Produced by Greg Weeks, William Woods and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
[Transcriber's note:This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact--Science FictionNovember 1962, December 1962, January 1963, February 1963.Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the copyrighton this publication was renewed.]
SPACE VIKINGA great new novel by H. Beam Piper]
Space Viking
Vengeance is a strange human motivation-- it can drive a man to do things which he neither would nor could achieve without it ... and because of that it lies behind some of the greatest sagas of human literature!
by H. Beam Piper
Illustrated by Schoenherr
They stood together at the parapet, their arms about each other'swaists, her head against his cheek. Behind, the broad leavedshrubbery gossiped softly with the wind, and from the lower mainterrace came music and laughing voices. The city of Wardshavenspread in front of them, white buildings rising from the wide spacesof green treetops, under a shimmer of sun-reflecting aircars above.Far away, the mountains were violet in the afternoon haze, and thehuge red sun hung in a sky as yellow as a ripe peach.
His eye caught a twinkle ten miles to the southwest, and for aninstant he was puzzled. Then he frowned. The sunlight on the twothousand-foot globe of Duke Angus' new ship, the _Enterprise_, backat the Gorram shipyards after her final trial cruise. He didn't wantto think about that, now.
Instead, he pressed the girl closer and whispered her name, "Elaine,"and then, caressing every syllable, "Lady Elaine Trask of Traskon."
"Oh, no, Lucas!" Her protest was half joking and half apprehensive."It's bad luck to be called by your married name before the wedding."
"I've been calling you that in my mind since the night of the Duke'sball, when you were just home from school on Excalibur."
She looked up from the corner of her eye.
"That was when I started calling me that, too," she confessed.
"There's a terrace to the west at Traskon New House," he told her."Tomorrow, we'll have our dinner there, and watch the sunset together."
"I know. I thought that was to be our sunset-watching place."
"You have been peeking," he accused. "Traskon New House was to beyour surprise."
"I always was a present-peeker, New Year's and my birthdays. But I onlysaw it from the air. I'll be very surprised at everything inside,"she promised. "And very delighted."
And when she'd seen everything and Traskon New House wasn't a surpriseany more, they'd take a long space trip. He hadn't mentioned that toher, yet. To some of the other Sword-Worlds--Excalibur, of course, andMorglay and Flamberge and Durendal. No, not Durendal; the war hadstarted there again. But they'd have so much fun. And she would seeclear blue skies again, and stars at night. The cloud-veil hid the starsfrom Gram, and Elaine had missed them, since coming home from Excalibur.
The shadow of an aircar fell briefly upon them and they looked upand turned their heads, in time to see it sink with graceful dignitytoward the landing-stage of Karval House, and he glimpsed itsblazonry--sword and atom-symbol, the badge of the ducal house ofWard. He wondered if it were Duke Angus himself, or just some ofhis people come ahead of him. They should get back to their guests,he supposed. Then he took her in his arms and kissed her, and sheresponded ardently. It must have been all of five minutes sincethey'd done that before.
* * * * *
A slight cough behind them brought them apart and their headsaround. It was Sesar Karvall, gray-haired and portly, the breast ofhis blue coat gleaming with orders and decorations and the sapphirein the pommel of his dress-dagger twinkling.
"I thought I'd find you two here," Elaine's father smiled. "You'llhave tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow together, but need I remindyou that today we have guests, and more coming every minute."
"Who came in the Ward car?" Elaine asked.
"Rovard Grauffis. And Otto Harkaman; you never met him, did you, Lucas?"
"No; not by introduction. I'd like to, before he spaces out." He hadnothing against Harkaman personally; only against what he represented."Is the Duke coming?"
"Oh, surely. Lionel of Newhaven and the Lord of Northport are comingwith him. They're at the Palace now." Karvall hesitated. "His nephew'sback in town."
Elaine was distressed; she started to say: "Oh, dear! I hope he doesn't--"
"Has Dunnan been bothering Elaine again?"
"Nothing to take notice of. He was here, yesterday, demanding tospeak with her. We got him to leave without too much unpleasantness."
"It'll be something for me to take notice of, if he keeps it upafter tomorrow."
For his seconds and Andray Dunnan's, that was; he hoped it wouldn'tcome to that. He didn't want to have to shoot a kinsman to the houseof Ward, and a crazy man to boot.
"I'm terribly sorry for him," Elaine was saying. "Father, you shouldhave let me talk to him. I might have made him understand."
Sesar Karvall was shocked. "Child, you couldn't have subjectedyourself to that! The man is insane!" Then he saw her bareshoulders, and was even more shocked. "Elaine, your shawl!"
Her hands went up and couldn't find it; she looked about in confusedembarrassment. Amused, Lucas picked it from the shrub onto which shehad tossed it and draped it over her shoulders, his hands lingeringbriefly. Then he gestured to the older man to precede them, andthey entered the arbored walk. At the other end, in an open circle,a fountain played; white marble girls and boys bathing in thejade-green basin. Another piece of loot from one of the Old Federationplanets; that was something he'd tried to avoid in furnishingTraskon New House. There'd be a lot of that coming to Gram, afterOtto Harkaman took the _Enterprise_ to space.
"I'll have to come back, some time, and visit them," Elainewhispered to him. "They'll miss me."
"You'll find a lot of new friends at your new home," he whisperedback. "You wait till tomorrow."
"I'm going to put a word in the Duke's ear about that fellow," SesarKarvall, still thinking of Dunnan, was saying. "If he speaks to him,maybe it'll do some good."
"I doubt it. I don't think Duke Angus has any influence over him at all."
Dunnan's mother had been the Duke's younger sister; from his fatherhe had inherited what had originally been a prosperous barony. Nowit was mortgaged to the top of the manor-house aerial-mast. The Dukehad once assumed Dunnan's debts, and refused to do so again. Dunnanhad gone to space a few times, as a junior officer on trade-and-raidvoyages into the Old Federation. He was supposed to be a fairastrogator. He had expected his uncle to give him command of the_Enterprise_, which had been ridiculous. Disappointed in that,he had recruited a mercenary company and was seeking militaryemployment: It was suspected that he was in correspondence withhis uncle's worst enemy, Duke Omfray of Glaspyth.
And he was obsessively in love with Elaine Karvall, a passion whichseemed to nourish itself on its own hopelessness. Maybe it wouldbe a good idea to take that space trip right away. There ought tobe a ship leaving Bigglersport for one of the other Sword-Worlds,before long.
* * * * *
They paused at the head of the escalators; the garden below wasthronged with guests, the bright shawls of the ladies and the coatsof the men making shifting color-patterns among the flower-beds andon the lawns and under the trees. Serving-robots, flame-yellow andblack in the Karvall colors, floated about playing soft music andoffering refreshments. There was a continuous spiral of changingcostume-color around the circular robo-table. Voices babbled happilylike a mountain river.
As they stood looking down, another aircar circled low; green andgold, lettered PANPLANET NEWS SERVICE. Sesar Karvall swore inirritation.
br /> "Didn't there use to be something they called privacy?" he asked.
"It's a big story, Sesar."
It was; more than the marriage of two people who happened to be in lovewith each other. It was the marriage of the farming and ranching baronyof Traskon and the Karvall steel mills. More, it was public announcementthat the wealth and fighting-men of both baronies were now alignedbehind Duke Angus of Wardshaven. So it was a general holiday. Everyindustry had closed down at noon today, and would be closed untilmorning-after-next, and there would be dancing in every park andfeasting in every tavern. To Sword-Worlders, any excuse for a holidaywas better than none.
"They're our people, Sesar; they have a right to have a good timewith us. I know everybody at Traskon is watching this by screen."
He raised his hand and waved to the news car, and when it swungits pickup around, he waved again. Then they went down the longescalator.
Lady Lavina Karvall was the center of a cluster of matrons anddowagers, around which tomorrow's bridesmaids fluttered likemany-colored butterflies. She took possession of her daughterand dragged her into the feminine circle. He saw Rovard Grauffis,small and saturnine, Duke Angus' henchman, and Burt Sandrasan,Lady Lavina's brother. They spoke, and then an upper-servant,his tabard blazoned with the yellow flame and black hammer ofKarvall mills, approached his master with some tale of domesticcrisis, and the two went away together.
"You haven't met Captain Harkaman, Lucas," Rovard Grauffis said."I wish you'd come over and say hello and have a drink with him.I know your attitude, but he's a good sort. Personally, I wishwe had a few like him around here."
That was his main objection. There were fewer and fewer men ofthat sort on any of the Sword-Worlds.