Lord of Thunder Part 11

Had it ever been opened or was the LB still sealed with a pa.s.senger list of dead men? The presence of the stranger argued that at least one of the castaways had escaped.

Hosteen climbed a sapling, which bent under his weight, allowing him to land near the tail. Slamming his hand down on the pressure lock of the hatch, he waited tensely.

With a squeak of protest, the port began to lift slowly. Hosteen's one fear vanished as he seized the edge of the door and forced it straight up. The LB had opened after its landing on Arzor; he was not about to enter a tomb.

The interior s.p.a.ce of such a craft was limited, and from abandon-ship drill in the Service he knew its layout. Pushing between two rows of acceleration bunks set against each wall, he reached the nose, where the auto and hand pilots and the com set were to be found.

Side lights had gone on when he opened the hatch, showing him the wiring was still in order. Hosteen hunched into the small s.p.a.ce before the com. He flicked the switch to open and was rewarded with a promising click-click of an expanding broadcast aerial, the purr of a working com. With finger on b.u.t.ton, he tapped out the message he had composed on the way downhill.

The landing signals of this ship had registered months ago on the pickups of two line camps. Only because those camps were rarely visited had the signals gone undetected so long. And now both Quade and Kelson would have men monitoring every possible pickup along the Peaks. He tapped out his warning twice by hand, setting it so on a repeat wire. Now that would go on broadcasting at ten revolutions an hour until it was turned off, and he intended to see that was impossible unless the com or the ship was destroyed.

Hosteen made adjustments, resealed the shield panel, and then went to explore the rest of the craft in the fault hope of discovering a weapon. But the stores' compartment was open and empty. Save for the plasta foam pads on the bunks, there was nothing left.

He was standing directly under the escape hatch, preparing to leave, when a roll of thunder startled him. Only reflex action saved his life as he slammed his hand on the seal b.u.t.ton of the port.

Thunder again, but now muted into a distant mutter by the protection of the hull. The LB trembled under a blow. Hosteen scrambled for the pilot's seat, thumbed on the visa-screen-to view a roaring holocaust. If the fire that had lashed the mountain before had spared the LB, it did so no longer. The craft shook and reeled under streams of flame.

Would the insulation intended for the protection of s.p.a.ce flight hold against this fierce concentration of energy? The force of that attack was twisting the ship around, might push it on down the slope.

Had the broadcast from the com alerted the stranger in the mountain, the message been picked up by some device of that other civilization? Hosteen was sure that this attack came from the Sealed Cave armory.

Surra! Hosteen braced himself in the shuddering cabin as he strove to reach the cat. But once more he met only the solid barrier he had found that night when he had been prisoner in the Norbie village. Perhaps the fire cut off contact. A reasonable explanation if not a comforting one.

The LB was no longer on an even keel. Hosteen caught one of the stanchions supporting the nearest bunk. The visa-screen told him the whole craft was encased in wildly raging flame. He was trapped with no defense but the walls of the ship.

He stretched out on a bunk and snapped the acceleration webbing to hold his body in place. If that bath of energy did roll the LB over a cliff, he could have that small protection.

The nose of the craft tilted down and the whole hull quivered as the dive picked up speed. Then there was a bone-wrenching crash as the ship met some obstruction head on. The visa-screen went blank. And the com-he thought that the com had not survived either. How many broadcasts had it made before the end? Enough for one full message to reach beyond the Peaks?

Hosteen lay sweating on the bunk, the LB now more vertical than horizontal. The cabin lights flickered, dimmed, then brightened again in a crazy dance of light and dark. Though the LB no longer moved, would a shifting of his own weight send it into another slide?

Freeing himself from the webbing, the Terran gingerly swung his feet to the floor, keeping a grip on the stanchion. The steeply sloping deck did not move as he clawed his way to the pilot compartment to discover chaos behind a buckled wall. The com was dead. Well, if this attack had been to silence the warning, the enemy had won the first skirmish. That didn't mean he would also win the war.

Without the visa-screen, Hosteen was blind. Did the fire still bathe the ship? He wedged into one of the tilted bunks again, rested his forehead on his crooked arm, and bent all the energy left in his mind and body into a concentration aimed at Surra.

"Here-" The word she could not form aloud was a whisper in his brain.

"The man?"

"Here-" A repet.i.tion of her first answer or an a.s.surance that she still had her quarry under observation?

"In the mountain?"

"So-"

"Then stay-follow-" he ordered.

Maybe his ability to reach the dune cat meant that the fire no longer ringed the LB. But to get to the hatch now required some acrobatic maneuvering. And when his first attempt to open the port did not succeed, Hosteen knew the starkness of dread. Had the flames sealed his escape hole?

Then, though with protest, the hatch moved as he beat on it with one frantic fist, holding to his support with the other. Smoke whirled in a choking blue fog, burning his eyes, strangling him with coughing until the air filter of the cabin thinned it.

Smoke, heat, but no sign of active flames. Hosteen retreated to rip and pry at the plasta-foam covering of the bunks, removing the stuff in tattered strips. Half of these he draped over the rim of the hatch opening, pushing the material through to lie across the heated sh.e.l.l of the LB. The rest he took with him as he climbed out on the temporarily protected area.

The side of the LB bore the lick marks of the fire, and around it the ground was charred black. Upslope, small blazes still crackled in bushes.

Hosteen worked fast, tying lengths of the plasta foam about his feet and legs above knee level. The tough synthetic fabric would be a shield against the heat. With more sc.r.a.ps mittening his hands and covering his arms, he crawled up the tail of the LB, leaped for the top of a fire-blackened rock, and started the climb back to the tunnel ledge.

Back in the mountain Surra would be his eyes, a part of himself projected. He could track the stranger, perhaps find Logan. Logan!

All he could do to warn the plains had been done. The holding would have to take their chances while he faced the heart of the trouble here and now.

Tap-tap-tap- The Terran was an animal, startled, snarling in defiance, his teeth showing white between tightened lips as Surra's could upon occasion. He stood still, watching that figure come out of a copse that had escaped the lick of the fire.

A cloak spread like huge wings of a mantling bird-a Drummer! And there was no knife in Hosteen's belt, no stunner. He had only his two hands- However, the other had no more. By tradition, the Norbie would be unarmed-depending upon his power for his protection. And no native would raise hand against a Drummer, even one of an enemy tribe. The vengeance taken by "medicine" was swift, sure, and frightful.

But if this one depended upon that custom now, he would have a rude, perhaps fatal awakening. Hosteen had to get his hands on the tambour the native carried, silence it before the Drummer could use it to arouse the warriors.

The Terran tensed for another leap. His body arched up; his bandaged hands caught up burned and fire-scorched wood. He moved with the sure speed of a trained fighting man.

Tap-tap- There had been no acceleration in that soft patter, no deepening of the beat. No settler understood drum talk, but Hosteen wondered. He had expected an outburst of alarm when he was sighted. What he heard as he charged was a calm sequence of small sounds-like a friendly greeting. Instead of throwing his body forward in a tackle, he halted to face the enemy squarely.

"Ukurti!"

Fingers lifted from the tight drumhead-moved in talk.

"Where do you go?"

Sharp, to the point. Hosteen tugged at the wrappings on his hands, freed his fingers to reply: "To the mountain."

He dared not risk evasion, not with this Drummer whom he knew to be not the witch doctor of scoffing off-worlders but a real power.

"You have been to the mountain once."

"I have been once," Hosteen a.s.sented. "I go again-for in this mountain walks evil."

."That is so:" The quick agreement surprised Hosteen.

"He who drums for the Zamle totem says that?"

"One who drums, drums true, or else the power departs from him. In the mountain is one who says that thunder answers his drum, that he brings lightning to bis service."

"It has been heard, so has it been seen." Again Hosteen kept to the strict truth.

"Fire has answered; that is truth. And because of this warriors bind arrowheads to war shaft, chant songs of trophies to be smoked in the Thunder Houses."

"Yet this is not good."

"It is not good!" Ukurti's head pushed forward; his paint-ringed eyed on either side of his boldly arched nose were those of Baku sighting prey before she was quite poised for the killing swoop. "This one who wears the name of Ukurti has been to the place of sky ships' landing and has seen the powers of those who ride from star to star. They, too, drum thunder and raise lightning of a kind-but it is not born of the true power of Arzor." His booted foot stamped the black ground, and a tiny puff of ash arose.

"Before them, others walked the same trails-even here on Arzor. To the strangers their power, to us ours. This is an old trail, newly opened once again. And in it lie many traps for the heedless and those who want to' believe because it serves their false dreams. I who bear the name of Ukurti in this life and who have the right to speak of this power and that"-again he stroked the drumhead gently, bringing a muted purr of sound from its surface-"say that no good comes of a trail that leads to blood running free on the ground, the blood of those who have shared water, hunted, eaten meat with us, and welcomed in their tents my people."

"And he-who-drums-thunder here says that this shedding of blood is right-that the war arrow is to be put to the string against my people?"

"That is so."

"For what purpose does he demand a shedding of blood?"

"That his power may eat and grow strong, giving many gifts to those who serve it."

"But his power is not the power you follow."

"That is so. And this is an evil thing. Now I say to you, who also have a power that is from beyond the stars and lies within you, go up to this man who is of your own kind and set your power against him."

"And you will not drum up those to hunt me?"

"Not so. Between us is a peace pole. It has been set upon me to-in a small way-smooth your trail."

"You knew I was here-you were waiting for me."

"I knew. But no man explains the working of his own medicine. This is a thing of my power."

"Pardon, Drummer. I do not ask the forbidden." Hosteen's fingers made swift and contrite apology.

"But from here you walk alone," Ukurti continued.

"Do all the clans walk the trail leading to the running of blood?" Hosteen ventured.

"Not all-yet," but the Drummer did not enlarge upon that.

"And this I must do alone?"

"Alone."

"Then, Drummer, give me of your luck wish before I depart." Hosteen signed the formal request made by all Norbie warriors leaving a clan camp. He waited. Did the other's favor reach to actually invoking his power for an off-world alien or did his aid only consist of standing aside to let Hosteen fight his own battle? The difference could mean a great deal to the waiting Terran.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

A breeze swirled ash, cooled earth, drove away the smoke and stench of fire, and pulled at the edge of the Drummer's feather cloak. Ukurti stared down at the tambour, which he held in both hands, as if he were reading on the tightly stretched skin of its head some message. His fingers tapped out a small burst of sharp notes while he spoke. Though that twittering was unintelligible to Hosteen, he thought he detected in it a rhythm that could be either a blessing or a curse. Then Ukurti's hands left the drum and made signs the Terran could understand.

"Go in power, one who knows the song of the wind, the whisper of growing things, the minds of beasts and birds. Go in power; do what must be done. In this moment the war arrow is balanced upon a finger. So light a thing as this wind may wreck a world."

It was more than Hosteen had dared hope the Drummer would ever grant him-not the blessing and good will for a warrior departing into danger but the outright promise of one wizard to another who also dealt in things unseen, a promise of power to be added to power.

In return, he accorded Ukurti the salute of upraised palms, which was the greeting of equal to equal, before he turned and started for the waiting tunnel mouth.

But in his hurry the Terran was also cautious. Ukurti had said nothing of any other natives being on the mountain, but that was no reason to disregard the possibility of more Drummers or warriors being drawn to the fire about the LB.

Hosteen reached the ledge of the tunnel without being sighted or trailed. And there he met Surra's warning. The stranger was returning in haste to the outer world. Coming to see the result of the fire attack?

The Terran had the grenades. But a dead enemy could not talk and might well provide a martyr whose influence after death could unleash destruction across the plains. A prisoner, not a dead man, was what Hosteen desired. With Surra's aid he could have that future captive already boxed. Only- This was like running against an invisible wall. There was no pain such as the sonic barrier had spun around those who strove to pa.s.s it. No pain-only immobility, a freezing of every muscle against which Hosteen fought vainly. As helpless as he had been in the net of the Norbies, so was he again, held so for the coming of the enemy.

Helpless as to body, yes, but not in mind. Hosteen gave Surra an order. How far away was that chase-the man running to inspect his catch, the cat, unseen, unsensed by her quarry, padding at an ever quickening trot behind?

Just as Hosteen could plan, he could also hear. Ukurti had not been alone on the mountain. The whistle of more than one Norbie reached him, unm.u.f.fled by the morning wind. He did not credit the Shosonna medicine man with any treachery-such a promise as the other had given him when they parted would d.a.m.n the Drummer who made it in false faith. No, his being held for the kill was not Ukurti's doing.

Surra-and Baku. He must try again to reach the eagle. Cat and bird might be his only defensive weapons.

The cat he made contact with-the bird, no answer. And now the stranger broke from the tunnel mouth.

Taller than the Terran, his skin whitely fair under the paint of the natives, his hair ruddy bright, he stood there breathing hard. With both hands he held at breast level a sphere that Hosteen eyed apprehensively. It was too like the antiperso grenades.

Then it was the other's eyes, rather than his hands and their burden, that drew the Beast Master's attention. Back at the Rehab Separation Center more than a year ago, he had seen that look in many eyes, too many eyes. Terran units brought in from active Service at the close of the war to discover their world gone-families, homes, everything lost-had had men in their ranks with such eyes. Men had gone mad and turned their weapons on base personnel, on each other, on themselves. And taking a cue from that past, Hosteen schooled his voice to the bark of an official demand.

"Name, rank, serial number, planet!"

There was a stir far down in the set glare of those eyes. The other's lips moved soundlessly, and then he spoke aloud.

"Farver Dean, Tech third rank, Eu 790, Cosmos" he replied in Galactic basic.

A tech of the third rank, 790 in his Service-not only a trained scientist but one of genius level! No wonder this man had been able to understand and use some of the secrets of the Cavern people.

Dean advanced another step or two, studying Hosteen. The face paint disguised much of his expression, but his att.i.tude was one of puzzlement.

"Who are you?" he asked in return.

"Hosteen Storm, Beast Master, AM 25, Terra." Hosteen used the same old formula for reply.

"Beast Master," the other repeated. "Oh, of the Psych-Anth boys?"

"Yes."

"Nothing here for you, you know." Dean shook his head slowly from side to side. "This is a tech matter, not one for the nature boys."

Nature boys-the old scoffing term that underlined the split between the two branches of special Service. If Dean already had such hostility to build upon and was mentally unbalanced-Hosteen put away that small fear. At least the tech was talking, and that slowed any drastic action.

"We had no orders about you either," he stated. If Dean thought this was a Service affair, so much the better. And how did the tech hold him prisoner? Was the device controlling the sta.s.s field in that sphere the other nursed so close to his chest? If that were so, Hosteen had a better chance than if his invisible bonds were manipulated by some machine back in the mountain.

Dean shrugged. "Doesn't concern me. You'll have to blast off-this is a tech affair."

His att.i.tude was casual, far too casual. Hosteen smelled and tasted danger as he had a few times before in his life.

"Can't very well blast off while you have me in sta.s.s, can I?"