immediate response.
There was a dark spot at the desert's edge in the indicated directionand when they approached Jason saw that it was an outcropping of rockthat had been built up with a wall of bricks or boulders to a uniformheight. A good number of men could be concealed behind that wall andhe was not going to risk his precious slaves or even more preciousskin anywhere near it. At his shout the line halted and settled to thesand while he stalked a few meters in front, settling his club in hishand and suspiciously examined the structure.
That there were unseen watchers was proven when a man appeared fromaround the corner and walked slowly towards Jason. He was dressed inloose-fitting robes and carried a basket on one arm, and when he hadreached a point roughly halfway between Jason and the rock he had justquitted he halted and sat crosslegged in the sand, the basket at hisside. Jason looked carefully in all directions and decided theposition was safe enough. There were no places of concealment wherearmed men might have hidden and he had no fear of the single man. Clubready he walked out and stopped a full three paces from the other.
* * * * *
"Welcome, Ch'aka," the man said. "I was afraid we wouldn't be seeingyou again after that little ... difficulty we had."
He remained seated while he talked, stroking the few strands of hisscraggly beard. His head was shaven smooth and as sunburned andleathery brown as the rest of his face, the most prominent feature ofwhich was the magnificent prow of a nose that terminated in flaringnostrils and was used as sturdy support for a pair of handmadesunglasses. They appeared to be carved completely of bone and fittightly to the face, their flat, solid fronts were cut with thintransverse slashes. This eye protection, the things could only havebeen for weak eyes, and the network of wrinkles indicated the man wasquite old and would present no danger to Jason.
"I want something," Jason said, in straightforward, Ch'akaish manner.
"A new voice and a new Ch'aka--I bid you welcome. The old one was adog and I hope he died in great pain when you killed him. Now sitfriend Ch'aka and drink with me." He carefully opened the basket andremoved a stone crock and two crockery mugs.
"Where you get poison drink?" Jason asked, remembering his localmanners. This _D'zertano_ was a smart one and had been able to tellinstantly from Jason's voice that there had been a change in slaves."And what your name?"
"Edipon," the ancient said as, uninsulted, he put the drinkingapparatus back into the basket. "What is it that you want--withinreason that is? We always need slaves and we are always willing totrade."
"I want slave you got. I trade you two for one."
The seated man smiled coldly from behind the shelter of his nose. "Itis not necessary to talk as ungrammatically as the coastal barbarians,since I can tell by your accent that you are a man of education. Whatslave is it that you want?"
"The one that you just received from Fasimba. He belongs to me." Jasonabandoned his linguistic ruse and put himself even more on guard,taking a quick look around at the empty sands. This dried up old birdwas a lot brighter than he looked and he would have to stay on guard.
"Is that all you want?" Edipon asked.
"All I can think of at this moment. You produce this slave and perhapswe can talk more business."
"I have an even better idea than that."
Edipon's laugh had very dirty overtones and Jason sprang back when theoldster put two fingers into his mouth and whistled shrilly betweenthem. There was the rustle of shifting sand and Jason wheeled to seemen apparently climbing out of the empty desert, pushing back woodencovers over which the sand had been smoothed. There were six of them,with shields and clubs, and Jason cursed his stupidity at meetingEdipon on a spot of the other's choosing. He swung his club behind himbut the oldster was already scampering for the safety of the rock.Jason howled in anger and ran at the nearest man who was still onlyhalfway out of his hiding place. The man took Jason's blow on hisupraised shield and was toppled back into the pit by the force of it.Jason ran on but another was ahead of him, swinging his own war clubin readiness. There was no way around so Jason ran into him at fullspeed with all of his pendant teeth and horns gnashing and clattering.The man fell back under the attack and Jason split his shield with hisclub, and would have done further damage except that the other menarrived at that moment and he had to face them.
It was a brief and wicked battle, with Jason giving just a little morethan he received. Two of the attackers were down and a third holdinghis cracked head when the weight of numbers carried Jason to theground. He called to his slaves for aid, then cursed them when theyonly remained seated, while his arms were pinioned with rope and hisweapons stripped from his body. One of the victors waved to the slaveswho now stood and docilely marched into the desert. Jason was dragged,snarling with rage, in the same direction.
* * * * *
There was a wide opening in the desert-facing side of the wall andonce through it Jason's anger instantly vanished. Here was one of the_caroj_ that Ijale had told him about: there could be no doubt of it.He could now understand how, to her uneducated eye, there could existan uncertainty as to whether the thing was an animal or not. Thevehicle was a good ten meters long, shaped roughly like a boat, andbore on the front a large and obviously false animal head covered withfur and resplendent with rows of carved teeth and glistening crystaleyes. There were hide coverings and not-too realistic legs hangingabout the thing, surely not enough camouflage to fool a sophisticatedsix-year old.
This sort of disguise might be good enough to take in the ignorantsavages, but the same civilized child would recognize this as avehicle as soon as he saw the six large wheels below. They were cutwith deep treads and made from some resilient looking substance. Nomotive power was visible, but Jason almost hooted with joy at theprominent stink of burnt fuel. This crude looking contrivance had someartificial source of power, which might be the product of a localindustrial revolution or have been purchased from off-world traders.Either possibility offered the chance of eventual escape from thisnameless planet.
The slaves, some of them cringing with terror of the unknown, werekicked up the gangplank and into the _caroj_. Four of the huskies whohad subdued and bound Jason carried him up and dumped him onto thedeck where he lay quietly and examined what could be seen of thedesert-vehicle's mechanism. A post projected from the front of thedeck and one of the men fitted what could only have been a tillerhandle over the squared top of it. If this monolithic apparatussteered with the front pair of wheels it must be driven with the rear,so Jason flopped around on the deck until he could look towards thestern. A cabin, the width of the deck, was situated here, windowlessand with a single inset door fitted with a grand selection of locksand bolts. Any doubt that this was the engine room was displaced bythe black metal smokestack that rose up through the cabin roof.
"We are leaving," Edipon screeched and waved his thin arms in the air."Bring in the entranceway. Narsisi stand forward to indicate the wayto the _caroj_. Now--all pray as I go into the shrine to induce thesacred powers to move us towards Putl'ko." He started towards thecabin, then stopped to point to one of the club bearers. "Erebo youlazy sod, did you remember to fill the watercup of the gods this time,because they grow thirsty?"
"I filled it, I filled it," Erebo muttered, chewing on a looted_krenoj_.
* * * * *
Preparations made, Edipon went into the recessed doorway and pulled aconcealing curtain over it. There was much clanking and rattling asthe locks and bolts were opened and he let himself inside. Within afew minutes a black cloud of greasy smoke rolled out of the smokestackand was whipped away by the wind. Almost an hour passed before thesacred powers were ready to move, and they announced their willingnessto proceed by screaming and blowing their white breath up in the air.Four of the slaves screamed counterpoint and fainted, while the restlooked as if they would be happier off dead. Jason had had someexperience with primitive machines before so the safety valve on theboiler came
as no great surprise. He was also prepared when thevehicle shuddered and began to move slowly out into the desert. Fromthe amount of smoke and the quantity of steam escaping from under thestern he didn't think the engine was very efficient, but primitive asit was it moved the _caroj_ and its load of passengers across the sandat a creeping yet steady pace.
There were more screams from the slaves, and a few tried to leap overthe side but were clubbed down. The robe-wrapped D'zertanoj werefirmly working their way through the ranks of the captives, pouringladlefuls of dark liquid down their throats. The first ones to receiveit were already slumped unconscious or dead, though the chances werebetter that they were unconscious since there was no reason for theircaptors to kill them after going to such lengths to get them in thefirst place. Jason believed