Kiteman of Karanga Read online

  "We Eftians made this while we were fighting the Hrithdon," Athgar said proudly as they pursued the winding trail through the thickest thorn bush Karl had ever seen. "It took twenty of us six weeks to clear it, and then we salted the path. That's why it's still here today."

  After a long, disquieting ride through the tunnel in the thorn forest, they emerged near a canyon with walls of red sandstone and a small creek flowing through the center. They made camp for the night in the first grassy spot they found.

  "We'll follow this canyon upstream," Athgar said. "By tomorrow evening we'll be at Red Lizard Cave."

  As they started along the trail the next morning, Karl and Rika marveled at the banded colors of the canyon walls, which varied from rose to dark rust. The canyon curved constantly, and every few minutes they passed from hot morning sun to cool shade.

  They had just rounded a sharp bend when they suddenly found themselves facing a half dozen Hrithdon guardsmen sprawled out on the sand, resting. Their lizards were tied to some scrub trees nearby. Athgar, Karl, and Rika reined in their mounts as the guardsmen jumped to their feet, and for a moment both parties stared at each other.

  Then the officer of the guardsmen strode forward. "Dismount and identify yourselves!"

  Though he was standing only a few feet from Athgar's lizard, the officer spoke with the conviction that he would be obeyed immediately, which heightened his astonishment when Athgar challenged him in return.

  "Guardsman, don't be concerned about who we are. What should concern you is that we are mounted, and you are not. We can destroy all of you before you can reach your own mounts. However, we will be merciful. In return for your lives, all we ask is your word as an officer that we will not be followed. You need not fear that Murthdur will ever be the wiser."

  Karl could almost read the thoughts of the swarthy-faced Hrithdon as he considered Athgar's offer. The officer knew with certainty that he and his men stood no chance if the three riders before them were skilled lizard riders, but as he ran his eyes over Karl and Rika, he made his decision.

  "Mount up!" he commanded. He and his men sprang toward the scrub trees where their lizards were tied.

  Athgar spurred his mount to the attack, and before he had gone ten feet, the officer went flying, his neck broken. Pressing forward, Athgar's lizard dispatched a second guardsman with a lightning snap of its giant jaws. Then, in a blur of sand, Athgar swung his mount around and put himself between the remaining guardsmen and their lizards. With one bound his mount seized a third guardsman as he was diving into the stream and tossed him into the air. Wheeling around again, Athgar spied a fourth guardsman climbing into the scrubby trees, and urging his mount up onto its hind legs, he commanded it to claw the fugitive down from the low foliage. Stopping now, Athgar searched the scene for the remaining two. The fifth guardsman had scaled the canyons rock wall to a height that a lizard couldn't reach, and the sixth guardsman had disappeared.

  "Karl, Rika, lets go," Athgar shouted as he started his lizard along the trail at a dead run.

  They ran full tilt for what seemed an hour. Finally, Athgar slowed down to a walk.

  "He was an honorable man," Athgar said of the dead Hrithdon officer. "He could have given us his word, let us pass, and then followed us with all six of them mounted."

  "What about the two that are left?" Rika asked.

  "I doubt they'll have the heart to follow now," Athgar said; but just then, as if to mock his words, the steady rasping noise of lizards running on sand echoed in the canyon behind them.

  "Keep going," Athgar commanded. "I'll catch up to you." With that, he turned his mount around and raced full speed back down the canyon.

  Karl and Rika continued on their way. A few minutes later, the terrible screeching of fighting lizards echoed along the rock walls. Then there was silence. Athgar did not reappear, so they started back down the canyon.

  They did not have far to go. The scene that met them was awful. One of the guardsmen's lizards lay dead; Athgar's lizard lay gasping in a puddle of blood, its throat torn open. In the sand not far away lay Athgar, in a crumpled heap.

  "Athgar!" Rika cried. Leaping from her mount", she ran to him. "Karl, Karl, bring some water."

  Washing the blood and dirt from Athgar's face, Rika helped him lift his head and sip some water which Karl poured from his terry-skin bag.

  "My ribs," Athgar gasped.

  Karl checked Athgar over for other injuries. A cut on his forehead had covered his face with blood, and a long, raking gash ran across one shoulder.

  "Where are the guardsmen?" Karl asked.

  "Gone," Athgar answered weakly. "In the same shape I'm in, and the lizards they're on isn't much better. They won't be back."

  "Can you ride?" Rika asked.

  "I've got to. Help me up and tie me on," Athgar said. "We have to make it to Red Lizard Cave. If Zanzu finds we're not there, he'll assume we've left for the desert. And you need him now. I won't be going far."

  Rika and Karl lifted the groaning Athgar onto one of their two remaining lizards. After tying him to the saddle, Karl got on behind to steady him. Rika mounted the second lizard and took the rear. With Athgar directing them as best he could, they reached the mountains and climbed up a rocky incline, fought their way through a dense growth of bushes, and entered a clearing. On the other side, a dark opening went into the mountain.

  "Red Lizard Cave," rasped Athgar from his perch on the lizard's back. "Go ahead, take us in."

  Cautiously, Karl and Rika led the two lizards into the cave. When their eyes had adjusted to the dim light, they saw that they were in a chamber large enough to house a flock of sheep. At the rear, several more passages continued deeper into the mountain, and across one wall an enormous lizard had been painted with red ocher and charcoal.

  "We'll spend the night here," Athgar announced weakly.

  Karl came around behind the big man and reached up under his arms to help him down, while Rika guided his feet toward the ground. But the wounded mans grip failed, and he screamed with pain as his chest full of broken ribs thudded against the lizards flank. Tears in their eyes, Karl and Rika helped him the rest of the way to the ground and eased a folded blanket under his head.

  "Athgar, you rest here," Rika said. "We'll find something for a bed."

  An hour later Athgar lay on the softest bed of leaves that Karl and Rika could make him. Rika knelt by his side, wiping his brow with a damp cloth. Close by, a small fire blazed brightly, and at the rear of the chamber the two lizards rested silently, blinking at the firelight with reptilian indifference. Behind them loomed the graceful, terrifying portrait of a dread lizard, put there, Karl guessed, in some ancient time, and for a purpose nobody would ever know.

  Athgar developed a fever and rested only fitfully. Every so often he struggled, as if he were fighting some enemy, and mumbled incoherently.

  "Athgar has to get better," Rika said to Karl, glancing over her shoulder at the two lizards. "We've got to leave here and find food for those lizards. They must be getting hungry. I hope they don't eat us in our sleep. Can't we tie them outside?"

  "No, they might run away. They'll be all right for tonight," Karl answered. "We've got to have them to get across the desert and back again."

  All night Rika and Karl took turns sitting up with Athgar, wiping his face and making him as comfortable as possible. But by dawn he had grown worse. His fever increased, and he refused water. His mumbling had turned into anguished cries of pain. As the stars were fading from the night sky, Karl went outside for a moment and then froze against a nearby boulder.

  Coming up the escarpment was the clatter of some big animal. Running back to the cave, Karl whispered to Rika to keep Athgar quiet. Then he seized his spear and planted himself in the entrance.

  The clattering ceased, the brush crackled, and a dread lizard bearing a rider burst into the twilight before the caves mouth. But as the great beast slowed and the rider dismounted and called in a booming voice, "Wake up in ther
e," Karl felt a rush of relief.

  "Zanzu," he cried. "I thought you were the Hrithdon."

  "The Hrithdon don't rise this early," quipped the smuggler. "I see by your fire that everybody here is up."

  Karl stopped Zanzu by the entrance. "Athgar is hurt. He's been delirious all night."

  Handing his mount's reins to Karl, Zanzu hurried into the cave. Karl took Zanzu's lizard and tied it up with the other two, then went back to Athgar's bed. Zanzu was on his knees, supporting Athgar's head, talking to him.

  "Athgar, it's me, Zanzu. Do you hear me?"

  Athgar opened his eyes. "Zanzu, you've got to go with Karl and Rika."

  "Yes, I know," Zanzu answered. "Now relax and let me look you over." Throwing back the blanket, Zanzu carefully inspected his friend's ribs one by one. He also looked at the two gashes which Karl and Rika had washed and covered as best they could. From a satchel he took out a packet of ointment, which he gently rubbed into the two wounds. Next, he uncorked a vial of brown fluid.

  "Athgar, I'm going to give you some of this to make you sleep. We'll be passing through the village of Dorn, and we'll send someone to get you. You'll feel a lot better when you wake up." He grabbed Athgar's hand. "I'll see you when were back from Karanga."

  Zanzu shook several drops of the brown fluid into Athgar's mouth and gave him some water. By the time the first shaft of sunlight shot into the cave, Athgar was sleeping soundly.

  "He'll be all right," Zanzu pronounced, "but it will take a long time for all those ribs to heal. He won't wake up till the shepherds from Dorn have arrived. Now put out the fire and let's get moving. Someone must have raised an alarm. Last night the hills were swarming with guardsmen."

  17. Return to Karanga

  They led the three lizards from the cave and tied them in the sunlight. Zanzu unloaded his bulging saddlebags and started unpacking one of the bundles. First he pulled out three Hrithdon war shirts.

  "Here, put these on." He handed the two smaller shirts to Karl and Rika. "They're not too uncomfortable when you get used to them, and they're good protection. Athgar would be in better shape right now if he had been wearing one."

  Karl examined his war shirt. It was made of many flat plates of metal sewn into a cloth vest. He put it on. It was soft inside and in the cool morning air was a welcome addition to the thin cotton shirt he was wearing.

  Zanzu then pulled out a dozen leather water sacks, knives, food, and most important to Karl, coil upon coil of strong, thin rope.

  Karl took an end of one of the coils and tied it to a nearby tree. Then he pulled as hard as he could. It was obvious that the thin rope would hold much more than his weight.

  "You won't break that rope, Karl," Zanzu said. "It's pure silk from the south islands beyond the Hrithdon Empire. It costs a lot, but it's light and strong."

  Karl nodded. "It's what we need for launching kitewings with lizards. I just hope these lizards can pull hard enough to raise a kitewing."

  "Don't worry about the lizards, my friend," answered Zanzu. "They'll pop you into the air like a catapult. Now, let's finish your riding lessons, pack this stuff up, and get going. The oja harvest is only three weeks away. We want to be on the desert this afternoon."

  Zanzu finished the instruction in lizard riding that Athgar had begun by showing Karl and Rika the commands for the most common military maneuvers. When the three lizards were packed, Karl and Rika got mounted, while Zanzu took a final look at Athgar, who was deep in a drugged sleep. Then, taking a good-bye glance at Red Lizard Cave, they departed through the scrub and down the rocky slope.

  From a distance the village of Dorn looked as though Eftah had been moved to the arid lowlands. As they approached the small shepherding community, the villagers ran to hide from their lizards. Only the village leader and a few older men remained outside to greet them.

  They halted their lizards when the puzzled chief approached them. "Sirs, you bring some message from his Excellency, Murthdur?"

  "May Murthdur be boiled in oja!" retorted Zanzu as he dismounted. "Clen, don't you recognize me?"

  "Zanzu! What are you doing here? Why are you riding lizardback?" Clen shook Zanzu's hand warmly, but worry showed in his eyes.

  "We're running from the Hrithdon." Zanzu handed Clen a small sack of coins. "We need a half dozen sheep, food for two weeks, and our water sacks filled. But most important, we need you to take care of Athgar for us. He's lying injured in Red Lizard Cave."

  "Athgar! What happened?"

  "We don't have time for the whole story now. Athgar will tell you when he comes to," Zanzu said. "Take good care of him and hide him from the Hrithdon."

  "Of course we'll take good care of Athgar. We owe him more than we can repay. But tell me, Zanzu, will the Hrithdon attack Dorn in retaliation for what you're doing?"

  "No," answered Zanzu. "Absolutely not. They want to catch us badly, and they're not going to stop for anything else. If they come here looking for us, you can tell them we disappeared into the desert."

  A quarter of an hour later, the lizards had been fed and three extra sheep had been strapped on alive behind their saddles. They said farewell to Clen and departed in a swirl of dust. Soon they were on the last ridge before the wide desert floor.

  Zanzu stared at the trackless expanse with interest. "All right, kiteman," he said with a subdued grin, "it's all yours now."

  Karl surveyed the desert ahead. "If we're fifty miles south of Eftah, we'll head northeast until morning to put us on course and then we'll head due east. That will also give us a chance to find the spring at the midpoint."

  "I can hardly believe there's water out there," exclaimed Rika.

  "It's there," said Karl. "In the middle of some rocky hills with lots of scrub, sand, and palms. It's a nice spot except for dozens of dread lizards. I don't know what they eat—probably each other."

  "They will, too," put in Zanzu. "A lizard has to eat every three to five days. After ten days without food, they'll turn on one another and the riders won't be able to stop them. That may have happened to some of the first Hrithdon expeditions into the desert."

  Agreeing that it was important to put some distance between themselves and the Hrithdon, they headed out onto the desert despite the midday heat. Several times they doused the overheated reptiles and sheep with some of their precious water. When the sun went behind Eftah's mountains, they stopped to eat and rest. Then, as the stars came out, they continued on through the night. At dawn Eftah's mountains were only a jagged line on the horizon.

  "We can sleep under a kitewing during the day," Karl said as they made camp, "but what about the lizards? They'll die in this heat."

  "No they won't," said Zanzu. "Watch this."

  He stepped over to the nearest lizard and slapped its leathery chin. At once the reptile sank its foreclaws into the sand and began digging. With Zanzu slapping its chin occasionally for encouragement, the lizard soon excavated a long trench in the desert sand.

  "The digging command is useful if you're preparing a fortification," Zanzu remarked. "The Hrithdon know how to get the most out of a lizard."

  Zanzu led the lizard down into the trench. Feeling the cooler sand on its belly, the reptile squirmed deeper into the trench and quickly managed to cover its body completely. Only its head remained above the surface. The other lizards dug themselves into the cool sand next to the first. Then Karl, Rika, and Zanzu set up the kitewings, one over the lizards' heads and the other for themselves and the sheep. Protected from the sun in this manner, they slept through the hot desert day.

  For the next four nights they continued trekking eastward, and each morning they stopped and prepared their camp for the day. But by the fifth day their water supply was low. The lizards had consumed more than Zanzu had anticipated.

  "This is why the first Hrithdon expeditions into the desert disappeared," said Zanzu as he eyed the contents of the last water sack. "We've got to find that spring, Karl."

  "Well have to look for it by air," Rika
said.

  "We'd better," Karl replied. Despite Zanzu's assurance, Karl was not convinced that a lizard could run fast enough on the sand to pull a kitewing aloft. But he said nothing. Having missed the oasis on foot, launching a kitewing with a lizard would have to work if they were going to survive.

  When the coils of the thin rope had been tied together and the sun was hot and high, they removed the Asti from above the lizards' heads and roused one of them from its sleeping place. Karl tied the end of the long rope to the back of the saddle.

  "Start slow," he told Zanzu, who was riding the tow lizard. "When you see me take off, keep up a fast run until I let go of the rope."

  Karl wrapped his end of the rope around his forearm three times and ran it through his fist. To release it he had only to let go with his hand. Then he signaled to Zanzu, and the lizard began to move.

  As Karl began running, the line snaked ahead of him in the sand. The lizard gained speed, and the rope tightened. With a tremendous jerk Karl was snapped into the air, but he was not yet flying, and his wing began to settle. Then a rapid series of smaller tugs became one steady pull and he was flying. Pushing his control bar forward, Karl rose at a steeper angle than he had though possible. Higher and higher Karl climbed as the desert spread out beneath him. Below he could see the racing lizard. He felt the bump of a weak thermal and released the line, banking quickly to catch the rising air.

  Karl teased what lift he could from the weak thermal and waved to Rika and Zanzu before he moved on to look for stronger lift. Soon he was several thousand feet high, and he turned east. He flew over the featureless expanse, but there were no landmarks, no animals, no clouds. As he searched the horizon for the hills surrounding the oasis, he was again awestruck by the emptiness of the desert.

  At last Karl spotted the low hills twenty miles to the north of their course. Turning back, he retraced his course as carefully as possible, keeping the sun at his left wingtip. If he could almost miss a range of hills in this vast space, it would be easy indeed to miss two people and three lizards. An hour later Karl was relieved to see the shape of the second kitewing against the sand. He dove sharply, pulled up into a loop above Rika and Zanzu, and rolled into a steep, descending spiral. When he was near the ground, he dove straight for Rika and Zanzu and zoomed over their heads. He then turned and touched the ground lightly beside them.