Zanthodon Page 3

  He whirled about, eyes starting from his head, mouth gaping open to give voice to a startled cry.

  Then he froze-petrified with astonishment.

  Could the Professor have somehow known that I was not very far distant from him, was, even at that very instant, traversing with all such speed as I was able to attain the broad and grassy plain of the trantors, the knowledge may well have comforted him in his present danger.

  When Hurok had parted from me, driven away by the seeming coldness of my ungracious rebuff, I hastened to divert from my former path at right angles.

  Ahead of me, Tharn and his troop of warriors were scouring the edges of the jungle, searching for any slightest sign or token that might denote the whereabouts of the missing princess. During the brief while that Hurok and I had lingered behind to discuss my vague premonitions, they had drawn quite a ways ahead of our position.

  I then traveled rapidly out into the midst of the plain, taking for my goal the line of soaring gray mountains that were known as the Peaks of Peril. I was young and vigorous and had rested well after my recent exertions; hence it was that I had reached midway into the plain of the trantors at the precise moment that Professor Potter glimpsed with amazement his peril.

  The exigencies of narrative technique require me, thus tiresomely, to relate matters of which, at the time, I had no actual knowledge in simultaneity with those events which I witnessed or partook in. That this must seem confusing to my reader-if any!-is regrettable, but necessary. It is, of course, only in retrospect, long after we had all come back again together and found sufficient leisure to relate the tale of our adventures to each other, that I was able to get straight in my mind what each of my friends or enemies was doing at any given point in time.

  And now, long after these events transpired, I am able to narrate these adventures, diligently striving to explain what each of us was doing more or less at the same time. This requires me to cut back and forth from the viewpoint of one person to that of another, but I am no seasoned writer and know of no other way to set all of these things before you. Bear with me, then, as my narrative becomes even more confusing and complex with the diversity of incidents yet to come.

  At the time, I had no way of knowing that I was being followed by anyone.

  The wind was blowing into my face, all sound was dulled by the sighing of the long grasses and the thudding of my feet as I loped across the plain of the trantors, and I had no occasion to turn and look behind me.

  After an interminable time I reached that mighty wall of gray and somber mountains that was my goal.

  Another hour or so of searching along the flanks of the mountain led me to the fortuitous discovery of a narrow ravine or chasm, into which I plunged. I followed the narrow way between the mountains as it twisted and turned, wearying now and beginning to become hungry.

  And all the time, those that pursued me continued on my trail.

  Before very much longer, I had penetrated the Peaks of Peril and had emerged on the far side of the range of mountains, to view a broad vista of shoreline and sea. Whether or not this was the same pass through the mountains which Jorn and the Professor had earlier followed I have no way of telling.

  I was tired and hungry by this time, and, like an old campaigner, knew that I must pause, however briefly, to rest and to eat in order to take up again my quest with undiminished vigor.

  No game presented itself, but the tidal pools along the shoreline contained a quantity of small fish marooned by the withdrawing of the tide. I made a fire with dry leaves and sticks, speared the three fish I had scooped out of the shallows with my bare hands, and cooked them over the sizzling flames.

  Half-raw, half-burnt, the meat of the fish tasted to me more delicious than the sumptuous dishes I had once sampled in the finest restaurants of Paris or Rome. Satisfying my thirst with cool, clear water from the little freshwater stream that meandered down the shore to empty into the sea, I made a nest for myself in the thick grasses and composed myself for slumber. I had intended a brief catnap to revitalize my strength, but now in retrospect, I fear that I fell into heavier slumbers than had been my intention.

  And from my sleep I was awakened suddenly and rudely.

  For One-Eye was kneeling upon my chest. And he had snatched the precious revolver from my waist and was at that moment pointing it into my face, with an evil lopsided grin.

  Chapter 4. CAPTIVE OF THE CORSAIRS

  No words of mine can possibly do justice to the emotions which raged within the heart of Darya of Thandar. When the bearded chieftain of the corsairs had surprised her in the act of bathing in the little jungle stream, she had been furious and frightened. Helpless in the powerful embrace of the swarthy pirate, the girl had not been able to resist as he bore her aboard the Moorish galley and into his cabin.

  Now, the Stone Age girl had, of course, never seen such a vessel as this, or such men as these in all her brief span of existence. Nor would the very name of the Barbary pirates have signified aught to the Cro-Magnon Princess. But to be plucked from the relative security of freedom and thrust into the captivity of hard and dangerous men is an experience disheartening and terrifying.

  Hence, it is no reflection upon the brave and gallant spirit of the beautiful cave girl to admit that her heart faltered within her as she was borne, naked and struggling, within the cabin of the corsair chief.

  With one booted foot the corsair kicked shut the door behind him. The furiously struggling girl he dumped unceremoniously onto his bed, a narrow bunk built into the curving hull of the pirate vessel.

  Then he stood grinning down at her as she lay, panting and disheveled and completely at his mercy.

  For her part, Darya of Thandar took in the tall, commanding form of her captor with rage and detestation and a very natural amount of fear. Also very natural to the cave girl was the intense curiosity she felt as she examined with puzzlement the man who had seized her.

  He was tall and hawk-faced, his lean, strong jaw adorned by a crisp trim of beard which was either naturally red in coloration or dyed to that hue. With the exception of the hulking Drugars, whose brawny, apelike forms were adorned by a short pelt of dirty russet fur, Darya had never before seen a man with red hair.

  Nor a man so strangely clothed. For the pirate chieftain wore an old-fashioned corselet of overlapping bronze scales, a loose robe-like surcoat of coarsely woven cloth and a scarlet turban of rich silk bound about his brows. Jeweled rings adorned his fingers, a girdle of embossed leather cinched in his waist, boots of scarlet leather with toes that curled up were upon his feet.

  The scent of perfume wafted from the folds of his raiment. A slender scimitar of cold steel was thrust through a loop fastened to his girdle; it slapped against his thigh as he moved. He was, all in all, the most curious figure of a man whom the maid had ever set eyes upon.

  The information would have meant nothing at all to the girl, but the corsair was, of course, one of the modern descendants of the Barbary pirates who had been the merciless scourge of the Mediterranean many generations in the past.

  And the man who now towered over her, tasting her nude loveliness with gloating black eyes, was none other than Kairadine Redbeard, called Barbarossa-the seventh of his line to bear that once-feared and very famous name. as he was the seventh in direct succession from the notorious Khair ud-Din, pirate king of Algiers and last master of the Barbary corsairs.

  And this was the man who had captured her!

  The reason the Stone Age maiden had never before seen one of the Barbary pirates, nor even one of the high-prowed, red-sailed galleys of Moorish design which they continued to build in imitation of their piratical ancestors, was that the kingdom of Kairadine Redbeard lay far to the "north" of this part of . Farther up around the curve of the coastline of the Sogar-Jad lay the stone-walled fortress citadel the pirates called El-Cazar.

  And while they lived according to the custom of their ferocious ancestors-which is to say by
preying upon the tribes and nations of the coast and of those islands upon the breast of the Sogar-Jad which were inhabited by men, or by creatures very much like men-never had the galleys of El-Cazar penetrated far enough into the southern parts of the underground ocean to loot or raid or plunder Darya's distant homeland, the kingdom of Thandar.

  But while the figure and clothing of the Barbary corsair might be strange and unfamiliar to such as Darya, Kairadine Redbeard had seen many Cro-Magnons of Darya's kind. For the blond and blue-eyed race of half-savage cavemen were closely akin to many scattered tribes and war clans throughout the Underground World.

  Never before, however, had Redbeard laid his dark eyes upon so tempting a morsel of femininity as was Darya of Thandar.

  She was indeed an exquisite creature, as she lay there on the bunk glaring up at him with fury and loathing mingled in her wide blue eyes. As she panted for breath, her perfect breasts rose and fell, their delectable pink tips crisped from the coldness of the sea air on her damp skin. The corsair let his eyes travel caressingly down the sleek curve of arm and shoulder, belly and flank and long, slim, tanned thigh.

  "By the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, wench, but you are a beauty!" the corsair breathed hoarsely as he reached out to fondle the nude and tempting loveliness sprawled out before him on the rumpled bedclothes.

  Then, in the next instant, with a startled cry, he withdrew his hand, nursing it to his corseleted breast.

  For the girl had struck like an angry viper, sinking her strong teeth almost to the bone into the flesh of his hand. With a harsh oath, he stared at the red blood running down to drip from his fingertins. and raised his other hand to deal the savage girl a heavy blow.

  But at that moment there occurred what could only be termed a fortuitous interruption.

  To the rear of the corsair's cabin, which fronted upon the foam that boiled in the ship's wake, were a broad, curved row of diamond-paned windows.

  These swung open suddenly as there came hurtling into the room a bronzed and naked figure, with wet, flying hair whipping about brawny young shoulders. And through this hair glared cold blue eyes, lion-like in their wrath.

  As the corsair gaped incredulously, his hand hovering for one indecisive moment above the hilt of his long, curved scimitar-that lithe and naked figure launched itself upon him like a human thunderbolt.

  As for Darya of Thandar, the cave girl crouched amid the disordered tangle of the bedclothes, frozen with astonishment.

  For the half-naked figure that had burst upon them so suddenly, with his unannounced and unanticipated but nonetheless extremely welcome and timely interruption, was one that she instantly recognized.

  And, recognizing him, her blue eyes widened with sheer amazement.

  For her intrepid rescuer was a man whom the girl knew very well to be dead.

  For one long, frozen moment I stared up into the cold black eye of the unwavering gun muzzle. Then I sprang to my feet, hurling One-Eye onto his back with a thump that drew a growling oath.

  And faced the three of them.

  Fumio I already knew and disliked, for he was a treacherous coward and a preening swine.

  Xask I had never seen before, and took in with one searching, curious glance. Slim of build, indeterminate of age, olive-hued, he resembled neither the russet-furred Apemen of Kor nor the stalwart blond savages of Darya's tribe. His eyes were cold and shrewd and black as ink, and his hair was sleek and neatly trimmed and black as well. But it was his garments that caught and held my stare, for they were of fine, woven cloth-here in this primitive wilderness, where all others save for the Professor and myself went half naked, clad only in tanned hide and furs!

  One-Eye sprang to his feet, red murder burning in his little pig-like eye. Spitting curses, he came toward me, swinging his heavy, ape-like arms, the pistol forgotten in the grip of one huge hand.

  But the one whom I soon came to know as Xask stayed him. The slender little man laid a thin hand on the Apeman's shaggy arm and murmured a word or two in his eye ear. Growling and licking his thick lips, One-Eye subsided.

  I viewed the three of them with contempt.

  "Well, here's a fine trio of rogues!" I said boldly, deciding that it was best under the circumstances to put a bold front on it before the world. "One-Eye, you'd better put down-and carefully-that piece of iron you thieved from my person, before it explodes and rips your arm off as it split asunder the villainous brain of Uruk, your Chief," I advised.

  Beneath the dirt and matted fur that coated his ugly hide, One-Eye paled suddenly, staring down at the thing he held. And almost had he flung the pistol at my feet, as I had hardly dared hope he would. But Xask again stayed him with a crisp word.

  "This is the famous thunder-weapon, then," murmured the wily former vizier of Kor. "We have heard much about it. Give it to me, One-Eye."

  Not without reluctance, the hulking Neanderthal passed my pistol into the slim hands of the little man in the silken tunic. Xask handled it with cautious respect, turning it over and over in his hands.

  "The workmanship is superb," he breathed at last, "and far beyond the abilities of the artisans of my people. Your tribe, Eric Carstairs, must be far advanced in the arts of civilization. You must teach me how to work the device"

  I folded my bare arms across my chest and gave him a cool, level look.

  "I'd rather deliver a box of dynamite to a murderous maniac than teach you how to use it," I said contemptuously.

  A small smile hovered briefly about his thin lips.

  "Well, as to that, we shall soon see. One-Eye has few virtues, but he is remarkably strong, and among his primitive kind, sheer cruelty is a trait necessary for survival. If it comes down to that, I believe a few minutes alone and helpless and in the grip of those huge paws will have you screaming for the opportunity to teach me how to use the weapon," Xask said cleverly. And One-Eye leered and balled one huge fist suggestively.

  I gave Xask stare for stare, and did not permit the slightest flicker of expression to mar my mask of nonchalant and contemptuous ease. But I could well imagine the brutalities of which the savage Neanderthal was fully capable, and my heart sank within me, wondering how much suffering I could endure in his grip before my will crumbled and my resolve broke.

  It is not an easy question for any man to have to ask himself. And while I am, perhaps, bolder and stronger than most, and have lived a desperate life crowded with danger, the thought of torture touches the secret craven hidden in every man.

  I did not care to have to put my own courage to that test.

  "But," smiled Xask with an easy shrug, "for the moment I am weary and also hungry. Fumio, bind our prisoner and see to it that he cannot wriggle free. One-Eye, come and help me build up the fire again . . .

  for I perceive that our friend did not entirely finish his fish dinner, and it has been long since I myself dined."

  They bound me, Fumio twisting my hands behind my back with cruel, numbing strength, and left me propped against a boulder while they rested at their ease, basking before the fire, leisurely finishing my meal for me.

  And all the while, Xask eyed the automatic with shrewd, thoughtful, clever eyes.

  Chapter 5. THE VAMPIRE LEECH

  When Professor Percival P. Potter, Ph.D., saw the thing that came slithering out of the shadows of the jungle, three things occurred almost simultaneously.

  He paled to the color of fresh milk; his heart sank into what remained of his waterlogged boots and remained there, feebly palpitating; and his scientific curiosity awoke within him to acute and fascinated intensity.

  During the weeks that he had spent here in the Underground World, the Professor had seen a wide assortment of rare and remarkable survivals from the remote eons of Earth's distant past.

  The omodon, or great Cave Bear of the Ice Age, and its contemporaries, the wooly mammoth which the men of call the thantor and the dreaded sabertooth tiger, the vandar. As well, he had viewed with awe and a
mazement survivals from the Age of Reptiles, such as the grymp, or triceratops, the plesiosaur, which the primitives call the yith, and that fantastic flying dragon of the dawn, the mighty pterodactyl-the thakdol, as the men of the Underground World term But the elderly savant had also observed species hitherto unknown to men of science and as yet unrecorded in their fossil histories, and had heard of yet others unfamiliar to him and probably unknown-such as the enormous albino spiders called the vathrib, and a kind of giant serpent, the xunth, which attains a length of more than thirty feet.

  The creature which now came creeping upon him out of the underbrush was like nothing which Professor Potter had ever seen or heard of before.

  It was a huge, slimy, crawling slug or leech, and it was nearly five feet in length. The curved back of the creature was in color a slick, leathery brown, but its under-surface was tender pink in hue.

  That tender and fleshy underbelly was lined with hard suckers, like craters left by a broken pustule. The Professor shuddered in loathing at the thought of those suckers clasping naked human flesh, and sucking therefrom the hot blood of men, as do the smaller leeches of the Upper World.

  But the most horrible and repellent feature about the monstrous leech was not its size or its nature, but the uncanny gleam of cold, inhuman intelligence that burned in its eyes.

  For the front portion of the enormous slug-like thing tapered into something like a curled snout. This obscene proboscis-it could hardly be dignified by calling it a head-bore rows of small, gleaming red eyes. These were six in all. And within them glowed an alien sentience that was appalling: they possessed at once the chill, unwinking fascination of the eyes of a cobra . . . and an intellect vast, frigid, awesome.

  The unblinking gaze of those six staring eyes held the old man frozen where he stood, as the gaze of a serpent reputedly is able to root to the spot the helpless fowl which is to be its prey.