Var the Stick (19 page)

    Her generosity had been foolish. A man wore the bracelet only to give it to the woman of his choice. What could she care whether he wore it? He had no woman to give it to.

    By day Var cooperated and had no trouble. By night he stripped his conventional clothing, dressed in warm rags, and ranged barefoot in the wilderness regions Of New Crete. The island was large-at least twenty miles across- and he was able to explore it without disturbing the inhabitants, and to practice his weaponry. He made himself a fine set of sticks from seasoned wood, and became as proficient with them as he had ever been in the circle with the metal ones. It was not the implement but the skill of the hand that counted. He learned the lay of the land, and even ventured some distance into the, dark tunnel that left the island on the west. It was clogged with refuse; no mechanical sweepers cleaned~ it, and it bad been used as a dump.

    And he scouted the temple preserve. This was a walled enclosure between one and two miles in diameter, patrolled but not heavily. Var had no problem sneaking in. Every day the maidens were exercised, Soli among them, and Var observed that she was well cared for. Every month at full moon one of the older ones was taken to a canyon and chained there. Next evening she would be gone. Var never actually saw the God Minos, because the God struck not by the light of that full moon, oddly, but by day. The maidens were put out before dawn and remained as it grew light. Var could not do so; he had to work by day, every day, and had~he remained in the compound he would have run the double risk of absence at his assigned location and discovery at his forbidden location.

    In the second year he built a boat. Not a good one, not nearly as good as the amazon one they had arrived in (what bad happened to it? Why hadn't that value been charged against his medical bill?) and certainly not one he would trust to the open seas. Even if he were sailor enough to manage it. But the craft would do to spirit Soli away and hide her until better arrangements could be made. First he bad to save her from Minos.

    For if she were chained in the canyon for the God, then rescued, her bargain would be complete. She would have offered herself in sacrifice and found unexpected reprieve. All he had to do was stop Minos from eating her, then take her away, and the temple would never know the difference.

    The morning came. Var was watching, for he knew the monthly date of the ceremony (he could look at the moon as well as a peed could) and had been aware that her turn was incipient. Most of the girls were now younger than she, and the temple did not provide board and keep longer than necessary. This was the day he would not go on his rounds-indeed, not ever again.

    Soli, grown barely nubile in two years, was taken by hooded priests to the canyon and - anchored there. The men Var could not be certain of their sex, but assumed this was man's business-hammered spiked shackles into the stone. Soli's slender wrists were pinned within them at shoulder height. She was naked, her lustrous black hair falling down around her shoulders, her small breasts standing erect, her rather well-fleshed thighs flexing nervously as she fidgeted about.

    Var felt an acute pang. Soli now looked very much indeed like her natural mother Sola. Once her hips and breasts filled out completely-But what would never happen unless he saved her from the sacrifice.

    Var lurked in the trees as the priests departed. He waited half an hour, making sure they would not return and that no other parties were watching. The canyon face was shielded from the direct view of the temple, probably intentionally and mercifully for the remaining maidens. Var now knew how most of them came here: they volunteered in order to spare their families hunger, for there were many poor people on the island. They-who-won't-work-won't-eat philosophy was a thin cover for subjugation of the unfortunate. The wage that had been adequate for Var was not enough for a family, so there was continual and large-scale distress. The way of the crazies and the nomads was better, for no one hungered in America.

    Assured that he was unobserved, Var let fly his random philosophies, emerged from hiding, and entered the canyon. Soli heard him and looked up with a poignant little cry of dismay, thinking the god had come already. Then she gasped. "Var"

    He approached and put his hand to one manacle. "i never forgot you," he said. "Did you think I would let you be eaten?'

    But the bond was tight, and he had no leverage to pry it loose.

    "I-" she started, her eyes suddenly streaming. . "I thank you, Var. But I can't go with you. I made a vow."

    "You fulfilled it" He cast about for some way to get the metal out of the stone. Why hadn't he anticipated this detail?

    "No. Not until-the sacrifice," she said.

    Var yanked at the other manacle. There seemed to be some give in it.

    "I can't let you do this," she said through her tears.

    Var ignored her and continued to work on the metal. His sticks would not pry it, being too thick to squeeze in beside her wrist, and the outside offered no purchase. He might hammer the metal with a stone-but the sound would bring the priests-or Minos himself.

    Then he was thrown back.

    Soli had raised her bare foot and shoved him hard in the chest. Now he understood: she meant it. She would resist him physically not permitting him to labor on the bonds.

    That meant he could not free her unless he knocked her out. And what kind of cooperation would she give him thereafter, if he violated her oath by such force?

    In any event, he could not bring himself to strike her. Anyone else, yes; Soli, no.

    He stood up and faced her. "Then I'll go slay Minos," he said.

    "No!" she screamed in horror. "He's a beast! No one can hurt him!"

    "I have sworn to kill the man who harms Sola's child," Var said. "I swore it long before you made your oath. Would you have me wait until after the-after the creature comes?"

    "But Minos is a god, not a man! You can't kill him!"

    "He devours maidens-but he's not a beast?" Then he was ashamed of his irony with her. "Whatever he is, I must meet him-unless you come with me now."

    "I can't."

    Var saw that further argument was useless. He marched down the canyon into the labyrinth, heedless of her low cries.

    There was a large, open cave where the walls merged. From its rear several smaller passages opened. Van held his sticks up and went cautiously into one.

    It led to a medium chamber lined with bones. Van did not investigate them closely; be knew their source. If he did not succeed in his mission, Soli's bones would be added to the collection. He went on.

    The next chamber had several dry skulls. The third was mixed. There was no present sign of Minos.

    It occurred to Var that the beast-god could go out and attack Soli while he searched the empty caverns. Hastily he retreated toward the entrance, passing through the skull chamber and an empty one.

    And realized that he was lost in the labyrinth. He had missed a passage and now did not know where he was or in what direction lay the entrance. His wilderness exploring sense, normally an automatic guide to such things, had let him down in this moment of preoccupation.

    He could find his way out. He could sniff out his own spoor, or, failing that, make lines of bones to show his route, eliminating one false exit after another. But this would take time, and Soli might be in danger this moment. So he acted more directly.

    "Minos!" he bawled. "Come fight me!"

    "Must I?" a gentle voice replied behind him.

    Var whirled. A man stood in one of the passages.

    No-not a man. The body was that of a giant warrior, but the head was woolly and horned. No mere beard accounted for the effect. The front of the face pushed out in a solid snout, and the horns sprouted from just above the ears. It was as though the head of a bull had been grafted on to the body of a man. And the feet were hoofs-not blunted toes, like Van's own, but solid round bovine hoofs. The teeth, however, were not herbivorous; they were pointed like those of a hound. This was Minos. -

    Var had seen oddities before and had been expecting something of the sort. He made a motion with one stick, the excitement of battle growing within him. He supposed this was what some called fear.

    "What brings you here by day, Var the Stick?' the god inquired quietly. "Always before you have come in darkness, and never to my domicile."

    "I came to fight," Var repeated. No one had told him the god could speak, or that he knew so much. How had Minos learned Var's name?

    "Of course. But why at this moment? I have a busy day ahead. Yesterday I could have entertained you at greater leisure."

    "It is Soli out there. My friend. For the sacrifice. I have sworn to kill the man-or beast, or god-who harms her. But I would not wait to have her harmed,"

    Minos nodded, his woolly locks shaking. "You have fidelity and courage. But do you really believe you can kill me?"

    "No. But I must try, for I have no life without Soli."

    "Come. We can settle this without unpleasantness." Minos turned his broad back and trod down the passage1 his horny feat clicking on the stone.

    Var, nonplussed, followed. -

    They came to a larger chamber, in whose center was a boulder. "I lift this for exercise," Minos said. "Like this." He bent to grapple the stone, seemingly not concerned that an armed enemy stood behind him. Muscles bulged hugely all along his arms and sides and back. Var had not seen might like that since training with the Master.

    The stone came up. Minos lifted it to chest height, held it there a few seconds, then eased it down. "Have to watch how you let go these monsters," he panted. "Most hernias come after the load, not during it."

    Hestoodback. "Now your turn. If you can hoist it, you may be a match for me."

    Var hung his sticks at his belt and approached the rock. The god had trusted him and he was obligated to extend trust in return.

    He strained and hauled at no avaiL. He could not budge it. The thing would not even roll.

    He gave up. "You're right. I am not as strong as you. But I might beat you in combat."

    "Certainly," Mlnos said genially. His face was strong when he spoke, because he had..to stretch his mouth closed around the muzzle and form the words with part of it. Even so, his enunciation was odd. "And we shall fight if you Insist. But let us converse a time first. I seldom have opportunity to chat with an honest man."

    Var was amenable. As long as the god was with him, Soli was safe. He wondered what would have happened had he attacked Minos while the god lifted the rock. That boulder might have come flying at him.

    They sat on crude chairs fashioned of bone tied with tendon, in another chamber. "Have a bite to eat," Mines said. "I have nuts, berries, bread-and meat, of course. But you know where that comes from."

    Var knew. But the notion was not as shocking to him as he knew it was to others, for he had eaten many things in his wild childhood state. "I will share your food."

    Mince reached into a pit and drew out a meaty rib. "I roasted these yesterday, so they remain wholesome," he explained, handing it to Var. He lifted a second for himself.

    Var gnawed the rib, finding it far more tasty than raw rat meat. He wondered to which maiden it had belonged. Probably the last one; she had cried endlessly as they staked her out, and hadn't been very pretty. A bit fat-as this morsel vetifled. Momentarily queasy, Var washed his first mouthful down with the tepid water Mines provided.

    "Where do you originate?" the god inquired.

    Var explained about the circle culture.

    "I have heard of it," Mines said. "But I must confess I thought it a myth, a fabrication, no offense intended. Now I see that it is a marvelous land indeed. But why did you and the girl depart?"

    Var explained that, too. It was remarkably easy to talk to this enemy giant, and not entirely because of the stay it granted Soli.

    "And you say her father is a castrate? When did that happen?"

    "I don't know. No one spoke of it. I don't see how it could have been while he was Master of Empire, and Soli says it wasn't in the underworld."

    "Then it must have been before. Perhaps in childhood. Some tribes, I have heard, practice such things. But in that case-"

    Var shrugged. "I don't know."

    "Is it possible-I am postulating from ignorance, understand-that the Nameless One is in fact her father?"

    Var sat and chewed the maiden-meat, and diverse things began to fall into place in his mind, as though bees were settling into a hive. The Master thought Var had slain his natural daughter!

    "Ironic," Minos said. "If that is the case. But the solution is simple. You have merely to show her to him when next you meet."

    "Except-"

    "Unfortunately, yes."

    "Do you have to take her?" It was hard to believe' that so affable, reasonable a creature could balk on this point.

    Mines sighed. "I am a god. Gods do not follow the conventions of man, by definition. I wish it were otherwise."

    "But surely you have enough meat here, to last another month?'

    "I do not, for it spoils and I am not a ghoul. Some day I must require them to install refrigeration equipment. 'But that is not the problem. It is not primarily for the meat that I take the sacrifices." ,

    Var chewed, not understanding.

    "The flesh is only an incidental product," Mnos said. "I use it because it is handy and I dislike waste. I make the best of the situation foisted on me by the temple."

    "The temple makes you do this?"

    "All temples, all religions make their gods perform similarly. So it has always been, even before the Blast. The New Crete priests pretend that they serve Minos, but Minos serves them. It is a method of population control, in part, for the birthrate is governed by the percentage of nubile girls in the population. But mostly it is a way to retain power that would otherwise drift with the winds of politics and time. The common people have an abiding fear of me. I lurk near the bedstead of every disobedient child, I breathe misfortune on every tax-evader. I impregnate the wanton wives. Yet I am single and mortal. The temple produced me by mutation and operation-"