest … They worked five minutes with great dexterity. Etzwane began to feel an almost unbearable tension; he turned away. Ifness however was intent. “Now watch.”

  With deftness and delicacy the Palasedrans extracted a white sac the size of two clenched fists. A pair of heavy trailing tendons or nerves appeared to lead up into the neck. The Palasedrans carefully cut channels into the dark flesh, through bone and cartilage, to draw forth the cords intact. The entire organ now lay on the table. Suddenly it evinced a squirming life of its own. The white sac broke away; out crawled a glossy brown creature, something between a spider and a crab. The Palasedrans at once clapped it into a bottle and placed it on the shelf beside its two fellows.

  “There you see your true enemy,” said Ifness. “Sajarano of Sershan, during our conversations, used the word ‘asutra’. Its intelligence appears to be of the highest order.”

  In horrified fascination Etzwane went to stare into the bottle. The creature was gnarled and convoluted like a small brown brain; six jointed legs left the underside of the body, each terminating in three strong little palps. The long fibers or nerves extended from one end through a cluster of sensory organs.

  “From my brief acquaintance with the asutra,” said Ifness, “I deduce it to
be a parasite; or better perhaps, the directive half of a symbiosis, though I am certain that in its native environment it uses neither creatures like the Roguskhoi nor yet men for its hosts.”

  Etzwane spoke in a voice he found hard to control. “You have seen these before?”

  “A single specimen only: that which I took from Sajarano.”

  A dozen questions pushed into Etzwane’s mind: grisly suspicions he did not know how to voice and perhaps did not wish verified. He put Sajarano of Sershan and his pathetic mangled corpse out of his mind. He looked from one bottle to the other, and though he could not identify eyes or visual organs he had the disturbing sense of scrutiny.

  “They are highly evolved and specialized,” stated Ifness. “Still, like man they exhibit a surprising hardihood and no doubt can survive even in the absence of their hosts.”

  Etzwane asked: “What then of Finnerack?” — although he knew the answer to the question even before he asked.

  “This,” said Ifness, tapping one of the bottles, “was the asutra which occupied the body of Jerd Finnerack.”

  “He is dead?”

  “He is dead. How could he be alive?”

  “Once again,” said Ifness in a nasal voice of intense boredom, “you insist that I render you information regarding matters either not essentially your concern, or which you might ascertain independently. Still, I will in this case make a concession and perhaps ease your agonies of bewilderment.

  “As you know I was ordered off the planet Durdane by representatives of the Historical Institute, who felt that I had acted irresponsibly. I forcefully asserted my opinions; I won others to my point of view and was sent back to Durdane in a new capacity.

  “I returned at once to Garwiy, where I satisfied myself that you had acted with energy and decision. In short, the men of Shant, given leadership, reacted to the threat with ordinary human resource.”