3 - Barbarians of Mars (14 page)

 
          
 
They drove at the ship, but the ancient hull
resisted this and for a moment they swam around rapidly in some sort of
confusion.

 
          
 
Then they rose further out of the water and
began to stab at us.

 
          
 
We slashed at their pointed heads with our
swords and they hissed and snapped at us.

 
          
 
Shoulder to shoulder we fought them off as
more of them attacked. Our swords pierced their comparatively soft bodies but
seemed to have little lasting effect on them.

 
          
 
Some of them had flopped completely out of the
water and landed on the deck.

 
          
 
They writhed towards us.

 
          
 
One of them managed to stab me in the leg
before I ran my sword into its eye.

 
          
 
Another nearly took my arm off, but I chopped
its head open.

 
          
 
Soon the deck was slippery with their blood
and I found it difficult to keep my footing.

 
          
 
Just when it seemed that we should soon be food
for the n'heer, I heard the throb of engines above me.

 
          
 
It was an impossible sound.

 
          
 
I risked a glance upwards.

 
          
 
It was an impossible sight!

 
          
 
There were several airships of my own design.
From their cabins floated the colours of Vamal.

 
          
 
What freak of chance had brought them here?

 
          
 
I had not time to think of that then, as we
were forced to concentrate on defending ourselves against the n'heer.

 
          
 
But help came from the airships. Arrows rained
down on the slimy creatures and many died before the rest swam rapidly off.

 
          
 
A rope was lowered from one of the ships. I
grabbed it and began to climb.

 
          
 
Soon I was looking into the face of none other
than my brother by marriage - Damad of the Vamal. His youthful face was
grinning in delight and relief and he gripped my shoulder warmly.

 
          
 
"Michael Kane, my brother!" he said.
"At last we have found you!"

 
          
 
"What do you mean?" I asked.

 
          
 
"I win tell you later. Let us help Hool
Haji aboard first. Luck has been with you."

 
          
 
As we helped Hool Haji aboard, I was forced to
give him an ironic grin. "Luck has been with me? I did not think so until

THE GREEN DEATH

 
          
 
Darnad sat at the controls of the airship I
had taught him to navigate and several Varnalian warriors sat around on the couches
grinning
their joy at seeing us again.

 
          
 
"I would like to know just how you
happened to be in this part of the Western ocean at this particular time,"
I said. "The coincidence seems too incredible to be true."

 
          
 
"It is no coincidence, really," he
said, "but happy circumstances."

 
          
 
"Then tell me of them."

 
          
 
"Do you remember a girl from Cend-Amrid?
Ala Mara, her name is."

 
          
 
"Of course.
But
how do you know her?"

 
          
 
"Well, you left her in your airship when
you went to inspect the vaults of the Yaksha, did you not?"

 
          
 
"We did."

 
          
 
"Apparently the girl became a little
bored and began fiddling with the control panel of the ship. She meant no harm,
naturally, but by accident she released the mooring lines of the airship and
the craft began to drift in the wind."

 
          
 
"So that is what happened. Lucky for her
that it did, I think."

 
          
 
"Why so?"

 
          
 
"Because otherwise she
would have been found by those who captured us."

 
          
 
"Who were they?"

 
          
 
"I'll tell you that when I've heard the
rest of your story.”

 
          
 
"Very well.
The
airship drifted on the air currents for many days before it was sighted by one
of our patrol craft which had set out with a message for you from
Shizala."

 
          
 
"A message?"

 
          
 
"Yes. I will also tell you of that in a
moment."

 
          
 
"The girl told of the situation in
Cend-Amrid and why you had gone to the Yaksha vaults. The ship returned first
to

 
          
 
Vamal with the girl and its
news.
Then I headed this expedition to Yaksha to see if we could help
since we guessed you would be almost stranded there without any means of
transport -though we thought you might make for Mendishar.

 
          
 
"When we arrived at Mendishar they had no
news of you, so we went to Yaksha."

 
          
 
"And found us gone."

 
          
 
"Exactly."

 
          
 
"What did you do then?"

 
          
 
"Well, we did discover signs that many of
the machines had been removed. Also, we found the corpses of many warriors whom
we did not recognize. We gathered that you had been in a fight and had
vanquished your enemies. We guessed then that you might have been captured.
Travelling overland, we were able to follow a trail through the desert to the
coast where we found further signs that a ship had recently left there."

 
          
 
"What did you do when you discovered that
the ship had probably taken us over the sea?"

 
          
 
"There was little we could do, save try
to find the ship -and we never did find it. All we could do after that was
scour both sea and coast in the hope of finding some clue. We were on our fifth
trip back when we sighted your boat and were able to help you."

 
          
 
"In the nick of time," I said.
"I'm very grateful, Damad."

 
          
 
"Nonsense.
But
what has happened to you? Did you find a machine that will be able to cure the
plague?"

 
          
 
"No, I am sorry to say."

 
          
 
Then I told Damad all that had happened to us.
He listened avidly.

 
          
 
"I am glad you both survived," he
said. "And I hope we shall all be able to see the cat-people some
day."

            
"Now," I smiled. "I
have been patient enough. What was the message being borne to me from
Shizala?"

 
          
 
"A joyful one," Damad said.
"You are to become a father!"

 
          
 
That one scrap of news did more for me than
anything else. I could hardly contain my enthusiasm, and everyone joined in
congratulating me.

 
          
 
It had been worth going through all I had done
to hear that

 
          
 
Shizala was going to give me a child. I could
not wait to get home and see her.

 
          
 
But first there was my duty. I had to visit
the Yakslia vaults and seek the device that the Yaksha must have possessed to
counter the effects of the Green Death.

 
          
 
Now we were_ crossing the land and the Yaksha
vaults in the desert would soon be reached.

 
          
 
Then we saw them below us and Darnad brought
the airship closer to the ground.

 
          
 
The ships were moored and we left a few men on
guard while we once again entered the vaults.

 
          
 
This time, with more men, we could make a
really thorough search for the device we sought. For all I knew it might be in
tablet or even liquid form, but knowing the fantastically sophisticated science
of the Yaksha I thought it might be a machine capable of dispensing some kind
of ray that would work directly on the disease germs.

 
          
 
We searched for several days. The vaults were
vast, and it took time to check everything we found. The barbarians had left a
great deal. They had taken, in fact, only those machines that seemed designed
for war. Many other types were left, though all the war machines, it seemed,
had gone. Now I knew they were destroyed for good, and perhaps it was just as
well, though I regretted missing the opportunity of analysing their principles.

 
          
 
But, though we checked everything, we could
find nothing that seemed designed to counter the Green Death. At length we were
forced to give up and return to the airships.

 
          
 
Now I sat at the controls while Darnad
relaxed.

 
          
 
I set a course for Vamal.

 
          
 
"Now what can we do?" Darnad asked
gloomily. "Must we forget Cend-Amrid''"

 
          
 
"If you had seen the horror there,"
I told him, "you would not suggest that. We shall just have to try to find
a cure ourselves, though the time that would take must be very long -unless we
are very lucky."

 
          
 
We did not pass over Cend-Amrid on our way
back and I was rather relieved, for I did not think I could bear to look on the
place, even from such a height.

 
          
 
But it was as we neared the Crimson Plain that
lies quite close to Vamal that I noticed a vast procession of people below me.

 
          
 
At first I thought it was an army on the
march, but its order was too ragged.

 
          
 
I dropped lower to see it and observed that it
was in fact made up of men, women and children of all ages.

 
          
 
I was fascinated by the sight and could not
understand why so many people should be on the move.

 
          
 
I guided the airship down lower and then saw
in horror what I had half feared since I had left Cend-Amrid.

 
          
 
The Green Death was on them all.

 
          
 
Somehow a traveller must have come and gone
from Cend-Amrid and taken the seeds of the plague with him.

 
          
 
Perhaps he had returned to his own city - and
it had become infected.

 
          
 
But why were they on the move?

 
          
 
I took the megaphone from its place near the
control panel and went to the cabin door.

 
          
 
I shouted down at the crowd, who were by this
time gaping up.

 
          
 
They wereall in rags, with
gaunt, haunted faces.

 
          
 
"Who are you?" I bellowed through
the megaphone. “Where are you from?"

 
          
 
One of them shouted back: "We are the
non-functional! We seek refuge."

 
          
 
"What do you mean, non-functional? Do you
come, then, from Cend-Amrid?"

 
          
 
"Some of us do. But many come from
Opquel, Fiola and Ishal, too."

 
          
 
"Who told you you were
non-functional?" I shouted.
"The folk of
Cend-Amrid?"

 
          
 
"We have a mechanic with us. He, too, is
non-functional. He is our head - we are his hands, his motor,
his
feet."

 
          
 
I realized then that not only the plague had
come from Cend-Amrid - so had part of the dreadful creed that ruled there.

 
          
 
“If he is non-functional, why does he lead
you?”

 
          
 
"We are the great non-functional. It is
our duty to produce a non-functional world."

 
          
 
I was experiencing a further perversion of
logic whereby someone had convinced those infected by the plague that it was
good to have the plague and bad not to have it.

 
          
 
This could mean that the Green Death could
spread like wildfire throughout Southern Mars - perhaps across the whole planet
- unless it could somehow be checked.

 
          
 
"Where do you go now?" I asked.

 
          
 
"Varnal!" came the
reply.

 
          
 
I almost dropped the megaphone in horror.

 
          
 
The Green Death must not reach Varnal.

 
          
 
Now I had something even more intensely
personal to fight for. Would I keep my head?

 
          
 
I prayed that I would.