Prince of Scorpio (27 page)

And, I promised myself, with Delia’s help we’d eradicate the obscenity of slavery from the place. That would take time. But we would do it. Had that been the reason for the Star Lords’ manipulations of me?

I looked up, but I could see neither the scarlet and golden raptor of the Star Lords, nor the white dove of the Savanti. They would make further appearances, this I knew, during my life on Kregen. The Savanti might have thrown me out of paradise, and I would now prosecute diligent inquiries to find the scarlet-roped Todalpheme who might show me the way back to Aphrasöe; they had also thrown me upon the mercy of the Star Lords. For how long would I remain a Prince of Vallia at the side of my Princess?

I held her close. The wedding ceremony would be performed very soon. Korf Aighos whispered to me, and I laughed, and said to Delia: “Certain friends of ours discovered a king’s ransom in wedding presents hidden in a gorge in the Blue Mountains. They think it proper they should be given to you, my Princess.”

We felt a stroke of sadness that Vektor, Kov of Aduimbrev, had died of heart failure occasioned through fear as he ran for the palisade of bones; but death is cheap on Kregen, and life is for the living. Those wedding presents were fit for a princess, so a princess should receive them.

There was great feasting and great drinking beneath the Suns of Scorpio. Then we all took the airboats and flew for Vondium. I stood very close to Delia. How to believe that, at last, we had won each other? I was hers as much as she was mine. She looked up into my eyes and searched my ugly old face, and she sighed, and snuggled closer to me.

From the airboat floated the flags of Vallia and Prescot; the yellow saltire on the red ground, and the yellow cross on the red ground, and I saw what must be done with those.

“Are you content, Dray, my darling?”

“With you by my side, how could I not be?”

“With all these old comrades, Hap Loder, Gloag, Prince Varden, with Inch and dear Seg and all the others, I believe you think of your two rascals, Nath and Zolta.”

Delia had never met those two unlikely specimens, but she understood. “Aye,” I said. “And of Zorg, who is dead.”

“Do not speak of death, Dray, not now! Now we have everything to live for! All of Vallia!”

“Yes.” I hugged her and then said, “You did not mention Vomanus.”

“No?” She looked around. “There should be no secrets between us. But this is a high state secret, so mind it! I think you believed Vomanus would marry me, was a rival, as those fool racters thought—”

“Well, woman?”

She chuckled, a silver tinkle of merriment against the swift passage of the flier.

“Vomanus is the son of my mother, before she married my father. He is my half-brother.”

“No wonder,” was all I could say. “He said Kovs were Kovs and Kovs to him!”

She laughed again, and so we stood there, together, with my fighting-men at my back, sailing under the twin yellow and red flags, as we sailed beneath the twin Suns of Scorpio casting down their mingled opaz radiance, sailing for Vondium and marriage and happiness.

I, Dray Prescot, of Earth, had found my home.

The map of a part of Kregen, that cruel and beautiful planet four hundred light-years away under the Suns of Scorpio, appearing in this volume, number five, of the Saga of Prescot of Antares, presents a new and strange turn of events in the fascinating story of Dray Prescot. The paper appears to be a completely ordinary white bond, the outlines are drawn with a blue felt-nibbed pen, apparently freehand, and names and features are inserted in pencil. There is a red-lined border, and towns and cities are indicated by small red dots.

Various distances and bearings Prescot has mentioned from time to time in his story are now supported by this map, and we are now able to grasp more fully at an understanding of the topography of this savage world and where his adventures have taken him. In the bottom right-hand corner appear the letters
D. P. Krzy
faintly written in pencil in an old-fashioned script.

Dray Prescot is a man above medium height, with straight brown hair and brown eyes that are level and oddly dominating. His shoulders are immensely wide and there is about him an abrasive honesty, and a fearless courage. He moves like a great hunting cat, quiet and deadly. Born in 1775, he presents a picture of himself that, the more we learn of him, grows no less enigmatic.

Through the machinations of the Savanti nal Aphrasöe, mortal but superhuman men dedicated to the aid of humanity, and of the Star Lords, he has been taken to Kregen many times. In his early years he rose to become Zorcander among the Clansmen of Segesthes, and Lord of Strombor in Zenicce, and then a member of the mystic and martial Order of Krozairs of Zy. During this period he was guided by the single purpose of making his way to Vallia and there claiming his beloved, Delia of Delphond, Delia of the Blue Mountains. Able to afford assistance to Pando, boy Kov of Bormark in Pandahem, Prescot was abruptly flung back to Earth in the moment of triumph. He passes over that stay on Earth with a few brief sentences and welcomes wholeheartedly the summons of the Scorpion once more. His thoughts are clearly fixed on Kregen, that savage and beautiful, marvelous and terrible world of headlong adventure. He takes up the story when he is once more summoned to plunge at once into new and chilling danger, and that is where
Prince of Scorpio
begins.

This volume,
Prince of Scorpio,
then, brings to a satisfying conclusion the story contained in the first five books of the Saga of Prescot of Antares. The forthcoming volume, tentatively entitled
Manhounds of Antares,
begins a new cycle. I have taken the liberty of calling the first five books “The Delian Cycle,” and with the next volume we are launched on “The Havilfar Cycle.”

I have worked up a glossary which, through the kindness of the Publisher, Donald A. Wollheim, who suggested it, is appended to this volume. This should prove of great value to all those who have — as I have myself — followed with such thrilling fascination the Saga of Prescot of Antares.

Alan Burt Akers

References to the previous Scorpio books are given as:

TT: Transit to Scorpio

SU: The Suns of Scorpio

WA: Warrior of Scorpio

SS: Swordships of Scorpio

A

Aduimbrev: A province of Vallia, of which Vektor was Kov.

Aighos: A chieftain of the Blue Mountain Boys, nicknamed Korf.

Akhram: A castle and observatory at the eastern end of the Grand Canal in which the Todalpheme of Akhram carry on their work.

Angia, Kotera: Mother of Anko the Chisel.

Anko the Chisel: Cabinet-maker rescued from the bagnio in Vondium.

Aph, River: Great river down which Prescot sailed on his first visit to Kregen (TT).

Aphrasöe: The Swinging City. Built among giant plant-forms in a lake on the River Aph and inhabited by the Savanti (TT).

aragorn: Mercenary reavers and slavers.

Archbold: A leader of any of the Orders of Chivalry dedicated to Zair.

argenter: An oceangoing ship of Pandahem, broad and comfortable.

Arkasson: A city in the Hostile Territories.

Arkhebi, Hikdar: Captain of Katrin Rashumin’s airboat.

Armipand: One of the devils in the pantheon of Pandahem.

Askinard: A land famed for its spices.

Atvar, Ark: A Jiktar of the Clan of Felschraung (TT).

B

balass: A wood similar to ebony, from which is made the balass stick, the title of authority of the petty overseers of the workers of Magdag.

Bargom: Young Bargom, son of Old Bargom, a Valkan, proprietor of
The Rose of Valka,
an inn and posting house in Vondium.

barynth: A large monster of great sinuousness and length, a hideous head, and four forward-grasping limbs.

beng: A saint.

benga: A female saint.

Benga Deste: Hot springs and a place of pilgrimage in West Segesthes.

Beng-Kishi: These famous bells are said to ring in the skull of anyone hit on the head. This happens frequently on Kregen.

Berran: The Vadvar of Rifuji, an estate in Vallia.

Black Chunkrah, By the: A clansman’s oath.

Black Mountains: A range of lesser heights extending northward from the Blue Mountains.

bloin: A cultivated crop plant with a tall brittle green stem from which the fruits hang like golden bells.

Bloody Menahem, The: Name given by the Tomboramin to their neighbors of Menaham on Pandahem.

Blue Mountain Boys: Ruffians, bandits, mountain men, dedicated to Delia, the Princess Majestrix.

Blue Mountains: A small though lofty amphitheater-shaped mass of mountains in Western Vallia. The foothills and plain forming part of the province are famous for zorcamen and zorca-breeding. Delia’s inheritance.

bokkertu: Legal business.

Bold: A Krozair Brother, generally one serving permanently in any of the fortresses of the Orders.

Borg, Ven, nal Ogier: A canalman of Vallia.

Bormark: A Kovnate on the western border of Tomboram.

bosk: A smaller form of vosk, a specialty of Valka.

Bowmen of Loh, The:
A notorious song.

box: Small spined animal of the Segesthan plains.

Brokelsh: A squat-bodied people with much black bristle body hair. bur: The Kregan hour, approximately forty Terrestrial minutes.

C

calsany: A beast of burden.

Can-thirda: Large island to the east of Vallia.

Canticles of the Rose City, The: A
myth-cycle at least three thousand years old concerning a half-legendary, half-historical man-god named Drak.

Careless Repose: Renders’ hideout in the Hoboling Islands.

cham: A juicy rubbery fruit much chewed by workers.

chanks: Sharks of the inner sea.

Chem: The central tropical rain forests of Loh.

chemzite: A precious stone of great value.

Chersonang: A city of the Hostile Territories in opposition to Hiclantung.

Cherwangtung: Area of the Hostile Territories from which nocturnal primitives raid.

Chuktar: Commander of ten thousand. Military ranks have become nonspecific on Kregen now and do not denote the actual number of men commanded. There are many and various subdivisions of the four main ranks.

Chuliks: An extremely fierce and manlike race of people with oily yellow skin, the head shaved so as to leave a long pigtail, two three-inch-long tusks thrusting upward from the corners of the cruel mouth, and round black eyes. The training of the males from birth is designed to produce high-quality mercenary soldiers; they are employed all over Kregen and they generally command higher fees than other races.

chunkrah: A very large cattle animal, deep-chested, horned, fierce, with a russet coat, the mainstay of the clansmen of Segesthes.

clerketer: Leather harness attaching the rider to impiters or corths or other flying birds or animals of Turismond.

Company of Friends: Organizations of nobles and businessmen for trade in Vallia.

corth: Large saddle bird, splendidly marked in a variety of colors.

cramph: Term of abuse.

crested-korf: Large iridescent-blue-feathered bird of the Blue Mountains.

crofermen: Men-beasts — savage, untamed, cruel, and suspicious — inhabiting the outer portions of The Stratemsk.

Cyphren Sea: The sea separating Turismond from Loh.

D

Dam of Days: Colossal dam controlling the tides through the strait connecting the Eye of the World with the outer ocean.

Dancing Talu:
A narrow boat owned by Ven Yelker nal Ogier.

Dean, Geoffrey: Recipient of
The Tapes from Africa
from Dan Fraser, passing them on to A.B.A.

Deldar: Commander of ten. The petty officers in charge of the drum, whips, and helm aboard ship commonly hold this rank.

Delia: Princess Majestrix of Vallia, Delia of the Blue Mountains, Delia of Delphond.

Delian Cycle, The: The first five books of the Saga of Prescot of Antares.

Delka Dwa: A one-time fortress town of Vindelka on the border of the Ocher Limits.

Delka Ob: Capital of the Kovnate province of Vindelka in Vallia.

Delphond: A province of Vallia situated on the southern coast, a rich, lazy, carefree, happy land. Dedicated to Delia.

dhem: Silver coin of Pandahem.

Diproo the Nimble-fingered, By: A thieves’ oath.

dom: Kregish equivalent of English “mate” or American “pal.”

Donengil: Coastal lands and islands of South Turismond.

dopa: A fiendish drink guaranteed to make a man fighting drunk.

Doty: Name of a personage or spirit used in invective by the aragorn and slave-masters of Vallia.

Dragon’s Bones, The: A giant crater in the Ocher Limits filled with fossilized risslaca and mammal bones where Prescot was created Prince Majister of Vallia.

Drak: Name used on occasion by Dray Prescot.

Drak’s Seat: Mountain peak in the form of a throne to the northeast of Vondium.

drin: Suffix in Kregish denoting “land.”